Tuesday, I blogged about what worked and what didn’t work in 2014, both personally and professionally. I think it’s good to look back on the year (and previous years) to see new things you tried and whether they worked for you and your family or not. If you don’t try, you’ll never know! This year, I’m adding a new level of goal setting for 2015…

As Bob Goff would say, it’s Thursday, let’s quit something!

Sessions that are not in my target speciality (ie. children). Let’s be honest, I am just not that great at photographing children. And this year especially, I don’t have the time to work on bettering myself in that area. I will still photograph past clients, family, and close friends, because they are what make the world go round!, but I will not be taking on any new clients. Of course I’ll still be photographing families because they also rock my world! Maybe next year, when I don’t have a newborn and aren’t trying to finish my nursing education (yea, started that just yesterday!), I’ll dedicate some time to perfecting child photography.

Shooting on Sundays. I tried that last year and only by my own account did I fail. But this year, more than ever, I’ll need Sundays off – for my newborn, for family, for friends, for my freakin’ sanity!

Shooting every single Saturday of every single month. 2014 was an amazing year for my business! More than half of the year I was shooting a wedding on every Saturday. I can count on one hand how many free Saturdays I had between April and November and I am NOT complaining whatsoever! It was a blessing and it’s what I prayed for! But this is the year to focus on my little miracle of a baby boy!

Lake days! Last year was the first year that I didn’t spend time on the lake… which is just ridiculous because my family has a lake house only 40 minutes away! True, I was shooting weddings literally every single Saturday this past summer and shooting sessions most Sundays, but this is the year I’m saying NO to shooting on Sundays, saying NO to shooting more than three weddings a weekend, and finally saying YES to spending more time on the lake!

Only three weddings a month. Whoa. I know. I usually don’t like to limit the weddings I book but I really feel that this year, more than anything, that’s what I need to change. That means, as of right now, May, June, September, and October are booked up. But that still leaves July, August, and November! In other words, if you’re getting married this year, you should probably contact me soon!

Finally decorating our home. For reasons I can’t explain, I’ve put off decorating our house. We moved into this house in August of 2012 and the only room I got around to doing anything pretty with was the office, which is now being turned BACK into the guest bedroom. I don’t know if it’s the “early nesting” I’ve been experiencing for the past week or so, but whatever it is, I hope it sticks around for good! I have so many ideas for every room of this house and I can’t wait to finish the nursery so we can move on to other rooms!