Well friends, it’s February. I don’t know about you, but I’m still adjusting to the fact that 2015 was here and gone faster than I can remember. And yet here we are already into the second month of the new year. I know we are long overdue in sharing this post with you, dear friends and followers, but some things in our hearts and on our minds took a little longer to figure out this year.

We have a process that we like to go through each year for reflection on the past and planning for the future. We actually have a business meeting sometime between Christmas and the first week of January to discuss our business plans. Frank’s buddies like to make fun of him for this fact. “You mean you and your wife had a conversation?” We actually take this planning session very seriously and block out a few hours over multiple days or in some cases a full day to go to a coffee shop or the library with our laptops and business notes. I typically write out an agenda, we discuss all of our plans for the business for the year and each come away with a list of takeaways or “to do’s” for the coming weeks in order to set our business plans into motion.

On the personal side, we have a tradition that on New Year’s Day we plan a day out in nature (typically a hike) and use the time to talk and reflect on our personal goals for the year. We talk about what we want to accomplish individually and together and help each other come up with a plan for accomplishing those goals. This year, the realization that we did not do well on our personal goals for last year really hit home. Aside from accomplishing one big thing off of our list – buying a home – we allowed home renovations and a busy work schedule to take away from our personal goals. Anyone that knows us can attest to the fact that travel and adventure are a big part of our lives and anyone who spent the last year with us would know that we didn’t make much time for that last year. All the more reason why we needed to be honest in our reflections and look forward to how we can improve upon that for this year.

For those that don’t already know, Frank and I both work a full-time job in addition to running our business. So a final step for us in this process is to discuss ways in which our work and personal lives will be balanced throughout the year. A few ways we do that is to cap the number of weddings we do each year and carefully plan any time away well in advance so that we aren’t tempted to schedule over it. We also work hard to keep one weekend a month free for “us” time. That way no matter how busy work or other obligations will keep us, we know that one weekend a month we can get away to do something fun together.

So that’s a little bit about what we’ve been up to in this area over the last month. Today we would like to share some of our 2016 goals with you, both professional and personal. One of the greatest things about being in business with your spouse is having someone to keep you accountable along the way! So here’s to a great new year with lots of fun and adventure ahead!

2016 Professional Goals

• New Website and Blog – we are currently working on a website relaunch and a new blog site. Stay tuned for some exciting announcements coming soon!
• Improved Blog Content – this is my department (with some guest appearances from Frank). My goal is to provide you with some more interesting blog posts, fuller galleries from our weddings and engagements and some glimpses into who we are personally throughout the year!
• The International Academy of Wedding Photographers (“The Academy”) – those that followed along with us last year may remember that we started our courses with The Academy. Our goal is to finish the coursework and earn our certification this year. We will be providing some periodic updates on some of the work we are doing to improve our business and our client experience.
• Read up on BUSINESS – read at least two business books this year! Send us a note with any suggestions!

2016 Personal Goals

• Home Renovations – finish painting, repairing and decorating all rooms of the house (with exception of the kitchen) and share some of our renovations on the blog. Do external renovations in the spring and summer.
• Travel – book travel plans for two mini trips and one large (10-day) trip.
• Health & Wellness – find some new clean and organic recipes; develop a food shopping and cooking plan that works for our schedule. Plant a garden to help support our focus on organic health and wellness.