Virginia Wedding Photographers | Hampton Roads Wedding Photographers | Williamsburg Wedding Photographers | Destination Wedding Photographers
2013 has been an exciting year for us. It was our first year in business as full-time wedding photographers!!! We shot amazing weddings and sessions, met amazing people, got published and defined our brand.
But 2014 will be even better! We have big plans and many goals and we know that hard work, humility and God’s blessings, good things will happen.
So here it is, our 2014 business goals list:
Get published in more places! We mean business when it comes to this one. We work with fabulous people and we want to share their fabulous-ness with the world!
Print and online. Nationwide and international.
What better way to keep us motivated than anxiously awaiting for the new international wedding inspiration book, “Hochzeitswahn” book, to be released in just a FEW DAYS!!! The book features incredible work of photographers from all over the world. We can still hardly believe that they chose one of our image for the cover. It can be purchased directly from the Hochzeitswahn website and Amazon. EEEEEEEEEEEEEK! And that’s just the beginning!
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Do more styled shoots. Obviously working with amazing models and vendors is among our favorite things ever; we love being creative, we love beautiful dresses , we love love love it. So why not more of it?
Seriously, let’s get creative! We want to think outside of the box, and still make some elegant & beautiful stories come to life.
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Branding. This is almost on every photographer’s list of goals. Maybe creatives are just never completely happy with their logo, their website etc. And that might be a good thing. We need to develop to move forward and to stay creative. Branding is so much more than just a logo and that might be the reason why it’s so tricky. Your brand is you. It is what you represent. 2013 has taught us that Michael and Carina Photography is the “and”, it is “us”. Michael and I. Working together as a team. So last year we went ahead and had the wonderful the Girl Tyler make a promo video for us.
We also love a soft, elegant and dreamy look. That is why we have fallen head over heels in love with film photography (old-fashioned, dark-room, amazing)! Tying our love for each other and fine art photography together pretty much makes us as a brand.
The art of it is being consistent. One of the first things we want to tackle this year is welcome packages and client packaging. We also just switched album companies to better streamline our workflow.
Do exciting things. We are going to travel this year – we already have 3 destination weddings booked! Having fun and work are not contradictions! We want to be more adventurous, think more outside the box and be outrageous.Also on our list of goals: shoot in Europe. That is a no-brainer for me. I love an miss my home and know of a million places I am just itching to shoot at. A big return visit to Europe is being planned and I can hardly wait!!!
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Because our personal life and our business go hand in hand, we think it’s important to set ourselves some personal goals as well.
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Don’t get bogged down by negativity. We really want to stay away from “cliques” in the industry. We want to continue to stay positive and pursue all of our goals in a professional, positive, friendly manner. We want to let three things guide the way we work with others: think with love, speak with kindness, and act selflessly. To do this, and be genuine about it, (with God’s help), we’ll maintain good relationships with other professionals and our clients.
Travel more. I already mentioned this in the business list but it is really important to us on both levels. I grew up travelling and I simply cannot live without it. Going on adventures and experiencing new things, meeting new people broadens your horizons. It changes you. And we love it. 2014 will take us to Florida and the West. ROAD TRIP!!!
Be fit. Another obvious choice. We want to be healthy, happy and fit. Since I am not really a big fan of the gym, I want to go out for walks on a more regular basis. I really wish we had sidewalks here!!! In the spirit of being healthy I also just stuffed our freezer with quinoa, veggies and frozen fruit. OH YEAH!
Keep some space between work and our personal life. This is a tough one and I think we might need some tough love here. Being self-employed does not mean that you have to work 24/7. In 2014 we will work on knowing when to “turn work off”. I hope this means we’ll have a lot more time for friends, for going new places, and popcorn-and-cuddle-time on our sofa with doggie.
So that’s about it for now… we’d love to hear more about your goals! Feel free to share in the comment box below!
xoxo
Michael and Carina
i’m sure with your talent and goals, 2014 will be fantastic year for you guys!
These are some great goals. I am right there with you in regards to the negativity. Better to be uplifting and positive than the opposite. I feel like I also want to stop comparing my work so much to others and let it stand alone and be wonderful. Here’s to an awesome 2014!
[…] Inevitably though, this isn’t just a job – it’s our passion. We sat down and looked back at where we were 6 months ago, and the goals we had then. […]