The
Alisandra Photography Blog

Let me just say this. Part of me LOVES writing these types of posts. The other part of me thinks, “I am for sure driving readers away writing about ME and what I DID and what I DIDN’T DO.” But that first part is winning. The one that loves writing these posts. Because I know that after them, when I’m finished, I will have grown and learned more about where I’m going. And that makes for a wedding photographer who is informed and has direction and is going to serve her clients MUCH better because of that. SO here we go.

Lara Casey is quickly becoming a person who I admire deeply. I’ve never met her, and I don’t follow her blog obsessively, but I’m in the beginning stages of that last one – unashamedly. She just began a new series to help people with their life. I say life, and not business, because these principles can be applied to anyone who wants to acheive goals. And we ALL should have goals. It’s simply titled, “Making Things Happen.” And so like I said before, here we go.

STEP 1.

WHAT WORKED [what to celebrate] // This year was interesting. I went back to check out my goals, and I realized I never blogged them. That was a big “what didn’t work,” but we’re not there yet. Keeping the focus on the “What Worked,” part, something that I was super excited about was meeting my booking goal of 20 weddings. Just really happy about that. I shot 23 beautiful weddings this past year, and I am so proud of my perseverance. Chad and I were able to commit to supporting two missionary families. That is one of the biggest reasons I’m in business – for the Lord, so when I get a paycheck, a huge percentage goes to these families. And I’m excited to say that we met that goal this year. After moving to Richmond at the beginning of this year, I wanted so badly to plug into a community of believers at a church we could really love. We didn’t have to look at three or four churches… or even two! God blessed us by bringing us to Redemption Hill and getting us involved in a community group. God’s faithfulness to us is amazing, and when we committing to a church, we are committing to part of the body of Christ, and this year, it “worked.” Also, we bought a house. That was a goal Chad and I had – home office, a space to meet with our community group, and an outdoor living space – God provided all of those things in our new home! Last year, I had a new mid-year goal to have a custom website made. I felt stuck, and so my designer and I decided to go big and rebrand. Well, it has been accomplished, and we’ll be launching a new website with a revamped brand this month! So, hurray for all of these things. Cheers to Chad and I, and to God, for seeing this all through. Now for the hard uncomfortable part!

STEP 2.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK // Well, I’ll start with a big one. I had no real written out goals. I had nothing to refer back to in order to evaluate myself through the year. I also did not plan for marketing at all. I marketed, a little, but there was no streamlined process or plan to really get me off the ground in a new city. I also failed at following my chore chart. Chad and I had too many conversations that turned teary on my part that happened because I was not committed to doing my chores. Along the same lines, I failed at following my “Richmond Rules.” I made these when I moved to Richmond last year because I love new beginnings. I think they are a good place to change habits because you’re already out of your comfort zone, but I didn’t. Here are some of those things: making the bed, getting dressed [don’t judge – I work from home, so this is actually hard], floss daily [again, don’t judge], reading the bible every morning.

So there you have it! A small, short evaluation of 2012. Hang in there – This is only Part 1. If you’d like, for some vision inspiration, take a gander at my 2013 Inspiration Board over on pinterest! I’ll be building on this board to encourage me throughout the year and to start the next steps of this process!