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This is the 8th year in a row that I’ve answered this exact set of questions looking back at the year that is quickly slipping away & looking forward to the new year that is upon us! 8 years in a row – that’s so crazy to think about! It’s really fun to look back now over the past 7 years and read what I was most proud of, what I learned, and what I was most excited for – it’s fun to see the progression of my goals growing and changing.
Shout out to Jamie Delaine for originally inspiring & sharing the outline to this post 8 years ago!
If you’d like to go back and read over what I wrote the previous 7 years I have done this, click here for 2014’s version, click here for 2015’s version, click here for 2016’s version, click here for 2017’s version, click here for 2018’s version, click here for 2019’s version, and click here for 2020’s version!
And if the ridiculous amount of words in this post intimidate you – I promise I’m not offended by you choosing to skip this one (there are over 4,790 words!). In the next few weeks, I have a lot more “pretty” posts planned – my favorite wedding & engagement session images from 2021, as well as some Abby Saturday bloopers, plus the ever-popular “behind-the-scenes” look at me while I’m “on the job”! So, stay tuned!
Of course, if you’re into reading words – let’s dive in!
LOOKING BACK
What are you most proud of this year?
This year, I looked at my days & realized that I needed a solid morning routine. I had a semi-routine set up for my mornings in 2020 & 2019, but I wanted something more concrete.
And specifically, I wanted that morning routine to include exercising (along with a few other things).
For all of 2021 (with the exception of the 2 weeks when I had COVID) I got up & exercised 3-5 days a week – for the entire year. Even when we traveled, I still made sure I got up & moved my body in some way to keep the momentum going.
I credit my success in this to finally finding an exercise that I love: cycling (or spinning). Previously, we had a treadmill & I have spent the last decade really trying to get into running (all intermittently of course, the most dedicated I ever was, was completing the Couch-to-5K program in 2020). The problem was, I hated it. I hated running. And I especially hated running on a treadmill, in my basement. It was just so boring.
Enter: us buying an exercise bike last December & me figuring out how to use the Peloton app on my iPad with our off-brand bike.
I absolutely love it. Every ride is completely different. Using the Peloton app, I can choose from a variety of instructors (and over the course of the year, I’ve figured out who I love & who I usually pass on), each class is focused differently, with different genres of music – the class I take today is going to be completely different from the class I took yesterday & that keeps it fresh & exciting & fun!
It’s the first time in my entire life that I have found an exercise “program” I love & look forward to doing. And that is what has kept me going for an entire year.
(I wrote 2 long blog posts on this topic back in the summer if you want to read more on my fitness journey & specifically what bike we have & how I have it “pimped” out! Part 1 & Part 2)
What was the biggest risk you took?
If you’ve been around my blog & business over the last few months, you’ve probably caught a whiff of “change” in the air.
For starters: I completely re-vamped my wedding photography pricing & structure this year. And, in doing so, I decided to go a direction that I haven’t seen anyone else go. I’m sure I’m not alone in how I have my pricing set up (it’s a big world out there), but I don’t know anyone personally who has their pricing set up this way. It’s different, but it makes so much sense to me & I’ve only gotten positive feedback on it from my clients! It’s streamlined, it take so much of the “guess-work” out, it makes my pricing super easy to understand. (When I re-vamped my pricing, I raised my prices too – something I haven’t done in a few years & that was scary!)
Additionally: I’ve been dropping hints about me starting an additional, completely new business. It’s something I really started to process & pull together in the spring & summer – and while doing a ton of research & investigating, I realized that I really needed a few guinea pigs. I needed some people to try my new idea out on – I needed them to walk thru the process with me, push all the buttons, pull all the levers, and see how it all came together on the other side.
Writing that Facebook post & asking for guinea pigs (while also giving an overview of my idea) was absolutely terrifying. I mean, I understood what I was trying to do & I saw that benefits to it, but would other people get it too? Pushing the “post” button on that post was definitely one of the scariest moments of my life. But, it turned out amazing. I got incredible feedback, a handful of families who volunteered as my guinea pigs – it was invaluable. I learned SO much thru that process & really started to hone in my idea.
Unfortunately, as I was finishing up that “guinea pig” phase, my wedding photography season kicked into full gear and I turned my attention 100% over to my wedding clients (after all, they are the ones paying my bills). So, I put my new business venture on hold for a few months until all of that wrapped up – but I haven’t forgotten about it! In fact, the desire to get back to work on that new business has only grown & increased in my time “away”. There are no words for how excited I am & how much I am looking forward to the “off season” of January, February, and March – so I can once again jump back into baby-business-building! Since the end of November (once my photography season officially wrapped), I have been able to get back to work on things, slowly but surely – which leads me to one more thing I want to add to the “biggest risks” header..
I officially put out the call for help about 2 weeks ago – specifically childcare help. Don’t get me wrong, I can accomplish a lot during the day with my kids, but especially with this new business being in infancy, there are SO many things to do to set the foundation up & start to get the ball rolling. And, it’s all things that take time & effort & concentration.
Someone once said: there are “interruptible tasks” and “non-interruptible tasks” & you have to choose what type of task you are doing when, in order to stay productive & not get frustrated. For example: I can be interrupted while editing images, planning my content calendar, and making sure my finances are up to date. However, writing emails & blog posts & designing a brand new website are all tasks that require concentration & I’d prefer not to be interrupted while doing them.
Right now, with this baby business, I have a lot of “non-interruptible” tasks. And so, I put out the call for some help – someone to come hang with my kiddos for a few hours a week so I could close my office door & really dig into the work I need to do to get things off the ground.
I hated doing it because, I feel like – I started my own business so that I didn’t have to hire childcare, so that I could be with my kids all the time.
However (and Derrick’s been telling me this for years), I am a better, more present, & happy Mom, when I have a few hours to dedicate to my entrepreneurial endeavors. It’s not that I love my businesses more than my kids – I’m just wired in such a way that I feel most fulfilled if I can dedicate a few hours a week to getting business tasks done. I’m more relaxed, feel more productive, and am simply a happier person. I can add certain tasks to my to-do list & leave them there, because I have a someone coming to watch the kids & I’ll get it done then (otherwise, business-tasks eat at me & drive me nuts until I sit down & do them).
So, as much as I didn’t want to do it, I asked for help. And I actually had a few people respond! So, I’m very excited for the new year & having all of that kick into play!
What did you learn this year?
I have always considered my culling & editing processes (for my photography) pretty solid. After all, I’ve been doing this for 12 years now, I would hope that I have a grasp on what I’m doing by now! However, at the beginning of this year, I started to notice some places in my workflow that could probably run better.
Right around that time is when my sister told me that she had bought an online course (from one of my favorite wedding photography educators) and it completely revolutionized her culling & editing process. Up to this point, my sister (who, if you aren’t familiar, is also a photographer) was culling & editing fairly similar to how I was doing things – but I’ll never forget the day she came up to me at the Lake House & said, “You HAVE to buy KJ’S Consistency Course.” Her eyes were literally on fire as she explained how it had changed her business & that fire spread to me – I couldn’t not look into it!
And I did! But it’s an expensive course & so I decided to wait until there was a sale (which happens about 4 times a year) – because, I’m a super frugal person. So, at the end of spring, a sale was launched, and I purchased the course.
I jumped right into it – eagerly consuming the entire course as quickly as I could & forcing myself to implement what I was learning immediately. It was hard. I didn’t want to change. I loved my current process of Adobe Bridge + Photoshop – I knew what I was doing, had my systems set up & knew that any sort of change was going to (initially) make my process slower.
And it did – the first wedding I edited with Photo Mechanic + Lightroom took me twice as long as if I had edited it my “old” way. It was such a learning curve! I could see the value in the change though, so I continued to press forward, even when it was super hard.
And slowly – things began to turn around. As I learned the keyboard shortcuts & polished my process, things actually began to move along faster than ever before.
Now? I can’t even imagine ever going back to how I used to edit! My new processes are twice as fast as they used to be! I am quite proud of myself (if I do say so myself) for taking the leap & trudging thru the mud – because here on the other side – it was most definitely worth it!
(I still utilize Adobe Bridge & Photoshop, just not anywhere near the extent that I used to! Lightroom is my new BFF.)
One more thing: I really struggled this wedding season with staying hydrated. It didn’t seem to matter what kind of day it was (cool or hot, inside or outside) – I was walking in my door at the end of every wedding day feeling like a camel who had just walked across the dessert. And even though I would chug a glass or two of water before bed, I was waking up every single day-after-a-wedding, feeling super hung-over. It was awful. I mean, it’s normal to feel “hit by a bus” at the beginning of the wedding season, but after the first wedding, I typically am fine – but not this year! I was struggling every single time I shot a wedding. And the only thing I could link it to was my hydration level.
So, I began to be super conscious of how much I was drinking (and eating) on a wedding day. I began to actually pack a lunch for myself (fancy that – eating lunch on a day that I’m on my feet for 10+ hours, carrying 50+ pounds of equipment all day long) and I began to pack lots of water (and forcing myself to stop & drink whenever I could).
Then, when I’d get home from a wedding, while my photos were downloading, I’d drink my 32oz. water bottle with a packet of Liquid I.V. in it.
All of a sudden, I went from being completely useless the day after a wedding (migraine, sore, tired), to waking up completely back to normal. I’m so thankful!!
What do you wish you had made more time for?
Speaking of time: did you know, up until a few weeks ago, I was posting (almost) everything on social media in “real time”? Meaning, there was no planning or forethought – I was choosing an image, writing a caption, adding hashtags, and then pushing “post”.
Do you have any idea how LONG that takes?
Which is precisely why I completely fell off the bandwagon & just stopped posting – it took too much time & effort.
But, a few weeks ago, I began to automate everything. I sat down one afternoon & planned out about 2 weeks worth of Facebook posts, Instagram posts, & pre-wrote as many blog posts as I could.
And you know what? Not only did it take less time (because I was in the “content creation” mode), but I could then walk away & completely forget about it because all the work was done! And things would post automatically for me! Hands off!
I know, I know, social media is supposed to be “social” and using scheduling apps is a “ding” against you in the algorithm, but you know what? I don’t really care. I’ve got a consistent presence again & that’s what’s most important.
And it’s left me scratching my head: why didn’t I do this sooner?
What are 3 highlights (business or personal) of your year?
- If you’ve been reading my blog posts over the last week or so, this will be an “eye roll” statement, but we traveled a lot in 2021. Specifically, we traveled over 7,200 miles just to ride roller coasters! We took a big vacation to Florida in the spring, and then traveled all over Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, North & South Carolina. It was fantastic & wonderful & so much fun!
One of the biggest highlights of the traveling though was seeing Derrick speak at the Keys to the Kingdom event at Kentucky Kingdom. It’s an all-day gathering of roller coaster enthusiasts – they are treated to exclusive ride times, special meals, behind-the-scenes tours, access to areas of the park that are restricted for photo & video footage – plus there is a Q&A session with a panel of “celebrities” in the roller coaster community. And in 2021 – Derrick was asked to be on that panel. Seeing him be introduced, seeing people cheer for him, hearing him speak, and then seeing people line up to talk to him afterward – it was all a bit mind-blowing. I mean, Derrick gets recognized at just about every park we go to – so having people come up to us & ask if Derrick is XscreamThrills is not a new experience. But, seeing a crowd of hundreds of people know who he is – it was just astonishing. - Speaking of Derrick – he had several goals in 2021: he wanted to hit 10k subscribers on his YouTube channel, and we wanted to hit 10k followers on Instagram. Derrick manages his YouTube channel solo, but I manage his Instagram account – after all, all of the images that are posted there are mine, so it just makes sense for me to post for him. I piggy-back off of his YouTube content, which makes things a bit easier, but I still manage all of his postings. 10k followers was a lofty goal – his account had been growing, but just very very slowly (on average, I would say he gained about 5 new followers a day). At that rate, we were never going to hit 10k by the end of the year (we started out in January with 4,444 followers). At the end of the summer, I convinced Derrick to start creating Reels for his account. I challenged him to create a Reel every single day for 30 days. It was slow going at first, but by the end of the 30 days, we were seeing a significant & consistent jump in growth. It was too good to ignore, so we continued. I would post photos & Instastories for Derrick, and he would create Reels – and we did it. A few weeks ago – we officially hit 10k followers on Derrick’s Instagram account! And, as we finish out the year – we sit at around 13.1k followers – meaning we have grown his Instagram account 9,000 followers in one year (with most of that growth happening in the last 5-6 months).
- I officially officially began homeschooling Braelynn this year. While we did Preschool & Kindergarten on our own time & at our own pace, this was the year for 1st Grade – and thanks to a recent change in the PA Homeschool Law, parents now have to report their 1st graders (parents never used to have to report their kids until 3rd grade). So, this has been our first official year. I had to get paperwork notarized & deliver it to the school, I had to create objectives & a plan, I have to keep records of what we do & how many days we do school – it’s a lot more work.
Thankfully, Braelynn is an excellent student & she is doing fantastic with 1st Grade! In fact, I think she’s learned more in 1st Grade than she learned in Preschool & Kindergarten – she is just so much more ready for school now. She retains things so much better & quicker and she enjoys doing school (mostly). Her favorite subject is math (in fact, we are currently on Christmas break, but she asked if she could continue to do one subject even while being “off” – math!) I’m just so proud of her & how far she’s come in the last few months.
And I’m so proud of me for teaching her everything she knows! We have had a much much more peaceful school year this year than last & that’s due to a lot of different factors – but I can’t leave this section without giving myself a pat on the back for pushing thru & continuing at teaching Braelynn. It’s hard work, but 100% worth it.
LOOKING FORWARD
What “word” do you want to define 2022?
Carefree – without anxiety or worry.
This is kind of strange to admit, but I don’t have as many weddings booked heading into ’22 as I usually do. Normally, that realization would tip me into a tailspin & I’d start to lose my mind (“I must be a terrible photographer” “Why won’t anyone book me” “Do I need to rethink my entire marketing strategy?”) but for the first time ever, I’m not panicked. In fact, I’m almost totally at peace with that fact (I say “almost” because, there is a teeny tiny smidge of anxiety in the very back of my mind. After all, I’ve been a full time wedding photographer for 8 years now – it’s a part of myself!)
But, I’m not in a tailspin, I’m not panicking, I’m not anxiously trying to run Facebook ads & give out big discounts just to fill my calendar.
And to be honest: I think the reason I don’t mind, is because I see it as a sign that I really need to dig in & start my new business. And if 2022 ends up being a “light” year for wedding photography – that just leaves room & space & time for me to build something else. And when I look at it that way – 2022 suddenly seems pretty darn exciting.
(Which carries me straight into this next question..)
What are 3 big goals (business or personal) for 2022?
- I feel like, for the past few years, a lot of our effort has gone into creating Derrick’s business & YouTube channel. I’ve spent an enormous amount of time helping him (I manage his Instagram account, take every single photo you see anywhere associated with his business, I do his book-keeping & end-of-year finances – a lot of stuff) and while it’s been incredibly rewarding to see the fruits of those labors (he now has enough content on YouTube to receive some monthly revenue & he’s recognized at every park we go to) it’s time for me to shift my focus back around to myself. My wedding photography business has simply been “coasting” for a few years now – I have my systems & workflows in place, I know what I’m doing, all the “start-up” stuff is long over & done with – sure, I’m still learning (see above how I learned a whole new way of editing this year!) but the foundational business stuff has been set & is solid.
But – I’m ready for something new. I have this idea & I’ve started to flush it out (see above on “risks”), but I need to continue that forward momentum. Starting a brand new business is hard – it’s so much work!! My list of things I need to do (setting my foundation) is literally a mile long: I need to create a website, solidify my pricing structures, I need a Facebook page and an Instagram account (and content to publish there), I need to set up contracts & payments & bank accounts – tax accounts & bookkeeping – and on and on and on. There is a lot to do.
But I’m excited! It’s exciting.
So my big goal for 2022 is to officially kick off my brand new business venture & begin to get it off the ground (meaning, actually book a few clients!) - My second goal goes along with my first: I have a YouTube channel & I’d really love to see it grow. I post all of our family vlogs & films there, plus some random wedding FAQ content that I’ve created, but I’d really like to actually grow that social media stream. I currently have 42 subscribers (which is double what I had last year at this time!) – so my goal for 2022 is to hit at least 100 subscribers (want to help me out? go subscribe to my channel!) And, I don’t know, maybe that goal is way too low – but I’d love to hit triple digits!!
On second thought: this section is titled “big goals”, so let’s say 500 subscribers in 2022! Dream big, right? - With all that work going on – I really want to continue to build out my morning routine. I feel like I’m half-way to where I want to be, but I feel like I’m not 100% there yet. I’ve got the exercise habit down, but I really want to add “morning pages” (journaling) and a more consistent devotional time into my routine as well. Ideally, I would just wake up a little earlier so I could have some quiet time before my kids wake up, but Braelynn regularly wakes up between 5:30am & 6am – so that really isn’t an option (I just can’t wake up at 5am, I can’t). So, in 2021, I got myself a “gentle” alarm (meaning, it slowly begins to glow, mimicking a sunrise, and then plays a very soft & gentle sound) so, I wake up every morning by 6am. I just need to make a few adjustments to “clean up” my morning routine & then I’ll be happy with it!
What do you want to stop doing in 2022?
(First off: I just have to say – last year, my answer to this question was: “I want to stop coming up with great ideas & then never acting on them.” And well, here we are – on the verge of launching a brand new business that I’m SUPER excited & passionate about! How cool is that?)
Okay, but seriously, I always dread this question because it’s so challenging to answer (because it’s backwards, you know?)
Anyways – I want to stop putting my own dreams & desires in the backseat of the car. I feel like, I have all these ideas, mostly this new business idea, things I want to move forward on – but they just keep getting shifted to “tomorrow’s to do list” because one hundred “little things” get in the way of me making them happen today.
Now, don’t take that the wrong way: I’m not saying I want to stop being a wife & Mom & teacher in favor of working more, but I do need to put my foot down & start moving myself forward. Because – let’s be honest: no one else is going to. No one else is going to step in & say: “Hey! Let’s get this new business off the ground!” I have to do it. So, if that means re-arranging my days, pressing into more automation, streamlining more of my workflows, being more diligent with the time I have – I have to propel myself forward & get it done. End of story.
What things excite you about the upcoming year?
Thanks to the massive (and continual) success of Derrick’s YouTube channel, that opens a lot of doors for us as far as traveling & riding roller coasters. It also means, we need to continue to travel & ride roller coasters in order to keep that momentum going (see the circle effect we have going on?)
That being said: we have some super exciting plans for traveling in 2022. There are a few parks on our radar that were just a little bit out of our “range” for 2021 – but that are on the horizon for 2022. I don’t want to “claim” that we’re going to a whole list of parks, because our plans are still very much up in the air (we like to travel pretty spontaneously) – but we do have plans to go back down to Florida in the spring. AND, while we had an incredible vacation to Florida in 2021, our time there (sadly) did not include a visit to Walt Disney World (there were a lot of factors that went into that decision & it was okay). Needless to say: if I step foot in the state of Florida again – we must go to Disney – non-negotiable. I simply won’t survive another Florida trip without visiting (at least) the Magic Kingdom. And Derrick knows that & totally understands (and is completely on board) – so, even though that trip isn’t set in stone yet, it’s definitely something we are actively planning!
Just thinking about riding the Monorail & stepping off onto Main Street USA – I get all emotional. In 2022, it will be 13 years since the last time I was there & a trip to the most wonderful place on earth is highly overdue.
There is always a lot to look forward to in a new year, but my sister Amy is also having a baby in 2022 & that lands at the top of my list of “looking forward with excitement” list (Disney might be at the tippy top, but immediately following is meeting my new little niece or nephew!)
What do you want to learn in 2022?
I want to continue to grow & change & be open to growth & change .
In my business(es): I want to become more streamlined, embrace more automation, & set up more workflows to better serve both myself & my clients.
In my personal life: I want to experience more spiritual growth, live less in fear & anxiety & stress & have more confidence. (Can we say: tall order?)
So, there you have it! If you’re interested in playing along and looking back over 2021 & looking forward to 2022 along with me – here is the list of questions to copy & paste! If you do, would you tag me in your post either on Instagram or on Facebook? I’d love to read up on your year in review & your goals for 2021! You can even grab my graphic to use! Here’s the link to download it!
LOOKING BACK
What are you most proud of this year?
What was the biggest risk you took?
What did you learn this year?
What do you wish you had made more time for?
What are 3 highlights (business or personal) of your year?
LOOKING FORWARD
What “word” do you want to define 2022?
What are 3 big goals (business or personal) for 2022?
What do you want to stop doing in 2022?
What things excite you about the upcoming year?
What do you want to learn in 2022?
