Originally scheduled to post on January 8th … but due to technical difficulties, it didn’t … apologies galore to everyone …
I am so glad 2010 has arrived … well somewhat! In the first few days of 2010, I had to order another computer system much earlier than I’d prefer and I somehow managed to do something to my left knee. At least the knee’s at about 80% and the computer system is arriving in segments. Pretty shiny new 21.5″ monitor’s been sitting on my desk since yesterday and the CPU’s due today. Extended warranty will be here on Monday. At least I got free shipping 
So, without further ado … my 10 goals for 2010 …
1) Be more frugal/wiser with the business.
Over the past two and a half years, I’ve purchased a great number of things from gear and props to software, plugins, and templates. And sadly, there have been many disappointments among those purchases. So no more impulse — debate, contemplate, and figure out if its necessary at this point. I’m eliminating a couple of trade related memberships I don’t feel I’m truly benefiting from, putting a few other items on hold temporarily as they’re not necessary *yet*, and investing in items that’ll actually see usage.
2) Clear out items I just don’t use or need.
I’ve begun clearing clothing out of the wardrobe that doesn’t fit or that I haven’t worn in forever. Recently I went through and cleared out all the unread books that appealed to me when I bought them but don’t anymore — if I haven’t read them by now, odds are I’m not going to at all. Same applies to other items in my possession. I’m even going through physical items I have for the business — there’s a lens or two that’ll be finding new homes soon so I can upgrade to a lens I will use.
3) Get healthier.
At least part of the issue was diagnosed last February and I’ve slowly begun to see some changes now that I know what’s going on and medication is working. Still fighting the whole lack of energy issue at times, don’t know much else to do there for now. Keep watching what I eat, force myself to walk away from the computer and work out more. Once it warms up, I want to start back to running again as well. I have a few running goals on the 101 in 1001 list to accomplish by April 2011!
4) Do a better job of keeping up with bookkeeping for the business.
I fell behind around March last year — and will be spending this weekends catching up on all the expenses that I’ve got to enter into the spreadsheets and tabulate for my tax person. At least the revenue and sales tax stuff’s done, just gotta pay the sales taxes before their due date!
5) Make more time for the important things.
In other words, less working, more time with family and friends, pursuing my other hobbies, reading the Bible more, travel, and taking care of myself properly.
6) Take more day trips , visit more festivals that interest me, and take classes for *fun* stuff.
Just get out and see and do and learn basically!
7) Photograph the things I *love* at least once a month.
Photographing clients and their requests day-in and day-out does cause any photographer to burn out after awhile. I want to shoot more stuff for me, the things I want in my portfolios — whether its animals, humans, plant life, scenic vistas, random details on an old vehicle, or textures to use on my images.
8.) Learn more about Photoshop in terms of design.
I purchased a year’s worth of online training with Kelby Training back in December when I could get an awesome deal on it. Haven’t used it yet — course, my pitifully slow internet and cranky lemon of a computer has a bit to do with that. At least I have three local options for wi-fi that I will start taking advantage of even more pretty soon. I want to learn how to make my own overlays, templates, and other graphic related stuff. I’m tired of paying others for what I could do if I only knew how!
9) Network and volunteer more.
The bad thing about working full time in my day job field and then spending hours at a computer editing images and designing stuff from portrait sessions is that my face to face interaction with humans that are productive members of society is pretty low. I’m now a member of the local chamber, so I want to start attending some of those events periodically. I also want to do some volunteer work with a local organization or two, give back locally.
10) Launch several projects that are in the wings.
I just launched portfolio sites for my portrait and commercial work as well as my fine art, travel, and landscape work (still undergoing a few tweaks) last week. And I have a pet portraiture site in the works. I also have a few other projects I’m slowly making progress on that’ll debut this year. It’ll mean taking on less sessions/commissions, but sometimes you have to do what you love even if it means a half step back occasionally.
There are a few other goals I would have added to the list, but I wanted to focus on only 10 and see if I could attain them all first!
