Five Goals for my 29th Birthday (plus going over last years goals) | Friday Fives with Sydney Marie Photography
Last year I wrote out five goals for my 28th birthday (obviously before the pandemic broke out), and I’m excited to look back on them and see how I did.
Here are my five goals from last year:
1. Healthy boundaries.
The hustle culture is very toxic and being attached to my phone 24/7 was causing some issues in my personal life. I changed the expectations I was putting on myself and changed my response time from 15 minutes to 12-24 hours. I still respond quickly and usually under 12 hours, but I’m not pressed to hurry as quick as possible to respond.
2. Being present.
With Jesse’s job, he travels about 8 weeks out of the year and spending time together has been so important. Over the summer we had Wednesday date nights where we’d get pizza from our favorite pizza place, Rolling Stone Wood Fired Pizza Co. and head down the road to our favorite brewery, Rake Beer Project to eat and have a drink in their beer garden.
3. Give the best customer experience to my couples.
This is an ongoing process, and continues to be a goal of mine. I’m definitely seeing results in the work that I’ve done so far, which has been AMAZING. I want my couples to have the best wedding day possible so anything I can do to help that is a win all the way around.
4. Save and invest money.
uhh, this didn’t happen. Thanks COVID.
5. Run my company, not let my company run me.
One of the BIGGEST things I did last year was officially take Mondays off. I know it sounds weird, but with being a wedding photographer I work most Saturdays. Being able to take off Monday gives me some me time while Jesse is at work and I can just relax and veg.
Now for my 5 goals for this year, my 29th birthday. I want to build on my goals from last year and keep growing as a photographer and business owner.
1. Give the best customer experience possible.
This is going to be my #1 priority this year and every year. I’m working on finishing the workflows I started last year, building and expanding them to be even better. I really want Sydney Marie Photography to be associated with amazing service and experience besides great photos.
2. Save and invest money.
Of course I’m pushing this one. Obviously compared to last year, Robinhood is trash so I’m looking into other places to invest with stocks. I’m still planning on opening an IRA and putting money towards it this year. Being almost 30 I know I need to start saving for retirement and whatever the future holds.
3. Self care.
I’m not getting any younger, and taking care of myself is something I’m really going hard on this year. My mom and I are going to the gym together and I have some big changes coming up at the end of the year I am so excited for. As a creative it feels like taking care of yourself is an afterthought and I want it to be at the top of my list. If I don’t take care of me, then I am letting down everyone when I’m down.
4. Invest in education + my business.
Education is HUGE for me. I actually bought a few courses at the end of last year that I have yet to dive fully into. I also plan on scheduling a few calls with my coach Chelsea to go over new things and what else I can do to create a better business. I also JUST invested in a virtual assistant for my Pinterest and hired a copywriter to go over my website copy and make it better. I’m excited to see these changes flourish.
5. Take an ACTUAL vacation.
One thing Jesse and I have been talking about is going on a real vacation. Not a few nights away up north or an extra night or two around a wedding. We’ve been together over 5 years now and haven’t taken a proper vacation and I want to change that. My goal is to go to Palm Springs for my 30th birthday, but with Covid we’ll see what happens.
It was super cool to look at what I accomplished in a year. Maybe I’ll make this a yearly tradition along with my self portraits.
