Auld Lang Syne :: Reflection and Excitement

Well… it’s here. The last post of 2013. Sometimes when we look back at the past year it feels like a year. A good, solid, hearty year. Other times we look back and can’t begin to remember where the time went. It feels like we blinked and 12 months flew by. Either way, there’s no doubt this was THE year. This was the one. The year we’ve been waiting for, praying for, hoping for, working for. Our 3rd year as Birds of a Feather Photography far surpassed our expectations, and frankly some of our craziest dreams. Now that we think about it… this could very well all just be a dream. Waking up every day to this blessed life. To our loving, laughing family. To a career that never, ever feels like work. To the couples who have become an extension of our family. To the joy that comes from working incredibly hard at the “hobby” you love the most. This must be a dream, and so if it is, please… don’t wake us. We want to keep living here. We want every year to be THE year, the best yet. So to the heavens above, and the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart, we extend our deepest gratitude for this incredible dream-like life we get to live. 2013 has been amazing.

Tomorrow is a new year, a new day, a new morning. There are things to be done, photos to capture, air to breathe, love to share, and life to move forward. We’re ready. We’re excited! We can’t wait! There’s so much in store for all of us in 2014, and although we have no idea what it might be, we go into this new year with happy hearts. We’re willing to give this year all we’ve got, and hopefully come out better than we started. Really, that’s all anyone can ask for.

As we look forward at our goals for 2014, we realize we must look back at what we hoped to accomplish in 2013. Here’s the Goals List we had for 2013 and how we did…

 

1. Put customer service as our first priority

*Check! Our dedication to giving our couples an extraordinary experience on a personal, service based level has only gotten stronger as this year went on. Our inbox was never full, at any point this year. Our delivery time was impeccable. Our couples were made a priority and we valued their trust. While this may sound a bit like bragging, we’re instead sharing with you our excitement that we have been able to deliver the type of service we so wished to provide. We put our hearts into our work, and we work so hard to make sure each couple’s experience is incredible. Meeting this goal has been the most rewarding to us.

 

2. Create a workflow schedule (and stick to it)

*Check! While it wasn’t perfect, and didn’t always look the same, we did manage to build a workflow into the weekly routines of our non-shooting tasks. We realized a strict schedule isn’t possible, especially with the different levels of busy each weekend had in store. But, a basic layout to our week made life so much easier. The bulk of our work was done in almost the same order each week, making it possible to be more efficient. We also ate a few more lunches this year 😉

 

3. Stick to a strick, close of business time each day

*eh… we got BETTER at this but the problem has not been solved. Heck, this blog post is being written at 12:44 am the night before it’s due. But hey, we’re a work in progress. The major problem we eliminated was marathon editing sessions. Maggie didn’t stay up editing until dawn at all this year, and that was a huge blessing. Thanks to a more streamline workflow (and Sweet Cheek’s 8 hours a week preschool program… holla!) the latest nights we had were spent answering emails after dinner. All in all, this one we’ll mark as a success with room for improvement.

 

4. Become better photographers

*We sure hope so! Just looking at some of the photos from January of 2013 make us cringe, and we’ve been told that’s a good thing! Our work has continued to evolve, we’ve continued to learn, and to challenge ourselves.

 

5. Become less critical of ourselves

*Check! It’s a constant struggle, but we’ve gotten better at being kind to ourselves. Maybe we’ve just learned to be more confident in our skills, maybe we just stopped listening to the negative inner dialogue and self doubt… either way we are able to look at our work critically without judging ourselves. We’re able to realize the constant room for improvement in our work, without feeling like our work is “the worst photography known to man” 😉

 

6. Take a real vacation

*Check-a-roo! And we hope to do it again this year!

Later in the week we’ll post our Goal List for 2014. Stick around to check out what we hope to accomplish in the new year so you can hold us to it  😉  For now though, we’ll leave you friends as we settle in for the end of 2013. When the clock strikes, we hope you are happy to look back and excited to look forward just as we’ll be.

 

Now sing it with us…

“We’ll take a cup ‘o kindness yet. For days of Auld Lang Syne!”   😉

 

Cheers!