1) Pay off debt & bank as much extra money as possible!

As the Great Dental Woes of 2011 have become the Bankrupting Dental Woes of the Two Thousands (or so its starting to seem as I guesstimated I’ve probably spent $10k out of pocket since having my own dental insurance policy in 2002!), I’m realistic in the fact I’m gonna probably end 2012 with a pitiful future house fund and a dentist that’ll be able to better clothe/feed his children at that expense. I do have every.single.intention. of being out of debt on the cc balance I have now (for spring 2012 tuition and a few dumb purchases in 2011) that’s locked in on a 0% BT through November 2012. I don’t plan to carry a balance on the other two cards that I use for daily purchases and gasoline and pay off at the end of each month (one nets me a decent cashback bonus of approx $100/year for using it & the other one nets me about $150/year towards paying off my student loan balance). My student loans will be paid in full by year’s end (they’re just over $2600 as of today). My car will be paid off by summer’s end; however, its falling apart slowly, out of warranty completely, and just surpassed 100k last month, so I plan to trade it in on something else that I hope won’t be falling apart before its paid off! … that’ll be sometime between September and December 2012. I am contemplating two weekend trips this year + possibly one longer trip in late spring that I need to save some money for … at least one of those I’ll have travel companions to split costs with, the other two I don’t know yet. Meanwhile I want to beef up my emergency savings, try to build back up my medical savings once I get past what has to be done this winter (its about 1/3 done now), and bank some biz income towards buying a 70-200mm lens for biz & personal usage. And maybe, just maybe, if the biz has a banner year beyond my expectations AND Canon finally releases a quirk free successor to the 5D Mark II, I’ll be able to afford to pay cash in hand for it late this year.

2) Get & stay healthier.

I’m gonna be open here but not to the point of TMI in hopes I’ll have some positive support in achieving this one this year. Family and some friends know about this, but I’m putting it out there for everyone else to help hold me accountable and be supportive (btw, if you don’t have anything positive to say, click the X in the corner now.)

I’ve been reading up on foods to help counter this pesky phenomenon known as Acid Reflux that I seem to have developed/inherited. I’d like to keep what teeth I have before it destroys them all. Having TMJ is bad enough, need to lower my stress and decrease the # of times I spend more than half an hour with my mouth being worked on so it will stop flaring up so often so I won’t have to take those pesky muscle relaxants that make me feel dingy. I’d also like to counter all these weight (30 lbs) that stress and PCOS have helped me pack on since 2007. I’ll be happy to lose 15 of it. My wardrobe budget would be glad too …

While this is a year-long goal, next month I’ll begin spelling out what small steps I’m working towards to achieve this. Right now I’m looking for the right workout regime and foods that’ll help both issues.

3) Focus on education/growth as a photographer.

Essentially, all those materials I didn’t finish last year? Gonna finish them if it kills me or means a little less sleep a couple evenings a week. Also I have two photo projects this year — a 52 week challenge (year three of shooting/blogging an image a week on my biz blog) + monthly self portraits inspired by a quote that speaks to me that month. Also going to invest in a few tools to challenge myself photographically (filters primarily).

4) Either make or buy American for part to all of every present I gift this year.

If you’ve seen the Made in America series that ABC News has broadcast about since last fall, then you know what I’m talking about … how many jobs we can help create/maintain if we buy American instead of cheap overseas crap. I bargain shop & buy gifts for people year-round as I come across things I know family and the friends I gift to will like, so usually they get twice as much as a result. This year I intend for at least one if not all of the items I gift them for birthdays/Christmas to be American made or made by me. I’d love to be able to do the same for baby and wedding shower gifts that come up during the year if possible … but I’m not going to hold myself to that one since those are usually purchased from registries!

The 2011 goals … click here to read the explanations, then come back to this post to read how I achieved or tried to achieve them!

1) Pay off debt & bank as much extra money as possible!

Let’s see, I paid off a lot of debt, but due to unexpected dental woes that set me back over $2k out of pocket (insurance paid less than I did and I nearly maxed it out by midyear), I didn’t get as far into the achieving debt freedom as I’d planned to.  I did bank a considerable amount of money, just not as much as I’d planned. The emergency fund is within a $1,000 of where I wanted it, that goal will happen this year plus a bit more. I keep wiping out the medical savings account with all of the dental woes. In fact, I just wiped it out as of January 3rd because the dental woes have decided to break me again for a second year in a row! Saved up and paid for most of three long weekend trips last year, only a little bit on the cc that I paid off out of current income when the bill came. Future home was the only thing that got back burnered. I still may get there by December 2012 … or close!

2) Get & stay healthier.

If we ignore the bloody dental woes mentioned above (and the acid reflux that’s the primary cause of bankrupting me!), I had a pretty healthy year otherwise. I didn’t get back into running as I’d planned … the Texas summer we had nixed part of that when I finally had time, then changes at work left me too exhausted. I did lose five pounds between early November and the end of the year. Found a couple of them in the last week though :-/

3) Focus on education/growth as a photographer.

I attended Imaging USA in San Antonio last January (a year ago this weekend in fact), but left with mixed feelings. Learned a lot and came across some great products but in the end, my mixed feelings led to implementing some major business changes at year’s end. Still very slowly working my way through all the workbooks, workshop manuals, and dvds. CPP is on hold for now because of the aforementioned major business changes. Maybe someday. Goals and plans have changed for now.

4) Continue getting rid of stuff I don’t need or use.

As I said at the beginning of 2011, “I won’t begin to tell you how much stuff I donated or sold last year … but I still have a bunch of stuff to go through, including stuff stored in a barn and a storage building that’s been there for several years.  I’m also getting rid of a lot of my business props that I no longer will use since I stopped offering certain session types … a few of the items I spent too much time locating, so I’m keeping those for when I will have a reason to use them myself, but the rest are about to be gone!”

I’ve gotten rid of a lot of that (need to sell off some stuff too) and I’m still sifting through stuff to get rid of. Maybe by the end of this year I’ll be down to what I can load into a Uhaul truck whenever I move!

5) Complete several personal photography projects.

I actually made a bit of progress in two of my personal photography projects, just have to find time to edit all the images and then share them on the interwebs.

6) Learn how to sew (properly).

I didn’t get around to making a few crafty projects I’ve had my eye on for awhile over the course of this year but I did get in there and take control of the sewing maching and got a feel for it again. It’ll be on this year’s goals for sure …

7) Read all the books that I currently have taking up space!

Good grief … I read 125 books in 2011. About 30 of those were via my Kindle app on my phone, many from the library, and many more trades at the local book exchange. I read some of these. Not all. Many are still glaring at me that they’re accumulating dustbunnies. Trying hard to ignore the kindle app and to read what’s still lurking before I trade/buy more!

Work less, enjoy life more!

I did cut back on sessions (granted, the economy also helped a tad there!), but due to some work changes I did spend a chunk of the year stressed out. Definitely gonna try to take on less ‘work’ and focus on things I enjoy this year.

2012′s goals will actually be on two levels, monthly and year-long. I’ll start sharing the monthly ones in February … and as soon as I get a few minutes, I’ll post the few year-long ones!

So … for 2011 …

1) Pay off debt & bank as much extra money as possible!

This is actually a summary statement for about seven financial related goals … ranging from paying off debt to banking a set amount of money for/in an emergency fund, future home, medical expenses, and future travels. I even sat down and listed out all the regular/monthly bills I pay, then calculated what comes out of what paycheck (I get paid twice a month). Some items vary from month to month, but most bills are static and made it a bit easier to see what was left to pay on current expenses that vary (food, gas, medicine, books, etc) and to stick in the savings. If I stick to it (someone wanna hold me accountable?), I should achieve all of them by December 2012

2) Get & stay healthier.

I mentioned this one is carrying over … especially as I put on four pounds during the holidays (Nov-Dec)! I’m determined to whip myself back into semi-decent shape to run a 5k at some point this year … and to stop having to donate/replace pants this year!

3) Focus on education/growth as a photographer.

I’m kick starting this one next weekend when I attend Imaging USA, the annual conference for Professional Photographers of America. My focus that weekend will primarily be on the pet side of my business as well as the trade show/expo, where I plan to compare products by a few vendors that I want to add to the product line over the next year. I’d love to find a bargain or two on some ‘wish list’ items, but its not a priority right now. After I get back, I have some workbooks/workshop manuals & dvds I’m planning to spend late January – March studying and testing out (lighting related for the most part). After that, I’m pushing forward onto the biggest goal in this section: preparing/studying to become a CPP — a certified professional photographer. Its a two part process and I have three years to complete it once I declare my candidacy (which I’ll do in April when I start preparing). I hope to submit the images for the image review in August, late fall at the latest, and hopefully early next year take the exam portion.

4) Continue getting rid of stuff I don’t need or use.

I won’t begin to tell you how much stuff I donated or sold last year … but I still have a bunch of stuff to go through, including stuff stored in a barn and a storage building that’s been there for several years.  I’m also getting rid of a lot of my business props that I no longer will use since I stopped offering certain session types … a few of the items I spent too much time locating, so I’m keeping those for when I will have a reason to use them myself, but the rest are about to be gone!

5) Complete several personal photography projects.

I have several in the works that I want to make serious headway on this year … which will involve quite a few day trips on weekends when I’m not studying or shooting sessions. And it would help me knock out some of my 30 in 30 and 101 in 1001 goals in the process!

6) Learn how to sew (properly).

I have owned a sewing machine since I was 11. It rebelled against me within that next year and when we moved, I packed it up … and that’s where it stayed until this summer. I intent to make a few crafty projects I’ve had my eye on for awhile over the course of this year. I also want to learn some hand stitching techniques to make some other sewing related projects that don’t involve a sewing machine.

7) Read all the books that I currently have taking up space!

I figured I should illustrate the point this time around … and for the record there are over 70 books pictured here … and I probably have another 20 more that I didn’t unearthen to photograph because that stack was about to tip backwards (hence the ghost hand/wrist on the right end of this photo. A few more are hidden from view by the comforter at the bottom. Two of those actually belong to family members, the rest are all mine. Many came from the local book exchange, Goodwill, and other thrift shops. The rest are Amazon or B&N buys. A few I was crazy enough to pay cover price (or close to it) at B&N. Usually though I went the cheaper route (aka Amazon/Amazon Marketplace) buying them.

Right now I have three library books (a Vince Flynn novel, a Philippa Gregory novel, and Matterhorn) + one other book (Oogy) I’m gonna focus on before tackling these!

Work less, enjoy life more!

Do I really need to explain that one? Okay, outside the day job, I plan to take on only half as many sessions as compared to past years … all work and no play make for a stressed out, unhealthy, boring me.

1) Be more frugal/wiser with the business.

To a certain extent, I made wiser choices … while not all of them were cheap, I did see a need to upgrade certain pieces of equipment before it became a necessity rather than an option (and still be able to sell/trade other pieces of equipment while they still held some value). I did buy some things impulsively, but for the most part, those were items that were on sale (or designers that had ‘buy my entire store for $50′ sales!)

2) Clear out items I just don’t use or need.

I have done pretty well at this one … still have a ton of stuff to get rid of or find time to list for sale on Ebay. Last month I dropped off a large load at Goodwill … one that filled my entire trunk and the backseat of my car!

3) Get healthier.

Can’t say I did a great job at this one. Tried. Failed. Its at the top of the list for 2011.

4) Do a better job of keeping up with bookkeeping for the business.

Managed to stay caught up through early June. Spent all day last Monday getting caught up! Not as bad as last year, when I spent a week in January doing nine months of bookkeeping!

5) Make more time for the important things.

I tried … I really did. It’s right behind ‘get healthier’ for 2011!

6) Take more day trips, visit more festivals that interest me, and take classes for *fun* stuff.

Started on this one, plan to continue it in 2011

7) Photograph the things I *love* at least once a month.

Successfully completing the 52 week image challenge I set for myself … almost done with it! I’ll post a collage of all the images on the 1st or 2nd. Took time in the evenings to photograph stuff for myself (until daylight savings time ended and my work hours changed). Plan to focus on this more next year as well.

8.) Learn more about Photoshop in terms of design.

Completely failed at this one. Learned some new tricks on the editing of images side, but not for design. And that Kelby membership I bought on sale a year ago? Used it once.  

9) Network and volunteer more.

Volunteered my photography services for CASA at their 5k last spring. Approached a number of businesses to display my marketing materials, and spent six months featuring area mom & pop businesses on my site. Didn’t get to participate much with the chamber due to the day job conflicting with a majority of their events.

10) Launch several projects that are in the wings.

I finally launched the pet portraiture site in late summer. The portrait website is already undergoing an overhaul. My blog (for the biz) will be too in the coming weeks. I still have a few other projects I’m slowly making progress on that’ll debut in 2011. It’ll mean continuing to accept less sessions/commissions, but sometimes you have to do what you love even if it means a half step back occasionally.

2011 goals will debut next week …

Well, I’d heard how good they were, so when I was putting my list together over two years ago, I threw it in towards the end in a moment of despiration (to come up with 101 things!).

Today, after a portrait session in the Dallas area, we headed to a nearby mall (that would be deemed crazy considering its the weekend prior to Christmas!). I spotted a Jamba Juice shortly after we entered. I kinda insisted we head over to it and explained why (got a couple of crazy looks from the two teens with us) I was wanting one.

Yummy! Strawberry Swirl … took a couple camera phone images on the spot, but decided to reshoot the cup upon arrival home to prove it was indeed completed!

It was tough — not only thinking up something to blog daily, but also remembering to blog daily as well! Theming certain days (Monday Loves, Friday Five, Recipe Saturday, the weekly image on Sundays) did help, but some days I either had nothing to talk about or couldn’t publicly talk about … or barely remembered after a busy/long day to log online to post something.

Now that I’ve knocked that looming goal off the two lists, I’m gonna focus on the online photography class I’m taking right now … so posts won’t be daily, but I’m gonna try to keep up the themed posts at least for now!

1) Pay off the remainder of my student loans & business debt

2) Upgrade my camera body to the 5D Mark II

3) Get the ipad + iproof pro to switch to in person ordering

4) Learn how to use Illustrator so I can design templates, etc myself

5) Take a vacation to Vancouver, British Columbia

6) Find a college teaching position somewhere I’d love to live for a few years (Colorado, Wyoming, Montana at the top of the list)

7) Build my dream home (with a studio included)

Own a piece a jewelry from Tiffany & Co.

9) Stay at one of the lodges in the Canadian Rockies

10) Splurge on a custom designed blogsite (for the biz)

Then today I volunteered my photography services for the local CASA’s 5k race. As much as I enjoyed photographing it and helping an organization I would love to volunteer for if it weren’t for the conflict of interest better known as my day job (being that CASA volunteers — Court Appointed Special Advocates – serve as advocates for children and sometimes their parents are defendants in criminal cases, which is what my day job involves), I realized I wish I had ran/jogged/walked the race today. 

(umm, sorry for that run-on!)

Its been twelve years since I ran a race — the 400m to be exact — and thirteen years since I ran a distance race (2 miles for cross-country). I haven’t ran actively in two years, prior to that, I hadn’t ran actively in nine years due to knee problems and life getting in the way. I was at a mile and a half in 20 minutes when I gave up at that point — found out that I was way down on the wait list for phase II of the FBI Agent Applicant program and wasn’t gonna get that call anytime soon. Back in cross country, my best one mile split was seven minutes for the first mile. Best finish was in the sixteen minute range for two miles — two races, one of which I was sick as a dog and a cold front hit that morning (in Houston at regionals), after training and running races in 90 to 100 degree heat all season. 

So its safe to say I’m seriously out of shape. Which is obviously why I didn’t sign up to run but offered to help in another way.

And due to a nice little pesky health condition I was diagnosed with over a year ago, I’ve been battling weight gain that diet alone isn’t countering — so that has me motivated to get back in shape too.

Coincidentally, I discovered that someone had distributed entry forms on all the windshields for a 5k on June 19th in a nearby town when I got back to my car. I decided right then and there that one way or another, I’ll be in that race, whether its running, jogging, or walking the distance.

So now that I have some motivation and want to, I need someone to hold me accountable to training. I have approximately eight weeks, one of which I’ll be traveling out of state. I’d ask my brother, but his idea of motivating me isn’t my idea of motivation and he has an injured knee, so he can’t run with me. Not that he’s ever ran more than 800m at one time as it is …

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!

I know, I know, I was a horrible blogger in 2009 here on Geek Notes. But I promise I was really good at blogging nearly daily on my photography business blog!

So, before I list out some 2010 goals (in tomorrow’s blog post), I thought I’d review over the 2009 ones …

1) Did fairly well at this one — if a 17 day roadtrip to Alberta, Canada and back and a weekend roadtrip to Tulsa via a portion of Oklahoma’s Route 66 counts for anything.

2) I did both of these. And guess what? 2 am on New Year’s Day 2010, I had to order another system because my Sony Vaio is a lemon (fan has now frizzled out on me twice in less than a year). Still — 72 hours after I called — waiting for the service guy to call to schedule the appointment to replace it before my warranty goes out next Friday. At least the lenses aren’t giving me grief!

3) Meh. Did semi pitiful here. Business *investment* and two trips kinda kept me from maintaining this one as I should have.

4) Still working on this one — I did two giveaways through my business — one winner was the family of a son with brain cancer who passed away less than two weeks after their session. The other winner was someone who did a kind deed for a woman with breast cancer — the winner’s session is scheduled for next month. I also joined Think Pink Photography but haven’t had any sessions yet. I also, as of Veteran’s Day, announced my own program for those serving/previously served in our Armed Forces. I’m also (unsucessfully) trying to get the local humane society to partner up on another idea — their board won’t take the time to get back with me and I’m tired of nagging.

5) Failed at this one. Its repeating as a 2010 goal.

6) Slowly working on this one, it’ll continue as a 2010 goal as well

7) Actually was pretty good at this one — the only actions I wrote were ones for my personal usage in resizing and saving files in large quantities!

Tomorrow: 2010 goals …