Wow. What a year it’s been. I can’t say I met all of my goals for 2018, but I did triple my business income, upgrade my website and client management system, invest in two new lenses, and double my wedding bookings, and hit over seven thousand followers on Facebook. That’s nothing to shake a stick at.
As I sit down to assess where I’m at and short-term/ long-term goals for 2019, it becomes even clearer that being an entrepreneur is difficult. There is no quick way to grow a business. It takes an insane number of hours marketing and communication and planning and learning. It’s lonely. It’s frustrating. But it’s immensely rewarding.
How many people can say they are the reason a baby boy will someday see amazing, real images of his mama holding him and feeding him in the weeks before her passing? What about being the one who captured the official beginning of a new family tree and produced images that generations of families will look back on? Or snapped portraits of Grandma and Grandpa laughing together before she began to slide into the abyss that is Alzheimer’s? Or made a young leukemia patient smile as she met a real unicorn? Not many people can say they did these things, but I can.
These are the images that make all the sacrifices so worth it. Rolling out of bed early for sunrise shoots or spending Saturdays away from my family aren’t always my favorite parts of the job, but the finished images and their value to my clients make it all worthwhile.
As I head into 2019, I have so many ideas for moving Sarah DeMaranville Photography forward. Below are my priorities for 2019 and beyond.
2019
- Publish a proposal or wedding in a bridal magazine or blog
- Launch and establish Sarah DeMaranville Photography brand
- Maintain an active social media presence on Instagram and Facebook
Beyond
- Make photography my year-round full-time gig
- Established a sought-after bridal photography experience
A giant thank you goes out to my past, present, and future clients for inviting me into your lives. For an hour or a day, I get to be a part of your families to capture love and laughter and emotion that you will remember for the rest of your lives. It means more to me than you know.
