For those who have read my blog over the years know, I am rigorous when it comes to setting goals for myself in my personal and professional life. My process requires anywhere between 8 and 10 total hours of time in which I start by reviewing how I did in the previous year and then looking ahead into what I want to achieve in the new year. Although for yourself you can take as little or as much time as you would like depending on how in depth you would like to go.
I then move to forecasting what outcomes I will have for myself by the end of the year, what my primary intent will be as well as providing the year a theme. For example in 2016 I have dubbed it the year of focused and relentless marketing with razor sharp personal accountability.
Once I have set some primary themes, outcomes and intentions I then move to the major categories of goals. I personally have categories including topics such as Photography, Public Speaking, Personal Development, Writing, Friends & Family and more. Each category will receive a general snapshot goal for the year.
Then in each category I set S.M.A.R.T. goals. This meaning the goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Sensitive. Then each goal receives a due date for when I want to complete the goal by (making it time sensitive).
For example I have one goal to develop and release a new demo reel for 2016. I have details on what I want included for the demo reel and I have set a specific due date of March 1st to have it completed by.
I go through each category setting as many goals that come to mind. I don’t honestly expect to achieve 100% of everything I set. If I did then I am not challenging myself enough.
Now comes the most important part of the goal setting. On the document I am working on I leave space to do three reviews throughout the year. The worst part about business planning is that once it is done it is often left on a shelf in a binder or in a folder hidden in a drawer and never really used. Goal setting needs to be a dynamic process that is checked in on multiple times throughout the year. I set reviews for myself in the Spring, Summer, Fall and a final year end review.
This gives me several opportunities throughout the year to refocus my efforts or even revise some of the goals so they remain relevant to what I am trying to accomplish.
Overall there are a few things you can expect to see from the James Patrick Photography team in the new year. For starters we will be doing a lot more media pitches on behalf of our clients working to help them achieve their goals of being published. We are already in works to host our second FITposium event in Arizona sometime during the fall to help talents learn how to establish, market and profit from their brands in the industry. We will be pursuing a significant amount of both commercial and editorial projects on a local and national basis. There will be a stronger focus on providing video services to our commercial as well as our modeling clients. A second as well as a third e-book are in the works to be launched and sold on the FitModelGuide.com website. We will be launching more educational content for free on how to succeed in the talent industry on TheProExposure.com network. Finally we are seeking additional and new ways to increase the value we offer to our clients.
Now I want to hear your goals. Post what your 2016 goals are for your brand on the James Patrick Photography Facebook Page to help create mass accountability with others in the community. I am excited to read what you have in store!
James Patrick
IG @jpatrickphoto
jamespatrick.com
