First off I wanted to make sure I thanked my regular reader and good friend Sonia Gonzales (owner of eCommerce Linx) for reminding me that I was late in posting my annual review!

For those that know me, you are aware that I keep extremely copious notes and records for how I did in achieiving my goals each and every year. I start by setting forth my overall purpose and theme for the year. A very helpful process I learned from Chris Guillebeau. From there I put down various categories such as “Photography” and “Health and Fitness” and under each category I put my specific goals as well as milestones and metrics that must be met to achieve those goals.

By sharing the results, it helps keep me accountable for the next round of goals I’ve already set for myeslf. So here is the full transparency of how I did in the last year.

…PHOTOGRAPHY…
The past year was a great year for branding James Patrick Photography to a bevy of new clients. We began to pursue more national and international editorial features and had the pleasure of working on some very fun, challenging yet successful commercial/advertising campaigns. I developed my first printed photography book titled STRENGTH IN CONTRAST and used it as a primary marketing tool to submit to new and prospective clients. My team and I photographed well over 30 magazine covers not only in Arizona, not only in the southwest, not only in the United States… but also had work appear in South Africa, New Zealand and the UAE! Our work kept us traveling between Arizona, California and Nevada pretty consistently throughout the year. The downside was that I’ve was not able to break through with a multitude of the clients I have been working to build the relationships with. Thus I’ve made it a point to allot significantly more time to be able to meet with my clients face-to-face in order to build the foundation for a trusting business relationship.

…PUBLIC SPEAKING…
I had made the choice to limit the number of presentations I gave. In 2011 I over-committed myself and was very worn out from all the presentation preparation work. So in 2012 I chose to only do two seminars, both of which went very well and received a lot of positive feedback.

…MULTIMEDIA & VIDEO…
I’ve been attempting to open up the time for several years to teach myself the technique of filming video so I can eventually incorporate it as a service to provide to my clients. I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that I once again did not teach myself how to do video. The good news is that I just decided to hire someone who can! In December I teamed up with the fantastic videographer Max Anderson so now I can offer to any of my clients his outstanding video work!

…HEALTH & FITNESS…
Want to talk about rollercoasters? I lost more than 60 pounds and competed in my first ever Men’s Physique competition in March. Then I was so burnt out and tired from the process that I took something like six months off from training. I reignited myself just in time to run my first half marathon in December. I’m proud to say that I’ve now found a very enjoyable balance of training four-to-five days a week and loving every moment of it!

…FAMILY & FRIENDS…
I began and went through most of the year making sure I spent as much time as I could with my family and friends. From weekly dinner with my family to regular get-togethers and dinner parties with old and new friends; I was very socially active. Honestly, towards the end of the year however, I was surrounded with work and did not spend as much time as I could with those that matter to me. I had set the goal of taking two trips that had nothing to do with business. I unfortunately did not take a single one.

…PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT…
Each year I try to develop my mind in concert with taking care of my body (listed above). To do this I read nearly 30 books in the past year. I finished the 30th right after New Years Eve, so I’m not counting it. I attended several seminars and workshops on topics including photography and post production to continue to develop and enhance my abilities.

…SIDE PROJECTS…
After something like 20 episodes, my team and I took a break from recording our podcast TheProExposure. It was our goal to figure out all the audio complications we were having in the recordings and return strong with a second season. As of the end of the year, we’ve completely upgraded our recording equipment and have already recorded a month’s worth of fantastic episodes to launch soon!

…WRITING…
This is perhaps my biggest failure of the past year. Or shall I say the past two years. I’ve been sitting on the very promising concepts of two e-books. However with limited time and focus, neither have come to exist. It is something I’m very determined to correct in 2013.

…NEW YEAR. NEW CHANGES. NEW GOALS. NEW PROJECTS…
Many are aware that I’ve worked in marketing along with my photography business. As of December I have resigned and will focus exclusively on my photography work as well as freelance marketing efforts. It was one of the biggest and most challenging things to overcome. To leave the security and comfort of a regular job to full invest into a passion.

Also in honor of entering into my 10th year as a photographer, as of  this week I launched my brand new personal project called the Year of the Shot in which I will take on challenging and creative projects and document the results of my efforts. Check out the site and feel free to submit your ideas for the chance to be a part of it!

Now I look forward to hearing about your goals and adventures as we enter into the new year! Feel free to share in the comment section of this blog.

James Patrick
jamespatrick.com