Those of you who work for yourself will know that it's sometimes it's tricky to push yourself forwards without a manager breathing down your neck. Although it sounds a bit odd, this blog is my virtual manager. It keeps me motivated as I know I need to constantly be thinking of new ideas for my business, and consistently producing great images because I'm going to be sharing them with everyone on here! It's only when I look back through all of my blog posts from the year, that I realise how much I've done. Here are some of my highlights from 2011, some business, some personal.....
- The launch of my headshot sessions in Jan & Feb. I met so many wonderful business mums and built some great relationships just through doing this special offer. It's amazing to see where something simple can take you!
- My big boy, Harrison, turned 3 in February and I did a special dinosaur-themed shoot with him to mark the occasion
- I ran my first 'Photography for Parents' workshop in February, and then went on to run 4 more throughout the year
- I wrote a personal post about how I needed to address the balance in my life back in April. And then from July onwards took on less shoots so I could get the balance back in my life. It's been good although I'm still struggling to turn down business! Here's to a more successful work/life balance in 2012!
- I announced a new collaboration with a personal stylist
- My baby boy Sam turned 1 in June
- We had a couple of lovely family holidays in the UK, first to Corfe then to Whitstable....next year we're going a bit more exotic, but the UK is great for holidays when you have small kids!
- I did some lifestyle nursery photography for the first time in July
- One of my favourite shoots of the year was the commercial shoot for My Heart and Home at the Medicine Garden in Cobham
- I ran two photography workshops for creative business people in September and taught 16 business owners how to take better photos of their lovely products
- I did a special shoot with my own family for my parents' Ruby wedding anniversary
- I was lucky to get some great editorial coverage in the Sunday Express, Essential Esher, an interview with West London Mum and some guest blogging for Flourish Studios.
- Karl and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary in October and I shared some embarrassing photos of us as kids
- I did mini sessions for the 1st time this autumn and they were a big success (and luckily the sun shined for us!)
- And finally, we had our very own family photo shoot!
Phew, I feel quite exhausted just reading through these! None of this would have been possible without Karl patiently listening to me rant on about new ideas and allowing me to disappear off to shoots every Saturday morning, my Mum for doing a 130 mile round trip every week to help look after the boys, and my Dad for keeping my accounts in check!
It looks like 2012 is going to be just as exciting (& hectic!), with my headshot sessions in Jan/Feb, lots of sold out workshops in the diary, my spring mini sessions in March and I'm very excited about a workshop that I'm attending in May with one of my favourite photographers!
To all of my wonderful clients, family & friends; thank you so much for your support this year. I'm very lucky to have you all. And to all of you lovely families who I had the pleasure of photographing this year....thank you for choosing me as your photographer.
There is just one final thing to say and I'll leave that to my gorgeous boys.....
....and a very happy new year! I hope you all have a fantastic time with lots of mulled wine, mince pies and bad jokes out of the crackers.
Vickix
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