State of the Boobies
2018 is wrapping up and I just have to ask…where did it go? It feels like the years pass by faster and faster as you get older - and I don’t even have kids!
This past year has been incredible from both a business and personal aspect. Let’s recap a bit shall we?
Business
Wow…..in 2018 I shot over 40 beautiful women. Thank you so very much for including me in your life!
I’ve sent home countless albums, pieces of wall art, portfolio boxes and viewfinders.
A handful of mobile apps and nearly 1,000 digital files.
I had a wonderful week in Las Vegas with thousands of other photographers. Got shot at (outside) Red Rock Canyon in 28 deg temps. Naked. Got lost in search of a dry lake bed somewhere outside of Vegas. Got to take an amazing pole class from an amazing instructor while I was there.
I’ve spend time developing my education - improving my email marketing (still working on that! #2019goal), learning about Facebook ads (I want to give them money…but they just go #nudity), giving my finances a serious look, implementing the Profit First technique (which you should go read. Now. You can even use it for your personal life). I started working with another amazing educator who will be coming to Tucson in Jan to do a personal 2 day Boudoir Makeover and help me redecorate the studio - because my decorating skills are a massive fail. That’s why everything is grey in there…
Personal
I spend the first half of the year largely focused on pole competitions. Thanks to peer pressure I participated in my first pole competition in February and certainly didn’t come home with the result I wanted. I felt that I had a great performance that was well executed - considering I was only 6 months in! - but alas, the judges disagreed. It was a fun trip to San Francisco at least.
In May I tackled the “main event”, what was supposed to be my first pole competition (oops). Despite having what felt like the worlds most awful performance (slippery poles will get ya) I managed to walk away with the win; making me the 2018 US National Artistic Pole Amateur Senior Women’s champion. Whew. And yes, sometime’s I’ll leave out a few key words when I really want to make people wonder. After that competition I went into forced time off to deal with what started as an ankle sprain. After no real healing, PT making it worse, injections not helping, we finally arrived at acute inflammation in the anterior portion of the ankle as a result of an accessory bone - the os trigonum. I had surgery on December 7th to remove it and am now hobbling around on crutches. But hopefully ankle pain shall be gone! Then onward to next year!
I finally achieved my front splits on both sides and I am up to a single yoga block oversplit on the left. For those of you wincing in pain, I never had the splits as a kid so it is entirely possible to do it as an adult. Just takes focus and dedication.
We family tripped it to Branson, MO this summer. I got sunburnt. No shock there. Had a good time, made some memories & all that jazz.
We had a shitty time with our chickens this year losing several of them. Our most famed resident was Feather Locklear, a Japanese Bantam that we feared would die any day so we brought her in the house. She lived for about another 6 months until a camping trip to Mt Graham was her final hurrah. Yes, she traveled with us, went up to Prescott several times. Totally not weird.
I turned 36. Contemplated life. Thought about doing things differently. But didn’t. #2019goals.
Looking forward to 2019…
Personal
I’ll be back at the American Pole League’s US National Championships in July. Not defending my title since my win pushes me into at least the Semi-Pro category. I have lots of goals for that one - including creating a second routine to compete in Pole Sport as well as Artistic Pole.
I’m getting my middle splits this year. I’m determined damnit!
I am also, related to the above plans, getting back in shape. Which yes, includes losing some weight but way more focused on gaining strength.
Business
2019 is a year that I’m kind of terming as a game-changer. I’ve got a lot of things in work and in concept. This is the year that I really want to position myself to do this full-time (with all of your help of course!) and I’m starting to make a few changes to test the waters. Most importantly, I want to reclaim some of my life. I’ve been working hard on this for the past 5 years and while I haven’t thrown as much of my free time into it as some, I’ve put aside a lot of stuff for the business so do expect to see some boundary changes.
I’ve set a goal of 60 gorgeous women to pass through the studio in 2019 and there are already ~17 of you on the calendar. I have 2 bridal shows to kick off the year that should fill up most of the other slots quickly. (Yes, that is a not so subtle hint to get your session booked before the dates are gone)
Other stuff that tossing in my mind that I’ll detail in later posts:
Pre-payment options
Restructuring of payment plans
New session availability
Session scheduling process
New products
New session type
Office hours
Less Facebook, more ???
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a fabulous New Year! I plan on enjoying some slightly more “official” time off between Christmas and New Years so if my response time is slow, just be patient!
If you want to get your session booked now, click this link to get in touch.