I am honored to have Lori Nordstrom as our next guest blogger. You can find Lori teaching around the country, or on Photo Talk Forum, an online community of photographers dedicated to growing their businesses! Lori will be presenting at WPPI. “It's a Brand New Game,” is all about shaking it up and keeping things fresh to stay ahead. It's on Sunday, February 19 at 9 am.

I really can’t believe it’s February! Crazy really!! When I was a kid it went so fast … now I just wish for days back! It’s funny how that reverses as we get older – when we’re little we just want to be older, and now we just want to be younger again. Maybe even want a “do-over”. I guess it might be one of the most important things I want to instill in my kids … to live every moment!

Yes, it’s easier said than done. I had to remind myself today that even though January is over, we are still brand new into this new year. January for me always feels like a clean slate and a fresh start, so I’m always a little sad to see it go. This year however I’m going to concentrate on feeling every day like I do on January 1. What can I do today to make it the best day ever?

I’d love to share with you a couple of things that will get you to your happy spot for 2012.

Be A Goal Setter

Did you claim a New Year’s Resolution? Most don’t last, so don’t beat yourself up! It’s something that we call out at the last minute, usually after a couple toasts and say – “next year I’m going to …”

Goals are something different. Goals have direction. Goals need and require action. If you haven’t set real goals before, do it now! When you have a clear set of goals, both immediate and for the future, it makes it exciting to get up in the morning.

WHAT is the goal you want to achieve?
WHY do you want to achieve it? (Give it a purpose!)
WHERE are you, your starting point?
HOW will you achieve your goal? (Action steps)
WHO will you commit your goal to? (Accountability counts!)
WHEN will you reach this goal? (Specific deadline)

Zig Ziglar recommends setting goals in each of these areas:

Career

Financial

Spiritual

Physical

Intellectual

Family

Social

Ziglar describes that when you are working towards goals in each of these areas you have a complete wheel. When you leave out one of these areas you’re going to end up with a flat tire!

I feel it’s just as important to set the daily/small goals and make a plan as it is to set goals for the future. Stephen Covey says that if you spend 15 minutes planning each morning, you’ll add 20% productivity to your day! Start each morning with a prioritzed to-do list, and get more done!

Start A Journal And Write Things Down.

This makes a huge difference in not only moving forward, but re-evaluating later.

I wish you the very best 2012! To help with your planning, download this Business Plan Workbook + Goals Worksheet for FREE!

One of my personal goals has always been to give back. Getting specific about that means defining when, where and how. I've been involved locally and raise money each year for several charities including the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, who I'm very involved with. However, in 2010 I went for the first time to Ecuador.

[blogshow id=9c96 player=1 autoplay=0 toolbar=1]

After falling in love with the people and the culture, and especially the orphaned children, I started a non-profit with fellow photographer Travis Gugelman with the hopes of raising money for the orphanages there. You can follow some of what we're doing there at www.dandoamor.org.

The next trip to Ecuador will be in March 2012. If you are interested in coming on a trip with us or would like to help by raising money, please email me lori at nordstromphoto dot com. I would love to get more info to you about how you can get involved. It's a trip and a cause that will change your perspective and your life – it certainly has mine.

What personal or business goals did you set for yourself and how are you going to go about achieving them? Tell us in the comments section below!

This guest blog post is by Aaron Hockley, a professional photographer and writer who tweets too much and blogs a few times each week. His professional work finds him working with businesses for events, publicity, and editorial work; he also creates abstract and travel photos for leisure. In addition to photography for clients Aaron often works with other photographers to help them understand and refine their online and social media presence.

As we reach the end of 2011, we’ll be reading various articles online and in print about resolutions for the new year. Much like the proverbial gym membership which goes unused after the first few weeks of January, I’ve seen photographers drift away from their promises to change their practices once a new calendar begins.

Looking forward to 2012, I’d encourage folks to look at their photography world from two standpoints: that of the art and that of the business. If you’re a hobbyist, the business aspect is irrelevant. If you’re a professional, you’ll find that the art and business are intertwined. Instead of making a big list of resolutions, I’d suggest photographers pick a theme or two for their 2012 goals.

An Artistic Resolution

From an art perspective, where do you want to go? Is it time to dive into the world of off-camera flash? Is this the year to spend some time learning how to make HDR images? Perhaps you want to get serious about black & white for output. It’s great to think about all of the things that you could do, but after that I’d challenge you to pick just one. Instead of a list, let’s choose one theme for the new year.

Getting Down to Business

If you’re a professional (either full or part-time), it’s also wise to make an objective evaluation of your business as we begin a new year. While each business is unique, here are a few items for evaluation:

• What aspect of your business brought in the most revenue in 2011?
• What aspect of your business brought in the least revenue in 2011?
• How much time and effort are required for each of the previous two answers? What’s the return on the time spent? We’re talking “bang for the buck.”
• What marketing are you performing, and what results can you attribute to each form of marketing?

After evaluating your current business situation, decide what will change in 2012. Pick a direction for a business change in the new year. Perhaps it’s the elimination of an unprofitable aspect to your business, or perhaps it’s time for something new. For my business, I’ve decided to begin marketing and selling my abstract photo art.

After the Theme: Action

So now we’ve picked a theme for something new or changed for the art and business of our photography. What next? Next is turning that big theme into actionable tasks. Sit down with your task planning system of choice. Perhaps it’s an application specifically for tracking tasks. Perhaps it’s a blank document in the text editor of your choice. Perhaps it’s a legal pad. It doesn’t matter.

Record your theme and then start brainstorming actions that will help you move towards that goal in 2012. The actions will be depend on your goal, but might contain:

• market research
• learning a technique
• going somewhere
• branding
• marketing plans
• studying others’ work
• connecting with other photographers in a genre
• outreach to past clients
• outreach to new clients

Massage your list into a plan. The next step is to do the work. Stop planning and start doing, starting January 1st if not before.

Checkpoints

Go to your calendar (again, either electronic or analog, it doesn’t matter) and add some items. Make a note to give yourself a checkpoint on your goals. Set checkpoints for at least once a month, with the first checkpoint no later than Janauary 15th. When you hit a checkpoint, take a look at your efforts and results. If you aren’t moving forward, why not? Do you need to adjust your goal?

Adjusting your goal based on situational feedback is fine and healthy. Abandoning your goal probably isn’t.

2012 can be a great year for your photography. I’d love to know what you’re planning to learn, explore, or change in the coming year. Sound off below in the comments section.