OUR GOALS AND DREAMS – Personal Series
There can be value in sharing your goals and dreams with others, but it can also feel like a great risk. Sharing your vision with others allows them to encourage and support you. They can hold you accountable and help keep you on track to reaching those goals. The risk though, comes when you let fear enter. You start fearing that if you share your dreams out loud you may be judged, criticized, and maybe even laughed at. And what if you fail? I mean, what happens if those dreams never come true? That could be embarrassing. I think that fear of failure and not reaching my goals has kept me from sharing my dreams openly.
Starting this business was a dream of mine but I didn’t share it with anyone except my husband. I quietly put the pieces of it together behind the scenes. My friends knew I was taking pictures but I don’t think they ever thought it would go farther than just a hobby. I never talked to them about it or shared my vision. To them it sort of just popped up one day and no one saw it coming or understood. I have been in business for 4 year now and I still don’t think some of my friends and family fully understand that I am running an actual, legal business.
Looking back, if I had shared my dream with others, and allowed them in on the journey I was taking toward building my business, they might have taken me more seriously. They would have seen all my efforts and hard work to make my dream a reality, where instead, it may seem like a whim, a thing I just decided to do overnight.
I never posted about what I was secretly hoping for because I would have been embarrassed if it never happened! There are two problems with this:
1. Secretly holding on to your dreams often leads to insecurity. When you’re the only one that knows about your dreams it allows for self doubt to creep in and talk you out of the crazy big plans that you have for yourself. (This is especially true for women)
2. We need people around us to make our dreams happen. If you keep your dreams to yourself, you’re crushing your chances of any opportunity to make those dreams come true!! Maybe those people that you are sharing your dreams with have connections or insight they can share with you to make reaching your goals easier!
We need to share our dreams with others because the bottom line is, we can’t make them happen by ourselves. So, today I’m sharing some of the BIG ideas I have for Todd and I, that are personal and for our business!! Some of these things may never happen or I may change my mind. God may just close a door completely on them, and that’s OK… it’s not the end of the world.
I would rather share my dreams openly than just sit on them for many years to come and grow resentful that I was never given an opportunity. Todd always tells me, “Fortune Favors the Bold”, so today I am going to be BOLD and share my dreams with you…
1. I want to celebrate my 50th birthday overseas!! I want to visit Greece, Spain, Italy, Paris, and Germany. We’ve talked about going on a European cruise that takes us to each of these places but giving us a limited time in each one. Or we just travel on our own choosing when we want to go where. Todd has traveled the world. He lived in Italy as a young boy, and when he turned 17, joined the Navy and was taken to many ports overseas. He tells me so many amazing stories and describes the places I want to visit so beautifully, it is dream number one! The only thing that would make this dream even better is getting to do a do a session while there!
2. We want to update our home. This house was built 17 years ago and the previous owners didn’t do any upgrades. Almost everything is still the exact way it was when it was built. It is in desperate need of new carpet, window coverings, and PAINT! Good lordy, can you imagine 17 year old builder-grade paint?? It is awful! We are considering putting in a small pool also. When I was married before, our house had a pool and it was always in use during the hot Fresno summers. The kids and I have missed having our own pool. Since we are all home during the summer it would be a great investment and perfect for entertaining guests and someday our grandkids.
3. I want to increase the number of weddings we shoot. My goal would be to book 10-12 weddings per year. I am working really hard on being a greater presence on Social Media so people can get to know me and see what it would be like to work with me. This can be very awkward for me because I am not used to putting myself out there. I am also working on improving my client experience so my brides can’t wait to talk about me to their friends. If you know someone getting married, send them my way!! They can email me at carianne@stargazerphotographyca.com
4. FULL TIME…this one is really hard to say out loud. My BiG dream is to take this business to a level where I can do it full time, and leave my teaching career behind. After 20 years in education, and devoting so much of myself to my students, I would love to be able to retire early and do photography full time. I would have freedom and flexibility, and it would give me so much less stress. A part of me can’t imagine leaving the classroom, I do love so much about it, but the creative in me wants to break free and see how far I can stretch myself in this business.
Well, there it is! My BIG crazy dreams and goals that I have been privately hoping for and dreaming about for quite some time. If I don’t accomplish them, that’s ok! But I’m so much more likely to accomplish at least one of them because I simply SHARED about them! Tell me what some of your big dreams are in the comments!
To learn more about us click here.
Want to learn more about setting goals? Try here.
