The beginning of the year offers a refreshing time to reflect and make changes. It's the time we look back on what we have learned, make goals, and decide our direction for this next year. We reached out to our Showiteer community for some ideas that can help give you a new start to your year in business. Make it a great one!

Start Your Day with a List of To Do's

I do it the old fashion way, pen and paper! I always list my top three things that I need to get done that day and start with those tasks. The rest are bonuses. Email and social media tend to suck us all in and ruin our work flow so this list sitting right in front of me on my desk is a constant reminder to stay on task. CORTNEY TALBOT

Go Through Your Portfolio with a Machete

One small change that can have a HUGE impact on your business & new bookings during this engagement season, is to just go through your portfolio with a machete and eliminate anything you aren't super proud of or that doesn't still fit your style. Think of your website like your storefront: if people don't like what they see in the window shopping, they'll never make it through the front door. If I were going to look at your site with you right now in person and you would tell me “oh I've gotten so much better since then” about a photo, then it doesn't still belong in there! Narrow down to only the best, and you will instantly be worth more to your potential brides. JUSTIN & MARY MARANTZ

Make Sure Your Business is Protected

Make protecting your business a priority this year! Take your contract and have it looked over by an attorney to make sure it complies with local and state laws and fits your business. In a time when there have never been more ways to outsource your creative tasks… look at hiring an attorney as outsourcing a very important business task! ELLE DANIELLE

Reconnect and Make New Connections

Before the crazy that is wedding season begins, the beginning of a new year is a great time to make new connections and reconnect with friends! Is there another creative you'd like to connect with? A vendor you might like to work with? Cultivating meaningful and REAL relationships with other creatives can the be the catalyst to opportunities and connections you can't develop sitting alone in your office. But being in community is so much more than just creative opportunities. It's a chance to encourage, to serve, to be a part of something much bigger than our businesses. So get out there this new year, shake a hand, give a hug, buy a coffee or treat some one to lunch, you never know where that connection might take you! DEBORAH ZOE PARKER

Review Your Successes and Failures

One of the things I love to do is go through the calendar of the previous year and recount the things we did, the events we held, the different specials we ran and think about what worked well and what didn't. Listing 10 things that went well that year that we want to build on and then taking a hard look at what didn't or what didn't cause growth or benefit our clients and getting rid of those things have been helpful in guiding us towards solid concepts that work with and support our business goals. It keeps us focused and keeps us from being pulled in a million different directions. IKE & TASH HAYNES

Create Consistency

One way we create consistency is our Month Duty Day!
The First Monday of every month we take care of the little monthly tasks that so often get put on the back burner.
• Update mileage records
• File sales tax
• Updating and recording expenses
• Paying the mortgage
• Blogging Calendar
• Paying bills and paying off credit cards
• Give Bokeh his Flea and Heart worm Medicine KATELYN JAMES

Jefferson Todd Pals

JT is the Designer Community Lead at Showit Inc., a Gilbert, AZ based software company creating easy to use tools for custom website design. He was a professional wedding photographer before beginning his design career using Showit software. JT is married to the love of his life Ashley and they currently share their household with two mostly well behaved golden retrievers, Napa and Sonoma.