Well, it’s the time of year to tell you my 2023 goals!

Ahh, Happy New year friends! Can you believe it’s 2023?

I know every year seems to go by quickly but I was just thinking the other day how the year 2020 was literally 3 years ago… and let’s be honest that is a year we will all never forget. Hopefully we don’t ever have to go through another year like that again, am I right?

On January 1st I am usually a big fan of doing the whole new years resolution thing. Always getting new notebooks and fresh stationary because it makes me feel like I have my life together. But this year just feels different. I do not feel this urge to set all these random goals for myself like “drink more water” or “exercise every day”. Not that those are bad, but I’m just tired of seeing the same goals get set by everyone and then watching everyone slowly fall away from them as the year goes on.

So instead, I decided to set some realistic goals for myself…but more importantly I want to share with you some changes I am going to be making in 2023…because those are way more interesting I think.

Honestly, it’s scary to admit some of these to you out loud because these are pretty gigantic life altering changes I am making for myself. But I know that this is the right decision for me and my family so let’s get into it.

Reflecting On Last Year

Last year brought a lot of life changes for me both in my business and personal life. The biggest being that I became a mom to our sweet son Stetson.

Motherhood is a whirlwind. Becoming a mom has been so much different than I ever could have imagined. So much better but so much harder too. I really thought I would be able to just fall right back into my normal day to day life and that is not the case at all.

In the very beginning, the baby sleeps a lot which is nice. But you are still healing and trying to rest as much as you can so “productivity” isn’t much of a thing. After a couple of months you start to get back into a routine. For me this went well for a little while…until we hit about 2 months.

It was my first podcast interview back after having my baby and it was a big one. And for whatever reason I scheduled it on the same day as Stetson’s 2 month shots not thinking it would affect him in any way. Turns out… shots can make a baby really fussy all day. And he was. During the entire call he cried and screamed and I about lost it of embarrassment. After the interview was done I called my husband, cried to him on the phone, and then took a nap with my baby because I was so emotionally drained.

In that moment I realized just how different my life had really become.

You can listen to that episode here.

I’ve learned a lot about myself since having a baby. And I have become much more patient for sure. You don’t really have a choice. Because of those things I learned, I have set very intentional 2023 goals.

No More Wedding Photography

This year is going to be my last year as a wedding photographer. And I honestly cannot believe I just wrote those words. As terrified as I am to admit this is the end for me, I am also so dang excited. To be clear, this is not something I just recently decided. In fact, this was decided years ago. Before I was a mom, and before I was ever married.

For me, wedding photography was just a stepping stone to get to the bigger dreams I had in life.

I’m an entrepreneur and I love business and building brands and creating content. And for a while I LOVED doing all those things in my wedding photography business. But I have reached a point in my life where it no longer makes sense to continue down this road.

I’ve missed family events, friend hangouts, date nights, and just relaxing weekends at home. Now don’t get me wrong. I love every minute I get to spend with my amazing couples. Each and every one of them has made me better at my craft and I am truly so honored to have been a part of their special days.

But when I am saying yes to these weekends away… I am also saying no to my little family.

You can still book my associate team for your 2024 wedding though! Click here!

Focusing On Helping Brands Grow

I am really excited for this year and the way my business is pivoting. My plan is to put a way heavier focus into this podcast and serving y’all! (In more ways than one). There’s already so many exciting things in the works that I cannot announce yet because I don’t want to put the cart before the horse but think along the lines of 1:1 coaching, online courses, digital resources, and more.

2023 Goals

This year is going to be the year of passive income (hopefully). Tyler and I are in full on family planning mode and we want lots of babies. Am I insane for wanting another baby this soon?

We want a minimum of 4 kids and I am trying to have them all by the time I am 30. So we got like 3-ish years left. So with all that in mind our focus is generating income for our family that doesn’t necessarily all involve our time.

Those goals include:

• Being more intentional with my work hours vs. family time
• Utilize my team more & expand my business
• Charge more for my time
• Scale back on photography, focus more on the podcast & other ventures
  • Brand collabs
  • Affiliate marketing
  • Coaching
  • Online shop / E-commerce

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Resources

OTHER EPISODES YOU’LL ENJOY

• 6 things I learned in 26 years
• An open letter the eve before my wedding
• My maternity video

RESOURCES

• Click here to get my entire Year of Content Resource
• Sponsor an episode of The Branded Cowgirl Podcast

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MEDIA INQUIRIES & BRAND REQUESTS:

• Brands & General Inquiries Please Email: Hello@SarahElrod.com
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