Latest / The Nerdy Photographer Podcast / 160 - End of Year Reflections: Gratitude, Growth, and Goals

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160 - End of Year Reflections: Gratitude, Growth, and Goals · The Nerdy Photographer Podcast

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  Casey Fatchett: Hello and welcome to the nerdy
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  photographer podcast. Loyal listeners. It is your host,
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  Casey Fatchett and 2025 is coming to an end. We're here in
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  the last month of the year, and I always like to at this time of
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  year, in December, to take a look back and be grateful for
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  everything that's happened, and look at the goals that I set for
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  myself at the beginning of the year. And I'm really grateful to
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  all of you for listening to the show. When I look at the
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  statistics for you know, like downloads and listens and
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  whatever show looks like a bunch of numbers, but for me, it's
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  like each one of those is a person who's listening to the
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  show and getting something out of it. And I started this show
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  for one reason only, which was to help other photographers and
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  entertain people. And that's I feel like I'm accomplishing that
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  goal every time I see that somebody has listened to the
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  show, and I'm grateful to all of the amazing guests that we've
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  had on the show this year. So many incredible people, just to
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  name a few, former White House photographer, Pete Souza,
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  Heather Larkin, JC, Carey, Karen Williams, Fred ago, Cody hammer,
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  Susan stripling, Andrew tomasino, Chase Goodman, there's
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  so many people this. You know, there's a ton of, ton of great
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  conversations. And if you missed something, feel free to go back
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  and listen to it. I highly recommend it. There's so many
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  great conversations that we had this year. And I'm, I can't be
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  more proud of how this year has turned out, as far as my guests
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  and the people who've been on the show and the stories that
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  we've talked about. When I look back at the goals that we set
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  for the beginning of the year, one goal I set for myself was to
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  be on five other photography podcasts, and I was so goal
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  accomplished there. I also wanted to be featured in 10, at
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  least 10 news stories or interviews in publications,
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  either online or in print. And we went way past that. There's
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  over 20, I think I was quoted in over 20 but also, you know, just
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  like featured in like five or six different articles, it
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  really is incredible. Like, again, spreading the word and
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  getting the word out there about the nerdy photographer was
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  really great for this show, podcast downloads for this year
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  are up over 75% from last year, which was previously our biggest
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  year. We had doubled the year before that, last year, and
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  we're almost doubling it again this year, because there's still
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  time. There's still time, folks, we still have a few weeks left
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  in 2025 if you really want to go and help us break the records
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  that we've set, I had set a goal of the number of downloads that
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  I was hoping for for this year. And you know, it was kind of a
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  stretch, and we're almost there. We're very close. So tell your
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  friends, get them listening to the show. You listen to all as
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  many episodes as you can, and maybe, maybe we'll hit that
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  before the end of the year. I Have My Fingers crossed, but
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  that doesn't include the record number of streams on YouTube
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  that we've had. I count those are counted separately. It's a
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  huge number of people listening and watching on YouTube.
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  Speaking of YouTube, subscribers on YouTube went up by 50% and it
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  are growing. If you're listening and you're not subscribed to the
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  YouTube channel, there's a lot of stuff over there. Obviously
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  the podcast episodes are there, but there's also there are also
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  tutorials, there are reviews of gear, their discussions on
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  business techniques and marketing and all sorts of stuff
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  over on the YouTube channel, and I set a goal for myself to
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  release at least one video per week this year on YouTube, and I
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  reached that goal, there will be at least one video, an average
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  of at least one video per week the last couple of weeks of the
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  year. I don't know if I'll have new videos. We'll see, we'll see
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  if they're there, but the biggest thing that I wanted to
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  accomplish was forming a stronger, more active community
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  of photographers than we had before. And I have to say,
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  across all the social media platforms, the podcast website,
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  everything that has absolutely been the case. There's been,
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  we've had. Huge growth on threads, blue sky, getting
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  people talking on Reddit. It's, it's, it's been great to see
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  people getting involved in and reacting and being active with
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  our little photography community that we've created. And I'm, I'm
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  super glad to see that, and it makes me really grateful to do
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  what I do. And that being said, Yeah, we're, we're wrapping up.
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  And I hope that you and your photography journey, whatever it
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  may be, whether you're, you're a hobbyist or a professional that
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  you've gotten something out of this show, out of being part of
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  the nerdy photographer community this year that has helped you
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  move forward in your journey, or just made you laugh. But I want
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  you to set some goals for next year for yourself again, whether
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  you're a hobbyist, whether you're a professional, whether
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  you've just started being a pro, whether you've been a pro for 20
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  years, set some goals for yourself. There's nothing better
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  to help yourself grow than to set goals and to push yourself
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  to meet them. I always set a goal that I think is will take
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  some work to accomplish, and then they've got, like, a
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  stretch goal past that, like, what's, what's the goal past
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  that, that I can, you know, if things go really well I can
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  reach, if I and if things, you know, are fortuitous, and
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  there's good reactions of whatever like that I can
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  possibly reach. So I set multiple goals, and I check in
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  on those goals. And I think that's something to remember
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  that you don't just like, look at them at the end of the year
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  and think, Oh, what happened this year? Go back and, like, go
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  and check on them every month, every couple months, and see how
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  you're doing, see how you're progressing, so that you can
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  either change your approach or or find a, you know, a way to to
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  reach them. Because maybe what you're doing isn't, isn't
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  working out the way you hoped it would. And you know, again,
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  before I close out for the end of the year, I wanted to say
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  huge, tremendous thanks to everyone who is listening. I
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  wish you a safe and happy holiday season and until next
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  year, stay safe and stay nerdy. I.