We’re not sure a new year has ever been more anticipated than this one. But, that makes us all the more determined to make 2021 our best year yet! And since one of the best ways to meet a goal is accountability, we asked members of our team to share their personal and professional goals for the upcoming year: 

Nick Nydegger, Founder/CEO

Personal: Carve out more time to play piano.  With running the business and having two children under 5, I don’t get as much time for music, and I really need it to disconnect. With a chaotic year like 2020, I didn’t set aside time for it, and I felt the skill start to slip. In 2021 I’m making a resolution to dedicate at least an hour a week.

Professional: It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day aspects of agency life, and 2020 made it very difficult to visualize a long term growth strategy. I’m going to be very specific here, so check back with me in December 2021. My resolution is to not lose focus on our agency’s goal to grow 25-35% in 2021.


Jenn Steere, Director of Operations

Personal: 2020 was such a strange year and we missed out on a lot. So first, I plan to visit family and friends that I haven’t seen since before the pandemic started. Prior to the pandemic, we had been going on one big trip per year. This year we missed out and we have some travel buddies that are anxious to plan our next adventure. I did a lot of reading this year, which I loved, so I plan to continue reading and discovering new authors. Other goals are to start back in a regular exercise regimen and to find a local Bible study. 

Professional: Having joined a larger team this past year, I find being organized even more imperative and plan to hone in on getting as organized as possible to help keep my days on track. To continue to grow in my role, I plan to take advantage of any continuing education opportunities whenever they arise, even if it’s just reading an industry-related book. However, my biggest professional goal is to continue to get to know my new team members and help to grow our culture here at TargetMarket.


Jenny Murrie, Director of Client Success

Personal: Be more intentional about planning family activities and date nights with my husband.

Professional: I want to get my Google Ads certification in 2021.


Cary Saineghi, Director of Project Management

Personal: Make a dinner meal plan weekly. At some point, I need to stop planning dinner 10 minutes before I start cooking it – no better time than 2021! As a busy mom of four, sometimes our dinners are rushed for soccer practices (or the likes), or I’m running from my desk to the kitchen to get cooking – there has got to be an easier way! 

Professional: Learn something new. It sounds like a cop-out of a resolution, but really. Something new to allow me to continue growing and help my team! Also, to not eat lunch at my desk every day. I know I could be more effective and efficient if I just step away for at least lunch and give my mind a break. 


Jackie Foster, Director of Business Development

Personal: My goal is to purchase my first house in 2021. When I find the perfect one, I hope to spend the year making my new house a home.

Professional: One of my favorite and important functions of my role is to make new connections and nurture client relationships. Because of this, I plan to be more proactive in making new connections, attend more networking events, reconnect with old contacts and check in with clients routinely.

I am always looking to enhance and expand my knowledge of industry-specific information and beyond, so I want to be more purposeful in learning something new every day. I plan to do this by reading more articles, listening to more industry-relevant podcasts and taking advantage of online courses to learn new skills to implement in my role.


Ashley McGee, Director of Marketing

Personal: To spend more time outdoors. I grew up hunting, fishing and hiking, but with two kids under the age of 6, I’ve spent less time in the woods and on the water than I’d like. Being outside helps me slow down and recharge…something I definitely could use more of. 

Professional: Utilize video to help TargetMarket grow. From Reels and IGTV to YouTube and Facebook live, there are so many ways to incorporate video. We stress the benefits of incorporating video into their marketing strategies to our clients, but I’d like to do a better job at leading by example.


McKenna Hickman, Junior Graphic Designer

Personal: To take on more projects that exercise my creative mind that aren’t on a screen. I think it would be fun to take broken or old things and make them into something new. Secondly, I would love to make more time to READ. I always make a goal of how many books that I want to read in a year but never think about the effort of making time for those types of things even if it is waking up a little earlier or unplugging at night!

Professional: I would like to continue to learn as much as possible within design whether it be from my mentors, podcasts, or watching videos. I would also love to go beyond that and grow smaller skills that I do have a lot of interest in like photography. 


Cory Carpenter, Senior Developer

Personal: I bought all the equipment needed to make my own gizmos and toys out of plastic and silicon, but haven’t made much progress with my sculpting skills. In 2021 I want to finally create something like a toy Korok from the Legend of Zelda. Bonus points in the year if I can get to learning 3D modeling to make the process more precise and efficient!

Professional: In 2021, I am further improving my web development skills by taking courses for both CSS flexbox and page speed optimization. In 2020, I grew to love Advanced Custom Fields, and I want to expand upon that by learning better ways to organize back-end content and making it as orderly and customizable as possible.


Camille Vlahos, Senior Account Manager

Personal: This might be super niche, but my personal resolution is to organize my recipes. I’m sure like most people this year, we did so much cooking at home. I have some favorite recipes in cookbooks, some are pinned on Pinterest and some are printed out and just in a stack next to my cookbooks. I haven’t figured out the best way to organize all of them quite yet, but I have started researching recipe books. Baby steps, right? 

Professional: After college, I made the personal resolution to read more books and I’ve actually continued to stick to it (and really enjoy it) over the years. But my professional resolution this year is to read more industry-related books as well as books about professional growth. It can be so easy to get stuck in your ways as you take care of the day-to-day tasks, but a new point of view and fresh ideas are always helpful! 


Kylie Parr, Senior Account Manager

Personal: A personal goal of mine is to expand my company, The Inside Scoop – Staging Consultations, in my spare time. I’d like to reach a larger market and continue to use my passion for interior design by helping others redesign their spaces in the Charleston area.

Professional: I would like to further my skills at TargetMarket by becoming Google Certified in the new year. 


Maddy Lucas, Account Manager and Certified Paid Ad Specialist

Personal: Maintain my dominion over the Pokemon Go gym next door to our office, use my flight voucher to finally go somewhere after this pandemic is finally over, convince my roommate to foster a kitten, and grow a bunch of plants in my new greenhouse!

Professional: This year I’m going to work on expanding my digital advertising knowledge by taking more online courses. I’d also like to get into the nitty-gritty of website optimization and improving site speeds. I also would like to get better at organic social media – I’ve always been on the paid side of things and I’d love to better understand how to organically grow a business’ organic presence on the internet.


Ashleigh Daniel, Account Manager

Personal: I love starting off a new year with goals. This year I would like to commit to eating healthier and exercising 5-6 days a week. I want to make time for my body and mind because when I do I know I am better in all aspects of my life. 

Professional: Professionally I want to learn more about targeted ads on both Google and Facebook. There is always room for learning and growing. 


Abbay McCandless, Account Manager

Personal: I’ve resolved this for the past two years, but the third time’s the charm, right? I’d love to spend more time reading this year, and I’m talking actual print books, not on a Kindle. I spend too much time staring at screens as it is! 

Professional: I’d love to learn more about ads, coding, and photoshop.


Lauren Ford, Account Manager

Personal: I want to start writing creatively again. Or get back into storytelling in some form. I was given a MasterClass subscription by a friend and am stoked to learn from true geniuses like the great Judy Blume. 

I also want to make sure I never forget the people who held me up during a truly terrible time at the end of this year. I am psyched to bid farewell to 2020 but I want to hold tight to the love I’ve felt from my family, friends, and colleagues. 

Professional: I want to dive deeper and explore more facets of content marketing. Learn new ways of mapping out keywords and content topics. Find ways to liven up my blog writing so that things like medical topics are even more accessible to the average reader.


What are your New Year’s resolutions for 2021? Head over to Instagram @TargetMarketCHS and share yours in the comments.

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