Goals for 2018

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The Engineer

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And thus marks the start of the 3rd year of Builders sharing their monthly and annual business aspirations.

The Patterns
Some new members joined in on the fun here in the goals threads and within the Laboratory typing out their follow-alongs and case studies. Some promising old faces disappeared back into the woodwork. It's been long enough reading these that you can see a pattern emerge. You can tell nearly immediately who will make it and stick around or who'll ultimately give up.*

* It's all based on how they write their goals.

The People
Some people show so much promise, but you can tell their fire burns too bright, they tire out and disappear. Some people put too much pressure on themselves and then project that pressure back onto the rest of us, and then are too ashamed to keep posting. Others can't take feedback and view every discussion like a combat scenario and ultimately give up. Some get too married to failing projects and stay seated inside the burning building. So many patterns...

There's also those who succeed and they all have some things in common. They set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals (aka SMART goals). Not only are they these things, but they're reality-based and not built on lofty fantasies. They break each goal into actionable steps that have an actual chance of being completed, and due to these plans they can follow through until they're finished within the timeline allowed. They not only measure metrics, but they measure the right metrics so they know if they should repeat the last activity or not.

It's not about them, their fee-fee's, other people, money, excuses, or anything else.*

* It's about the work and getting it done efficiently and effectively.

These are your winners on the forum.

And these are the people you can emulate and learn from by reading their goals and considering the reasoning behind each one as you formulate your own.

The Ascension
No more waiting. Stop waiting. You don't need a certain amount of traffic, a certain amount of posts, a certain sized mailing list... do what you know needs to be done now, because your competitors aren't waiting. They know that the money is flowing now and so is time, the great enemy. They're working smart and hard while some of you are wondering when you should decide to maybe start monetizing your site.

The time is now. 2018 is the year we all rise to the next level. We're done with the stages we're at now. We want to leap up from this plateau and bust through to the next tier. This is the year we make that happen.

Take a look back at the previous three years:


What's working and what isn't? Double down on the needle movers and abandon the busy work. Outsource and automate. Scale and liquidate. Do what it takes to achieve the ascension. No more waiting.

Map out your game plan for 2018 here. You can come back and reference it any time, amend it, add or subtract from it, course correct, or keep your eye on the prize. However you play it, the benefits of defining your goals and keeping them in mind are clear. Take advantage of the collective support here at BuSo and let's all get this done together.

It works best if you're constantly refining and tweaking your methods, which is why we do this monthly:
Let's crush this shit.
 
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Ryuzaki

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Oh boy.

• Double 2017's revenue and profit on my main project.
This is a simple goal. I don't want to shoot for the moon or undershoot, but I do want something reasonably achievable. To pull this off, all I really need to scale content and promotion and invest strategically. I mentioned revenue and profit because I want to increase both the reinvestments and the take-home pay too. This is the main goal and all else is secondary to it.
• Start a new micro-site, grow and stabilize earnings, and possibly flip it.
If not this year, I'll flip it next year if all goes well. My site like this for 2017 was a dud. I built it based on an assumption due to its relation to an old vertical I worked in, and that was stupid. This time I'll do it right and get it flipped. If it goes well I want to scale this operation out a bit and build a conveyer belt for the process.
• Continue my contributions to the industry through Builder Society.
I take giving back seriously and want to keep posting here and be as helpful as possible. But I also want to do some higher profile work to help grow BuSo. I have some additions to the Digital Strategy Crash Course I want to finish up. I'd like to possibly roll out the cousin to BuSo Lightning, called BuSo Wildfire. I may also create a service here that should help the ecosystem as a whole continue to prosper. We'll see, but at minimum I'll be a useful poster.​

• Finish the game I'm programming and get it earning.
To blow off steam, I started making a game in a smaller niche that was starting to mature and then has kind of fallen to the same in-app purchase crap where developers make a game deliberately hard to progress to get you to buy stuff. I'm going to peel that back and offer a game that takes the entire niche up a notch. One person did this right but completely ignored an entire fundamental aspect of games. I'm doing it right on all fronts. This will be a web-based game, not mobile, specifically because this is where the audience is. I'm doing this for me, for fun, and don't want it to be about money, but rolling it out to the public means I might as well monetize it. I think it can add a small cash flow stream of possibly a couple hundred bucks a month. Like I said, it's a small niche on a limited platform, but this could be the game to grow the audience size too, so who knows how the adventure ends. I'm doing this for me to fulfill a personal interest anyways, so in the end it doesn't matter.
• Rehab my shoulders, get lifting again, and get serious about some cardio.
I let the entire last year go by after I hurt my shoulders again from past high school injuries. Instead of actively rehabilitating them I tried to let them heal through time. It didn't work. I need to actively pursue that and cut my fat percentage down through cardio. I might end up buying an indoor exercise bike so I don't have any excuses. I went running again recently and right after the third mile some wasp stung me on the knee and my entire leg was swollen from thigh to ankle for about a week, full to the point of bursting. I'd like to not do that again. If had got stung on the neck or chest I'd possibly have died on this running trail away from people and help. I can bike and watch movies and TV with an indoor bike. Don't even have to leave the house.​
 

built

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2018 Goals:
  • Stop smoking cigarettes for good.
  • Get to 10% bodyfat, and then start building up my strength. Want to hit 240kg deadlift, 150kg bench, 180kg squat.
  • Continue learning JavaScript and Python.
  • Build up my semi-micro niche website. (I don't like Amazon focused sites anymore, so I'm struggling with this. But I have a few ideas on what else I could do in terms of monetization)
  • Build up my own local web design agency. (I want a real business, I need cash flow, and these are the only skills I have currently. I also feel like I can execute better than most of my competition)
 
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matora97

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2018 Goals:
-
Get back to my MAIN project - I started a follow along some time ago in this forum, and abruptly stopped posting any progress. After thinking it through and deciding to focus on it no matter what, I will start my site in the following days and keep my progress updated in the thread. I shouldn't focus on doing everything as soon as possible, I can make mistakes and keep going, everything doesn't have to be done perfect, at first atleast. Also, start making smaller daily goals, so I can be sure to execute daily.

- Work on my fitness, start eating less sugars - I am addicted to junk food. I plan on limiting my processed sugar intake to 1 meal per week (cereal, etc.)

- Grow my other project to $500 a month so I can use the money to reinvest into my affiliate site (1st project) - I have this small side project that I was doing and got it to $50/m and then I stopped progressing it. I plan on growing it back up for the next 12 months as it is relatively passive income and will be used as funding for main project.




 
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First of all, I love being part of a community where people lift each other up instead of tear each other down. There's too much of the latter and not enough of the former on the Internet (and in life in general).

1.) Hit 800 posts on the farm site. I'm adding ~60 posts per month right now and want to hold this pace all year.

2.) Hit 500 posts on the factory site. I'm adding ~4 ppm here so this is an easy goal.

3.) Hit 100 posts on the fishing site. To to do this, I only need to add ~3 ppm.

4.) If there's time left over, hit 25 posts on the fun site. To do this, I'd need to add 1-2 ppm.

5.) Continue to raise the kids trilingually, keep honoring & respecting my wife, maintain charitable contributions, and become overwhelmingly positive.
 
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  • Move away from automation as much as possible and start building sites that are more of an investment than a cash grab.
  • Work towards my goal of earning $10,000 a month from my moneysite network, currently around the $500 mark.
  • Cryptocurrency wise, hold my current ETH holding, increase my OMG holding and research EOS, ADA and REQ and possibly invest while keeping an eye on SUB.
  • Get a personal YouTube channel set up to track my progress with my goals and a few other things.
  • Listen to Audible for at least 5 hours a week on average.
  • I have neglected my body long enough and currently weigh 124.1kg I want to get back down to around 90kg and start running again.
  • Stop drinking alcohol, I have used it as a coping mechanism for a few years, not an alcoholic, more of a binge drinker. I managed to stop drinking for just over 3 month in 2017, going to see if I can beat it in 2018.
  • Get back on the Keto diet with sub 1800 cals while cutting and try to get at least 3 litres of water (mainly tea) a day.
  • As I have been using freelancers allover the world I have some crazy sleeping patterns right now dur to saying awake until the freelancers get up to handover work. I want to streamline my process better so I can get my sleeping patterns back inline with a normal person.
 

Cash Builder

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  • Reduce personal debt by 50%
  • Current site to be making $5,000 per month
  • Start another site with the sole intention of flipping in 2019
  • Come up with a long-term business idea that does not rely on Google or Amazon
  • Take my family on an amazing holiday (we haven't been on one in 6 years)
 

eliquid

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I'm making my goals a bit more granular, and a bit more detailed. Basically, following SMART. SMART can lead you to a system that is a bit easier to navigate when looking for success.

  • I have to write. 1,000 words daily.
    • No, this is not emails, Skype, or forum stuff.
    • This is for business... like guides, tutorials, onboarding, ebooks, blog posts, guest posts, etc.

  • Stretching for 30 minutes daily.
    • I'm 40 in June. I don't do much physical activity. I don't want to be the old man that can't walk up the steps or play with my grandkids ( one day ).
    • If I tried to swim, run, or weight lift right now, Id prob mess myself up. I'm too stiff, I need to loosen up.

  • Write code on a new feature for 1 hour daily, so a new feature can come monthly
    • In order to stay on top of competition, I need to code out something new each month.
    • This will not be to improve old code/tools/features, but to bring something new to existing solutions like SERPWoo.

  • I am going to delegate at least 1 task/thing daily
    • I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and a scrooge.. so this will be hard. I need to break both mindsets though.
    • Having to stay on top of this daily ( figure out what to delegate, and having someone else doing it ), will also push progress on tasks too and free me up for other things.

  • Doing the most important things FIRST in the day, again.



.
 
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Although I am somewhat new at this, I want to make some legit progress. I know the benefits of actually putting goals down on paper, especially for everyone to see.

I really only have one big goal this year, and that is to replace my regular income with this business. I have no idea how realistic these goals are because I don't have much experience. But I've got to start somewhere. So here goes:

1. Build Authority Site to $5k Revenue
Monetization will come through affiliate content and selling my own products later on. To do this I need traffic.

This means:
  • Adding content at a pace of >10 posts per month

  • Getting traffic over 50k monthly by end of year
    • Ranking Organically in Search
    • Driving traffic through social (Pinterest, FB Groups) and with ads
    • Traffic leaking (Forums, etc.)
  • Build email list to 10k by end of year
    • Linkbait on website and other opt-ins throughout
    • Running ads on social for opt-ins
  • Build a digital product relevant to my niche
    • Most likely an ebook with step by step instructions
  • Establish Myself as an Authority in this Niche
    • Through outreach and guest posting
    • Popular content
    • Making my brand ubiquitous across social, forums, etc.
  • Begin YouTube channel
    • Make 5-10 Videos (more hopefully, don't really know what to expect here)
 

Apex

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2018 Goals:

  • Quadruple profits from my main project. Yes, it may seem that quadrupling profits is something difficult to achieve in a year, but considering the low income of this project, it should be something not very difficult to achieve.
  • Consolidate a new project. For now I've only worked at the base, and although it may seem a case of shining object syndrome, for once I really believe that I've found a niche in the market where I can sneak in and dominate.
  • Continue learning Unity and C # to increase my portfolio of games on Google Play.
  • Learning or Django (Python) or Rails (Ruby) to be able to carry out more personalized projects and that distance themselves from the typical blogs.
  • Increase my physical form. I'm not fat, quite the opposite, but I think that at the moment my physique is something fragile, even exercising every week, which leads me to injuries constantly (currently sprained wrist). Taking into account that next month I will start playing in a tennis paddle league, I've to start with the necessary physical conditioning.
 

Tao

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Grow my Amazon earnings to $1k per month (currently ~$300).

How will I do this? By getting more traffic by investing in buyers keyword content. I also plan to add "how to" type articles too, which I will write (to help keep the site balanced between info/sales pages).
 
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Project 1
Goal of 30% Revenue Increase Year Over Year

We hit profitability last year, which is a big deal. This year, we’re plowing a lot of those profits into marketing. My goal is to hit a 30% increase year over year. I also am spending a lot more time thinking about customer retention, since we need to have a strong retention plan.

Look For Acquisition At End Of 2018
Start finding investors, maybe even competitors, that would be interested in us after we’ve expanded.

Project 2
Get Revenues to $2,000 A Day

The major expansion requires using sources I am admittedly unfamiliar with - phone cold calling, contracts, and other stuff that marketers back in the day used to use. There is still a lot of potential in these interactions. I will be getting out of my comfort zone to achieve this goal

Personal
Read 3 books a month

This past year I didn’t read nearly as much as I would have hoped. I want to be reading more, so I’m setting this goal.

Squat at 560lbs, deadlift at 610lbs, bench at 380lbs - and do at least 1 powerlifting competition
I’ve been changing up my training method recently, and my gym wants to get a powerlifting team together. Best of luck to Built in his goals, as well!

Thinking more positively - what is the BEST possible outcome of all of my choices?
This is straight out of Psycho-cybernetics. Too many times in my life and in my day, I think about the past, and how things might not be the same in the future. I’m sick of it. In 2016 I worried about 2017, and 2017 ended up being a fantastic year. So there is no need to worry.
Eric Ripert, in one of the Tim Ferriss podcasts, begins the day by thinking of what he is grateful for. Both of these actions will help me fear the outcomes of my choices less
 

animalstyle

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  • Transition from primarily consuming content to primarily producing content. This starts today and continues through the entire year.
  • Improve my mental strength by practicing restraint, delayed gratification, and pushing myself to new limits each day.
  • Give back to others via this community, charity, and always keeping an eye out for people in need.
  • Earn a base salary via consulting work while growing my projects to match or out-earn for three consecutive months before the end of the year. (Documenting this in my journal)
 

infotech

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Build something I'm proud of.
Spent my time last year, trying my hand at MFA site. Although it is making me some money, it's not something I want to show others as my work.
This could be a SaaS or web app .

Mid 4 figure monthly revenue.
Currently it is in low 4 figures from freelancing and MFA site.
I want to quit freelancing and focus on my own products.

Keep Learning Marketing
Honestly, I'll admit that I haven't gotten beyond Day 16-17 of the crash course. And I'm struggling to even apply the things I have read.
So, going to finish off Crash Course by following the lessons and try my hands on PPC and other channels.
Right now, Google and Amazon are my boss.
 

ssura

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2017 has been one hell of a year. I started out fiddling with YouTube and making my first $100, to getting laid off as a web developer, starting my eCommerce and having that come crashing down too, and now handling clients in a major city. All this happened in 7 months after finding this great community. Can't wait to see what 2018 will bring forth. Good or bad, it'll be a learning experience.

Clients
  • Learn to delegate/outsource tasks while handling the rest
  • Continue applying and improving the foundations I learned from the Digital Strategy Crash Course
  • Go from $x,xxx to $xx,xxx/month

Website
  • Create a new site in a vertical that I have a real passion for
  • Work on it daily (2 - 3 hours)
  • Get it profitable by 2019

Personal
  • Quit caffeine
  • Learn to have work-life balance to avoid burning out again
  • Code little things to help me with daily repetitive tasks (Getting back into Ruby, see you never again node.js)
  • Focus on the important things and what makes me happy person
 

turbin3

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  1. I will build healthy diet habits & reach 100% of my weight loss goal by end of 2018.
    • Started mid-2016. At 60% now. Slow, steady, consistent, and in a non-stressful, non-neurotic manner. Falling in to the groove and everything is a breeze at this point. I'm projecting I'll reach my goal within 5-6 months.
    • At that point I will switch from focusing almost solely on cutting to a focus on building GOOD habits around weight lifting. So a secondary part of this goal is gettin' some of 'dem newbie GAINZZZZ before close of 2018!
  2. I will build project #1 to a minimum $10K/mth margin by end of 2018.
    • This is one specific JV I've been gearing up for. Have the domain, partner, and it was already soft-launched. I want to build it into a legit authority brand in it's niche.
    • I'm budgeting a full year on this one, to permeate the niche a bit more stealthily.
  3. I will build project #2 to 50K/mth traffic by end of 2018.
    • Yet another long timeline. I promise it's not an excuse to procrastinate. This particular project I also want to build into an authority brand. It's one I'm passionate about, believe in, and the brand name just feels like a winner. Based on the audience, I figure 50K/mth in quality traffic should be easily accomplished, and it should be enough to gain a solid presence in that niche.
    • My long term goal is to turn this one into a solid business, and one I will likely never sell. Some of the strategy I will have on this one may seem a bit odd, but there is a purpose to it.
    • Considering the competition in the niche, and standard UX they've created for the market, I see a very real opportunity to elevate the level of experience the market should be demanding.
    • I won't even bother with monetization for at least 1 year. A whole year?! Yeah, that's right. Most competitors have gone off the deep end, whoring out their sites for paltry CPC on the lowest quality offers.
    • LOL I'm gonna bleed them dry. And once I reach a point of feeling I can monetize in a quality and useful manner, I'm gonna bleed 'em dry, Amazon-style. Dumpin' 100% margin immediately back in to brute force the competition with too much speed to handle. I'm fully prepared for this project to be a loss leader for even a couple years, if that's what it takes. Though I don't think it will.
  4. I will increase my contribution to BuSo by posting a minimum of 1 significant thread per month, through 2018.
    • I'll take a cue from Ryuzaki and jump on the bandwagon! :wink: Thought about this for awhile, but been way too sidetracked lately. I tend to do things the hard way, taking way longer than necessary. In the end, though, I usually discover a number of opportunities that might be missed by those always taking shortcuts. I'd like to give some of that knowledge back.
    • I may also create several useful tools/resources this year, launched solely on BuSo of course. Nothing for-profit. Mostly simple things, like:
      • A set of well-optimized themes for the Hugo static site generator.
      • Porting them to several static generators, so people can choose their flavor.
      • Simple Python scripts to help people scale their efforts from the Excel madness!
 
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Happy 2018 to everyone! 2017 was good but planning on making 2018 epic!

I got a little late start to 2018 because kids didn't go back to school until yesterday so my business new year started yesterday. But, this year I'm going to try and do something different.

I wrote out all my business goals for all my projects for the entire year. Some of my businesses are already up and running and it's just a matter of really focusing on increasing margins while some businesses/projects are starting from scratch. But, I've already laid the ground work for many of the new projects last year so it's a matter of just pulling the trigger and getting them going.

I did it this way for many reasons:

1) Each bullet point can be checked off (I'm a checklist guy) and I can easily add a due date to it as well.
2) Figuring out monthly goals like January, February, etc. will be easier because I'll have an overall blueprint for the entire year and I can track my progress throughout the year by the amount of bullet points I can cross off the list each month.
3) This will also keep me on track for a journey thread for 2018 as I chronicle my experiences working through each point.

I laid it all out (changing and anonymizing some specifics). Please feel free to comment, add your thoughts, etc. I know this is a great community so if anyone has the knowledge, ability or resources to help me cross some stuff off my list, please let me know. I'll gladly take the help :-)

I hope everyone has a healthy, happy and profitable year!

2018 BUSINESS OUTLINE

GENERAL BUSINESS GOALS

• Redo weekly sales goal sheet (fill them out, analyze trends and keep up with it)
• Keep up with CRM software to maintain contacts, leads, communication with clients, etc.

BUSINESS 1 – SERVICE BASED BUSINESS - $XX,XXX

• Add 2 blog posts per month for SEO purposes and general sales purpose. Target companies/organizations/trade shows, etc that have good site SEO metrics/traffic but also has a high probability of becoming a client. Blog posts will be auto scheduled through Wordpress. Use article topics from editorial calendar (already completed). Focus will be on keywords for SEO purposes
• Identify and outreach to 15 new prospects per week (3 per business day) for link purposes, potential business (non-profit organizations, etc) and partnerships/sponsorships
• Research AllTop to get articles and stories to publish through Hootsuite on all social media channels (weekly). Look to get this automated with software or with a VA. VA should be able to research and write out posts for the different social media channels. If they can do graphics, that’s a bonus
• Eventually, look to automate social media promotion for these blog posts through Hootsuite and Tailwind. Monitor the content, comments, etc as this is one of our main money sites
• Write out a Mega Brand profile – including official logo, colors, letterhead, etc. Everything related to Business 1 should reflect this brand profile (website, social media, business cards, stickers, collateral materials, letterhead, etc)
• Research a way to streamline incoming lead response times. Process needs to include: 1) Fast response times to lead inquiry 2) Input into existing CRM system to keep track of them 3) Automated email follow up sequence

BUSINESS 2 – MY MEGA BRAND – SAME NICHE AS BUSINESS 1 - $XXX,XXX

• Finalize editorial calendar for Business 2 for keywords targeting larger businesses, public relations companies, etc. – when writing each article, also include how we will traffic leak each article (advertising, forums, YouTube, social media, offline, etc.) Look at the blog as the voice of the company and make our website a hub for industry clients and customers
• Create advertising schedule to advertise select content from the editorial calendar
• Research and break down revenue streams and which ones are good (we should focus more on) or if they’re not as profitable – example: focus on money making project 1 because the margins are better
• Research AllTop to get articles and stories to publish through Hootsuite on all social media channels (weekly). Social media posts will only be allowed by management or a trusted source to make sure we are portraying the brand in accordance with our brand guidelines
• Conduct research and analysis to find, identify, and effectively contact companies like (current client) to get their business. Develop an outreach plan to bring them in as clients. Ideal clients will have multiple nationwide locations and their own dedicated website portal for my particular niche/service
• Research and identify potential clients to target, such as: 1) Business owners 2) Sports leagues 3) Festivals 4) Convention/trade shows (see if we can be a partner/sponsor. Also, attend conventions, events, meetups, etc to find potential clients). See if this is something that can be outsourced to a VA
• Write out a Mega Brand profile – including official logo, colors, letterhead, etc. Everything related to Business 2 should reflect this brand profile (website, social media, business cards, stickers, collateral materials, letterhead, etc) – NOTE: We have been using the same logo/color profile for a long time now but do not have an official brand profile written on paper.
• Develop Tailwind Tribe and get the tribe to 100 members by 2019
• Research a way to streamline incoming lead response times. Process needs to include: 1) Fast response times to lead inquiry 2) Input into existing CRM system to keep track of them 3) Automated email follow up sequence

BUSINESS 3 – SAME AS BUSINESS 1 AND 2 BUT FOCUSED ON LOCAL TRAFFIC - $X,XXX

• Create editorial calendar to target “my niche” keyword only. Potential to do it in different cities across the US. Start local and expand to nearby cities and states
• Write 2 articles per month (24 total for the year) from editorial calendar and schedule posts on blog to automatically post. Focus on keywords for this business in local markets
• Create social profiles and fill them with nice images, text, content, etc to make it look current and busy
• Set social media profiles on autopilot (Tailwind, virtual assistant, etc). Full automation is good for this business (no brand damaging issues)
• Plan and list out places to leave collateral material to target the individual (small order) buyers. Example: local hangouts, businesses, hair salons, etc. We have a bunch of postcards so we need to start handing those out
• Install a CRM to keep track of clients as well as communicate with them easily

BUSINESS 2 ADD-ON – - $XX,XXX

• Goal: Become the ultimate resource for my niche
• Monetize with consultations (one-time and ongoing basis), monthly recurring subscriptions, affiliates, etc.
• Create landing page that people can purchase these products/services.
• Install and configure a ticket system for these clients
• Create strategic relationships with businesses, organizations and individuals to work with them or use their contact list to make money by outreaching to 10 per week (2 per business day/40 per month)
• Create an editorial calendar outline for a video series on how to accomplish my goal of becoming the authority in this niche. Include live videos, webinars, interviews, round tables, etc
• Create and post YouTube videos to become the authority based pm the editorial outline listed above
• Create list of affiliates and independent sales people.
• Set written goals and quotas to outreach to these people once identified

BUSINESS 2 ADD-ON #2 - $X,XXX

• Design 6 projects (1 every 2 months) and push these out to my target audience
• Come up with editorial calendar to target special events and other peak times when people will be buying
• Research and develop a list of potential JV partnerships for this business

BUSINESS 4 – PRODUCTS WE MANUFACTURE SPECIFICALLY TARGETED TO PEOPLE IN MY AREA - $X,XXX

• Create official logo to be put on website, social media, stickers, promotional material, etc (mega brand profile)
• Design and build website with full e-commerce capabilities. Because of time and e-commerce needs, go with Wordpress and WooCommerce
• Purchase dedicated IP and SSL from the beginning
• 500 signups on email list for the year
• Create social media profiles and build them up so they don’t look barren or half ass (graphics, filler content, etc). Be sure to follow the Mega Brand strategy and write down brand identity (logo, official colors, etc). Be sure to keep the target audience in mind and post accordingly. Use models, local celebs, local business, etc. Use 1) Snapchat (target younger demographic) 2) Instagram 3) Facebook
• Research AllTop to get articles and stories to publish through Hootsuite on all social media channels. Automation may be doable for this but need to be sure I watch what’s being published and test before going fully automatic. Everything should be about my location or relevant to it
• Attend 6-10 events this year and hand out promotional items. Target schools and other demographics that will help spread the word through social media, word of mouth, etc.
• Draft up plan for online promotional contest, giveaways, etc. Depending on the size of the contest, giveaway – goal will be 4 per year (1 per quarter) or 6 per year (once every 2 months)
• Identify influencers and outreach to them and see if they’ll help out.
• Install a CRM to make it easy to update and contact them all at once for promotional offers, news, etc.
• Build and launch affiliate system for influencers for incentive for them to push our product. If an affiliate system is not ideal, research and write down other ways to keep influencers interested
• Identify partners that can use our products as a money making/fundraising/sales tool. This would include many non-profit organizations (current clients). We have the product and they have their list of contacts. Because we make the product, we can afford to give them a good deal and still make decent margins
• Write out plan to give out promotional items to our current clients when they order from us or hand out to past clients. Stickers and swag may be the best bet since they’re probably the cheapest
• Run a promotion where we give out free stickers and they have to tag us on social media to get a free gift (limited supply available). Or, come up with other good prizes this audience will want like iTunes gift cards, etc

BUSINESS 5 – PRODUCT BASED - $X,XXX

• Take high-end photos of products to showcase on our website store
• Add products to our store, including detailed descriptions, facts, specs, etc
• Create graphic to place on main home page (and sub home pages) to help push products
• Research, identify and communicate with users of this specific product
• Integrate other similar products on our store from our product line. Each product should have its own landing page and mini-marketing campaign to get sales of each one going

AMAZON BUSINESS (B2B) – PRODUCTS - $X,XXX

• Create and finalize spreadsheet to be able to edit and update inventory
• Create cheat sheet (through research) on how to sell more on Amazon Business (include things like analyzing the backend of Amazon to help increase rankings, etc)
• Continuously add new offerings as they become available
• Write out process to handle orders on a daily basis so we can become/remain an Amazon Prime seller – we will ship ourselves and not use FBA (Fulfillment By Amazon)

BUSINESS 6 – E-COMMERCE PRODUCT SALES BASED ON OUR NICHE - $X,XXX

• Design and build website (Magento). Create all attributes and variations, if necessary, so adding more complex products will be easy
• Identify, network and gain strategic relationships with influencers to help push sales
• Install and configure a CRM to keep track of the contacts and communication
• Come up with 1 special offer/promotion per month (12 per year) to help sales
• 4 pomodoros per month to continually research new trends, related items, etc
• Create and build out social media profiles. Be selective at first to target an audience who will be interested in these products: 1) Instagram 2) Tumblr

WEBSITE PROJECT – ADULT (USE TO BE IN ADULT BACK IN THE DAY) - $X,XXX

• Design and build website (Wordpress or flat file CMS)
• Buy hosting for adult (keep it different from my mainstream sites)
• Configure email blast software. Use Mailchimp to start out but when our lists grows step it up to software on its own server. Control email lists 100% of the time
• Gain strategic relationships with adult film stars, studios, etc. Outreach to 40 per month (10 per week). Start local and move on to neighboring areas/states. Can go international with this
• Monetize by traffic leaking to Business 6 above. Utilize social media following, emails, etc
• Come up with a Mega Brand profile for the website, social media, email blasts, etc. Implement this Mega Brand profile on website and all social media
• Actively engage on social media to build audience and audience interaction. End goal is to have this fully automated so I don’t have to touch it. There should be enough content floating around to share online
• Write out and post advertising package on the website to attract advertisers
• Identify potential advertisers – cam studios, adult retail, etc and outreach to them
• Install and configure a CRM to keep track of all contacts and communication

JV 1 – NICHE SERVICE - $X,XXX – CURRENTLY IN JV

• Rebuild website on Wordpress (currently what their site is running on)
• Build social media profiles using existing logo and brand identity (based off of their current logo colors) to design profiles
• Research and outreach to 15 people per week (3 per work week day/60 per month).
• Develop a full IM strategy. There are no real content updates with this so we’ll have to completely bypass Google on this one and use everything else to drive traffic (traffic leaks, advertising, offline, etc)
• Analyze social media response to see what social media networks are working best. LinkedIn will probably work best with this audience but Facebook and Pinterest may also work
• Research AllTop to get content to post on social media.
• Fully automate social media posting process by August 1, 2018

BUSINESS 7 – SERVICE BASED – CLOSE TANGENT TO CURRENT NICHE - $X,XXX

• Come up with name for the business/service – choose a name based off a Mega Brand
• Develop a mega brand sheet that includes a logo, business cards, collateral materials, etc. Base our entire image off this mega brand profile sheet
• Detail services and price sheet that we will offer to clients
• Design and build website (including all cart/payment integration)
• Develop and implement marketing plan to target: local shops, businesses, organizations, restaurants, etc. Outreach to 15 businesses per week (3 per day/60 per month) for this service.
• Install and configure a CRM to keep track of outreach efforts and a database of contacts
• Research an Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) campaign to help promote this service. Target all business districts. If we do this, design/create a flyer/mailer to send out. Start local and move to other states

JV – LOCAL SPORTS TEAM - $XXX

• Come up with name of website/brand
• Create a branding profile. I wouldn’t call this a mega brand but something that is easily identifiable to fans, locals, etc
• Create and build out social media profiles (including all graphics and starter content – articles, news, pictures, commentary, etc.)
• Write out detailed plan/system on how to cover live events, game coverage, player news, etc.
• Create a detailed plan on monetizing traffic (both online and offline)
• Install/setup/configure email newsletter software
• Build up email list to 1000 subscribers
• Create editorial calendar for all facets of content – including blog posts/updates, social media posts, game coverage, off season, etc.
• Write out plan to come up with promotional contests, giveaways, etc to help boost traffic and sales
 
Joined
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dang! 2018 is already here...

Less about fucking goals, more about the process to get there, fuck it ill open up a journal here too.

i want 10 passports,to speak fluent mandarin,russian,german
but am human so I guess i'll just settle for a fuck load of cash instead

i refuse to lose or worse still just do "okay"

CONSULTING BRAND - $XX,XXX

  • Write a 14-day email course for an automated drip campaign
  • Re-purpose 10 Articles into audio
  • Make 35 targeted calls /day

SOFTWARE PRODUCT (JV) - $XXX,XXX *
potential
  • Finish UI/UX experience
  • Launch MVP
  • Get the first set of feedback

NOTHING ELSE
 

BCN

$$$$ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ $$$$
Joined
Dec 26, 2015
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We are looking at moving to a new flat or house, and prices are stupid high here atm. It might be a blessing in disquise, because we might have to move out of the city, which means nicer beaches, more for money etc. and a new chapter in life. Who knows.

Will launch new sites, but more custom stuff. More automation. Push more boundaries, spend more on ads. I have a few saas ideas cooking, but not sure whether they'll be internal tools or offered as subscription. In this year and last year I've gone from knowing very little, to be able to make some cool stuff.

I also want to adopt a dog, just need to convince my wife.
 

The Engineer

Aegis Jaeger
Administrator
BuSo Pro
Digital Strategist
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2018 has come and gone. Time to review our annual goals and see if we managed, with flexibility, to stay on target and achieve our goals. Realistically, some things went our way and some didn't. But did we attempt to stay the course and follow our well thought out outlines? That's the question. How did you stack up?
 

Cash Builder

BuSo Pro
Joined
Jan 14, 2017
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  • Reduce personal debt by 50% - Done. I actually spent about a week sorting out my finances back in September, It's quite scary how unorganised I was and I had no idea what was getting paid and when. I now have a spreadsheet that contains every bill and debt and I can see balances, minimum payments, and I know exactly when something needs to be paid. It feels good to finally be on top of my finances.
  • Current site to be making $5,000 per month - Not Done. I sold the site in September, I think if I didn't sell it I would be looking at $3k - $4k per month.
  • Start another site with the sole intention of flipping in 2019 - Done.
  • Come up with a long-term business idea that does not rely on Google or Amazon - Not Done. Although I did start another business, it's an FBA business so still relying on Amazon.
  • Take my family on an amazing holiday (we haven't been on one in 6 years) - Not Done. This was more due to lack of time than lack of funds.
Although I only completed 2 of my goals, I would still consider 2018 to be a success. I flipped a site that I grew from scratch, started a couple of new businesses, and got on top of my finances. Here's to a successful 2019.
 

infotech

To each his own
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Build something I'm proud of.
Spent my time last year, trying my hand at MFA site. Although it is making me some money, it's not something I want to show others as my work.
This could be a SaaS or web app . [DONE] Bit still an MFA site.

Mid 4 figure monthly revenue.
Currently it is in low 4 figures from freelancing and MFA site.
I want to quit freelancing and focus on my own products. [DONE] Stopped freelancing, now my I can focus on my own products.

Keep Learning Marketing
Honestly, I'll admit that I haven't gotten beyond Day 16-17 of the crash course. And I'm struggling to even apply the things I have read.
So, going to finish off Crash Course by following the lessons and try my hands on PPC and other channels.
Right now, Google and Amazon are my boss.[FAILED] My sites are still dependent on them revenue & traffic for about 80%. I tried my hands on PPC via native ads but soon gave up because got afraid of failure & losing money.
 
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