Goals for 2019

The Engineer

Aegis Jaeger
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For three years the builders who make up Builder Society have been documenting their annual and monthly goals here in the Garden. The fourth year begins now.

The People & The Patterns
Last year I talked about how over time the veterans of BuSo have watched new members come and go, establishing themselves and then disappearing. Why they decide to stop involving themselves is of their own concern, but you can always see a pattern in those that do.

Many don't set goals. They blow where the wind takes them, chasing shiny nickels, with a fire that's bright. Their energy and passion is marvel to behold. But this means they're also susceptible to being blown to other hobbies or ventures. That only happens because they don't succeed. And they don't succeed because they don't have goals. They don't have a framework within which to work and stay accountable.

Many set bad goals. We talk in the Digital Strategy Crash Course about setting S.M.A.R.T. goals. You can't just say (and we're all guilty of this) that you're going to bust X revenue this year. Goals have to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. "In order to bust X profit this year, I need to earn X profit per month on average, which is realistic based on last year's earnings, using my current projects." That's a much better goal. But there's still a problem...

Many have good goals but no processes. It's all well and good knowing what you need to earn on average per month to meet your annual goal. But how is it that you'll earn that money? What exactly are the actions it will take to support those earnings? And if you require help then you definitely need operating procedures, training manuals, checklists, and anything else to cut down on ramp up time and human error.

The Paradigm Shift
All of us have long-term goals in mind that we aren't reaching yet. If you're like me then too many years have gone by using the same methods to achieve the goals. Maybe you've resisted hiring and training help in order to scale your business. Maybe you're still hanging your hopes on getting a favorable SEO response from Google. In both of those scenarios you're going to be sitting on your hands waiting and the results are never going to come. Something has to change.

I don't mean that you need to work more hours, get more backlinks, throw more money at a problem. We need a fundamentally different approach. Being married to a method is one of the leading causes for not reaching our goals. Who cares what the method is as long as we reach the end goal. And that's what I'm dedicating this thread to... the paradigm shift, a completely different, parallel path to getting to the same goal. Because continuing down the same road that isn't moving us forward is frankly stupid.

Take a look back at the previous four years if you've been along for the ride and see if you've set smart goals and created frameworks for achieving them. See what has knocked you off course, what surprises came, and what you can do to remain rigid but flexible within that rigidity. And most importantly, see if you're still doing the same old shit that's not getting you where you want to be:

If you have something crushing it, focus on that and exploit it. If you're spinning your wheels for too long, don't refine the method. Change the method.

We also need to be dancing on that razor's edge every month and every week, making sure to review and modify what we're doing so we're always driving down the most optimal and rewarding path. That's what the monthly threads are for:
Don't just say "This year is my year. This is the year I make this shit happen." Saying it is easy. Making it happen is different. And one of the best ways to do that is having data you can review, split test your methods, and hold yourself accountable. Join us this year in tracking your goals, actions, and results. You will experience the difference.
 
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2019 Goals :
  • Remove 100% of personal debt
  • Grow main site to £3k per month
  • Grow second site to £1k per month
  • Grow FBA business to £50k annual turnover
 
4x my Income - This will be done by 2x income from my primary site, growing a new site + mix of paid traffic & ecommerce.
Learn Paid Traffic - I have allocated fixed time & budget this year.
Learn Ecommerce - To diversify my income. Products will be researched using data obtained from my main site.
 
Main Project
For two years possibly now I've been moaning and complaining about stagnation and simply not getting anywhere with my rankings. 1 step forward, 1 step back. This led to massive improvements in my site, because I've been digging and digging. I feel like the final stone unturned might be the key. It's an indexation issue. I've solved the bulk of it and am waiting on Google to fix it. So that happens and I immediately start seeing gains or I wait till the next big update and see them. But that'll set the tone on how involved I remain in this project.

Service
I plan on releasing my service ASAP. The problem is that I keep getting customers without any marketing. As soon as I wrap up the remaining live projects I'm going to finish off the foundation of the service and get it live. This is where I plan to spend the bulk of my efforts and time this year. I'll use the additional cash flow to help grow other parts of my business as well as the service itself.

____

As far as these two goals go, I do have S.M.A.R.T. goals related to them where possible. With SEO they're not usually realistic so much as idealistic. But I don't intend on sharing my breakdowns of the goals here. That'll occur in the monthly goal threads.
 
Excuses Will Not Be Tolerated, Quit Giving Them & Get On With It!
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Main Site

I have been really slacking with this site, I saw a huge spike in earnings & traffic through July & August last year and stupidly thought that it would remain consistent into this year.... how wrong I was. I let the site run on without any updates, link building or addition of content before I slowly began to realize that the main keyword I was ranking for was "Seasonal" traffic.

I feel like I got complacent and now there are a few new competitors starting to roll up on my a**. So it's time for me to jump into full action mode.

Goals For This Site In 2019:
  1. Increase Monthly Revenue To $2000/Month ( From $500/Month )
  2. Have Over 60 Articles Posted On The Site With 10 Being High Word Count ( 8,000 - 12,000 ) - I Would Like More But We Will See How This Goes
Secondary Site

This site was purchased back in October last year, with the idea to have a "Quick Flip" and get the site traffic & earnings increased to a set amount and sell the site for a substantial profit. However, much like the main site I currently have, I have let it sit for quite some time without doing anything to it. Although, I did a rewrite of one the articles yesterday so already feel like I am making progress!

Goals For This Site In 2019:
  1. Rank In Top 3 For 2 Main Keywords ( 5400 Monthly Searches Each )
  2. With Top 3 Rankings For 2 Main Keywords, Increase Revenue To $2000+/Month
  3. Flip Site For Substantial Profit
Hoping that placing these goals here will help me to strive through and help me to get the passive income so that I can scale...Scale...SCALE...
 
  1. Buy - 1 more site that is a fixer upper to keep the team busy.
  2. Maintain - drip content to all sites in the portfolio, 3 articles per week minimum to maintain traffic and revenue.
  3. Paid ads - learn FB ads and display ads - get one site live that is not dependent on organic traffic but is pure paid to ecom.
  4. Earn - Average mid $XX,XXX p/month across the year.
  5. Property (IRL) - buy first rental property with no mortgage and buy second property in Q4 with small mortgage.
  6. Sacrifice - two virgins at the altar of SEO and pray that something major does not mess up before I can liquidate in 2022/23 :smile:
  7. Increase my Tinder ratios from solid 6/10s to smoking 8/10s
The last one is my main goal /s.

I will check back here in 12 months with an update.
 
Double my income by earning as much from passive income as I do from my salary. Really, by the end of 2019 I want to be well on the path to making my first million dollars, but right now I'm focused on the first step of getting good at building assets and getting ready to completely leave behind trading my time for money. When I get there, then I can scale up.
 
  • Launch a my new eComm business which is quickly becoming my main focus.
  • Sell off smaller projects or put them completely on the back burner out of sight. Clearing mental space.
  • Work on a possible new (big) monetization deal on my long-term project.
    • Sell this site as soon as the eComm business has taken off, becomes a steady income stream, and needs my full attention.
  • Keep steady pressure forward on my newest content site to keep the momentum rolling.
On the personal side I am charging forward to get out from under my current mortgage in the next couple years and to work on my mental, physical, and relationship health every damn day.
 
  • Leave personal debt
  • Settle into an apartment then transition into a house
  • Stabilize for once, rootage
  • Make an income where I can save 2x-3x my spend
 
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