2015 Goals and Plans
2014 was an amazing year for me. I’ve been able to use the profits from a small niche site and put myself into a position where I was able to quite my job and focus on my business full-time. But now comes the real test. Will I be able to turn this opportunity into a legitimate business? I don’t know and neither does anyone else. What I do know is that I’m going to do everything that is in my power to maximize my chances. To do that I need a plan.
Merriam-Webster defines the noun plan like as a set of actions that have been thought of as a way to do or achieve something. So, in order to make a plan I must first define what it is that I want to do or achieve.
Main Goal for 2015
Setting goals for 2014 was rather easy. I wanted to be my own boss as far back as I can remember. But I never had a clue how that would work. This year changed that. The goals I set myself back in March were set in a way that I would prove myself that I can survive it without a job as a safety net. I’ve done that now and with that I now trust myself enough that I got rid of the safety net. But what now? Where do I go from here?
Even as I’m writing this there’s a ton of ideas floating through my head, but the one that seems to be the loudest is saying: “Will I run out of money?” I know leaving my job was a big risk, but I simply didn’t see myself in a corporate environment my whole life. Without the income from it, though, I’m left to my own devices to replace it. And that’s just it. That’s my main goal for 2015: Make at least the same amount of money I made at my day job.
This is quite a loose statement and as you probably know, goals work best when you can measure your progress. So let’s put a number to that goal. I’ve earned on average about 1,500€ per month from my job last year. This is the salary plus additions that are mandated by the government in Slovenia and some bonuses I was awarded. Internet marketing business, does not work on a monthly basis. At least not in the beginning when you have only a few income streams and even those are not very diversified. Because of that I’m going to set my goal for the entire year. 12 times 1,500€ is 18,000, but to make it a bit more challenging, I’ll round that up to the nearest 10,000€. This makes my main goal for 2015:
Main goal for 2015: Earn at least 20,000€ in 2015.
Even as I read that statement I know it’s going to be a mammoth task to get done. It’s going to take a lot of work. Maybe even more than I had to do at my 9–5 job. At the same time I think achieving such a big goal next year will set me on a path that I can see myself happily following in the foreseeable future.
Plan of Attack
Now that the main goal is set, I can make a plan I think will enable me to achieve it. The key thing about my main goal is that I’m free to choose the way I’m going to tackle it. I can build niche sites, authority sites, release my own products, maybe even write a Kindle book. Those and many more are all viable options and I’ve seen people do amazing with them, but the worst thing I can do is spread my self too thin. On the other hand I can’t commit to only one of them for the whole year. Because of that I’m actually not going to make a plan for the whole year, I’m going set myself a starting point and adapt is as I go along and see results. At this point in time I have 2 major things in my plan: I want to create a software product and I want to create more niche websites.
The Software Product
I’ve seen a lot of people create their own software products in this business. As a programmer I feel like that’s something that would very much play to my strengths. I’ve head the idea behind the product for quite a while now and have already made a very basic version of it and used it to increase my earnings with NW1. I don’t want to go into details just yet, but I think it might be a big success if done right.
I have the core idea, but I still have to define a lot of it before I even start programming. I first have to define the major features I want to product to have and then decided what will go into the first version. I think the implementation will start sometime in the middle of February.
Niche Websites
I’ve had great success with NW1 last year and I’d really like to repeat that. I’ve tried my hand at it with NW2, but the problems with motivation combined with an increased job workload at the time resulted in a major failure. But this will not make me give up on niche sites.
Unfortunately the SEO landscape has changed a bit since my websites’ prime times. Because of that I will first have to do a bit of research on what is working now. I’ve already found some guides I’d like to test out, such as Matthew Woodward’s GSA-SER spam site and Doug Cunnington’s Niche Site Process. There’s a lot more of them out there, but I find that mixing too many resources isn’t the best. I already have a few general niches I might go into, but there’s still a lot of keyword and competition research to be done. I will most likely also try to either bring new life to or totally remake my existing websites, although I don’t yet know in what way.
I know my plan isn’t as specific as it should be, but you can probably see a commonality of both the product and the niche websites — I have to do a lot of research. Of course not too much, as I don’t want to get stuck in the vicious circle of never-ending research.
Personal Goals for 2015
Alongside my business I also have a few personal goals that I want to achieve. Coming home has given me a lot more time to focus on my business, but has also given me more time to focus on myself, whereas before I had to choose between on or the other. Because of that, most of the goals, I’ve set for myself, have to do with fitness, both that of the mind and that of the body.
The first two goals has to do with my writing abilities. English is not my main language and although I feel my writing is on an OK level, I still have trouble expressing my thoughts sometimes. To get a better grip, learn more words and more ways to express things, I’m going to read at least 1 book per month. I’m not going to define the type of books I’m going to read, the only limitations is that they have to be in English. You can join me in this endeavor on Goodreads, where I’ll also sign up for the 2015 reading challenge when they start it.
To help me with my writing however, I feel I have to do more of it. Sometime in the past year I found a website called 750 Words and became aware for the idea of morning pages. The website has the explanation of the idea, but in essence it’s writing 3 pages a day each morning. 3 pages is about 750 words. The writing should not be edited and censored. In essence this is free writing. My goal is to do this every day. Of course some day it simply won’t be possible, I think setting a goal of at least 300 days is a realistic one.
The last personal goal will be a physical one. I’ve been slightly neglecting my body and although I’m not fat, I’m also not nowhere near being fit. I’d like to change that. The goal I have is to workout at least 5 days of the week. In the warmer part of the year I’ll probably go running, but I’ll have to figure out how to get myself into shape for the cold months.
So, to sum it up my personal goals are as follows:
- Read at least 1 English book each month.
- Write 750 words every morning for at least 300 days.
- Exercise 5 days each week.
Over to You
That’s it. This is how I’m going to tackle 2015. I feel it will be a make it or break it year for me. I’ve got a lot on my plate, but I’m hungry for it very much.
So, what do you think? Have I chosen the right way of starting my career? I would love to hear any suggestions for an eager entrepreneur you guys might have. I’d also love to hear what your goals are for the upcoming 2015. I think it’s going to be an amazing year!
Cheers, Goran!
