2012 What are Your Goals?
By DonVF on Jan 03, 2012 with Comments 23
So 2011 is now a thing of the past and 2012 is here before us.
What will you do to hit the next level in your business? Did you already set goals?
I have set some new goals and I have some possibilities… but they mainly are:
- To double offline marketing efforts
- To go back to killing CPA more aggressively (I’ve been slacking a bit)
- To start doing more with Paid Traffic again
- To triple my efforts on creating even more sales funnels
- Toying with the idea of starting an Ad company
- Start building and selling off a lot more internet real estate
- Finish the next 3 products (because I need them to use) within the next 2 months
- Start being a lot more vocal then I have been in the past on certain business issues and issues with the Internet Marketing industry
I have always been a person that would come up with an idea, work that idea and profit from it. Get bored and come up with a new idea and profit from it. Even though I myself have been setting up solid foundations over the years to basically sell off and retire. I am still going to change the ways I approach things and try and control my chaos brain.
There are many times the ideas I profited from I never even scratched the surface of. The fact is, if I would have stayed focused on them then I would probably be retired now. But my brain has always been out of control with ideas and I have to try them all or I just don’t feel right. What I mean is… Have you ever known people that were such neat freaks they see a piece of lint across the room on the floor they have to run right over and pick it up? I even knew a girl that ironed her bead spread when it was on the bed every day cause it had to be perfect.
That is sort of how I feel with ideas… I have to try them and I have to test them. I’ve been lucky enough that a lot of them succeed on a much higher percentage then I would have actually thought possible. But the big problem is I left many of them unfinished when I walked away from them. They were never truly taken to the next level, and the next level, that they were capable of reaching. Many times I actually sold them off in their infancy.
Now I want to control that and make the challenge pushing those ideas to the next level and making them produce to their full potential.
I’m a person that rarely sleeps more than 4 hours a day. I have been known to stay up for days in the past (however hitting 40 has slowed that down a lot). The reason I can’t sleep is the chaos brain. When I lay down it often takes me 3 hours just to fall asleep.
This chaos brain activity, I want to harness in 2012, control it and redirect it. I want to control it in a way that when I have several things performing well that I am testing… I focus on them to get them to their full potential. I may still sell them off… but for a lot more lol. The part of being bored with the same thing, or working on the same thing will never go away. So I still have to keep my mind entertained.
How about everyone out there?
What are some of your goals?
What are some of the problems you seem to be facing and want to change?
Leave a comment let’s discuss it.
I also want to wish everyone reading this a crazy money making New Year!
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Hey Don – Totally TOTALLY agree with you – I’ve been very much the same with projects, and while some are a success, it’s hard getting other ones completed/released.
My goals for 2012:
1) To actually be on time and finish releasing my first “real” WSO. (Two others were just small tests).
2) Actually complete anything I start this year without getting distracted or put off by lack of programming (I’m not a programmer… my programmer is often far too busy, so I find myself sitting and moving onto some other project while I wait…, then sometimes don’t get back to it because he never did either)
3) Sell off most of my sites that I don’t have time for
4) Focus back on what I like and know best: writing.
5) Launch a new mini ‘social network/promo ad network’ that I’ve been wanting to for a while.
The biggest problem I have had is (like you) too many ideas in my head, but not always the resources (knowledge) to get it out the way I want.
I’ve recently been focused on writing them down when they pop into my head (learned to keep a notepad beside my bed LOL) – so that I CAN then get sleep.
So total focus on the new year is taking those ideas and working with them, but to completion. (Mostly writing projects anyway).
Lastly: Dropping most lists – it’s quite annoying being on lists from stuff you’ve purchased (most often claiming to be the “last wso you’ll ever want or need”), only to have them within a week, pitching you with another “must have” thing you need.
Tools are useful, themes, etc. are fine.
But the next biggest way to make money is getting annoying. (I don’t fall for 99% of them, however, just getting emailed from a half dozen people pitching the same email just gets to you).
Now if we could only figure out a way to get all those list owners to make a resolution to STOP doing that and be more like you guys have been, where you actually warned against junk LOL!
Amber
Yeah I hear ya Amber…
One thing you can learn from lists though is sometimes what works and what you think you should stay away from. But sounds like your learning that.
But you can get some good ideas form those people that write exceptional sales emails from a selling standpoint.
Definitely work on getting the first real product out. You will find that product creation can be exceptionally rewarding. I have about 3 tools I need to get done that I plan to sell as well. But I mainly need them done cause I need to use them lol.
I actually bought a little digital recorder to take notes with instead of the notepad. I find it easier to get back to the way I was thinking by listening to myself hehe.
Hey Don – Well I haven’t unsubbed from all lists… there’s a few that while they do pitch me daily, I like the way they write, and sometimes they DO give recommendations on products that are useful to me. (I’ve just been in IM for so long, not too many emails are “different”… but I do read!)
LOL on the digital recorder – good idea – however I don’t think my hubby would appreciate me starting to talk at 2 a.m. with some ideas in my head…. he’d wake up and whop me with his soccer squishy pillow bahaha (now there’s a picture in your head ).
As I was reading I did have another thing I wanted to accomplish (or move away from) pop into my head, but darn I forgot already… guess that notepad isn’t close enough!
Amber
I like being a part of this site! I would like to concentrate on building traffic to sites. Oh yea, I better learn scripts on approaching local businesses, too. I want to feel totally comfortable speaking to business owners when I approach them for contracting services with me. (I haven’t started yet.) When I have the spel on what to say to their questions and oppositions, I will be in like Flint.
MY first thought on seeing your site Don was , “OOOH ,I love this color !”
Haha… has like 5 color themes to choose from. That one just seemed to look the best. Theme is called wp-chatter.
You’ll find that talking to businesses is rather easy when you fully understand what you are selling. Once you are comfortable with what you are selling then you normally can speak rather easily about the benefits etc.
The biggest thing with landing customers in offline sales is rebuttals. If you can rebuttal well and be quick on the draw with an intelligent answer to the question you will win the client.
Hey Don, I hear you on the sleep thing. I have to have some form of either background music or TV just to take my mind off things
As for 2012. It’s gonna be a year of focus for me. Been running around like a headless chicken starting multiple projects and failing to finish any. So, just gonna concentrate on 2 niche topics and just get stuff done.
Started to do more video presentations towards the end of 2011. So, just need to crank it up on the video production side of things.
Gonna test some micro-continuity products in the marketplace and maybe even test some small 3 – 6 month membership sites. I believe the average time someone continues with a membership site is around 3 months, so it’ll be interesting to test that out.
Lots going on with the SEO field. Seems like Google is favoring larger brands in the serps and it seems like they’re going to include Google+ somehow within search, so it’ll be interesting to test a few new theories out there.
I notice some of my videos that have +1′d are performing better in the video results so will have to keep my on that.
Anyway, good luck in 2012 Don. I’ll look forward to more of your ramblings.
Hah Des… that is exactly what I have to do. I have to have the TV on to go to sleep. If it is off no chance of falling asleep forever.
One thing you will find is that small “free” membership sites can net good income to if you pop out enough of them. Those sites can net you nice income both from affiliate streams and from selling off the membership site itself. Basically it is a niche specific list for anyone that buys it. You can load those up from social media in no time.
And yeah Google is doing everything I said it would years ago… controlling what they want you to see. Not necessarily the most relevant information. But they want to get to a point where everything you see is at least on Google real estate or has Google attached to it in some way. The way they are going about it with trying to cram youtube, google +, and Google places, etc… This could be a win for them or could begin the downfall of their search engine dominance. Only time will tell on that I guess.
Happy New Year Don!
I’ve got a few similar goals, mainly to get and stay extremely focused on my business.
Started back to serious work today. First up was to delete/un-subscribe from several IMer’s lists (not yours or JK’s).
I need to finish my own site for local marketing, starting today.
It may seem like no news to you, but when I heard you talk about your retirement plan recently in a video, a light bulb went off in my head. So, I am stating my online real estate retirement plan this week as well.
And, after hearing you discuss CPA, I’ll be studying up and getting serious about that market for the first time too.
Up to now, I’ve focused on affiliate stuff like Amazon, CJ, and CB. Done okay, but really never focused to get where I need or want to be. Biggest problem was getting bored with the same style of sites, etc. And the big G hit many of my old auto blog style sites hard.
I’ve learned a lot from yourself and Jeremy lately. Now to put that new knowledge into gear.
Goals: 2-3 new local offline clients per week; 2 new ‘authority’ sites for my network per week; 2 new lead generating/capture sites per week; stop buying every WSO and other shiny objects [not sure how to do that
].
Problems to change: Boils down to staying focused mostly. Then, learning a few tasks better like WP child themes to fight the lost work when updating a theme, learn and use some of the software better, reviewing site stats more regularly to improve on pages that need attention, quit doing everything myself and get someone on-board within two months, and a few minor obstacles to overcome that just take the focus practice.
I’ve got some knowledge but need more wisdom on how to implement it correctly.
Looking forward to 2012 and making crazy money with you.
Todd, it sounds like you are on the right track. Especially with killing the shiny object syndrome.
The only shiny objects I really care about are tools. Tools that make things easier and more manageable. Those are the things I like!
Want to get SMP here packed with info for everyone… so will take me a bit of time to get it all up and good to go.
I have the same chaos brain problem! So many ideas but so little time to implement them fully. It’s been a big problem for me and I find as I get older (yes, I am quite a bit older than 40
I can’t juggle quite as much so this year I am focusing on one big thing.
That’s going to be very hard for me because I’ve always liked to build a ton of niche sites and have a lot of things going at once.
Over the past year I have become more and more enamored with Kindle publishing so my big focus this year is going to be on a series of books (NOT in the MMO or IM niche) along with a website, Fanpage and twitter account.
Of course, I’ll still keep my PLR business floating along but I’d really like to get away from the IM niche entirely eventually so hoping to focus on the kindle books 80% and the PLR 20% until my income from Kindle is such that I can either sell the PLR biz or just kind of let it ride without any effort.
Lee
That chaos brain is such an evil little thing. hard to control… so that is why I want to try and just refocus it.
Really enjoyed your post Don, I was nodding my head in agreement through the whole thing. I’m in the same boat that my mind just goes 1000 miles an hour and I’m always going in different directions all the time.
I’ve been pretty fortunate that the things that I do try out seem to work pretty well and I’ve done good for myself over the past year but this year I will definitely be focusing on doubling that.
A few things that I’ll be working on these first three months is:
1. Systemizing my offline techniques so it can be more hands off for me. Also setting up correct expectations with clients so I don’t waste hours on the phone going over things that can be handled via simple emails.
2. Taking better care of myself. I’ve been so engrossed in “work” that I kind of let myself go and I’m too young to be out of shape. Plus I want to set a good example for my little ones.
3. Doing some major updates to the two products I put out last year with you guys. LPN and MPN. Like you, I believe that I barely scratched the surface on how good those two products can be and I think they can really make a difference in someones life if used correctly. Especially Local Pages Ninja.
-Andres
Hey Andres,
I have some ideas for those actually and will get with you on it.
As far as the health… yeah no kidding. Sitting in front of a computer as long as many of us do is not a good thing at all.
I was lean and mean until I opened a computer shop… From then til now 100lbs went on and the weights got dusty haha.
I’m inputting my Lpn KW’s through Paul Clifford’s SERP Alert Pro rank tracker right now. I think I’ve only inputted 1/4th the total keywords,as they’re standing at 765 KW count so far, on 2,090 pages. I want to tell you that around 90% are on G 1st page, so yeah LPN rocks !(Big thanks Don & Andres) Hey, I’ve got to learn how to approach these lawyers now, so I’ll take all the scraps of advice you all can dish out…
And BTW, I have done distant work (over the phone or Skype)in the past, where I have helped people be able to get healthy, de-stressed, calm, peaceful, relaxed, and able to fall asleep.
I have worked on the mind chatter on myself successfully to where you get peace.
Hi Don,
Happy New Year.
I spent 2011 building sites. Now I need to start making money – getting traffic and converting. Most of my sites are in health niches and a few in electronics. This year I need to concentrate on generating huge traffic.
I must be successful in 2012; both personally and professionally. I just feel that past two years have been weighed down with half-done projects, half completed promises, and not working to my fullest potential. I am cancelling myself off most lists and within the past couple months wait to purchase any I have exercised less and gained so much weight. I am spending New Years week with my elderly mother and visiting with other family members, all who could use some a little help. This extra time away from my normal work space has generated a fire in my soul. Around October, I had cancelled my web hosting for all my pathetic sites that were slapped together, had no traffic and looked like they were built without looking at a monitor.
I always carry a pad of paper so it is full of lists. “To Do” both as soon as I get home and long term. I am listing projects (ie a CPA push) and the step by step tasks that should be done. All projects will have a task list. All completed projects (ie blogs) will have a maintenance schedule.
I also have trouble falling asleep, but do try to get what I need to function. I will also start regular exercise and log all food so that I know calories in vs calories out. To paraphrase Zig Ziglar, if you owned a million dollar race horse, would you keep him up all night, eating unhealthy food and not having a good schedule so he can win the race?
My goals are much like Don’s with a few others
1. Overcome the internal chatter or “chaos brain” as Don called it once
2. Charge more for my offline services, I already have done that
3. Do twice as much outsourcing (see item 1)
4. Return to more CPA
5. launch a product or WSO
My one and only goal for 2012 is to earn $3,000 per month and quit my job. I really need to pick a solid business model and focus on it until it starts earning me some decent money. I have a lot of courses that I have bought but haven’t done anything with yet because I can’t decide on what I really want to commit to. In 2011 I kept jumping from method to method because I was looking for a way to quit my job within 1 or 2 months because every other week they would threaten to fire me because I wasn’t going fast enough. Now I’m trying to decide if I want to do PPC, SEO & affiliate sites, adsense sites, or maybe ecommerce sites. I would try offline marketing but I’m terrified of talking to potential clients especially when I have no experience.
hi Don
well an interesting analysis of your mind I must say that My brain has been in a state of Chaos for years ans even more so after I discovered the Warrior Forum and The WSO page its like a lucky dip
Don I hope your new adventure will help concentrate both of our minds on creating profitable projects
goodluck
peter mcgrath
Hey Don
Glad to hear you are still around.
You (and (Jeremy) have been a shining
light out on the dark ocean of IM ‘stuff’.
Thanks for all the solid advice.
I have to get serious this year–I have
pretty much gotten over the shiny object syndrome.
But my chaos brain has to know how everything works
before doing anything, but I figured out that I will
never know everything, so I better get busy.
I got to quit getting hung up on stuff like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Ka3N_3B8o&feature=player_embedded
Ron
HAHA that video is great!
I’ve bought a few things of you and Jeremy over the years and always enjoyed them and learned something new. I also have a problem with “chaos brain syndrome” which has it’s own problems.
My goals for this year are to like you start to harness what goes through my head a bit more.
What I would like to see from you and what I have always enjoyed about your stuff is the technical aspects of IM/site building. Like Panda hammer for example, so I would like to see more of that kind of thing.