2014 was another successful year. There were some goals I accomplished but also some I failed at as well. Overall a blessed and great year.
Professional Life
Revenue from my Coming Soon Plugin for WordPress grew by around 10%. I had intended on releasing another major plugin in 2014 but the rebuild of my Coming Soon plugin took a bit longer than I had thought. My goal was to 2x my revenue. Unfortunately, I missed it but the important thing is I know why. Â I focused this year more on developing than marketing and the numbers show.
One of my other goals was to release https://www.sellwp.co a SaaS for selling WordPress themes and plugins. I spent the first quarter getting this product ready. I released it in a limited beta and got lots of awesome feedback. However, I quickly realized this would be a slow revenue ramp. I decided to halt the product to the public. My plugins were making more money and it didn’t make sense for me to switch gears to a slow ramp SaaS since I still work a day job and have limited time.  I still think this is a viable product, however. I get weekly requests wanting to know when it will be ready.
2014 was also going to be the year I quit my day job. Well, I’m still working a day job…What happened? We had another baby. My wife and I were blessed with my son in September of this year and I took 3 months off to be with him. During that time I evaluated whether I should quit my day job and or not and if it felt right. I decided that I wanted to get my other plugin out the door to see if I could replicate my current success. I wanted to reassure myself I was not a one-hit wonder. Plus I want more runway with another child.
I attended two conferences this year. Pressnomics (WordPress Business Conference) and Microconf (Self-Funded StartUp Conference). I was honored to present an attendee talk this year at Microconf.
2014 Microconf Attendee Talks
Both of these are A+ conferences and I can’t stress how much networking has to do with your success.
One goal I badly missed was blogging more. I can count on my fingers the number of times I’ve created a blog post. This is going to be one of my main goals for 2015.
Personal Life
This year was the first year in my family’s new home.
I welcomed the birth of my son Jake Dylan Turner.
We’re putting in a pool Clark!
My daughter is learning to ride a bike.
Also, I started jogging this year which was one of my goals from last year. I jogged consistently up until my son was born. I have been slacking a bit but plan to make it part of my routine again in the new year.
Goals for 2015
In no particular order here are my goals for the new year.
- Blog more, I plan to post on this blog my experiments for obtaining my financial goals. Plus I plan to do more content marketing on https://www.seedprod.com
- I want to 2x my revenue either by creating a new plugin, growing my current user base, or a combo. I have a new sister plugin planned for release in January 2015
- Raise conversion rate over 4%. Right now my conversion rate is in the lower 3’s. I plan to constantly be running an A/B test on my site to raise conversions.
- Hire someone to handle my support/dev or both. While I want to stay small, I do want to have a backup so I can freely get away from the business here and there.
- Start working out, using this app. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/for-a-7-minute-workout-download-our-new-app/ I was good about running this year now to add some strength.
- Spend more time with my kids. As I was setting out presents for my kids at 3 am on Christmas morning it really occurred to me this is a special time and I really want to make the most of it.
- Stop and smell the roses. I want to enjoy life more and not take any moment for granted. I work hard and sometimes get caught up in it all. I want to start taking every Sunday to disconnect from it all and spend time with family or friends. So that’s it. I’m truly blessed and grateful for everything 2014 has given me and my family. Here’s to an awesome, healthy, and prosperous 2015. Cheers!