2017 has come and gone in what seems like a blink of an eye. As I sit down and write this post on New Year’s Day 2018 and reflect on the past year I am so thankful for everything I have been blessed with and my accomplishments in 2017.
2017 Goals Review and What I Learned
I went back and reviewed my goals for 2017 and will provide an update on how things went and what insight I have gained this year.
- Consistently work out/ jog at least 3 times a week.This started out great in the first half of the year and the latter half. I was doing the 7-minute workout app or jogging consistently during the 1st half of last year. I even did a 30-day challenge where I did a 7-minute workout every day for 30 days. When summer vacation hit I slacked off and didn’t get back into the routine until the last few months of the year. Lesson Learned. If you fall off the horse get back on as soon as you can and don’t beat yourself up about it. Your health should be priority number 1 over everything else.
- **Grow business by at least 15%**I am very happy to say I grew SeedProd’s revenue by 18% last year. I did this through more product offerings, bundles, and better marketing.
- Finish becoming debt-free.In December 2018, I became 100% debt free including my mortgage. I go into detail on how and why I did this my Debt Free and it Feels So Good post.
- **Strategize an investment/retirement plan.**I really did not do anything significant in this regard. I did think about actions I needed to take but did not act on any formal plan. This goal will roll over to this year. I will say my current investments did great this year.
- Contribute more to my kid’s college funds.I contributed the same to my kid’s college funds and they are doing great. Both kids have a nice 5 figure fund so far and they are 3 and 7. However, my opinion on college is changing as the cost and the ROI of college seems to start to diminish. I went to college and graduated. I’d say I learned more from the experience as opposed to the actual education. As college costs increase kids are graduating with mountains of debt and working that glorious 9-5 job college promises to take years just to break even. Check out this great podcast on why you lose money going to college. While I firmly believe in education there are now many other ways to get that education. You can find in-depth knowledge on any topic you want on the internet. And most of the successful people I know own a business and most did not even go to college. So while I’ll still contribute to a fund for my kids of college. I will be teaching them to have an entrepreneurial mindset.
- Never stop learning I read tons of books this year on the topics of Marketing, Business, and Personal Development. I can’t rave enough about an app called Blinkist. It breaks down books to 15-minute reads or listens and pulls out all the good actionable stuff. I probably read a round 50 + Blinkist version of books. As far as full books, podcasts, conferences, and courses I consumed in 2017.
- BooksTools of the Titans by Tim FerrissThe Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan KennedyThe Book of Joy by Dalai Lama and Desmond TutuDotCom Secrets by Russell BrunsonEmail Marketing Demystified by Matthew Paulson
- PodcastsMarketingSchool.ioStartUps for the Rest of Us
- CoursesTraffic MBA Facebook Video Ads MasteryAdvanced Ecommerce Marketing Course
- ConferencesMicroconfWordCampUS
- Focus on Learning Marketing BetterI contribute a lot of my business growth this year from a lot of the tactics I learned from the above resources. I tend to hyperfocus when trying to learn something. I find the expert in that topic and consume.
- **Review goals monthly and write more about my experience on this blog.**I failed miserably at this. But this will be a top priority for this year. Sharing my knowledge. In addition to these goals, I did several months of 30-day challenges. Here’s a few I did. March - no social media, FB can be toxic and most people are addicted to it and don’t even know it. April - daily exercise, using the 7-minute workout I referred to above. May - cold showers, I would turn the water as cold as I could get for about 20 seconds. Post forthcoming on why this year. July- daily meditation, used the Clam app, more to come on this as well. August - read every night, no tv So there you have it, not to mention I was so blessed in so many other ways in 2017. I was able to take my kids to Disney 3 times this year. Yes, we are Disney nerds. More to come on this as well. I have Disney down to a science and will share my strategy.
2018 Goals
On New Year’s Eve as I lay in bed before Midnight I was thinking about everything I wanted to do and accomplish this year. I hope I can recall everything because I had it perfect in my head :) Anyway, here it goes… Ezra Firestone of Smart Marketer talks about the importance of having a motto to drive your Business and Life. So after doing to some reflecting and thinking here’s mine. Gratitude, Give and Grow. This is what will drive my goals for Business and Life going forward. If you do some research on what actually makes people happy and gives you long-lasting joy you’ll see that gratitude and contributing back are driving forces. It’s crucial you also get clear on the difference between pleasure and joy as well. Pleasure is short, joy is long-lasting. This year I plan to start my days ( I did this some in the past but this year every day) with a morning ritual where I give gratitude through prayer and just focusing on things I am truly grateful for and happy about. Most people focus on what they don’t have all the time. Try focusing on what you do have and see how that makes you feel. In addition to gratitude I plan to add visualization to my morning ritual. I would have never become debt-free or have a business, etc… if I hadn’t visualized these things. You have to know where you want to go to get there. Meditation will also be a part of my morning ritual. I did a 30 day challenge this past year and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have a very busy mind as I’m sure most people do. Meditation helps calm a busy mind and build your focus and clarity muscle. Your ability to focus will determine how successful you are. Also, I will be adding some form of exercise. Jogging or a workout. I’m not looking to become Arnold Schwarzenegger, but I am looking to become fit and healthy. A major part of becoming healthy is your diet. This too will be a focus this year. More raw and less meat and processed. I made great strides in this last year. This year it’s a focus. So the goal this year to is implement this morning ritual everyday and be mind and body health focused. Up next my business. Just like every business, the goal is to grow. Last year I did a lot of consuming on the topic of marketing, this year will be focused more on implementing these things I have learned and blogging about the results. In the department of giving back. This blog will become a lot more active this year I’ll document and share my knowledge and journey and hopefully will inspire others to achieve whatever it is they want in life. Ultimately the goal is to be thankful for and enjoy my life, my family, friends, help others, grow, and enjoy the process. I also realize that I don’t have it all figured out, there is no such thing as perfection and that’s OK **Gratitude, Give, Grow **
Conclusion
So here’s to a great 2018 and remember there is no such thing as failure. Any situation you can label as a failure or as painful you can find a lesson in if you look hard enough and apply it to the greater good. Cheers to you and to life!