I’ve heard that kids always get sick around the holidays and it held true in my family. My 21 month old son caught some virus which gave him mucus from hell and a 102 fever for 4 days. Doesn’t help that the kid just refuses to take his mid day nap. This all leads to one cranky household.
With the break of the new year and being back on a normal schedule I was finally able to identify what my goals are going to be this year. In a previous post (What Do You Do When You Are Out of Marketing Money?) I brain dumped these 10 ideas…
- Continue building up my lead generating websites with the goal of getting 30 leads per month.
- Finish up and release the current version SI Lead Manager and begin to sell it.
- Learn the development tools needed to develop a web version of SI Lead Manager
- Earn $5,000 from affiliate marketing (or $420 a month)
- Separate my business income/expenses completely from my family income/expenses
- Get StrugglingInvestor.com up to 5,000 visitors a month
- Buy a Rental property
- Rehab a Property
- Start or Join a Mastermind group
- Generate an additional stream of income that gives me $100/mo
I’ll walk through each one and highlight the ones I selected. The idea was to only choose 2 or 3 goals.
Goal #1 - Continue building up my lead generating websites with the goal of getting 30 leads per month. This is a must. It came to mind first in my brain dump session for a reason. I’ve actually got a couple websites up and running already through a great service called Investor Carrot. What I’m also doing, and haven’t told anyone yet, is developing another site outside of the Investor Carrot umbrella. I wanted to compare what the returns are from an investor carrot website verses one created by me using WordPress with help from an SEO expert that I hired. I will be posting about this throughout the year.
Goal #2 - Finish up and release the current version SI Lead Manager and begin to sell it. I can really see this software turning into another source of income for me. Whether it be the new version I’m working on or a subsequent version. There is definitely a need for it out there and I have to keep pushing myself to make it better and better. Version 7 will be a big improvement over Beta 6 for sure!
Learn the development tools needed to develop a web version of SI Lead Manager. I’m itching to take on this goal right now but I have to put it off. There is no reason for me to start learning something new until I’m ready to implement what I’m learning. This would just take time away from my other goals at this point. Finishing up the current desktop version of SILM must happen first.
Earn $5,000 from affiliate marketing (or $420 a month). I thought about going after this one hard but realized that I don’t want to be in the business of marketing other people’s products just to make money. If I work on my business and become successful my recommendations for products that I use will mean that much more. If my opinions hold more value more people will want to try the products that I recommend. So this goal might well be achieved in 2014, but only as a result of me meeting my main goals.
Separate my business income/expenses completely from my family income/expenses. This is something that as my business grows is going to get more and more important. Right now it’s very easy to weed out my business debits and credits through my mint account. As I begin to make more money from various places and have more expenses the task is going to start being impossible. This year is the time to start the separating process. Though not one of my main goals this year, it’ll be something I look into and plan to do next year.
Goal #3 - Get StrugglingInvestor.com up to 5,000 visitors a month. Unlike my affiliate income goal, I feel this will really help my business. The more people I can get reading my blog the more connections I stand to make. Real Estate Investing is all about networking and making connections. I currently stand at about 1500 visitors a month and I think 5000 is a very reach able figure.
Buy a Rental property. I’m about 85% sold on the idea of buying a rental property at some point. I love the idea of having a rent check show up in my mailbox every month and the idea of someone else paying for my equity. With my wife losing her job last year and deciding to go to nursing school, I just don’t have the buying power to purchase a rental in my area.
Rehab a Property. The idea of building a house or just turning and dump into a great looking home has always appealed to me. I love building things. Just like buying a rental property, I do not have the money to do this. I also don’t have the time this year so this will have to go on the back burner. One day I will do this!
Goal #4 - Start or Join a Mastermind group. This is a must for this year. The mastermind group that I was a part of at one time has practically dissolved and I’m in need of another one. Something that meets once a month or so would be great. I don’t have any leads on one just yet, but will work on finding and joining the right one.
Generate an additional stream of income that gives me $100/mo. This one will not be a direct goal, but I’m going to pay attention more for opportunities. It shouldn’t be hard to do, but my requirements are that it must be passive. I don’t want to trade time for dollars on this one.
Okay, you may have noticed that I’ve chosen 4 goals instead of 2 or 3. Joining a mastermind group shouldn’t take much time or affect the completion of my other goals. However, it could have a big impact on my business.
The theme for this year was to set the ground work for the future. I have quite a few ideas on where I want to be and how I want to get there. 2014 will get me to the next level for sure.