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2017 - What Will You Do Different?


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It's close enough to June to post an update. :D

 

1. I will be looking at a P&L report each month. I need to keep better track of my business numbers.

I've been playing catch-up so much that the numbers are disappointing. Next month should be my turning point, though.

2. I have been putting off switching my biz model to one I can be more passionate about. I will make this a reality in 2017. 

This is coming along nicely. :) 

3. I will have at least one new experience once a month: visiting a new place, trying a new activity, etc. I have been in a rut for so long that I can't do it anymore.

Still very awesome. :) 

4. I will be focusing on building new friendships in my new city, and going to new in-person meetings for fun and friendship. 

This is going well. :) 

5. I am going to be more involved with activism.

This is also coming along nicely. :) 

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Interesting thread.

Ok, what will l do differently?

I have started my flyer business, over the last two weeks, and eventhough the last two weeks haven't been easy, it is coming alone.

I did a six week course in Cert, 3 in Micro Business Management, more than a month ago, and officially started two weeks ago.

 

Officially started meaning, l am doing 13 flyers per week, when most of my competitors are doing 2 a week.

A bit stressful at times, especially when things happened, or wasted too much of my time, but l am maintaining production projections.

Things that happened, so far have been....

• Needed a 5tb external HDD, and of course all the ones in AU, were the silly upright, (fall over at a drop of a hat) ones. So l ordered one from the US, or GA. Well l tried to, but since the Ebay seller didn't have a PayPal option, it messed up the Credit Card option, and to make a long story short, had issues with that. But l have the new drive now, and it works fine, but it also has a US, power plug, and had to get a US to AU adapter.

• My MP3 player on my phone, packet it in, or sound only came out of one side. So l had to get a Sony, one, which took more valuable time, sorted that out.

• And some issues with Firefox, and Word 2017, (now fixed) and issues other stuff, but knock on wood l seem to be through the worst of it.

 

Usually when everything that can go wrong does, is a good sigh that it will work.

 

But seasonal niches can be hard to fathom out, so l will have to wait and see, at least for the 4th of July one?

B)

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Making some progress - Diego and I are collaborating on a high-end project involving an interactive site and mobile app (scheduling appointments) for a Laser Hair Removal clinic. The back-end admin area is done and we've moved on to the API and app itself. This is a three month project and we're at the halfway point, right on schedule. 

Another project I'm collaborating on is moving forward nicely - some terrific ideas are coming out of it as we brainstorm our way through it. This one is my favorite, because my partner on it, Kemosabi, is a remarkably intelligent woman who motivates the hell out of me with her enthusiasm (and she cracks me up when we're talking). 

My third project is a completely new student portal for our EFL school - I designed the first one about 5 years ago or so and it's purpose is to allow scheduling, interactive lessons, student homework, etc. - now we're taking it to a whole new level over the summer. 

I'm still behind on my Drunken Greek blog - but then again, it's my lowest priority. 

I'm going to redo a sales page (just update it) and begin promoting an old, but up-to-date product later this month.

Lastly, I've got an ongoing long-term, SECRET, project that is slowly coming together. 

I just went back through the thread to see if I'd posted anything that I should update and I realized something interesting happened to me this year. In my first post in this thread, I didn't really have any specific goals (aside from the usual ones that I always meet). And as the year progressed, some of the folks here helped me to really start getting excited about getting back into business online. As a result, I've got multiple projects now keeping me busy and honestly? It's a terrific feeling to be back in the saddle, especially here in this forum :)

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I thought I had better update my 2017, too. 

Rebuilding my businesses is coming along nicely, despite the roadblocks I've ran into.  I've been working long, long hours trying to catch up on work that got shoved aside and realized in doing so, new and better ideas were there to be implemented!  I love the new look and features I've done to a couple of my client's sites and I especially love the new structure of my main business and the direction it's taking.  The reduction in my stress level is the biggest payoff! 

The project with BIG Mike has really motivated me!  And as he said, the more we brainstorm, the better this gets!  I've also learned all the bad words in Greek!  He's also been so kind and teaches me things with the upmost patience!  I'm sure he's rolling his eyes when I ask questions. 

I have the rest of this month to finish up some of my goals and then I'm tackling a project I've put off for way too long. 

Changing the way I did things for 2017 has turned out to be much more challenging than I imagined, but seeing things starting to pay off is worth all the stress, worry and frustration! 

 

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Okay, I'll update too. :)

 

As many of you know, my first manuscript was accepted for publication. Whoo Hoo! I don't have a release date yet and my manuscript is still in the editing stages where they prepare it according to their preferred style. For instance, anything in all caps or bolded will be changed to italics. That sort of thing.

They said it could take 2 months for this part. It hasn't even been one month yet and I'm tired of waiting! LOL! I've always said that patience was not my strong suit so that is my new goal for this year. Does it count if I have no choice? :unsure:

I have been working on my third manuscript and wrestling with stories in my head. Got another chapter under my belt and working on the next. I just decided on the title for it and am loving it!

I also have been invited to do an author's read when my book is released, so that's exciting! That will be my first one and it's for a book club.

Next month might not be as productive as I already know 2 weeks will be shot. The first week of July, I have my 2 youngest grandbabies while their parents are out of town celebrating the 10th wedding anniversary and then the week of the 16th my brother will be in from Missouri and staying at my house along with my niece and nephew.

 

Okay, consider yourselves updated, LOL!

 

Terra

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Hello All-Stars!

Great topic.  I am winding down my automation software (Smartflo) that I have been working on for 4 or 5 years.  Honestly, I lost count on how long I have worked on this devil spawn of a program.  haha  I am hoping to have this baby up for sale in the next couple of months.  I updated my Software Builder to include some of the automation found in Smartflo.  I have a Premium PLR series I want to finish this year.  Besides that, I will continue adding services to Smartflo and the Software Builder.

I will have to look at hiring a full time programmer.  I don't really want to manage anyone but it looks like it will have to happen.

I recommend people getting their cashflow set straight before working on a large project.  I had a heck of a time funding this automation project and had to stop development to create some cashflow so I could then continue working on it.  It was one of the reasons it took so long.

 

On a personal note:  

I want to purchase a house for my parents.  They want to head up north and be closer to the lakes and they are kinda stuck in their current house.  

I was working out steadly for some time.  Roughly 3 to 4 times a week.  I upped that to 5 to 6 times a week.  Getting old is tough.  haha

I probably won't get to it this year, but I want to start setting up a non-profit for dogs.  I would like to create something self sustaining that will outlast me.  I know a lot of the non-profits need money and I would like to concentrate on generating money to allocate to them.  I also think they need help in marketing the dogs they save in order to find homes.  

I've been working a ton and cut down my forum time quite a bit.  I still find this forum to be one I enjoy coming back too.  A lot of knowledge being shared just for the sake of helping.


Thomas

 

 

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Life is funny sometimes!

After I posted my update talking about how long this was taking, I checked my email and my publisher had sent me their edited version of my manuscript! Whoo Hoo!

I have spent the rest of the day going over their changes for approval and indicating any corrections I'd like made.

That is all done now and I'm so excited! The next step is the typesetting phase. They say it could take a month before it is sent to me for my approval.

Hopefully, I can be patient waiting for the typesetting to be done, lol!

 

Terra

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My main goal for 2017 was to become more efficient.  I originally wanted to put another van and crew on the road, but that comes with astronomical costs, not only for the van, tools, material, and payroll for the crew, but for the added payroll for the extra employee I would have to add to support these guys since I already wear too many hats and have no more time.  So I decided to see how efficient I can make things.  

As for SEO, my goal is to actually find a way to get links to my website.  I think the local optimization is almost as far as it can go, and good old backlinks are what's holding me back.  But short of buying links or setting up my own PBN, I have no other method of getting them. 

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16 hours ago, Mike Friedman said:

Hard to believe, but the end of the year is almost here. How are you doing with your commitments from the beginning of the year?

I'm not in bad shape:

EFL School Project - The core work was completed at the end of August as scheduled and now it's just in an ongoing development mode as we explore ideas for future features and functionality. 

Laser Clinic Project - Again, the core work has been done, but we've been held up finishing on change orders. To complicate matters, the client was recently diagnosed with cancer and is going through treatment, so it's been slow going in terms of communication. 

Organizer Project - This is slowly, but surely coming together as Theresa and I have time to focus on it. We've actually made a lot of progress and now that those first two projects are essentially done, I have more time to work on it.

Secret Project - Although it's not moving forward consistently, it's benefiting from the work done on the first three projects, with certain core features/functionality ported over to it. 

NOTE: These four projects were all built using my Revelation Framework, which I'm upgrading with true "Mobile First" responsive functionality built-in. That's a bit of a November goal in Shay's latest, "Get off your ass and get to work" thread. 

Drunken Greek Blog - It's just sitting there collecting dust; aside from putting up the site I haven't found the time (truthfully, the motivation) to work on it. Ironically, this was the only online goal I started the year out with, LOL. 

Local Projects - No point in listing them all individually, but since these are my highest priority, everything is done or on track to be done by the end of the year. 

ADDITIONAL NOTES

In June, I terminated my contract with the local university (no longer teaching there) and planned a fall schedule of teaching Proficiency EFL 2 days per week. The goal being that I'd have 3 days a week to focus on my own projects.

Unfortunately, the EFL school got slammed with new students in September, so I've had to go back to 5 days a week for now. My boss won't cut me any slack, the bitch, (don't tell my wife I said that), LOL. 

However, I've managed to find the time to research several emergent web technologies that I'll be incorporating into new projects next year and upgrading some older projects, time permitting. 

Overall, it's been a very productive year both online and off. 

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While my progress has looked like a downhill shit slide, I've cleared some huge hurdles!  

I made a huge mistake this year in taking on more than I could handle.  The best thing I did for myself was cutting out the 'favors' for friends.  The other 'best thing' was taking the time to drill down EXACTLY what I expected out of my sites and my client's sites.  

I'll admit, it's taken me wayyyy longer than I wanted.  That part is on me, though.  I really got an ass kicking on my time management skills (or lack thereof).... and I have taken steps to get my irregular sleep patterns under control.  This has really been a huge time, energy, productivity, suck.  I don't think I really understood how destructive they were until last month!  

I have the foundations, walls and all the guts ready.  My last chore is the roof(s) and hanging the open signs!   

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I am doing great in my original goals with my books am just waiting to hear the printer has okayed everything for printing. Should be about another week. Once the approval is given, I'll receive a box of my printed books for my hands on approval. If there aren't any unforeseen snafus, I'll approve it and it will go up for sale and a promotional press release will go out to my publisher's network about my book and myself and a 30 second high definition video will be released as well in my promotional package. I'm getting more excited by the minute and unfortunately, more impatient, LOL!

I did run into a problem and wasn't able to finish my 3rd manuscript of the series though. But it made me set new goals which I am blasting. There was no way I could have known that I would need a titanium lower back at the beginning of this year and lose so much of my strength because of a bad back. That being said, I am meeting my goals of regaining that strength and was just promoted to the super gym yesterday at physical therapy after only 3 weeks. That's heavy duty strenthing with heavy equipment! Whoo Hoo! I am amazing my surgeon and my physical therapists with how well I am doing!

I haven't been able to be at the computer for long lengths and that is why I wasn't able to finish the third manuscript, but wow! My story ideas page has grown exponentially!

 

Terra

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On 11/5/2017 at 3:41 PM, Mike Friedman said:

Hard to believe, but the end of the year is almost here. How are you doing with your commitments from the beginning of the year?

No kidding.  I don't know where the time went.

Good news is I am almost caught up on work.  That would be the first time in roughly 5 or so years.  haha   It looks like I have a ton of products ready to sell.  I was kind of surprised when I decided to look at all of my assets.  A lot of chit, man.  lol 

Now to get websites up and look at how I can combine them into sales funnels.

 

Thomas

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On 12/7/2016 at 6:11 PM, JohnHemmer said:

I have already done this exercise with Mike 1-on-1. Most people don't know this (because he is dumb not to advertise it), but Mike does business coaching. I keep telling him he needs to advertise it because he is really freaking good at it. The stuff he has done for my business... holy shit!

So there is my ad for him.

In fact, Mike that should be your #1. You should start advertising your business coaching.

Anyhow, what I like about this exercise is it is different than just putting down your goals for the year. It makes you think about your actual activities and actions instead of just numbers. It also makes you consider what Mike always refers to me as "time vampires". Things that you spend time doing and probably don't need to. 

With that...

1 - 

  • I'm going to move much of my business from outsourcers to employees. I outsource a lot of work (often overseas). It has worked. Business is flourishing. However, it also wastes a lot of my time having to constantly correct things, ask for rewrites and redesigns, shift projects to new workers when one flakes out, etc. Any of you that have outsourced a lot of work probably know what I am talking about. I realize that employees will not remove all headaches, and can bring about headaches of their own. However, business is at a place where I need to start developing talent and surrounding myself with more people that are tied into my goals and vision. And I need to find my "Ashley" that I can turn over large parts of the business to so that I can focus on things that will make it continue to grow. It is time to take this internet marketing thing from a hobby to a business.
  • I'm totally stealing this one from Mike. Something I know he does at home that I am going to start doing is we are going to have a "Game Night" in our house. Might be a "Movie Night" instead. I have two kids under 12 and the wife. We are going to pick one night that is just set aside to do something together. Work is not allowed to interfere with that time, ever. 
  • I'm putting away 15% of my profit each month for retirement. I have some retirement savings, but talking with Mike has made me realize I'm not doing nearly enough, and I have the means to do much more. A few less toys and spending on things we really don't need, and 15% will not be that hard.

2 - 

  • Facebook and Skype. I am not cutting them out completely, but there are going to be set times that I can use them during business hours. Facebook especially can just lead to rabbit holes that suck up 20 minutes here, 10 minutes there, etc. Damn you Ric Flair and all your awesome posts! And don't even get me started on the political fights in comments over the past year that have taken up way too much of my time.
  • I'm going to stop letting money fly out the window. I'm not awful with money, but I could be better with business expenses. Sometimes I get an email with an invoice and just pay it without thinking if I really need that service anymore. There is $20-24k coming in a month in sales and with that those little $20 hosting invoices or $50 a month for this or that look like nothing. There is savings there to be made though. I need to take inventory of business and trim the fat.
  • I'm going to stop making excuses to not get to the gym 3-4 times per week. I go in spurts, but there is no reason I cannot make it a consistent part of my life.

I may add to this yet, but this is what I have come up with so far.

 

Update Time:

1 - The move to employees has been great. Still using some outsource solutions and probably always will. For certain things, there is there is just not enough consistent work to hire someone full or part-time, such as logo designs. I did have to get rid of one employee recently. It just wasn't a good fit. Other than that, the 2 employees I have right now are so much more tied in to what we are doing. Love it.

The Game Night idea has been great. We have missed a few weeks here and there, and I imagine as the kids get older and start having more school activities and doing things with friends, more will be missed from time to time. That's okay though. We have done board games, movies, smores night, miniature golf, and indoor rock climbing. 

Nailed the 15% put away.

2 - Skype was not too hard to cut out. Facebook was a little harder early in the year with the political climate. I have a disease that makes me try really hard to get Trump supporters to see how stupid they are. By May, I had pretty much had enough of it and have hardly been on Facebook since. 

Business has grown compared to the previous year, but I think what I am most happy about is I cut down my expenses by about 8-9% just by being more mindful of what I was spending money on. 

Gym trips have been more frequent, but I still had a few breaks this year that were much longer than they should have been.

 

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19 hours ago, JohnHemmer said:

 

Update Time:

1 - The move to employees has been great. Still using some outsource solutions and probably always will. For certain things, there is there is just not enough consistent work to hire someone full or part-time, such as logo designs. I did have to get rid of one employee recently. It just wasn't a good fit. Other than that, the 2 employees I have right now are so much more tied in to what we are doing. Love it.

The Game Night idea has been great. We have missed a few weeks here and there, and I imagine as the kids get older and start having more school activities and doing things with friends, more will be missed from time to time. That's okay though. We have done board games, movies, smores night, miniature golf, and indoor rock climbing. 

Nailed the 15% put away.

2 - Skype was not too hard to cut out. Facebook was a little harder early in the year with the political climate. I have a disease that makes me try really hard to get Trump supporters to see how stupid they are. By May, I had pretty much had enough of it and have hardly been on Facebook since. 

Business has grown compared to the previous year, but I think what I am most happy about is I cut down my expenses by about 8-9% just by being more mindful of what I was spending money on. 

Gym trips have been more frequent, but I still had a few breaks this year that were much longer than they should have been.

 

Wow John, sounds like you've made some significant improvements - glad it's working out for you brother!

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10 hours ago, BIG Mike said:

Wow John, sounds like you've made some significant improvements - glad it's working out for you brother!

 

If I am being totally honest, it was not all this year. There was a lot of planning in 2016 leading into 2017 to make all that stuff happen. It's been a solid year.

Now I'm thinking shit, how do I do this again in 2018?

 

 

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18 hours ago, Mike Friedman said:

So do we want to do the same thread for 2018 or change up the topic a little bit?

I really liked this one Mike!

It was very helpful to be able go back as the year progressed and see what I had projected I would do to help me keep on task as well as ascertain my whereabouts in keeping on task.

It was fun seeing how I needed some adjusting of some of my goals as life happened or to borrow a line from my GPS, " recalculating", except not as annoying as a voice, LOL!

Terra

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