It’s a quiet Christmas Eve as I start my goals post for 2012. The house is quiet, the children are sleeping, and Santa has been and laden the Christmas tree with lots of brightly wrapped gifts.
In this rare moment of peace I thought it was time to reflect on what happened this year and what my goals for next year are.
What happened this year? Some Reflection …
Let’s start with having a look at this year first. Going over last year’s goals post I planned to:
- Build more Squidoo lenses and point BMR’s at them
- Finish a traditionally published book
- Close down my Aweber account
- Write more EZA articles
- Continue to use BMR for backlinks
- Deleting many of the poor performing Amazon mini sites
- Write some eBooks
So how’d I do?
While the list wasn’t that long or challenging I did manage to complete all but one of my goals. The goal I didn’t complete – mainly from lack of enthusiasm was to write more EZA articles.
Fortunately for me that probably saved me wasting a lot of time since Panda hit article sites like EZA hard this year and that time was better spent on my own sites or other backlinking services.
So what about 2012 – what are my plans for next year?
2012 is going to be all about stepping up. Dominating. Becoming a force to be reckoned with.
The past year I’ve been too much all over the place. Too many websites, too little focus. I’ve just been putting the hours in and backlinking since that got the job done. And while it did earn me a few pennies here and there I’m not where I want to be.
So not surprisingly my online income took a dive this year. Not enough to put us in the poor house or anything, but enough that because we didn’t curb our spending caused us to rack up a bit of credit card debt (which I talk about in 30 Day Spending Detox).
That got me mad. I’m supposed to be good at finance – heck I’ve got enough books and articles on the topic – so how the hell did I get into debt?
The answer. I didn’t care enough (so my income dropped) and wasn’t organised enough (hence the out of control spending).
We are all fine and back on track again of course. But it was definitely a wake-up call. A big universe slap in the face that I need to get SERIOUS again.
Let’s get serious. This isn’t a game anymore.
It’s time I need to make a name for myself in the finance niche.
So that means.
Write more books – 6 this year is the goal.
Write more awesome kickass blog posts (and more often). 1,000 words minimum. Photos, graphs, video’s. Whatever’s needed.
Videos. Oh hell yes – I’m gonna step in front of the camera. It’s about time.
Diversifying posts to catch a wider audience. I already did this with my Christmas lights in North Ryde post. Regular readers probably wondered WTF I was doing. Don’t care. It was useful. Gained some good mentions and backlinks. And my book sales went up – could have been a coincidence, don’t care. I wrote about something real, unique and helpful. So what if it wasn’t marketing related.
Taking my own pics when possible. Originality. Going that extra step. Owning it baby.
Press Releases. It’s time to bring it and let the world know.
So that’s it. 2012 is going to be the year when I jump out of my comfort zone and really go for it.
Watch this space.
Tracey 
P.S. Some of my friends have already started their goals posts for next year. Let me know by email or in the comments below if you want a link to your goals post below.
Enough about me – here are some of my FRIENDS GOALS FOR 2012 ..
1. Tiffany’s 2012 Goals and Business Plans
2. Lis’s year in Review & Plans for 2012 & Here
3. Leo’s Year and Goals for 2012
4. Hospitalera’s Making Money in 2011 / 2012
5. James’s – 2011 Lessons and 2012 Goals
Tracey, I am exactly the same. 2012 is going to be the year to dominate. The year to really step it up in this game. To get organized and to take so much massive action that others are left for dust.
I totally can’t wait and my Mojo is back Baby!
I really bottled out of work for the last 3 months, just sat in front of the Laptop not really working like I usually do. Just playing at it. I guess it happens to us all. But I am right there with you for next year, let’s kick some bum!
So, a video Superstar!
Coolio
Yes, 2012 is going to be huge. It’s funny how we always seem to be in sync about our goals ..
Hope you and Alexis have a wonderful Christmas.
xx
Hi Tracey
Last night I pullled out one of your books (Shopping for Shares) from by bookcase because I am now wanting to find out about investing in good dividend yielding stocks on the ASX. I am unclear on the 45 day holding rule/item. Currently I am interested in buying Telstra shares for their dividend yield. I have just cashed in some of my superannuation as I turned 55 last week. I would welcome any advice from you as I value your thoughts on this. All the best to you for the New Year. Kind regards Theresa Leach
Hi Theresa,
I emailed you directly. Hope you found it useful!
Tracey
LOL the video thing is playing on your mind too huh? Well I can’t do mine until partner goes back to work in the NY – I sure as hell ain’t trying it with an audience in the house!
Yes I’m not sure when I’m going to do it but it’s definitely something I want/need to do to step things up. I’m going to be mega-nervous the first time I do one though, I’m actually pretty shy!
Love your take charge attitude for 2012!
I’m not as brave as you when it comes to videos. I absolutely can’t stand how young I sound. But looking forward to seeing you on video
Solid goals, Tracey – 6 books? Sheesh. That scares me. Takes me a vewy vewy long time just for a post: I think a turtle with a broken leg and no typing skills (opposed to other turtles who write for a living) could beat me in composing a post.
I was thinking a short story would be pretty kewl tho. I could misspell words like that, too.
Here’s to your goals in 2012, the “focus” thing? Totally get that. My wife has a cattle prod and a tazer to keep me focused.
You sound serious this year Tracey and it great you have found your motivation.
I am too very excited about the following year with my goals and I am also “Getting Serious”. Which means taken all my distractions away which is probably the biggest issues from working from home.
Goodluck Tracey with your NY resolution even though I perhaps 2 weeks late
Thanks Norm,
Good luck with your goals too!
t xx
Great blog post, goals are so important in any part of life and for you to succeed online.
I am loving shopping for shares, you are so amazing…I am doing the research for stocks and cant find ” Finance excluding Property”
XXJ came up with a way too big figure??
Can you tell me where I can find it please.
Thanks again for enlightening all women.
Regards veronica
Hi Veronica,
So glad that you liked the book!
Where are you doing your research? The index is still XXJ in most Aussie stock broker sites, but if you are looking on somewhere like Yahoo Finance they list it as ^AXXJ (to distinguish it from worldwide indicies).
XXJ has been fairly turbulent over the past few months but they should be around 4600 or thereabouts now.
Hope this helps!
Good luck with your stock picking and let me know if you need any pointers.
All the best,
Tracey
Why did you want to cancel your Aweber account?
I never used it because, at the time, I was against list marketing so I was paying $20 a month for nothing. Of course as soon as I change my mind again I’ve already cancelled it. LOL. Sure I could sign up again, but I think for the short term I’ll just use the Feedburner subscription model because it’s free and does ok.