Another year has passed and it is time to sit and review you achievements for the year. But what is even more important is planning for the next year. The big question at this point is – Do you have an agenda for the next year?
Every new year brings in time for newer resolutions. But the year that went never gives you the time to sit down and evaluate your performance on the last year’s resolutions. This is probably because of the what we have been taught all these years – “Focus on the future. Forget your past”. If you were not taught this, then you were really lucky. But I learnt it this way and hence have always been focusing on the future and ignoring the past.
Am I doing right? The answer is obvious. What is it that I was doing wrong?
In my attempt to focus on the future and forget the past, I did not take the time out to evaluate things that I did wrong. I did not evaluate the reasons why they went wrong just to ensure that I do not repeat the same mistake again.
As the New Year has dawned it is now time to sit down and analyze your past year and chalk out some fresh and practical plans for the new year.
Things that I did right in 2009:-
When I look back at 2009, I feel there were quite a few things that I did right and consequently worked well for my business.
I jumped into the Twitter Bandwagon on time – Twitter was the most happening thing in 2009. It exploded towards the beginning of the year 2009. People who did not know how to use this explosion to their advantage, sat pretty on the fence. Others who took advantage of the explosion reaped its benefits and made money out of it. I made the right decision at the right time and learnt how to monetize Twitter. Today as the New Year dawns I have newer strategies and plans for Twitter.
I attained partial freedom – The beginning of 2009, brought in the worst recession in the recent times. Stock prices tumbled and the bottomline of most companies showed negative results. People were afraid of losing jobs. A few thousands even lost their job. Internet Marketing was not serious for me until then. But then I found a reason to be independent, to be free of the fear of starving, to be free of the fear of losing jobs, to be free of the fear of being burdened with mortgages and loans. As the year ends, I know I have attained partial freedom. I have a self-sustaining income from my business and I am free.
My wife’s first blog – I got my wife to blog. At first she had very less interest but when she found that what she was to write was on topics of her interest, she just freaked out. Her blogs was ranking in the first page of Google, for quite a few prime keywords and she had increased her readership by almost 360%.
I registered my Company – I was able to register my company in 2009. My company will be into social media marketing and web designing. I will be launching my company website and other details in the year 2010.
Things that I did wrong in 2009:-
These were some things that I did wrong in 2009 –
I made the mistake of jumping into too many things – blogging, minisites, affiliate marketing, web designing, social media marketing etc. etc. The consequence was pretty straight – Failures and losses. Some of the businesses that I was making profits in suddenly declined, because I had not taken them to a level where they would run on an auto-pilot. What I learnt from – concentrate on one business or, a couple of related business which does not require additional focus until your have built it to a self-sustaining level.
I chose the wrong hosting company – The biggest mistake of 2009 was the choice of a wrong hosting company to host my blogs and mini-sites. Midway in August, my hosting company’s servers were attacked by hackers and my blogs and website were gone. They couldn’t even provide me with a backup. My blogs and websites were gone. I had to start everything from scratch, including my money generating mini-sites, for which I had not backups at all. What I learnt – Do not compromise on brand name and quality in order to save a few bucks especially in critical aspects like hosting.
I lost my entire list I built over the past year – The second biggest mistake was the choice of a wrong auto responder. My auto-responder company closed its business and ran away without even providing me with a backup of my lists. I chose the wrong auto responder service in order to save a few bucks. Consequently I lost my entire list that I built over the past year and a half. What I learnt – List building can be successful only if you choose the right auto responder service.
I did not launch my products – I did not launch any product in 2009, though I had plans of doing it in my agenda. Why I couldn’t do it? Reasons would only be excuses. Two such products are in the work-in-progress stage and should be ready for launch somewhere in March 2010. A product of my own would certainly have helped me build my online presence and my business.
I did not outsource – When outsourcing was the mantra of the year, I did not outsource. I wanted to do everything by myself and the result of this was that i had too many things to do and too little time. A few start-ups just remained as start-ups and yet others just did not start-up. I have about 21 good domains that I got for very cheap. These cheap domain names are still lying un-utilized. What I learnt – Outsource things that you necessarily need not do yourself.
What’s your agenda for 2010?
For those of you who are thinking of starting your online businesses, this is the best time to do it. As the New Year creeps in, the million dollar question is, whether you have an agenda or, not. People who have and agenda and a plan for the year 2010, will see success and the others won’t.
But before you even think of an agenda, you will have to find a few reasons why you want to do all that you think you will do this year. Your reason could be one of the following –
Repayment of a mortgage – Recession in the year 2009, brought in the burden of a few mortgages an you might want to pay them off and be debt-free.
Get off the 9-5 treadmill – Unable to find time for your kid and your wife? The story is similar with everybody running just next to you in the 9-5 treadmill. The normal 9-5 job has become an 8-9 job and you hardly find time for your family, let alone a picnic or, a party. You might want to get off this treadmill.
Freedom from the insecurity of loosing a job – You just got to know that, your friend was asked to leave his company. You have nightmares and most of your time at home is spent on thinking about the consequences of loosing your job. Get freedom from this insecurity.
The best education for your kids – You missed getting your child admitted to that school of your choice, because you couldn’t afford to pay the admission fees there. You might want to get out of the embarrassment of answering your child’s question on why you couldn’t get him admitted to this school.
The reasons could be many, but what is important is identifying it. If you are passionate towards achieving what you have set out for, and your reason is strong enough to keep driving you, then you can move onto finalizing your agenda for 2010. You can be rest assured that you will be successful.
All the best for the New Year 2010.