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Happy New Year!

Love things new especially when it signals new beginnings!

Over the weekend I watched the world welcome 2017!  City after city, country after country.  Fireworks and celebrations everywhere.  Joy at wiping clean the slate of yesterday and fresh one to begin with.  I was especially drawn to the New Year’s Eve in New York.  It is both magnetic and historic.  How could I miss watching it?

Every new year is a new beginning and holds a promise to bring us new opportunities … personal opportunities to grow, social opportunities to enjoy, opportunities to expand in all areas of our life.

In business and careers we anticipate that opportunities will show up between the 1201 a.m. January  and 11.59 pm December of any year.  Opportunities to scale up, opportunities for a startup,  and … opportunities of which we have no idea about as yet.  It’s all about the future and we have no control over that.

True.

But we can make plans for the year.  The people who were at Times Square counting down the clock to the new year planned to be there.

“Hundreds of thousands of merrymakers witnessed the descent of the kaleidoscopic New Year’s Eve ball in Times Square at midnight on Sunday, celebrating a century-old New York tradition … many from overseas…” Frank McGurty, New York

Millions more around the world tuned in online and watched this iconic event that takes a mere 60 seconds.  In what seems like a mere blink of an eye since the ball dropped, 604,800 seconds have flown by as  of this writing.

Trite as it is, time does indeed fly and while it is true that we have no control over the future, we can and should set goals, make plans to reach those goals and schedule actionable tasks that consistently take us closer to reaching those goals.

In December I reviewed the year in passing and set goals for the one approaching; took note of what worked, what did not work, what to do more of, what to ditch and what new beginnings to introduce.

This of course is not original.  Indeed it is one of the hallmarks of  successful companies and people.  In my own way I like to plan for success too.    I thought today would be a good time as any to share my strategies to reach the end goal.  Hope you find them interesting but more importantly, useful and something that you would be able to apply to your own coming 365.

In the Rear View Mirror: Where I Make My Living

My bread and butter is my digital media marketing agency.  It is where I spend most of my time. From the time I first entered the internet in 2006 with a blog to now, I have grown a boutique digital media marketing agency offering a potpourri of online services ranging from web development, video production and marketing, social media, inbound marketing and more.  I learned from the masters, Rich Schefren, Dan Kennedy, Frank Kern and many more.  The mainstay of my success is the integration of old school experience with new online disciplines.  Typically I work with SMB owners, professionals and solopreneurs who want to ante up their game.  This is where I spent most of my business hours last year and in the years before.

A Not So Shiny Object

A few years ago in between running my digital media marketing agency,  I returned to my love for writing, published several books and then shelved the  project when the platform I used for publishing made a major change in their system and my royalties took a dive.  I refocused on my agency.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the forum.  Even after totally neglecting my books, every month like clockwork, I continue to receive royalty deposits in my bank account.  One day, as I was logged into my bank, there it was again … four deposits from four countries where my books had sold. I wrote about this episode in On Becoming an Accidental Publisher

That’s when the penny literally dropped.  My entrepreneurial-self kicked in.  This was residual income!  The holy grail of all entrepreneurs.  I decided to look further into the world of publishing and found that my short foray into this world had not even begun to scratch the surface.

I registered for several courses … each building on the other and put in play that which I learned with a small group of pre-beta clients.  Good results.

Once again I felt excitement when working on this new project.  I loved it when my students were making progress.   What time I did not spend on my agency, I spent here.

It took me a while to decide on the exact direction to take, on topic and niche for my business, and on the domain – I switched a few times but in the end decided on iPublishbooks.com

Into the Future

Simplification

In the past I would draw up a laundry list of things that I wanted to accomplish in that year. It was a tossed salad with no thought to the final outcome.  Just keep adding ingredients.  It will all be good in the end.

The end result was always a good number of outstandings that I carried over into the following year.  When reviewing 2016 I found that once again, there were items left outstanding.  I took a close look and asked myself exactly what did these items support?  What I found was that indeed I had concocted a salad of a sort.  It was a good salad.

There were things that got done, and they were important, but I missed the mark for the ultimate year end goal. In spite of my detailed plan for the year, I noticed that while much got done, just as much did not.  Carry over just did not make sense to me.  I envisioned myself at the end of 2q017,  sitting in the same chair looking at the same view.

This year I decided on a slightly different tack.  Dug deep into my past and my digital library.  One of my mentors created a system he call the Octosuite.  In short the Ultimate Year End Goal telescoped into quarters, magnified to the current month, laser focus on every week and day. Prioritize and segment.   I thought I’d try it.

The Ultimate 2017 Goal

I made mine financial.  Unapologetically I believe that money does matter, not for the sake of money itself, but because it does make for an easier and more enjoyable life.  Financial success reduces stress and by default enables us to provide for ourselves and our families. Statistics show that the number one cause for divorce is the friction caused by lack of money.

Money of and by itself is neutral.  Managed wisely it can provide for a healthy lifestyle now and in retirement.  And by the way, I’m perfectly OK with a bit of self indulgence … a treat or two is good for the soul and for your body too!

My Ultimate Long Term Goal is to live a life of freedom, prosperity and abundance while positively impacting the lives of thousands of people.

For my Ultimate 2017 Goal I simply replaced the bold print in the above paragraph with a dollar amount.

Three projects drive that end goal:

– my digital media agency
– iPublish Books and
– personal

Each project has an end goal that needs to be achieved in order to reach the Ultimate Current Year End Goal

Each end goal has a list of of actionable strategies and tasks that can be accomplished in a short periods of time, review, correct, continue.

All projects will be based on a quarterly basis.  The concept is based on speed of action which accelerates positive results at each quarter.  Both the digital media agency and the personal goals are private, iPublish Books Project goals and  actions will be shared in greater detail on this blog.  Register here if you would like to be kept updated.

 

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To a joyful, healthy and wealthy 2017 and beyond!

Valentina