Invest It Wisely has had a great run from last spring all the way until now. I can’t believe that it has already been nearly a year since I started out this blogging adventure! I’ve definitely had a lot of fun along the way.
Setting goals for 2011
What’s in store for 2011? Sandy from First Gen American has challenged us to write out goals about gaining time and income. I believe that these goals are very relevant to the blogging adventure. I spend a lot of time during the week on various blog-related activities, but I’m probably not using the time as effectively as I could. The ideas are in my head, but sometimes it’s hard putting ideas to writing. I currently write when I’m in the mood, but there are a lot of distractions at night, and a lot of excuses. I think it will be better if I start setting aside some regular time where there will be no distractions around, and I can commit to writing.
I would also like to start generating more revenue. My blog has finally crossed over into the black, but I need to start generating revenue on a regular basis before I can consider it to be a profitable venture. I know everyone else out there wants the same thing, but I would really love to hit the $1,000/month mark. Reaching that level will be my prime income goal for 2011.
The plan of attack
- Start writing something each and every morning. If I don’t have the chance to write something down for some reason, then I at least need to spend some time thinking about it. I believe it’ll be easier to get the creative juices flowing and to be ready to flow the thoughts from mind to screen by engaging in the process regularly. Waking up early is one of the hardest things for me to do, but I believe that it will be crucial to success. They don’t say that the early bird gets the worm for nothing.
- Satisfy my readers. You guys are the main reason that I write. If you’re not satisfied, then neither am I. The reason I started blogging was so that I could have a creative outlet for my thoughts, share them and get feedback from others. Checking my inbox for new comments is one of my favorite pastimes. 😉 I believe that if I’m delivering good content and my readers are happy, then good things will follow.
- Seduce my new visitors. If the new visitor is a potential reader, I want them to say “Hey, this is an interesting site!” and subscribe. If they are a potential advertiser, then I want them to contact me with a great deal. I want to add a bit of magnetism to the site, while retaining that “personal blog” feel that I believe is very important to have.
- Solidify my relationships with other bloggers. This includes the Yakezie, which is an amazing group of personal finance bloggers, as well as all of the other great bloggers out there. You guys helped me out so much with your valuable advice and feedback when I was starting out, and I’d like to do my part, too. Reciprocal relationships and voluntary giving help everyone out and they are the keys to success.
- Stop engaging in less productive activities. I love Civ IV and the games in the Call of Duty series, but I’ve uninstalled them from my computer. I’ve installed Mint Linux on my tower and I am using it more and more as my primary OS, simply since there is much less to distract you in Linux. I can focus on getting work done… and, if I need to take a break, I can always head over to my friend’s nearby and play on his PS3. 😉
Blogging goals for 2011
Time: Write something every morning. This is something I’m not doing now, but this should give me more time overall since my evenings will be free from the stress of thinking about something to write.
Money: Get to $1,000/month.
Further Reading
- New Year’s Resolutions – The Five S’s… (Everyday Tips and Thoughts)
- Coffee Talk – Gaining Time + Income (First Gen American)
- New Year’s Resolution: Working a 25 hr Work Week is Wonderfully Wicked (Molly On Money)
- New Year’s Resolutions – Brought to You By the Letter “S” (Budgeting in the Fun Stuff)
- The 5 “S” resolutions (Single Mom Rich Mom)
- Five S’s for the 2011 Spring Vegetable Garden (101 Centavos)
So, reader, do you have any resolutions related to increasing your time (or effective use thereof) as well as income? I’d love to hear about it!
Hi. Thanks for participating in the writing event. I think this is good advice for all the bloggers out there. I haven’t taken an honest look at my efficiency lately in any aspect of my life. This exercise was eye opening for me.
I’ve been waking up early, not by choice since my youngest was born who is now 2. I’ve kept the habit up and it has been a good time to blog. Often my freshest and most creative thoughts come when all else is quiet. You do have to go to bed earlier though. I don’t have as much luck when I go to bed at normal times.
Going to bed and waking up earlier will be the key… and the toughest part for me. 😉
I never knew you’d be a gamer. YEah, definitely stop that stuff! Time sink! 🙂
Good luck mate.
Though very funny, I encourage you to ban games, too! I did that like 5 years ago along with my TV and my life is far better now!
Haha, I’m definitely not a hardcore gamer but games like Civ IV can suck away hours and hours! Uninstalling was the only feasible option…
Aww c’mon! Don’t say no to Civ! 🙂 Seriously, well focussed goals Kevin! (Why the coffee beans pic?)
First Gen called it a “Coffee Talk”, but I do admit it seems a bit random here. Think of it as “injecting caffeine” into the year. 😉
… and hopefully without the caffeine crash!
Intresting post. Good luck with the 2011 Blogging Resolutions. I tend to stay up later during weekdays and write a lot of my posts at night. On weekends, its up early to the gym and than I try to write a post before lunch.
How long you been blogging? Your goal of $1000/month seems interesting.
I’ve been blogging for about 9 months now as I started at the end of last March. $1000/month is a lofty goal for me, but I’d rather aim a little higher to spur me forward rather than aim too low, hit it, and get complacent!
Great resolutions and goals. $1k/month will be totally achievable for you this year; especially with Yakezie membership. I pretty much stopped watching sports and do my work from 9P-11P most nights. It gets the job done. And when I’m fried? I just take a night off. Love it!
A lot of guys seem to have success at night, but my girlfriend stays up late like me, so that is when she would prefer I focus my attention on her. 😉 The mornings will be key for me!
It sounds like you have some great ideas in place and I am sure you’ll meet your goals this year! Finding ways to be more productive is a big one for me too. Although video games isn’t my vice, there are some time-wasters in my life that I need to get rid of!
Online poker was probably another one of mine. Unfortunately I’m not the next Durrrr, so grinding really isn’t a time-effective approach for me. I still enjoy to play every now and then, but I have no urge to play it just to grind!
Well, I really think your readers like what you write, so that is one S accomplished right there!
I am terrible when I schedule writing. For me, I am inspired most during exercise and when drying my hair in the morning. I find I pretty much have to write when inspired, which is probably why my queue of posts is so low.
Good luck on your resolutions 1,000/month for your blog should be easy!
Thanks for being one of my biggest supporters! 🙂 I hope you’re right about $1,000/mo. It seemed like such a huge number a few months ago, but it seems more and more possible as time goes by. Gotta really push to get there, though.
I’m used to writing when inspiration strikes, but I find I then I either have too many ideas but no time to write them, or I have the time but no ideas. 😉 I think I need to blend these approaches, so I take advantage of inspiration yet also manage the time more efficiently.
These are very cool goals Kevin. I think I have to put myself back on a writing schedule as well. Otherwise, it just doesn’t get done. Good luck with receiving $1000/month from blogging. That will have positive implications to your blog as well.
It pays the mortgage at that level as well (though this would be “virtual” because I think I would keep blogging revenue within the blog for future expansion and only pay myself a small dividend). I enjoy blogging even without the money, but having that side income plays into my future strategies of further financial independence, and more and more I believe that it may just be possible!
Build the Adaptu community and the level of engagement within the community with the site.
Interesting, I’ll have to check that out!
My plan includes a great deal of work, as efficiently as I can. I think the income will come if I do what is required.
Let’s hope so! If the economy starts recovering then it becomes easier for all of us, too.
Good luck to you!
To increase my time and income this year, I resolved to write one thing for each blog per day (my own, my husband’s, and my clients’), write and publish an ebook (nonfiction), and finish and (hopefully) publish my first novel (fiction). The only thing that seems to be standing in my way is my horrible, awful, ridiculously lousy immune system. LOL! So, along with my other resolutions, I have actually started putting “Take Vitamin C” on my calendar. How sad is that?
Is there anything from Mark’s Daily Apple or http://www.fitnessspotlight.com/2010/01/04/detox-weight-loss-challenge that could help you out? I’m recovering from a mild winter cold myself… :S
Thanks for the link. 🙂
I believe you are well on your way for 1,000/mo in 2011. You just need to persist and come out with the same quality content we got used to in 2010. Good luck with your 2011 resolutions Kevin!
You’ve been doing well yourself, Mich. The last couple of months have been quite good! Let’s keep pushing forward.
Oh yeah and I forgot to add, one of my resolutions would be to snatch back one of those records you’re holding 😛
Haha… but it’s no longer x3 or x2!
Excellent plan of attack!!
Question – how on earth can you earn $1,000/month from blogging? Am I naive on the amount of income that can be generated from blogs and ads on them? I don’t want to know your strategy Kevin, no worries, simply, confirmation this could be done. I almost fell off the couch reading that number 🙂
Cheers,
Mark
I sincerely believe that it can be done, but will take some more effort and growth for sure. I have to grow the revenue by one order of magnitude to reach this goal.
I am just starting out here so I am not the most experienced guy to talk to, but some bloggers are sharing their results publicly, and they are usually more than happy to share how they got there:
http://www.budgetinginthefunstuff.com/2010-blog-stats-and-income-results/
http://tightfistedmiser.com/2010/10/12/online-income-report-september-2010/
I would recommend you to get on WordPress sooner rather than later! 🙂
Super!
I probably won’t post as much as your duo though 😉
Sounds totally achievable. Focus on the process – and the results will come – maybe sooner than you think.
There’ll be a lot of different ways to explore getting to the goal!
I like the idea of “seducing” the new visitor. I feel the same way. There are probably quite a few people that browse my site and never come back. We need to have something that no one else has – then they’ll stick. We just have to figure out what that “something” is. 😉
I think there are even services you can pay $20 and they’ll analyze everything about your site, or you can always post in a forum and ask for critical feedback. 😉
I am glad you are so optimistic and ambitious! Sincerely, writing a post each and every morning might be a challenging task, but I am looking forward to your new, seducing posts 😉
I probably won’t end up with a new post every day (many posts like the ERE review take 2+ hours cause I spend time thinking about what I want to write, I write it, then I edit it, etc…) but hopefully I get more into the swing of things with more focus.
Absolutely true!
Sometimes writing a good quality post takes much time – hey, but it’s worth it!
Writing every morning goal should really help you out. Once this stress is off, you’ll have more time for something else, like thinking about how you could make more money with your blog. I think your plan is good.
And for the games… well, I am not a gamer at all, but I do appreciate TV. So I can understand your “addiction”. This is why I made sure my desk was far away from the TV and I also try to not even open it up in the morning so I don’t get stuck in front of it an extra half hour.
We sold our TV a couple months ago, and after a few days did not miss it at all. We’re contemplating getting a new flatscreen to watch movies on, though…
Looks like a good balance between ambitious and doable. GL!
Thanks! 🙂
Hey, good luck to you this new year with all your endeavors! Linux is pretty awesome. Do you have a particular software you use for backup?? I have read other’s posts about different ones, but I like to get a few opinions : )
Thanks! Right now I back up everything using Wuala, which backs up your data to the cloud. I also manually copy to a removable hard-drive every now and then. Otherwise I don’t do anything special. In the future I’m thinking of dedicating a PC as a file server and centralizing the backups there; that way both my stuff and my girlfriend’s stuff would be automatically taken care of.
Those are some pretty good blogging goals, Kevin. I can relate to each of those on some level. For the one about writing each morning – it’s interesting you’re scheduling time. For me, I spend this morning getting my daughter to school (and “battling” over her getting to choose what to wear), and feeding her, etc – though I didn’t take her to school. Anyway, I agree that morning would be a great time to write, just wish I could do so. Scheduling is key, and I’m a big believer in it, though it’s a real challenge for me. If you can set aside regular time each morning while fresh of mind, I’ll bet it will work really well for you. Just get your full night of sleep, though, and don’t let the urge to blog get in the way of either sleeping on time or waking up rested.
The full night of sleep is really important, I agree. Both me and my girlfriend are late sleepers, so if I start waking up earlier it’s good because I’ll have time where she’s still sleeping and I can really do my own thing undisturbed. It also means I can spend more time with her without her just seeing me “blogging” all the time. 😉
Great goals Kevin! You blog has come a long way since I discovered it in May. Congrats! I keep missing these coffee talks post, the first time I didn’t check that particular day and after that missed it. This time and last time, was on vacation… Damn! Not going to miss the next one…
Thanks, Suba! I actually got lucky cause I saw Sandy’s reminder post the day before it went up! I was already planning on writing something up about goals and resolutions, so I decided to adapt my thoughts to the format and write them down. Hope to see you in the next one, if I don’t miss it myself!
You can do it Kevin! Any help you need just let me know.
I was gonna say thanks, but my own blog was complaining that my comment was a duplicate! Haha…
Wow, $1000/month from blogging? Is that just this blog, or do you have others too? I’m always curious about how someone turns their blog into a successful business.
I have one obscure travel blog floating out there that I haven’t updated in ages. 😉
$1000 is a lofty goal for me, because I am currently nowhere near there. If I hit that goal it will be amazing, but honestly, even half of that goal would be pretty nice, too. I like blogging and probably spend too much time doing it for free as it is! 😉
Civ IV and Call of Duty…those are 2 tough habits to break….I KNOW! Civ IV I just gave away the CDs and refused to buy the new one and the Call of Duty I have to just give myself goals – finish 2 posts and then I can play for 30 mins.
You are rocking a desktop? Is there a reason>?
Haha, yeah, they are time sucks. I heard that the new Civ isn’t that great, anyways!
Not sure what you mean by rocking a desktop?
Kevin, looks like a good set of challenging goals! I am sure you can do it. I’d love to hear about your progress and tribulation along the way.
I have to admit, I have been doing a little too much StarCraft on my end … but I have gone 2 weeks now without it.
I should have an update a few months in, true.
I haven’t even looked at SC2 because first, it will mean that I’ll have to get a better graphics card, probably, and two… if it’s anywhere as much of a timesuck as the first one was, you won’t see any new posts from me for a few months. 😛
Kevin,
I think $1000 per month is definitely doable. The key (as you know) is consistency. Something to consider is “modeling” Find someone who is actually at 1k per month and model their pattern.
Just keep posting quality content and model the actions of someone who has achieved the result you’re seeking.
Good luck, Mike
Good thing about this group is that there’s quite a few that have already achieved that goal. It’s too bad I didn’t start a bit earlier, cause I might have actually received a PageRank…