New Year’s Goals Time Again; Changing Up Some
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Dec 30, 2010
For the last few years I've popped up some goals for the new year, only to find myself not actually hitting any of those goals. I've come close, but no cigar.
For instance, if we look at my 2010 goals, we can see that I actually completed one of these, but only on a fluke, and I made progress on one. I lost 14 pounds this year, not quite that 25 but more than I'd lost in previous years, so that's a win. I also gave some live presentations that I got paid for, and traveled to do it, so I satisfied that, even though it was up from zero the previous year.
My big thought for 2011 is to integrate goals for this year with this blog. To whit, I have some goals for this blog, which impacts my website, and hopefully impacts my business. I'm not putting any personal goals on here because I'm recognizing that's for another place and not here. I need to have only business goals to track so that I can stay focused only on that when I'm here. Not only that, but my business goals impact the readers of this blog, the visitors to my website, the subscribers to my newsletter and anyone who might hire me for projects in the new year.
One other thing. I actually had already written out my business goals for the year and thought about them about 2 months ago, so I can easily bring those out. For the blog... well, that'll be a little bit of an addition at the end, after I talk about the first five goals.
Once again, I'll answer why I put up my goals. One, I think it's important to have goals so you know where you want to be and how you're hoping to get there. Two, when you share your goals with others, you're more apt to work on them. Three, when you write things down, it helps solidify them more in your mind.
Let's get to it; my five business goals for the year are:
1. Four CDM clients. Working on charge masters independently can be lucrative if the hospitals are large enough. On their own, doing short CDM projects , if you can get enough of them, can handle a year's worth of income. I only did one last year, and that was a subcontract; this year, I work harder on landing my own contracts.
2. Five paid speaking engagements. Last year I didn't put a number down; this year I am. At this stage of my speaking career 5 engagements isn't a year's worth of salary, but it helps build up the portfolio. I'm already scheduled for 2 non-paid engagements locally, and I feel that doing short local presentations gives you a great place to practice your skill. But in 2011, I'm ready to travel some for one or two day presentations; if you're in need of a speaker, give me a call.
3. Five new "permanent" web clients. Right now I have 3 web clients, whose websites I manage. That's not big money but it's money that I can consistently book, and that's never a bad thing. One problem with consulting is you get money in batches, but rarely on a consistent basis. More clients in this area won't really be lucrative, but it all adds up.
4. Six to eight webinars. This is probably my hardest one to fulfill because it's not totally dependent upon me... yet. I do these with a friend of mine because she has the software to do them, but I might have to find a way to create my own accounts to get this done. These can be lucrative if you get enough of the right people, but they're also great practice for doing life presentations later on. All that and you don't even have to leave your home to do them.
5. Two to three coaching clients. Once again, that number isn't enough to pay the bills, but I think it's something important to do. This past year I've counseled some people and gave some business advice, but it was either free advice to people I knew or a one time counseling and then it was over. True coaching clients should last at least 3 months to give both of you a chance to assess progress and growth. It's also one of those things that makes clients accountable, and if they're not you still get paid.
Those are the main goals for the business in general. For this website and blog, a few things will be sort of different. It probably hasn't been noticed by all that many people, but for the last month I've written at least one post every work day. On the inside, my rankings for this site have grown dramatically; new blog content on a very regular basis helps in rankings and visitors. I've had more comments in the last month than I had in the previous 6 months combined; that's astounding. Because this blog is hosted in the same space at my website, when I consistently add content the search engines consistently crawl this page, and my search terms move me up when people are looking for things I do.
Another thing with this blog is that I'm thinking about what to do with my categories. Most people don't notice them, but they help me find things I'm looking for when I link back to previous articles I've written on similar subjects. I've noticed that though I find ways of linking most of my articles back to the core principles of my business, I realize that I'm limiting their effectiveness in some fashion by trying to do it. I'm not going to lock myself up as much in the coming year. I will rely more on the tags in posts to get my point across instead.
And there you go; my goals for 2011. I expect to see great progress this coming year; I hope you come along with me.
All the best with your goals in 2011 Mitch. It’s great to put them out there. I’m posting mine next week as I have a posting schedule I’m trying to stick to!
Felt if I published them, would be those who would give me a gentle reminder or ask how I am doing that would spur me on 😉
Happy New Year Mitch and all the best in 2011. Has been great getting to know you in 2010.
Patricia Perth Australia
Thanks Pat. That’s why I put mine out as well, but the truth is that most people won’t remember it past a couple of days so it leaves it up to us to remember for ourselves. 🙂
Hi Mitch, I just want you to know that TODAY I deliberately sought out your blog to see what you were up to. Okay, so no fireworks and I don’t get a prize, LOL but I thought I’d tell you. 😀
And this is why … I don’t really make New Year’s resolutions, I make master plans and do pretty well with them for things outside of client work. I was searching my mind (not my bookmarks, not Twitter) for people whose writings I want to pay attention to this year and your name popped up.
So it was really nice to see your goals for the year. Commendable, actionable, and inspiring. I’m a bit long-winded sometimes, but I have one more thing to say. This was on my mind maybe 2 months back, but I didn’t mention it — and should have. There is something I’d like to do for you that maybe fits with your #4 and #5. If you’re curious, drop me an email or DM me on Twitter (@CoachNotesBlog).
Happy New Year and best wishes in all your endeavors!
Thanks for stopping by Vernessa. I don’t necessarily make resolutions either; heck, some of those goals I have already been working on. But there’s this connection between the new year and starting anew, so I like putting something out there, hopefully to help keep me accountable. I’m glad I’m one of those folks you sought to see what I was up to; I wish you the best in 2011 as well.
Mitch,
I applaud you setting goals, after all, goals are the road map to success. However, given that you have indicated that you didn’t completely meet your 2010 goals and you detailed your failures in such a public way doesn’t that set you up to fail. If someone reads this when searching your name to see what you do and they see this wouldn’t they question your failures in 2010 as a reflection on the work you are bidding on 2011.
For example with CDM’s was the lack of work in 2010 a conscious decision, a reflection of your abilities, a lack of sales, or the market demand. We your friends may know the answer but what will a prospective customers think? Will they give you the benefit of the doubt or assume the worst?
In my humble opinion one should examine their failures and their half successes, reflect upon them and focus on achieving them but not in a public forum.
Happy New Year and I hope you blow your goals out of the water in 2011!
Hey Keith; welcome to the blog. Dude, you know me by now. There’s nothing fake about me at all. I could care less about what I share on a public forum as long as it’s not overly personal.
I tend to believe that the majority of people applaud the openness rather than worry about my not hitting goals and the like. Studies show that people who set goals have a better chance of hitting them, and people who share those goals do even better. But truth is truth; where would my overall reputation be if I didn’t share how things go?
Besides that, if you’re read other posts on this blog, if some of the other topics I discuss aren’t enough to make people think more than worrying about whether I hit some goals or not, then those people aren’t all that important to me.
It’s a new world, my man, and public disclosures of a sort are almost expected, especially when one has the types of overall goals that I have. If I worried about things I have to say, I’d have never created this blog in the first place. I figure it’s my public forum; I don’t fret it one bit. And I didn’t mention CDMs in 2010; never came up. I did mention speaking engagements, and I hit that goal; maybe that’s telling because by listing the goal I then had to go out and get it.
I appreciate the worry, my friend, but it’s all good. There are more people who are going to overlook me because I’m black than because I didn’t hit a goal, no matter how close I got to it. That’s the America we live in. Happy New Year to you as well; I bet you’re bringing it in being in a warm place. 🙂
Mitch, ’tis the season for real, right? It’s great to see that you recognize the value of writing down your goals. That not only activates your power of conscious creation, it also gives you accountability and feedback, as you’ve stated.
Congratulations on boosting your content and ranking!
Here’s to accomplishing more than we anticipated!
Cheers,
Mitch
I’m with you Mitchell. This year I’m going to also make sure to check on my goals at least once a month to see if I’m progressing; last year I checked after 8 months, and though I modified, it really wasn’t enough time to change anything.