We’ve officially hit the halfway point of 2010 and although I’ve been doing income reports every month I thought it would be worthwhile to do an update on my goals for 2010 and how close I’m tracking to them ($150k goal being one of them).
My Professional Goals for 2010:
1. Earn over $150,000 across my network of websites
This is a goal I’m currently not on target to hit if I replicate the same numbers from the first half of 2010. After the first six months of 2010 I’ve earned $34,361.11 based on my monthly income reports. So if I replicated the first half of the year I’d end at $68,722.22. Fortunately, I know that the second half of the year will be better than the first because of the power of the holiday shopping season and several other things I’ve been working on with my business that should at least put me into the six figure range if not help me hit my goal.
The other thing to consider is that I’m not earning a paycheck here. Yes I’m paying myself for living expenses etc. but the $34k I’ve earned in 2010 so far has been from creating income generating assets. So if I ever decided to sell my entire network of websites yes I’d be technically “out of a job” but unlike the last time I got fired and received a measly 3 weeks of severance in this case I’d probably get about $200k+ for selling everything.
This is the difference between working for someone else and working for yourself. You’re either building a business for yourself or building a business for someone else.
Note: When it comes to the accounting practices for my business I actually don’t count the money I’ve made until it deposits into my bank account so I have actually earned more like $50k in 2010 (based on deposits from November / December earnings). For the income reports it’s easier to display information based on what the last month has done though.
2. Spend at least $50,000 on quality domain names to be developed
I’ve spent about $8k on domain names so far this year with the bulk of that amount being in after market high quality domain names. I believe the right domain name can be the difference between moderate success and big success. I still need to earn significantly more this year to spend more on domain names but I am currently looking at buying several names right now in the five figure range for a new niche I’m working on.
3. Work at least 5 hours a day for a minimum of 25 hours per week
I shared this goal because at the time I wrote it I had struggled with playing way too much Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. I love FPS shooters (if you’ve read my full story than you’ll know about how I was a professional Halo player for a while), but for some reason Call of Duty was unusually addicting for me. I have since stopped playing the game but not before racking up close to 10 days worth of playtime. To help solve the issue now I don’t play any video game unless it’s after 5:00 PM and I have been doing a much better job of avoiding addicting games as well. Every now and then I read this article which quite literally changed my life and outlook on whether I had a hobby or was building a business. If you’re addicted to anything that sucks up your time (i.e. TV, video games, etc.) I highly suggest you read it – Do you really want to make money online?
On average I’ve been working well over 25 hours per week and will continue to do so for the remainder of the year.
4. Hire at least one full time writer
This is the first professional goal I can already call a success. I hired my first full time writer / assistant in mid June and she has worked for about 3 weeks for far. She’s doing excellent work and the only regret I have is that I didn’t hire someone sooner. It’s difficult to build a six figure business without any help and in fact I will probably shoot for having 3 – 4 full time employees by the end of the year.
My Personal Goals for 2010:
1. Buy a house (No longer pursuing)
My wife and I haven’t purchased a house yet and this is primarily due to several reasons:
a. I’m the only one working right now
b. I don’t think the housing crash is over (see this)
c. There isn’t enough history with my business to get a loan
We may buy next year but probably will wait until the Summer. I don’t want to buy something just so that I can say I’m a home owner. I think that’s stupid. Instead, I’d prefer to wait and buy a house I’d truly love to stay at for 10+ years. The ideal house for me is sized around 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a big basement so I can build out a private movie theater i.e. this guy and I know this ideal house would be a big first time home purchase so I want to make sure I buy when prices hit the bottom.
2. Donate at least $10,000 to charity
Sadly this goal is sort of tied to my goal for $150k this year. It will be difficult for me to pull off donating $10k unless I have $10k to give. (More on this later though)
3. Cook an entirely brand new healthy meal once per month
I’ve done this once so far; however, I made it 3 times (lol). I need to make some more meals to meet this goal so we’ll see if I can still make it happen.
4. Work out at least 2 times per week
Haven’t done this, but as all lazy people say – “I really should.” I was actually thinking of trying out P90x. I know it sounds ridiculous but I’ve heard some good things from a couple friends. Anyone try P90x out? Share below.
5. Re-Learn Spanish well enough to carry on a conversation with a native speaker
Haven’t started this. I need to set aside time to do this because so far I haven’t made any progress at all.
6. Go to Disneyworld with my wife
We ended up going to Hawaii instead and it was awesome! Turns out surfing is pretty easy if you’ve been snowboarding for over 15 years.
7. Read the Bible at least 30 minutes a day (I love me some Jesus)
This is the most disappointing goal update of the list for me. I haven’t been reading my bible as much as I’d like to, but my wife and I did finally find a church we like attending (Mars Hill Church in Ballard). I need to come up with a schedule to fit things into the day that I sometimes forget. So I have a feeling that this (along with working out) is something I should do in the morning before I start the day, so I’m going to try that this week.
Overall Summary
I still believe it is possible for me to meet all of my goals for 2010. I know that I should at least hit 100k for the year and I still can meet my goal of $150k (especially if I end up selling some of my websites as well). I believe it’s very important to set specific and measurable goals and to keep track of them regularly so that you can ensure you meet them. If you haven’t set any goals for the year I suggest you do so now and take steps towards achieving them.
Upcoming – As I say almost every month I have more exciting stories to share so be sure to stick around, but every time I really do mean it! I’ll be releasing my free Amazon eBook later this month based on your feedback and it will only be available to newsletter subscribers and Facebook Fans. You should also follow me on Twitter though.
I never did P90x, but a good friend of mine did. He lost like 10 pounds in 2 weeks. It seems like it really works well, but I think you have to do it every day.
I run a fitness and weight loss website, and from what I know about it, the science behind P90x seems pretty sound.
-Clayton
PS: I’m looking forward to your upcoming e-book.
Well, I’m not particularly overweight or anything. I am 155 lbs and 6 ft tall so if anything I’m a tad too thin (working too long at the desk without eating I think…). I just want to get in better shape. Did your friend stop doing it after 2 weeks though or still going strong at it?
Great update, Chris. It sounds like you have everything under control despite being slightly off pace with a few of your goals.
Best of luck for the rest of the year!
– Eric
Just wanted to drop you some feedback as I really enjoy your site. I found your site through ProBlogger but you are not part of my GoogleReader must reads as I am in my infant stages of building sites but am writing a lot more then developing.
As far as your goals are concerned it’s good that you keep on top of them and update them because they should always be changing or adapting.
I just started doing the whole P90 series and I have to say I wasn’t ready for P90x as it is a bit more advanced for me right now but I would suggest the P90 regular series. Tony Horton sure does like to work you hard each but it’s a good thing in the long term.
Also I have a Bible Study pamphlet if you are interested. It is a 4 year study but I condensed it to get through it in a year. There are days where I miss but man it is good to stay in the word. Let me know.
I know we don’t know each other personally but I’ll be reading you and if you ever have any room for some guest spots do not hesitate to shoot me an email.
Keep at it and be well,
Seth
Oh, so they have P90 and P90x? Interesting…
What approach are you taking to building your websites out of curiosity? Size / Scope?
Yeah they have a few different levels for P90x: P90 (beginner), P90 (masters, in shape), P90x (great shape, advanced), P90x+ (extreme fitness freaks ๐
Right now I’m trying to break groups down to tight niches and then develop content from there. A few issues I see arising is that I am awful at design (html, php, wordpress theme). So that scares me a bit but I’m tired of doing nothing. The plan is to work on two niche sites, most likely in exercise/fitness/supplements and then expand from there. I’m a step a head of newb but I find myself reading more then building some times and that isn’t a good thing.
Great post, Chris. I would like to follow your path as a full-time blogger, at some point. I did have a question about assessing domain names. What tool(s)or techniques would you recommend for determining/estimating traffic for new domain names?
I’ll save that for a future blog post. Thanks for the idea. Send me an email if you don’t see it up in a month or so.
Chris,
I really enjoy how you’ve laid out your goals both professional and personal. To be honest, I’ve only been focusing on goals related to my online business, and therefore, sometimes I forget what I’m really working for — and it does not all have to do with money.
I have to remind myself that I quit the 9-5 grind to have more free time to be active in something other than work, so on those days that I find myself working over 8 hours — reading posts like this is a great reality check.
Best of luck to you!
– Yolanda
Thanks for the insight Yolanda. Yes, it’s always tough to have a healthy work / life balance when you’re self employed as it’s easy to get carried away and end up doing way more work than you should.
25 hours a week really isn’t very much if you’re in a building phase. Do you think putting in more hours would help? Maybe I’m just overworking myself in comparison.
I agree, which is why at the time it was pathetic that I was playing so much call of duty I wasn’t even doing 25 hours a week. Now I’m probably around the 30+ hour mark but it varies and some weeks I’ll work 50+. I also have a full time employee that is helping me build the sites as well so technically now I’m working 80+ hours a week. I love leverage ๐
Hey Chris .
Could you share some info on where did you manage to find the writer? Also, i have a couple of other questions regarding this aspect, would you mind if I would send you an email on the subject, maybe you can help?
Found her on CraigsList. Yes, feel free to email me.
I look forward to reading your ebook. Then I may just be able to figure out how to improve my own performance and work schedule.
Thanks
Thanks, I’m working on it today actually (as soon as I stop watching World Cup that is :D)
Hey Chris,
Once again, thanks for your transparency! It’s totally refreshing…
And reaching 100k out of a 150k target in such a short time is a huge accomplishment, let’s not mince words. Nice work…
Thanks Gene, yah I’m definitely trying to hit at least $100k but still really want to hit my goal of $150k.
You’re doing an awesome job Chris! Even though that you’re still not yet on the half way mark of your goal, I’m positive that it will explode on the 2nd half of the year. I also have my own personal goals for this year, but I’m still positive about it. Positivity can really help instead of thinking that it’s too late and it can’t be done anymore.
It’s nice to see that you are aiming high. I once heard, aim high so that at least if you didn’t reach your goal, you’re still at high compare to others. Same with you, if ever that you didn’t hit your $150k mark, then at least earn more than $100k.=)
Keep it up!
Gary
Thanks Gary, yah when I established the goal I was probably on track to do half that (if I kept everything the same) so that’s why I thought ‘Well, if I can double what I am supposed to do that’d be a great first full year as a self employed solo entrepreneur’
Hi Chris,
You are doing a good job…just because you haven’t reached all of your goals at least you have goals which is probably more than a lot of people can say.
P90X is grueling. I actually think, though, that I tore my Rotator Cuff by doing some of the exercises so just be careful. The P90X starts out easy in Phase I and then you work your way up to Phase III and, of course, it gets more intense as you go along. Tony mixes up the workouts so it never gets boring. Plus, it comes with a great recipe book for trying out a new low-fat meal (like you keep saying you want to do!) Hey, two goals met with one stone…works for me!
My husband and I tape on our DVR and watch at our leisure, Ed Young. He is a phenomenal minister and head of the Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Tx. You can now find him on the ABC Family Channel. Great messages. We feel so enlightened after listening to him speak.
Hope that helps. Keep up the great work!
Dianne
Hey Dianne, thanks for the heads up on P90x. I do not want to hurt myself, so I’d make sure I took it easy ๐
Pat Flynn over at smartpassiveincome is doing P90x. I’m using the couch potato-feet up workout.
lol nice
Hi Chris,
You are really on track and I am very happy that out of all this you are still working towards creating time for God.
Keep up the good work and I wish you more success,
-Onibalusi
Chris, it’s fun to see how you’re doing. DO YOU think, with the big holiday seasons coming up, that YOU”LL hit 150k? I think you could easily hit $110k at least.
I’m struggling a LOT with working for myself. Constant interruptions and wanting to do things during the day.
P.S. I was “addicted” to Uncharted 2 and I have FF and GoW3 on hold right now ๐
I believe I can still do it. That will be tough but we shall see…
Yah I put 100 hours into Final Fantasy XIII so that I could get 1000/1000 achievements (so ridiculous lol…)
That’s great and I’m sure Hawaii must have been much better than Disneyland! Se puede hablar espanol acqui si queire. Muy malo pero es buena do tentar:)
Uhhh, ‘mi llamo Chris?’ hah hah… rusty and I’m sure that isn’t correct spelling either.
Hi Chris! I just wanted to let you know your blog is great and I’m looking forward to go through your posts and applied what I learned to my blogs. It just comes to show that anyone can make money online with hard work, and of course, goals. Best of luck to you on getting to your goal!
Goals are meant to be broken? Or wait, records. HA
Good luck on stepping your game up the 2nd half of the year.
P90X is awesome. I love it and am going to go a 2nd time after I’m done with Insanity.
I have been reading your blog for awhile now-basically for inspiration and something to kick me in the butt to keep me going.
My comment does not have anything to do with your goals and your earnings, but I have been following you for awhile-I have you bookmarked. My six year old recently solved COD modern warfare. My Husband lets him play really almost everything he wants except for a couple of the games. I recently got a look at what he was playing and I traded (plus cash) his PS3 for a PS2 for games that are more focused to his age.
Congrats on your goal. Hope that you could achieved the rest of your goal by the end of the year.
Right now, I am just starting my site since I got a problem durign teh past months with health reasons and my hosting account. Hope that I could be as successful as you.
Hey Chris,
Awesome update about your goal. You’re really doing awesome Job.
Looking forward to reading your affiliate marketing book.
Thanks,
~Dev
When you say you “hired a full time writer” what exactly do you mean? What do you have her doing, for what amount of time per day or week? I am curious about venturing into outsourcing soon, but want to know the best way to go about it.
She works 40 hours a week helping me build niche Amazon websites. I found her via Craigslist. It’s all about leverage. There’s only so much I can do as a sole entrepreneur and one way to make more money is to hire help and have them do the stuff that is still worth doing but not worth me doing.
Hi,
First of all I wish that you will soon approach your goals well before the end of the year. Please also wish for me a success b’cos since more than a year I am trying to earn here and there online $500 each month but so far I havn’t made even $50 a year. Do you have strategies or post here to build a easy online business without much investment so that one can earn around $ 500 a month.
I am going to download and read your book top 10 ways to make money with a hope I will get some of your strategies and how to.
Thanks
Hi chris, Im regular reader here….
Ma Question to you is how do you actually get traffic to your site where you sell amazon products…and can you give the organic and referral traffic numbers ?
Thank you
P.S : Hope you finish the ebook by this weekend ( as said on twitter )
Hi Chris. I am not sure how many websites you have under your network. But $150k? You sure are my inspiration =)
Hi Chris,
I’m a first-timer on your site and I was pleasantly surprised with the content on your site. If there is one thing I really appreciate, it is your honesty. So many geeks come with hyped up sales talk!
One thing about not being on target: In his book Flight Plan, Brian Tracy explains the phenomena that airplanes are off course 99% of the time once in the air. They start on target but once in the air, they go off course. Fact is, because the pilots always monitor their course, they always manage to reach their destination as planned.
When I read your post, I thought about this book. You are in flight my friend, maybe off course by margin, but you are definitely on your way to achieve amazing things. May God bless you abundantly!
Good luck!
Maartin