If you’re new here, every month I share how I’m doing with my goals for the year. This includes personal, blogging/business, and of course financial goals. This post holds me accountable to the goals I set every year, but more importantly, it helps my readers to see that having financial goals in place are the key to succeeding with money. If you need help setting financial goals, make sure you read this post here on the steps to setting financial goals.
Alrighty….on with the goals! 🙂
So, I figured that I’d start this off with the goals that I didn’t accomplish from last year and the ones that I don’t plan to carry forward to this year…
Complete FPU – I really wanted to complete this but honestly, my husband wasn’t in to it and he made a great point that the majority of what we were hearing about in the course was what we learned in The Total Money Makeover*. So, we abandoned trying to complete it and we donated it to charity (we had the home study version).
Implement a Spending Freeze – Okay, so I really don’t want to abandon this one but I’m realizing that at this point in our lives this one will be next to impossible to pull off. So I’m shelving this for now but hoping that we can pick this up again. (If you’re interested in doing a spending freeze, I highly recommend the book 31 Days to Living Well and Spending Zero. It’s a great guide for making a spending freeze work!)
I’m changing up a few things with how I post my goals update posts. I won’t be including my blogging income anymore since many of my readers are not bloggers, but don’t worry, I’m actually going to be sharing my income through my Grow Your Blog Idea Newsletter that I send out every month. You can sign up for that email list here if you’re interested. The topic for this month will be ways to increase your traffic.
Another thing I’m changing, is that I’ve included with this post several books that I’d like to read at some point but that doesn’t mean that I’m planning to only read those books or that I plan to read them all this year. They’re just books that I’m really interested in and I’ll still share what I read every month and how I liked/didn’t the book. 🙂
Blogging
My big goal this year is to double my income from 2015. That will put me at a full-time blogger level, which will be an amazing feat if I accomplish it! 🙂
Contribute 25% of income to business emergency fund. (I use Capital One 360 for my business emergency fund)
Attend 2 Conferences –
- FinCon16 – tickets already purchased.
- Mini retreat with one of my mastermind groups – happening this month. I can’t wait! 🙂
- SheSpeaks – I would love to attend this one so we’ll see if I can afford it.
Write and release self-published book (I’ll release the title of the book when I’m closer to publishing it) by August 1st. (If you’re interested in learning more about self-publishing, this post here goes a little more in-depth.)
Have signed contract with literary agent by December 31st. (Fingers crossed….)
Release one eCourse by October 1st. (I originally planned to do this one before the ebook but once I sat down and made my budget for what I would need to purchase in order to make this a professional looking course, I realized that it would take more money than I originally budgeted for. If you need a budget template for your blog, there’s one for you to download in this post here.)
Have an average of 500,000 PVS a month by December 31st.
- PVS for December 2015: 379,760
Make One Media Appearance – TV or Radio
Speak at at least one event
Increase Facebook followers to 10,000 by April 1st.
Increase email subscribers to 15,000 by August 1st.
- Current number: 8,986
Read at least 5 books on business/blogging
- Lead with Humility: 12 Leadership Lessons from Pope Francis
- Ask: The Counterintuitive Online Formula to Discover Exactly What Your Customers Want to Buy…Create a Mass of Raving Fans…and Take Any Business to the Next Level
- Launch: An Internet Millionaire’s Secret Formula To Sell Almost Anything Online, Build A Business You Love, And Live The Life Of Your Dreams
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
- Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World
- See You at the Top
- The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
- The Compound Effect
- Blog at Home Mom: Balancing Blogging and Motherhood
- Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
Personal
Continue using the Tupler Techniques every day. (These are found in the book, Lose Your Mummy Tummy)
Complete P90X by December 31st – I know this is a far off date to give this one, but I wanted to allow myself some grace room since Charlotte isn’t sleeping through the night yet.
Read at least 2 books just for me.
- The Better Life: Small Things You Can Do Right Where You Are
- Simply Tuesday: Small-Moment Living in a Fast-Moving World
- The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness
- My Other Ex: Women’s True Stories of Losing and Leaving Friends
Marriage Goals
Write one love note to Pat a month.
Plan at least one date night every 6 months.
Read at least 3 books on Marriage:
- 52 Ways to Wow Your Husband
- 31 Days to a Happy Husband
- The 4 Seasons of Marriage: Secrets to a Lasting Marriage
- The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts
- 100 Ways to Love Your Husband: A Life-Long Journey of Learning to Love
Mothering Goals
Spend at least 30 minutes every day playing with my children.
Write in Motherhood gratitude journal every day.
Plan a date night with my boys once every 6 months.
Read one new book every month with boys.
Read at least 1 book on Parenting/Motherhood.
- The 5 Love Languages of Children
- Raising Your Spirited Child
- Making Children Mind without Losing Yours
- Love Rebel: Reclaiming Motherhood
The boys in their preschool’s Christmas program.
Spiritual Goals
Complete 1 Bible Study.
Volunteer once at our church.
Read Bible daily through Blessed Is She
Read at least 2 books on Christianity.
- 33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat In Preparation for Marian Consecration
- How to Listen When God Is Speaking: A Guide for Modern-Day Catholics
- Shirt of Flame: A Year with St. Therese of Lisieux
- The Temperament God Gave You: The Classic Key to Knowing Yourself, Getting Along with Others, and Growing Closer to the Lord
- Cheerful Chats for Catholic Children: Short Stories for Catholic Children with a Moral and a Prayer following each Anecdote.
- The Hidden Power of Kindness: A Practical Handbook for Souls Who Dare to Transform the World, One Deed at a Time
- Catholic Family Handbook: Time-tested Techniques to Help You Strengthen Your Marriage and Raise Good Kids
- Chiara Corbella Petrillo
Financial Goals
I saved the best for last… 😉
3- Month fully-fund emergency fund by December 31st – goal is $10,500.
- Starting balance is: $6,110.26
Pay mortgage principal down by $10,000 by December 31st.
- Owed on mortgage as of December 2015 is: $33,835.25
Read at least 1 Financial book:
- The Money Saving Mom’s Budget: Slash Your Spending, Pay Down Your Debt, Streamline Your Life, and Save Thousands a Year
- Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After
- The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents are Going Broke
- Debt-Free Living in a Debt-Filled World: A book to encourage, educate, inform, and inspire.
- Soldier of Finance: Take Charge of Your Money and Invest in Your Future
Okay, so there are my 2016 goals. What are some of your goals for 2016? I’d love to hear about them!
Happy New Year Jessi! Finally, the post I’ve been waiting for is here, and it did not disappoint! 🙂 I love how you broke down all your goals into different areas of your life, and that while some goals are lofty, others are manageable. Sounds like this year is going to take your blog/business to the next level, which will be hard work but exciting. You should already be so proud of how far you’ve come. I’ve read Slaying the Debt Dragon TWICE–that’s how much I loved it and how much it inspired me. Another very quick, easy read that might help to read first would be Eat That Frog! The only reason I haven’t read that one twice is that I lent it to my dad two years ago and he still hasn’t read it…which cracks me up since it’s a book on how NOT to procrastinate, lol. All of your children are precious and I love seeing pictures of them. I already emailed you my financial goals, so I won’t repeat them here. But I hope and pray you have a very successful, happy, healthy year! Thanks for all you share with us readers and for all your encouragement…you truly lead by example and we are blessed to be a part of your journey that only makes OUR journey that much easier to navigate.
Liz you are just the sweetest! And I LOVE your goals for this year and your charts! You’re going to rock it my friend! 🙂
I enjoyed your goals, as always. Good luck doubling your income. I have no doubt that you will be able to do this! I am excited to hear about the topic for your next book. I am looking forward to seeing what you have planned. You rocked your last book, so I know your new one will be a book I want to read! 🙂
Enjoy your retreat with your mastermind group. What an exciting opportunity!
I have wanted to revamp how I do my goals and am still undecided on them for 2016. I struggle with whether or not I want to include stats/numbers on my blogging goals. I know that specific goals are important and almost essential. I know it would be motivating, but I fear that adding more pressure would make me neglect my mothering/home duties. I am trying to keep my focus on my girls since they are young and don’t want my blog to distract me too much. I suppose adding numbers to my goals would increase my focus on the computer time that I have. Maybe I answered my own question 😉 …that it would help me be more focused. You always seem to have stats and dates on your goals, do you ever feel that the added pressure is a bad thing? Or is it always helpful to you?
I am bummed that I am behind on setting my 2016 goals…but I hope to get them done shortly!
Sometimes the pressure gets to me – as much as I hate to admit that, but I’m a natural overachiever so sometimes I want to blow my goals out of the water just to impress myself. lol. But having specific goals with stats helps me to stay focused when I am working. I’m less distracted by Facebook when I know that my goal is to increase my email subscribers. And don’t be bummed on setting your goals after the 1st – you’re taking the time to really think about them which is super important!
Great and very big goals! Can’t wait to read your blog to watch you conquer them. My goal was to start a blog and I have! 🙂
I’m not going to lie, I am bummed that I won’t be able to read about your income reports / blogging updates in these goal posts. I absolutely looked forward to them so much!! But it sounds like that’s what’s best for you, which is great.
Well you know I’ll share with you anytime! 🙂 And I was really debating about sharing/not sharing the income report within my goals posts anymore. I’m hoping that by sharing it within my monthly blogging email that it will encourage other bloggers more. Fingers crossed. 🙂
Working on debt is actually at the top of my goals list. I signed up to return to college but they didn’t mention my lack of financial aid until I was all good and registered. Paying for school with a credit card or student loan seems counterintuitive with my debt payoff. I’m bummed … I was hoping to return to work in 2 years or less and I needed something to keep me marketable. Headed back to the goals drawing board myself. I’m super excited for your 2016 though! I know it’ll be amazing!
Have you looked into Ashworth College? They’re an online school based out of Norcross. The highest degree you can earn is an Associates but they’re pretty reasonable as far as tuition goes so maybe they can be option for you so you don’t have to go into debt to pay for school. 🙂
Wow, these are so well thought out and specific … they put mine to shame! But this is my first year setting goals in a LONG while, so I’m going to remember that it takes practice to make great goals just like everything else does.
I’m with Emily — I don’t know that I want to set stat goals for my blog. It seems like the increase in numbers is not truly under my control. I can be working really hard and still not see the increase. Or I can be doing nothing and whammo something goes semi-viral. OK, yes, I did write some numbers down — but I’m going to pretend they’re not there. 🙂
I think my favorite goal on your list is writing the love-note to your husband once a month. I might have to appropriate that one for myself. 🙂
He loves it whenever I write him a love note…which I honestly didn’t think my blue collar hubby would like but he does and I’m sure your hubby will love it too! 🙂 And I know you’re going to rock your goals this year Ann! 🙂
Jessi,
Your goals are inspiring me! I comment and send a prayer your way that you are blessed with all you need to pull these off in 2016. 🙂 Also, I’ve been following your blog for awhile and it’s so helpful as I try and grow mine. I hope to write an ebook (your post was very helpful), take the EBA course, revamp my site and figure out a way to grow and monetize.
Lots to do! Praying I get achieve MUCH with the blog this year. Blessings and I appreciate your site.
Thank you so much Kelly for your kind words and prayers! You’ll LOVE EBA – it’s truly life changing and I know Ruth is revamping the course for this year which is super exciting! 🙂
I love reading really in-depth goals posts like this, so thank you for sharing! I always find new ideas and inspirations for myself. Happy new year!
I just found you site again and love your goals. I recently shared mine on my blog as well. Including a goal of saving $5,000-$10,000 this year for our emergency fund (starting with $1,,000). Just Make Do January where we eat from the pantry and use items up items for cleaning and health and beauty. I also have blogging goals to increase my traffic and followers (no where near your levels) .
Thank you for sharing your goals and financial successes. They are truly inspiring!
Oh I love the idea of a “Just Make Do” month! Congrats on your savings goals – you’ve got this Tina! 🙂
Wow! Great goals! I love how big you are dreaming and planning – with specifics! My blogging goal is to double my page views this year and increase my blogging income as well. It was a huge year of blog growth for me last year, so I hope to continue that momentum and start earning a substantial blogging income each month. Like you, knowing that I don’t have to worry about Facebook as much when I’m focusing on Email and / or Pinterest is so freeing! We’re also working to save up our full deductible before our next baby is born in March, and funding some of our savings accounts again. Thanks for sharing your goals so openly – and here’s to a wonderful 2016!
Well if you’re baby is born on March 29th we will share a birthday! 🙂 March babies are the best. And your blog is truly going places Kristen – you’re going to rock this New Year!
Great job with your goals this year! I can’t wait for the grow your blog newsletter.
Wow, Jessi! What an inspiring list of goals!
Mine include: move more, meditate, meal plan weekly, read 24 books, pay off car loan, grow 100 pounds of produce, have monthly money meetings, and clean something daily.
Happy new year!
I think I need to add “clean something daily” to my goals list as well! 🙂
I have heard Crystal Paine talk about the book, Eat That Frog, and that is on my list of books to read this year too. I would like to build up my blog in 2016 and start making an income from it to put towards our mortgage as well. It sounds like you are so close to paying yours off! Happy New Year!