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.
2016 Blogging Goals
Contribute 25% of income to business emergency fund. – (Done this month. )
Attend 2 Conferences –
FinCon16– Done! Best time ever! It was my first time visiting the west coast!- I’ve decided to only attend FinCon this year – I really wanted to attend Business Boutique again but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me this year.
Have signed contract with literary agent by December 31st. I have decided that it’s in my and my family’s best interest to not pursue this one this year. As much as I’d like to be traditionally published, it doesn’t make sense for the stage of life I’m in currently.
Release one eCourse by October 1st. DONE!!! Real Life Money Plan live! Click here to see it! 🙂
Have an average of 500,000 PVS a month by December 31st.
- PVS for December 2016: 86,609 Thank God they finally went up instead of down this month! 🙂 🙂
Make One Media Appearance – TV or Radio – You can listen to the episode that I was on here – I’m towards the end of the show.
Speak at at least one event.
Increase Facebook followers to 10,000 by July 31st. Still haven’t achieved this one yet…currently at 9,500
Increase email subscribers to 15,000 by August 1st.
- Current number: 18,875
If you’re interested in learning more about blogging and seeing my income reports from the blog, sign up here and I’ll send out once-a-month blogging advice with my income report. 🙂
Read at least 5 books on business/blogging
What I want to read:
- 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 LevelLaunch: An Internet Millionaire’s Secret Formula To Sell Almost Anything Online, Build A Business You Love, And Live The Life Of Your DreamsThe 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
What I Read:
I actually didn’t finish a single book in December…I know shocking. 🙂
We hope y’all had a wonderful and Merry Christmas!
2017 Blogging Goals
BIG Goal this year: Help 1,000 people/families achieve financial success in 2017 through my course, Real Life Money Plan.
5,000 Twitter Followers by 12/31/17
- Current followers: 2,626
40,000 Email Subscribers by 12/31/17
- Current subscribers: 18,875
1,000 YouTube Subscribers by 12/31/17
- Current subscribers: 246
Become a Certified Financial Coach by 12/31/17
Make one TV appearance
Rebrand to Jessi Fearon and switch to jessifearon.com by 3/1/17
Three conferences I plan to attend this year:
- Business Boutique One-Day Event in Atlanta
- Focused Blogging Conference (I’m actually a mentor this year!)
- FinCon 17
Let me know if I’ll see you at any of these conferences!! I would LOVE to meet you there!
3 Live Webinar Training sessions
3 Speaking Gigs (2 are lined up so far):
- Rockstar Financial Summit (register for free here)
- Focused Blogging Conference
***If you’re wondering how I came up with these goals, I did this with the help of my fantastic business coach, Kelly. She actually put together a free worksheet to help you start the process of coming up with amazing goals for 2017. Click here to download the worksheet.
2016 Personal Goals
Continue using the Tupler Techniques every day. (These are found in the book, Lose Your Mummy Tummy) – Didn’t complete this goal.
Complete P90X by December 31st – Okay so obviously I didn’t get this one done but I’m working on adding into my routine, 5-10 minutes day exercise using these awesome workout videos on YouTube.
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
The best photo I got of Charlotte in her Christmas Day outfit for Mass:
2017 Personal Goals
Work out 2x a week using these free videos.
Average 10,000 steps a day – 5 days a week (tracking this with my FitBit).
Complete Crystal’s 15 Days to a Healthier You Challenge (you can register too until January 3rd here.)
2016 Marriage Goals
Write one love note to Pat a month. Totally forgot to do this again.
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
Conner as the donkey in his preschool Christmas performance. 🙂
2017 Marriage Goals
Write one love note to Pat every month.
Spend one hour every day with just Pat.
Take one secluded vacation with Pat this year (planning this for the Summer on a remote island off the Georgia coast – good thing I love backpacking! 😉 )
2016 Mothering Goals
Spend at least 30 minutes every day playing with my children. Didn’t happen.
Write in Motherhood gratitude journal every day. (Done.)
Plan a date night with my boys once every 6 months.
Read one new book every month with boys. (We are currently reading from Dave Ramsey’s “Junior” series.)
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
2017 Mothering Goals
Take my children on a fun outing once-a-month (these will mostly be free things but I’ve made a list of some of the fun paid things that we’d love to try this year).
Set aside dedicated time for help with schoolwork and arts/crafts (the time I have blocked out currently is Saturday mid morning).
2016 Spiritual Goals
Complete 1 Bible Study. (Done) – I’m working on my 4th one this year! It’s a self-paced study.
Volunteer once at our church. (Done.)
Read Bible Daily through Blessed is She. (Done. )
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
2017 Spiritual Goals
I did really great last year with my spiritual goals so I’m not setting any crazy goals for this year. 🙂
Pray 3x a Day (I have a great habit of praying in the morning before I read my Bible and before bed but I’m really awful at stopping in the middle of the day to give our Lord some time. So I’m going to work on adding in another prayer time – currently set for noon – to my schedule.)
Complete 3 Bible Studies outside of the Women’s Bible Study Group at church.
Charlotte and her Daddy. 🙂
2016 Financial Goals
3- Month fully-fund emergency fund by December 31st – goal is $10,500.
- Current Balance: $11,232.56
New goal:
- Save $4,000 for a new roof by December 31st
- Current Balance: $1,00o.00 (clearly we didn’t meet this one)
Pay mortgage principal down by $10,000 by December 31st.
- Owed on mortgage as of December 2015 is: $33,835.25
- Current Balance: $27,938.08
Read at least 1 Financial book:
What I Want to Read:
- 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
2017 Financial Goals
Pay off mortgage by 12/31/17. Current balance as of December 2016: $27,938.08
Save to replace roof by May 2017.
- Savings goal: $4,000
- Current balance: $1,000
What are your goals for 2017?
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Emilie says
I do my prayers and bible study in the morning. I also prayer the hail Mary and the our father every time I wash my hands. I take those two minutes to breathe and focus on washing away my anxiety.
Jessi Fearon says
Oh I LOVE that Emilie! That’s a wonderful way to add more prayer time in the day. Thank you so much for sharing!
Financial Samurai says
I’m muy impressed with your online stats and your desire to track and grow them! This is one of the areas I’m totally lacking, and think I should probably put more focus on in 2017. I just kinda write, share a little and that’s it!
Glad you plan to give more attention to the hubby. Must get tough with kids and a business. Hard to do it all!
My goal every year is to just be happy. And part of happiness is to run a business that doesn’t feel like work.
Best,
Sam
Misty says
You did all this with 3 kids? Wow, that’s awesome! I’m coming to Business Boutique (pending leave approval from my 9-5:) with a friend and I’m so excited! I’m registered for BB in April and Leadercast in May… yay for inspiring conferences! Good luck with achieving your goals this year!
Jessi Fearon says
That’s awesome Misty! I’ll be at BB in April so hopefully I see you there! 🙂
Becca says
You’ve done great things in 2016 and I’m sure you’ll do even greater things in 2017. Last year we focused on investing. This year we are finally going to refinish the kitchen. We paid cash for this home, but have been spending money on it ever since fixing it up the way we want it. The kitchen is the last room to do. To give you an idea of how bad it is, the husband of the previous owner installed the kitchen (complete with six completely different types of cabinets) while his wife was in hospital giving birth to their third child. When she saw it she cried, and they were not tears of joy. They got a divorce not looking long after, and although you might.think that the divorce had more to do with the fact that she is a lesbian, you would really only think that if you’ve never seen our hideous kitchen. We’ve saved up $10,000 for.the kitchen remodel, bur want to save up another $5000 so we still have a cushion. ($10,000 isn’t a lot for a kitchen, but it is doable, just.) We also want to invest some more, and my husband wants to buy a share in a sailboat, and we have committed to three vacations – we’ve booked airfare but nothing else. So, now that I’ve listed all of that, it kind of seems a bit sad that we’ve spent all our savings before we actually save it!
Carrie Willard says
One of my goals for the year is to attend a blogging conference. I’m not sure Business Boutique would be that valuable to me as a blogger though – what do you think? There is another blog conference in Atlanta called Exposure and Profit. I’ll be going to that one. It has one track, which I like. I also know the organizer and some of the speakers.
Jessi Fearon says
Business Boutique is perfect if you want to make your blog a business because it’s not a blogging conference. I know that probably sounds crazy, but it helps you with the foundations of building a business – whether that’s a blog or something else. It was just what I needed when I went in 2015 so I’m looking forward to doing it again this year. 🙂
Sarah@TheOrthodoxMama says
Thanks for sharing your goals! I always find it inspiring to read the goals of other bloggers. Two of the blogging/business goals that I am most excited about this year are:
1. Launch two more products
2. Attend a writing conference
Best of luck!
Jessi Fearon says
Heck yes Sarah! I can’t wait to see what products you come out with!
Amy says
Congrats on your success in 2016, and good luck this year!
My goals for this year are to read 24 books that I really want to read (not feel like I should read), try three new activities, run three 5K races, and find a way to dread meal-planning less.
Kristen @ Joyfully Thriving says
Way to set some big goals! We are saving up for a new roof right now, too. Nothing exciting but necessary. As for blog goals, even with the dismissal traffic drops last year, I managed to double my income to a decent part time income. My goal this year is to double my blog income again. Now to get busy working…