My Goals For 2012 And What You Can Learn From Them
I published a podcast earlier this week covering what I learned from 2011 and how I would change in 2012 (you should check it out). Today I wanted to share specifics on my goals for 2012 and what I’m going to do to accomplish them.
My Biggest Change For 2012 That You Should Do As Well:
In 2012 I’m going to keep track of my profit every single month and review mid month how I’m doing to ensure I hit my target numbers. What I learned from 2011 was that I don’t do a good job of re-evaluating my goals on a constant basis. In fact, the only time I’d ever look to see how much money I was making was when I had to file my federal estimated quarterly tax payments (once every 3 months). I don’t know if I can attribute it to complacency, but I always had plenty of money left over at the end of the month after paying my bills and reinvesting thousands into other projects like software development and website acquisitions so I never really took the time to track everything very closely so this is how I’m going to do it differently:
I’m Using A Project Management Calendar For 2012
I put up a whiteboard that sits next to one of my monitors with a month by month grid that will help me keep track of when I’m releasing some product, software or even a website (even those completely unrelated to this blog that I don’t really discuss). For example, I’ve had a team working on a really in depth website that I’ve invested nearly $20,000 and several months of my time into that will be launching later this month. It has nothing to do with earning money online etc. and it is targeted at a much larger demographic than I’ve ever tried capturing before but I’m tracking it on the calendar. I haven’t decided if I’ll reveal the website or not but if I do you’ll be among the first to hear about it.
The other purpose of the calendar is for me to see a constant visual representation of where I’m at with my goals for the year. Rather than focusing on arbitrary RSS reader numbers and a few of the other things I targeted in 2011 I’m just going to focus on specifically financial targets.
My Three Primary Specific And Measurable Goals For 2012:
Goal 1: $250,000+ Profit In 2012
Every year my goal is to make more money than I did in the previous year and for that increase to be far greater than what I could ever receive working in a normal day job. So far I’ve been able to do that and I believe if I stick to my schedule and track my various projects very well I should be able to hit $250,000 in profit. I didn’t do a bunch of monthly income reports this year because frankly I was a bit complacent and when I wasn’t being lazy I was too busy taking action and making money rather than putting together lengthy graphs outlining my performance. If you’d like me to go back to monthly income updates perhaps I can do that. I know $250,000 is a big number and when you read that number I might come off as someone you can’t relate to, but I want to remind you that I got my start in this business by working an hour or two every day after work and after getting fired from my day job in 2009 I was already making enough money from my websites to take the plunge and do this full time. So I still know that it’s hard work to build up your business but as long as you’re putting in some time and working towards your own goal of some additional side income or job replacement income you can do it. I’ll do my best to continue to share actionable advice to help you get there.
Goal 2: Buy $100,000+ Worth Of Websites In 2012
I had this goal in 2011 and I fell a little short of it unfortunately, but I still have the capital in my bank account ready to buy the right websites so if you have something earning between $200 – $3,000 profit per month contact me here. In either case, I remain confident that I can hit this goal in 2012 and probably even surpass it if I find a lot of good websites to buy.
Goal 3: Donate At Least $35,000 To Church / Charities
I need to be more regular in my donating / giving so I wanted to tie a specific dollar amount that I’m looking to accomplish. I know it’s kind of odd that I’m including this goal in a blog post as most people are pretty private about what they give to charity, but it’s on my white board so I guess it’s on the blog post lol. Throughout this year I will occasionally release products or software and state in the sales material that (for example) the first $5,000 purchased worth of this software will be going directly to Charity Water. Continuing with charity water as an example, after I would reach that sales figure I’d then make a donation to a Charity Water campaign as well just to prove that I was actually making the donations. You’d have to be pretty evil to say you were going to donate money and not actually do it though.
My Three Pillars Of Business In 2012
I’m going to continue to focus on these three things that I did in 2011, but to not let other opportunities like iPhone applications etc. distract me.
1. Building Websites
2. Buying Websites
3. Software / Information Products
I routinely find pain points while building my business and recognize areas for improvement and I’m going to be doing more awesome software projects in 2012 with the first one up being EasyAzon v2. That plugin is used by well over 1,000 people and the emails I get on a regular basis are really cool. I love helping people save time on a tedious process and make more money at the same time.
Overall Feeling About 2012 – It’s Going To Be Awesome
I believe I will easily reach my goals if I stick to my calendar for managing projects and routinely tracking profits every single month. I’m going to focus on continuing to build ever larger assets in 2012 and perhaps I’ll have a few more six figure deals to share with you this year as well.
Have you set goals for yourself in 2012? If so what are they?
Got something to say? Click here to reply
Good stuff, Chris – ambitious but very attainable goals. I love the “buy 100K+ worth of websites” goal. People typically have a goal for revenue or profit, but few ever seem to set a goal for investment, which is probably just as important.
Eric | My 4-Hour Workweek´s last [type] ..The Obligatory 2012 Goals Post (And a Look Back at 2011)
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 10:24 am
Hey Eric,
We should sync up again and see how you’re doing
yah I’m really trying to push hard for these goals this year and watch them carefully. The biggest thing is that I want to be building my assets as well and that’s why I want to keep building more websites and buying more websites in 2012 
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Chris ,
I love your honesty and am a BIG believer in goal setting. I get a lot of emails from Internet marketers and have always been skeptical of the money being made. You have always come across as genuine and I hope that you EXCEED all of your goals. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to try my hand at this!! To your success!!
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 10:26 am
Hey Tom,
Thanks – yah I will only ever create products / software etc. based on my own real life experiences and I don’t feel the need to hype things up. When I promote affiliate offers I also investigate the person to validate their claims etc. but I’m getting off on a tangent I suppose. Thanks for the feedback and yes I’m very excited about 2012.
Chris
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As rich dad poor dad said, rich ppl are generous. Nice to see you have a goal for giving. I have been trying to do 10% before tax. Its awesome that the more you give, the more you make with blessing. Also we are happier n motivated, as we are helping others too.
Kent @ make extra money online´s last [type] ..How do I make extra money online as an Amazon Affiliate
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Hey Chris,
I really enjoyed you post. I like the goals you’ve set for yourself, the reasonable and very could all be accomplished if stick to your game plan. The one I think you and I have in common is the keeping track of things, I’m most definitely going to take that same approach to keep track of my progress over this year.
Anyways hope you accomplish all your goals this year, and looking forward to your other post. Oh and I see you use that simple reach slider plugin, I just recently uploaded that plugin on my blogs to increase the engagement on my sites, and I’m hoping that it will also increase my conversions rates.
How has it worked for you so far?
Lazerrick´s last [type] ..Marketing 101:Give The People What They Want
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Chris,
Tangents are good!!! The more I can learn the sooner I can get the knowledge to sift through all the crap that’s out there and figure out what can REALLY help me get started!! Hopefully I can figure it out soon!!
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
Hah sounds good I’m around if you have questions
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Tom Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 1:00 pm
Chris,
Is there a direct way to contact you?
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 1:24 pm
Yes just use the contact form link above or chris [at] this blog url
I’m a big fan of your goal number 3, my wife and I always try to surpass what we did the previous year in giving.
“I got my start in this business by working an hour or two every day after work.” I’m in this exact position right now. It’s tough going to work all day and then coming home to do more work. In the end though, you either want it or you don’t.
Hope you have a great 2012!
Wesley Banks´s last [type] ..Niche Rivalry 003: Revealing the Niche
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
Hey Wesley,
Yah I debated whether or not to throw out the number and I suppose I could even post my tax receipt from church at the end of the year as proof lol, but it’s probably not necessary. I just wanted to put a goal that was on my board so I can see it every day and be thinking about what I can do to reach that goal as well.
Chris
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Charity starts at home, dude, how about removing the nofollow tags?
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 12:11 pm
Hah, are you referring to the comments being no followed? I sort of just set up the plugin and it’s been running that way ever since. Never really thought about it lol. I did think that I wanted to avoid people just commenting and saying useless things just to get a backlink though.
Blog commenting is better for traffic generation / connecting with the blog author more so than it is for link building though.
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Hey Chris:
Great goals! It’s always better to aim your arrow high and let fly, instead of shooting for a lower target and thunking into the ground.
One thing about goal setting is that numbers don’t lie. When you account for your progress with numbers entered into a speadsheet, you can never be vague about where you’re at regarding goal achievement. The white board idea is good too. Great for tracking progress and making you aware of what you need to do to stay on track.
Good post.
John J. Ziemba´s last [type] ..7 Great Christmas Gift Cookbooks For $20 Or Less
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 1:28 pm
For sure that’s why I’m trying to focus on the whiteboard calendar approach and being really focused on that…
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Hey Chris,
I just wanted to say AWESOME job on the WSO forum last month. You’re one of the few people I trust in the MMO niche, so it’s nice to see how reputable people are doing in there. (I know you didn’t cover this in the blog post, but it was in the email you sent that directed me to the blog post…in case other people are wondering what I’m talking about.)
P.S. Those are some really great goals too!
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 1:29 pm
Hah yah I was really surprised by the results and I suppose that’s why some of those marketers just do WSO’s. That’s not how I would like to do things though as I use my real life experiences to help shape what products (information or software based) that I create, so that’s why you’ll never see me pulling something out of thin air (like a PPC course when I’ve never in my life done PPC lol – well accept a $100 facebook credit that failed)
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Big goals, even bigger awesomeness. I have no doubt that you will make it. I particularly like how you publish your donation goals too. Giving back is surely a fine way to keep going forward. I’m watching, learning and supporting you;)
Tram Tran´s last [type] ..Sydney 2012 AWESOME fireworks and the messages it brings…
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I have fallen into this trap as well “I always had plenty of money left over at the end of the month” so no need to scrutinize every detail..
I’m starting to think about my 2012 as I’m watching every one throw around some pretty impressive numbers, which is making me think I need to raise my own bar to a point where it becomes a goal and not just maintenance..
White board, yea it is well overdue for me to get one of those…
Good luck with your 2012
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
January 6th, 2012 at 6:12 pm
Hey Neale,
Yah, I was complacent in 2011 and I still did pretty well, but I believe I’ve got a very solid new focus moving into 2012. Very excited about it.
Chris
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Neale Reply:
January 6th, 2012 at 8:39 pm
Thanks Chris I wrote my down goals and found an extra 50% 2012 going to be a good year..
Neale´s last [type] ..Friday Wrap: A change of direction and things to do in 2012
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Chris,
Haven’t commented on any of your posts before, but have been meaning to for a few weeks now – in my mind you’ve always been someone with integrity that I’ve learned to trust…but in recent weeks you’ve really been producing some great content….and since you usually ask for comments/feedback, I wanted to quickly do that here. Partly to say “thanks” and also to encourage you to keep producing high quality stuff….we depend on it!
I was one of the fortunate ones who took advantage of your WSO in December…great stuff there.
Like you I am narrowing my focus for 2012…actually I’ve decided to just focus on a single niche (but multiple sites and incoming traffic funnels)…Already I feel like it will now be easier to get my hands around the various tasks to pull this off….
Keep goin’ brother…
- Dave
Dave P´s last [type] ..LeapPad Explorer Detailed Review
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
January 6th, 2012 at 6:14 pm
Hey Dave,
Thanks I’m glad you appreciate the blog posts and what I’m trying to accomplish here. Narrowing your focus can help a ton because if you look at all of the ways to make money online there are just so many opportunities. Picking just one or two and really focusing on them is key and to avoid the shiny ball syndrome (that helps too)
Chris
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Chris, nice write up here. Since you’ve made it public, i bet you will accomplish more than what you have written here.
Wish you a lot of success in 2012.
PS: I wrote you a mail about buying some of my sites i did not get a reply from you.
Sheyi
Sheyi´s last [type] ..What The Hell – $1Million Online?
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
January 6th, 2012 at 6:17 pm
Hey Sheyi,
Thanks. Sorry if I didn’t reply I might have missed it or just forgot to say that I wasn’t interested.
I’m seeking out sites doing at least $200 profit per month or more (on up to about $3k per month)
Chris
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Sheyi Reply:
January 7th, 2012 at 3:19 am
Thanks Chris.
I wish you a blessed 2012 – more success and all good things yo so desire. The best I’ll like to read about you is that you gave some money to churches and charity orgs.
Sheyi
Sheyi´s last [type] ..What The Hell – $1Million Online?
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What an awesome goals for this 2012,Sheyi! Mine, I’m not yet done planning and setting up my goals right now but like yours I’m going to have improvements on my website. Hope it works fine on me. My friends just gave me planner, and I find it a very useful tool for making 2012 awesome.
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Sheyi Reply:
January 19th, 2012 at 3:29 am
Thanks for checking up on me.
I wish you success in your IM sojourn and keep doing the right thing in a smart way, all will be well for you.
Sheyi´s last [type] ..Redefining My Purpose
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Wow, $250,000 profit in this year would be a great number for anyone. Hope you will get this successfully
Jenni´s last [type] ..5 Tips to Gain More Profits from Your Banner Advertising
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I like Goal 3: Donate At Least $35,000 To Church / Charities. I have a very similar plan for my blog. The plan is to donate 10% of my earning during the year.
Eddie Gear´s last [type] ..5 Things Bloggers Should Not Do In The First Month Of Blogging
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Chris, you have provided a lot of great info about building websites. I’m working hard to reach my 2012 MMO goals. Looking forward to your new products this year!
Kent Chow´s last [type] ..My 2012 Make Extra Money Online Goals
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Great post, Chris. I’ve actually been using a calendar for a year or so, it helps a great deal. Thanks and god luck!
Doug Gene´s last [type] ..Outdoor Play Coupon Code Discount and Review
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Great goals for 2012, yes keep posting about your progress monthly and tactics that you use.
My goal is to learn as much from you and similar blogs that I follow and keep building building new sites till I get comfortable to work on software projects as well.
veppa´s last [type] ..WordPress plugin: bbPress WP Tweaks
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Lots of things we can learn from this post. What can I say? You can’t make $250,000 if you don’t man up. Good luck for 2012.
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Good luck Chris, my goals are a little lower than yours, but like you I keep increasing each year so I’m happy. I think I may just start a project calendar since I’m starting to have a lot of projects (some live and some in the works).
Jamie Northrup´s last [type] ..My NHL Hockey Picks Blog is a Success!
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Hi Chris,
I like your goal! You can do this. Actually, your goal is way better since it is very specific and you know what you want which is really good. You know what you did last year and you picked up on that. Not a lot of people can do that and even realize where they went astray. I’ll be looking forward to hearing how your year goes.
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I am glad to know that you are confident facing this year. I am very impress with your goals. Your experience and hard work will prove very valuable in achieving them. It is great that you are taking risk and investing on things that can help you earn more. I am curious about your products and hope to learn more about them.
Jennifer´s last [type] ..DTS Home
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Your goals are indeed big yet realistic. It is motivating to learn someone working at home earning a lot. I am glad that you are doing well. I am sure you will continue to enhance your income and I will wait to learn how you made it happen.
John´s last [type] ..How To Get A Girl To Like You
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You goals are really motivating. It encourages me to set goals for my blog. I would like to ask something. I was searching for free ebook that you had published in 2010. I am not getting the link for the same. Could you provide me that.
Haider´s last [type] ..SSC North Western Region Vacancy of Fieldman, Jan – 2012
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Great goals! I wish you all the success and I want to see this blog succeed because I like your blog and appreciate how you’re striving to offer quality information to your readers.
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really great goals, i wish you to succeed. my goal 2012 is to get some decent traffic (1k visitors/day in the first year) for my new website, and develop several micro niche websites (50 visitors/day).
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Chris,
I’m interested to hear more about your outsourcing efforts and how they help overall in your business. I’m not the biggest fan of link building, in fact to me it seems more like a necessary evil than anything, so if I could find a good way to outsource that, I’d be all over it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and ideas.
Chris´s last [type] ..HostGator Web Hosting Cyber Monday Deal
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Hi Chris,
Do you have any goals regarding your Adsense portfolio this year? It’d be interesting to know if they are still a part of your build strategy, or if you’re just going to lump them into your acquisition strategy with the capital you have to invest.
Andre Garde´s last [type] ..Attention All Keyword Cowboys! Get Semrush For Less Than Half Price!
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
January 29th, 2012 at 1:41 pm
Hey Andre, yah I’m also building up my Adsense income as well. Last year my record day was a little over $200, but that was only for a short period of time though.
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Kent Chow Reply:
January 29th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
Impressive.. I hope I could get to $20, $50, and $100 Adsense income a day soon.
I had some $200/day Amazon Affiliate income last year.. I was almost passing out.
Kent Chow´s last [type] ..Make Extra Money Online with Google Adsense
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I do a weekly project management board, but I think a monthly one would really help me, especially since I’m going to be buying more websites.
Kelsey´s last [type] ..Self Storage Investing in the News
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wow, great goals. i think i do need to set my goal for this year too..err..i must!
Cathy35´s last [type] ..Dating Video Hoax
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