tenpastmidnight blog
Making hay while the sun shines
» Tuesday, January 02, 2007 «
Setting goals for the year
At the start of last year I set a few business related goals for 2006: the main ones being:
I was sitting down to work out what I definitely wanted to achieve this year, business-wise, and kept getting caught up in the details - what certain projects would need to make them work, what technology I'd have to use for what. Whilst away from my computer and paper a couple of days ago it all boiled down to the basics I wanted:
The three things are all interesting to me - WPC is my main business and SEO/SEM has some interesting intellectual challenges as well as plenty of scut work. The Farm helps me meet interesting people as well as having various other advantages, but it would be interesting to help it move on - perhaps helping the more entrepreneurial elements get their own ideas in to working businesses.
The final one covers a problem that many freelancers / small businesses have - when I'm not working, I don't bring any money in, which means taking holidays can be a real dent in earnings. I'm going to be putting some time in to setting up projects that make money even if I'm not monitoring them and putting time in constantly. My Reluctant Mechanic site does this all ready - making a small amount of money through advertising, but I need bigger amounts than that if it's going to make a difference to me when I'm away.
I'd like to build up to a few hundred pounds a month initially, then if I can get it up to a thousand Pounds a month I'd be satisfied. I'll post more about this soon, it's interesting to contrast some of the general ideas that get thrown around in the SEO world, compared to ones that come from being a developer.
- help WPC expand
- get better at using Google Search Appliances / Minis and get more work on them
- to save a certain amount of money towards getting a mortgage
I was sitting down to work out what I definitely wanted to achieve this year, business-wise, and kept getting caught up in the details - what certain projects would need to make them work, what technology I'd have to use for what. Whilst away from my computer and paper a couple of days ago it all boiled down to the basics I wanted:
- Help WPC grow
- Help The Farm grow
- Make money when I'm asleep
The three things are all interesting to me - WPC is my main business and SEO/SEM has some interesting intellectual challenges as well as plenty of scut work. The Farm helps me meet interesting people as well as having various other advantages, but it would be interesting to help it move on - perhaps helping the more entrepreneurial elements get their own ideas in to working businesses.
The final one covers a problem that many freelancers / small businesses have - when I'm not working, I don't bring any money in, which means taking holidays can be a real dent in earnings. I'm going to be putting some time in to setting up projects that make money even if I'm not monitoring them and putting time in constantly. My Reluctant Mechanic site does this all ready - making a small amount of money through advertising, but I need bigger amounts than that if it's going to make a difference to me when I'm away.
I'd like to build up to a few hundred pounds a month initially, then if I can get it up to a thousand Pounds a month I'd be satisfied. I'll post more about this soon, it's interesting to contrast some of the general ideas that get thrown around in the SEO world, compared to ones that come from being a developer.
