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I love goals. They really help to motivate and inspire me. All business owners, including home-based businesses should set goals for themselves. Even if you're just starting affiliate marketing, it's a great thing to have.
Beyond JUST having goals, we need to have a mindset that goes with those goals. Instead of thinking, I'm not going to be able to reach X level, you should think, how am I going to reach this level?
This year both my girlfriend and I are writing down goals and we plan on talking with each other. We're not going be talking about the goals as much as how to obtain those goals. Methods, strategies, etc. Just like it's been said before, it's not really the destination, but it's the journey to that destination that we should focus on. (I cant remember where I got this from - maybe I just made it up who knows...)
With that being said, here are a couple of my goals for 2008.
1. Earn $83,333 a month by September 2008. ($83,333 = ~1/12 of 1 Million)
1. Method --- I plan on branching out from just affiliate marketing and going into both service industries (AffiliateUnleashed and others) and continue to grow my affiliate business. Additionally, I plan on creating some drop shipping sites now that I have my California Resale Id. At the current growth pattern the only major obstacle is going to be my cash flow. Ideally I'd love to have an Amex Platinum but I dont think my limited credit history (I'm only 20) will be on my side. I guess we all have to start somewhere 
. After the $83,333, my goal is to break the 6 figure a month mark. I get excited just talking about it!!!
2. Organize the finances of Volk Marketing more.
2. Method --- I plan on getting a financial program such as quickbooks to organize the outgoing vs incoming cash flow each month. Right now I use excel... it works but it's a bit sloppy. I'd like to be able to track and know the exact breakdown of each campaign I'm running. Doing so will allow me to increase my returns even more. Although I do this somewhat already, I'd like to be more detailed about how I do it. Next, I plan to pay myself a set amount each month which will be transfered from by business account to my personal account. The personal account money is not to be used for business and visa versa.
3. Incorporate.
3. Method --- I plan to talk with an accountant and some business friends about the best methods for this. What are the best "tax shelters" and ways which I can pay the government the least amount of money. I know with corporations there is double taxation, but I also know there are a LOT of loops which you can use to your advantage. (If anyone has some good advice please let me know and get my goal done early!)
4. Give more.
4. Method --- As stated before, the primary purpose of blessing is to bless others. In other words, as I receive more, I want to give more. It's my ultimate goal to be able to give 80% of my income to organizations that are doing things. For this I look to examples such as Andrew Carnegie who gave away 90% of his income ($350 million) and still died filthy rich.
And during his life gave away approximately 90% of his fortune or about $350 million. (source)
This may be more of a longer term goal, but certainly its something I aspire to.
Like I've said before, when I die everything I have will amount to nothing. Therefore I want to invest into eternal things, people. Changing someones life for the better is something that I believe is eternal.
5. Work out 2 times per week.
5. Method --- Right now I work out roughly once per week. I have an ab machine and some free weights. I'm not really looking to gain huge muscle mass, just tone up even more. (Gotta keep the girlfriend happy right?) I plan on waking up slightly earlier on Mondays in order to get the work out time.
I know I'm missing some but I think it's a good list for now.
Let me know you goals by either posting a comment with them or make a blog post and link to it in a comment. If you link to the blog post, I'll post a link to them in this post.
READER GOALS:
Good luck with the goals, I know you will achieve them.
My goals are just to make over £1000 per month ($2000) in the next three months and then steadily increase the money every month.
Get pages listed on front page of google and reduce ppc.
Visit my brother who lives in New York.
I have hundreds more goals but these are important to me, you guys know all where I am heading, its just up to me to get there.
Good luck to everybody in 2008 and set them goals.
Keep Smiling
Kevin
UK
Great goals jon, and good luck with them. They are very respectable.
my goals for 2008.
To make atleast $200 net profit per day. I plan to purchase more domain names, maybe 3 more. But work on 1 at a time, maybe 1 a month. I want my quality score to be high as well. I am also branching into organic marketing as well. Hopefully this all works out, i just got engaged but need a steady amount of income before i get married. This is the only reason i am trying so hard, and it keeps me going everyday.
Nice Goals, have a happy weeding when it will come
My goals for 2008 are to earn around 200-500$ with my Blog. In 2008 i will try to make some affiliate sites and get close to AdWords I hope i get some profit, as I’m only 17 i think i have a lot of time to make a site that will bring me a lot of profit. Good luck with your Goals I hope you achive them.
I wish you all a very happy new year 2008 : ) let all your goals for 2008 come true. My goal for this coming year is $400 a day net profit. I know that is a high goal but you set your mind to it you can achieve everything.
My wife and I try to start a family and this will motivate me more to reach my goals, and also to help other people in need ( charity ) May God help us all.
my question to you jonathan is… how long do you usually keep an offer up for? Like on average? thanx alot
@Chris: As long as it’s making me a profit.
And if it stops making me a profit then I need to look at why. Figure out why and then fix it.
I’ve had campaigns that took 2 months (of working on it here and there) to get back to being profitable and now it’s making around $50 per day with no more work. If I can get the traffic before, I can do it again – just optimize.
actually you should move getting incorporated up your to-do list if you are trying to get $$$ to expand your operations. once incorporated, in a short amount of time you can built credit and within a couple of months if you have enough business credit you can start applying for business line-of-credits – many give you $50K without financials (assuming your business credit warrants it).
Hey Greg! Yea I actually plan to try to incorporate January if I can afford to do it.
Thanks for the tips! You’re right in line with what I was thinking. If I am going to be able to expand, I need the more aggressive business lines of credit.
Thanks again!
Jonathon,
It is definitely a good idea to incorporate once you start making a good amount of revenue. Find a good accountant and incorporation attorney, they are worth every penny.
As for incorporation, the LLC and S Corp provides “pass-through” income so there is no double taxation like from traditional C-Corps. But a good accountant can tell you what’s best based on your situation.
Happy New Year!
Shaun,
Thanks for the tips! I’ll check out the accountant and such January if everything works out.
Thanks again,
Jonathan
You have some high reaching goals…thats really great to see:) I know God will bless you exponentially this year, and I have high hopes for our business.
Plus the last goal (which you sadly removed) is by far the best.
Maria
Thanks Babe! <3 I love you
Johnathon, I use QuickBooks for my finances. Intuit is actually giving away free copies of QuickBooks Simple Start right now as a promotion. I paid several hundred on eBay for the Pro Edition so a free copy of Simple Start is a pretty good deal.
Wow! Thanks for the Tip Ben!
These look like great goals, good luck.
Hey There John,
I know we are not in the same boat but maybe on the same road.
Good luck with your goals and I am very sure you will meet them this year!
Best of Luck,
Brandon Scott