Whew, another year gone! It’s time for a review of the year and what went right and what didn’t.
My 2011 Theme: New Ideas
I learned so much in 2011, and I started several new projects and ventures. Most of what I’ve done online business and blog-wise this year were things that I had never heard of or considered before 2011. Now that I’ve learned all I have, I’m in a much better position to move forward with action in 2012.
What worked in 2011
- Earning some money online. While I may not have earned as much as I had hoped, I’m definitely for what I did earn. I’ve made some good connections and have developed a few income streams that will definitely grow in 2012.
- Making new friends. I’ve connected with a lot of new people in the online world, and was happy to meet a lot of them at FINCON11. It’s been great to have the support of all these people along my journey so far. Everyone at Yakezie have played a large part of this, and I’m grateful for everyone I’ve made contact with from there. I’m also made friends locally in New Haven through my Meetup group.
- Setting some goals. I set a goal to be debt free by the end of 2011, and I’m happy to say I’ve made that goal! (more on that soon). I also set a goal to save $10k by May 2012, and I’ve made some headway there, too.
- Attending my first conference. I attended FINCON11, and it was all I hoped it would be! Next year’s conference is shaping up to be even better.
- Committing to quit my job. Yes, I know I just started my job this year. But I already announced plans to quit (and confused a people in the process here on Money Spruce). I’m 100% committed to making it happen (my boss already knows the date I plan to quit, actually).
- Traveling and time off from work. I had at least 4 weeks off of work this year, and I used my time to travel to Spain and vacation in Mexico and New England. I fit in a ton of weekend trips, too. I definitely enjoyed that, and I want more!
- Taking action. At the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, I felt that I was always simply reading and learning about online business and blogging without implementing. I’m glad that I quickly learned that it’s a huge waste of time to keep studying and planning without ever moving forward and actually doing something.
What didn’t go as well
- Growing Money Spruce as fast as I had hoped. My expectations were definitely not realistic, so I fell short of where I thought I’d be in year one. I know I didn’t give my best effort since I didn’t write guest posts, didn’t reach out to others as often as I could have, and simply didn’t put all the effort needed.
- Setting enough goals. Even though I feel I didn’t succeed, I didn’t have too many hard goals to point to that show that I fell short. More on goals for 2012 in the next post.
- Earning enough money to quit my job. I’m not at the point where I could immediately replace my full-time job income with freelance and blog income. This is something I need to work on, and something that I need to concentrate on in 2012 if I’m going to make this viable.
- Forming strong relationships. I definitely see the value in finding a mentor, but I haven’t really figured out how to form that relationship yet. I’ve exchanged emails with a few people I would love to have as mentors, but I just haven’t gotten to the level yet where that’s how I’d describe our relationship. I think this is going to be essential to my success in the next year, so I’ll keep working at it.
- Partnerships. Another area where I think there’s huge value by partnering with others on projects. I think I definitely have skills to offer and to collaborate with others, but I haven’t been approached and haven’t approached others yet, either.
Overall, I’m happy with where I’m at right now, but I’m excited to always be looking forward, too. I’ll have my goals for 2012 in my next post.
p.s. – If you have your own annual review, let me know in the comments and I’ll be happy to link to it from this post! Here’s the list:
Sam at Financial Samurai – Top 5 Hits and Misses for 2011
Caleb at Pocket Changed – Annual Review: Looking Back at 2011
Ashley on Enemy of Debt – New Year’s Annual Review
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photo by: Margo!
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