2008 Goals

My goal with posting goals every year is to focus my energy on creating specific milestones for the next year — publicly — so both you and I can easily see how I’m doing and where I need to kick more butt. 🙂

You can see how I did on my 2007 goals in my 2007 year in review. I did well, so this year I am going to set more aggressive goals.

There is a lot of ground to cover in 2008. First of all, I have two new businesses to start. I have had both of them in my mind for a while, and it’s time for both of them to come to fruition. One of my new businesses is InspiringInnovators.com. Every week for the next two years, I am going to interview one person who has made a significant impact on the world. We are going to talk about challenges, obstacles, successes, and wins for this person, in a much more in-depth interview format than would typically occur in a magazine or newspaper with limited space available.

Why did I decide to start Inspiring Innovators? When I sold Simpli, I put some significant effort into thinking about what I wanted to do without worrying about how much money it would make me. What I really wanted to do was hang around interesting people who have had great success and understand their thoughts, dreams, hopes, and fears. I wanted to express through interviews that these people aren’t all that different from the rest of us — so that we have the hope and courage we need to get there, too. And what would be more inspiring for me than putting myself in the company of inspiring people on a regular basis?

Some goals for Inspiring Innovators:

1. Launch in January with my first interview. One interview completed and posted, and the site design finished, by the end of January. I’m accepting interview suggestions now — if you have them, please post them in the comments.
2. Continue to post one interview every week, at a consistent day and time, through the end of 2009. By that time, I expect that the Inspiring Innovators website will be my first published book — interviews with people who made a difference, my experience traveling around the world to meet these people, and my thoughts on what it takes to become respected and admired.
3. $10,000/month blogging income from Inspiring Innovators, this site, and other writing/blogging opportunities by the end of 2008. This will be an interesting goal because I have never owned a site that made money from advertising, so I have little experience building a steady income. However, I know people who have, and I can take them out to lunch and tap their brains. 🙂 (Hey, I will probably even interview a couple of them for Inspiring Innovators!) I am confident I can reach this goal. I understand that it will take a lot of work, but I am ready and willing to commit the effort.

Inspiring Innovators is a huge project, and since it is a work of love and passion for me, I expect many good things to come out of it.

Of course, I have other goals for 2008. Here are some of them:

1. Start a new business. By the end of 2008, I will have the business plan, including all of the financial needs of the business, the location, and what I need to do next, articulated clearly in writing. I know what the business is, and I have been talking about it, but I am not quite ready to release it on this blog. When I am ready to talk more about it, I will post here, and rest assured, you will all know what it is by the end of next year!
2. A NEW CAR! Moved from my 2007 goals because I want to have cash on hand to pay for it. I’ve had LIL ZOOM for over 7 years now, and he has 150,000 miles on him. What a great leetle guy. I love him to death, but he is gettin’ old. I will likely get a newer Miata, though I still plan to buy used if I can. More about my car thoughts in another blog entry soon.
3. Moving? Richard and I want to move closer to the coast. We have no concrete plans yet. I’m reluctant to move since we have a great rental deal and housing prices still have a long way to fall. I don’t expect to act on this for at least 6 months, and it will probably be closer to this time next year. Still, it deserves a place in my goals.

My theme for 2008 is “connect”. 2008 is the year I connect with some “inspiring innovators.” It is the year I connect my dreams and desires with reality. I also expect I will be making many connections in the world as a catalyst to achieve my goals and to help others achieve theirs.

Looks like I have some work to do! 🙂