All in all, 2012 was a great year for me. I travelled to several countries in South America and managed to return to Scotland for two months in the Summer. From a business point of view, things went well, though I can’t help but feel I should have done better.
The course of my online business changed when I sold my blog WPMods.com foor $80k in May. The sale allowed me to develop some other websites I had been looking to create. The growth of my my martial arts community Black Belt Forums has been pleasing. It’s growing slowly but it has a dedicated core of loyal members who post regularly. Unfortunately, I’ve not had the time to develop my other martial arts community MMA Forums. It has huge potential but with travelling so much and working on other projects, I just didn’t get the time to develop it the way I wanted.
I thought I’d continue on with the old New Year’s resolution cliche and explain my goals for 2013. I’m a dreamer but I’m a dreamer with his feet planted in the ground so all of my goals are achievable. I just need to work hard to meet them 
Develop This Blog
This blog has only been back online for just over a month. I never really set myself any goals during that month. My main concern was to get the blog online and build up a small readership. In 2013 I really want to develop this blog more and use it as a hub for all my online activity.
The blog will help me network with more bloggers and internet marketers; something which will be key to my success in 2013. All of my books will be released through here too so it will play a big part in me marketing my books and any other products I release.
Build My Email List
The money is in the list. I’ve known this for a long time however I never really put all the concepts I learned into practice. I would be a lot richer if I had. As I grow my newsletter list here, I will be able to connect with more readers and promote my products more effectively. It really is one of the best ways to market yourself online.
I’ve been reading a lot about email marketing recently. My knowledge of how to effectively use lists has increased considerably over the last few weeks. I know what I’ve done wrong in the past and what I need to do. I have no doubt my success this year will depend on the readers of this blog and my relationship with them.
Release Quality Ebooks
I really enjoy writing. The Art of Freelancing will be my first book of 2013. I have several other great book ideas and I am hoping that I find the time to release all of them. Whether I release 10 books this year or 40 will largely depend on how much time I devote to writing.
If I only updated this blog and wrote books, I believe I could release at least 25 books a year. It can be difficult to do that when you are also working on other things like promotion, social media and developing other websites. I hope I get the balance right. Diversifying your online income is essential so I am keen to work on a few different projects.
Work On My Other Websites
The problem with maintaining a lot of websites is that it becomes difficult to devote the time needed to develop them properly. When you don’t have enough time, you need to invest and hire people who can do the job for you. This is something I will need to do in 2013. I do not want to sell the 3 discussion forums I started in 2012 as I have big plans for them, however it just isn’t profitable for me to spend all time working on them at the moment.
If I can use profits from my other projects and invest them back into the site, I am sure they will be very successful. Hopefully the act of juggling all my projects won’t be too time consuming. I am acutely aware that having too many projects at the one time can result in you not devoting enough time to any of them however I enjoy working on them and am confident I can make them profitable if I can invest sensibly in them.
Improve As A Writer
My writing has improved considerably over the last 6 or 7 years however I know I can do better. Not only to I want to improve my writing, I want to improve the speed I write. Some days I manage to write about 5 or 6 blog posts whilst others I struggle to get 1 finished. I need to be more consistent and increase my productivity. If I can do that, I will be able to release quality books more frequently.
The biggest stumbling block for me just now is travelling. I love travelling however travelling so much makes it difficult to get into a good work routine. In September we were in Peru, in October Bolivia and Chile, in November Argentina and Uruguay and in December we were in Colombia (we being me and my girlfriend).
Today we arrived in Rio, Brazil. I’ve been wanting to come here for a long time so I’m really excited about it. We need to decide how long to stay here though. Hostels here can be over $50 a night here so it money can go fast. If we can find a well priced apartment, we can stay here for a while. Alternatively, we may look for a cheaper place in Brazil to stay. Our next stop is Paraguay so we can always go there sooner than we had planned as it’s about 5 times cheaper to live. That effectively means the difference between staying in a cheap hostel or one bedroom apartment and staying in a really nice hotel or two bedroom apartment.
I’ll let you know how we get on
Return To Martial Arts
I love martial arts. My hope is that I can train every day for most of my life. I’ve unfortunately not been able to train much over the last 4 years.
It started when I went to Thailand 4 years ago to train Muay Thai. After only a month of training, I tore my calf muscle. I initially thought it was just a minor injury and I’d be back training within a few weeks. I wasn’t so lucky. It was around seven months before I was able to get back to Taekwondo.
Ever since then, I’ve never been 100% with kicking etc. I’d do sparring and my right calf would get so sore that I’d be limping at the end. It’s improved a little over the last year.
A bigger problem has been my neck. The more I struggling with Taekwondo due to my injury, I started focusing on Brazilian Jujitsu (BJJ). I love it and I hope I can train regularly in it. Two years ago I pinched a nerve in my neck after training. It was a terrible injury that kept me in the house for a month and on painkillers for 3 or 4 months.
I’ve not actively trained since then however when I was back in Scotland in the Summer I had a gym built in my back yard that is great for BJJ and for practising my kicks. As I’ve been travelling since September I’ve not been able to train however I hope that changes in Brazil. If we can settle here for a bit I’m hoping to train in BJJ most days. Though Brasil is about 5 to 6 times more expensive than neighbouring Paraguay so we might have to change that idea.
Despite all my injury problems, I hope to do martial arts again regularly in 2013. I need to. I’m not the same person without it. I get frustrated more easily and feel stressed more than I used to when I trained. It feels like a part of me is missing. In 2013, I need to get back into martial arts so that I can feel like myself once again.
What are your goals for 2013? I’d love to hear what you are looking to achieve this year
Kevin
I will go and take blogging more serious in 2013 than before. I will focus on building my main blog and getting a nice list of followers
All the best,
Phil
Best of luck Phil. Taking your blog seriously is half the battle. All the blogs that I have worked on half heartedly have failed. All the ones I put my heart and soul into succeeded.
Kevin
Nice goals Kevin, I would especially like to read more about traveling in South America, it’s a huge asset for me to see how others have done it, the costs involved, etc.
Apart from that, I’m really looking forward to your books, I’m currently going through the free one you released in December, and I’m enjoying the read.
Hi Jean,
I’ve never really thought about writing about my travels to be honest. I’m sure I could write about my own travels and give advice for others etc. The thing that worries me is that it’s off topic. I mean, I will primarily be talking about WordPress, social media, blogging and internet marketing. Do my readers also want stories of my travels too? I’m sure I could do the odd one from time to time. My concern is that if I do it too much, I will frustrate my core readers.
I do think a post every now and then would be fun.
We arrived in Rio yesterday from Colombia. What a city! Very expensive compared to other South American countries but it’s very cool too.
Kevin
I bought a blog from flippa last year and having plan to make it even bigger.
Thanks
Giri
Can you share the name of your blog?
Kevin
Hi kevin,
Blog name is blogspc.com.
Giri
You’ll need to do more work on the site. 2 posts a month is just not enough.
Yes. two month back we are posting every day. Have to improve. Anyway do you know any professional bloggers ?. i like to hire.
Not off the top of my head. Most I know are in full time blogging gigs or are busy with their own blogs. I’d recommend posting an ad at jobs.problogger.net.
Thanks Kevin. I will do that..
Blog regularly and build my list. Hard work but worth it.
Blogging regularly is key. When a reader sees a blog hasn’t been updated in months, they are less likely to subscribe. You need to show readers you are dedicated to your blog. You can’t get dedicated readers if you aren’t dedicated yourself
Kevin
Nice goals, Kevin. You have done some amazing stuff in 2012, bud.
Anyways, my main goal for this year is to write at least 3+ articles or over 2000 words every day.
Thanks Davesh. 2,000 words a day is achievable if you are working full time. Have you started writing this frequently already?
Kevin
You’re always welcome and thanks for the quick reply. I have already started doing this and so far I am getting good results.
Yesterday, I published a 1600 words post on WPKube plus an 500 words guest post that will be up in next 48 hours.
It will be interesting to see how much your traffic jumps as a result of this.
My goals this year are:
1. To totally dominate BlackBeltForums.com
2. Increase the quality and decrease the quantity of my writing
3. Find an affiliate program for the Tug Toner
Great blog, Kev – you’ve got another reader!
Great to have you hear Phil
1. I thought you already dominated Black Belt Forums
2. Yes. That’s something I need to do. Over the last month I’ve posted here pretty much every day. I need to do less articles (perhaps 3 a week) but increase their length. Hopefully I can stick to that.
3. Who says you can’t mix business with pleasure!
Kev
Just subscribed to your updates. Look forward reading your blog more carefully.
My goal for 2013 is to get 30,000 visitors per month to my blog
Happy New Year to all readers here
Great to have you on board K. 30K visitors a month is certainly achievable. I’m sure you’ll be able to do it within the first half of 2013.
My goals this year is to improve my blog and actually earn passive income from my blog. I also want to launch WSOs and membership site this year
Best of luck Tom. I might release one of my books as a WSO. I’m still undecided. Need to research the issue more.
Sounds like a bunch of great goals Kevin! My goal is to learn podcasting and tangible affiliate marketing better.
My Goal for 2013 is to build a super blog and launch my ecommerce site..
Podcasting is something I’m keen to do too. It’s a great way to connect to readers.
Kevin, I am interrested in starting up my own blog web page but I need to know the basic steps, Can you recommend a web site or web developer to establish my blog. Also, for the last fifteen years or so, I have been writing mu “Update” which is in reality a ‘blog’ and covers my day to day activities travelling around the world, working as a Project Manager in Indonesia for eleven years and the daily activities of travelling around the world on a Freighter cargo ship(s) over 150 days. Then I had a period of some five months in various hospitals trying to beat Golden Staph contacted during a hip replacement operation and, two separate periods in second and third world public hospitals (Tahiti and South Vietnam) due to dislocated hip(s). Would my activites and experiences throughout the above make for good blog reading? Thanks for your comments and help.
Lynne McKay (I am the BOY Named SUE!!!)
I would recommend purchasing a good book about launching your first blog. Another good way to get started is to start a free blog at WordPress.com until you understand the basics. You can then work towards launching your own self-hosted blog.