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2012 Goals – Introduction

As I mentioned in passing in my last post 2011 – wasn’t the most exciting year of my life

Personal Goals 

Gonna hit big 50 this year, which is cool because it means we can dance in the next age grade in Dancesport ie instead of competing against 35 year olds, we are the youngest couple again (well I am, partner’s 10 years older!).  HOWEVER, we want to compete in Latin again, so I need to look good wearing this: 

Dancing Latin, Australian Nationals, 2005

Let’s face it, I probably won’t be going back to looking like this: 

Jan 1988, when I was 25, and on a diet!

 – but it’s got to better than this!: 

Ugly photo! December 2011 - though they did send me a medium when I asked for an XL!

As of today I’m 108kg, in the 1988 photo I was probably about 70kg (and yes over-weight according to the  wisdom of the day – trying to get to 65kg from memory). Now apparently 75kg is OK weight for my height (180cm) – you see why I have a problem with the weight loss industry!

Frankly if I got down to 90kg that would be a) record-breaking low for the last 20 odd years for me, and b) still “obese” by the stupid “one size fits all charts” , and frankly – I’d look pretty hot in my latin dress (skinny girls got nothing to shake!).  

So goal is to get fit and trimmer by the time we hit the big 50 – April 2012. Oh and to be able to dance 5 dances @ 1.5 minutes/dance without dying. The 90kg  goal would probably take all year. 

Income Goals

I have had a consistent goal of US$5000/month for years, I just sometimes wonder why every time I take one step forward, two go backwards! 

Luckily though I do keep consistent income records – I know how dire doing a tax return is otherwise! I wrote about my simple spreadsheet approach back in January – and its remarkably flexible – as I add or delete new income streams I add, or hid rows as I need to.  

My income hasn’t been so consistent – in January I hit over US$4200, including $2600 in advertising income (the stuff I laughably call passive). That figure was the record for the year, though in November I did at least, finally best the advertising income, coming in at $2700. 

What happened? Panda? No, not really, I still haven’t had a single website Pandalized, most of income issues stream from three issues: 

  • Dropping a client who started having onerous requirements, in response to Panda;
  • Hubpages – reaction to Panda; 
  • Keyword Academy’s slow decline with long-term members. 

The client had already squeezed the price so I’d gone from clearing $1500 a month to $1000, for more work. Their new set of requirements would have seen at least a doubling of my time required. It wasn’t worth it, so I fired them in August.

Hubpages: I’ve written previously about the HubPages trainwreck – that was July, by November they’d announced that as of 1 January we wouldn’t be able to use your own Amazon ID on HubPages and my secondary, mainly Amazon account, had been pandalized (finally in October). Could I have got it back – probably? Did I try, no.  Now  the ONLY program I have the option of direct payment with is Adsense: eBay and Amazon are both via their obscure “HPAds” program. Why is this a bad idea? 

  • they get access to all my sales data; 
  • they pay by Paypal which has a very bad exchange rate, and has its own issues; 
  • I drop at least a tier of my Amazon sales percentage because of the loss of the HubPage’s Amazon sales.  

Do I have a plan? Hell yes – but I can’t write about it here – sign up for the newsletter below – if you haven’t already – all will be revealed. 

The Keyword Academy: From an affiliate point of view its not been good – my best month was March, but my commissions have been is slow decline since then. Why? Because people who have been members for years have quit, and although I still get new sign-ups they haven’t compensated for the losses. Why? I think two reasons:

  1. Panda has worked very well for Google’s actual intention – which was to scare the crap out of would-be Internet Marketers.  There has been massive change, and there have been casualties. 
  2. TKA has moved away from the “recipe approach” of do this, do this, wait this long, this will happen, to a much more robust method of actually training people how to build a business online. That’s scary for many people, and although TKA was never a quick fix – its now an even more scary proposition of work and effort, and engagement, which send some people running for the hills.   

Income Goals 2012. 

Well having just read The 10X Rule I had to cross out my $5000/month income goal- and ended up with a $50,000/month income goal!  OK let’s revise that a bit – what I am able to make (on a good month) is $2500/month – so lets aim for $25,000/month! 

Gulp! – I guess that’s what’s called massive action!? And that in essence is what I need to do. After watching other people succeed at making more money than I do. I’ve figured it out.  My problem isn’t the writing, or the keyword research, hell I seem even to be able to sell the odd item. 

My issue is that I’m a dilettante – I’m an amateur, I’m doing the right thing, but not enough, I still keep on chasing after shiny stuff. I’m over it. I feel great when I focus and actually achieve something. So that’s what I’m going to be doing! 

2012 is gonna rock! 

And its all gonna start here – because I have finally decided that if I’m getting serious about this business, this girl needs a business plan!  So keep an eye out – because if any of you are struggling with the same stuff as I am – you probably need one too (and you can steal mine for free!) . 


28 replies on “2012 Goals – Introduction”

2012 is gonna rock for you Lis. We all hit rock bottom sometimes. Sometimes that is when things get better. Your honesty is refreshing and whilst I consider you a success, I know success is relative. Your candour and your pledge to make things better came at exactly the right time for me. I have and always will follow you and wish for better things to come for you.

Thanks Adele, sometimes I worry that I am too honest here, but then I get a comment like yours and I remember why keeping it real matters 🙂 Hope you have a great 2012 too!

Hi ,I just come blog from google.First of all , best of luck for your 2012 goals.Your goals are giving me inspiration.

I am making small affiliate sites but i am not much pro in adsense business model and planning to make some good adsense revenue.Does keywrod acedemy teaching helps to build adsense site?What kind of sites should be build MFA(Made for adsense ) or authority sites ?

Thank you !!!

[…] 7) LisSowerbutts.com – 2012 Goals – Introduction […]

Great goals Lissie.

Massive action is going to be the buzzword for 2012. The Internet better look out, we are going to take it over!

I hope you surpass your goals, I see no reason why not to if you keep focused.

Sorry about the Tee, wasn’t my fault, honest 😉

Dave the T is obviously central to YOUR new year plans – I just haven’t figured out the details of your evil plans though!

Hi Lissie,
I have been following you for years. I have the same issues as you. I know what to do but I am not doing enough of it in order to make as much money as I could.

It is very frustrating but the good news is that this doesn’t mean failure. It just means that we have to gather up the self pity, chuck it overboard and start again.

I hope that 2012 will be the year of success. Good luck to you. I look forward to reading about your plans for the next year.

Victoria (aka Tiptopcat)

Hi TTT – I always thought you were a boy! Totally agree – failure ain’t option anyways – what would us unemployables do ?

Looking forward to 2012 and super success for both of us!

BTW… I feel ya on the t-shirt. I think my 4 year old son fits better into my shirt than I do 🙂

Now I’ll have to sign up for that newsletter if only to track the weight loss – maybe it will give me some motivation too! I’m 80 kg but then, I’m only 160 cm (and that’s when I’m really standing tall). A big butt is acceptable in belly dancing (something to shake, like you say) but as I get older, the weight seems to be shifting to my stomach and trust me, a pot belly on a belly dancer is not a good look!

It’s one of the curses of menopause, apparently – your curves move from the right places to the wrong places 🙁

Oh dear – looks like the pressure is going on the weight loss goals! Its been hosing down with rain for 3 days here – I haven’t walked anywhere!

Not many times do I look at a word and say ehhh “dilettante” now that’s a word 🙂

This is an interesting statement “I feel great when I focus and actually achieve something.” I think we overlook this fact often, more so as “focusing on one thing and finishing it” is not often the actual thing that creates the extra income it is just a simple part of a greater whole.

I think I’ve been hanging out in writer’s forums too much Neale- but “dilettante” pretty much covers the concept I was trying to express!

I think it’s amazing – everything you intend to do. As for me, I’m quite happy with how little I make because anything I make beyond what I need get’s eaten up anyway.

Good luck in the New Year!

HI Lis,

I was in the same boat weight-wise as you. Worse actually, my ‘top’ was 104kg/168cm! Not pretty ;-( As for losing weight the only thing that helped me long term was – more exercise. I am 75kg now – without any dieting. My exercise program is called Sam, our super-active, needs to get his exercise if not he becomes insane, Labrador Mix 😉 If you can’t have an own dog, what about fostering one or volunteering at your local shelter?
As for income goals, I would fall in paralysis if I would set it so high. I would feel that I fail every day because I am nowhere near 25,000/month. But if it works for you – great!
And I do agree with massive action, that is the biggie for me also in 2012. Publishing lots of useful, keyword focused content on my sites and staying away from shiny new tools 😉
Lets see where we all are December 31st 2012 – And no, the world will not end next year 😉
SY

SY that’s an impressive loss- in what 10 months? Yeah for me its all about the exercise, rather than diet, though currently I am still working my way through Xmas chocolate!

Actually only 7 months, since we have Sam 😉 And all without suffering or health risk! Perhaps that is the reason why I am mad with all these MFA weight loss sites and weight loss gurus. It is really as simple as ‘negative calories balance’ i.e. burn more than you eat. Simple physiology and no ‘secret sauce’ involved – perhaps that is the reason why it is not popular? Because you can’t make a business out of that? SY

PS Sorry for ruining your keyword density, me thinks Big G thinks now that this post is all about weight loss 😉

Nope unless I put “weight loss secrets go to the dogs” in the title or a header Google will ignore it (I know I’ve tested! ). Yeah basically my plan is something like – moving for 2 hours a day – one hour during the day, zumba or walking, and at least an hour dancing at night.

What I discovered is that the most effective exercises are actually the short bursts of activity during the day. In our case separating the cat and dog from eating each other or taking doggie for a toilet break PLUS one big exercise (long walk and play with dog) during each day. Just food for thought. Perhaps putting the alarm clock each two hours to ‘wake you up’ from the computer to do ten minutes of stretching / exercise could do the trick for you???

Hi Lissie,

I have also struggled with weight for years. Now at 200 lbs after being a pretty buff 197 back in 2007. Def going to get back into training this year – 60 is way too close not to!

I am reading The 10x Rule now, and have goals based on that to some extent:

Grow legacy e-comm site income by 20%
Sell 10,000 e-books / video courses
Build out 15 satellite sites with shopping carts and products for current sites
Sign up at least 12 new suppliers
Launch at least 12 new e-comm sites to support new suppliers
Launch web app site
Push personal income past 500k

Couldn’t 10x the income goal, because it is just science fiction! But I think the above is definitely doable, although it means I will be working like a demon.

Is the “197” supposed to be “97”? Yeah I must admit I have thought “stretch” goals were a recipe for failure, but my “reasonable” goal approach hasn’t worked to date, so lets see if this works!

Good luck on your goals!

LOL well spotted Mirjam – I’m still writing it! So it depends on which tomorrow! At least I’m not in Samoa where they have just changed timezones and lost the whole of the 31st Dec – how careless is that??

Good luck with your 2012 goals Lis.

I am really excited for you and your new z-list persona with this blog. You always provided good information and I hope you can leverage that into a good income. I don’t know if you are getting a lot of new sign-ups to your email list but I hope so. I think people need a trusted place to get information and you are providing that place.

Panda was really evil to me (probably my own fault) but in the end it is the guy or gal who is still standing that wins. 2012 is going to be my year to build a panda (or whatever scary bear G can throw at us) proof business that will get me back to my income levels of earlier this year. As it shook out, I dropped to a third of the income I had this Spring and that really hurt. But, finally , I have stopped licking my wounds and am diving back in.

I look forward to seeing your business plan and following all your successes in the coming year.

Lis, I know you can make it. I like your writing style. True that going after shiny objects is not working. Just focus on what you have been doing successfully, scaling it up to have 10x such as no of affiliate sites or blog posts making you income.

Looking forward to your update!

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