At the start of the year I and five other business owners set ourselves some goals for 2013. The idea was that if we put our goals “out there” we’d be more likely to accomplish them – because it would provide a kind of accountability. So here we are, almost at the end of June and I wondered how my co-goalees were getting on. Here’s the mid year report for three of us – next week I’ll let you know how the other three people are getting on!
So here goes:
Alison Neale, The Proof Fairy
1. I want to finish and publish my book about raising a child with ADHD
Done! I self-published my book The Boy From Hell: Life with a Child with ADHD in March and the response has been amazing. It’s selling slowly but steadily, I have 22 five star reviews across Amazon UK and .com and off the back of the book I’ve been invited to speak at conferences, appeared on local and national radio and been commissioned to write for a magazine. Success!
2. I want to develop and run some blogging workshops
I’m not sure if I’ll actually complete this goal as the direction of my business has changed. Since publishing the book my focus has moved to helping other aspiring authors get their books off the ground, so while I still do some blogging, it’s not what I’m concentrating on any more. Having said that, I have got two workshops on Taking your Book from Possibility to Plan booked for later this year, so hopefully I will end the year having run some sort of workshop!
3. I want to grow the consultancy/training part of my business
Again the business has moved direction – what I am offering now is book coaching. it’s an area I’ve just launched this week so I hope it will have developed nicely by the end of the year. I definitely want to focus on working with clients directly in a consultancy/coaching role rather than doing the more “technical” stuff though!
Nikhilesh Haval – Photographer
1. I want to help independent charities & small historical churches increase their online presence.
I have now promoted 3 Oxfordshire based independent charities pro bono: Google for Sunshine Centre, Banbury or BYHP or Oxfordshire Play bus, Bicester and you will get the “See inside” link on Google search results. I found that charities are shying away from my free offering for some reason, maybe they are suspicious, I don’t know, so haven’t had much success getting more charities on to Google. Hence my next approach is to donate 10% of my profits to a particular charity selected every 3 or 6 months. I am still working on the details and haven’t publicized it yet.
I have photographed almost 30 churches in Oxfordshire now… 4 of which are already known (Dorchester Abbey, St Matthews Harwell, All Saints Church, Didcot & Ardington Church). The plan is to release one church every month in a monthly competition like the one I ran this month, thus bringing even more focus to these historical treasures of Oxfordshire (maybe call it Treasures of Oxfordshire Contest??)
2. I want to bring international economy to majority of Oxfordshire’s SMEs by making them easily discovered online.
It was a very slow start to getting Oxon Indie Businesses on Google Street View. It is still a struggle to get businesses on board. But I have managed to get quite a few projects done and its only a matter of time until people realise that bringing Google Street View inside their business is the only way forward for increasing their footfall! You can see all the projects on my website at http://nikreations.co.uk/gbp3/ I am glad that Oxford covered market businesses are taking pro active steps in promoting themselves. I have now shot 4 businesses and more will be coming soon. It is very strange that statistics show the footfall rise in Oxford High street as above national average despite recession, but none of it is filtering into the covered market. It is ever so quiet in there and I am hoping exposing the unique businesses and the heritage on Google will start making a difference to the footfall.
3. I want to expand “Google 360 Virtual Tours” from sole trader status to company status and create job opportunities.
I have been thinking hard on this one. It may or may not happen. First I have to create a space in my office to get an assistant or two working for me, which means moving to a bigger house first. I don’t really want to get into a serviced office, because I want to save time not having to go back and forth. Given the amount of work that has come in the last 3 months, work has piled up and it’s a tough battle to keep on top of things. So if this continues, I will have to work out an interim solution rather than turn down work… (Maybe train my 2 year old son??)
Carrie Rose – Counsellor and Coach
1. I want to provide inspirational motivational business courses leading employees to feel happier and more fulfilled – both at work and in their personal lives.
I’m still taking steps into the business world but they’re small ones and nothing much to report there yet.
2. I want to offer more BBB (Bigger Bolder Better) Club courses for people who want to live their Biggest, Boldest Best lives in 2013.
The BBB Club has become my passion and focus and I’ve now lead several courses with such exciting and inspirational outcomes for the participants, as evidenced by the testimonials at http://www.carrierose.co.uk/the-bbb-club/ I feel proud to have created the course and privileged and grateful to be part of helping others to lead more rewarding and fulfilling lives.
3. I want to publish my book, Passion Sells, about the importance of passion in business.
Absolutely still committed to writing a book only it’s a different one! The title is now “How to get there from here without going anywhere”. Tag line – a simple guide to a happier life. I’m so pleased and delighted to be well into the process of writing the book, thanks to Alison and her book coaching programme! I ‘m really excited about having the book published before the end of the year – one way or another.
Here’s to all of you and the goals you’ve set. I wish you well with each and every one of them.
What I’ve found really interesting so far is that we’ve all made steps towards our goals but often in a slightly different direction to how we originally anticipated. I’m helping people with writing books rather than blogging; Nikhilesh is looking for different ways to help local charities; and Carrie is writing a book, but a very different one to her original plan!
If you set New Year goals or resolutions how are you getting on? I’d love to hear your progress … please do leave a comment!
And keep an eye out for the other three goalees in the next week or so!
Great post Alison and yes….when the goals are released into the wild (so to speak) then all sorts of wonderful things happen to make us focus. I do love the fact that we are growing and developing all the time as you said and so we have to have a flexibility within our goals….sometimes the Universe knows better than us, what is next. I like that a lot! :0)