France Trip Video Test
Did this short video with Animoto. A very cool little service for creating videos from photos.
Taking the Week Off
I’m taking a week of my vacation days in order to focus on some online promotions. Yesterday I signed up for Traffic Geiser, and put out 5 new videos… Today I’m going to create 10 videos.
…Must to stay focused.
joined last.fm
I finally got on the bandwagon with last.fm. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s an internet radio service mixed with a social network. The cool thing about what they do is that you can create a personalized music stream with your favorite artists.
They have a library of over 5 million songs, and a massive database of people’s likes and dislikes. the service has an amazing ability to find new artists that you’ll like based on everyone elses preferences.
I can’t believe it took me so long to actually sign up for this service.. it’s very cool.
50% of 2008 Goals hit + new goals for 2009
I had two goals for 2008
The first was to get in shape and run two 10K races. That was a success. In 2008 I ran three 10Ks and a half marathon. I also lost 20lbs of extra weight over the year.
The second goal was more ambitious. I really wanted to make a significant monthly income online by the end of2008. That hasn’t quite worked out, but it’s because I haven’t really done all the work required.
Looking forward…
For 2009 I want to simplify my business model to a set of processes and just slug through them for a few months to get a handful of successes under my belt. So for January my plan is to produce and promote at least 10 videos and try to make affiliate sales with the traffic they generate. The number one focus is on direct affiliate sales with a secondary goal of building a big list of emails in niches that I want to explore further. In terms of skills. I’m moving more into the role of a marketer and sales guy rather than a technology expert.
I want to continue to stay in shape for 2009, and finish the Seattle Marathon in July.
December Net Worth (+5%)
Not so bad considering.
There was some significant losses in my investments again this month due to both the flailing stock market and that the Canadian dollar has gained a bit since last month. There was also a big jump in my credit card balance from the extra spending for Christmas. This however was offset by the debt reduction on my line of credit and my automated savings.
Luckily, next pay check will include a nice bonus. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to completely pay off my line of credit and all credit card debt leaving just my student loan outstanding. So I’m really looking forward to January’s numbers.
Also I have 10 videos ready to be released in January as part of a marketing promotion I’m going to try. It should result in at least a handful of sales.
Goals for 2009
I have high hopes for 2009. I think a lot of things are going to be happening this year for me personally and professionally.
My personal goal for the year is to really take control and grab life by the horns. I want to inject a little bit more spark into each day. Also, with a full marathon and 2 half marathons already committed to for the year I really want to push myself to get in the best shape I’ve been in… Ever!
Professionally I’m really hoping to make some significant progress with my business and online marketing endeavours. I am 100% confident that I know how to make $250,000 in 2009… whether or not I do is a question of how much time I can focus on getting things done. December was reasonably productive, and I’m going to be taking a week off soon to spend full-time working on my business. January should be a very productive month.
Also, I want to continue to read more books. Somehow I got through high school and university without doing much reading. It’s only been in the last couple of years that I have actually been able to consistently finish books that I start reading. I want to dedicate more time to reading books. I’m considering dedicating an hour per day to reading with the goal of finishing a book every week. That would be a real breakthrough for me.
totally awesome Mac vs PC video
Things are happening
So the main reason why I left the east coast was to get away from the weather. This weekend the snow reminded me of home. There’s really enough snow down here that it requires shoveling. That’s basically unheard of for downtown.
Christmas is fast approaching and I’ll be working through the holidays this year.
2009 is promising to start off with some interesting developments…
Snowing in Vancouver
So just a week ago people were out cutting the lawn and now downtown Vancouver is covered with white fluffy snow. And it’s cold out.
This isn’t supposed to happen in Vancouver… especially this early in the winter season.
I had to find my winter hat buried in the closet for the walk to work this morning.
Prepping for January
I’m going to make January my breakout month.
Over the holidays I’m planning on doing a bunch of videos… I already have 2 done. In January I’m going to be going hard-core on the promotion and traffic generation stuff.
Most importantly I’m not going to be buying any more educational material. I’m finished learning new strategies and business models for the moment and have to move forward on implementing them. I think it is safe to say that I know enough about marketing on the internet to make a solid full-time income. Everything that I buy online for my business is going to be directly related to getting more traffic, buying domains, and getting content created.
Currently I have 20 domain names in my portfolio. Some of those are hosted and some are just re-directions to affiliate urls. I will be really testing out the affiliate forwarding things over the holidays looking for a niche that will hit it big for me.