It’s so funny, every December, I’ve done the exact same thing for the past 10 years. That’s shutting down to reflect on what took place in the year, and to get clear on where I want to be and what I want to accomplish in the following year.
I actually started doing this back in 2004 when I was a hungry but broke real estate agent. I had earned about $30k that year doing odd and ends jobs like substitute teaching and selling costume jewelry on college campuses, and I was hungry for change.
I desperately wanted to win in the Real Estate industry and I had a fire in me and a bold confidence in me that said “I can do this!” That hunger and fire compelled me to rise at 3 and 4 in the morning and hit our corporate offices library before everyone would arrive. I’d listen to every cassette tape, watch every VHS movie and read every book that I could get my hands on in hopes of figuring out “The Secret” to being a Real Estate Guru!
It would be the Introduction of One Book that would change my life forever, and the coolest thing is, I had the honor of meeting the Author of that book to tell him Thank You (see resources below for a reference to that interview). The book was titled “The Millionaire Real Estate Agent”. This book CHANGED MY LIFE and became a mentor to me on what it takes to win in life and in business.
Essentially, what it taught me how to do was to sit down and map out what I wanted to accomplish, and map out a plan for how to make it happen.
I followed every step in the book and went from $30K in 2004 to over $200K in 2005, the following year. I promise you, it was like magic! I felt so empowered. I felt like I was in total control of my destiny and in my mind “I had arrived”… that was until the Recession happened.
However, fast forward to today, and I’m now faithfully following this same method every year no matter what business I’m in, and guess what… It works!
So let’s hop in to see what my assessment is for 2015 and the Plans for 2016
My Goals For 2015
I Initially started my year out with the following Monetization Strategy:
- Launch my Coaching & Consulting Business
- Launch Online Academy that housed all my trainings & courses
Launch MMSP (Money & Marketing Success Plan)– DONE- Promote selected Affiliate Programs
- Release 3 additional personal products
Launch My Website (NicoleSCooper.com)– DONE- Launch My Youtube Show
Launch My Podcast– DONEStart my Speaking Career– ACCOMPLISHEDHire a Business Manager– ACCOMPLISHED
The Pivot
As you can see above, I had a focused plan for 2015. I was very clear on what I wanted to accomplish and I was committed to doing whatever it took to make it happen.
However, there was a major issue that I didn’t plan for that I encountered. This challenge hit me about 2 months in to the year when I found that no matter how hard I worked and what I did, I just didn’t feel energized.
I had continuously been hitting brick walls and burnout was lurking all around me. I would lay around with no motivation to work, nothing was inspiring to me and I felt locked in a cage.
Whenever I get that feeling, the Lion in me begins to roar to claw it’s way out to freedom, and at this point… My Lion was Roaring like it was hungry during a famine…
I had to honor that voice and try to figure out what it was that was triggering BURN OUT AGAIN….
With little clarity on what it was… I just stopped.
I stopped working..
I stopped planning…
I stopped trying to figure it all out…
And I just got quiet to gain clarity!
The Realization
I had come to the realization that I no longer wanted to be locked away behind the computer!
There is so much more to me and my life than hiding in my home based cubicle, and so I began seeking ways to claw my way out of this prison I was in, to get back to what I loved to do.. and that was connecting with REAL PEOPLE FACE TO FACE!
So what did I do…. I got back into the industry of Network Marketing.
It was a great transition for me to jump into a world I was familiar with that also gave me an outlet to reconnect with people again. It also allowed me to immediately jump into generating 5 figures per month doing something that I was good at doing, so yes, I took the plunge an ddid something I said I’d never do again.
It has been a fun and blessed adventure that helped me get out of the house and I’m still having an amazing time growing, building, impacting and working with such an amazing opportunity. However, for 2016, I’ll be building this business in addition to bringing some of my original goals back into the plan for this year!
The Accomplishments
There were several items on that list that I didn’t accomplish simply because my focus was shifted elsewhere. However, there were several things that I accomplished that I’m proud of!
- Launch My Website: My website was finally launched.. Woohoo.. This site took me over a year to put together and to be honest, It’s time for another complete overhaul. I’ll share more on that in another post, but you’ll hear more about that soon. The point is, I finally launched my website and proudly have a “home base” for my business.
- Launch My Podcast: The podcast was a big accomplishment and an exciting one. I went through so much to launch the Podcast, including 5 different name changes. I’ve been on hiatus for quite some time, but excited that we will be launching again on January 12th! Stay Tuned!
- Start my Speaking Career: I did my first speaking engagement this year and it was a great feeling and huge hit. There were some failures in it that I’ll share, but now that I’m getting back on track, you’ll see me setting myself up for more events in 2016, I’m pleased to say I already have one in the books… Yessss!
- Launch MMSP 2015... Because I spend so much time planning out my year in December, I had a goal to launch a course sharing my process. I finally launched in December 2014, hosting the training in January, and I’m pleased to announce that I just launched MMSP 2016. (Want to be apart of it, learn more by clicking here)
Lessons Learned
There were several key lessons I learned this year, but one of the BIGGEST LESSONS I LEARNED came from Chalene Johnsons Podcast, The Chalene Show! I was listening in while at the gym to a special episode that talked about Purpose, Passion and Your Gifts. In that episode, she shared the following message:
- “If your functioning from a place of your gifts and skills, but it’s not connected to your purpose, then you will ALWAYS GET BURNED OUT!”
Let’s talk about this valuable lesson for a moment and what it meant for me this year. As I reflected back on the past few years goals, I noticed a HUGE PROBLEM… and that problem is, they all seemed to have some of the EXACT SAME GOALS mapped out on there every year, from 2010 – 2015.
Now some goals have been accomplished, but a great deal of them have been pushed to the side for various reasons. The main reason being… I got DISTRACTED!!
One thing I’ve discovered is that EVERYTHING REQUIRES WORK and it often TAKES TIME TO BUILD. Instead of allowing myself to stick through the process and do the things that are even BORING… I’d get distracted and find something new to appease me.
This in turn begins to look like a runaway train of activities that lead to no end result. It’s a vicious cycle of starting something new over and over and over again…. with no finish line!
So this year, “I’m slowing down to speed up!”….
Taking the time to build things right, even if it means that I may not make tons of money up front while building on the process, and closing things out to completion.
My goal is to build my business brick by brick, with a consistent flow of passive income sources. However, I’m doing it one step at a time to get one project completed all the way through.
New Happenings & Plans for 2016
So I have an extensive layout for 2016 that I feel needs to be placed in another post! The bottom line is, all that has yet to be scratched off my list is back on as a priority. I’m personally mapping out all my goals now and I have 3 major projects I’m launching for 2016, which I’ll be sharing in full detail in an upcoming post! But to give you a brief summary, here is an overview of them:
- Get my Biz Op to $7k week Passive Income
- Launch Project OD
- Launch Project RYP
- Write My First Book
- Speak at 4 Major Events This Year
I have financial, personal, spiritual, physical and relationship goals to go along with this all, but it’s so lengthy that I decided to put it in a separate post.
What I can say is that everything has truly worked out in 2015 despite the good, the bad and the lessons learned!
I’m pleased to say I had another 6 Figure Year, Praise God, and even will be earning a 6 Figure Ring at the end of January (Hubby’s getting one too), from the company I partnered with. So I can honestly say, 2015 was awesome, but 2016 is going to be even greater!… It will be superb!
If you’re wanting to know how I map out my year and want to get your hands on my Triple Your Profits worksheet, you can check out my Newly Released Workbook here, and grab your copy so you can map out a powerful year for your life and your business in 2016!
Please share your Wins and Losses below. I’d love to hear how your year went and what you’re excited about for 2016!
Tools Referenced in this post:
- The Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller & Jay Papasan
- Interview with Jay Papasan
- Money and Marketing Success Plan Training
- Triple Your Profits Workbook
