As promised earlier in the month, I would come back and review which of my goals I reached that I set in 2008. I somehow don’t think I did to well, but the way I figure, I can’t move forward and set new goals or even revised goals, without overlooking those I have set in the past. You need to look back in order to go forward.
So without further a due, lets get the ball rolling and take a look at the goals set back in Janurary of 2008.
1. Get a custom blog design – Fail
As with any good blog a custom design is a must, and ever since opening my blog I have been using the free theme you are currently seeing, which of course means I failed in getting a custom theme for my blog online in 2008. Although this goal is/was not a complete failure, I started to create a custom design very early on last year, but for one reason or another, decided not to use, despite developing it nearly to completion. I may end up finishing of the theme and releasing it for free, who knows. But ever since deciding against using the above as a theme, I began working on a new design, one which created more of a personal branding for myself and my blog, and what I want the blog to be overall. Hopefully, that should be online soon, but it seems I always end up wanting to tweak, so don’t hold your breath!
2. Increase blog earnings – Success
I pointed out that although my blog was a place for me to detail my online activity, I also wanted to use it as a revenue stream. I detailed how I would like to earn about £100 per month from my blog, and although I didn’t reach this goal, I did earn a somewhat regular income from my blogging activity, mainly through writing reviews. I shall continue to do so, and hopefully it will become more of a regular part of my blogging overall. In addition to reviews, other income methods will be integrated in to my blog.
3. Learn to drive – Fail
“I hope to learn and pass my driving test, thats the goal. Buying a car is not.” – That’s what I said back in January of last year, and I can safely say I came nowhere close to passing this goal. I do have my provisional licence now which enables me to learn, but as of yet I have taken no lessons. I figure failing this goal came down to a lack of desire, and no need at current to drive, public transport does me fine. As to whether it does in the future, who knows, either way I need to learn eventually.
4. Blog More – Success
Despite saying I was hoping to blog at least five times a week, which I clearly did not, I am marking this one as a success anyway, as my posting frequency did improve to a level at which I am now happy with. I think making more regular short posts while ok, may not be deemed as valuable, content wise, as more infrequent larger posts. Your thoughts?
5. Launch WebmasterPlay – Fail
A central hub for videogame webmasters, ‘webmasterplay’ didn’t see the light of day in 2008, and I am really bummed out about that as it’s a project I have been longing to get on the road, but it requires a lot of attention, which it just didn’t see due to work on Gamebrit, and starting Kufu.
6. Increase RSS Subscriptions – Success
By no means did I hit my projected goal of 500, but i did increase my subscriber count from it’s initial zero. This can only continue to rise by promoting it more, and integrating subscriber opportunities into my blog more effectively.
7. Get into my final year of University – Success
I am currently in my final semester of my final year of University, meaning I acheived my goal of getting into my final year of my Web Technology degree. For my final degree project I am making a website which I hope will be usefull to a lot of freelancers in the online space, so be sure to catch some future blog posts about that.
8. Launch and make a success of Gamebrit – Success
After a hefty development period and many delays Gamebrit finally launched in the summer of 2008, August to be precise. I outlined in my goals how I wanted the site to be attracting a minimum audience of at least 15,000 uniques per month before the end of 2008. It reached that goal, and then some, reaching over 50k in December. Keeping up this momentum is key to the success of the site.
9. Purchase an iMac – Fail
This just did not happen. Plain and simple, other things came about, like my holiday to Turkey, going to Leeds festival, and moving house yet again. It was always somewhat of a dream goal, but hey, we can all dream. Maybe 2009 will bring me some desktop apple joy.
10. Increase overall earnings – Fail
Sure I made money online in 2008, than I did in 2007, but not to a level I was happy with, I’m mainly putting this as a failure as a means to motivate myself further. Let’s see the potential.
So that makes a total of five successful goals, to five failed ones. I met you in the middle 2008. With this reflection done, it’s useful in scoping future goals and what I can and can’t reach. Look out for my 2009 goals soon. How was 2008 for you?