It’s time to “review the tapes” of the past year. This will be the second year in a row that I do this. I wrote a review post last year, and 2014 before that. I felt it was useful for my reflection process and want to continue again.
I present to you my 2018 State of Paris (the person; not to be confused with the place). You’ll find the following sections below:
Contents
What went well?
Felt the burn. I amazed myself when I dropped my bodyfat down to about 11% by May this year. I really paid attention to my diet during that time. I have to thank Mark over at MuscleHack.com for publishing such a comprehensive guide. It really helped guide me through.
White Label Products. One of my aims for 2018 was to create more white label content products and make them available for professionals everywhere. I successfully created a content pack for Morning Mastery. Generated over $1,000 in 7 days and is now in a place to add to my passive income setup. This pack is good for coaches, therapists and trainers that want to offer a morning routine guide to their clients.
Family Time. I saved up my paid vacation time and used it to spend a little over 3 weeks back home. It was worth it to spend some time with my family. It was great to have enough time to get over jetlag and still be there with family.
Website Business Grows. What started as a freelance side project has continued to grow into a viable business stream. I created several more websites for clients and started offering maintenance packages again. This year I’ve also invested in being an agency partner with Bookmark Website Builder [*affiliate link]. This platform allows me to offer a lower priced website tier. If you’re not quite ready to take on a self-hosted website, there are other options to explore.
Relationship. This was a sore spot for me the last few years. This year has had a remarkable turn. When I least expected it, I met someone that I feel like I am able to grow with. She challenges me in many ways. I am learning a lot about myself, and enjoying the process of having a partner in the same city to share life with.
What didn’t go well?
Digital Products. I was expecting to get into a rhythm this year and produce more products than I did. When I reflect on why I didn’t get as much out, I find that my energy was diverted in other places. It is hard to say if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
Debt. I set a target to pay off my credit card debt this year. That did not happen. In fact, it looks like my balance didn’t go down much. I was paying much more than the monthly minimum. However, I guess I also made more purchases than I should have using the card.
Blogging. I wanted to publish one good post per month. Just like the digital products, my energy and time were diverted elsewhere.
Morning Routine. My morning routine was disrupted this year. I expanded my six minute morning into a morning workout and walk. This increased the routine to more than 60 minutes. This was difficult to maintain. I think I will go back to a shorter kickstart routine for myself in order to maintain consistency. My workout times can be more flexible. I want to make sure I start my day out right.
Reading. I felt like I did not read as many books for myself this year. I did a lot of reading for classes and workshops. I want to get back to reading one book at a time and doing a little bit each day until that book is gone. The first book I want to get through is Paul Jarvis’ new book, Company of One [*affiliate link].
Focus. I feel like I was focused on doing things this year. Where I fell short was not focusing on that top 20% of things that I would have brought 80% of the results. This is something that I will have to work on gradually going forward.
What did I learn?
Progress over perfection. There were many times where I got stuck because I wanted to do things “right.” The funny thing is that right is a relative term in itself. I find that making progress is more important than knowing all the info and getting it all finished at once. There are a few select times when an attention to perfection.
Relationships require work. This goes for both intimate and family relationships. While living abroad is a challenge in itself, staying in touch and meeting the needs of those you love takes some focused work. In the past I took this for granted. I realized this year, with the help of my partner, that it is worth putting the time and energy into this.
I can squat without knee pain. I previously believed that squats would cause my knee to flare up and add more pain. I studied and learned more about maintaining proper form. This has helped a lot. I am now able to squat without any pain or swelling afterwards.
Online business development is like a snowball. Think of your customers as snowballs. If I create new products for different groups of people, I will have a lot of small snowballs. An alternative way to build is targeting one group of people and developing multiple products for that audience. This leads to a growing number of customers. Thus, creating a larger group of potential buyers that want what you make.
I need a virtual assistant. This has been an area of weakness for myself. I am fine with outsourcing work on a short project. I feel that now I might need some support a few hours per week to help me get administrative tasks done.
What’s ahead for 2019?
Passive Income Streams. I aim to create more passive income streams for myself. My target is to have a monthly cashflow that is equivalent to my day job. I believe this is possible with the right focus.
White Label Products. I see that there is a need for these products and love meeting and working with the people doing this. I will continue to create great content for other businesses and professionals to use. I want to focus on three niches: self improvement, internet marketing, and fitness.
Better Support Process. As customer numbers increase, I also want to get better at how I provide support for my products and services. I have a few things in the works and will be making some decisions soon about the what and how.
Blogging. I am going to put it out there again. 12 good blog posts. One per month released for my audience. I got the first one done already. It connects Chinese Xiaolong Gao with New Year’s Resolutions. This idea grew from seeing how people liked the post about What’s Your Stinky Tofu?
All in all, I think the word for the year is progress.
Last year it was grow slow. I am really looking forward to what comes this year.
Keep tuning,
Paris