The first thing I did to prepare for writing this post was to review my 2016 business goals/2015 recap post from last year.

What’s sad is I probably haven’t revisited it since I wrote it. #EpicFail

I’ll do better this year, promise!

One thing that didn’t change? I still tend to take on a lot (too much?) at once. But I still tend to find a way to get ‘er done and not by half-assing it.

Read on to see how I fared on my 2016 ‘A’ and ‘B’ goals, what they are for 2017 and my master plan to kick butt and take names next year.

2016 Goals

My ‘A’ Goal: $250k+ gross income

PASSED! The year isn’t quite done yet, but I’m currently sitting at $251,608. I’m pretty proud of this one!

My 3 ‘B’ Goals:

1. Pay-off land loan – FAIL! Current balance = $17,162.
2. $20,000 in savings – FAIL! Current balance = $10,000.
3. 20,000+ newsletter subscribers – FAIL! Current balance = 12, 425

Even though I failed in accomplishing ALL THREE of my ‘B’ goals, I’m okay with it.

You know why? Because I HIT MY ‘A’ GOAL and that’s kinda the ultimate goal anyway, right?

I did make significant progress in each area (well, except savings, but at least we’re better off than a year ago) and shared a revised plan earlier this year. Suffice it to say I’m happy with the end result.

12 Highlights from 2016

1. We cashed in on our flexible lifestyle and spent SIX WEEKS in paradise in January/February of 2016.
2. During our time there I picked up my third VA client doing email management. He’s a real gem of a person, super successful and someone I admire quite a bit.
3. I revised/relaunched 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success in April.
4. And wrote/launched Jumpstart Your Virtual Assistant Biz, a free 5-day email course that same month.
5. I also moved my entire site to Rainmaker in April… and spent the end of the summer moving it back. Whomp, whomp.
6. We spent even more time on the road during the summer months visiting places like Custer, South Dakota, Yellowstone, Salt Lake City, Utah and more… And I worked the whole while. 🙂
7. In September, I spoke at my very first conference.
8. I also relaunched 30 Days or Less to Freelance Writing Success that same month.
9. In October I got to meet both my online BFF, Carlos and a few of my online business idols (Ruth Soukup and Pat Flynn to name two) in person at the Leadpages conference, Converted.
10. That same month I parted ways with my first VA client.
11. Ironically, I also built/launched a new course, Become a Pinterest VA TODAY! with my girl Kristin.
12. And this month I finally convinced my friend Daryn to start working with me on taking Fully Booked VA to the next level.

All in all, it’s been a great year. There have been triumphs, disappointments, challenges, failures, hurts, wins… the list goes on.

It’s been a great year.

What’s the Plan for 2017?

Just like was the case with last year, I feel like a lot of the work that I did this year is laying the foundation for what’s to come in 2017. But maybe that’s always the case?

Here are my top 2017 business goals:

My ‘A’ Goal: $400k+ gross income

More importantly, my sub goal is to NET $200k.

My 3 ‘B’ Goals:

1. Pay-off land loan (12/28/16 $17,162)
2. 25,000+ newsletter subscribers (12/28/16 12,425)
3. Compete in a fitness competition

As you can see, my ‘A’ goal is in the same category as last year’s – it’s just at a higher level.

And two out of three of my ‘B’ goals are repeats… We’ve setup an auto-pay for the amount we need to pay towards our land loan every month to pay it off by year-end (roughly $1,500/m) and I’d like to double my email list size. Since I basically quintupled it this year, I don’t think doubling it in 2017 should be a problem.

A fitness competition you say? Yes, I do realize that it’s technically not a business goal, but it is something I’ve been thinking about for the last year or three. And if I actually go after this goal, it’ll affect my business in a few ways:

1. I’ll need to take time away from work to fit in almost daily workouts of at least an hour (and probably two hours six months from now).
2. It’ll actually help me as I’ll need to treat my body as a temple, which should result in higher energy, increased brainpower and all that jazz.

So there’s that.

Implementing the 12 Week Year Strategy

In addition to spending the last week watching the first two seasons of Suits (thanks a lot JoAnn!), I’ve also been reading and drafting a plan for the first quarter of 2017 via The 12 Week Year <– affiliate link.

If you follow me on social media at all, you already know that I <3 this book!

While a lot of the philosophy isn’t new to me (especially around execution), the strategy is and I’m always up for trying a new system! I would highly recommend it and am currently using my new Self Journal <– affiliate link as well to draft my goals/plan out on paper and as a tracking system to hit them.

The basic premise of The 12 Week Year is to focus on 12 weeks at a time vs. 12 months. If we only have 12 weeks to accomplish our goals, it doesn’t leave much room for slacking off. It’s also more urgent that we do what we say we’re going to do in order to hit our goals.

Even though it seems like quarterly planning, it’s still a bit different. I’ll let you read the book to find out why. 😉

My 12 Week Year Goals

I bet you’re jealous of that sweet handwriting, right? 😉

You’ll notice that my 12 week year goals are a bit different than the annual ones you see above. The book has you explore seven different areas that your goals might fall under:

1. Spiritual
2. Spouse/key relationships
3. Family
4. Community
5. Physical
6. Personal
7. Business

My personal top 5 (in order) are:

1. Spiritual
2. Family (including spouse)
3. Physical
4. Business
5. Community

I.e. Even though “Strengthen faith” falls at number three in the photo above, it’s not really third.

Big Goals = One Small Action at a Time

That’s my real plan. Figure out what I want (A/B goals) and then break down those bigger goals into smaller milestones (i.e. lose 15 lbs, strengthen sales funnel, etc.).

But that’s how anything big gets done, right? One action step at a time.

Share Your Goals?

Last year I asked you to share your goals in the comments section. I <3’d re-reading them as I was drafting this post.

And saying your goals out loud (or declaring them publicly to the internet at large) is proven to increase your odds of hitting them.

So what do you say? Share with us your 2017 goals in the comments?

Why not US, why not NOW?