Justin McGill
December 23, 2014 10 Comments AUTHOR: Justin McGill CATEGORIES: Founder Journal

I wanted to make my 2015 goals public to keep me accountable and focused on achieving them next year.

Since I just started this blog over the summer, I don’t really have a “Year in Review” type post. However, my goal next year is to have one that looks back on these goals to see how well I fared.

Personal Goals for 2015

Get to 170 lbs
I am currently 175, so nothing too major here. However, I do notice that my metabolism isn’t what it used to be. This means I can’t get away with not working at all or finding some way to stay in shape.

Do push-ups + crunches every day
This will help me accomplish my first goal, but as it is I just don’t think about it.

Take my vitamins every day
I set an Amazon subscription every 90 days to send me Vitamin D, Magnesium, Vitamin C, and Vitamin B12. I have actually started doing this every day as of the 1st of this month. Since then I’ve gotten sick and felt sluggish. Go figure. I’m sure it’s just ironic, so I’m planning to stick with it.

Notes
To help me with these two daily goals, I’ve installed HabitBull on my phone. Basically, you tell the app what you want to accomplish every day and the app will prompt you asking if you’ve completed it. It follows the “Don’t break the chain” method where mounting pressure from your “streak” helps you keep it going.

My only concern is forgetting the vitamins if I go out of town, or having the desire to do crunches and push-ups if I get sick. I’m a baby when I get sick and just prefer to do nothing at all.

I’ll be a new dad again in the summer. Not something that I can substantiate, but I’d like to invest more time with my family and try to be the best dad/husband I know how to be. Maybe I’ll let the wife judge my results with this one.

Professional Goals for 2015

Upswing Interactive
My goal is to continue to have Upswing be a passive source of income. I’d like to see revenue increase about 25%. I am also considering WP Edits an Upswing subsidiary. We haven’t really pursued this up to this point.

Self Made Marketer
I want to get this book completed in Q1 and then begin to form a community around it. The community is where I provide different templates, tools, blog on agency growth strategies, etc. Right now I’m just focused on getting the book finished. I’m actually hopeful to have the writing portion of the book done by the end of this year.

I’d like to get 2,000 email subscribers by the end of the year for this site and I want to publish at least 36 (3 per month) blog posts.

Workado
I’d like to see Workado get to 100 paying customers. I want to publish at least 24 blog posts (2 per month) and establish several guest blog opportunities within the SEO/digital marketing niche.

I want to have product/market fit and have the product stabilized from a development standpoint to where the software doesn’t need major additions. In fact, I’m hopeful that this will be done in Q2.

I am also hoping to have my developer situation 100% worked out. I’ve been using a handful of them over the course of the product currently and things just aren’t going smoothly because of it.

Analytics Tool
As I referred to in my “Month in Review” post, this is a new tool I’m working on which will serve as a reporting system for digital marketing agencies. My first goal is to get this launched, and then I’d like to get 100 paying customers with this product.

I’d like to get 24 blog posts (2 per month) published on this site as well that covers analytics at an in-depth level.

LeadFuze
Last week, you might have seen my 24 hour challenge post where I launched this business in a day. Well, I really think this has potential. I’ve talked with 8 to 10 prospective customers who have all had varying levels of interest, but more importantly it has helped me establish my target market…digital marketing agencies!

More specifically, digital marketing agencies that want to add this service as a bolt-on to their own marketing services to help them generate more leads for their clients.

I should have probably known this from the beginning, given that the whole reason this idea even came about was the need for it at my own agency.

That said, I can still help a wide spectrum of companies with this. My plan is to hyper target the agencies with my own efforts, while keeping it appealing for most B2B companies. I even have a couple well known SaaS companies interested in trying it out and my goal is to get some testimonials from these founders.

In addition, I’d like to publish at least 24 blog posts (2 per month).

I’m hoping to make six figures from this service next year. In addition, I have some plans to refine my backend software that runs this to further automate this model.

This Blog
I just want to continue to share my insights and document my experiences. I’d like to build my subscriber base to 1,000 email addresses and publish at least 36 (3 per month) blog posts. I don’t have any monetization plans for this blog, I just enjoy entrepreneurship and want to connect with others who enjoy it as well.

Notes
For those keeping count, that’s 144 blog posts written for my own sites. I am also planning on doing another 12 to 18 guest blogs next year for key sites putting me at ~160 blog posts. I’m obviously going to need help with this since that is a blog post almost every other day! I’m hoping to hire an assistant early this next year who excels with copywriting.

With Workado, LeadFuze, and my Analytics tool I am hoping to leverage the Self Made Marketer book and community to help propel those businesses since they will all cater to the same market (digital marketing agencies). Since all of these businesses cater to the same market, it is the only way I can actually have all of these different businesses going simultaneously.

Conclusion

The past six months or so have been an interesting time for me. I started the year solely focused on Upswing, as I have been since 2008. However, over the summer I decided I wanted to focus on other things. This has had a negative impact on my agency, but at the same time has me much more rejuvenated as an entrepreneur.

I look forward to sharing my journey here on this blog and continuing to establish relationships with others in similar situations.

Here’s to a great 2015!

10 Comments

  1. Mihaj 9 years ago says:

    Hi Justin,
    Great Plans!
    There’s so much thing you will be doing next year. But you know how to handle this….. So that’s not the matter. Right?
    I hope you will achieve all the goals you’ve set for next year.
    Wish you a great year-2015!

    Reply
    • Justin McGill 9 years ago says:

      Thanks Mihaj – appreciate it!

      Reply
  2. Marshall hayes 9 years ago says:

    Cool Stuff!
    I’ve definitely got a lot on my list for 2015. I’m not so great at writing anything though…
    2013 was creating a lifestyle business (yay, that worked!)
    2014 was creating a company that was bigger than myself (thanks to my amazing business partner and few employees here!)
    2015 the sky is the limit. Launch our own physical products, launch software, continue to grow the company with SOPs that will enable my partner and I to step away from the day to day and set it up well if an acquisition offer comes around (not expected, but we want to prep), attend a couple amazing conferences (summit series is on my mind), and still manage reasonable hours.

    I wish you luck Justin, look forward to hearing more 🙂
    MPH

    Reply
    • Justin McGill 9 years ago says:

      That’s awesome Marshall – love your progress over the last couple of years! The SOPs will definitely be critical in your effort to step away. I made the mistake of not having everything properly documented with my agency when I stepped back. Every single thing I am doing for LeadFuze I document along the way. Makes it SO much easier to create the SOPs as you are actually working on those specific procedures.

      Stay in touch – I look forward to hearing how your 2015 progresses. Cheers!

      Reply
  3. Joseph Ho 9 years ago says:

    Great plan and there are a lot of things to do in 2015. Wish you all the best in 2015!
    Joseph Ho recently posted…My 2014 RoundupMy Profile

    Reply
  4. aurepavi 9 years ago says:

    Love then people share their goals publicly. So inspiring and I also cached few ideas for myself.
    Maybe you already know about Derek, but his blog is full of material to help you reach email subscribers goal – http://socialtriggers.com/
    Good luck with 2015!
    aurepavi recently posted…Working on New Year Resolutions from day oneMy Profile

    Reply
    • Justin McGill 9 years ago says:

      Glad to hear it gave you some inspiration. I have heard of SocialTriggers, great site.

      Good luck with your new gig by the way!

      Reply
  5. Nathan Ambrose 8 years ago says:

    Hi, Justin.

    Wow! That’s a lot of goals. That was 9 months ago, so I hope you’ve made good progress in achieving them.

    Well done for being so specific. That really is a key to achieving our goals successfully. That’s something that I’m trying to instil into my clients.

    Thanks for sharing. Tweeting soon.

    Nathan.
    Nathan Ambrose recently posted…Build a Better Business By Achieving Your GoalsMy Profile

    Reply
    • Justin McGill 8 years ago says:

      I wish I had saved these on my whiteboard as I had forgotten about them. Most things I have failed with as priorities changed pretty drastically. I have been focused solely on LeadFuze and everything else was put on the backburner.

      Reply
  6. Deynne 8 years ago says:

    Having a good and positive mind makes a person victorious. Just last January, I gave up my two small businesses that I started last year’s month of June. It was frustrating, and it got me disappointed with myself to the core. But I tried to divert my mind to think positively. I took a big risk and tried venturing to another one. And guess what, it worked out!
    Deynne recently posted…Getting the Most of Facebook Business Page: Know the SecretsMy Profile

    Reply

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"Justin is the proto-type of a 21st century business leader. Unmatched skills with evolving technology, combined with the social and emotional intelligence required to handle an increasingly advanced consumer." ~ Michael Lambourne of Blend.