The Year in Review

[Aaron Hats]

We just finished 2008. When you look back at the goals you set at the beginning of the year how did you do? Did you accomplish everything you wanted to? Did you reach your financial goals? Now that the madness of the last quarter is over I always like to take time to look back and and also set goals for the new year.

[Blessed]

I had hoped to earn a little more than I did and I had hoped to expand my customer base more than I did but for the first year of trying to work for myself so that I could stay home with my baby - I can't complain! I've learned things, I'm figuring out a work schedule that works to let me get my household chores done, have time to play with the baby and earn some money and I've made new connections. I think 2009 - even with the interruption of baby #2 coming in June - will be even better for me business-wise than 2008 was.

[orion_joel]

My biggest problem in 2008 was that i set a couple of goals but never looked at them again. As such i do not think that i really achieved any of the goals that i set, however i do plan to change this for 2009. I still have to actually write down the goals in achievable terms (with an actual level of achievement). But i should have this done in the next week or so and i can start to focus on getting them done.

[greenoak]

last january my main goal was to make up for the losses of side business that we took;;;dropping shows, getting out of a couple of places, a good customer closing, and ebay continuing to go down....it was a pretty big order, ....so i was pleasantly suprised that our profit went up...even tho we lost a lot we made up for almost all of it it in the store....so we are pretty happy...he got the numbers done already......
it felt like i worked harder this year than any other....i miss wholesale a lot...its so much more ME and just easier all around.....
for the new year im mixing up what ive learned from eborg and goat and itty biz and going for an internet niche.....their blogs were a real eyeopener to me......i m even working ona launch plan...im not too excited about it. but i think on on the right track finally... and i sure would feel good having a side business and not having it all depend just on who walks in the store...i dont really have the time or skill for it but thats where im going ......im better at buying and then standing there and taking the money!!!!lol...not photoing , describing , emailing, packing etc etc.... but that was the old days...
..i would rather have what i had last year, a whopping big customer
but im happy with this past year.....

[seolman]

Last year we planned to build up our SEO business a bit more and add to our higher end programming niche. We successfully did this but for some reason our graphics side went down. For years our graphic side has been strong so we are going to analyze this in January and try to determine what has happened to see if we can recoup some of that lost market. Either way - this year was definitely better than last in terms of profits.

We divide our business into 4 separate units: Graphics, Web Design, SEO, Programming.

Over the past couple of years we have quietly been building up proprietary web sites and software products so we can get away from being in the web design/graphics business. We prefer to be running our own web sites and bringing in "mailbox money" from good quality web sites. Our main focus in 2009 will be to push the continued growth of these sites and the launch of a new "much better than captcha" product I'll be glad to share with others on this site as soon as we finish filing all the patent docs

[huggytree]

I beat my financial goals by 50%, but didnt meet my work goal which was enough work to hire an apprentice.

i just heard last night that WI now has an 8% unemployment rate...so my goal is to match 08 in $ and hours worked.....just to stay even as things continue to fall....

[Aaron Hats]

Sounds like we're all in the same situation...we did well but could do better.

For us, the last quarter saved our year. Once I found the problems with our web site I was able to quickly fix things and immediately sales turned around. I have several things I want to do this year, one being a new logo. Once that's done I'll start working down the list.

Here's to a prosperous 2009.

Aaron

[greenoak]

aaron...i should have added that my goal of web selling was helped along by you too....showing what a good niche can accomplish...in the girly shabby world im many are trying for selling in a general area, instead of a niche......im not going that direction...
happy new year...
ann

[KarenB]

Great question, Aaron!

My virtual assistant business doubled in 2008 compared to 2007 and I was quite happy about that. I started up in May 2006, so after about 2 1/2 years, I am finally reaping the rewards of word-of-mouth referrals.

But as my boyfriend, Terry, points out, there is only so much work that one person can do in a day. If my business is to continue to grow, I will need to hire sub-contractors for certain services that I currently provide on my own, while maintaining overall quality control.

I knew this day would come...I just didn't think it would come so soon!

For me, 2009 will be a year of careful expansion.

Karen

[Steve B]

It doesn't sound like I've done as well as some of you ... but I did a bit better than last year, but didn't meet several goals. My business relies quite heavily on real estate sales and I'm told if I didn't go backwards to conisider myself lucky.

We might be dropping one of our businesses and we have added another (see the thread on E.S.P. Home Services). Hopefully, changing the mix of businesses will help.