Goals and Achievements – May, June & July 2011

Hello everyone! I hope you’re having a fabulous summer.

First off, I’m sorry for the lack of updates. Things have been really hectic on my end, and I haven’t been able to check email, reply to comments, or update this blog as often as I used to. But I haven’t forgotten about you! I’m going through a few major life changes at the moment, but I’m hoping to straighten everything out in the next few months so that things can get back on the usual schedule.

Now, I know many of you are eagerly anticipating an update on the Do Something Remarkable contest. As you probably know, the deadline for the contest was June 1st (see here for more details). I’m currently going through the list of participants and will email the three winners by Monday, July 25th (thanks everyone for being so patient with me). Once each winner has accepted his/her gift(s), I’ll announce the winners publicly. Thanks again for your overwhelming support!

For those of you who have emailed me in the last few months, expect a reply in the next couple of weeks. I’ll be going through all of my email and comments in the weeks to follow, so it may take some time to get to you. But I will! Stay tuned for that.

Now for the actual post…

I have good news, and I have bad news.

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Goals and Achievements – April 2011

Happy Tuesday, everyone! It’s the first week of a new month, and we all know what that means; time for another goals and achievements post!

Yes, I know. You’ve all been waiting in anticipation. I’ll be honest with you though – this month wasn’t exactly my best month yet, but I did come to a lot of realizations that will potentially open a lot of new doors and opportunities for me (at least, I hope so). You see, I’m starting to realize what’s important… and what’s not so important in my life, and it’s really making a huge difference in the way I think and go about my daily tasks.

I’m still straightening everything out, but just know that this won’t be your ordinary goals and achievements post. This month, I’m going to try something new. And for that reason, I won’t be getting as detailed as I usually do in the goals section. But I’ll get to that in a second.

Photo by Julian Wylegly (flickr)

Lucky for you, I also have a surprise for you! Yep, another one. Am I not awesome?

Ahem. (Hint: This is your cue to say, “Yes, Christina. You’re very very awesome! No one could be as awesome as you are,” and try to butter me up with excessive compliments; you know, the things I like to hear. )

I won’t give anything away because, well, what good would the surprise be then? But I will say this: In the next few weeks, you’re going to be seeing some awesome things here on Cash Campfire – and Christina is going to be getting out of her comfort zone! The fun and lovable (and somewhat dramatic, while often annoying) Christina is breaking free at last, and you’ll all get front row seats to watch her stuttering, embarrassing show. Now don’t you feel special?

It might get pretty mortifying (at least, for me), so don’t say I didn’t warn you. But you’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you?

Anyway, let’s talk goals. (more…)

Goals and Achievements – March 2011

Well everyone, it’s time for the monthly income report. If you’re new here, here’s how these posts work: At the start of every month, I look at the goals I accomplished the previous month and analyze my progress. Then, I give a detailed breakdown of the income earned from the month before, followed by the goals I’ll be working towards as the month rolls on and how I intend to accomplish them.

Goal planning is something I always enjoyed doing. The reason why I write these posts is not to satisfy my ego (rather, the opposite). Instead, these posts are meant to:

• Keep track of my monthly income.
• Plan out my goals (and have them all in one place to refer back to throughout the month).
• Hold myself accountable for my goals (to increase my chances of completing them).
• Celebrate new milestones.
• Acknowledge where I came short, learn from my mistakes, and strive to do better.
• Offer encouragement.
• Inspire others to set their own goals, work towards their dreams, and improve their lifestyles.
• Stay on track so that I avoid doing tasks that offer no (or barely any) value.

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eHow Experiment 08: Income Increased by 64%

When I wrote my last update over a month ago, I estimated that I would earn at least $412.92 for the month of January. If I met this goal, I would surpass my overall goal of earning $3 per article in any given month (or $339 a month – though one of my articles was removed, reducing my goal to $336 a month).

Well, as it turns out, my estimations were more than correct.

In January I earned a total of $420.29, which is about $3.75 per article a month and $13.56 a day. And, so far in February, I earned $368.44 (earnings were last updated Wednesday), which is about $4 per article and $16.02 a day. If this keeps up, I should make an all-time high of about $449 by the end of the month (and there’s only 28 days as opposed to 30 or 31)! Not bad for doing very little work as far as backlinking is concerned.

I’m also happy to see that my earnings are continuing to grow. If you remember, last year saw 3 months (Oct, Nov, and Dec) where my eHow earnings sort of leveled out and didn’t increase by much. That was when I started giving a few of my highest earning articles backlinks from content written on other Web 2.0 sites. If you compare now (or my estimated total income for the month) to my earnings in December 2010, my earnings increased by 64%. (more…)

Goals and Achievements – February 2011

First of all – sorry for the late income report. I just got back from vacation the night before yesterday, so I’m still getting everything settled. I’m also pretty behind in comments and email. So if you commented on a post or sent me an email while I was away and I didn’t respond, don’t worry. I’m not ignoring you. I just haven’t gotten to it yet – but I will! Over the next few days I’ll be setting aside several hours to answer comments and email, so check your inbox for that.

Second of all, I’m really excited to tell you that I achieved a major milestone last month. But before we get into that, I’m going to talk about my major accomplishments last month, any mistakes I’ve made, and what I’ve learned from them. Then I’ll get into the income report and my goals for February.

Photo by Eric Danley (flickr)

Also, before I forget, you can still join in the Do Something Remarkable Contest for a chance to win Rework by Jason Fried & David Hansson and a $30-60 Amazon gift card. For those of you who are a little late, the rules are simple. Do something that will help better your life by March 27th (my 21st birthday!) and tell me about it. It’s a win/win in my book. You win because you’ll be furthering your career and meeting new milestones (while you compete for a free book and cash prize), and I win because it makes me feel good to motivate you and watch your progress. After all, that’s what this blog is for – to help you grow as a writer and entrepreneur. (more…)

Goals and Achievements – January 2011

Well, it has been a month since I started this series. I must admit – I didn’t make as much progress as I planned last month, though I did see some major accomplishments – the new Cash Campfire newsletter and ebook Jump Start Your Freelance Writing Career, just to name a couple.

I believe the main reason why I didn’t make a lot of progress was because I set my goals too high and so became discouraged after looking at the work involved. Then stepped in procrastination, and.. well.. I think we know the rest. I was also having back pain trouble, which prevented me from writing much for a few days. But, really, I only have myself to blame – and I’m ashamed because of it.

Photo by Search Engine People Blog (flickr)

But, this month I’m going to get everything back together, set more obtainable goals, and take action. Whatever happens, I won’t disappoint myself (and you guys!) like I did last month – I did just terrible, and the disappointment really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

This is just a warning that the following results from last month won’t be good, and I promise – with every breath in my lungs – to make it up to you and myself this month by starting over with a clean slate and completing every last one of my goals.

On a side note – since I have a 3 week vacation to California coming up on the 26th, I have to do a lot of planning in advance to reach my goals for this month to free up time during the trip. So I’ll be prescheduling many of my blog posts, and I’m accepting guest posts as well (free traffic for you).

If you want to help me out, feel free to contact me with your topic idea or guest post draft. I have no requirements other than to please not use affiliate links in your article (or I will take them out), focus your article on either freelance writing or entrepreneurship, and try to base your article on your own personal experiences (makes a better read and proves that you know your stuff – even if you’re just writing about how you organize your office desk space). (more…)

My New Years Resolutions: Looking Back and Moving Forward

This is the first time this blog has been around to see a new year. So, in spirit of the event, I decided to start a ‘My New Years Resolutions’ series (the icon is white for a clean slate) where I’ll analyze what I did each passing year (and whether or not I accomplished my new years resolution goals) and what I’ll strive to achieve the upcoming year – because, rest assured, we’re going to be together for many more years to come!

Oh, don’t give me that face! You need me and you know it.

Jokes aside, though, I’m hoping this series will show you that whatever dreams you have – whatever aspirations consume you whenever you look forward and envision your life – you can achieve if you put the effort in.

Strangely enough, I didn’t have a new years resolution last year, mainly because I had no major goals and because I had a track record of not sticking to my resolutions after the first two months.

But I’m going to stop disappointing myself. Starting today, I’m going to make my resolutions real.

Tangible. (more…)

A Writer’s Reflection: My Life as a Writer Revealed

What is your writing routine?

That was a question I asked one October evening while sitting at my desk contemplating about my life’s direction when it came to living the life of an entrepreneur/writer.

Photo by S. Diddy (flickr)

I really had no clear path to get me to where I wanted to go, and no real reason for writing besides the fact that I loved it and I wanted to increase exposure – hopefully translating into more income later on down the road. I simply wrote blindly, woke up late, procrastinated, and set goals I didn’t really want to achieve (though I thought I did at the time) that ended up leading me down a whole new road than the one I wanted to take.

Over the course of several months, I dug deeper and deeper toward my inner self, really analyzing my career direction and what I really wanted with my life and future in general. I knew that I wanted to establish a career as a blogging entrepreneur. But I had so many side projects that I didn’t know what to do with. (more…)

Jump Start Your Writing Career: Design Your Future and Control Your Lifestyle

You’re working long hours and finally come home late after a stressful night of overtime. Your shoulders are stooped, spine ready to break. Your vision is hazy, and all you can think about is how good the pillow on your bed will feel once you sink down into it.

But you can’t give in to the mindless agony of your body yet – not with all the work you have left to do.

Now you must set aside time for your side business. For if you don’t, your meager income threatens to take away your house and everything you’ve worked so hard to achieve thus far.

As you sit your aching bum into your desk chair and rest your complaining leg muscles, one simple phrase repeats itself over and over in the dark recesses of your mind…

This isn’t the life I want to live.

• You want to live your life doing what you love, enjoying the time you have, cherishing every moment, and awaiting the future with eager excitement.
• You want to free yourself from the tight bonds of your corporate office and frolic in a life you’ve built and have control over, no more fearing that you’ll suddenly get laid off.
• You want to build a steady income that only continues to grow, no longer depending on your boss to give you a pay raise whenever you want to increase your salary.

Well, I’m here to tell you that your dreams are not impossible. (more…)

Goals and Achievements – December 2010

Hey everyone! As you know, I’ve been pretty busy for the past few months – mainly working on my eBook and introducing myself to new challenges (the most recent one was the Niche Site Duel).

But, even though my workload may have gotten a bit crazier than usual, I really wouldn’t have the motivation to work as hard as I am if it wasn’t for your growing and continuous support – so thank you!

Because you’ve all been so supportive, I want to give something more back. Namely, I want to share with you my goals and aspirations month after month – then describe my achievements, what areas in my career need work, and where I’ve failed or succeeded along my entrepreneur journey. My hope is that, by following my progress, you can be inspired (and motivated!) to make your own progress as well. Sharing my goals here will also help me commit myself to them and encourage me to push myself to achieve more.

Before moving on though, I just want to say that most of the goals you’ll see will be long-term goals. So I probably won’t see major results until several months down the road. Also, since I tend to easily lose motivation if things get too repetitive or dull, I have a lot of ongoing challenges going on.

To some people, working on so many projects at once is a big mistake and a foolish thing to do. I’ve found that I’m much more likely to stick with something and keep working towards my goals if I’m faced with change however – the reason for the variety of ongoing challenges. If I ever tire from a project, I can just continue working on one of my other projects. Results may come slower, but I’d much rather have slow results than no results at all. Everyone works differently. I’ve found that constant change keeps things exciting for me. This is just the kind of person I am.

Without further ado, I’ll get right to my goals. Once the month is over, I’ll talk about what I’ve achieved for the month of December and then describe my January goals. I hope you enjoy the new Goals and Achievements series! (more…)