My 2019 Life + Blog Goals
2018 was the best year, and probably one of the worst of my life.
Why you ask? work-life balance.
2018 was great because I made the most money of my life, I got to work from home, I got to travel a ton.
But because of that I made a ton of terrible mistakes here are a few examples:
I refused to re-invest in this company I was building and started drowning in work.
I thought because I’m finally making money my husband and I need a 5 bedroom house, even though I didn’t like the neighborhood. Which caused us to move two more times in 2018.
I thought gave up learning about my craft because “mama I made it!?”
I made really dumb travel mistakes because “I could afford it” which meant, wasting a ton of money I could have been saving for the future.
I worked constantly, were talking 14 hours almost everyday.
I didn’t focus on health at all… health? who is she? I ate whatever was easiest, and fastest because I “needed” to get back to work ASAP. Those emails don’t answer themselves!
So how am I going to make sure 2019 is the best year yet?
At the end of 2018, I became a minimalist pretty much because I left 2018 feeling super overwhelmed. I’ll write a complete post about that soon but its playing a big part in my 2019 mood.
I’m only going to do/wear/buy things that I love. I spent too much time in 2018 doing things that made me unhappy or wearing clothes that were uncomfortable because they were “cheaper”. I now realize that I rather have one outfit that I feel comfortable and quit in, than having a closet full of clothes that are “okay”.
I am going to hire someone to do it. In 2018 I went from being a full-time blogger to owning a media company. ALL BY MYSELF. I started taking on clients. I was teaching over 1000 people. I was writing the email. I was getting the clients. I was creating the content. I cannot do it all anymore. I am going to be growing my team in 2019. No matter how scary that sounds.
I am going to work on me! Blogging is the best thing of my whole life, but now I work from home which means snacks, and my furthest walk is from my desk to the bathroom. Which means that 1. I am not nearly as fit as I once was.
2. Work starts as soon as I get . out of bed. and '
3. I can snack whenever I want.
4. My mental health matters.
I am going to take longer vacations. I am the queen of the “weekend away” or “overnight trip” everywhere I go I go for a day, or two days. I feel guilty relaxing because the emails add up, and people need me. Hopefully growing my team will allow me to step away more often.
Material Items
Now a few selfish, specific material items I definitely don’t need but totally want to work for in 2019.
I want a family car, we don’t have kiddos yet but we are hoping to grow family soon and our car definitely isn’t family or travel friendly. We are hoping to get a Ford Expedition, or Lincoln Aviator this summer.
I want to buy a new home in 2018 we moved from our 5 bedroom house, into a studio apartment (it’s a very nice studio apartment)…. we are crazy I know but we decided we rather have the money to grow this business, and we hated our neighborhood. I hope by the end of 2019 (October / November) we can buy a new smaller home in a neighborhood we love.
I want to go to Hawaii at the end of summer 2019. Like I said my husband and I king and queen of the “weekend away” or “overnight trip” we as long as we have been married have never taken a vacation more than 4 days.
My Business
In 2016 while in college I started a lifestyle blog called “SmartAndSimplistic.com” which has become TaylorStanford.com which you are currently reading. After 7 months of blogging I was able to leave my job to blog full-time. Then later in 2017 I started teaching other women (and a few men) how to create a profitable blog with what I had learned from blogging myself, in combination with what I had learned as a marketing major at one of the countries best business schools.
But In 2018 I decided to take it a step further and create a business from my blog the business is called Too Influenced Media and the companies mission is to:
Inspire women to create their best life for themselves.
Help small & large businesses grow through digital marketing our team creates.
Create engaging experiences that help people grow.
Teach small businesses how to grow their businesses themselves.
My goals surrounding both my personal business and Too Influenced Media are:
TaylorStanford.com
Grow my blog page views to over 100,000 per month.
Grow my blog income to $50,000 per month.
Grow my Instagram Following to 10,000
Grow my email list to 20,000.
Start a Mastermind group for women in the digital space.
Start a Podcast!
Too Influenced Media
Find / get an office space
Hire my assistant for TaylorStanford.com
Hire a Financial Manager
Hire a Public Relations Associate
Hire a Social Media Coordinator
Hire a Production Coordinator.
Anything else?
I have a ton of specific personal goals that I will just detail here quickly because they are probably super boring.
Go to two conferences.
Give more to charity.
Take more opportunities.
Eat green things (I’m talking about vegetables)
Move my body
Leave the office more
I know that 2019 is going to be a great year, I am excited to come back to this blog post at the end of 2019 and see where I am then.
If your curious about how I make money blogging, or how I can afford to work from home check out my free email course below!