When I introduced my my 2011 annual review I reflected on what went well and what I struggled with during the past year. I include things across all areas or categories of my life – personal, social, financial, or business related – that I have control over. If something blew up because of an outside influence it’s a drag, but that’s no fault of my own.

I start with this reflection in order to define what is important to me for the up coming year. It gives me a starting point to set goals and actions to achieve. I break my goal setting down into categories, as I mentioned in my previous post, these are based on the outline from Chris Guillebeau. The categories that I typically use during this thought process are:

• Friends, family, and social
• Health
• Business
• Learning
• Travel
• Writing
• Financial (earning)
• Financial (saving)
• Financial (giving)

So what plans do I have for 2012?

There are a few big milestones I’d like to conquer in 2012. These aren’t the gone-by-February New Year resolutions such as “get in better shape,” “get more exercise,” “earn more money,” or “be happier.” They are specific events or accomplishments with measurable actions to help me get there. Here is a list of 10 of the more substantial ones I have set for myself that I believe will greatly impact my quality of life:

Run my first marathon. My lack of a healthy lifestyle was a big issue for me in 2011. I believe that if I have a purpose to train for something, and something to work towards that it would motivate me a little more than simply knowing I need to do it. I have always wanted to run in a marathon, and ran track and field fairly competitively in high school. There is a July marathon in Barrington, NS and a September marathon in Sydney, NS. I would like to be ready by July, but considering I haven’t run more than 3k at a time in the past 12 months, I think I’ll register for both just in case.

Complete P90x in 90 consecutive days (like for real this time). Although I’ve attempted it a couple times before, the furthest I’ve ever gotten is to about day 50. Life always seemed to get in the way – or at least that was my excuse at the time. It really doesn’t take that much out of your day and the program has a great mix of workouts (I hate it, but I love it). Considering I typically work from home and have more than enough space, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to come up with many excuses this time. I will likely be documenting my successes and failures with health and fitness over on a blog I’ve started called Health Redefined so feel free to follow that if you’re looking for updates.

Launch an online local Internet marketing training program. As part of my new business, I would like to launch an online training series to teach small and local businesses how to better compete online. There are many businesses I speak and meet with that simply don’t have the money in the budget to have me (or anyone) execute a proper Internet marketing strategy. That said, many do have an extra 30 minutes a day they could devote to promoting their business online. It’s these people I want to help by offering the tools and knowledge they need to get the online side of their business to where they want it to be. I’d like to have this up and running before summer of 2012.

Learn to say no. I have a tough time saying no to opportunities and projects, which leads to me being stretched thin, stressing out, and doing poorly on one or more of the projects. If something doesn’t fit well with my schedule or theme, I need to learn to say no.

Attend five plays, musicals, or cultural events during 2012. I managed to get to the Jungle Book at Neptune Theatre last month, which was very well done. I realized I didn’t get out to see many plays or shows during the year and wanted to make a conscience effort in changing that going forward.

Attend a weekly networking event. This may require me joining some sort of club, but even without that I would like to make more of an effort to get out and mingle with the local business crowd. I get to the odd 3rd Wednesday or Mingle at Fred but really not as much as I’d like and should.

Enjoy dinner and/or drinks and good conversation with close friends on a weekly basis. This is something I failed at pretty badly last year. In my opinion, getting together with those you care about on a weekly basis for laughs and good conversation will add years to your life.

Plan and book a trip to Ireland for 2013. My girlfriend and I have been talking about heading to Ireland for a while, and I’d like to finally nail down a date and book flights for this trip within the next year.

Read 52 books. I rarely make time for reading, especially fiction books, but always love life a little more when I do. I would like to consume 52 books – a book a week – during 2012. I’m fine with a mix of fiction and non-fiction, but I would like to add more fiction and relaxing books to the mix of things.

Build my passive income businesses to $3,000 per month. Working online, I have two types of incomes. One for which I have to actively work in order to get paid (client contracts, consulting, freelancing, training, etc.) and one for which I can stop working on and money keeps coming in. Most of the businesses I have are structured around a recurring-income business model that are semi-passive but typically requires a decent amount of work to grow. I have since started creating almost completely passive income streams (I don’t believe something valuable can be totally passive), and its these streams I would like to put more of a focus on growing over the next six to twelve months.

At first glance it might look like a big list – people always over estimate what they can accomplish in a day, but under estimate what they can accomplish in a year. I think if I can hit 80% of the above I would consider 2012 a good year.

I should also note that it’s important that once you have set these measurable goals, that you then define the process and steps necessary to complete them. It’s one thing for me to say I want to run a marathon, but it’s important that I know that by Feb 1 I need to be able to run 3x per week for at least 30 minutes without issues prior to even starting my marathon training. Breaking these goals down into smaller tasks will help make them seem less threatening.

Why do I do an annual review anyway?

Good question. Reflecting on your year to see what you’ve done well and didn’t do well is a great exercise to do. It can open your eyes a bit regarding the things that slipped, while at the same time make you feel like you’ve accomplished something by actually making note of it.

Going through this process will help you identify what’s important for you and what isn’t. These aren’t carved in stone. In 6 months time there might be goals on your list that are irrelevant or non important. It’s the process of defining them and having something to work towards on a yearly basis that is so powerful.

2012 seems to be the year of movement and action. Hopefully it’s a good one for everyone.

I hope you have a happy and safe Holiday season.

Every year in December I like to take a full day and review how the previous year went. I was turned on to this by Chris Guillebeau and have been doing it for a couple years now. This year however, I’ve decided to start making it public. I decided to get back into the spirit of blogging and wanted to add a bit of transparency to this blog (and a lot more content coming up).

The process consists of looking at what I accomplished the previous year and what my shortcomings were. What did I do that was a big success, and what were my ultimate failures. I ignore outside influences – if something happened that I have no control over, I don’t let that impact my outcome, instead, I focus on what I control.

After I flush out what went well and what did not, I then turn to defining what I want to accomplish for the following year. I then revisit my progress every couple months to see how things are going. Some goals turn out to be irrelevant or non important, while other must-dos might creep up and take their place. It’s meant to be a framework and a guide, not carved in stone.

So, what went well for me this year?

I decided not to go back to school. Last August I was having one of those wtf months where I convinced myself I wanted to go back to school for Engineering. Although engineering does interest me, I’m not exactly sure why I wanted to do this. If I were to guess, it would be to put off defining what I was going to do with my life for another several years, or because I had a few back to back bad months as far as business went. Regardless, I’m glad I didn’t throw in the towel, instead, I hustled through it and am so glad I changed my mine.

Started a new business. I launched Bate Media in late September and have signed a couple big clients since. This has done wonders for my stress level and has even helped with my desire for continuous learning as well.

Spent Canada day in Ottawa. My girlfriend and I travelled to Ottawa for Canada day this year. We spent the lovely three day vacation with close friends and family. Being one of the few opportunities for travel this past year it was excellent to get to the Nation’s capital for its big day.

Got cash flow under control. Anyone who runs a small business or works for themselves can attest to the issue of cash flow. In 2011, I was finally able to get my businesses cash flows under control so that I no longer stress over it. This was mainly because of the new business and contracts signed in the Fall, but it has been a huge enabler as far as productivity and developing my side businesses go.

My relationship. Our new living arrangements and a more defined work schedule for me definitely spilled over into a better home life and relationship with my girl friend.

What did not go so well for me this year?

My health. This was the first thing I identified when reflecting on 2011 that was a huge issue during the year. I put on too much weight in 2011 and seemed to live quite a sedentary lifestyle this past year. I did not make exercise a priority and ate rather poorly overall this past year.

Didn’t save enough money. Granted I had a couple trips this past year, but I did not save as much money as I had hoped this year. While my income increased, my spending seemed to as well for the most part – and most of it was tossed away or eaten.

I didn’t make as many in-person connections as I had hoped. This was another big fail for me in 2011. I spent a ton of my time online. Even though I have connected with many influential bloggers and online business owners, and learned more this year than probably my 6 years of University combined, I lacked the same social interaction and connections in person. I am a very social person and it hurts me to notice that this was such a bad area for me this year.

It appears as though 2011 was the year of the business. I’ll admit that I am happy with the progress made in my online income and online businesses, however, reflecting on what sacrifices were made throughout the year to make that happen is eye-opening for sure. More balance is definitely needed going forward.

I’ll leave my goals for 2012 for another post next week, but I encourage you to take some time – even a few hours – to review how your year went. What went well for you? What could you have done much better? Leave a comment with a link to your review, I’d be happy to read it.

Personal branding has been a hot topic for the past several years. You won’t make it through university without hearing a number of lectures and speeches about the importance of personal branding. Within the past few years, online personal branding has become extremely popular as well.

With controversy over getting fired due to facebook details, the importance of how we present ourselves online is raising. Here are some of my personal branding tips to keep you on top of the game.

What exactly is your personal brand

In my opinion, our personal brand is both how we market ourselves to others, whether it be employers, friends, or co-workers, and how others perceive us. It is important to align both of these aspects – the closer these things are to being the same, the better.

Although we may have been taught how to brand ourselves in person through interviews and elevator pitches, people have often formed an opinion of you before ever meeting you through social media and your Google results. This online branding is now getting more attention than ever.

Why is online personal branding important

Employers are googling you when you apply for jobs. They’ve been doing it for years so it shouldn’t be a surprise. Not only do many employers search for you online, but 80% of college and university admissions officers use Google and social media to research potential candidates.

I’m not saying these results will make or break whether or not you get a job or accepted into university, but with growing competition for both, it’s no doubt that they are playing an increasingly important role.

Your personal branding tool-kit

There are a lot of tools that you can carry with you as far as personal branding goes, both offline and online. Your resume, cover letter, business card, portfolio, and elevator pitch are all great tools. Even what you wear, how you shake someone’s hand, and how you hold eye contact all play into how other perceive who you are.

It is important to round out your tool-kit with online branding tools as well. These include personal and professional blogs, social media profiles, online references, and much more. Once you have established yourself with a number of profiles and a personal website the trick is now making sure people find what you want them to find.

Online branding tips to dominate your Google results

Here are the Canadian Google results for my name, as of March 31, 2011, along with a few notes on what each result represents:

Click on the above images to get a larger view with notes. Here are the main takeaways I learned while doing this:

Get a semi-professional / personal website

This is by far the most important thing you can do to increase exposure for yourself online. The best thing to do is to register the domain firstnamelastname.com or another extension like .net or .ca. Getting your name in the domain will help with your rankings in Google. Another benefit of having your own website is that you own your content and control what you write about. If you are building a brand for yourself as a world-class kayaking instructor you can choose to write about kayaking-related topics so that others see this side of you first when they search for you.

I chose to do two sites with my name in it – one a little more professional and the other much more personal. It’s important to remember that even with your personal sites you need to keep them semi-professional looking and sounding.

Build your social media profiles

Having a clean facebook and twitter account will go a long way both with how people perceive you and how well you rank in Google. Although these are the two main profiles I recommend, I’ve had great success with Naymz, Pros on the web, and Google Profiles. When selecting usernames at these sites it’s important to choose the name you want to brand online, typically your full name. It’s also beneficial if you can write unique biographies for each profile instead of using the same cut-and-paste bio for each.

Between your personal site and your social profiles you can usually dominate the top results in Google for your name with the right amount of links.

Use work or community profiles if available

If your organization has employee profiles online, be sure to submit a well written bio for the website. This is a great way to get exposure online. Also, your involvement with community organizations or sports teams is another great way to diversify your online profiles.

Building links to your website and profiles

Depending on how popular your name is your results may vary. Luckily there didn’t seem to be any celebrities by the name of Adam Bate, however there are other professionals out there with the same name.

Like any website, the amount of links and the anchor text of those links play a huge role in how well it ranks in Google. It is important to get links to both your website and your social profiles. Ask friends who also have personal websites to link back to yours using your full name. Alternatively, you can write articles for sites such as Ezine or HubPages that allow do-follow links in return for great content.

It’s also important to link between your profiles. Each profile usually has the option to define your work site, personal site or blog, other profiles, etc. Make sure your core group of profiles are well inter-linked as well.

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If you follow the above personal branding tips I guarantee you will be well on your way to dominating your Google results.

If you have any questions about setting up your own website or how to best built your online profiles feel free to ask away in the comments below and I’ll be happy to answer as best as possible.

It can be hard to separate work from life at times – especially when you work from home. It can be a blessing or a curse depending on how disciplined and motivated you are.

That said, I have spent the last four months trying to master working from home and getting the most out of my days. I thought I would share some somewhat common sense tips to being productive while working from home.

Define a work space

Defining a work space is a must to maximize productivity while working from home. Have an area that is exclusive for work. Perhaps it’s a desk you setup in the den or spare bedroom. Whatever and wherever it is make sure it’s for work only. Don’t eat at this desk, don’t watch movies or play games in this area – it is your work area.

It won’t be long before you train yourself that when you enter this area or sit at this desk you are there for one thing – productive work. It is also great for those you live with so they know when you are working vs. merely using your computer or reading for pleasure.

Don’t forget your morning routine

Just because you work from home doesn’t mean you have to roll out of bed and jump on the computer or phone. It may be tempting to get the work “out of the way” but before you know it the afternoon will have creeped up and you will not have showered or brushed your teeth.

So get yourself into a routine in the morning – you’ll be surprised how much more productive you are if you’ve cleaned up, ate some breakfast, and put on a pot of coffee.

Breaks and Exercise

Take breaks and get your exercise. Simple as that. Make sure you aren’t spending your entire day in your house – it is extremely unhealthy.

Run to the gym for an hour or go walk to grab a cup of coffee. Whatever you decide to do, make sure you do it every day – your productivity will soar because of it.

Stay focused and prepare – the night before

I’ve preached about the importance of preparing for your day the night before in other posts. It’s easy to get distracted when you work from home so it’s even more important to identify the major tasks of the day that you need to get done.

Every night, identify three important tasks that you need to get done the next day. Do this on a piece of paper or in your note book and circle the one tasks that is the most important. The tasks that if you got nothing done except this one thing, you would still feel good about your day.

This will keep you focused on what needs to be done first.

Know what schedule works for you

One of the major benefits of working from home is the fact that you can – depending on your job – set your own schedule. Society has us preset to a 9-5 work schedule which isn’t necessarily ideal for everyone. Although some work may need to be completed in this timeframe in order to connect with others on this schedule, a lot of work can be completed at your convenience.

Personally, I am somewhat of a late riser – normally 9 or 10 AM – and I usually take another hour for my routine before getting down to work unless something very time-sensitive comes up. I avoid the mid-afternoon wall – a time during which I am very unproductive – by getting out for a walk to grab a cup of coffee, heading to the gym, or even scheduling a meeting so I can get out of the house and away from the computer. Most of my creative work, brainstorming, and writing gets done between 9PM and 2AM.

If you are just starting to work from home, you will quickly begin to learn what schedule works for you in order to get the most out of your work day.

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I wanted to stay focused on working from home vs working location-independently. That said, leveraging free wifi and great coffee is another excellent way to stay productive during the day while switching up your environment. There are many great resources to live a location independent lifestyle.