Happy New Year 2013

Happy New Year 2013

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

 

Things have certainly been busy recently as we wrap up 2012 and kick-start 2013. I hope everyone had an absolutely fantastic Christmas and have been enjoying a well-deserved break with your friends and family.

As we enter 2013, this is the perfect opportunity to establish what you want to do with your next 365 days and create your own 2013 outlook.

Take some time out to reflect on 2012.

  • What went well?
  • What didn’t go so well?
  • How have you developed as a person?
  • What key things have you learned?

In a few of weeks I will take you through a whole process of reflecting on 2012. In fact, I wrote a quick guide on LifeHack titled How to Reflect on 2012 and Set Yourself Up For Success in 2013 that has already been viewed by over 10,000 people. It’s a great read to get you started. I’ll take you through a more in-depth process in a few weeks… stay tuned!

The other opportunity you have at this time of year is to be able to set yourself up for success and define what you want to do for the year.

That’s why I’d love to share with you what’s on the horizon in 2013 for The Start of Happiness and my thoughts on the direction of where we are going. I would also love to hear your thoughts, your ideas and your suggestions as to what you would like to see.

 

What’s on the Horizon in 2013

Change Your Life Program

The Change Your Life program is set to be launched in just a couple of weeks! I’m pleased to say that it is 99% complete! The final touches are more in the design side of things and we have a team of people currently reviewing the content to ensure it is everything we promised it to be.

The program is set to define the future of The Start of Happiness. It is the perfect tool for helping you understand yourself, gain clarity of where you want to go and create clear, actionable plans that you will actually work towards and achieve.

Throughout 2013, this is something I would love to check into every now and then and see how our community is progressing towards their goals. To actually gain insight into real people doing real things to change their life and live more successful, fulfilled and happy will only help to inspire others to do the same. This is what we’re about!

Note: It’s still not too late to join the Action Team. Thanks to all those currently on the team that have helped shape exactly what this course includes.

 

Rebranding

I’d love to get your thoughts on this one, but it is something I have thought a little bit about recently.

I’ve had so many people let me know how fun and happy our website is and I absolutely love hearing this! This is exactly how people should be feeling as they visit this site. However, I’m questioning whether the branding of the site (it terms of site design) accurately reflects what we’re about?

A couple key things I’m considering changing:

  1. The amount of smileys
  2. Our catchphrase/slogan/motto

Now, I know everyone loves the smiley men 🙂 So I’m definitely not going to get rid of them! However, the way the current site is designed (as well as the name of the site) leads to the belief for new readers that the site is just purely about finding happiness.

Although this is actually the ultimate purpose of the site as we aim to create meaning and purpose in people’s lives, there is so much more to what we do here. I’m thinking we can create a feel that is less focused solely on happiness, and introduce more of a feel of success, balance and other principles that are closely aligned to life and happiness.

Secondly, our current catchphrase/slogan/motto, whatever you want to call it, is ‘Change the World, One Smile at a Time’. I love this and I think everyone should have this pinned up on their bedroom wall! This will certainly make the world a better place if everyone did this! However, again I feel we can develop something together that more accurately reflects what this site is about.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one.

What are your thoughts on the design? What suggestions do you have for our motto?

 

Real Case Studies, Experiments and Success in Action

As I alluded to in the Change Your Life program above, I feel it’s important we bring in real case studies, real experiments and actually see success in action.

We can do this primarily through three ways.

  1. I will provide you more examples, case studies and results of where I am applying the strategies and tools from The Start of Happiness into my own life.
  2. I will interview others that are applying these or similar strategies and tools into their life so we can see the results of their actions.
  3. I will ask you more and more for what’s happening in your own life and what successes you are seeing from applying the strategies and tools we offer. I’d love to introduce an ‘Ask the Reader’ post series and even have you write for The Start of Happiness.

Again, the more real-life examples that we can share here, the more inspired other readers will be and the greater realisation that our strategies and tools really do change lives.

If you have a story, example or case study that you want to share, remember that you can always email me directly at brendan@startofhappiness.com .

 

Coaching and Webinars

I get emails every now and then from individuals who would like direct help or would like to receive coaching. I absolutely love doing this. The major drawback for me at the moment is that I currently work full-time and have a number of projects on the side. Although all my work and my projects are all in the leadership, development and coaching space, it can mean my time is very limited.

I’m working on my own strategy as we speak to make better use of my time. I plan to free up some time to be able to introduce more coaching to The Start of Happiness readers. This is what I absolutely love doing.

One way of making effective use of time while coaching many is through webinars. I’m currently looking into how these work and would love to run a number of webinars throughout 2013.

What are your thoughts? Would you like more opportunity to receive coaching, either one-on-one or through webinars?

 

Videos

Videos are such a great way of learning. YouTube has pretty much taken over the world and is now the second most used search-engine behind Google. This certainly says something  when it comes to videos.

One thing I’ve noticed however, is that there are not too many videos online that really teach people the strategies and tools necessary to live a more successful, happy and fulfilling life.

I would love to be able to provide this to you guys. I’m considering investing in some technology to help me record and develop some videos for you that you will actually watch and actually learn from.

 

One Last Thing

I also just wanted to mention something about the upcoming Change Your Life program. If you do decide to purchase the program, 100% of the profits are going straight back into The Start of Happiness to ensure we continue building on what we have started.

This will be in the form of helping in the above initiatives and more. It will include things such as providing the opportunity for online videos, conducting webinars, better design and functionality and more access to resources to be able to help provide great content for you.

I’m seriously excited for what’s in store for 2013!

I’m glad you’re here to be part of the journey. Things are only going to get bigger and better!

Brendan

P.S. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the above, particularly when it comes to the rebranding. What are your thoughts on the design? What suggestions do you have for our motto?

P.P.S. If you have a good understanding of how webinars work and can point me in the direction of some good software, please let me know!

About the author 

Brendan Baker

Brendan Baker is Australia's leading personal development blogger and and helps people build and grow online businesses based on their passions. He has created the Launch Your Life Academy and Your First 1000 Subscribers. Connect with Brendan: Twitter, Facebook, Google+

Brendan Baker is Australia's leading personal development blogger and and helps people build and grow online businesses based on their passions. He has created the Launch Your Life Academy and Your First 1000 Subscribers. Connect with Brendan: Twitter, Facebook, Google+

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  1. I spent the last week of December doing this exact thing. Taking stock in the good and bad of 2012 and what I wanted to accomplish in 2013.

  2. Hi Brendan,

    I like your idea of rebranding. Of course, the ultimate goal of change is to bring about more happiness, both for ourselves and for those around us.

    But more often than not, change is difficult. It brings tough questions that we must ask ourselves. And it can be painful looking that deep into our psyche. We find some dark places in there. True meaningful change is not always so light-hearted.

    So while I also like the smileys, they may not be the best representation for something as profound as the “Change Your Life Program.”

    Cheers!

    1. Hi Trevor,

      Thanks fo the feedback, I really appreciate it. The smiley’s are just damn awesome 🙂 In fact, I think we need to name them 🙂

      Thanks for the kind words on the Change Your Life program. Indeed, that course is so much more than just happiness. Perhaps there’s a way of linking that branding across.

      Brendan

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