Entrepreneurs Share Goals 2014 2

A few days ago we heard from 7 entrepreneurs who shared what they learned in 2013 and their goals for 2014.

This is part 2 of the series in which another 7 entrepreneurs share their insights with you.

Again, the insights from each entrepreneur are fascinating and it’s such a great way to get into the mind of these individuals and find out what is most important to them in their life right now.

For further details on the importance of these insights and how to best use this information in your own life check out part 1 of this 2 part series.

Which challenges, key learning, goals or insights resonate the most with you?

Thanks again to Lori, Sean, Tim, Henri, Nathalie and Jenny who were kind enough to let us into their world!

 

Lori DescheneLori Deschene

Founder of Tiny Buddha

From 2013:

“What is your biggest goal for 2013 and how will you achieve it?”

For 2013, my biggest goals are to sell a screenplay I wrote with my boyfriend, and spend extensive time traveling internationally. As for how I plan to achieve these goals: intention, effort, connection, and course correction as I go!”

 

New in 2014:

#1: “What successes or challenges did you face in pursuing your goal for 2013?”

My boyfriend and I were pretty fortunate with the screenplay, in that a good friend of mine, an industry veteran, gave us direction for rewrites and connected us with her agent. He opted not to represent us, but he gave us some wonderful advice that we know will help us going forward.

We were more successful with our travel goals. We spent a month in Italy, a month in the Netherlands, and a month in France. Equally exciting, we had both of our families join us for a week in Rome. Since we both work for ourselves and had saved for it, the biggest challenge was working on our various projects while still allowing plenty of time to explore.

#2: “What’s your biggest goal for 2014 and how will you achieve it?”

My biggest goal for 2014 is another joint goal–to officially become bi-coastal. We’ve been working toward this for almost the entire five years we’ve been together because our families live on opposite coasts.

As for how we’ll accomplish this goal, we will likely start looking at homes on the east coast with plans to use AirBNB to rent it out while we’re on the west coast. The second phase would be to do the same thing in California. It’s an ambitious goal, but oh so worth it!

 

Sean ogleSean Ogle

Founder of Location 180

From 2013:

“What is your biggest goal for 2013 and how will you achieve it?”

In 2013 I hope to continue doing more of the same stuff but on a greater scale.  This is going to get done by discipline.  Recognizing that I need to continue moving forward because as soon as I rest on past accomplishments it all goes away.”

 

New in 2014:

#1: “What successes or challenges did you face in pursuing your goal for 2013?”

The biggest challenge I faced was definitely discipline. When you’re building a lifestyle business, and especially when you begin to see a level of success, it can be easy to let the lifestyle get in the way of the business. This year that was definitely more of a challenge than in any prior years.

#2: “What’s your biggest goal for 2014 and how will you achieve it?”

My biggest goal is to say no more – and be more deliberate about the things I say yes to. That sounds a little cliche, but I’ve always been a guy that says yes anytime something sounds cool. My time is much more limited now for business ventures, so saying no to things I’m not totally 100% excited about needs to become more of a habit.

 

Tim BrownsonTim Brownson

Founder of A Daring Adventure

From 2013:

”What is your biggest goal for 2013 and how will you achieve it?”

Biggest goal for 2013 is to get at least 10,000 downloads of my latest free ebook ’70 Amazing Facts About Your Brain’ that publishes in January. I’ll hopefully achieve that by some good old fashioned favour asking from other bloggers, an Amazon launch and being a total publicity whore 😉

 

New in 2014:

#1: What has been your biggest achievement and/or learning in 2013?

The challenge was I didn’t set a big enough goal and I hit it inside a month. Happy in one way, but also a tad disappointed that I didn’t do what I tell clients which is, aiming for 10 and getting to 9 is better than aiming for 5 and hitting it.

#2: What is your biggest goal for 2014 and how will you achieve it?

Get my energy back. I’ve bought and am using a juicer, I’m going to work out and meditate more and focus all my efforts on health rather than just talking about it.

 

Henri JuntillaHenri Junttila

Founder of Wake Up Cloud

#1: What has been your biggest achievement and/or learning in 2013?

To not try to figure everything out. The current version of my Lifestyle Liberation Academy may not have come about without the steps before it. In other words, you don’t have to figure life out, because as you move forward, doors will open. You will feel inspired and motivated in certain directions.

Not trying to control the outcome frees up mental energy. When I try to control and figure things out, I end up exhausted, because it’s impossible to do. It’s not my job to control life. It’s my job to live life, and do my best.

#2: What is your biggest goal for 2014 and how will you achieve it?

My goal is to simply keep following my heart. My priority is peace of mind and joy. I get there by staying true to who I am, which to me means following my excitement and staying in the present moment.

I’ll run into obstacles. I’ll struggle, but that’s okay. Life is both hot and cold, light and dark. My goal then is to stay on track and to follow my inner GPS, because that is all I can do.

 

Nathalie LussierNathalie Lussier

Founder of NathalieLussier.com

#1: What has been your biggest achievement and/or learning in 2013?

You can’t do it all yourself, and if you want to have ownership of your business you need to give ownership of projects to team members in your company.

#2: What is your biggest goal for 2014 and how will you achieve it?

Related to team building, one of my biggest goals is to systematize my business so that it can run smoothly without a lot of input on my part. I love all the creative stuff and talking to my clients, so I want to focus on my strengths this year.

 

Jenny Blake Jenny Blake

Founder of Life After College

#1: What has been your biggest achievement and/or learning in 2013?

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned this year is patience with my business. Innovation requires incubation (at least for me). Sometimes new ideas take time to accumulate, marinate, and tumble around in the real world a little bit. I pushed so hard to land on THE NEXT THING that eventually I realized it’s more of a year to sit back, observe, focus on my own daily practices for health, wellness and creativity and give the new ideas time to grow.

#2: What is your biggest goal for 2014 and how will you achieve it?

Equanimity. I want to build and appreciate where I am at the same time. Create from a grounded, solid foundation. And to do more speaking, which I love 🙂

 

Brendan BakerBrendan Baker

Founder of Gradrecruit and The Start of Happiness

From 2013:

”What is your biggest goal for 2013 and how will you achieve it?”

That’s a tough one, Brendan! But let me say that I did write a post at the start of 2013 outlining my key plans for The Start of Happiness which you can check out here.

 

New in 2014:

#1: What has been your biggest achievement and/or learning in 2013?

Overall, 2013 was a pretty big success for The Start of Happiness.

I successfully launched the Change Your Life program which was received really well and we had over 100 people go through the course. This has now been replaced by the Launch Your Life Academy which has just been launched in time for setting up 2014 with success.

I re-branded the site to make it a little more professional (although for those that remember I do sometimes miss all the crazy little smiley guys we used to have!)

I did successfully open up my coaching programs for the community and have since helped a number of people start to make a difference and earn an income from doing what they love.

The major thing I have learned this year is that online business takes time to build and will not happen overnight, yet face-to-face or “in-person” or traditional business can be built almost instantly and this is an area I’ll be focusing on more in 2014.

 

#2: What is your biggest goal for 2014 and how will you achieve it?

At the start of each year I always like to call it ‘The Year of X’, where I replace X with whatever my major focus is for that year. This year, I’m embarking on the Year of Productivity. I feel I can improve a lot in this area and I’m aiming to double my productivity. It’s about disciplining myself more and having the right strategies in place to make it happen. I’ll be sure to share my key insights and experiences on this blog with you in the coming months.

In terms of a larger goal, I want to take what I have built on The Start of Happiness and apply it face-to-face workshops and training programs. I’m looking at doing this through incorporating both my businesses in that the training programs will have some similar content to The Start of Happiness but be applied to University graduates entering the workforce.

 

Over to You

Now that you have heard from 14 entrepreneurs on their plans for 2014, what is your one big goal for this year?

How are you going to make it happen?

What have you learned from 2013 that can help you move forward in 2014?

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Brendan

 

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. About Lori’s goals for 2014, I think it would be so cool to have two homes and live in one for one month, then live in the other for another month, and switch back and forth like that. I get bored where I am, but I also like to be at home and have all the comforts of my own home. Obviously having two homes is more expensive, but things like Airbnb help solve that problem, and that’s something I definitely have in mind to do at some point 🙂

    I love Henri’s ideas about letting go of control and simply living life. It’s very freeing, and something I’m actually going through right now as well 🙂

    And Brendan, the smiley faces were definitely cool, but I’m totally into the clean look of your new site 🙂

  2. Hello Brendan,

    Those entrepreneurs are very inspiring.

    Being an entrepreneur myself I have some incredible plans this year and If I complete all 3 of them, I’ll be a happy camper.

    I do not know you yet, and I know you don’t know me, so I hope we can get to know each other better since you seem to know a lot of personal development blogs out there.

    All the best on your new ventures.

    1. Hi Sylviane,

      You have me curious now as to what your 3 incredible plans are 🙂

      All the best for them and keep in touch!

  3. Very interesting to see how people think and plan their year.

    My biggest goal for 2014 is to be more disciplined with my habits and routines. I want to build more positive success habits like meditation, journaling, studying, and reading. And I want to do those things very consistently.

    As far as New Year’s Resolutions go, I told myself something ridiculous: that I would shoot 1 vblog video every day in 2014. That’s 365 videos! Kinda nuts, but I’ve been going pretty strong so far. I like the idea of setting a goal so big that you know you can’t do it. But you try anyways just to see how far you can push it.

    Biggest thing learned in 2013? Happiness comes from building the right habits and living with discipline. The ancient Greeks and Roman philosophers were really on to something!

    Leo

    1. Hi Leo,

      That’s awesome to hear. I’m on a similar path in creating those success habits. Reading is one of mine as well.

      Congrats on shooting the vlogs everyday! That’s a serious commitment but it sounds like you have what it takes to see it through…

      Good luck and I look forward to hearing of your progress!

  4. Inspiring to read! I always rebel against new years resolutions because I don’t want to wait until a new year to get started on my goals, but what better time is there to assess what you want to accomplish in the coming year.

    1. Hi Janine, that’s awesome that you get into goals outside of the New Year season. I completely agree with this and I think that a goal is relevant at ANY point in time, but as you say, the New Year presents a perfect opportunity to reflect on (or create) your goals.

  5. Hmmmm…

    Having a goal you commit to is the only way you will achieve it. It doesn’t have to be measurable in the beginning…I ask my folks to figure out how they want to feel first, and let the objective (specific and measurable) come from that.

    But without a target, we wander aimlessly. Take whatever time you need to develop one…but eventaully…get in there and commit!

    1. You got that right, Larry!

      And very true… often it’s not the goal itself but simply the movement in a certain direction. Even if you don’t have absolutely clarity on what you what, by moving in a particular direction and getting feedback, things will start to fall into place and clarity will present itself.

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