Just thought I would share my personal goal sheet for 2011 with you all.  Maybe it will inspire you to create your own.

2011 Goals

7 Areas with 5 Traits – Specific, Measurable, Your Goals (Accountable),  Time Limit,  In Writing

Financial – Debt, Income and Worth

1. Pay Off Car #1 by March 31^st – double payments for 3 months
2. Pay Off Car #2 by December 31^st – for 6 months Starting in April
3. Increase side income by $5,000 a year from websites, teaching and consulting.

Intellectual Goals – read 1 nonfiction book a month starting with:

1. QBQ – Question Behind the Question
2. Parenting Book – Scream Free Parenting / Raising Positive Kids in a Negative World
3. Read two relationship books.
4. Boundaries – Henry Cloud.

Family – Start dating your spouse and kids again.  Love is spelled TIME

1. Plan a winter break / vacation – Water Park before February 28^th.
2. Have “Dad and kid” and “Mom and Dad” night one time per month with each kid and wife.
3. Plan an week long Fall vacation with just our family for early August (not just going to the lake).

Spiritual Goals – Time and Prayer

1. Attend one small group meeting in 2011.  Alpha meetings?
2. Continue attending services during the summer.

Physical Goals – Exercise and Nutrition

1. Loose 1/2 pound per week by June 1^st 2011. 
2. Stop drinking pop except one diet coke every Sunday.
3. Cardio 2 days per week / weights 2 days per week.
4. Sign up for Novice Hockey league in Fall 2011.

Career Goals – Professional Development, Applications, Contacts

1. Hang real estate license by end of January. KW? 
2. Review and revise DIYBizPlan.com – Software revisions.
3. Launch www.TradeTurret.com – manage product end of the site partner to manage content.
4. Look at job openings once a week.  Meet with a career consultant.

Social Goals – Dinner Parties, Gatherings, etc.

1. Invite Friends #1 out for Dinner/Drinks or over with kids.
2. Happy hour with Neighbors one night a month.
3. Weekend with Old Friends out of town twice this year.

Going for broke people…what are your goals?

OK…I admit it. 

I’m a Dave Ramsey fan.  For the last year or two I have been an avid listener of the Dave Ramsey podcast and I even went to a couple of simlucast events: The Total Money Makeover Live and his new one EntreLeadership…which I guess there is a new book coming out for the latter in 2011. 

So, Dave’s big thing is “Debt is Dumb, Cash is King” and this translates well into business as well and personal finance.  Now, I have not quite drunk the kool aid enough to lecture my clients when they come in looking for help with a bank loan…but it has changed my thinking.  Now, I gently nudge them to find out, do they really need that loan?  Or, do they need that much of a loan? 

Anyway, during lunch the other day I was goofing around Googling random stuff and I came upon a pretty new blog about this very topic:  http://www.debtfreestartups.com/ 

What and awesome idea!  Putting together resources for starting a business without getting a loan.  And, the opportunity to create a community of people who want to thrive in business on their own merritt and resources, bootstrapping their way to the top!

So, I contacted Nate over at the site and shared our free business planning software with him as a tool for helping entrepreneurs get started on a tight budget so now I am a part of that community too. 

How about you?  Are you ready to start your debt free startup?  Well, head on over to http://www.debtfreestartups.com and get rocking…and don’t forget to come back to work on your business plan.

I wrote this poem at 5 AM one morning before Christmas 2008…  It is one of the few artistic things that I have done that I am proud of…though I am a little sad that the 401K comments still holds mostly true.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays / Light Festivals everyone!

Donovan Wadholm

As I wake to the sounds of the FM dial my mind starts to focus on life’s great trials.

“Time to get up kids & brush your teeth and please for once don’t fall back to sleep.”

“Hurry up now, get out of the shower.  The bus has gone and it’s tardy hour.”

In a rush as we fly in our car but the road is slick and the cars are at war.

Now it’s up to the office, where bosses await, with sullen faces at my tardy state.

In these times and on this day; it’s more work, less pay, and a vanishing 401K.

As I bring my work day to a close, the calendar tells me what it knows.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and passed and online shipping is not that fast.

Now it’s off to shop and play ”bumper carts” at the twenty four hour big box mart.

Clean the house, keep the kids in line, the threat of Saint Nick will be gone in a short time.

Like a tornado on this shopping spree, I lust after MP3s, DVDs, and HD-TVs.

Back at home my vision wont lie the whole family is coming and the house is a pigsty.

Now it’s mission impossible to wrap in a bow, while sneaking presents past those who can’t know.

The day is over and as I drift to sleep, I think of bounced checks instead of counting sheep.

Now as I wake on this eve of the big day, the sounds of Christmas music began to play.

I hear the house groan from the bitter cold night, but my heart is warmed by glowing lights.

Feeling relaxed now, my head is clear, I start to remember why I love this time of year.

The TV takes us to another time where Ralphie has only one thing on his mind.

Fun games, good company and holiday cheer, fill my heart and mind as night draws near.

Warm up the car and empty your glass, dress kids in their best for Midnight Mass.

On this night, nothing feels as right as singing Silent Night by candle light.

Last month my little boy turned 11 years old and it dawned on me that in 5 years he will be driving, in 7 heading off to college (if he so chooses) and a few years after that maybe having children of his own.

Now, I know that is not any different than what every parent goes through (including the realization that 40 is just around the corner) and, I imagine that it will just be another day when my middle son and youngest daughter hit double digits.

But, as this time of year rolls around I am reminded by my older and wiser sister that the March of Dimes – March for Babies is just around the corner and I come to another realization.  Birthdays are not the same for every parent.  For some it is the reminder that the birth of every child is a miracle.  My sister’s first baby Isaiah was born at 25 weeks weighing just 1 lb 5 oz and fought for 111 days in the Meritcare NICU to stay alive.  Today he is a healthy young boy full of life and spirit.

I challenge you to donate your time, money or both to support the March of Dimes in their fight to help moms have healthy, full-term pregnancies and fund research to find answers to the problems that threaten our babies.

Click the image above to make a donation to March of Dimes.

I hope you all find the time to take a step back and appreciate all of the gifts life has given you…I am going to go now and hug my kids.

Donovan Wadholm

The typical way most entrepreneurs start a business is the following:

1. Choose a product to sell or service to offer (based on the industry or hobby they know best)
2. Choose a name for the company and create a logo
3. File  Incorporation or a LLC paperwork
4. Write a business plan
5. Get funding
6. Build a website, business cards, find office space, etc.
7. Launch the company – i.e. flip on the open sign.
8. Wait for the money to roll in… in other words hope for the best

And, this is the way Smart Start-ups do it:

1. Find a hungry market
2. Figure out why they are hungry and what kind of food they’re looking for
3. Study the players in the market (to copy the good things and avoid the bad things they’re doing)
4. Test the waters. This is the most visible difference between smart and dumb start-ups. Smart marketers know that it’s all about testing the market fast and invest as little as possible.
5. If the offering doesn’t convert sales, the Smart Start-up gos on to test the next market. The second most important difference between them, the Smart ones find the audience first and then they create the product they want.
6. If the offer converts, this is when the Smart Start-up starts thinking of it as a business. And that is because he has a real business, he knows it’s time to improve the product offering or processes. 
7. Finally, this is when the Smart Marketer get his fancy website and business cards. Because he knows he’s investing in a business, not in an idea.

Biggest Takeaways

Don’t fall in love with a product or service. You want to become a successful business owner; the product that gets you there is irrelevant (that is, unless you’re very passionate about something and don’t care about money as much as you care about doing something you love [which I completely believe in, BTW]).
 
* Find the market first and develop a product or service for them. Listen to them and give them what they want.
 
* Fail fast, fail cheep.  Test the market as fast as you can with as little money as possible. Don’t create what you think is a perfect company and then launch it; launch it first and if it works, perfect it.

Zeke Camusio
http://www.TheOutsourcingCompany.com/blog