2012… 2013
2012 is coming to an end and it's time to take stock and reflect on what a year it has been. While the world didn't end in 2012, it has definitely been an intense and full year for me.
After more than 3 and a half years of being a wandering world traveler, my partner and I set our sights on having a home base that can support our future goals. This was not an easy task, suffice it to say. While we both love Australia Kyle's family is in the USA and following many long discussions, a few intense debates, and multiple residency applications for each country, we have decided to come to live in the US. Now we just have to choose a state...
In between our visits back and forth to the US and Australia we managed to get in some travel and adventure time. I had always wanted to visit the Caribbean so we picked Dominican Republic as our desired destination for its Spanish-speaking culture and relatively large size. We spent close to 2 months in the DR with a majority of time in a quaint coastal town called Las Terrenas. Seeing the poverty of a nearby school which had one broken table, no chairs, and no books, we gathered some donations from friends back home and helped to build and provide supplies for a new school.
Another highlight travel destination was a long road trip along the west coast of the USA from Portland, Oregon, where we attended the brilliant World Domination Summit conference, to L.A, where we visited family and friends. If you ever visit California, be sure to visit the Redwood Forest in the northern part of the state. Driving through the majestic giant trees is just something you can't explain.
2012 Focus
Each year I use the holiday season to choose a primary focus for the upcoming year. This practice allows me to immerse myself within the chosen area of focus and spur more growth as a result of it.
In 2012, my primary focus was to diversify and grow my financial wealth. And When I say "financial wealth" I'm not necessarily referring to money but to other types of assets, especially those geared toward online income generation.
For the first time in quite a long time I explored the options of investing in real estate and trading foreign exchange and global commodity markets. I completed an 8-week course in Forex trading and another one in Futures trading. I traded the CFD markets for a while and had some success with it.
I also explored the options of investing in real estate, especially during this downturn in the US market. I read books, attended workshops, and had meetings with experts. In the end, I decided to forgo both these options... for now. What can I say, trading felt like gambling and providing housing is not exactly my number one passion.
My biggest passion, however, was and is entrepreneurship, especially in developing online businesses that deliver real value to people. So, for the remainder of the year I focused on diversifying my online portfolio and also start offering products and services that I'm truly passionate about.
The five areas I mainly focused on are: blogging, Social Media, Online services, eBooks, and Software.
1. Blogging:
- I rebranded and redesigned my existing blogs and grew their email subscriber list from a few dozen subscribers to more than a thousand today.
- I interviewed 60 inspiring men and women, from diverse backgrounds and passions, who all made their dream reality and became extraordinary heroes of their own stories.
- I created a new blog for those who are passionate about freedom and living life on their own terms.
- I started a free daily motivational thought service to help others stay motivated in their pursuit of their dreams, (including your humble servant, myself that is).
2. Social Media:
- I created a Facebook page with thousands of likes from scratch.
- I built my Twitter list from 30 followers to around 1500.
- I became an active user of Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
3. eBooks:
- I wrote an eBook about how to pick a niche to build your business around and offered it for free to my subscribers
- I also wrote an eBook about how to cure a Facebook addiction and offered it for sale on Amazon store.
4. Online Services:
- After having been approached by a few people, I now officially offer coaching services to clients with big dreams and big goals. I've been pouring my heart and soul into my clients' progress this year. It's been hard work and it's taken a lot of time and energy, but the reward of seeing someone's life starting to transform has been truly precious.
- I launched a service for small scale and aspiring entrepreneurs who are looking to build and grow an online presence. I called it "Dream to Business". Strategic planning, effective marketing and website conversion are my strengths and I really enjoy the creative process of turning ideas into businesses so it was just a question of time before I started to offer this type of service.
5. Software:
- Lastly, after using too many mediocre softwares to help me reach my goals, I started developing my own softwares. This year I launched the Habit Software, a simple and free online tool to instill and track habits. If you're curious about why habits are so important to track and how they can dramatically change your life, I suggest you give it a try.
Turning a page to 2013
Although I achieved my 2012 goal of diversifying my wealth, I felt that I was stretching myself too thin, exploring too much time and energy in areas that are not leading me to my best purpose such as trading and real estate.
This year I'm committing to put all my effort into growing my wealth in areas that I absolutely love and believe in. No more wide-ranging explorations, but focused and continuous effort in projects I truly enjoy doing.
I contemplated exploring different focuses in 2013 but my goal of creating a happy, settled, and comfortable home base this coming year requires every bit of my attention.
What is YOUR 2013 focus?
Where are you going to put the majority of your effort this coming year?
Are you clear about what you love to do?
Are you going to commit to a plan that will lead you to doing what you love doing best?
As my wise friend Raam Dev so eloquently put it "In the end, when your entire life flows into a single moment of time, it won’t be your possessions, your worries, or your missed opportunities that cumulate into that single moment, but rather how you truly you lived, how deeply you loved, and how completely you followed your heart."
Wherever you are, however you're feeling, and whatever your plans are for this holiday season, I wish you blessings of abundance, joy, and freedom.
Yours,
Tal Gur
* If you're looking for more inspiration to help you on your personal development journey, you may want to check out my extensive list of SMART goals. This page is packed with thousands of different goal ideas that can help you set new aspirations and reach higher heights in your life. Personally, this page helped me to create my own 100 life goals list, which I pursued for over a decade.
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
