Most of September was about adjusting to college life. With that said, I still made progress for my business and changed up some of my goals. Here’s my month in review:
My YouTube Goal
Earlier, I set a goal of getting 10,000 subscribers by the end of the year. At this stage, me accomplishing that goal seems unlikely. I took a three week hiatus from YouTube to adapt to my new life in college.
I’ll have more to say about YouTube the following month. Right now, it’s too early to tell what my target is. Before I know for sure, I must see how much work I can reasonably do each day to grow my YouTube channel.
Speaking Tour In June
I’m really excited about this one. The reason I couldn’t go all-in as a public speaker was because of my conflicting school and running schedules. I have very little room to squeeze in speaking gigs throughout the school year, and I don’t want to spend all of summer making up for what I couldn’t do.
So I have decided to apply to a bunch of events that take place in June. My goal is to get at least three event organizers to have me as a speaker. I even put together a public speaker video, so you know I’m serious.
I finished the video but have to make some minor adjustments. It will be out in the first week of October.
I am very excited about traveling to different places while doing what I love. Once I have times, dates, and locations, I’ll let everyone know.
Guest Posts
My blog traffic has been down lately. It’s been happening all across the board to people who use Twitter as a primary blog traffic search. I reached out to one of my mentors to see if he was affected, and it turns out his Twitter traffic has been down too.
He then suggested that I write guest posts again, so that’s exactly what I am doing. So far I have written three guest posts that are in the process of getting published. I’ll have more about that in October.
Unlock Your Potential
While most of September was focused on adapting to my life in college, I made progress with Unlock Your Potential. I am happy to say that the book is over 30,000 words, and it is coming along very nicely.
It will definitely be finished by the end of the month. At that stage, I’ll send it over to my publisher.
My Podcast Is Rocking
In case you didn’t know, I finally got around launching my podcast. So far, the podcast features eight episodes, and many are in the works right now. I am very grateful for all of the support I have received from my guests and fellow listeners.
Yes, I say fellow listeners because I’m in it to learn too. The more people I interview, the more dedicated I become. I implement my goals at a much faster pace and end up adding other goals to my arsenal.
A lot of my heroes are coming on my future episodes. I am especially excited about those episodes. Who are these guests? The suspense builds!
Books I Read
This performance report hasn’t been reading like my prior performance reports in the summer. However, this is the bright spot. I read several books this month:
#1: Triggers by Mark Reiter and Marshall Goldsmith
#2: Driven To Distraction At Work by Ned Hallowell
#3: Toilet Paper Entrepreneur by Mike Michalowicz
The first two books focus on personal performance. I took a special focus on personal performance this month because with my new schedule, I needed a new mindset to get my work done.
In both books, I learned the importance of creating a structure. A structure does not restrict you. Rather, it informs you on when you should complete specific tasks. For instance, Wednesdays are my off-days, so that’s a good time for me to do videos, podcast interviews, and the bulk of my business work. The weekends are great for me too.
I am currently in the middle of reading a copywriting book and an SEO audiobook.
Blog Posts I Wrote
5 Ways To Find Time For Freelance Writing: Freelancing is an interesting side hustle that some writers explore. If you are looking to find some extra revenue writing about topics you enjoy, this blog post will help you out.
10 Social Media Trends To Pay Attention To: Social media is rapidly changing and 2017 is just around the corner. You’ll want to capitalize on these 10 social media trends before everyone else does.
How To Integrate Live Streaming With Your Social Media Strategy: In a word, live streaming is HOT! If you want to discover how to integrate live streaming with your social media strategy, well that’s the name of the blog post 🙂
7 Twitter Analytics Insights That Will Grow Your Business: Twitter Analytics is a cool part of Twitter that not enough people are utilizing. In this blog post, I reveal how the information from Twitter Analytics can take your Twitter reach to the next level.
Podcast Episodes I Published
I am going to relish every moment of writing this portion of the Performance Report. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know how much this means to me. So I will take my sweet time 🙂
Episode 1: Successful Podcasting With Jeffrey Shaw — I couldn’t be any happier to have had Jeffrey Shaw as my first guest. I give him A LOT of credit for helping me start the podcast. He made a last minute change to his schedule just so I could interview him before anyone else.
The truth is I assumed that it would be a great idea to interview someone with a podcast first. Jeffrey knows the process I went through from start to finish. At one time, he was just getting started. I enjoyed our Creative Warriors interview a lot (that’s his podcast).
So there’s the background information. The episode itself is about building a successful podcast. It’s great for anyone considering a podcast, on the verge of getting started, or ready to take their podcast to the next level.
Episode 2: Building A Kindle Empire With Nick Loper — Nick is a side hustler who is the epitome of the Swedish proverb “Many little streams make a mighty river.” He makes money doing a lot of different things. One area he mastered is building a Kindle Empire. You’ll get a lot of great nuggets on how to take your Kindle publishing to the next level.
Episode 3: Growing Your Blog With Brian Lang — I read Brian Lang’s guest post on ProBlogger and instantly knew he had to be a guest on my podcast. We talked about growing a blog and tackled some of the fears that hold bloggers back.
Episode 4: How To Get 100,000 Monthly Blog Visitors With Neil Patel — If you know Neil Patel, you know that every blog he touches turns into gold. He knows how to focus his maximum efforts in the right areas to virtually ensure success. We touched upon getting those visitors within this episode.
Episode 5: Growing and Maintaining Multiple Businesses With Jeet Banerjee — TEDx speaker Jeet Banerjee stopped by to share how he manages multiple successful businesses at the same time. Just like me, he got started as a teen and is now crushing it in his 20s.
Episode 6: How To Make Six Figures Writing Kindle Books With Steve Scott — I’ve been following Steve for a while and got a change to interview him for my podcast. He’s written dozens of Kindle books that allow him to make six figures in “passive” income. I only put it in quotes because we’re all doing work to get that income, but the point is Steve is making money in his sleep.
We talk about some ways to crank out those books and market them for maximum success.
Episode 7: How To Make Thousands Of Dollars Per Month By Freelancing With Gina Horkey — Gina has a story that resonates with many people. She pursued freelancing as a way of making extra money, but she didn’t want this side hustle to get in the way of her family time. What she did and how she ended up crushing it get revealed in the episode.
Episode 8: Becoming A 10% Entrepreneur With Patrick McGinnis — The concept of a 10% entrepreneur amazed me because it explained why I am a successful entrepreneur even though I’m a student-athlete. The less time you have, the more seriously you take every minute that you are given. We talk about that and much more within this episode.
Episode 9: Mastering The Launch With Tom Morkes — Tmorkes (I don’t know if that’s his official nickname, but I’ve seen it floating around) knows a lot about successful launches. He has launched his own products and the products of people like Jeff Goins, Neil Patel, and more. This episode is jam-packed to the gills with advice on crushing your first (or next) launch.
Looking Back At August
The focus in August was on my YouTube channel. My changing schedule impacted the way I viewed my goals. Right now, the YouTube goal is undetermined. I spent most of September laying out the ground work for a strong end of the year.
I intentionally read more personal performance books so I could perform at my best even under a changing schedule. The podcast, affiliate marketing, and my book Unlock Your Potential are the three main constants mentioned in the prior performance report.
October Goals
Since September was largely preparation for a strong October, I am giving myself ambitious goals for the upcoming month.
#1: Get 1,000 Daily Visitors For My Blog
Guest posting and a bigger email list will help me big-time with this goal. I get a few hundred daily visitors and am looking to expand this number. I will continue listing this as a goal until it gets accomplished.
#2: Get Three Speaking Gigs For June
I want to travel to different places while doing what I love. I can’t go all-in with public speaking, but getting a minimum of three speaking gigs for June is my goal.
Getting those three speaking gigs would make it easier for me to get more speaking gigs in the future when I have more time available.
#3: Launch TSMD
I had this goal for the prior month, but it’s been taking longer than expected to get the videos edited. I am actually on the clock to get this launch done because I promoted the course in an upcoming summit in the middle of October.
I have spent countless hours working on TSMD, and I know that it’s going to help a lot of people master social media.
#4: Read 10 Books
Reading one book every three days is an ambitious goal, but I believe in my ability to get it done. To clarify, reading books also includes listening to audiobooks. Furthermore, I skim through many of the books that I read.
As you read more business books, you come across the same advice again and again. Why read insights that you already know? I want to get straight to the meat and bones of each book that I read.
#5: Finish The Unlock Your Potential Manuscript
My biggest goal for the month is to get the wheels rolling with Unlock Your Potential. I want to submit it to my editor so she can spice it up and then we get it out to the world. I’ll have to write anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 words for the book this month to accomplish my goal.
In Conclusion
September was a month filled with adjustments. I changed my structure three times and had certain high-stress moments. On certain days, I felt completely unproductive and disappointed with myself.
The personal performance books helped me get through this phase and prepare for a stronger October. I’ve had to pause certain projects to pursue others with greater intensity. Outside of the business, my physical strength hasn’t been better. That’s what being on a team in college will do to you 🙂
Thank you for reading my month in review.
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