When I maintained my previous website, I tried to do a yearly reflection on what went right and wrong, and what I’d do next year. Seems I forgot to do that for 2020, which was a strange one for sure. Now that it’s nearly 2022, I thought I’d revive the practice.
2021 Accomplishments
It’s strange how goals change through a year, and 2020/2021 were certainly no exceptions. After getting vaccinated this summer, I traveled so see friends in Idaho, and saw Glacier National Park (the park’s Iceberg Lake is pictured above), which was amazing.
At that point it seemed like things were quickly getting back to some sense of normal, which seems in retrospect to be not entirely true. While my personal interactions and day-to-day tasks are now fairly typical (or were, as they’ve very recently become more out of wack), there are still some major residual effects, including supply chain issues.
Last year I set goals at the beginning, and added one midway though. I actually sketched up this project on a plane to Idaho, which I’ll discuss further down.
Looking back on my notebook per Business Goals:
- Business income > X – Did not meet, but came close enough to support my family.
- Ad revenue > X – Did not meet. Honestly, with changes in various payment systems, I don’t see this happening any time soon.
- Product Profit > X – While the first two were negatives, I blew this one out of the water (or at least based on my gross, it seems I did). This was largely thanks to my EZ Fan 2 board selling well on Tindie, and a the JC Pro Macro 2 Kickstarter project that I did late in the year.
- Order and Sell 1 PCBA Design – Huge success here, as I actually was able to sell 3.
- YouTube > 6000 Subs – Got over 5000, which is neat, but would still have to put this in the technically failed category.
In June I added another goal, which was to design and build a new macro keyboard, with the goal being to eventually sell it. I sold the resulting “JC Pro Macro” on Tindie with some success, and did a quick sequel to it, the JCPM 2 via the aforementioned Kickstarter. This raised $16,607, blowing away my stated project goal.
So for the first time, selling physical objects has become a meaningful part of my business. I enjoy writing about technology and such, but love actually building things, so I’m quite happy with this development. On the other hand, I’ve found that selling a product you’ve designed is probably 20% actually designing it, and 80% marketing, purchasing, manufacturing, and other related tasks.
What’s neat about this type of project is that I can use a wide range of disparate skills and business contacts that I’ve developed over the years to accomplish a goal. These projects also gave me a lot to write about for that part of my business. Perhaps the lesson is to never stop learning and exploring opportunities. You never know what skills will come in handy.
As far as 2021 Non-Business Goals go:
- Weight consistently under 240 lbs – I weigh in at about 245, about equal to, or even a little higher than, this time last year, so not a success. That being said, during the last two years I seem to be in the best shape I’ve been in for more than a decade. I literally had to put more holes in my belt to keep it tight, so I think I’m heading in the right direction.
- 35 pushups, support in sit position with only hands for 5 seconds – While I haven’t strictly tested either, I don’t think either is possible for me at this point.
- Reduce back pain – I have some back issues, and I had down on my goals to get healthier in this sense. Via working out, a new chair, and new bed (some time ago), it seems to have gotten better, even if it’s not perfect. I was also doing inversions on a Roman sit up chair early in the year, but largely slacked off there.
So all failures on these publicly shared goals
2022 Goals
- Business Profit > X – I set this at roughly the same level as what I made in 2021. While lower than my 2021 goal, it was generally enough to sustain myself and family, and I want to concentrate on growing my business selling physical “things.”
- Product Gross > X – This I put at roughly 2x what I grossed this year. Seems like a stretch, but perhaps reasonable, as I should get some sales from products introduced in 2021. Hopefully I can keep this momentum going, and in the long-term use it to increase my overall business profit to higher levels than previously attained.
- 1 New Customer or Platform – Customers ebb and flow, so I’ll keep putting myself out there. Perhaps this will be a new writing customer, or I could expand my business to a new method of distribution.
- Sell 1 New Product – I’ve got something in mind, so this shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish. Stay tuned – Twitter @jeremyscook is probably the best way to follow me.
- Improve Podcast – I do a podcast with Pat Regan, which starting in 2022 is known as the Create/Invent podcast. I’d invite you to subscribe there, either on YouTube directly, or via the methods linked on the page. Formerly, it was The Creativity Podcast, but I feel like that doesn’t convey our technology and making focus as well as it should. I’ve ordered some additional sound insulation, so hopefully I can make at least a marginal improvement in sound quality, and stickers to help promote our brand.
Non-Business Goals:
- Weight consistently under 240 lbs – As noted earlier, I’m actually in pretty decent shape at 245 lbs. In fact that’s what I weighted in college when I could still dunk a basketball. Nonetheless, the CDC apparently disagrees per their calculator shown below, and I feel like if I could get to where I’m consistently in the 230s I’d look fairly trim.
- Support in a sit position – Basically I’m looking to do something like what’s described here, supporting myself in a sitting position with only my hands. Not necessarily a full “L-sit,” but even having the knees tucked and off the ground, without any sort of bars I’d count as a success.
So for non-business/fitness goals this year I’m trying to keep things simple. Maybe I can remember and stick to two things. I’d also like to improve my baritone ukulele skills, which is a little hard to quantify, but I’ll just leave this hear perhaps for me to refer back to in a year or so:
Originally tweeted by Jeremy Cook 🤖 (@JeremySCook) on December 24, 2021.
In other vague goals, I’ve planted a number of fruit-bearing trees and bushes in my yard during the past year or so: A Barbados cherry tree, Persian/Mexican Lime, Key Lime, Calamondin, blackberry, and blueberry, as well as continuing to collect pineapples. Hopefully by this time next year I’ll have reaped some of the literal fruits of these labors, which should pay off for years to come.
So all that being said, I hope you have a great 2022. It’s been a weird few years, but you never know what the future will bring, for better or worse!