Looking Back on 2014

Hi, all! I am not sure if you noticed but I have not been publishing new content for the past couple of weeks. I was traveling (of course!) but also, I decided to take some time off of blogging to reflect. I looked back on my year 2014 and drafted some goals for 2015.

Looking back on 2014

All the details of my goals for 2014 can be found in my last New Year Resolutions post. I am happy to say I achieved all of them, kind of. 😀

• I became better at managing my time.

I continue using my Google Calendar for planning my time but I made one step further. I started using Toggl to record how I spend my time and to analyze any patterns – how much time I spend doing what activity, what I can outsource to focus on the tasks that really matter to me or my businesses. I am pretty happy with this tool and yet to discover more patterns. So I’ll just keep “improving my time management” as a goal for 2015 😉

• I moved away from charging for my time, kind of.

I still work mainly by the hour but that’s because I didn’t have that much time to work for clients at all. I cleaned the house, so to speak. I kept one favorite client of mine and focused on working on my own products. Occasionally a new client manages to convince me to take on their fixed price job (which automatically means I am no longer charging for my time with new clients) but that’s about it.

I did launch my first product though – maybe you remember Meliway 🙂 For better or for worse, user feedback quickly led to a new idea and we kinda abandoned Meliway… It’s still there and you can make a travel movie with it, but we don’t put any time or money into marketing it.

We are now working on its sister product which is to be much better. It’s called PictraMap and will enable you to make animated travel maps, for free and without ever leaving your browser. No wait time involved! If you want to try it out, you can subscribe to our list to get invited when it’s available online.

I still have a long way to go in order to fully move away from charging freelance clients for my time toward developing those passive income streams I mentioned last year, including publishing a few books, launching my email courses, conducting coaching sessions as often as I want, developing a few niche sites, and more. Stay tuned as this takes priority for me in 2015!

• I finished my first book!

Yeap, you read it right! First draft of my first book has been written, reviewed, reworked, reviewed again and now doing some final touches before I send it to JeriWB – a lovely blogger who also happens to be a freelance editor. I am happy I managed to secure a spot on her work calendar in January 2015.

I even surpassed this goal because I must say – the rough draft of my second book is also ready. Let’s see if I manage to rework it, have it edited and publish it in 2015 as well 😉

• I became better in Spanish

I know I pledged to become fluent in Spanish but with so many travels in 2015, we hardly ever got to spend much time hanging out with locals in Spain. So no, I am not fluent in Spanish the way I am fluent in English. But I am better (thank you, Duolingo!)

• I surpassed my travel goal, too!

When I think about it, maybe I should have been more specific – what does “travel to at least 10 new destinations” really mean? We did travel to a bunch of countries and visited way more than 10 cities and sights. Check out my autumn updates post for a map (and it was hardly October when I posted that one!) So I think it’s fair to say this goal is checked!

Nevertheless, travelling stays in my 2015 master list of goals. Travel is the only thing that you spend money on but makes you richer, eh? 😉

What’s next for me in 2015?

As you can see, some of my 2014 goals are accomplished, others are kind of accomplished and yet others, not so much. I learned that having goals is great, but also that these goals change as my priorities change. Flexibility is a key.

I did some goal setting for my various projects. I am yet to make SMART goals for everything I want to accomplish in 2015 but… instead of laying out here my 2015 goals, I will share with you a very old blog post of mine. I published it 4 years ago on my Bulgarian blog – how I felt on my first Christmas Eve as a freelancer. Hope you enjoy it and have a great 2015!

Instead of a Letter to Santa Claus

Dear Santa Claus,

I’m no longer a little girl but I still believe in miracles. I still believe that every next year will be better than the last one, if I am better – to myself, to everyone around me, to the world in general.

Last Christmas I asked you for a new computer – nicer, faster, shinier… I asked you for a new job, too. I asked you more adventures and to travel to many new countries. I asked you for so many things!

And I really was a good girl, all year round. Maybe that’s why you brought me everything I wished for – I have a new computer (even two!), I have a new job that I love, I have a new car, and I traveled to so many new places at home and abroad…

Thank you so much, Santa Claus!

~Diana

Maybe this is how my letter to Santa Clause would have read back in 2010, if I didn’t know that he had nothing to do with it; that working as a freelancer was what opened incredible opportunities for me, both in personal and professional aspect.

When I don’t write such a letter to Santa Claus, he has the time for all those letters that little kids send him, because they still cannot make their own wishes come true. Now I know I can take care of mine…

Happy Holidays, everyone!
Thank you for being a loyal reader of my blog and see you next year! 😀

~Diana