2013 Goals

While I'm on the topic of accomplishments from yesterday's post, here's my list of goals for 2013. (Note: I drafted this a few weeks ago in my logbook, so some milestones are already met.)

Personal

• Ride the Whistler Gran Fondo. All the tri training last year made me forego a good few bike rides in the name of swimming or running. By the end of the summer I was in great cycling shape because .. I just love to ride. Having a terrifying cycling milestone at the end of the summer sounds like exactly what I need!
• Ride to Portland. Steph and I have been talking about a week-long trip down the pacific coast. Who's in?
• Ride 3000 km. Which works out to less than 10 km per day. It's mid January and I'm at 150, so this is looking good. I'll be tracking it using Strava.
• Own the necessary equipment to bike across Canada. Those last few are leading up to a goal for one of the next couple of years. I had wanted to do this before I turned 30, but I didn't take any steps toward it until I was 29 (and a half). This is me taking the proper steps. 
• Live carbon neutral. I was pretty close last year. Trans-continental flights destroy all day-to-day best practices however. Offsets will do for those.
• Own fewer possessions. I have too much "stuff". I'm always downsizing, but I need a good purge. Anyone in the market for hockey equipment? Old computer parts maybe?
• Beat my sprint triathlon PB. That's a sub 80 minute race. The swim and the run need the most work by far.
• Beat my Sun Run PB. Aiming to crack 50 minutes. I know the route well now, just need to put in the miles.
• Visit Victoria properly. There aren't many lofty travel goals this year because I have no idea how my financial situation is going to pan out. In the meantime, Victoria is beautiful and close, and I haven't taken advantage.

Professional

• Open Common Ground. This is well underway, partnerships are forming, paperwork is being filed, and momentum is building. It's going to be an exciting year for freelancers and entrepreneurs in St. John's!
• Grow Funl 50x. That'll be 5000 users by January 1, 2013.
• Earn revenue from Funl. Supporting 5000 users is not free. It has to pay for itself.
• Earn freelance revenue. Already accomplished! Now I need a more agressive target...
• Earn freelance revenue every month. I like side-projects. It's nice when they also pay!
• Learn a programming language or framework. Probably some new-school Javascript thing that all the kids are raving about.
• Become cash flow positive. One of the downsides of my self-employment adventure is the initial trough of relative poverty. Many of the above goals aim to rectify that. Oh the forecast spreadsheets I've made...
• Create a portfolio. I've worked on a few cool projects over the last few years and I need a good way to showcase them for posterity. Suggestions welcome.
• Give a presentation or pitch once a quarter. Because I need the practice, and I kind of enjoy making myself uncomfortable.
• Hire someone. Because it's fun to choose who you work with. And outsourcing-guy inspired me.

Above all else

• Enjoy myself. If any of the previous goals gets in the way of this one, then it's cut. Things change. I'll stay flexible.

2012 Recap

2012 was a significant year for me. Here are some of the reasons:

Professional

• Built and released a web app. Releasing a product is scary, but it felt good. It's still scary actually. And good.

Sufficiently embarrassing initial launch page

• Became my own boss. I wrote another post about that. You can find it here. Five months later, self-employment still has ups and downs.
• Created my first business cards. I had Future Shop ones back in the day, but I didn't get to invent them.

By Greg at Engravable Designs

• Built a personal website. Hopefully this one stands the test of time; I feel better equipped than my last attempt in grade 6.
• Pitched a startup. That was intimidating, but went alright. I learned that pitching is not so much presenting, but more selling. And usually selling someone else on the possibility of making money from your work.

Always have a moustache to ensure maximum seriousness.

• Started coworking. I tested out a few spaces around Vancouver and loved the idea of being immersed in productivity. Working from home is not all it's cracked up to be. Launch Academy won out by the way.
• Started bringing coworking to St. John's. With the awesome guys behind Common Ground. You'll be hearing about it soon.
• Attended Startup Weekend UBC. Met some great and talented people. Built a cool receipt-scanning company. Failed fast and learned a ton!

Bio (far left) is a code machine!

• Bought some stocks. Lost money. Sold stocks. Closed account. Too high-maintenance for me right now.

Personal

• Snowboarded 30 days. That'll be a record for a while. Awesome winter! Mountains included Cypress, Grouse, Whistler, and Baker.
• Biked to Victoria. With Steph and support from our friend Joel who carried our camping gear in his car. A++ trip, would ride again.

There's a trail from Swartz Bay all the way to Victoria

• Rode Whistler Bike Park. Which was insane and amazing! 10 year old Shawn was out to play that weekend. It also really drove home the incredible variety in bike sports.
• Had to call bike park paramedics. Related to the previous point. Not for me fortunately, but a stark reminder that I'm actually not 10 years old.
• Ran a Sun Run PB. 53:07. Nothing spectacular, but it makes the list.
• North Shore Sprint Triathlon. My first triathlon ever. Steph's too! It was incredibly fun and our dedicated fans/amazing friends Sarah and Andrew showed up to cheer us on!

Exhausted and elated

• Point Grey Sprint Triathlon. A slightly better time, but a harder race. 

Travel

• Coachella - April. Great, but too hot. It was my second time and likely my last. I missed half the acts because the heat was unbearable. Sasquatch 2013 anyone?

• St. John's - May. For work and the inaugural Go Beyond Pixels conference.

From Pippy Park Golf Course

• Penticton - July. No photo, but a great town nestled between two lakes and two mountains. Very laid back.

• Vernon - August. Revisiting the town where I camped with friends for a week on the way to Vancouver. Got to do some wakeboarding and managed to not hurt myself! 

• Hornby - August. A tiny magical island between Vancouver Island and the mainland where deer roam free and the people are ullllltra relaxed!

Tidal VBall

• Maui - September. I was supposed to write another post about this. It was perfect. Just go, stop planning any other vacations until you've been.

• Chicago - October. Our final adventure for the year with Brad and Ariel, after Vernon and Hornby. I had no idea what to expect but we picked Chicago because it's about halfway between St. John's and Vancouver, and I loved the place. Take a boat tour! 

It's crazy that so many of my personal entries are sports related. That about sums me up I guess: software, snowboarding, cycling, and travel.

I'm very ok with that.