The other day I was looking over my personal goals that I had set going into 2009.  I feel really good about what I was able to accomplish in 2009 but unfortunately there are still a few things that I am going to carry over into 2010. 

This is not to say that 2009 was a bad year, in fact I would say that 2009 was probably one of the best years I have had in a long time, especially in terms of business and personal development.

Personal Goals for 2010

I have set some pretty high goals for myself personally going into 2010 as compared to what I set for 2009.  I have learned that I respond well when I put pressure on myself.  Hopefully by setting the bar high I will be able to motivate myself to another level personally.

• Private Pilots License: One of the goals that I had for myself coming into 2009 was to get my pilots license.  While I did manage to get a few lessons in I didn’t really devote a lot of time to accomplishing this goal.  I am going to try to put forth a little more effort this year to get my license.  I have checked into some classes offered by UCA for private pilot certification. 
• Business Networking: One of the things I am most proud of in 2009 was helping to organize the Central Arkansas Refresh user group.  I reflected on the #Refresh group a few weeks ago and gave some insight into how it all came together.  Basically social media powered the group, but the group itself and our monthly meetings allowed me to make some awesome business contacts in the Central Arkansas area.  I hope to continue growing my personal network in 2010 through outlets like the #RefreshCA group as well as attending various conferences.
• Speaking: I was fortunate enough to have been asked to speak at couple of events this past year on a variety of topics, primarily interactive marketing and social media.  I really enjoyed being a part of these events and I hope to continue to take advantage of these opportunities when they present themselves.
• Diversify: While my passion is, and always will be, the internet, I plan on becoming involved in a few areas outside the web in 2010 as well.  I have a lot of irons in the fire right now and I am not ready to make any announcements regarding any projects or anything just yet but I can assure you this, whatever business deals I get involved in 2010, they will strictly be sideline projects.  I plan on staying actively involved doing what I am doing until I retire, these side projects will just hopefully help me retire a little bit sooner.
• Run in a 5k: Another one of my goals coming into 2009 was to become more healthy but I obviously didn’t do as well in that department as I would have liked.  Hopefully I can do a lot better job in 2010.  In order to push myself toward this goal I am going to try to run in at least one 5k this year.  I haven’t decided on where or when yet, but after the first of the year I am going to start running and try to make this happen by at least the end of the summer.
• Build my Personal Brand: In a lot of ways I have already been building my personal brand by blogging here at The Cotton Club and by staying pretty active on social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, but I am going to try to take things to another level in 2010 by adding some exciting new things.  One of the things that I will be adding is a podcast.  I haven’t worked on the specifics just yet as to how often it’s going to be released or even when the first episode will air but I can assure you that it will happen in the first quarter of 2010.

Business Goals for 2010

My partners and I had a great year in 2009 despite the economic downturn that plagued the nation.  We managed to pick up some great new accounts as well as further refine the focus of our business.  I would like to build upon some of the products and services that we had a lot of success with this past year.  Here’s the list of business goals I have put together so far…

• Email Outsourcing / Archiving: I have blogged a lot the past few months about our premium email products and archival solutions because a lot of attention has been placed on regulatory compliance in a lot of industries.  I think that we have a very competitive solution that will continue to do well for us in 2010.
• Shared & VPS Solutions: Over the years my partners and I have made a tremendous investment in our hosting infrastructure.  Today, thanks to virtualization, we are able to provide VPS, or virtual private server, solutions to development firms for a very competitive rate, even on a national scale.  I am going to try to make an effort to promote our hosting solutions a lot more in 2010 than I did in 2009.
• Ministry Web Solutions: This past year we launched Powersite ministry solutions to showcase our web design and development packages geared toward churches or non-profit organizations.  We have had a great response so far from the Powersite launch and I hope to continue that momentum going into 2010.
• Social Media / Interactive Marketing: My partners and I had a lot of success this year steering a lot of our clients into the realm of social media.  We also saw some tremendous results from our efforts.  I hope to make social media an even-more integral part of what we provide for our clients in 2010.

Development Goals for 2010

I didn’t do a lot of custom application development this past year so I have come up with some goals for the upcoming year to get me back into the development mindset.  Here’s what I have come up with so far…

• Develop 2 iPhone Apps: I have two ideas that I think could be profitable, I just have to finalize my project parameters and complete the markup models for each project, which I should be able to do by the first quarter of next year, then I have the rest of the year to familiarize myself with Objective C programming and knock these projects out. 
• Develop 2 WordPress Plugins: I also have two ideas for WordPress plugins that I want to release in 2010.  I already have started coding on both of these projects but haven’t had the spare time to devote to wrapping them up.  I typically code on these types of projects after hours in between client projects.  Hopefully I will find the time in 2010, stay tuned to this blog for info on both of these plugins.
• Develop 2 Web Applications: I also have two web applications, both geared toward the agriculture industry, that I should be able to launch in 2010.  Both applications are 75% complete, I am just waiting on some regulatory guidelines to be handed down by a few more states and then I can wrap everything up.  I won’t go into a lot of detail about these apps right now but will when we finally roll them out.
• Develop a MODx Project: My business partner Greg primarily works in MODx while I develop most of my projects in WordPress.  While both solutions are great for content management, they are both very different in terms of their core foundation.  I would like to develop a project this next year in MODx so I can become more familiar with it’s operation and functionality.