2018 was the first year I decided to write down my goals on a piece of paper and this will be the first time I am publicizing them.

Kevin’s Goals for 2018

It is always good to reflect on your accomplishments as well as failures. Though this isn’t the most exciting thing to do, more often than not, your failures provide the best lessons on how to improve in the future by exposing weaknesses and showing you the best opportunity for improvement.

Below is a list of the goals I created on January 1, 2018, while on a flight from Philadelphia, PA to Oahu, HI.

If you’re interested in learning how Taylor and I paid only $5.60 each (one-way) for that flight to Oahu, then check out our Travel Hacking Secrets eCourse.

I listed the goals from hardest to easiest to achieve.

Failed – Earn $50,000 From the Internet

This was certainly a stretch goal but something that I truly believe Taylor and I will achieve in 2019.

Between the following streams of income bulleted below, our total gross profit was roughly $9,945. More than 50% of that income came from Amazon FBA, the business I started in 2017 selling Banzai Unlimited Air Loungers.

If you want to learn how to start your own Amazon FBA, check out this article here.

Ad Revenue from Google Adsense
Amazon Affiliate Income
Social Media Marketing Agency
Amazon FBA Sales
Travel Hacking Secrets eCourse

Looking back at our revenue from 2018 I met 20% of this goal, which is better than nothing!

Completed – Buy a Multi-Family House and Rent it Out

In May, Taylor and I moved back from Hawaii to New Jersey in preparation for our wedding. While we loved our time in Hawaii, property there was too expensive for our budget. Moving back home allowed us to purchase a duplex and start house hacking!

By purchasing a duplex as our first home we greatly reduced our mortgage payment and went from paying $2,200 for our Hawaii rental to paying only $700, since our tenants cover the remaining mortgage payment! This reduced our housing expenses from $2,200 to $700 and is a $1,500 monthly savings and an $18,000 annual savings.

If you’re interested in investing in real estate, check out our posts on why we invested in a duplex rental income property and other related real estate posts.

Completed – Launch Travel Hacking Secrets eCourse

The Travel Hacking Secrets eCourse is in my opinion, my biggest achievement this year. Although it’s not an overnight success, it is what I am most excited for in 2019. I cannot wait to share this with others and get more people travel hacking this upcoming year. There’s nothing more exciting to me than seeing others go on a vacation they have only dreamed of! The course itself is jam-packed with amazing content allowing anyone to become a travel hacker in 30 days.

Our life has truly changed because of travel hacking and our outlook on travel is completely different. It’s no longer can we afford it but where do we want to go and when? I am hopeful that I will be able to share this eCourse with more and more people in 2019 and I plan to continue to update the content in the course over the next 12 months.

Completed – Sign a Client for Social Media Marketing Agency

My best friend and I purchased Tai Lopez’s social media marketing agency course back in the fall of 2017 and we finally built our social media marketing agency in the summer of 2018, Media Geeks Marketing.

Check out our company’s website at, www.mymediageeks.com.

We signed our first client that same summer with a monthly retainer of $800 focusing on web-design and management. From that client alone, we made $3,600 in 2018, split between me and my partner.

Failed – Build Instagram Following to 800 Followers

Unfortunately, I didn’t successfully complete the goal to gain 800 followers on Instagram. This goal is frustrating and I blame it on pure laziness. I guarantee if I posted once a day or every other day my following would be much higher, but I simply didn’t prioritize it. I am hoping to build my following up in 2019 to help funnel traffic to the Travel Hacking Secrets eCourse and First Step Fortune.

Completed – Read 12 Books a Year

I started heavily reading non-fiction books after I graduated college and realized I had a lot of student loan debt. I read as much as I could on personal finance and focused on investing in the stock market and paying off my debt as fast as possible. Fortunately, I was able to pay off $30,000 in debt in 14 months and can thank my mentors (my books) for helping me do this.

Since then I have continued reading personal finance as well as personal development/entrepreneurial books. I am an active reader and always try to find a lesson or at least one takeaway from whatever I read. So for 2018, I wanted to keep this learning activity going and read at least one book every month. I completed this goal and below are the books I’ve read.

Personal Finance Books:

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert Kiyosaki
- Taylor and I reread this book this year to remind ourselves of the principles Robert Kiyosaki preaches. This is the book that changed my entire mindset around my life and financial freedom. Rich Dad Poor Dad is the book I gift most often.

Personal Development Books:

You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth by Jen Sincero
- I received this book for Christmas in 2017 and it was the first book I read in 2018. This book is another mindset manual to believe in yourself and that you can make money through “non-traditional paths”.
Miracle Morning Millionaires: What the Wealthy Do Before 8 AM That Will Make You Rich (The Miracle Morning) by Hal Elrod and David Osborn
- Miracle Morning Millionaires showcases the common routines and habits of the wealthy. Hal and David preach that changing a few habits in the morning can have a direct impact on your success.
The Millionaire Booklet by Grant Cardone
- Grant Cardone gets you to think outside the typical “middle class” mindset and makes you realize becoming a millionaire is in reach.
The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
- Another mindset manual. David Schwartz focuses on actions, setting goals, and learning from your failures he showcases what can result from “thinking big”.
Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too by Gary Vaynerchuk
- If you’re interested in building a personal brand then this book is for you. Gary goes deep into each platform and demonstrates how others have successfully built businesses around their own personal brand leveraging social media.
The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure by Grant Cardone
- I think the best way to describe this book is with the following statement: “It takes the same amount of effort to earn $10 Million as it does to make a $100 Million”. What I got from this book is to set your goals BIG. If you fall short of a big goal it’s a hell of a lot better than falling short of a small goal.
The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts by Gary Chapman
- Taylor and I read this book together. This obviously isn’t too much about building a business or becoming financially free, but I think it’s important to call out if you want to have a successful business, you need to have a successful relationship with your partner.

Small Business Books

Tax-Free Wealth: How to Build Massive Wealth by Permanently Lowering Your Taxes (Rich Dad Advisors) by Tom Wheelwright
- In 2018, I had to do my first tax return with an LLC, I got this book to enhance my understanding of personal and small business taxes.
The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau
- This book shows you that there are thousands of people making seven figures with one person companies and that you can do it too!
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber
- Michael preaches that small businesses should emulate the franchise prototype model in order to be successful. A must read for any small business owner.
Expert Secrets by Russel Brunson
- Expert Secrets is the book that helped me get my Travel Hacking Secrets eCourse live! Russel Brunson is the author of Expert Secrets and the founder of clickfunnels.com, the software that I used to build the course.

Summary

I hope this post doesn’t come off as bragging or cocky, rather I am trying to make myself more accountable. Also, I hope this encourages you to track your own goals and take action on your steps to financial freedom. As you know, the reason why we built this blog is to document our journey and share our experiences along the way.

Jamie Lyn Beatty once said, “a job may fill your pockets but adventure fills your soul.”

This time next year, I hope to have my pockets filled not by a job but by helping others travel more often and I hope to have more adventures to fill my souls than I did in 2018. I am very excited about what’s next in the new year, let’s tackle it together and accomplish more goals!

Happy New Year, Wishing You the Very Best!!!

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Reflecting on 2018 – Goals and Financials