2020 Goals: Year-End Recap of Financial and Blogging Goals for 2020

2020 Goals: Year-end recap of financial, blogging, and personal goals for 2020. Reviewing goals to see if I met, passed, or failed.

At the beginning of each year, I set goals to improve my financial situation and to grow my blog.

To be honest, I relish the opportunity to write goal-setting articles.

I mean, I already can’t wait to publish my 2021 goals in the next few weeks (stay tuned).

But before I create goals for next year, a year end recap is necessary to see if last year’s goals are still on track.

In this post, I will review my financial and blogging goals for 2020 to determine if they were met.

Let’s get started with my financial goals.

2020 Goals – Personal Finance

The theme for last year’s financial goals was balance.

Because I switched to a part-time job, my income was less predictable.

As such, my financial goals were planned with balance in mind.

Here are my 5 financial goals for 2020:

Pay off student loan.
Receive $628.27 in dividend income.
Increase forward dividend income to $675.
Maintain a budget
Become more frugal

Now that you know my financial goals, I will discuss how the year went and review if I accomplished them.

Financial Goals for 2020 – Overview and Highlights

In 2020, I added more time to my life by beginning a high paying part-time job.

The part-time job allowed me to work less than I ever have in my life. On average, I work 17 hours per week right now.

Frankly, it feels like I’ve already reached financial independence sometimes because I work so little.

But the downside to working less is that you earn less.

So, I wasn’t able to save or invest as much in 2020.

When my hours were up, I earned more than I’ve ever made in my life, since the job pays a great hourly wage. But when I work 15 to 20 hours per week, I have to manage my income more carefully.

Fortunately, I found a way to make it work.

Despite a global pandemic and working part-time, I was still able to save money, pay down debt, grow my blog, and increase dividend income. I view that as a success.

It turns out that flexible work is a great alternative solution to full financial independence.

Let’s take a closer look at my individual financial goals:

1. Pay Off Student Loan

Failed: Balance of $1,079 remains

Regrettably, I failed to completely pay off my student loan debt in 2020.

But I paid off another $2,000 during the year, so now all that remains is $1,079.

Based on the current balance, this will be paid off in a few months. I will set a more specific date in my financial goals for 2021 post coming in January.

Even though I failed to completely pay it off, I almost view this as a success because I proved I can still move forward financially while enjoying an early retired lifestyle.

As soon as my student loan is finished, I will free up $240 of cash flow per month.

2. Receive $628.27 in Dividends

Met: Within $6 of target. Stay tuned for the final dividend income update.

At the beginning of 2020, I set the conservative goal to earn at least $628.27 from dividends during the year.

Unfortunately, the pandemic altered my goal as it forced three positions in my portfolio to cut or slash distributions.

But even with the pandemic and lower income because of part-time work, I was still able to grow dividend revenue.

Based on how much dividend income has been received so far in December 2020, I expect the final amount to be within $6 of $628.27.

If it wasn’t for the pandemic, dividend income would have been at least $100 more.

3. Increase Forward Dividend Income to $675

Passed: $691.60 based on the December 2020 projection

Surprisingly, I was still able to exceed my modest dividend growth target for the year.

Since I was working part-time, I was not able to invest as much this year. During months with less hours, I was not able to save as much. However, my job has busy seasons with more hours. During busier periods, my savings rate jumps up to 30% to 50% of my income.

So, as expected, growth was slower this year than it has been in a few years.

But reinvesting dividend income, savings, DRIP stocks, and blog income still propelled the portfolio forward.

As of December 2020, the portfolio is expected to generate at least $691.60 worth of dividend income in 2021.

4. Maintain a Budget

Passed: Budget maintained all year

In order to afford working part-time so that I would have more time for blogging, I had to be meticulous with my budget.

For the most part, I maintained a budget at least one month into the future.

Budgeting was the only way that I could afford to work part-time and still afford to save money and pay off debt.

5. Become More Frugal

Passed: I cut back on coffee, grocery expenses, my cell phone bill, Apple Music, commuting and more in 2020.

Although I did spend more money on furniture and road trips, I definitely became more frugal in 2020.

I’m sure we all did because of the pandemic.

For starters, working from home eliminated the cost of commuting and buying coffee out.

In my case, I was spending $120 per month on commuting, and upwards of $110 per month on coffee from Starbucks…

But now that I work from home, I enjoy coffee at home and I avoid commuting altogether.

I also became more savvy with saving money on groceries in 2020. I discovered the Flipp App, and I buy meat in bulk to save money.

Otherwise, I cancelled my Apple music subscription and lowered my cell phone bill by $45 recently.

On average, I spend $165 less per month excluding commuting and grocery costs.

2020 Goals – Blogging

2020 was undoubtably the best year ever for Reverse The Crush.

After blogging for over four years, I finally started to figure blogging out.

My main goal for the blog in 2020 was to see enough progress to justify working part-time.

To get there, I set the following 12 blogging goals for 2020:

View the blog as a media outlet.
Share 30 to 50 pieces of content per day.
Grow the social media and subscriber following.
Improve at SEO.
Publish 75 new posts.
Work towards 10k page views per month.
Increase blog income.
Utilize the best affiliate options.
Update recommendations page.
Improve e-mail subscription newsletter.
Update the top performing posts and pages.
Improve at sales.

Now that you know the 2020 goals for the blog, let’s look at the highlights and accomplishments.

Related: 12 Blogging Goals for 2020

Blogging Goals for 2020 – Overview and Highlights

To put it bluntly, I feel like I didn’t even understand blogging before 2020. That’s how much I learned this past year.

It honestly feels like 2020 was a turning point.

To give you an example, the blog received more page views in the first five days of December 2020 than all of December 2019 put together.

The main highlights for the blog in 2020 were the following:

Getting accepted to Monumetric.
Surpassing over 10,000 page views per month for the first time.
Receiving monthly income from advertising.
E-mail subscriptions increasing by over 136%.
Starting to rank on the first page of Google for keywords.

Here is a closer look at the 2020 goals for blogging:

1. View the Blog as a Media Outlet

Passed: Goal Achieved.

Based on marketing advice from Gary Vaynerchuk, I started to view Reverse The Crush as a media outlet in 2020.

So, instead of sharing unrelated or low quality content on social media, I started to look at the blog as a magazine reporting on financial independence.

Because of that mindset shift, I was more committed to scheduling content on Hootsuite and I fine tuned the curation process. I curated content for a specific audience.

2. Share 30 to 50 Pieces of Content Per Day

Passed: Goal met except for on days off.

Back in April 2020, I published my marketing strategy to promote a blog on social media.

In this article, I alluded to my goal to share at least 50 pieces of content per day on social media.

Well, I’m happy to tell you I accomplished this goal. In fact, I even improved my marketing strategy by keeping a daily checklist on my phone.

Although it sounds like a lot of hassle and there are other important tasks to focus on, social media can be a key traffic driver for bloggers.

3. Grow the Social Media and Subscriber Following

Passed: Social media channels experienced growth, subscribers were up by 136%.

For the most part, I met or exceeded my social media and e-mail subscription goals for the year.

The two primary traffic drivers, Twitter and Pinterest, each saw steady growth. Twitter followers on the RTC Twitter account saw 21% YoY growth, and Pinterest followers were up by 23% YoY.

Meanwhile, e-mail subscribers increased by 136% over last year.

As for the smaller channels, Instagram followers jumped by 39.5%, and Facebook grew by 138%.

Overall, there are 5,754 social media followers and subscribers. The total number of followers increased by 28% over last year.

Thank you to everyone for following and subscribing! I sincerely appreciate it.

Of course, I will base the 2021 blogging goals on this data.

Here is a summary of my social media growth goals for 2020:

Twitter: @Reversethecrush

Twitter Goal for 2020: 3,000 followers

Current: 3,203 followers

Last January: 2,640 followers

Increase: Up 563 followers (21% YoY increase)

Pinterest: @reversethecrushblog

Pinterest Goal for 2020: 2,000 followers

Current: 1,515 followers

January 2020: 1,227 followers

Increase: Up 288 followers (23% YoY)

Instagram: @reversethecrush_

Instagram Goal: 1,000 followers

Current: 586 followers

January 2020: 420 followers

Increase: Up 166 (39.5% YoY increase)

Facebook: @reversethecrushblog

Facebook Goal: 100 followers

Current: 100 followers

January 2020: 42 followers

Increase: Up 58 followers (138% YoY increase)

E-Mail Subscribers

E-mail Subscriber Goal: 250 subscribers

Current: 350 followers

January 2020: 148 subscribers

Increase: Up 202 (136% YoY growth)

Total Followers and E-Mail Subscribers

Total: 5,754 followers and subscribers

Last January: 4,477 followers

Increase: Up 1,277 (28% YoY increase)

4. Improve at SEO

Passed: I figured it out.

Perhaps the most important goal of the year was learning SEO (search engine optimization).

To be honest, I really didn’t know what I was doing before 2020.

I used the Yoast plugin for WordPress, but otherwise I was sort of guessing.

So, in 2020, I committed to learning about SEO.

I reached out to This Online World for a few tips, and I read as many articles as I could find on SEO.

I read articles from This Online World, Moz, Hubspot, and Yoast. Furthermore, I watched Youtube videos by Neil Patel and Backlinko. And I tested out tools for keyword research. Furthermore, I observed professional blogs like Ryan Robinson to study what professional bloggers do.

It was a long process and it required a lot of work. But it seems like the work paid off.

To give you an example, December 2020 organic search traffic is up by more than 293% compared to December 2019 as of December 27, 2020.

In 2019, the highest amount of page views in one month received was around 5,500. In December 2020, I might hit 20,000.

5. Publish 75 Blog Posts

Passed: I published 93 blog posts in 2020.

I obliterated my goal to publish at least 75 blog posts in 2020.

In total, I published 93 blog posts in 2020. But I will finish the year at 96.

Counting this post, and the other two posts that are planned, I will end up with 96 posts this year.

As a blogger, the goal is to maintain an ongoing chronicle of information about a topic(s).

That’s 96 new pieces of content added to the content collection. Ideally, it is valuable content that can be updated and improved annually.

6. Work Towards 10k Page Views Per Month

Passed: 10k page views per month was achieved early in the year.

When I set the blogging goals for 2020 last January, I could only dream to hit 10,000 page views per month.

At the time, it seemed like a stretch goal to work towards.

Fortunately, I was officially able to surpass 10,000 page views in one month by March 2020.

And after I hit 10k, I basically maintained that pace for the remainder of the year.

I had a bit of a late summer dip in August, which usually happens with more people enjoying the outdoors.

However, traffic has been creeping up again over the last few months.

Even though it’s only December 22, I already surpassed the previous page view total in one month that was set back in May 2020.

7. Increase Blog Income

Passed: Advertising revenue increased by 89%

One of the biggest achievements of 2020 was being accepted to Monumetric, which is an ad network that helps publishers monetize websites through display ads.

Because of the switch, advertising income for the year was up by 89%.

Admittedly, it’s not a significant amount of income yet. But revenue has been climbing by 30% per month the last three months in a row.

The last few months, it has been enough to cover the cost of hosting and Canva Pro. Most of the year I’ve been investing my blog income, though. Now it’s starting to provide enough to pay for expenses plus invest.

Unfortunately, though, affiliate income and sponsored post income were down this year.

Basically, my acceptance to Monumetric cannibalized sponsored posts out of the equation. I think the amount of display ads deter potential sponsors. Also, I recently removed my “Work With RTC” page because I want to focus on ads.

By shifting my focus to earning income from display ads, I can shift my focus to creating and marketing content. Monumetric runs the advertising business for me.

In addition to making my job easier, display ad revenue has been my most consistent income source.

As such, my business strategy is to put more attention towards increasing income from display ads. If I focus on what’s already working, I should be able to drive growth.

8. Utilize the Best Affiliates

Fail: My affiliate income decreased

One of the things I still haven’t completely figured out is affiliate income.

I haven’t spent enough time researching how to be successful at it, to tell you the truth.

I’ve had a few sales here and there with Questrade. But my other affiliates have mostly been unsuccessful.

Since I failed to meet my 2020 goals for affiliates, it could become a key focus in 2021.

9. Update Recommendations Page

Passed: Page updated.

Each year I try to update pages and posts to make sure they are relevant.

This year, I updated the Recommendations page and About page.

But as always, I still feel like they can be improved upon.

10. Improve E-mail Subscription Newsletter

Passed: Changes were made.

A few new affiliates and descriptions were added within the e-mail newsletter.

The RTC e-mail newsletter sends dividend income updates and new post alerts directly to subscribers’ e-mail addresses. I never spam or send any annoying e-mails.

I just let you know there’s a new post and wish you a nice day.

To all the current subscribers, I sincerely appreciate your support! I hope to keep improving the content and e-mail newsletter in the future. Thank you subscribers!! 🙂

11. Update the Top Performing Posts and Pages

Passed: Top posts updated.

Since I finally figured out SEO in 2020, I realized that many of the old posts need to be optimized.

A lot of the old content was not focussed enough. It didn’t answer any questions.

So, I went back and determined which posts were ranking in Google already, and which posts were valuable.

From there, I updated, edited, and added to them. I tried to make them current.

As a result, some posts now rank higher in Google. Plus, I was able to share those posts again as new content.

Although I still have a lot of optimization work to do, I met my goal because I updated the top performing posts.

12. Improve at Sales

Fail: Went a different direction with display ads.

I failed miserably at my goal to improve at sales.

In fact, I went a completely different direction and didn’t spend any time on sales at all.

Instead of trying to sell through affiliate marketing, or trying to sell a product or service, I opted for a full service ad network.

So, rather than focus my time on sales, I just create content and market it. The ad network does the rest.

For now, sales are not an area of focus because I plan to focus on increasing income through advertising.

2020 Goals – Personal Development Goals for Health and Happiness

In February 2020, I set goal-setting examples for a happier and healthier 2020.

Of course, I had no idea what the rest of the year would bring when I set these goals.

Nevertheless, here are my personal development 2020 goals:

Waste less.
Read six books.
Work out three times per week.
Diet.
Career.
Road trip.
Be nice.
Make time for people.
Consider moving.
Learn basic Portuguese.

1. Waste Less

Pass: I improved by awareness.

Just by educating myself about waste, I was able to waste less.

I’m still far from perfect as I waste food all the time.

But I definitely improved at portions and recycling awareness.

2. Read Six Books

Fail: I read more blogs and financial reports than books.

This is going to sound terrible for someone who writes on a blog, but I failed miserably with my goal to read six books—I read none.

To be honest, I read all the time, but I read blogs and financial reports more than books now.

Blogs are just more alive and current than books. Blogging is like the indie music of reading.

But in all seriousness, I do have a few books on my reading list. I just need to be stimulated by other topics at this point. Topics like psychology. I feel like I’ve read all there is to read on investing and financial independence. The information seems to overlap now.

3. Work Out Three Times Per Week

Fail: I walked a lot though.

My personal development list isn’t looking too good right about now.

Although I started the year off doing pushups and crunches, I have not ended it that way.

I’ve probably gained a few pounds.

On the bright side, I walked more than I have in years.

4. Diet – Limit Chips, Snacks, and Chocolate

Fail: Please don’t judge me.

Instead of eating less chocolate, I ate more in 2020.

I ate chocolate after dinner practically every friggin’ night.

For the most part, I was able to limit chips to once per grocery shop.

And I did eat a lot of healthy home-cooked meals in the second half of the year.

I had tacos once per week, strip loin steaks regularly, salmon from time to time, and lots of rice.

5. Professional Career: Work Hard at Job and Utilize Spare Time for Blogging

Pass: I used almost every day off to work on the blog.

Career-wise, I must admit that 2020 was one of the best years of my life.

I’ve never been so fortunate in my life.

I work for a really great organization and I help people. Best of all, I only have to do it part-time.

And in 2020, my high paying part-time job got even better—I started working from home.

Between cutting the commute out and working part-time, I’ve never had so much time in my life. Sometimes it feels like I’m already financially independent when I’m off for six days in a row.

I also consider this year a success because I didn’t waste the extra time. I utilized my spare time to take blogging to the next level.

6. Go on a Road Trip

Pass: Sauble Beach, Tobermory, and Eganville

Despite the pandemic, I was able to squeeze in a few small road trips this year.

Don’t worry, I only did it when it was allowed.

In August, I went to Eganville because my brother bought a place there. I wanted to go back again but I had to cancel because of the second lockdown.

Otherwise, I went to Sauble Beach and Tobermory in Ontario, Canada. Sauble Beach is truly one of the nicest beaches in Canada, and Tobermory is one of the most scenic spots in all of Canada.

7. Be Nice

Pass: I think I was nicer.

I set a simple goal to be nicer in 2020.

I tried my best to overlook small insignificant differences and time-wasting issues.

For the most part, I was successful and was nicer to everyone in general.

8. Make Time for People

Pass: It’s a pass even though it’s a pandemic.

I did what I could.

Even though I am not able to visit my family this Christmas, I did take a road trip out to see them when I was able to.

And as I mentioned before, I checked out my brother’s new place in Eganville.

As an introvert, I finally realized there’s a name for my lifestyle—quarantine.

9. Consider Moving Again

Pass: I did.

Ultimately, I had to move to a larger apartment to work from home.

I needed a private room to work.

Although I am spending more on rent per month, I am saving money on commuting, coffee, and food by working from home.

Most importantly, though, I am really enjoying my new place.

10. Learn Basic Portuguese

Fail: I learned a few words, but not being able to travel delayed my progress.

I started the year off strong. It seemed like I was picking it up well.

But ultimately, Coronavirus delayed my progress by eliminating the need to use the language.

I did learn a few basic phrases, though. I could start a conversation with you and understand a few different words.

2020 Goals – Final Thoughts

In spite of a global pandemic, I did well with my 2020 goals overall.

Even with a part-time job, I still saved money, invested, increased dividend income, and nearly eliminated my student loan.

As for my blogging goals, I met or exceeded most. The main highlights for the blog in 2020 were getting accepted to Monumetric, surpassing over 10,000 page views per month, receiving monthly income from advertising, e-mail subscriptions increasing by over 136%, and starting to rank on the first page of Google for keywords.

Moreover, 2020 was a fantastic year for my professional career as I was able to start working from home.

Although the pandemic did affect my personal development goals, I was able to make the best of 2020 by moving and fitting in a few trips.

In summary, 2020 was a successful year for the blog and my career. The blog became a small business, I was fortunate to begin working from home, and I still improved my financial situation even though I worked less hours.

Another year of progress and building on top of this year’s success could go a long way. I look forward to using this data to set goals for 2021.

Connect with RTC

Twitter: @Reversethecrush

Pinterest: @reversethecrushblog

Instagram: @reversethecrush_

Facebook: @reversethecrushblog

Email: graham@reversethecrush.com