I’m saying good-bye to 2022 and hello to 2023! It’s been quite a year to say the least. Though I didn’t travel as much as in 2021, I still managed to travel to a few places solo, with friends, and family. I will be forever grateful for the travel opportunities I’ve had this past year and I’m looking forward to 2023.
With that being said, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking the past couple of weeks. I’ve been thinking about that what I want to accomplish in the new year, what I want to see and do, and how I’m going to go about doing it.
I like to set goals to accomplish; realistic goals that I can work on throughout the year to better my life, interests, and side hustles. So, these are some of the goals I’ve set for myself in 2023 that I’d like to work on and accomplish:
1. Work on consistency with my content
Overall, this is something that’s been a struggle for me every since 2021, when I had to go back into the field for work. When I started my blog and YouTube channel in 2020, I was working from home so I had a lot more time and energy to work on my content.
When it was time for us (social workers) to start doing in-person home visits again, the reality of balancing work and my content kicked it. I just didn’t have as much time or energy to work on things. Even on the weekend, when I had a whole day free, I just didn’t have the energy or motivation to create posts, social media reels or posts, or edit a long video.
However, my priority for 2023 is to work on consistency with my content. While I do have to drive around a lot and give a lot of my energy to my full-time job, I can manage to squeeze in some time to work on my content here and there. There are times where I have big gaps in my schedule, where I also work from home, and usually have my weekends free. Meaning, the extra time I have in a day, I can manage to work on something. Even if I work on one task at a time for at least an hour, something is better than nothing.
I’d like to get back into posting content consistently, throughout the week, every week (unless I’m on vacation, sick, or something like that).
2. Work on new freebies for my newsletter
I’m very proud of the freebies I’ve created so far for my newsletter. However, I’ve only created about 3 for the whole of 2022. I know I can create more and do better.
For 2023, I’m going to work on new freebies for my newsletter. I believe one of the few reasons why I didn’t create more freebies, is because I just didn’t know what to create. I didn’t have any inspiration or ideas on what to create. But I’ve got some new ideas about what to create that are relatively easy to create on a monthly basis.
So, I’m going to try to get those freebies out to my lovely newsletter subscribers.
3. Be consistent with creating a schedule
One of the ways I try to stay consistent with my content is by creating a weekly schedule. I outline what I want to accomplish and what I need to do throughout the week to achieve it.
Throughout the year, I’ve gone through multiple revamps of my schedule structure and process. Each time, I fail to be consistent and create weekly schedules. Or, I’ve tried monthly schedules and those didn’t work out at well.
Now that I’ve found a system that works for me, so I’m hoping to be more consistent with it moving forward in 2023. Even if it’s for 5 minutes a week, I know I have at least that much time to dedicate to creating weekly schedules.
4. Create and publish more digital products
Now, this has been in the making since 2021. I figured for 2022, I’d create some digital products and open a virtual store. I finally got 3 digital products done but haven’t even properly opened my store yet. But it’s in the works!
I have a few more ideas for digital products. My goal for 2023 is to dedicate more time to creating and publishing them for my store. If I want to open a store, create some income, I can’t keep putting these things off.
5. Put more effort into my side hustles
In addition to blogging and vlogging, I have some side hustles and I’m looking into adding more. I’d like to create more income streams but I know that I need to put more effort into starting and doing them. I’m creating another post about my other income streams/side hustles, so I won’t go into too much detail here.
What I will talk about is putting more effort into my existing side hustles. In addition to taking the time to start some other ones. That way, I have multiple income streams to make a passive income for myself. Even if it’s an extra couple hundred dollars a month, something is better than nothing.
All of the money I generate goes towards my travel savings, which I will discuss about shortly.
6. Get another job
Now, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about getting another job. Not because I don’t want to, more so because I was trying to figure out if I’d have the time and energy. Essentially, for 2023, I’d like to get another job.
I like being a social worker, it’s cool. It’s something I didn’t see myself doing when I got my degrees in Criminology and Criminal Justice. However, though I love helping children/youth and families, the pay is just not enough to save and accomplish the things I want to do in the future.
With that being said, I’d like to get another job so I can have another steady source of income for myself. While my other side hustles are awesome, I’m not at that point where I’m generating thousands of dollars every month to quit my day job. I’d like to get there one day. On a realistic note though, I need more money coming in so I can not only pay for my bills, debt, and student loans, but to also contribute enough towards my travel savings so when I do quit my day job, I can travel or backpack!
7. Continue to build my travel savings
Finally, in 2023, I’d like to build up my travel savings. In 2021, I started putting some money aside for my travel savings. My goal is to save up enough money where I can either travel or backpack, writhing the USA and abroad, for a few months to possibly a whole year.
However, at the rate I’m going, the little bit of money I’m putting aside isn’t going to be enough. Plus, I was looking to save up enough money within 2-3 years to be able to quit my job and travel. Being a field social worker, in foster care, I just don’t make enough money to do that.
Piggy-backing off the previous goals I’d like to work on, 2023 is going to be the year I kick into overdrive, earn as much money from my side hustles and job(s) as I can, so I can have a decent travel savings within the next 2-3 years.
What are your goals for 2023?