I don’t agree. I think the more we talk about money, the more empowered we become. Whenever we make financial decisions, the more we learn. We become better in managing our money and perform better in our businesses. 

We know that money is just a tool and it won’t define us. What we do with it when we have lots (or none) will ultimately decide who we are in our core. Money amplifies our values (may it be good or bad).

I share my financial goals with you both for accountability and transparency. Accountability – since I shared it publicly, it’s quite embarrassing if I slacked on reaching them. Transparency – the same way that others share their diet and savings plan for information with no second thoughts, I intend to do the same for income. It’s quite rare to see business owners being so open on their profit and expenses and I always wonder why! So now that I have the platform, I’ll give you honest to goodness reality of running a business.

For many years now, I’ve consistently set goals and I was able to tick off most of them. And this year, I’ll share the behind-the-scenes of how I plan my financial goals. Obviously, I have other personal goals (travel, relationships, charities, health, etc.) but I won’t share them here and instead focus on financial goal of TWP. It seems fitting, obviously.

You might now that the fambam will go back home for good next year. This will have a significant change in our finances, no doubt about it.  UAE is a first-world country. I might be receiving a high salary but everything here is expensive. Schools, apartments, eating out, etc. We’re moving to the Philippines where the cost of living is way lower than UAE, hence, it is expected that we can afford to earn less than what we’re currently earning. BUT (this is a big but), although I expect that the money coming in is less during the first few months, it doesn’t mean that I intend to change our lifestyle.

I want to continue enjoying the little luxuries of life although, again, our preferred lifestyle is very subjective. My kind of lifestyle might be luxurious for some while others think it’s meh. Remember, this is your journey and you should live it the way you want to experience it. 

I was just telling this thought to my husband earlier – we’re always told to live beyond our means, that how much we save is more important than how much we earn – and this is very true. I don’t dispute it. However, my idea is quite different. Instead of just living below our means, I would like to know how much I need to earn to live the life that I want to have. 

Instead of just depriving myself of things that I want to experience, I need to figure out –  how can I afford it? You might want to read my controversial yet highly shared post “Wag ka magtipid!“

So, I started my goal-setting by figuring out our monthly/yearly expenses. How much would be our monthly expenses? How much is the budget for basic monthly necessities (food, school, electricity, internet, charity, etc)? How much should we allocate for yearly expenses (insurances, car registration, etc)? And how about the cost of our little luxuries (car, travel, dining out, shopping, etc.)? Finally, we have to make sure we’re allocating funds for investment purpose. 

With this numbers set and defined, we now have a clearer idea how much we should earn monthly. Instead of just guessing that we need 30k or maybe 50k or 100k a month, there is now an amount that we can target.

Now that we know our target income, we’ll now proceed with the exciting part – Goal Setting.

What I’ll share with you is my Income Goal for The Wealthy Pinay (Note: The family has other business ventures and TWP won’t be our sole main income generator. However, my long-term goal is for TWP to be a household name and to be known in other platforms such as TV, print, etc. and to substantially contribute to our family finances and investments)

Last year, I set so many goals that were too ambitious and too soon. The result? I didn’t reach most of them. However, in spite of this, I still accomplished a lot and have been way more productive than previous years and I wouldn’t be able to do this if I didn’t push my self and set higher goals. Sabi nga di ba – Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you‘ll land among the stars.

I’ll be honest, I was treating TWP as a hobby, especially the first part of the year. With my daytime job and mommy & wife duties, doing things for The Wealthy Pinay always take a backseat. Next year will be totally different as we’ll lose our income safety net (aka monthly salary from daytime job), so I can’t anymore afford to continue this a hobby. Besides, when I started TWP, I really intend to monetize it.

Here’s a screenshot of how I’m calculating TWP’s income from Year 1 to 3. Don’t worry if it doesn’t make sense to you now, I intend to share tutorial videos about business set-up – from marketing, to pricing, to goal-setting. Just give me sometime to collect my thoughts (and I’m praying to God to give me more perseverance) to do all these.

This 2019, I will offer various paid services with different price points. For the first year, my income from The Wealthy Pinay will come from:

1. Books (Low price point – Php 279)
2. Workshops (Middle-price point – Php 2500)
3. Online courses (High-price point – Php 15,000)

Books

You know that I just recently published my first book – The Wealthy Pinay: A Guide For Exceptional Pinays to Create Their First Class Life and the plan is to sell at least 1 book per day. That’s quite a very low target now thinking about it but I’m quite realistic that people might be hesitant to buy my book because, a) I don’t really have any big connections, b) my network is very small, c) I don’t expect that all my friends and family will buy.

I have a plan on how to promote this book all year long though, and I will carry a few copies of them with me everywhere I go para benta agad if meron interested (matindi divah?) Of course, we should be the number one sales rep of our business.

I’m confident that the book is really helpful, encouraging and inspirational based on the testimonials that I have recently received:

Workshops

Or trainings or seminars. I’ll be teaching 2-3 hour workshops on various topics such as goal-setting, branding, copywriting and everything related to business. I intend to do these only once every quarter and focus on 1 topic per quarter. This will be available online while I’m in Dubai and live workshops once I’m settled in the Philippines.

Online Courses

This will be my highest-price offering next year – an online course. It’s a 5-week online course for solopreneurs and start-ups to make their dream business a reality. It’s everything I’m sharing with my workshops, blogs, and book but more in-depth, strategic and actionable. I am very committed to work with women who are serious about their success in life and business..

Based on the recent survey I asked you guys to complete (you can still answer them here), I know majority want to have your own business but don’t know how to start and don’t have enough money for it. This is where I want to help. I want to guide you on how to create and market your expertise.

TWP business model is based on information and expertise. There’s minimal capital required and you can do it in the comfort of your homes. Others just call it blogging but blogging is only one of my marketing tools. I want to encourage Pinays who have the entrepreneurial spirits that having lack of capital shouldn’t be a hindrance to monetize your skills.

I’m a very chill person who loves ease and comfort in my life but at the same time, I have a determination of steel and don’t give up easily. My financial goal might be too low or too ambitious for some but as I always preach – Live The Life You Have Imagined For Yourself.

Am I not afraid to teach people as they can be my competitor? NOT AT ALL. There’s no point always reinventing the wheel so getting inspiration from others is normal. However, to really stand out and live your truly authentic life, you should find your own voice and work on it.

The Power of Big Goal

The Wealthy Pinay book has a chapter dedicated to Goal Setting alone. It discusses an effective way to set goals and how to achieve them (the most important part!) but let me tell you a quick tutorial on how to set yours now.

Based on a study, most people will fail on their new year’s resolution by February 18. Can you imagine that? 80% fails just after 6 weeks or so! And I know several factors why it is so.

First, there’s no attached ‘WHY’ on their goal.
Second, it’s not ‘SMART’ enough.
And lastly, they fail to track their achievements.

What’s your WHY?

Why do want to lose weight?
Why do you want to save P300,000?
Why do you want to travel to Disneyland?

Why?

Most people will set a goal but after slacking for sometime will just dismiss and declare, “Ok lang, hindi naman yan importante” or “Ok lang, next time na lang ulit.” Having a WHY will act as your anchor in case something happens that might distract you from achieving it. Remembering your WHY and having a deeper internal reason will force you back on why you started in the first place.

Is it SMART?

S – Specific (What exactly do you want?)
M – Measurable (How will you measure if you have achieved it?)
A – Achievable or Attainable or Actionable (Is it in your power to achieve it?)
R – Realistic or Reasonable or Relevant (Give yourself the opportunity to achieve your goal)
T – Time-Bound (You should have an associated deadline on it)

Track your goals

Goal-setting is fun. It’s exciting and totally exhilarating. We always start in a high note, but just as the statistics say, most of us will lose that desire to continue after just 6 weeks. One of the reasons I think is because we forget about them.

Yeah, seriously, we forget about our goals. When real life starts to kick-in – jobs, kids, commute, business – and the daily grind of living overwhelms us, we forget about our goal. That’s why I always suggest setting a regular reminder (through phone, calendar, stick it on your desk or mirror) to help you. Relying on our memory to remember a new task is difficult. We need constant reminders until the task becomes a habit.

What should we track? First, are you doing actions to achieve your goal? If you want to save 300k this year, you shouldn’t wait for a promotion or lotto winning. Instead, ask yourself, what can I do monthly that will help me save this amount by December 31? It will trigger all your Money Blocks for sure but remember that unless you work on these limiting beliefs, your dream will stay forever just like that – a dream.

An Important Note: There is no law that states we can’t start setting new goals by March, July, September or December. Your life circumstances might change and as a result, the goal you set earlier won’t be applicable anymore, or you might want to create a new goal midway of the year. It’s totally fine! Just remember to understand your WHY, set your goal SMARTly, and track it regularly.

Now it’s your turn. And to help you, I have a GIFT!!!

I created a beautiful and functional calendar planner to accompany your goal-setting for 2019.

You can download HERE

Make sure to check your spam/junk folder and place the mail in the safe-sender’s list. If in case you still haven’t received the calendar planner after an hour or so, drop me an email at lynjoy (at) thewealthypinay (dot) com

It has a place to log all important holidays and timelines you might have. It also asks 3 questions every month that can help you achieve your monthly objectives.

And with no exaggeration, this planner together with my book are the greatest tools to make your 2019 The Best Year Ever

Happy New Year to all and I sincerely wish you love, health, light, and wealth. May you truly live the life you imagined for yourself.

The post My 2019 Income Goal and How I’ll Get There appeared first on The Wealthy Pinay.