Every December, I take stock of the year. I have been doing this since 2008, when I wrote my first year-end update just a year into my internet marketing journey. Back then, I was proud simply to still be in the game. Most people who start an online business quit within the first year. I had not quit, and that felt like an accomplishment worth celebrating.
Nearly two decades later, I still believe that not quitting is the most underrated success factor in online business.
Failure Is the Tuition You Pay for Success
In that first year, I lost money on pay-per-click advertising. I launched products that barely sold. I started my site on the wrong platform and had to migrate everything to WordPress. I downloaded nearly 5 GB of internet marketing courses and ebooks, most of which taught me what not to do.
Every single one of those failures taught me something. The PPC losses taught me about conversion tracking and campaign economics. The failed product launches taught me about audience research and positioning. The platform migration taught me to make technology decisions based on long-term scalability, not short-term convenience.
If you are building an online business and you have not failed at something recently, you are probably not pushing hard enough. Failure is not the opposite of progress. It is the mechanism of progress.
How to Do a Year-End Business Review
Whether you are in your first year or your fifteenth, a structured year-end review will help you enter the new year with clarity and momentum. Here is the framework I use.
What worked? List every initiative that produced positive results, whether that is revenue, traffic, subscribers, or skills learned. Be specific. “Blog traffic grew” is not useful. “Organic traffic increased 40% after I started publishing weekly instead of monthly” is useful because it identifies the cause.
What did not work? List every initiative that fell flat or lost money. Be honest. The temptation is to rationalize failures or exclude them from the review. Resist that temptation. The failures are where the most valuable lessons live.
What did I learn? For each success and failure, extract the lesson. What would you do differently? What would you repeat? What surprised you?
What should I stop doing? This is the hardest question. We all have activities that consume time without producing results. Maybe it is a social media platform that does not drive traffic. Maybe it is a project that was a good idea two years ago but no longer fits your strategy. Identify these and cut them.
What is the one thing? If you could only accomplish one business goal next year, what would it be? Define it clearly, make it measurable, and build your plan around it. Focus beats diversification, especially when you are building a business part-time with limited hours.
Gratitude Is Not Soft, It Is Strategic
Every year-end review I have ever done ends the same way: with gratitude. For the readers and listeners who show up. For the fellow entrepreneurs who share their knowledge. For the family that tolerates my late nights at the keyboard.
Gratitude keeps you grounded. It reminds you why you started. And it gives you the energy to keep going when the next year inevitably serves up its own collection of failures and lessons.
Take some time before the new year to review where you have been and plan where you are going. Your future self will thank you for the clarity.
Mark, I have to say the you and Josh are two of the most honest and open internet marketers that I have ever stumbled upon in my internet ventures. Thanks a bunch for sharing your thoughts and feelings. It’s guys like you who give credibility to the internet marketing field.
I know that you would never intentionally steer your potential customers in the wrong direction.
Best wishes and happy holidays!
PS: Keep up the good work!
Hey Mark,
It’s been a pleasure seiing you grow this year and I love your blog. I always tell anyone who asks about IM to come here and believe you are fast becoming someone to turn to for solid hinest advice…. I can’t wait for Mason in 09.
I’m going through a transformation and also hope that 09 will be a great year for the neglected Random Forest.
Cheers :), I really think you are going to become an authority in the next year…. Like Janet says you are honest about making bucks and you try and share the best info with us too.
All of you IM losers hiding behind your day job to support your ill directed dreams. Merely splattering words without definitive proven verifiable results.
Keep scratching each others backs and keep dreaming. None of you guys will make it big. No animosity. I just know.
Hey Chris;
I see that you are full of holiday cheer. Hope you are having a great holiday season.
Since I am the only person on this comment thread with a day job that I know of, I guess your comments are directed at me. (I am not actually sure about Janet Jones — maybe she has a day job).
Anyway, I am curious about your criteria for an “IM Loser”. I am not “hiding behind” my day job (although some times I am consumed by the coolness of it). Basically, I get to manage some interesting aspects of semiconductor manufacturing technology around the world for a great company. I am very open about the fact that IM is a hobby for me — a fact that I make no apologies for.
So, what kinds of “definitive proven verifiable results” are you looking for?
You say right on your blog:
In my article, I say:
Sounds pretty similar to me.
Thanks for stopping by,
Mark
Wow Chris…. You are a complete fool!! If you knew anything about Mark or what he does you would know he probably dwarfs you in intelligence and you could not meet a nicer guy!!
Put it this way, he is not a rocket scientist but his job is quite possibly on par!! Come back when you have something constructive to say!!
Excellent advice, Mark. I see a successful 2009 online for you in your future 😉 Talk to you soon.
Thanks Josh. I have big plans for 2009. Your support is very much appreciated.
Regards,
Mark
Wow, Janet. Thanks! I don’t usually compare myself to Josh. (Well, I am better looking. LOL). Your comment is very much appreciated. I like your squeeze page, by the way. I was actually tempted to opt-in, but if my wife saw wedding email in my inbox, she might get suspicious.
As for you, my favorite misplaced Brit (Forest) — thanks as well. I am really looking forward to you cranking up the RandomForest.
Hey Forest — thanks.
Actually, I studied a little rocket science in college. As long as your rocket does not travel near the speed of light, rocket science is not that big of a deal. Rocket engineering, on the other hand, it a really tough problem – mainly because you need crazy levels of reliability.
That’s basically what killed Challenger. The probability that any given thing would fail was very small. But, when you multiply all of those tiny probabilities together, your chance of failing is (was) pretty good.
(Oops — sorry. Engineering geek mode kicked in there for a second).
Chris is right about one thing — I do have lots of dreams. You can call them ideas or goals if you want (I actually prefer “goals”).
Have a great day,
Mark
@ Janet – Thanks, glad to help.
@ Chris – You got it buddy. We’re all pathetic. The truth is I have monkeys running my coaching forum, writing content to my blog and getting my sites ranked. The trick is in finding the right monkeys, while still holding down a day job lol It sounds like you have everything figured out and you’re on to great success… Happy Holidays 🙂
Chris went to sleep in 2007. Peddling Forex is the only way to go, right buddy? Thanks for your help this year Mark – and look forward to a great 2009.
Hey Mark,
Thank YOU for teaching us what you’ve learned this year. You’ve been quite an inspiration. I’m very much looking forward to what next year has in store for us all.
Edison is a great example of failure and success. True, the fear of failure can be so paralyzing at times, but they are indeed stepping stones to doing something the right way.
Hmmm, anyone know where I can get me a monkey or two to help out with my stuff in the coming year? 🙂
Morning Mark !!
Like my mom always said you only fail when you quit. So Never ever Quit. Thats my motto and always has been Good to hear about your successes mark. Faithful reader and will continue to be in the coming year. And I do agree with Forest looks like youre on the road the authority dom. E=mc2 (earning = Mark Mason squared times the speed of light) LOL ok enough silly-ness
Have a good one dude
Shane