2019 Is The Year To Work Smarter, Not Harder

I’m not a big believer in New Year’s resolutions, per se. I don’t like setting up my New Year with too many stipulations.

But I can’t help myself either.

With everyone around me and in the media talking about their New Year’s resolution, I tend to think about it, come up with a few and actually follow through.

Still, I’d rather not say that I have New Year’s resolutions, so let’s just call these intentions for 2019. Intentions are things to think about for the next years and simply see what comes of it.

For 2018, my overall intention was to just go for it. I pushed myself to take my business to the next level and learned so much along the way.

This year will be the year to work smarter, not harder. Here are a few of my intentions to get there.

1. Focus on Profit Instead of Revenue

Last year, I only looked at the top line, i.e., how much money I brought in, but didn’t give much attention to the bottom line. So, on one hand, I can claim success because I sent 30% more invoices in 2018 than 2017. But on the other hand, my cost of doing business went way up too, so I actually had less money to put in my pocket.

What I should have realized was that just because I was earning more, didn’t mean I was actually profiting more. I just assumed that if I was making more money, I would also be pocketing more money.

Not true, and this was eye-opening.

For 2019, I intend to take home more money by focusing on profit instead of just revenue. I’m going to put more effort into planning (which is the opposite of “just go for it”) and budgeting. Hopefully, I’ll be able to send out just as many invoices, while reducing my expenses. Cha Ching.

2. Invest in …Something

My husband and I have gone back and forth about investing in some real estate. I’ve considered investing in a franchise restaurant. And every now and then I talk about how I need to look into these ideas more.

However, all of this has been a conversation in jest or just in passing, never a serious discussion. But, I know how important it is to have income coming from a few places so it’s time to get started.

My intention is to actually invest in something. I’m not sure what at this point, so I’ll start with just figuring out what my options are.

3. Work on Creating a Passive Income

A big part of what I was going for in 2018 was creating a passive income. I did a lot of things to make this happen, but I made it way too complicated.

Since I teach DIY PR at conferences all the time, I created an online course. Now, I see how I can achieve the same outcome (or even better) with fewer expenses, time, and effort. Hindsight is 20/20.

I don’t need to wait until the New Year to start my New Year’s intentions, so now that I’m in the slow season for PR, I’m going to start working on recording my workshops and putting them online for people to download. This is just one of many ways I hope to simplify my route to passive income.

4. Cook at Home More

I used to think, never in a million years could I be a person to enjoy cooking. But recently, I have started to really like it.

Cooking at home has a surprising number of advantages. It’s nice to have something away from the computer, and away from any screen for that matter. I like it because it’s a lot easier to eat healthier when I cook for myself. I save a ton of money. And as long as I’m enjoying it, there’s really no reason not to.

Lately, I have been trying to eat at home more, especially during the week. I hope that this is something I can keep up with for a long time, so I’m setting my intention for 2019 to cook at home more often.

I’m sure that I’ll find a hundred more ways to work smart, not harder. But these four will get me started.

What are your intentions for 2019?