2012 goals

Personal

• Travel. Being based out of Europe for 7 months out of the year will help me achieve this goal. :) Countries on our “must see” list are Germany (obviously), Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Belgium, Italy, and Luxembourg. I also want to see Slovenia, Denmark, and I also want to get to Iceland. But I somehow doubt that’ll happen. Back in North America, I want to get to Toronto (for the 2012 Canadian Personal Finance Conference), and to wherever the Financial Blogger Conference is going to be held. So, a lot of traveling this year. On a potentially tight budget.

• Go on a trip by myself. I would like to accomplish this in Europe. There are a few places on my list that I know Nic doesn’t want to see. Perhaps I can work up the courage to go by myself.

• Learn basic German and French. I don’t know any German, and the last time I spoke any French was in high school. Since I’ll be living in Germany, I really want to learn how to have at least a basic conversation with someone. And since my boyfriend is French, I want to at least learn how to read it (so I don’t have to rely on Google Translate to help me figure out what he’s saying on Facebook all the time!). And have a simple conversation without being laughed at because I can’t pronounce anything properly. :)

• Read 12 novels not related to marketing or personal finance. I think I might burn out if I spend my leisure time reading up about job-related material. Even though I like reading about marketing/PF/social media, I think I will be a more effective worker if I step away and try to clear my head by reading completely different stuff.

Professional

• 2012 Canadian Personal Finance Conference. This is turning into a bigger event than both Preet and I could have ever imagined, and I am really, really excited to be a part of it. To finally have all of Canada’s top personal finance names under one roof, sharing ideas … well, it’s going to be an incredible experience for sure.

• 2012 Financial Blogger Conference. I am looking forward to this year’s event, and getting to meet people I didn’t get a chance to meet last year.

• Write one guest post each month on another blog. I’ve never written guest posts before, but I want to try to write on blogs that will help me grow my reach. So, basically blogs that are more popular than mine, or ones that don’t necessarily fall within the personal finance niche.

• Take all of my own photographs. This has been one of my goals for a long time now. Because I think I’ll have more time this year, I feel like I’ll have more of a chance to be creative.

• Post a new photo every day while abroad via Tumblr. Because I didn’t think you guys would want to be bombarded by a million photos of Europe while I’m gone, I decided to create a Tumblr account instead (follow me!). My goal is to post at least one new photo every day for all of 2012.

• Take on three steady freelance assignments. Right now I have two steady assignments. I think adding one more steady stream of income will help me feel more secure as a freelancer. It doesn’t have to be writing – it can be graphic design, marketing, social media – I’m open to pretty much everything.