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How was your 2020? What will your 2021 look like?

How was your 2020?

  • I had a great 2020!

    Votes: 89 26.2%
  • I had a good 2020!

    Votes: 89 26.2%
  • 2020 was OK considering all that went down.

    Votes: 111 32.6%
  • 2020 was not good and a general setback for me.

    Votes: 27 7.9%
  • 2020 was a sh*t-show for me.

    Votes: 24 7.1%

  • Total voters
    340

ygtrhos

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TLDR:
Good of 2020: Everything worked out pretty fine, I achieved my goal of becoming location independent.
Bad of 2020: I failed in my endeavor to make this myself, instead COVID did it.

I wanted to replace my sleazy engineering job with a webdesign business, collaborated with a friend of mine who does SEO for years.

Financially we had a breakeven but the business is an absolute shithole. We were the last priority of clients: questions go unanswered, payments are late and clients are super stringent about things that does not matter for them.

I started the business to rank them higher in Google with fast websites. They want me to change the thickness of the underline in this or that text. To earn 2k€, I needed to deal with the project more than 70 hours.

Meanwhile, COVID happened and seems my company is going to allow work 100% remote. My job is quite easy (performance depends on my technical knowledge, not hours worked). So webdesign became useless for me. I am already being paid well enough and I can work remote. Why work to create a second job? At the end, webdesign is also not infinitely scalable.

Instead, I am now seeking for ideas to start something that I can make an exit in 3-4 years and can bring 7 figures to me.

Meanwhile:

- Invested some money to renovate our inherited flats (around 8k€), to rent them out.
- Invested some money to buy a flat (around 6k€) that gives monthly surplus after rent & expenses.
- Lost some money in stocks (around 6k€) but on the road to recover back now.
 
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Primeperiwinkle

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At the start of 2020 I had an amazing business (for me, being on track to make 100k as a small business owner was phenomenal) a thriving personal relationship, my kids went to a great school, my six best friends whom I adore were happy and I lived somewhere sunny, warm, and flat. Yay Texas!

At the end of March I made huge decisions based on my priorities. I wanted a different future and was willing to sacrifice a lot to get it.

I closed my business then travelled 6,507 miles over 33 weeks (because paperwork takes time) and now?

At the end of 2020 I am starting a new amazing business, my personal relationship is lovely, my kids go to a great school, my six bf’s are healthy, and I live somewhere sunny, warm, and mountainous. Yay Spain!

It’s quite possible that I now spend more time thinking about others than I do worrying about myself... and that must be a step in the right direction. I am happy and hopeful about 2021.

(Wherever you go, there you are. Be a blessing.) (oh.. but there was a shit ton of fear, stress, planning, talking, phone calls, paperwork, and prayer in the middle of everything so don’t let me make it sound like a cakewalk. Adventures are hella exciting though!)
 
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redshift

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The start was rough, but forced me to look inward and get some good perspective and focus on improving myself. Only been uphill since then. Got some really good chunks of focus time to think and finally get my app ready for launch in 2021 as well. Next year will be even better :)
 

Mutant

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One really shit break-up that kinda overshadowed everything. Lost a bunch of in-person freelance work. Struggled with my fastlane. Had many days of turmoil, tears, exhaustion, and floundering.

BUT

I also did 75hard. Completely changed my sleeping pattern (a lifetime's habit). Am taking regular cold showers (I f'in' hate the cold). Managed to inject myself repeatedly for a medical thing (I f'in' hate needles). Am meditating daily.

I'm now more confident about my power to change myself (to mutate ;)).


Also, am super proud of the talk I gave at the Summit in February (Yes! That was this year!) & the essay I wrote that got marked notable. Plus I met many amazing fastlaners & still talk regularly to a bunch of them. I swear, given that we all had to stay home & socialise on video calls this year, I spent more time chatting to Americans than people in London!

This was highlighted when chatting to some other friends about everything I'd done this year mentioned above, & they were shocked that I'd managed to turn myself "into Iron Man!" :rofl: whereas with my fastlane friends I'm barely keeping up/just getting started! :rofl: I love this group!



I suspect this year will be foundational.
 
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tpuffer

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Also, am super proud of the talk I gave at the Summit in February (Yes! That was this year!)

The Summit feels like years ago! I feel like I've lived 3 years in the past 10 months since the Summit. .
 
D

Deleted73907

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2020 was OK considering all that went down.​

COVID-related:

+ don't have to commute to work any more (+2h extra time/day), so:
+ I've read a ton of books (including Unscripted)
+ I've practiced guitar a lot

- my GF lives in Slovakia and I haven't seen her since spring
- had a travel blog of sorts that is kinda dead now of course
- not being allowed to do social stuff (Bavaria has the hardest restrictions in Germany btw) as I am usually a very social guy

Not COVID-related:

+ work: changed the department/branch and got a raise (I am a Functional Safety engineer now-> great demand for that kind of job at the moment)
+ travelled quite a lot (in January, February, August and October)
+ FLF: my very first accountability thread / serious project
 
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Andreas Thiel

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I started my current job in December 2019, but it is the one thing that defined 2020 for me.

This change was definitely the right call. Now I feel like my CV actually becomes more of an asset over time, while I felt that it turned into a liability more and more at my previous employer(s).
It also pays a lot better and I learn more stuff that I might be able to apply to my own projects at some point.

I gained weight (as planned), but Covid now makes it hard to eat enough to maintain it (went from almost 80kg to below 75). Still trying to do my home workout ... which mostly works but I don't have as much energy as I used to have.

No luck with my projects. Trying to work on something, but my mental energy is usually depleted after work. Nothing new, I have complained about that many times.

Managed to stop some financial bleeding that I could not put my finger on for a while. Just had to axe a few domains because there were crazy price jumps. Might need to get rid of a few more.
Now my car that has been totaled - financially speaking - is also functionally totaled (crash).
I looked at other options but will probably go for a 5 year financing option for a used car.
The goal is still saving money to eventually work on a business full time. That won't be in 2021, though. Seems more like I am preparing for a 2025 transition ... and only if things go well.

2020 was mostly eye opening. I knew from certain German authors that MSM paints a very distorted picture of the USA ... but this year I got an idea of how bad it is. Don't want to go into politics, but I am a little scared in that department.
 
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cm-devpreneur

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I voted GOOD. Truth is my 2020 was a SH*T SHOW which is a big improvement for me.
I am grateful for this year - the good the bad and the ugly. I've always been a slow-burner so I'm stubbornly staying on the fastlane even though the sane choice is to think twice.

- I learnt so much about myself. None of it flattering but hey...the first step is admitting you have a problem
- My confidence grew so much ...
- Action faking not quite down to zero but work in progress

I had a huge breakthrough a month ago, I realised I have no drive because I'm bored out of my mind
- So I created a bucket life with some fastlane goals in there
- Since then I've been saying yes to things that scare me and excite me
- I've been calling myself out on my laziness/action faking BS and I am embarrassed to say I never realised how long 24 hours is and to think how much I used to waste
- I am more driven, which is a big deal for me

Not a great year financially: I quit my job at the start of the year and I've been working part-time and doing some websites on the side but I wasn't actually making money


Covid was a huge setback at first however it helped me appreciate what I have. And honestly it just made connecting so much easier IMO. Especially for an introvert like me.

2021!!
- Go through some of my bucket list challenges (personal & fastlane ones)
- Get my finances in order
- Get some proper client projects going
- Untangle myself from personal 'business' arrangements that are getting 'difficult to maintain'
 

Ernman

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All things considered, 2020 was going pretty good until...

I started 2020 having left my slow lane job and committed to the fast lane. Some of you know I'm just north of 60 years old, so this old dog had some hard new tricks to learn. My time at the summit and all the new like minded friends I made was awesome. Can't say I had a solid plan, but I dove in hard. I became so wrapped up in the journey, that I disengaged from everything but the journey, biz contacts and my family. Not in itself a bad thing, but glad I'm re-engaging with the world again.

COVID and the political shit show here in the US revealed the extremes of our human greatness and stupidity, kindness and hate, beauty and ugliness. But being a classic middle child, I'm always seeking to temper the extremes and find a path forward through compromise. I just had to work a little harder at it this year.

Unfortunately, as my biz success was growing, so was a tumor in my wife's head. We didn't know this until late in the game. And we won't know just how bad this is until the 30th of December. So I have no idea what to make of 2020.
 
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nordine

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On my side I decided to quit my well paid job at the begininng of the corona crisis because I couldn't find respect there. I was earning 780$/day as a freelancer but the CEO was a $hitty human being. I choosed respect over money, I regreted it as I couldn't find a single mission for 1.5 month after that. I finally found something with a 619$ daily rate, it was a set back but I find myself very lucky. The advantage of that mission was no stress at all, working from home 5/7, had time to work on personal projects and so on. Today I signed a new contract that I got thanks to one of my personal project, I'm getting back to the 780$ daily rate in january 2021 :somber: for 2021 I'm looking forward for an opportunity to invest and make a new step in the direction of the financial freedom
 

Primeperiwinkle

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All things considered, 2020 was going pretty good until...

I started 2020 having left my slow lane job and committed to the fast lane. Some of you know I'm just north of 60 years old, so this old dog had some hard new tricks to learn. My time at the summit and all the new like minded friends I made was awesome. Can't say I had a solid plan, but I dove in hard. I became so wrapped up in the journey, that I disengaged from everything but the journey, biz contacts and my family. Not in itself a bad thing, but glad I'm re-engaging with the world again.

COVID and the political shit show here in the US revealed the extremes of our human greatness and stupidity, kindness and hate, beauty and ugliness. But being a classic middle child, I'm always seeking to temper the extremes and find a path forward through compromise. I just had to work a little harder at it this year.

Unfortunately, as my biz success was growing, so was a tumor in my wife's head. We didn't know this until late in the game. And we won't know just how bad this is until the 30th of December. So I have no idea what to make of 2020.
Oh no!! Oh I’m so sorry for you and her. That is terrifying. Oh man.. my heart goes out to you and her.
 

steelandchrome

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Not sure what to think about this year other than I wasted a lot of opportunities by focusing on too many things at once and never just one main focus. I wanted to import a product and sell but never found one that I was confident in and wasn't really passionate about this process, then figures I would resell to make ends meet in the meanwhile, then wanted to be a day trader, then wanted to flip homes and possibly become a realtor, basically I "took action" but truly action faked away 2020.

I was "self employed" all year and started out focusing on reselling on Amazon and Ebay and will have ended the year with about $75k in sales and $30k in profit across these platforms (plus a small amount of Mercari, FB, local sales, etc)

I then moved to wanting to be a day trader and still sell on the side and ended up making $30k +/- and then losing $70k when I got into trading futures and treated it like play money vs real money and was overconfident in earning it all back.

That all said my net income for the year will be about -$10k which is really frustrating and unfortunately all my fault.

On a positive note I did sell a rental property and took in $198k of equity to fund the day to day living and give me one more year of going after a more sustainable income.

I am currently selling premium on my stock account to try and build it back up and am focusing on trying to get my first flip done and focus on real estate coming into 2021.
 
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Ernman

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Unfortunately, as my biz success was growing, so was a tumor in my wife's head. We didn't know this until late in the game. And we won't know just how bad this is until the 30th of December. So I have no idea what to make of 2020.
You can't make this up...

Christmas eve my wife's doctor called to tell her the pre-operative scans showed no tumor! All four doctors on her team studied all her case images and agreed, it was there just a month ago but was now gone. They cancelled the surgery as it was no longer considered worth the risk. The plan is to wait two months and repeat all the imagery.

Miracle!? Turns out self-remission is real but not well understood. Hell, we don't even know what was in her head because that was what the 30 December surgery was to determine. So now we anxiously wait.

My wife's direction to me...get on with making those millions while I'm still here to spend them :playful:
 

Kobayashi

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So how was your 2020? Please vote!

Did you have a good year?

Did C0VlD-19 set you back? Cause you to reevaluate your priorities and/or business model?

Looking back, I had a pretty damn good year.

I expect 2021 to be full of change for myself, from building a house to moving to a new state. I also have a new full-length book that should be out in early 2021!
Hi MJ. I hope the moves goes well for you. 2020 was bad if this word is meant to mean anything. It impacted our company severely so I am not earning anything like what I did in the previous year. However it also brought some opportunity which I have used to my advantage. As of this moment I am just trying to stay safe and use the time I have to be productive, stay fit and mentally active etc. Part of me feels like blaming the governments for this pandemic in they way that they have mismanaged containing the spread of the pandemic as they are meant to be showing leadership. However as you mention in TMF and Unscripted trusting someone else to look after you is mistake and that we should all take more responsibility for own lives and the decisions that we CAN make. I look forward to the new book. regards
 

WJK

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So how was your 2020? Please vote!

Did you have a good year?

Did C0VlD-19 set you back? Cause you to reevaluate your priorities and/or business model?

Looking back, I had a pretty damn good year.

I expect 2021 to be full of change for myself, from building a house to moving to a new state. I also have a new full-length book that should be out in early 2021!
My year was great. The virus scared me last spring, but it all straightened out within a couple of months. Everything stopped while we figured out what was happening -- then the rest of the year was a marathon of long, busy days. It was a banner year. The accomplishments stacked up one after another. While so many people were frozen in place, we were kicking it.

I don't know how we can top last year. 2020 was amazing. We'll have to see what projects we can make happen.
 
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rollerskates

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Mine was mixed.

The good:
1. I learned a TON about myself . A very good year for self reflection but not navel gazing.
2. My current business stayed consistent as it's online and doubled from 2019 (started a little bit into 2019)
3. Figured out what thing I want to concentrate on going forward. (this is the biggie)
4. The liquor store delivers

The bad:
1. Multiple family members got Covid. They all recovered, which is good, but it messed up everyone's plans for the summer and Christmas because everyone either had Covid or was quarantining during 3 of the last 7 months.
2. My health suffered. My own fault? Mainly. I didn't stick to my diet (several food allergies and intolerances). It also has taken me so far, 13 months to fix another health issue that should have taken 3 months. Tops.
3. The liquor store delivers.

In 2021: so far off to a good start in both business and health. Consistency is key!
 

rollerskates

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Christmas eve my wife's doctor called to tell her the pre-operative scans showed no tumor!

Wonderful!! Never doubt that there are miracles. Like Hamlet said, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy"
 

biggeemac

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My year was great. I often asked myself if my business would survive the next great depression. It has so far with flying colors. I am feeling more confident, even if the worst is still yet to come.
 
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sambreaker20

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2020 was a great year for my wife and I. We made more money than we ever made. My wife is a realtor and even with covid going around, she was busier than ever. I can’t imagine how much more money we could have made if covid wasn’t a thing.
 

WJK

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2020 was a great year for my wife and I. We made more money than we ever made. My wife is a realtor and even with covid going around, she was busier than ever. I can’t imagine how much more money we could have made if covid wasn’t a thing.
Save your money. Have a fat, rainy-day emergency fund. Pay off your debts. Invest to create good cash flow. RE is a roller coaster ride.
 

sambreaker20

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Save your money. Have a fat, rainy-day emergency fund. Pay off your debts. Invest to create good cash flow. RE is a roller coaster ride.
With some of the money we made last year we paid off credit cards and two car loans. 2021 is going to be the year where we are going to save a big chunk of our income.
 
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WJK

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With some of the money we made last year we paid off credit cards and two car loans. 2021 is going to be the year where we are going to save a big chunk of our income.
Paying off CC and car loans is a start. You MUST have emergency funds to weather being in RE (or a rich, doting dad). It's rice and beans time until you get that fund together. And then you'll need to put together some "strutting money" for investments. The overall RE market is very tender right now. Housing is the one hot spot. Keep a close eye on the trends.
 

vaibhav

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For me, 2020 was the year of realisations and self-awareness. About what I am doing with life and what I actually need to do to not only achieve my goals or ideal vision but also to stay on track!

This year will be crucial for me to achieve the long-dreamt independence.
 

docaia

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I am still an employee. I hope to fully move to my own business by end of 2021. In 2020 I had for the first time the opportunity to work from home since April 2020. This gave me much better grip over my time, saving the commute times to and from the office and making enough hours per day to concentrate. I had more time and more energy to work on my project which is an app and website to compare and classify car mechanics in Egypt; I think I am 80% done on the initial design and coding while I was just 5% at the beginning of the year.
I hope by mid 2021 my project would be up and running and will make some value to the community. I am not in a rush to make a lot of money, as MJ always says, whenever there is value, money will be a natural consequence..
 
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