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Your 2017 Year in Review

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

hungryhippocampi

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I am new to this forum and happy to be here. I've already gained knowledge from several of you and hopefully made some decent contributions so far as well. For those of you who have been here a while and have been working on your Fastlane Mindsets, I am really interested in what do you see as the one or two things you improved or learned that really impacted you or your business positively in some measurable way in 2017. For example:
1. Did you learn something new that resulted in increase sales or decreased costs?
2. Were you able to change a behavior that resulted in better confidence or peace of mind?
3. Did you pick up a new skill, coding for example, so you could build something new?

I probably could have said this a little more succinctly by asking -- please share a nugget of wisdom from your 2017 experiences. Happy New Year everyone and here's to the best year of our lives in 2018 (yes, I'm an optimist)!
 
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MJ DeMarco

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Bump.

I wish I could report some landmark new skill or knowledge, but 2017 was a very health-challenged year for me, so much so that we had to cancel the Summit in 2017. Sure I released a new book but it was somewhat anti-climatic for me. When you don't feel optimal, all the other stuff tends to take a backseat. At one point I didn't even care about releasing a book. Fortunately, the year finished better with some different decisions and actions, so I'm looking forward to 2018 being much different.
 

hungryhippocampi

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Bump.

I wish I could report some landmark new skill or knowledge, but 2017 was a very health-challenged year for me, so much so that we had to cancel the Summit in 2017. Sure I released a new book but it was somewhat anti-climatic for me. When you don't feel optimal, all the other stuff tends to take a backseat. At one point I didn't even care about releasing a book. Fortunately, the year finished better with some different decisions and actions, so I'm looking forward to 2018 being much different.
Sorry to hear that and hope you have it under control! I am really a nutty natural health researching freak so if there's any advice I can give you on amplifying health I would be happy to do so. Here's to 2018 being a year of renewed health and vigor for you!
 

Evil_Jester

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2017 was a rollercoaster.
  • January -- got a new good slowlane job after 5 months of unemployment. Failed in many of my fastlane ideas
  • April -- learned valuable skills (video editing / effects)
  • Mid summer -- had my first viral social media videos
  • August -- started a niche instagram and still going at it!
For the first time ever I've stuck with something for more than 5 months. I still have about 3-4 months of work to get to 10,000 followers, but I'm not cheating. I've been scouted by major companies in my niche. I've turned down some $$ to work on long term leverage. Soon I'm looking to build a small team.
 
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Andy Black

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2017 was the year I understood the power of divorcing my time from my earnings.

On the one hand, I sold my course to fellow forum members and it was amazing to receive money and not have to do any work afterwards. Unlike when a new client pays me and we have to swing into action, when someone buys a course you've already published you don't have to do anything else. It's mind-blowing really, and those unexpected emails of Stripe payments never get old.


On the other hand, I built a team, which now means I spend more of my time working on my phone than on my PC. What a game-changer.


Overall though, I don't consider myself a freelancer anymore. I have clients on monthly payments. Some churn of course, and I have to keep onboarding new ones. But the portfolio is slowly growing.

I'm delegating more and more work to my team. I'm able to spend more time being the business owner.

I consider myself more of a business owner now. Strange how the way you label yourself affects what you do. Hmm... why do I still say "more of" a business owner? Probably because I'm still doing coal-face work? I won't dwell on why. Someone wiser than me said: "F*ck why. It only holds you back."

I don't like yearly goals, but I'd like things to be more planned. I'm leaning towards documenting my vision of where I'd like to be at the end of 2018, and creating quarterly goals/way-markers to get there.
 

MTF

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Bump.

I wish I could report some landmark new skill or knowledge, but 2017 was a very health-challenged year for me, so much so that we had to cancel the Summit in 2017. Sure I released a new book but it was somewhat anti-climatic for me. When you don't feel optimal, all the other stuff tends to take a backseat. At one point I didn't even care about releasing a book. Fortunately, the year finished better with some different decisions and actions, so I'm looking forward to 2018 being much different.

Any lessons on how to deal with not feeling optimal? Any lessons on how you improved your health? I'm sure there's a lot you learned from this situation.
 

MJ DeMarco

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Any lessons on how you improved your health? I'm sure there's a lot you learned from this situation.

Not sure I "improved" my health per se. I just feel better now than I did, say a year ago.

Basically the best health improvement anyone can make is with their diet, so everything is an experiment from there. Once you find the diet that works, you make it your lifestyle. For the last several years, my "diet" has gone off the rails -- way too much sugar, meat (steaks at the steakhouse) and just plain ole' "good living" eating. Despite never eating fast food, there are days when I truly felt like I ate McDonalds for an entire year.

My latest change is that I've been mostly vegan (vegetarian) for nearly 5 months, other than a couple of bites on special occasions.

If my health improves, I'll then make the big switcheroo and identify as a vegan as well.

Thus far, I've seen minor improvements, but nothing that has me jumping for joy. And so the experimenting continues...
 
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AnAverageJoe

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Nothing earth-shattering for me in 2017. Left a day job for another day job. Left that day job for another day job. I'm staying put in this job until I'm Unscripted . It pays me enough but also gives me enough freedom to work on my business when I'm not there. It's one of those jobs you don't brag about to your family during Thanksgiving dinner, but it's allowing me to do what I need to do.

I started my business last March along with a progress thread to go with it. I've made a few hundred dollars off of it, nothing earth-shattering.

The key for me is that it's January of the next year and I haven't given up yet. I'm still working and learning and growing the business, and I have a good feeling about things. In the past, I've been the idea guy. Bouncing from one idea to the next without putting in the work to ever see results. A lot of action faking mixed in.

But 2017 is the year I didn't give up, and it feels great.
 

hungryhippocampi

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Not sure I "improved" my health per se. I just feel better now than I did, say a year ago.

Basically the best health improvement anyone can make is with their diet, so everything is an experiment from there. Once you find the diet that works, you make it your lifestyle. For the last several years, my "diet" has gone off the rails -- way too much sugar, meat (steaks at the steakhouse) and just plain ole' "good living" eating. Despite never eating fast food, there are days when I truly felt like I ate McDonalds for an entire year.

My latest change is that I've been mostly vegan (vegetarian) for nearly 5 months, other than a couple of bites on special occasions.

If my health improves, I'll then make the big switcheroo and identify as a vegan as well.

Thus far, I've seen minor improvements, but nothing that has me jumping for joy. And so the experimenting continues...

If veganism doesn't work out, I can honestly say the ketogenic diet has done wonders for me. That's one of the things I did in 2017 -- kick sugar and carbs to the curb.
 

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