[54] Our 2014 Recap & 2015 Goals
This is Bootstrapped Web episode 54. It's the podcast for you, the founder who learns by doing as you bootstrap your business online. And today, we are looking back at our progress in 2014, and then we'll lay out our goals for 2015, and also how you guys can do the same. So as always, I'm Brian.
Jordan Gal:And I'm Jordan. Looking forward to this one.
Brian Casel:Yeah. Me too. So A
Jordan Gal:little scared of it, actually. I'm not entirely entirely honest looking back at my February. It's not it's not all sunshine and roses.
Brian Casel:Me too. Me too. It's always like that. But, you know, I I was just thinking about this the today. I was talking to my wife this morning, and it just kinda reminds me of, like, how much I love what I do.
Brian Casel:And I think you you feel the same, and probably everybody else listening to this. I mean, I love this time of year in a way. Like, January, just think thinking through these goals and, like, kinda stressing out about these big goals in a way, but, like, in a good way. You know, like, really like, starting to envision, like, where's this thing gonna be twelve months from now? It's really exciting and inspiring to to be able to do something for a living that allows us to, like, literally make our future.
Brian Casel:And I just think of, like, everyone else out there
Dan Norris:in a in the in
Brian Casel:that salary job, you know, year in, year out, you know, of course, there's there's the the pros and cons of the security of that and all that. But, you know, this time of year, they're not thinking about any of this stuff. They're they're thinking it's just another year. What are we doing for New
Jordan Gal:Year's Eve? Vacation. Right? Hopefully, they have off, you know? And and Yeah.
Jordan Gal:Yeah. It's an amazing thing that we, we deal with and we put ourselves through, but, yeah, this time of year creates a, like, a reconciliation. Like, it's it's time to look at yourself in the mirror, and see if you're satisfied with your progress, if you are living up to your expectations, and what you plan to do for the next year to make sure that at the end of 2015, you can look in the mirror and say, you know, I I I kicked ass. I I did the best that I could. I feel good about it.
Jordan Gal:Yeah. So it's a it's a great time.
Brian Casel:Yeah. Totally. And and I think there there are always things that you that Like goals that you set and you don't quite hit them, and then there are goals that you that you smash out of the park. There It's always gonna be that way every year for everyone. Even the people who are who are killing it.
Brian Casel:And what I just love about this thing that we do is we control it. It's totally in our in our control, and and we can pinpoint why something didn't happen or why something did happen. And that's what keeps this whole thing exciting. So, alright. So let's get right into it, but, we'll do some really quick updates because we've got a lot other stuff to cover.
Brian Casel:So, what's your update this week?
Jordan Gal:You know, along the same lines as we're talking about the end of the year, what I'm doing recently is just thinking through the different scenarios and different options that I have in front of me for the next year. So I where I think everyone does this, or should do it with their business to say, So I I have been going along a particular path, a particular strategy, doing something going in a direction. And this is a good opportunity to look at that and say, is that what I wanna continue doing? That's it's never you never only have one option. You you have infinite number of options in front of you.
Jordan Gal:Most of them are limited by your, you know, creativity and your ability to, you know, to to envision how you can put things together in different ways. But all these different options is what I've been thinking through. And then at the same time, I see the end of the year as like a deadline. So gotta make a decision. Pick an option.
Jordan Gal:Pick a scenario. Pick a strategy by the end of the year, and then stick with it for the rest of the Yeah. So that And I think that
Brian Casel:And then you can, like, hit ground running in January. Right. Right. Because
Jordan Gal:right. If nothing else, the the clarity and conviction that comes along with just making a decision is is healthy. Like, you should not just constantly flip flop all over the place. We've all been guilty of it, myself included. But I like the idea of trying to hold myself to one particular path.
Jordan Gal:Right? And I think a lot of that has to do with 2014, and looking back on it. You know? And I think that's what we'll get into in the in the next section. So that that's my update.
Jordan Gal:Just thinking it through the different options and seeing the end of the year as almost like a deadline by which I have to make a decision and then commit myself to that path for, you know, for at least the next year.
Brian Casel:Cool. So what am I working on right right now? I'm actually adding a productized service on top of my productized service. So in rest in Restaurant Engine, you know, I do consider that itself a productized service because we do so many different things manually. But, I'm adding a new, it's like an add on service.
Brian Casel:I guess it's kind of like a higher tiered plan Restaurant Engine, which will be where we'll actually manage, the email newsletters, like creating and sending them and social media updates and some SEO optimization work. You know, just doing that manual service, I I it's been something that that customers have been asking for for a while. And, after doing the productized course, I I kinda wanna, you know, really dog food, a lot of the actual, strategies and tactics that I that I put into that course and really put it into action, like, as as like a new project. So I'm doing that in restaurant engines. I'm today, you know, just kinda working on the material to show to to, like, showcase on the site, and then working on, the onboarding form that that customers will fill out to get started with the service.
Brian Casel:I have about five or 10 of our existing customers who told me, you know, when when we roll it out, they're they're ready to go. So that'll be nice, and and we'll, we'll kind of roll that out, like, piecemeal, you know, maybe five customers or so at a time. And, doing it myself for the first month, and then I'll I'm gonna be putting the systems in place so I can have my team carry it all out. And that's the immediate project. And let's see.
Brian Casel:The other thing on my update is I'm currently on the two week, like, jump start of the Bulletproof Diet. I've been reading through Dave Asprey's The Bulletproof Diet book, which is awesome. I mean, I'm drinking the the Bulletproof coffee. I'm I'm eating all the the grass fed butter, the grass fed beef, all of it.
Jordan Gal:You know? The intermittent so far. I've only gone so far as the the coffee, but the the diet, that sounds interesting.
Brian Casel:My wife How do you feel? Well, my wife and I like spent a fortune at Whole Foods over the past week two. So
Jordan Gal:Yeah. That happens.
Brian Casel:I feel great, honestly. It's this is really for me, I've I've been like very up and down with with health over the last couple of Eating and exercising, you know, gain some weight, and then I'll lose some weight, and then I'll gain it. And then I go to the gym for a month, and then I don't see the gym for six months. You know? It that's been the story of my life, pretty much.
Jordan Gal:You look good, as awkward as that sounds in a podcast. You look you look healthy. You know, you can you can tell in people's faces and their eyes and skin, you know, if they're eating well and if they feel energetic.
Brian Casel:Yeah. It's that's exactly how I feel right now. I definitely feel focused too. I mean, the Bulletproof coffee, dude, this is
Jordan Gal:it's it's good. That that's good.
Brian Casel:I I mean, it it's it's not even like super caffeinated. It's just the ongoing focus that you have like throughout the whole day, you know, without that crash, you know. I mean, I I sound like an infomercial for it right now, but Whatever.
Jordan Gal:As long as it works, you know, who cares?
Brian Casel:Seriously. So I mean, I'm I'm I'm with it. I feel like this is the first health change that I'm making that that is really starting to stick with me. Like, I I can see it just a weekend, you know, that it it's working. So Very cool.
Brian Casel:That is the update. So so, hey, earlier today, you you shot shot me an I'm with this Theodore Roosevelt quote. This was awesome. You wanna tell us about this?
Jordan Gal:I I did. You know, as we were talking about this episode, and we're we're just kinda getting pumped up on, you know, on entrepreneurship in general and the the highs and lows and how difficult it is and how good it feels and all all these different things combined. So what it brought to mind is is a quote from Teddy Roosevelt. Most people have probably heard this before, but I think it's an appropriate time to revisit it as we talk about the end of the year. So here goes.
Jordan Gal:This is, from Teddy Roosevelt. It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or how the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. And I think that's an apt description of the the internal and mental emotional workings of of entrepreneurship. And it yeah.
Jordan Gal:It's it's inspiring not not to call people who have a salary cold dead souls. But at the very least, as an entrepreneur, you can, you can feel good that you are in the fight and you're in the arena. And at the worst, if you did fail, you sure should give it a try.
Brian Casel:Yep. I mean, we're alive. That's what we're doing. You know? It it it's awesome.
Brian Casel:This is a great quote. I'm I'm gonna do something with this. I don't know. Print it out, put it on the wall, something. I gotta I gotta keep it in front of me.
Brian Casel:That's for sure. Alright. So Let's
Jordan Gal:we're we're gonna talk about, you know, looking back at 2014. I'm talk about the upcoming year. But before we do that, before we dive into, you know, talking about ourselves, we wanted to just kinda go over some tips, and Brian is better at this than I am. So we want to go over some tips on how to set your goals for the next year in in an effective way. So talk to me, Brian.
Jordan Gal:How do you do this properly? I have not done a good job with this.
Brian Casel:Alright. You know, and and this is the kind of thing that I get a little bit better at every year. And, you know, I think I did okay this year. I did a little bit worse last year. Anyway, so I think the first tip is start by looking back at your entire past year.
Brian Casel:And, you know, you at the end of the year, you have this feeling of, like, alright. It's not as good as I want it to be or or it's it's pretty good or it's great. Like, you know but really go back and and especially go back to, like, the first quarter of the past year because that's a pretty long way back. You gotta think back like things are actually very different today than they were eight months ago, ten months ago, you know. And really give that some thought and may maybe go back to your previous blog posts or if you do any kind of, like, journaling or just, like, look at whatever pro any kind of records of things that you're working on from that from from, you know, ten, twelve months ago, you'd be I like my inbox.
Brian Casel:I like to
Jordan Gal:look into my inbox.
Brian Casel:Exactly. Yeah.
Jordan Gal:It is revealing.
Brian Casel:Great idea there. You know, look at look at previous emails. Just see what what was on your mind twelve months ago, and you'd be amazed at how far you've come. But you know?
Jordan Gal:Yeah. We overlook. We set a goal, and if we get there, it's behind us immediately. We feel good for a second, and then we're consumed with the next issue, the next piece of stress. Doing this really shows you how much progress you've made and also shows you if you were working on the right thing or not.
Jordan Gal:Totally. Sometimes I look back at emails and I'm embarrassed for myself that I was not heading in the right direction, thinking about the wrong things, talking about the wrong things. And then sometimes I look at it like this was so raw. And this, you know, this thing was nothing. It was just thoughts.
Jordan Gal:Yeah. And now it's it's it's different. It's alive. It's running. It's got customers.
Jordan Gal:It has money. It has issues. So it gives you both perspectives on the the good and the bad of what, you know, what you were working on, what you were thinking about.
Brian Casel:Totally. The next tip that I have here is keep your list so so now we're looking ahead to goals for for the upcoming year. Keep your list of goals short, but keep them detailed. And so here's what I mean by that. I I think as entrepreneurs, I've struggled with this big time myself.
Brian Casel:We tend to try to bite off way more than we can chew. And we get excited at this time of year, at least I do, thinking about all these big goals and things that I wanna do in the next twelve months. But you've you gotta scale that back. You gotta think through each of those big goals and and then get detailed. Like, alright.
Brian Casel:What's really involved in that? Like, okay. Do you wanna build an online course? Well, what's really involved there? Like, what you gotta, you know, do recording and writing and talking to customers and all this stuff.
Brian Casel:Or you wanna launch a SaaS app? Alright. There's development time. There's customer development. There's, you know, marketing.
Brian Casel:There you know, technology. There's a lot that goes into everything. Not to scare you away from and and make you do nothing. You've gotta just pick one or two big things to work on. And I I think that if it's difficult for you to decide between four or five different things and then cut out three of them, that's a good thing.
Brian Casel:You're you're on the right track if if it's if it's actually hard for you to say, okay, that big thing that I wanna do, that shiny object, I'm not gonna do it this year. I'm I'm just gonna say, like, it's not happening in 2015. You know? That's I think that's a smarter way to go.
Jordan Gal:Yeah. It's like managing your daily to do list. Yeah. If you put if you put too much on it, nothing's gonna get done. The only thing that's gonna get done are the things you can read and say, oh, I can do that in five minutes.
Jordan Gal:Let me work on that instead of the the meaningful thing. So
Brian Casel:Totally.
Jordan Gal:Yeah. That that that makes sense.
Brian Casel:Yeah. And the next the next tip I have here is keep your goals measurable and or and or tangible. And, what I mean by that is, you know, actually write down your goals. I'll I'll talk in a minute about journaling. But, write them down and then specify, like, what does that goal actually look like?
Brian Casel:So if it's, like, growth or financial related, then what's the number? What are the what what's the number that you have to hit? If it's, like, launch related, then what is that thing that that you will launch or build? And and what's what does that consist of? That doesn't exist today.
Brian Casel:If it's like improvements, then what can you actually point to a year from now that that you can say, like, yes or no, that that did not get improved or that wasn't. That was definitely improved.
Jordan Gal:Right. Like, don't know how to do this and now I do know how to do it.
Brian Casel:Yeah.
Jordan Gal:Or I this didn't exist and now it does or yeah. I I I like using numbers because they're objective. You say, I want 100 customers by the end of the year and right now I'm at 10, how do I get to a 100? How many do I need to average every month? How many it you know, it takes away all the words and assumptions and possible meanings.
Jordan Gal:It just narrows things down. Then you can spend the rest of the year figuring out how to get there, but at least you have a goal in mind. I I think this is the smartest and most powerful thing about Groove's blog. Right? Yeah.
Jordan Gal:The journey journey to a 100 k.
Brian Casel:Right.
Jordan Gal:You you know, I didn't follow it that avidly, but holy shit, you have to admire that. They just set a numerical goal and they started I don't know when they started 30 k or something. And throughout the year, all every once in a while, I would just, you know, come across one of their blog posts and I would just see the progress and I'd be like, that's you know? And at first, I think I, like, insulated myself. I protected my own ego by saying, oh, well, they're funded, and they have a team and all this.
Jordan Gal:You know? But, damn, that's when when they got to that 100 k,
Brian Casel:I I like, about that's that. Like, know?
Jordan Gal:Right. That's that's admirable. Totally. And and I think that must have motivated them internally and, you know, focused everyone's attention. I I think, yes, straightforward numbers can can really do that.
Brian Casel:Yep. The next two tips here, I they're kind of the same idea, but I'll I'll just say them both. Start with the end in mind. I think we we've covered this quite a bit in in a lot of our previous episodes. But, you know, just really, like, try to transport yourself twelve months into the future.
Brian Casel:What does that exactly look like? Yes. We could just look at revenue numbers and say, like, alright. I'm I'm pulling in double the revenue than I am today. But, paint a paint a pic I I like to think very visually about this stuff.
Brian Casel:Like, what does the team look like? What does the product look like? What am I working on every day? Like, waking up, getting to the office, what what are the projects that I'm working on in December 2015? Yeah.
Brian Casel:I think it just helps get into that mindset of, alright. Now let's think back, like, what are what are the projects that I'll need to work on in order to make that work day a reality?
Jordan Gal:Yeah. It's powerful. The the visualization. Yep. You know, I I try to think about it matched up with my tangible goals.
Jordan Gal:I say, if if this company is making 50 k a month, right, let's just say that's like my goal for the end of the year, what does that look like? Is is that me sitting in my home office by myself? Is that realistic? You know? And if not, then try to visualize it.
Jordan Gal:Maybe that's it looks very different and feels very different, and my day to day is very different, and almost like get prepared mentally for it. Like, yeah, I'm actually gonna get an office, and I'm gonna have to leave, and I'm gonna have to go meet people and hire them and right? So it Yeah. It helps to start to visualize a powerful process.
Brian Casel:Yeah. And and and then the next thing here, you know, to kinda push yourself to get to that point is is, of course, to think big. And, if you go back to one of our episodes in the thirties, I think it was one of the first one that that you and I did together. I think it's all about thinking big. So the I mean, the idea here is just to really push yourself.
Brian Casel:The tendency, I think maybe the I'm just speaking for myself here. But there's a tendency to make your goals as realistic and achievable as possible. Like, set some goals that you know you're gonna hit or, you know But I think that's a good starting point, but then you gotta you gotta stretch it. You you gotta stretch it a little bit farther than that, and and and just kinda push yourself out of your comfort zone. You gotta accept that, like, in order to to get these goals, you're gonna have to do things that you're uncomfortable with.
Jordan Gal:Yeah. I I like to call it realistic but ambitious. Mhmm. So chances are you won't get there. But if you go anywhere near it, you'll you'll be in good shape.
Jordan Gal:Right? If I set a goal to have 10,000 paying customers in CardUp by the end of the year, it's too far. Right? You've gone you've gone into la la land. Right.
Jordan Gal:And you won't you won't be working on the right things. But if I say 500 paying customers, that's ambitious, but it is in the realm of possibility. So let's, you know, let's work toward Yeah. Toward that. How do you, you know, how do you bang home fifty, seventy five paying customers a month?
Jordan Gal:You you're gonna have to do things very differently than the way I'm doing them now.
Brian Casel:Yeah. It's almost like a kind of a negotiation with yourself. Right? Like you you want to like I like that. You want to come in, you know, high or or come in low, you know, which whatever side of the negotiation you're on.
Brian Casel:Think Right. But you have the real number in your mind. Like, you say 500, but you'll be happy with 300, you know?
Jordan Gal:Right. I like that. That's a that's a great analogy. This this is one of my favorite things about working with, with Israelis. Right?
Jordan Gal:So I'm I'm from Israel. So I, you know, I just know a lot of Israeli people and family and all that. Israeli entrepreneurs are so ridiculously ambitious, that they they set their goals so preposterously high that you you almost, like, dismiss them, and then they go out and achieve half of it. And you're like, how in the hell did you do that? But it's because they they that negotiation with themselves, they they just they go high.
Jordan Gal:They convince themselves that they're capable of doing things that nobody else thinks they're capable of. And and I think that's a good a good mindset, to get into. Ambitious, but not not you know, you gotta find that that balance within yourself. But definitely Totally. Man, we're not we're not in this to create a job for ourselves.
Jordan Gal:Like Yep. Think big. You know, if it happens, hallelujah. If it doesn't happen, you know, keep fighting.
Brian Casel:Yeah. Exactly. Okay. So this last one here is this is a little bit more tactical, and that is keep a journal. Now that sounds a little like I don't know.
Brian Casel:I don't know whatever the word is. But I started doing this sometime in 2013, I think near the '13. And I to be honest, I didn't see a whole lot of value in writing down thoughts completely privately in in a journal until now. Until now that I'm about a year or so into doing this on a semi regular basis, now is like, it's so valuable because now I can go back and look. What was I thinking six months ago?
Brian Casel:What was I thinking twelve months ago? You know, I wrote down my twenty fourteen goals in that journal. And and then I even, like, revised them, like, a month later. And and, like, I went through all these changes and things happened. And then and I wrote and what I basically use the journal for is I use it to when I'm really struggling with a hard decision, I'll start jotting down, like, pros and cons.
Brian Casel:I'll start thinking through, like, what I what I really think, but maybe won't say out loud, and then I'll and then I'll write it down. I just know nobody's gonna read this thing. So it just helps me think through some thoughts and and consider different options and and look and think ahead and think big think big picture. And and and also just be really honest about, like, what's going wrong in in this business right now. So so I I found that very helpful.
Brian Casel:I use an app called Day One app, which is it's really, you know, easy to use, works on all the different devices, and and it's it's great. So, you know, and and even I there were like four or five weeks at a time where I just wouldn't even write in it, and I think that's fine. I I a lot of people have like a daily habit or a weekly habit of journaling. I think that's great. I I wish I could work up to that.
Brian Casel:I tend to just use it like when it's on my mind and I'm like, oh, I should write it. I just write a few thoughts down. But it's always on my mind this time of year thinking through these, like, annual goals. So
Jordan Gal:Right. I I like that idea. I I haven't had discipline or or convince myself to do it. But you you hear it often enough from enough successful people that there's gotta be something to it. Right?
Jordan Gal:It it it never hurts to write. It's always good for you. It gathers your thoughts. So to write in a private way, it's, you know, it's hard to write a blog post and be completely 100% raw and honest. But when you do it for yourself, I think that's where you get get the most out of it.
Brian Casel:So What I really like about it is, when I'm writing a blog post, I'm editing so much. Even as I'm writing, I'm self editing. I'm I'm hitting that delete button all the time. I'm rearranging the order of how I'm saying things. It's a constant I I spend way more time editing than I actually do writing on the block.
Brian Casel:But when I'm writing in day one, I make a conscious effort to literally never hit the the backspace delete button.
Jordan Gal:Right. Spelling errors. This that.
Brian Casel:That's not the focus. A lot of my entries in there, literally, I read them, I'm like, what does that even say? I don't even know what that means. Like, you know, a lot of it doesn't make a lot of sense, but, but it's just kinda like stream of consciousness. Like, it is very business related.
Brian Casel:I don't I'm I'm not into like personal journaling so much. But, it's just like, what am I thinking? And then it's amazing, like, when you actually get it into words on the page, it it it almost makes, like, the obvious choice just come straight to the top, you know. Mhmm. Whereas Being
Jordan Gal:being forced to talk about a business problem, like, with friends or a mastermind as you're saying it, you already know what the answer is because you start to look at it from other people's point of view and you say, oh, I I can hear myself. Yeah. You know, I I already know what it yeah. That's that's very cool.
Brian Casel:But when it's like festering inside your mind and keeping you up at night, it's never gonna make any sense.
Jordan Gal:So Excellent. So I I like those. Good tips. So look back at the previous year. Make goals for the coming year, but not too many of them.
Jordan Gal:Keep them detailed. Have tangible goals. Be able to visualize where you're trying to get to, push yourself to think big, and then commit to keeping a record of what happens throughout the year. So, you know, at the end of the year, and along the way, you can actually keep track of your your progress. And Mhmm.
Jordan Gal:Alright. Cool. So
Brian Casel:Alright. So let's get to, recapping what we what what we achieved in 2014. And Oh, boy. I guess we'll go, like, you know, one by one, each of like, you know, me and then you Sure. You and then me.
Brian Casel:Let's go with
Jordan Gal:the haven't I didn't write them down like you. So Okay. I don't I don't have the benefit of of doing this the right way. Right? This is goes back to what we just said in the previous one.
Jordan Gal:If I wrote them down, I would I would have a much better perspective, but I don't. So I'm I have to I'm forced to kinda look back, given where I am now. Yeah. So that's you know, there's there's one one lesson for me, for me right there.
Brian Casel:Well, you'll have this episode to look back on a year from now. So
Jordan Gal:And it and it'll it'll be public. So I'm I'm writing it down. I'm writing this down right now.
Brian Casel:So let's go with the, with kind of like the grading system that I heard on startups for the rest of us last week when when Rob Walling and Mike Taber went through their goals or or their twenty fourteen recap. They they used zero and then zero point five and one, to say either it happened, it kinda happened, or it it did happen. So, okay. So let's let's kick it off. Should I should I do the first one?
Jordan Gal:Yeah. Go for it.
Brian Casel:Alright. So and this comes straight out of that journal that I was talking about. I I wrote I wrote this down. I said, hire key people and focus on processes and remove the busy work from my daily schedule. And I said, within six months, my role should dramatically change from what it is today.
Brian Casel:And when I wrote that today was, I think, like, December or January, a year ago. I do give myself a one on this. I I during 2014, I hired a salesperson to handle all of our inbound consultations. I hired our second customer support person as well. That that helped, like, completely remove the load of of dealing with customer tickets and dealing with those, with all the sales and consultation calls.
Brian Casel:I wrote a ton of new procedures to basically, like, remove myself from the operations on on restaurant engines. So the service really truly, like, runs itself. And I was reminded of that several times through the year. I mean, I I mean, another huge thing that happened to me is is, my wife and I welcomed our our first daughter, you know, this year in in March. And, you know, for the week there, I was I was off.
Brian Casel:I had. And then I I spent three days a week at home watching her. I mean, having these systems in place and the team in place to to not only have things covered on on the service end, but actually bring on new customers when I'm occupied, you know, changing diapers and things like that. It's been huge. It it's been a huge weight off my shoulders and just I I I feel pretty happy with how the business actually keeps churning when I don't have to be there.
Jordan Gal:Yeah. Objectively looking from my point of view, from an outsider, I think that might be the single biggest accomplishment of of the year for you.
Brian Casel:I I probably agree with that.
Jordan Gal:Right. It's like you made it into a business that functions and lives on its own. Yeah.
Brian Casel:And that's There's a big there's a big Not easy thing. Coming, which I'll get to in the next one. But, yeah. So where where are you at? What what's the first, thing that you look back on?
Jordan Gal:So I'm gonna start, generally speaking, I'm mixed on 2014. Right? I look back. I I cannot honestly say I'm super happy with it, and I can't honestly say that I'm disappointed. So I'll start off with something good.
Jordan Gal:Right? Why not? So the the first goal of 2014 is to basically launch Assess. Right? That's what I've been aiming at.
Jordan Gal:And in 2013, I played around with a bunch of different ideas, and I talked to different people, and I explored different things. And then I finally decided on Cardhook and the idea behind it, and the goal was to launch and get paying customers. So, man, that is a freaking lift. That is a large rock to put in motion, and I I have to be happy about that. I have to be satisfied with the fact that I went from you know, I don't had know
Brian Casel:how to
Jordan Gal:develop, so I have to rely on other people, all these different factors. But I went from not having a software as a service launched to having one launched with paying customers. Yeah. So right. If I was gonna look at, like, a big picture goal but specific as in, like, it's actually launched and has paying customers, that is the one I think I can be most happy with, most proud of.
Jordan Gal:And where I am now, now that I'm, like, in it, I don't think about that. I think about all the issues that are in front of me. Of course. But but looking back, that's that's a is a great accomplishment.
Brian Casel:It really is. And and like I like you said, you know, you you looked at at me on Restaurant Engine. Me me looking at you, outside or looking in in in the mastermind groups and being on this podcast with you, that is kinda like the big thing that I see and the big progression that I saw from a year ago. I remember before you even launched Cardhook to today, I mean, you know, it's a it it's it's it's the dream for anyone out there who is trying to launch that first SaaS or thinking about it. You're in that position that so few people who actually launch it actually get to.
Brian Casel:And it's it's it's nothing to take lightly. It's extremely hard to get recurring subscribers on any any product. So
Jordan Gal:Yeah. So that's that's the good one. That's the one I look at and I say, you know, if you're gonna create on the system, that's a one. Like, okay. It's like ignoring the imperfections and all these other things, going from zero to one, from nothing to something, I'm I'm happy with.
Jordan Gal:So that's that's the first big one of 2014 for me. Yep. The the rest aren't quite as rosy. But how how about you? What's the next one?
Brian Casel:So okay. So I the next thing that I wrote down in in that in my goals for 2014, and this is kind of like the big butt at the end of the the the win of automating and systemizing Restaurant Engine. I wrote down Restaurant Engine should be on autopilot and growing three times faster than it is today. You know, I wrote down here that I'm giving myself a point five on this. Really, I I think I should give myself a zero because it's not growing three times faster than it was a year ago.
Brian Casel:I was really focused on the growth rate. I still am today, and it's it's not it it it's it's growing up slightly faster. We're, you know, we're adding slightly more new customers every month. But but the but
Jordan Gal:the growth doesn't increase every month?
Brian Casel:It's it's It it like, it it increased slightly over the course of 2014, but
Jordan Gal:it's Mhmm.
Brian Casel:It's not at the target that I wanted it to be. And I see. I guess what happened was I was I had two big goals for Restaurant Engine. Like, one was to remove myself completely from it, all the systems and processes, and I think that was a big win. But I also had the same goal at the at the same time, I had this goal.
Brian Casel:It's like, but we also need to grow and and grow fast and start adding lots and lots more customers than than we are today. And I in my mind, that was a great goal, but it didn't happen. I I I I guess I I spent way too much time of my time writing those procedures and hiring people and and getting the systems all ironed out, and I spent not I I didn't spend nearly enough time on marketing even though I it feels like I I'm I'm never ending on marketing. I didn't, maybe I just had the wrong strategies. You know, maybe I didn't push hard enough or take enough risks or I don't know what it what it was, but it it I would have liked to see it, grow faster today than than it is.
Brian Casel:So that's that's where it's at.
Jordan Gal:So here here's a question for you. In some ways, you can look at put it on autopilot and increase the rate of growth. You can see those two as as being in conflict.
Brian Casel:Right.
Jordan Gal:Right. Exactly. Right. Like, how do you put something on autopilot and have it grow? I I think what's what's what's the more granular, like, accurate way to look at?
Jordan Gal:Because they're not really in conflict. Is it is it that you want to automate a large portion of it so that you can focus on growing? Or do you want someone else to grow it? Right? It's like they they don't have to be in conflict.
Jordan Gal:But at first glance, it's like, how do you how do you do both?
Brian Casel:Same thing. Okay. So I think I I think that that a year ago, in my mind, I was thinking, like, whatever systems we have in place now in terms of sales and marketing, which is mainly content marketing and organic referral traffic coming in. However, we're getting customers now, that's how we're gonna continue to get customers for a long time to come. And we're gonna just somehow ramp that up.
Brian Casel:And that'll just go up. And that'll just keep going up, and it and it didn't. It it kind of just stayed the same level of growth every month. Yeah. And and I think I I I don't wanna jump ahead to my goals for 2015.
Brian Casel:I I have a clearer picture of but, yeah, I think there is a separation between, like, automating the service and care and like, if if I'm taking a vacation or if I'm in the hospital with with my wife giving birth for a week, the business does not fall apart. I don't lose money because of that.
Jordan Gal:Right.
Brian Casel:You know?
Jordan Gal:Hugely important.
Brian Casel:Yeah.
Jordan Gal:And and then second part of it
Brian Casel:And the second part of it is is the sales and marketing, and and I think that's where you need to come back into the business and and work on on the new systems. And this gets into my twenty fifteen stuff. And then automate those. And then remove yourself from those. So it's yeah.
Jordan Gal:Alright. So look. 2,014, automate the internal processes. 2,015, automate the the the marketing and outreach and sales and, yeah. That's what
Brian Casel:it is.
Jordan Gal:That that would be Right. That would be a great accomplishment and one that would not work as well if you hadn't spent 2014 putting together the systems for the other. It's like, if you look at it as a two year plan, you're right on track in in many ways.
Brian Casel:That's if you call it a two year plan. In my mind, it was a twelve month plan so you know. Alright.
Jordan Gal:Well, if everything takes twice as long as you expect then Yeah. You know. Yep. That's that's to be expected. Alright.
Jordan Gal:Cool. That's that's that's that's interesting.
Brian Casel:Yep. So what's next So for
Jordan Gal:this is a failure, right, in in in short term. So my next goal for 2014 was to create a secondary stream of income to both supplement my income personally and to provide capital to invest in CardHook. So that that was my thinking. My I I tried to mitigate risk. I tried to handle the the situation in front of me as best as possible.
Jordan Gal:So at the beginning of 2014, at the beginning of the life of a of a software as a service, you you broke as a joke. I mean, cool. You got it launched and and you have paying customers, but you're not making any real money. And any money you're making, you're reinvesting. And, I mean, you're you're trying to cover expenses.
Jordan Gal:Right? Let's be serious. Like, if you can get profitable with a SaaS paying yourself a salary within six months or so, you're you're you're kicking butt. You're doing great. So knowing that, I looked at 2,014 and I said, okay.
Jordan Gal:So this thing's gonna get off the ground, but I can't justify spending 100 of my time on it and hoping it all works out and and the game of chicken I'm playing financially, to get really profitable to more than cover my expenses and income and salary and everything as soon as possible. I I didn't like the risk of hoping that that worked out.
Brian Casel:Yeah. Of course. I mean yeah. I I think I think balancing, you know, multiple Right. Income streams as as you're starting to build something up and bootstrap it, I think that's that's natural.
Jordan Gal:Yeah. You you gotta deal with it. You're right. I I I'm not 22, and I can't just go live in my parents' basement and, you know, cut my expenses down to nothing. I got a family and kids and all all that.
Jordan Gal:So my approach to 2014 was, okay. Get CardHook off the ground, spend half my time on CardHook. The other half my time created an additional stream of revenue that I can do with only half my time. Right? And objectively looking back, that that failed.
Jordan Gal:That that didn't work.
Brian Casel:I don't I don't know about that. I knowing knowing the things that you worked on, you you didn't you you launched a course that that made sales, and you did plenty of consulting work that that made sales. So
Jordan Gal:Yes. So so that was good, but I I I guess what what didn't work, what was technically a failure was I was hoping that right now, in 2015, I would have both up and running. And one was kicking off enough money to supplement my monthly revenue. Exactly right. And so maybe I made, you know, a decent amount of money with the additional stream of revenue, but I didn't create a stream of revenue that that now can fund everything.
Jordan Gal:And I'm in you know, that's I want this to be sitting pretty right now and say, I've got 20 or 30 k coming in from this business. I spent half my time on. I've got a few employees on it. It's it's kicking money off every month, and Carthook now is an asset that's up and running and I can invest in and work on and and have very little risk.
Brian Casel:I I might give you a, at least a 0.5, if not a seven five there. Because, you know, if you look at that goal, if I mean, to launch three separate businesses, a SaaS business, a cons a consulting business, and a and an info product business, all making predictable monthly revenue within twelve months from zero to predictable monthly revenue, that you'd be Superman.
Jordan Gal:Right. And and maybe I should have admitted that and understood that at the beginning. And I shouldn't have tried to do three. And I shouldn't have I should have waited, or whatever it is, like, I I don't But but that's the
Brian Casel:thing with consulting work is you can just kind of bring it in for a couple months at a time, and then and then ramp it down. Yes. Yes. I
Jordan Gal:think overall, you're right. Call it call it a point five. It's not a zero. It's just that I didn't create the situation that I wanted. And so I look at, generally speaking, when I visualize that goal, I see that as a failure, but it's not a zero because, yes, I brought in income and I learned a ton.
Jordan Gal:And I met a lot of people through the process, and it it definitely increased my value and skill level and all these other things. But yeah. So that's that's that's that was the other big one for 2014, that that I look back on. Cool.
Brian Casel:Okay. So the next one, I I've got a zero here. And this is kind of a minor background one, I guess. But I wrote down beginning of last year that I wanted to build a marketing funnel for my first book, Design for Conversions, which I released back in 2013. I give myself a zero.
Brian Casel:I I did not end up creating that marketing funnel. And by the way, what I mean by that is, yes, I launched the book in 2013, but I don't have anything really pointing to it other than Mhmm. Like a single link on my website. I don't have any kind of, like, pre like, free crash course or, you know, I'm not really doing much in terms of, like, guest blogging to point to that or running paid ad campaigns. None of that.
Brian Casel:It's just sitting there. So I wanted to, you know, soon after the launch and sometime in 2014 to create some kind of, like, free course and create some kind of marketing funnels that I can get some kind of on ongoing sales for that, But that didn't happen. I got way too busy. Sales still kinda like trickle in, you know, like very low, in in terms of, you know, just people finding it through through on my site. But
Jordan Gal:Can you define why you you didn't do it? Is it time? Well, instead of me making assumptions, just, you know, open endedly,
Brian Casel:what why? Time and and also, like, I didn't even make time to plan it into my schedule. Why? I think because the amount of time that I spent creating the book and and gearing up for launch and doing that whole launch back in 2013 and then launching it, as soon as that was done, I was like, crap. I need to get right back on restaurant engine because I just spent three months on this other thing.
Brian Casel:I gotta get my focus back. I was also in a weird place where, involved in too many different things and, you know Mhmm. Finances are tight. And I was like, work on the thing that makes money and don't work on the thing that's not making a lot of money. That that was where I was at.
Brian Casel:Yeah.
Jordan Gal:And then Right. Which which makes perfect sense. Is
Brian Casel:And well and then what happened was like so that like, immediate aftermath of launching the book, you got like three or four months there. I'm I'm diving back into other stuff. Now, you're four months out, five months out. Now, I'm thinking of like the next thing. I don't wanna go back to this design for conversions thing that I I I'm I'm talking about new Now, thinking about, like, content marketing and Right.
Brian Casel:And so the lesson that I take from that is build at least somewhat of a marketing funnel before you even launch the that product. And that's what I really took into, doing the productized courses. Before I even did the course, I first launched a free course, which continues to run today. And, and that's, you know, that that educate that does a a bunch of things. That that first created early interest in the topic.
Brian Casel:That's what actually let me know that I should even create the course in the first place was the crash course was doing so well. And number two is I can do the whole two or three month work on the course, launch it, produce it, get it out there. And on day one post launch, I still have this this, this little engine that's that's bringing in new subscribers and and funneling them toward the course. So I'm happy that's in place. Of course, there's more that I will do, when it comes to, you know, marketing for product ties, but at least that's in place.
Brian Casel:And and and I think it it paid off, I would say. So it launched in October, and there was like a launch discount and everything. But then in November and December, I had a number of of other sales at full price. And I think that's because people are coming through that that marketing funnel that's already in place.
Jordan Gal:Right. So it's almost like you've bundled it as part of the work to do for the course.
Brian Casel:Yeah. And I and I did that was like the first thing that I did.
Jordan Gal:Right. They're they're not Yeah. That's interesting that it's first. It's not just like Right? In my mind, it was like, oh, so you bundle them.
Jordan Gal:So doing the course and doing the marketing work is part of doing the work for the course and do it all at once.
Brian Casel:Yes. Do do it while it's all fresh too.
Jordan Gal:Right. Even better than that, and I think, yeah, smarter, is to to do it first. Yep. Yep. And I've I've so I I made the exact same mistake as you when I launched my course.
Jordan Gal:It did pretty well. I did one webinar and made sales and was happy, people got good value out of it. And then I don't I don't have a marketing funnel for it. Right? And now I was projecting onto you when I was alluding to the fact that maybe there's a reason underneath everything that you didn't do it.
Jordan Gal:I know for me, it's because I don't have big confidence in it being like a big kick ass success. So it's like it almost I've almost justified I shouldn't do this work because it's not like a huge potential moneymaker, and so don't go back and spend time on it. So at least in my mind, think to myself, if I really thought that I could make, you know, five or ten grand a month off this one course, I would go and spend, you know, the two, three weeks it takes to think through and put together a whole funnel.
Brian Casel:Well, I I think, another reason why I didn't come back to to really working on design for conversions post launch was, that's when my audience started to grow, is is around the time of that launch. I think I had something like 300 email subscribers when I when I launched that book in in '13. In in in 2014, the audience started to grow a little bit more, and I was able to understand who they were. And and also, I was evolving and doing different things and talking about different topics. So I I wasn't I didn't see the whole topic of design for conversions fitting in with with where the audience was coming from and serving them as as well as I could.
Brian Casel:So Yeah.
Jordan Gal:You just you just did it right. You just did better than the previous time.
Brian Casel:Yeah. Yep. Cool. So what's what's next on your list?
Jordan Gal:Let's take a look. Yeah. Okay. So this is something I look back on. It's also mixed, but in in reality, I I objectively have to give it a one.
Jordan Gal:So for many years as an entrepreneur, I sat in my room and didn't talk to anyone. And I wasn't in public, and I didn't write, and I didn't do a podcast, and I didn't put myself out there at all. And I was fine with that, And and I convinced myself that I enjoy anonymity and just wanna get rich and not deal with anything. Right? Basically, this past year, I decided to just put myself out there in into the public sphere, just into the freaking Internet, man, and just throw my hat in the ring and whatever other cliches you wanna, you know, use to to name whatever the hell the process would be to just put yourself out there.
Brian Casel:Yeah.
Jordan Gal:And I had just never done any of it. The first step I took was the mastermind group that we're part of that, you know, that was posted on Mixergy and, like, you wrote an application and and then somehow I, you know, got, chosen as did you, and then we joined the mastermind. And that was, like, the first step. That was the first time I just put myself out there.
Brian Casel:Yeah. Although that's still private. It's So the mastermind group is private, but I guess you mean, like, engaging with something on mine.
Jordan Gal:Like Still still a huge shift for me because I was just everything was internal. Everything was I was consuming other people's content and podcasts and stuff, but I never had anything to do with with other people. And I just realized that that was that was just a mistake. It's just enough. Okay.
Jordan Gal:So I've been doing one thing a certain way, not getting the results that I want, and now let's change that. You know, I I described it to my my younger brother in a conversation a while ago that I remember, as the world doesn't care about how great you are and how awesome you are and how what you can do for them without you going out and proving it. You can't just sit there and be like, but I know all this stuff and I can do all this stuff and it's that's not enough. So I decided to kinda take my own advice and say, Now let's, you know, let's just do it. But what what has happened over the past year is is is just awesome.
Jordan Gal:And a lot of it, I owe to you, for inviting me onto the podcast to begin with, and then inviting me to be a cohost. That has been a huge shift. And the other piece of it, which is just, an accomplishment in itself that I'm very proud of, is the the Mixergy interview.
Brian Casel:Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna say the Mixergy, interview as well. But but, yeah. I mean, you know, the honestly, the reason why I think it's well worth your time and the reason why I invited you here on this podcast is because I know how much value you have to share.
Brian Casel:I mean, you you've shared so much value just within our mastermind group, our private group. And just knowing, you know, from your experience and the and the different type of experience that you have, at least from me and and probably from a lot of people in this audience, I I I'd learn something new when I talk to you every every time. And and I think that's you know, for anyone out there who's who's in the shadows, in the room alone, you know, thinking about, like, what or just going about your work, not putting yourself out there. Again, it's not so much about yourself. It's giving value to someone else and kinda in a way, it's like paying it forward, but then at the end of the day, you there's also return a a return on that investment building the audience.
Brian Casel:Right. You know? Right.
Jordan Gal:And that's shocked me the most. Yeah. The the return is is so much more than you expect. And it's not because I'm so special. It's not like that.
Jordan Gal:Everybody has it in them because everyone has their own unique experiences and you can convince yourself that you are just a beginner and look at all these people, they're so successful and they've done all these ridiculous things and they've raised money whenever they bat an eye and they exited their last company, all these things. But they they started somewhere too. They started, you know, in the same place that we all did. And if you just convince yourself of that and take the risk, you the rewards you get back will surprise you.
Brian Casel:Yes. Yeah. And and, you know, it's it's sometimes, it's really hard to measure the rewards. Sometimes, it's easy to measure the rewards. You know?
Brian Casel:But, I I just look at, like, emails that I receive or, or or even people emailing me and talking about you, or they're trying to reach you, and sometimes they reach they reach me instead. It's like, it it's it's funny. But, yeah. I I think that's a great goal. And and just, again, just look outside or looking in, I that's a that's a huge change that I've seen in you know, for your for you and your business.
Jordan Gal:Yep. And it's obviously directly related to the upcoming year to just double and triple and quadruple, down on it. It's it's it's a no brainer.
Brian Casel:Yep. So let's see. Next up, I I had written down write a second book. I thought it was gonna be a book. It it actually turned it turned out to be a course instead.
Brian Casel:Similar to a to a book, really. But, so I'll I'll give myself a one because that that did happen. Actually, product has definitely blew past any goals. I I so my goal in terms of revenue for that was was to hit 10 k, and looks like it'll be at at I think it is already at least triple that number for for 2014, in revenue. And, just I I was really happy with how product ties turned out.
Brian Casel:And more importantly, just the reaction that I that I've been getting from the new students going through it and and our private community for the course. It's been really inspiring, and and I'm I'm really amped to to to push that further in the next few months. So
Jordan Gal:Yeah. I I think that one's a a two point o if if, you know, if we can do it. Because that that course, the content, the launch, the preparation, the research was like a culmination of of years of preparation. Right? It's it's learning.
Jordan Gal:It's lessons. It's consuming. It's trying. It's it's the first course. And then, you know, what what this one was, it was you putting all the pieces together, and it worked.
Jordan Gal:It worked. And it brought in money, and it brought in people that are happy and value. And yeah. So I think that's a great accomplishment for two thousand fourteen and one that should give you the confidence that now you know how to do it, and now you can do it again and bigger and continue down that same path.
Brian Casel:Yeah. And I think this goes back to the audience stuff. This is actually the next thing that I had on my list here. I'll just kinda it it it falls in the same bucket here, and that was to refocus on my audience, on on castjam.com. And the the number that I've written down was I wanted to grow my email list to 3,000 by the 2014.
Brian Casel:So today in December, the list is actually 4,183. So hit definitely past that goal. And and that's thanks to you know, I I published articles consistently, about two articles per month, sometimes more. I published a a whole bunch of guest articles on some pretty big blogs. This podcast has been doing really great, you know, since you joined in the last couple months, definitely picking up traction.
Brian Casel:But yeah. I mean, going back to the productize thing, it's it is out of the the work that I did in building this audience. And I think it it just comes back to understanding and listening to your people, and getting on those calls, and asking hard questions, and asking them repeatedly, and then seeing those those trends and and and the patterns. I tell it to everyone, and and I and I've heard it a thousand times myself, and I only started to realize it in 2014. Like, the big lesson is whenever you're unsure, whenever you're struggling, whenever you're hitting a wall, just go back to your audience and talk to them, and things will get easier.
Brian Casel:It's it's that simple. And even if you'd have a very small audience, run traffic to to a landing page for your thing that you're thinking about building, and then talk to them about it. And and and listen to them and and see how it fits in. And then, you know, just empathize with them, figure out what they're struggling with, and where they wanna be a year from now. What what's that path that they see themselves going on?
Brian Casel:And then it's just all about giving them what they need. Just the the answer, the solution to their problem, it just reveals itself. And that's I feel like that's kind of what it what what I was managed to put together in in in growing the audience this year.
Jordan Gal:Yeah. It's it's funny that it takes a certain amount of experience and maturity to admit that you don't know what's best and to let it let it come from your potential customers and your audience and the people who are actually looking for a solution. You would think it's backwards that somebody young with that experience would say, oh, I don't really know what I'm doing. Why don't you tell me what I should do? But it really it really that comes later.
Jordan Gal:That comes after making the mistakes by making assumptions. And, yeah, you'll see the the experienced people go about it in in a a more humble looking way, but it's really it's just a smarter, more effective way.
Brian Casel:Yeah. And I should say and this kinda goes off a little bit on a tangent here today, but, I should say that it's not necessarily like like that whole idea extraction concept where, like, I'm going into this with no clue what my product will be or who might who it's for. I'm just gonna discover what that product should be. And that's not exactly what what happened here. But I I just think that when it comes to creating content and then teaching certain topics, just the way that I teach it, which points to focus on, how to how to write copy around it, You know, it it did start with something based in my own experience, like productizing a service.
Brian Casel:And in a way, that's why the audience comes in in the first place. It's like they they connect with me in the first place because of the things that I'm working on. And then and then it's about, like, giving back and then talking to them and having that, like, feedback loop to to turn it into something that that resonates.
Jordan Gal:Cool. Yeah. That that's gotta be a that's gotta be a a one point o, if not more.
Brian Casel:Cool. So Yeah. Anything else you you have?
Jordan Gal:Or That's that's more or less 2,014, you know, looking backwards. I mean, obviously, we can get into a million other things, but but the I think those are the big points. So let's turn this thing
Brian Casel:turn this The the only other bonus that I'd throw into 2014 is just this podcast. I I forget if I started it in '13 or '14, but, it was basically having, like, zero reviews. You know? Not many people listening to it for the first, like, half the year. And then, you know, you came in.
Brian Casel:We started creating these episodes. So thank you for joining, and, thank you guys for listening. This this has been like a icing on the cake this year is this podcast and and seeing it really gain the traction that it did. So awesome.
Jordan Gal:It's yeah. And thank you for having me, and thank you, you know, for anyone listening. Yeah. I think what it did is is just change the dynamic. It's not that I came in and made it all better.
Jordan Gal:It's that two people dealing with the same things is just is just more I don't know. It just brought energy to it, and and it's real. You know? We we talk about what's really going on and what we're dealing with, and the more real you can be about, your experiences and your struggles and your triumphs and all that, I think that's what, you know, just resonates more. So I I think all it did is it opened up the dialogue to just, like, another level of, you know, of honesty and of, you know, just hearing something.
Brian Casel:I mean, honestly, I invited you yeah. And I invited you here for selfish reasons. I I just wanted to change the format and make it make it more interesting for me to to talk every week instead of you know? Because I got I got a little bored there, you know, solo person on the microphone for a while. So
Jordan Gal:Good. I I think it I think it worked out.
Brian Casel:Cool. So, let's look ahead to 2015. What are the goals?
Jordan Gal:Yeah. If you you want me
Brian Casel:to kick it off, I
Jordan Gal:think my my first and primary goal is to focus on one thing. And, you know, 2014 was was not focused on one thing. And not that it didn't work out, but now is now it's time. Cardhook has proven itself to be a viable business that people are willing to pay for. And once they pay for it, they're willing to stick around because they continue to get value.
Jordan Gal:And so it has, yeah, it has it has proven itself worthy of, you know, of of my full 100% attention. So that's by far the biggest thing for 2015 is to put everything else aside. I'll still do some things, but 95% of my time will be dedicated on one thing, and I think that kinda you know, that's it's like a test. It's like, alright. No more excuses.
Jordan Gal:You're not your time isn't split. Let's see what I can do. So it's almost like I'm, you know, trying to prove to myself, okay. Let's see what you can do when you focus on on one thing.
Brian Casel:Yep. Yeah. I I think, you know, it'll be easy to predict that you're you're gonna see big things when that's the you're the only thing that you're thinking about and working on and and focusing on. So, yeah, looking forward to that. My first big goal, and this is what I'm working on right now today heading into January, is build a new marketing funnel for restaurant engine slash hotel propeller.
Brian Casel:I kinda consider those the same business. But create a new funnel to kinda add on top of what we already have, which is basically an organic content marketing system. Now I'm gonna go after in a in a big way, you know, a a new type of a funnel in different acquisition channels. And my goal in the short term, within the first six months of 2015, is to make it both profitable and measurable. And that's something that I haven't quite had a had my finger on for the last couple years is I know what we're doing marketing wise, but I can't necessarily say, like, alright.
Brian Casel:When I spend x number of dollars, it results in x number of dollars coming back or x number of new customers. So the first thing is build a profitable, measurable sales funnel. And then second half of the year, by the end of, 2015, I want to fully delegate and automate that piece. So this is what we were talking about a little bit earlier. First six months, I'm gonna be heavily it's gonna be heavily depend on me, and and creating that that funnel, refining it, optimizing it, you know, showing up on certain days to make things happen.
Brian Casel:And then by the second half of the year, whatever has started working, I need to, get my team on board and carrying out those those processes.
Jordan Gal:Nice. I think the only thing that I would add to that, I have some experience in this from the ecommerce days, is that I wouldn't expect profitable to come before measurable. I would expect measurable to become a good deal before profitable. If you set out on a marketing initiative where you you're spending money, right, so paid acquisition, whatever you wanna call it, if you try to be profitable right away and you're not, you might be disappointed and quit, and that would be a mistake. If you if you set out to make sure that it's really measurable and so you know where you're spending your money, that will allow you to learn and understand.
Jordan Gal:And if you're anywhere near profitable when you start off, you're in good shape because if you are measuring things, then you can start to optimize from there until you get profitable. So that's that's the only thing I would I would add to that.
Brian Casel:That is Yeah. I mean, that that is great advice. The the thing that I forgot to say there is as a result of this new marketing funnel, by the 2015, I wanna see revenues doubled, if if not more. But the the goal is double revenue month monthly recurring revenue by '20 2015.
Jordan Gal:Yep. I think that's achievable and ambitious. So that that's that's a good good healthy mix.
Brian Casel:Mhmm. What's up for you? Cool.
Jordan Gal:So for me, I I I almost lump all of this stuff into, like, maturity. So the the the company, CardHook itself, I just wanted to get to a point of a certain level of maturity. So that to me means profitable. Alright? And that is not just, you know, on these expenses that the business itself incurs, but on everything, on salary, on health insurance, just a profitable company.
Jordan Gal:And in addition to that, you know, employees. So it's not just me. So I wanna hire my first full time employee, and at the same time, right, that just goes hand in hand. If you want the company to be profitable, that means it needs to be making enough money to pay me the salary that I want plus another person plus all the other expenses that go into it. So, I think that's a good goal because it's it it ensures I'm looking at the the bigger picture, that I'm not just happy.
Jordan Gal:Hey. Kartok's making, you know, $10 a month. Therefore, I am happy. In in reality, I want it to be profitable. So if if that means you know, that that's not 10 k.
Jordan Gal:Right? If if we if we do the math properly, it's it's a good deal more than that. If if it's paying salaries and everything else that's and the other thing that profitability does is it takes the takes the pressure off. It's you're no longer playing chicken. Am I gonna run out of money and patience before I get profitable?
Jordan Gal:Once it gets profitable, you can take a deep breath and say, okay. So now at least it's sustainable, and I don't have these other forces. And now I'm thinking about things in a very different way.
Brian Casel:Yeah. I you know, something that keeps sticking in my mind, you said to me a couple months back, you're like, once you get to that, I don't know if you were talking specifically about profitability in this SaaS, but just playing the game of business. Like, getting to that point where we could just play the game of business. Right? Like because today, I feel like we're for me, at least, we're we're I'm playing the game of survive.
Brian Casel:You know? Just just get just keep the bills paid. But and, you know, at at some point, it it it's gotta become, an an easier strain. Yeah, or no longer a strain so that you're only the only game that you're playing, the only decisions and challenges you're making are, like, how to improve the business.
Jordan Gal:Right. And how do you how do you leverage your knowledge as a as a, you know, as an entrepreneur and as a business person as opposed to how do I leverage my effort and my skill and my right. These things that are multipliers. So an employee, that that is a multiplier. If if I didn't do the three or four hours of work that could be done by somebody else every single day, that would be a huge point of leverage Mhmm.
Jordan Gal:For the business to move faster. And then once I so it's like backing yourself, not out of the business, but ensuring that you are, yeah. You think a big you're you're thinking as a business owner instead of as an employee.
Brian Casel:Yep. Cool. So, the next the next big goal that I'm thinking about a lot in 2015 is definitely productize. What I really wanna do is I I I need to record some success stories from the first students who are going through product ties right now. I really, want to see their businesses have, like, a meaningful change in 2015, as a result of of something that that they learned in the course.
Brian Casel:And so in like, how to measure that? By by the end of twenty fifteen, I I wanna have at least five documented case studies of of what other students have done with the material from Productize. So I I really wanna do a good job of, like, following up with them and supporting them. I do that in the forum and over email and and, you know, doing some some coaching calls and whatnot. So really just kinda wanna see those that success happen and do everything that I can to support it.
Brian Casel:And then at some point in 2015, probably looking around the summertime, I'll be looking to launch kind of what I'm considering, like, product ties two point o. So, I mean, everybody who's in the course now will gets lifetime access, so they always get access to whatever new things come out later. But I have a a few different ideas. One specific thing that I wanna add to the course material, like a whole section of of lessons, and, thinking about rolling out some coaching pack packages around productizing and moving to a productized service and some kind of, like, monthly coaching service where I'll help you do that. I'll help you road map.
Brian Casel:I'll give you feedback, and and we'll kind of work one on one. I'm batting that idea around. I don't know, like, how many students I'd be able to take on given the schedule. So it would be a very limited thing. So, but we'll we'll see.
Brian Casel:You know, that that'll hopefully happen in mid to late twenty fifteen.
Jordan Gal:Nice. Yeah. I like the, the idea of coaching and just, yeah, focusing on prioritize itself and using using your current students' success to prove to yourself and to, you know, to the outside world that that this thing works and it's it's even more valuable and, you know, it's the right path to go down. The the next piece of things for me is is just marketing. So thus far with Cardhook, it's it's been it's been pretty raw.
Jordan Gal:It's been cold emails and interviews and referrals and some partnerships. But same as you, there isn't a repeatable process. And so that's that's the goal. I mean, the truth is that's the goal for the 2015. So an outbound sales process and the content engine that I've just had in mind and I I am so excited to get into and then backed up by all the stuff that I already know how to do, the the funnels and webinars and and all that.
Jordan Gal:So, that's, that's probably the thing I'm most excited for. It's like the the product and the features is almost like it almost goes without saying. Like, that has to evolve or you die. That that has to happen. But what's what I'm looking down, you know, at my plate, I say I'm I'm gonna bring build a marketing engine that reaches out to people in an outbound fashion in a repeatable way and at the same time, starts to build the, you know, the slow burn that eventually, turns into, something, much more powerful in the the content and webinars and blog posts and videos and right.
Jordan Gal:So that's just the the marketing side of the business is really what needs to happen in the first quarter of two thousand fifteen to go to the to the next level.
Brian Casel:Yeah. I'm I'm glad that we're both working on that at the same time. So Yeah. I agree. Cool.
Brian Casel:So and then on that same note, back to Productize, a big goal that I have in 2015 is to build a marketing funnel for it. I again, I have a basic funnel in place, you know, the the free productized crash course, which does, you know, have some some valuable lessons in it on on its own. And that's a good introduction to the productized material. At some point, I wanna redo that and maybe convert it to a video crash course. Right now, it's just kinda written lessons.
Brian Casel:And okay. So, like, actual monetary goals here is to get to at least 2 k a month in automatic revenue from Productize. So just the automated crash course should produce at least, you know, like, a handful of sales a month. But I'd I'd also like to do other things like, webinars and joint venture webinars, doing, you know, my my own on and doing, like, certain events throughout the year that should that should boost it to at least, you know, 5 k a month in revenue, and just really kinda double down on on product ties. Not necessarily come out with any new products except for maybe, like, a a new an an updated version of product ties, but continue to to to grow that and grow the audience.
Jordan Gal:Nice. Yeah. That would be fantastic to have that running and kicking off money. Yeah. That's I mean, that's, you know, what I wanted to do in 2014, and wasn't really able to.
Jordan Gal:If, you know, if you can get that done in 2015, it just alleviates so much of the pressure and allows you to focus on what you wanna focus on, you know, not to mention just having more money in your pocket and more money to invest in the in the business. Yep. Yeah. And I I I think it's doable, you know, given what what has happened thus far. For for me, I guess the the last two, I I can bundle together.
Jordan Gal:And that's like doubling down, tripling down on the whole I don't know what the terminology is. Personal brand? That sounds obnoxious, but you know what I mean. Like, yourself out there, you know, more interviews, podcasts, guest posting, just keep challenging myself to go out there and give as much value as possible and, you know, just hope that that comes back in all these different ways that that have started to happen. And right alongside that is to just just grow and learn as an entrepreneur.
Jordan Gal:You just, you know, you need to arm yourself with the tools, the the ammo to get to the next level. Every time you get to one stage, you you have to learn more to get to the next stage. So I wanna just keep doing that. You know, it's just have to admit, you are far from knowing everything, and so, there's no sense in pretending like you're done learning. So that's that's a big goal for 2015, just the sophistication, the experience, seeing different situations, and challenging yourself.
Jordan Gal:So that that's a big goal for for the next year.
Brian Casel:Yeah. I I constantly am have a tough reminder that, like, I don't know I don't I really I don't know what I'm doing, so I have to learn this, like, again, or I have to learn something new. And, yeah. Happens every month of the year.
Jordan Gal:What's what's what's that quote you had from, Chase Reeves?
Brian Casel:Yes. So I was listening to to Chase Reeves on on Adam Clark's podcast today, and and he said, I don't know if he was quoting someone else, but he he said, what got you here won't get you there. And and and that was that that really hit home for me because it's something that I've been thinking about lately. You know, what has been working for you for a while, have to change. And another similar quote that I heard, Ian on on Tropical NBA say a week or two ago, he said, you know, in this in this game that we play, this entrepreneurial game, like, if you think back to when you first did something, like you quit your job and you became a freelancer, or you or you launched your very first product, that was a huge entrepreneurial moment.
Brian Casel:But so many of us I I feel like, in a way, I I maybe I don't know if this is true or not. But, getting to that second or third entrepreneurial moment where you just take a huge risk, you take a huge leap, you know, and do something that takes you right out of your comfort zone in order to get to that to get across that gap, to get to the next level. You gotta do that at, you know, at least, you know, once a year or so. And, and so these two quotes just really got me thinking that, like, that things have to change in 2015. And, you know, for me, that's gonna mean, like, taking more risks and doubling down on things in in bigger ways than I've done in the past and being okay with if if the data doesn't support so, like, if if things aren't working right away, just stick with it and and refine it and improve it and improve it.
Brian Casel:So that's a big thing that I'm looking at in 2015 is, like, what got me here with Restaurant Engine and with anything else won't necessarily get me, to where I need to be in 2015.
Jordan Gal:Yeah. I think that's applicable for, you know, for anyone's current situation. If you're just starting out, what you've done thus far is is not gonna get you there. And if you are, yeah, if you're in the early stages, regardless of where you are, you have to go toward those scary things that you don't know anything about.
Brian Casel:Yeah. And and like this, this is something else that I wanted to really improve for myself along these same lines is I need to get better at seeking feedback and guidance from others. And I think I I think I do that with people I know, like advisers, mastermind group, friends. You know? But I I need to seek out other like, more people and and and people who are a little bit farther along than me and or maybe just have, like, different experience than than I do.
Brian Casel:I I just constantly struggle with this, like because I look at people who are farther ahead and or pretty well known and whatnot. And, like, I'd love to, like, pick their brains and and ask them for for advice, but I always struggle with I know how busy they are. I know how busy I am. I don't have time to just hop on a call with anyone. You know?
Brian Casel:And so it's it's like, how do how do you do that? You know? And and it's, so I I don't know. I I maybe it it means, like, attending more conferences and just getting out there and talking to more people, but I just need to get more more feedback and and advice. Yeah.
Jordan Gal:I think that's a great goal. I don't know how you do it. I mean, look. How have we done it thus far? I don't know.
Jordan Gal:We just did it. We just tried. We just asked. We just emailed or talked or asked for a favor or it just doesn't hurt to do it. And and I like the idea of always of always making sure that you look around the room and and you're you're last.
Jordan Gal:You're in last place. I I like that idea and that pressure of saying, am the least successful person in this room or in this mastermind call or on you know, whatever it is and and that pressure that you have to start lifting yourself up toward the people around you. You know, it's it's a true thing. I don't know about the whole your income is the, you know, the average of the five people you know best. That whole thing, I don't know if that's true these days.
Jordan Gal:But surrounding yourself with people that are further ahead is better than surrounding yourself, with people and feeling good about yourself that you are, you know, the best among the group.
Brian Casel:Yeah. I mean, it's weird. Like, if I think back two or three years ago, I I I remember, like, doing, like, cold email outreach to people who are more well known and asking them, hey. Hey. Can I pick your brand, or can I ask you a few questions over email?
Brian Casel:And I I actually did that pretty regularly back then. Mhmm. And then I stopped doing it. Like, now I don't do that type of thing enough. But at the same time, I I think part of it is, like, I just understand how busy these people are, and I don't wanna be that guy.
Brian Casel:So I I don't know. It's it's something that I struggle with.
Jordan Gal:But Yeah. You have to you have to figure out a way to do it to do it right for for for each level. Right? Just to go from the first level and the next one.
Brian Casel:Yeah.
Jordan Gal:Cool, man. Well, Brian, I I I think I think we've done a good job of, you know, being honest with ourselves about 2014, what we were able to do and what we were not able to do. And then 2015 coming up, I think everyone's gonna be going through this, you know, eating with their family, enjoying their time, hopefully getting some relaxation, hanging out with kids. But this, as an entrepreneur, this this never leaves you. These thoughts are in in the back of your mind.
Jordan Gal:And, yeah, I'm ready to draw the crossbow string back and have it locked and loaded for 2015, right when the year turns, come out swinging.
Brian Casel:Yeah. Totally, man. Good episode. And, yeah, to all you guys listening, happy holidays. And and, yeah, thank you guys so so much for listening this year, and we'll be back next week with another one.
Jordan Gal:Thank you very much. So,
![[54] Our 2014 Recap & 2015 Goals](https://img.transistorcdn.com/LDB_Cv9bHAA2vtoSPkZCpkdHPF6fAqfl7PL-PG7_c-M/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:800/h:800/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9jMjkw/MDYxZDQ0MWIxYTUw/NTMzMGI2NTExZWMx/MWQ1Yi5qcGc.webp)