2018 Goals

'Ello! This was originally supposed to go up yesterday, but I thought it'd be better to start the year with the preview post so I rolled this one over to today. Now in case it hasn't become apparent, I'm a list girl. Lists give me some much needed structure and direction and hold me accountable for the things I want to do because it eats at me to have an uncompleted list. I make a few lists at the top of every year but two of those lists belong to my blogs. I keep them separate from my primary list and each other more as a reminder to myself to give each one my full attention when I'm there. It also helps keep me from being overwhelmed because the master list isn't 60 items long. Anyway, here's my list of goals for RRNT this year. There are a few rollovers from last year's list, but there are a couple of new ones. 

Build up other blog categories and create a more well-rounded site

If you were to take a look at my blog--which, duh, I hope you do lol--you would see that the Beauty, TV and Things categories are probably the fullest. The TV category is mainly being filled up with WIBW, which is fine for me since I'm not good at reviewing individual tv shows, but if I can think of another way to integrate the things I watch I'll do it. The Books category is aight; I primarily review books on other sites but I don't mind reviewing them here if I really like (or dislike) them. The Boxes category is also aight in terms of total entries, but it hasn't been updated in awhile so it's more stagnant than anything else. I'll get into that in a little while. The Games, Tech, and DIY categories, however, are by far the driest and those are the categories I'd like to work the most on this year. The tagline of this blog is "a one-stop review shop." Right now that's not true. It hasn't been true in awhile if I'm keeping it 100, but I'd like to change that this year.

Clean out Drafts folder

I legit have over 50 posts in my Drafts folder right now. Some of them are posts I'm revisiting later but need to make them current, some are posts that just need graphics, many are posts I never got around to finishing for various reasons but don't want to delete, and some are older posts that probably won't work so I need to face reality and delete. lol

Continue to improve at social media

I made a bit of progress last year with my social media but I'd like to get even better at it this year. Right now, my social media schedule and setup is fairly simple. I tend to forget to promote a post on social media after I publish it because I don't use them for personal reasons, so I use a handful of sites for both blogs. Social media overall for me isn't quite the issue it can be for larger influencers but admittedly, I like putting out content and images that are engaging and pleasing to the eye. With me being a smaller blogger, I need to be able to show why my posts should be read. I can't do that if I'm either battling insecurities or forgetting to put it up at all. I improved a lot with remembering to post throughout 2017 but I need to keep that going this year. 

Start reaching out to brands and companies

This goal is mainly for my own growth rather than the benefit of anything I can receive from a company. I already understand the business part of the blogger-company/brand relationship so I know that many times my reach isn't large enough for them to get anything out of working with me. That's a hard reality of working with many companies and brands, especially with this being the age of the digital influencer. If an influencer with 1M+ followers on one platform alone contacts a company with interest in promoting their products, it's quite obvious that a company would pick them over an influencer with a tiny amount like myself. The relationship would be disproportionately favored to one side, and since it's not the company in the long-term advantageous position, they're not gonna give you no play. lol I'm well aware of that so my interest isn't in contacting them for products; it's to teach me how to contact them at all. My issue is that I'm not used to reaching out because I don't have the benefits the companies need so I'd like to learn how to pitch my blog and be able to do so confidently. I need to learn how to network for blogging jobs so my main goal here is to learn how to do it without getting overcome by nerves and chickening out. If I'm applying for a reviewing job, I want to be confident in the reasons I give the company for why I should have the job and the blog should reflect each reason I give, which is another reason it's important for me to build up each category on the site.

Try new mobile and console games

This one is for both work and personal reasons; the Games tag on the site is rather dry and I'd like to change that. I'd also just like to play more new games. lol I want to review games that are on Droid, I want to review games for the PS4, and I want to build that part of the site up a bit more. I was playing both mobile and console games last year but I didn't think any of them excluding Injustice 2 and WWE Champions warranted a review so I didn't put them up. I think I need a device for just games because when I try to download games on my work tablet, they take up too much space and this obviously influences the games I can download. I think I need a device just for trying out new apps and games.

Start posting more DIY projects and start series

I haven't been posting my DIY projects but I have been doing them. The issue is that I figure out a lot of my DIYs off the cuff so I don't have a tried and true method, which is why I don't end up posting them. Some of the other tutorials I'll write out what I think the steps should be before I start and go from there. I want to figure out the trial and error part before I post the tutorial so the first time I do it is mainly a practice round. If it comes out well, I have to buy the supplies all over again and figure out a good spot to photograph each step, and if it doesn't go well I still have to buy everything all over again so I can figure out what I did wrong. When I try to go in and photograph each step as a just in case, it usually ends up coming out wrong so that's why I go through it alone first. The way it's set up now is that I'll see a picture of something I'd like to DIY, so I break it down into a supply list and how much it'll cost to buy everything. I write down what the tutorial should be and go from there. I save any mistakes I've made so I can warn against them or figure out a counter for them that I can include in the finished post. With limited supplies, this can take awhile but as long as I can afford to do the project I don't mind. I love a good DIY project--which is why there are two DIY series on ice--and I'd love to start sharing them.

Start (or restart) at least 2 series

This is sort of tied into the previous goal but I think I have four series I've been waiting to start but for various reasons, haven't been able to do just yet. The three I'd most like to tackle are the DIY For Cheaper, The Pinterest Project, and the Android tech series. 

Correct last year's report card failures

Going into last year, trying to correct the failures of 2016 were very important to me. January is usually the month when I feel the most confident about the goals I set (by March I'm back to having an internal existential crisis) so I try to go into it with as much gusto as possible and stretch it out for as long as I can. Last year I tried to be less of a pessimist, think more positively about my goals and attempt to be more proactive with how I approached them. It was difficult to finally accept that a few of the failures rolled over into this year so while I'm discouraged and not as optimistic about getting to those entries this year, I'm determined to continue trying.


And those are my blog goals for 2018. What are some of your career goals for this year? See you tomorrow!