My favorite thing about the end of the year? Reading the end-of-the-year blog posts from my favorite bloggers. Today, I’m pleased to show you my favorite summaries of what went right and what went wrong in 2011, along with some goals for 2012.

1) MarsDorian.com – Read my blogging lessons of 2011 and avoid sucking as much as I did

Mars is one of those guys you have to meet to really know. I met him in Berlin, during our 4 Hour Workweek Meetups in Berlin, and I realized how amazingly driven he is—he really wants to be the best artist in the (internet) world. It’s quite inspiring.

From the second you land on his page, you’ll see what I mean. Beautiful designs, cartoons, and art everywhere. He’s interviewed some amazing people, and produced some awesome projects.

What’s awesome about his 2011-summary list?  It’s the sincerity you hear in his writing. For example, here is the biggest lesson he took away from this year:

Lesson: Don’t like your customers, luv them so much it makes your partner jealous like hell. Gary Vaynerchuk said the most important thing you can for your biz is giving a fuck – CARING about your customers as much as you can. I agree. Don’t blow your work, BLOW their minds.

Oh hey, I just noticed he mentioned me in this article! I didn’t even realize that before doing this post. Well hot damn, thanks Mars! I wish my name was as cool as yours!

Check out Mars’s End-Of-The-Year post here: MarsDorian.com – Read my blogging lessons of 2011 and avoid sucking as much as I did

2) The Art Of Non Conformity – 2011 Annual Review - Business Lessons

Chris, Chris, Chris, seriously, when are you going to learn? You can’t keep writing content this awesome—you’re messing it up for the rest of us!

Literally 100% of the conversations I have these days about lifestyle design ends up with Chris G entering the conversation. I love this guy—from his first manifesto about world domination, till his ridiculously awesome Frequent Flyer Challenge, till his perennially awesome Annual Review posts, I can’t get enough of this guy. I was lucky enough to meet him in Portland this year, and it killed me that he is even more honest and softspoken than the friendliest baby ocelot you could imagine.

Chris’s yearly Annual Reviews (redundant much?) influenced me to do the same, since 2009. I even keep an Excel Spreadsheet of my Annual Reviews, courtesy of his .xls template. His stuff is awesome, and his annual reviews are awe-inspiring.

Check out all 5 parts of his annual review. Me being the business man that I am, I enjoyed his business lessons the most. The biggest takeaways I got from this year’s business annual review were the following:

Monthly Pricing: A Good Thing – … My first recommendation to anyone creating digital assets would be: offer your products or services in a (limited) range of prices. Your customers will like this, and you’ll like it too—because people will spend more. But now I have a strong second recommendation: find a way to ensure that at least some part of your income arrives every month, regardless of how popular everything else is.

Additionally, I enjoyed this:

Webinars: Quick, Easy, Profitable – …That’s when I had the thought: instead of building a huge program, why not find a way to launch something quickly? Every day, people ask me the same questions over and over. Two very common ones are “How can I get started with traveling?” and “How can I work from the road?” Of course, we answer those questions in considerable detail with the Unconventional Guides products, but not everyone wants a whole product.

Check out Chris’s End-Of-The-Year post here: The Art Of Non Conformity – 2011 Annual Review - Business Lessons

3) TheMinimalists.com - A Year End Review: How Everything Can Change in a Year

I got to meet Ryan and Joshua just a few weeks ago, and despite making myself look like an ass by jumping to monetization-speak before even getting to know them, these guys were simply smooth. They went out of their way to come to San Francisco and be interviewed, even though they were heading on a long road trip the day after. The nicest guys you’ll ever meet.

Joshua’s a fiction writer as well, and his new short story collection is a page-turner—the type of book that made me take a bath, pull out the iPad Kindle app, and try not to drop it in the water during a 4 hour reading session. Check out and buy Joshua’s collection, Falling While Sitting Down.

These guys went from ‘not being able to spell HTML’ (they’ve said that to me every single time we’ve met) to having a blog with 100,000 monthly unique visitors. In just 8 months. Color me jealous. (Black and white?)

Anyway, here are some of the takeaways I winnowed from their amazing story.

A year ago we were really inspired by Leo Babauta, Colin Wright, Joshua Becker, Julien Smith, and others like them. And we still are inspired by them. A year later we’ve met these guys, been featured on their amazing websites, and established great relationships with them and dozens of similar people who have helped shaped our lives in meaningful ways.

A year ago we had spreadsheets full of goals, and we would beat ourselves up when we didn’t achieve those goals. Now Ryan lives with one goal at a time, and Joshua has no goals at all.

A year ago there was a considerable amount of discontent in our lives. Now we’re happy, and when we look in the rearview mirror, everything is different.

Brilliant. Check out The Minimalists’ End-Of-The-Year post here: TheMinimalists.com - A Year End Review: How Everything Can Change in a Year

4) Location 180 – 10 Things I Rocked in 2011 (And How You Can Rock Them Too)

Sean and I simply click.

It’s rare to meet someone who is absolutely on the same page as you about everything. It’s happened only a few times before with me—with Tynan, and Rachman, and maybe just a few other people. But Sean and I just understood each other.

His blog always restates exactly what I’m feeling. His posts come from the same place as my posts—everything makes sense. It also helps that he bought me a delicious happy hour burger in Portland after getting me drunk at an ale festival.

So when I read his End-Of-The-Year Summary, it felt like the exact summary I was about to write. So instead of writing it, I let him do it for me.

3) I established my position as a relative expert. After talking with my buddy Nick about this concept a lot this year, I’ve worked to establish myself as a relative expert when it comes to location independence and running a real business from anywhere. You don’t have to know everything, you just have to know more than the dude hiring you. Once you make this mental shift, a legitimate business suddenly becomes much more attainable.

How you can rock it: Chances are you already are. What do you know more about than 95% of the population? It can be anything. Use that as a jumping off point for any new business ideas. Don’t discount your experience, as you’d be amazed what viable business opportunities you can find in very small niches.

Check out Sean’s End-Of-The-Year post here:  Location 180 – 10 Things I Rocked in 2011 (And How You Can Rock Them Too) . Check out his other summary posts as well: 10 Things I’ve Sucked At With My Business in 2011 and My 10 Coolest Offices Of 2011.

5) ZenHabits.com – The Essential Zen Habits of 2011

Leo is the king (monk? Shaolin master?) of the minimalist movement. His blog is hugely popular, and through his ability to find zen in the midst of a busy world (San Francisco) and a busy family (6 kids!!!), Leo has inspired tons of people to find peace and relax.

So, the style of Leo’s end of the year post should come as no surprise: simple, easy, and clear. There isn’t much analysis, but just a solid list of accomplishment’s, successes, and favorite posts.

Some of the accomplishments that impressed me the most:

Zen Habits grew from 200,000 to more than 230,000 subscribers, had more than 12 million unique visitors, and was named by TIME magazine as one of the Top 50 websites in the world.

I became fitter than ever in my life, with a simple vegan diet and the habit of daily exercise.

Leo mentions some of his favorite posts of the year, including:

1. How I Changed My Life, In Four Lines
2. Best Procrastination Tip Ever
3. 38 Life Lessons I’ve Learned in 38 Years

Great stuff from a great man. Check out Leo’s End-Of-The-Year post here: ZenHabits.com – The Essential Zen Habits of 2011

6) LeoDimilo.com - 2011 and Goals for 2012

I don’t know much about Leo Dimilo, but I do follow his blog through my RSS reader. He’s an Internet Marketer, so much of what he experienced this year resonated with me.

So when I read the summary of his year, I found that many of the Things He Did Well are things that I want to do well. For example:

I started networking with other SEO professionals- 3 years ago, I did SEO but didn’t really know anyone.  Fast forward to today and I have fostered some good relationships with online marketing professionals like myself.   This year has been a great year for networking with others in the marketing world for me.  Along the way, I have made friends with what I would consider some heavy hitters in the SEO world.   

What about the things he learned? Well, they are clearly things that I have been learning as well.

Helping People is way cooler than making a pile of cash

You will make far more money with brand than with SEO

If you’re running a blog, and trying to learn SEO or Marketing, check out Leo’s post: it’s chock full of great advice. Check it out here: LeoDimilo.com - 2011 and Goals for 2012

7) LisSowerbutts.com - 2012 Goals – Introduction

I’m not going to lie: I really respect Lis for dealing with such a difficult last name. I don’t think I could handle it.

Lis and I got into passive income strategies at the same time, when Hubpages were king and everything we learned, we learned from The Keyword Academy (still an awesome resource, btw). Lis has been continuing her passive income journey ever since, while I’ve moved into a different world.

I respect the work she’s put in, and her end of the year post is pure truth–you can see that she isn’t hiding anything. She really respects what she has done in the past year, but totally wants to improve. Some of the best parts of her post are as follows:

Well having just read The 10X Rule I had to cross out my 00/month income goal- and ended up with a ,000/month income goal!  OK let’s revise that a bit – what I am able to make (on a good month) is 00/month – so lets aim for ,000/month! 

My issue is that I’m a dilettante – I’m an amateur, I’m doing the right thing, but not enough, I still keep on chasing after shiny stuff. I’m over it. I feel great when I focus and actually achieve something. So that’s what I’m going to be doing! 

2012 is gonna rock! 

And its all gonna start here – because I have finally decided that if I’m getting serious about this business, this girl needs a business plan!  So keep an eye out – because if any of you are struggling with the same stuff as I am – you probably need one too (and you can steal mine for free!) . 

Lis, I wish you the best in achieving all of your goals: Personal, Business, or otherwise! Check out Lis’s End-Of-The-Year post here: LisSowerbutts.com - 2012 Goals – Introduction.

So—what about you, Maneesh?

Well, my End-Of-The-Year post is coming my friend. Just don’t expect it before, well, the end of the year Instead, I have a very special 90 Days Episode coming this Friday.

---

 

You should Follow Me On Twitter Follow @maneeshsethi

IMPORTANT: The Online Marketing Master Class has a HUGE Holiday Sale right now, ending in just a few days (first week of January). Have you ever wanted to build an online business, travel the world, and make money, no matter where you’re located? Then check out the Online Marketing Master Class.

ManeeshSethi.com - Lifestyle Design, SEO, and Living the Digital Nomad Life

Hey Location 180 reader!

If you’re checking out my site today, I thought I’d share with you some awesome posts to get you used to the site.

First of all, you should subscribe to my email list. You’ll learn all of the secrets of building an online business and taking advantage of the system via email:

Second, definitely, Follow Me on Twitter. Follow @maneeshsethi

Last, here are some great posts to welcome you to the community!

The Art Of Just Being
Passive Income 101: How To Travel The World Without Working
Benihana, Indian Food, and Discovering Your Life Purpose
7 Reasons You Should Move To Berlin Today

ManeeshSethi.com – Lifestyle Design, SEO, and Living the Digital Nomad Life

This is my FAVORITE episode.

In the summer of 2011, DJ Maneesh and DJ Rachman moved to Berlin to attempt to become DJs in Berlin. They had no experience.

We filmed this in our attempt to become well known DJs in just 90 days. In our first episode, Building the Mobile Disco, we built a system that allowed us to throw parties anywhere in the city.

You can see all the episodes here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0BD8580A80C8A76A&feature=view_all

Today, you’ll see our 12 hour parties, where we had over 60 people dancing in subway stations and on the fields. We didn’t stop till 10am!

ManeeshSethi.com – Lifestyle Design, SEO, and Living the Digital Nomad Life

Well this must be bad news for Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, according to mobile market analytics specialist Flurry, developers are almost three times more likely to start development of an iOS App than to start an Android App.

Out of 55,000 companies that Flurry has been tracking, and more than 135,000 applications on their network in 2011, 73 percent of developers are working on iOS projects during the 4th quarter of 2011 compared to just 27 percent working on Android.

According to Peter Farago, vice president of marketing for Flurry “Over the year, developer support for Android has declined from more than one-third of all new projects, at the beginning of the year, down to roughly one-quarter by the end,”

Furthermore Flurry state that they believe the reason for the boost in the appeal of iOS is the fact that Apple has launched the iPhone on two new networks after three years of exclusivity on AT&T’s network. Apple has also seen an increase in popularity since the launch of the iPad 2 and the new iPhone S.

Finally according to Flurry there is one key factor that also plays a large role, the fact that developers are expected to earn 300 percent more revenue than their Android counterparts. If you’re a developer, would you rather develop apps and give them away, or have consumers pay for them?

Mobile Orchard

Just uploaded my first Android app. My neighbour’s daughter couldn’t put it down.

 

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.everytale.santanav

 

 

Designed by me, suggested features by my sons.  Free artwork and music from the web and programming in Java by me.

Programming: Robots & Video Games

Fifteen years ago, Apple Computers seemed ready to implode. They had no strong leadership, no great products, and were quickly losing the already-small hold they had on the PC marketplace.

No one would have predicted that Apple would become the behemoth that it is today. Most commentators and critics expected that the company would go bankrupt.

What made Apple so successful over the last decade and other companies, such as Dell or Microsoft, so unsuccessful in comparison? Apple succeeded because of their success in pivoting—in trying new products (iPod) and testing the market, until something succeeded.

With any business, it’s important to realize: there are no secrets. No business becomes successful overnight. If you’re starting a business, you have to take the long view: you’re in it for the long haul. Your business will only become successful if you are willing to put in the effort and time. Other marketers who talk about ‘making money overnight!’ are scammers: every business takes time.

I hear what you are saying: ‘But, I don’t want to do SEO/ad buying/XYZ every day for the rest of my life!’ Don’t worry. To succeed, you need to learn to pivot; that is, to recognize what’s working, and move your business around your successes.

Fortunately, thanks to online advertising, it has become MUCH easier in the past few years to test out business models and markets. With Facebook Ads, for example, you can instantly broadcast to millions of people an ad for any potential idea. Within a day, you’ll have enough data to know if the implementation of such a product is possible.

So, ask yourself: are you sure that you’re in it for the long run? Are you willing to nurse your business through it’s beginning stages, pay attention to your successes and failures, and pivot around the market until you succeed?

ManeeshSethi.com – Lifestyle Design, SEO, and Living the Digital Nomad Life

Everyone knows that the Apple iPad is a hugely popular device, earlier this quarter IDC estimated that Apple could hold 68.3% of the worldwide tablet market selling more than 9 million units of the iPad 2 throughout the second quarter of 2011. Even though the company has now predicted that Apple would see their share drop to 61.5% of the market, Apple is still expected to sell over 11 million iPads in Q3.

While this might just sound like a lot of numbers to the average person, consider this Samsung, Apple’s closest competitor, currently hold 5.6% of the market or put in other words, Apple is selling almost 10 times more tablets than Samsung.

This morning, Morgan Stanley significantly raised its forecasts for 2012, predicting Apple could possibly sell 90 million iPads during the year (in addition to 190 million iPhones). The analysts apparently have high hopes for Android 4.0′s ability to offer a competitive alternative to iPad going forward:

“Apple’s larger portfolio of tablet-specific apps, upcoming iPad versions, and growing physical store presence in key emerging markets like Asia/Pacific will help maintain its global leadership. However, an improving Android OS experience and lower competitor pricing in an environment with worldwide economic concerns should help Android to increase its market share,” said Jennifer Song, research analyst, Worldwide Trackers.

Mobile Orchard

While Steve Jobs didn’t win Times person of the year, Barbara Walters has named Apple’s co-founder as the most fascinating person of 2011,according to USA Today. What’s interesting about the choice is that so far in the 18 year history of the program, the award has always gone to a living person.

According to Walters “the Apple founder was selected much earlier in the year, when he first retired. After Jobs died, the rule was broken for him. After all, he broke so many rules during his extraordinary life.’

A businessman and a visionary, a marketing genius and a romantic, a billionaire and a Zen Buddhist, Jobs was one of a kind. His energy and vision changed the world and made him the choice for Most Fascinating Person of the Year.

For those interested there is a really good video on the ABC website, it’s really worth seeing.

Do you agree with Walters decision? Was Steve Jobs the most fascinating person of the previous year?

Mobile Orchard

Matthias Hellmund, Head of Mobile Development for Exozet Games in Berlin (Germany) talks to David Smith of Game Careers and Interactive Selection at GDC Europe. Matthias studied Media and Computer Science at Hochschule Furtwangen University (Germany) with stopovers in Tampere (Finland), San Francisco and Berlin. Today, he leads the mobile unit of Exozet games, creating award-winning games and lifestyle applications across a broad range of mobile platforms. His advice to those looking to apply for a job at Exozet:

“One thing we are interested in is which kind of practical projects you have done before. It always helps to not only describe your skillset, but also show some the projects you have done before. It can also be some mod projects, or just some drawings, or even if you are a programmer you can do something, just do some pen and paper drawings just with your address, and it always helps to tell us which areas you would like to work in. We are also very much looking into your motivation and personal situation.” See the full clip here:

Game Careers .BIZ – Video Games School, Jobs in Gaming.

Last week, I gave a lecture at the Art Institute of Vancouver about running a digital nomad business. During the lecture we talked about how to find employees, find jobs as a freelancer, work as a web designer anywhere in the world, build a team, and succeed across time zones.

Email subscribers get exclusive access to content like this. Sign up below, and get all of the awesome interviews, presentations, and content that most visitors never get to see. I’ll send new subscribers a link to the FREE presentation, “Running A Distributed Digital Nomad Business: Handling a Global Workforce”

 Learn to Build a Digital Nomad Business

Name:

Email:

We respect your email privacy

 

Are you trying to build your own digital nomad business? The Online Marketing Master Class will show you exactly how. It’s for sale only through December, and it has a HUGE Holiday Discount.

If you have already built a successful online business, please contact me: I’d love to interview you for future articles.

ManeeshSethi.com – Lifestyle Design, SEO, and Living the Digital Nomad Life