Second Quarter Business and Personal Finance Goals Update

This year I’ve consolidated my goals for 2013 to focus on things I care about and things that are doable. I set my sights too high last year and sort of failed. After 6 months, here’s how I’m doing:

1. Earn $10,000 From Non-Blog Related Side Income

I made basically no progress on this goal the past 3 months, but I do have some good news to report.

I reported last time that I needed a new venture to kick it up a notch, and in the past two weeks, I’ve found it. I’m not ready to announce it yet, but I am partnering with a friend on a service that I currently pay months for and I know many others who pay for it. The difference is that I will provide greater value than competitors and market to a much wider range of people (though initially we would stay small and expand once things are steady).

It looks like the product I started building for bloggers to track their advertisements isn’t going anywhere at the moment. I still really like the idea, but I am looking for the perfect partner. I am only willing to put in the time and effort it requires if I think it has a good chance of becoming everything it can, and right now, I don’t think that’s the case.

2. Save 50% of My Post-Tax Income

We earned less and spent more this quarter than we did in the first quarter. It’s not a very good combination, and the excuses are:

1. We paid the first of 3 annual graduate school payments for Lauren (summer, Fall semester, and pay for Spring semester in December).
2. See goal #1. Without any progress, I’ll just have to hope that things look up. I’d rather take charge and make good things happen.

I expected there to be a drop off, but in the second quarter, we saved 35% of our after-tax income, which is pretty lousy for us compared to our whopping 57% last quarter.

Looking forward, we still have to pay for a summer vacation and about $1,000 on flights alone to attend a friend’s wedding over Labor Day. Plus, more school payments. So it will be tough, but we’ll be taking a hard look at other parts of our budget and will focus on earning more where possible.

Readers, have you made any progress toward your financial goals the past 3 months?