Matthew Lang avatar

Matthew Lang

Family guy and web developer

10x Your Business

If you’re serious about growing your business, I want to challenge you to aim high. Don’t just think what you need to do to grow your business by 20% — or even double your business. As you work on your goals for next year, my challenge to you is to consider thinking big. Can you imagine growing your business by 10X?

— Getting your goals ready for the next year – go for 10x by Curtis McHale

I've been following Curtis McHale's career closely and I would love to see him making this goal. He's already got me thinking about my convservative goal to increase my income by 25% for next year.

A little self promotion. My latest book, This Could Help, is now officially available on all platforms. It’s a collection of essays and asides, all of which could potentially help you in some way. Each one is purposely written to land hard and make an impact that matters.

— This Could Help — Now Everywhere by Patrick Rhone

Patrick's latest book will help many people. Not too late to buy as a stocking filler!

It's that time of year where you should be thinking about goals and plans for next year. Here's a little tip. Try measurable goals.

2015 is just around corner. Just over two weeks in fact. For many the setting of goals and plans for next year won't begin until that period between Christmas and New Year. Right about that time where the over-indulgence of food will probably lead to a planned diet for the length of next year but will most likely only be until the second week of January. I learned a long time ago that setting such goals and plans on the eve of the New Year rarely last beyond January.

Such goals often fall apart simply due to them being set in such a short period of time with little thought to making actual plans to achieving those goals. They also rarely succeed due to the fact that there's no clear end goal in mind. If your goals are financially related, why not think about the amount of savings you have just now. How much more would you like to have in savings by the end of next year? If your goals are health related, think in terms of improving the numbers you have now. What's your time for a five minute mile now? How many seconds do you reckon you can take off by the end of next year?

At the end of last year I set myself a few goals. One of them was the total amount of income I wanted from my freelance work. I had a figure in mind that was more than the previous year. A good 25% more in fact. I managed to hit that goal this year with a steady stream of work coming in. Next year I'm increasing that figure again by a further 25%. With the projected work I have for next year, that figure can't be gained by invoicing clients alone, it will require me to start thinking about income from products and services as well as perhaps re-negotiating my rates before the start of the new financial year in April.

A measurable goal is much more achievable when you define the figure you have now and the figure you want to achieve. It doesn't need to be a goal for the whole of next year either, it could be a attainable in nine months, maybe even six. The point is that a measurable goal is an attainable goal.

Rory McIlroy reckons a faster version of the game is required to get more kids interested in the game again.

Everything’s so instant now and everyone doesn’t have as much time as they used to,

— Golf needs speeding up - McIlroy by BBC

Having watched Ethan and the rest of his friends develop in the junior section over this year I would have to say that the pace of the game isn't the main problem. There's plenty of enthusiasm from kids to play and professionals and golf clubs are trying to provide facilities for even the youngest of aspiring golfers.

Facililties and equipment for these young kids might be more of an issue. Golf is an expensive sport (even for kids) and there's still a lack of accessible facilities that allow kids to simply go out and play when they want.

The Santa deniers just ruin it for everyone else. The Guardian hits back with some key evidence to prove Santa is real.

Santa’s workshop is located in a very snowy region that very few people can access, so it’s unlikely that many people would get to see it. It would theoretically be possible to view it from above, via an aircraft or satellite in a polar orbit, but what would Santa’s workshop look like from this perspective? A snow-covered building on a background of ice and snow? That’s basically just blank whiteness. And infrared scans can be tricky with snow.

— Santa Claus deniers: why do they get so much airtime? by The Guardian

Bootstrapped: Under Armour

From small beginnings to billion-dollar sports apparel giant, the story of Kevin Plank and Under Armour is proof that bootstrapping your business can succeed.

If it doesn’t sell, there’s probably something wrong with your business. If it does sell, then you don’t have to give half your company away and you can be the one making the decisions for the long term. We did that, we bootstrapped, and my first year in business, we did $17,000 in sales out of a little townhouse on the corner of 35th and O Street in Georgetown.

— When we were small: Under Armour by The Washington Post