This post defines my 18-month goals which, as of now, will take me to the summer of 2022. These goals are designed to work in harmony and act as a waypoint on the journey to my 3-year and 5-year goals that will take me to the end of 2023 and 2025 respectively.
Each goal focuses on a specific area that I need to work on in order to achieve my 2025 objective: Personal Development, Business Planning and Financial.
Personal Development
It is the summer of 2022 and I have just graduated from University. I have developed a lot of new skills, a much deeper understanding of game development as an independent studio, made some great contacts for future projects and created several games for my portfolio. Graduating is a major milestone on my journey to achieve financial freedom by 2025.
| Goal 1 | Personal Development |
| Specific | I have just graduated from University, having completed my Masters’ degree. I now have a much deeper understanding of the Indie Game Dev industry, a lot of new skills and expertise, and developed several (Number???) new games for my portfolio as well. |
| Measurable | I did this my ensuring I completed each of the 5 modules to the deadlines set by my tutors. |
| Achievable | Each of the modules was well paced and the strategies I put in place during the first week to manage my time, Week 1: The Art of Time Management, ensured I had sufficient time set aside to complete each task on target. |
| Relevant | The course gave me a much deeper understanding of the industry, and in a shorter timeframe, than I would have otherwise obtained. I also made some good contacts to collaborate with on future projects, and built a strong portfolio. |
| Time-bound | I managed to accomplish this goal by completing each course module on time, thereby ensuring I graduated by the summer of 2022. |
| Emotional attachment | Achieving this goal was necessary to develop the skills, knowledge and industry awareness I will need to meet my broader goal of achieving financial independence by the end of 2025. This, in turn, will enable me to focus all my efforts and attention on developing games without the need for my day job. |
| Reward | Holiday in Kota Kinabalu with my family. |
Business Planning
It is the summer of 2022. My business and marketing plans both have well defined, achievable and executable strategies for the future to move me towards my objective of financial freedom by 2025. The material was derived in part from the course content and in part from my previous experience, amalgamating to form a much more focused plan for the Indie Game Dev arena.
| Goal 2 | Business Planning |
| Specific | My business and marketing plans both have well defined, achievable and executable strategies for the future that will drive me towards the 5-year objective of financial freedom |
| Measurable | My business plan defines a strategy, development roadmap and financial plan that extends 5 years into the future and is congruent with my marketing pan. I have a clearly identified and addressable target demographic in an active and competitive market. My analysis has shown this market is sufficiently large that it can generate the revenue I need at my margins to sustain my family in the short term whilst the business grows. |
| Achievable | I have achieved this by amalgamating my own knowledge of starting and building a business with the industry related knowledge I gained as a result of both the course and my own research into Indie Game Development. |
| Relevant | Having strong business, marketing and financial plans in place will be essential if I am to achieve my ultimate goal of being financially independent by the end of 2025. |
| Time-bound | I managed to accomplish this goal by setting interim objectives as a part of my routine, 90-day planning activities to ensure I completed the goal by the time I graduate in the summer of 2022. |
| Emotional attachment | Achieving this goal is mission critical to creating and running my own game studio. |
| Reward | Upgrade all the disks in my NAS drive. |
Financial
It is the summer of 2022 and I am completely debt-free again. I achieved this with a two-pronged attack: restructuring my finances and creating a passive income with multiple revenue streams allowing me to maintain the same standard of living whilst increasing the payments. Achieving this goal is a huge step towards financial freedom as it significantly reduces my dependence on the day job, meaning the business needs to generate less cash in the short term to provide the same standard of living. Leaving the day job earlier will create more time in the business which, in turn, will create more profit.
| Goal 3 | Financial |
| Specific | I am now completely debt free again. |
| Measurable | Total liabilities == £0 |
| Achievable | This is achievable if I restructure my finances and develop a passive income with multiple revenue streams to allow increased payments. |
| Relevant | Completing this goal is a huge step towards becoming financially independent by 2025 as it significantly reduces my reliance on the day job. |
| Time-bound | I managed to achieve this by carefully tracking and managing my finances each month, every month to bring my total liabilities to £0 by the time I graduate in the summer of 2022. |
| Emotional attachment | Achieving this goal removes the pressure on the business in the short term and allows me to give up my day job much sooner as I have less reliance on my salary. This means I can then spend more time both ON and IN the business which, in turn, will generate more profit. |
| Reward | Alienware gaming laptop, bought with cash 😉 |
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
