“All of us every single year, we’re a different person. I don’t think we’re the same person all our lives.”

– Steven Spielberg

My 12th challenge is done. I averaged 17 points a day, launched a semi- successful affiliate site, got more freelance work, and improved on my Spanish drastically. Aside from repeatedly failing to make my bed, and a couple instances where I didn’t feel like drawing anything, I met almost all my daily goals.

I really enjoyed doing my 12 challenges this year. They made me grow a lot as a person and I ended up meeting some really cool people because of the things I did. The kid who sat down and started this site and the man whose writing it now might as well be two entirely different people.

I was planning on closing 30 Days To X tomorrow. Every artist has a self life. I can’t see myself still working on this project 15 years from now. I’ve basically done everything that I wanted to. A lot of the things that seemed almost fantastical to me are now mundane. Having my own business, writing a popular blog, and getting fan mail, were all things that I could only have imaged. Now they’re part of my regular life.

I stayed up all night thinking about this past year and all the things I’ve done. I also thought about everyone who helped me, and all the people that I ended up helping too. At five in the morning I woke up and deleted my farewell post.

Blogging might take time, but it does good. Whether it’s helping a college student start their own web business, inspiring some guy to hit the gym, or making people laugh and forgot their problems for a few minutes; the site has given back. If I can keep helping people I’ll keep writing.

Aside from getting the chance to give back, I also felt that I should keep growing as a person. There’s a line from Men In Black that I really like. It goes: “Imagine what you’ll know tomorrow.”

When I launched this site I thought it would take months to hit 10,000 views. I was over 24,000 by the end of March. I thought it would take years before I could figure out how to make money online. By November I was able to quit my job. By February I’ll be in my own apartment. I’m only 20 now, it would be stupid for me to think that I’d already hit my full potential.

While I haven’t come up with a full list of activities for 2014, I promise you that I’ll keep doing challenges.

“I buy when other people are selling.”

– J. Paul Getty

For my affiliate site I installed an Amazon carousel. In two days I took my affiliate earnings from $3.92 to $17.50.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure is the Amazon Carousel actually affected this increase. While a lot of people clicked through the links no one actually bought any of my products. Instead they had purchased things like Addalocks and dog toys. Money is still money, so don’t have too much to complain about.

If you have a blog and are trying to make money off of it I’d recommend installing an Amazon Carousel on your site.

The carousel is essentially the online equivalent of a store window display. Even if someone doesn’t want the product, they’ll still click. If they make any Amazon purchase after clicking through your link, you get a commission. In the past year I’ve earned money from people buying everything from children’s books to pornography.

If they sell it on Amazon, you can throw it on your carousel. You can also make your carousels in variety of different styles. Fit Juice has a great one in its side bar.

If I wanted to make an affiliate site that sold hookahs, I could go on Amazon find the best rated hookahs, write some posts about them, and put a carousel on the site’s side bar.

There’s even a widget that attaches to the end of a blog post and displays products relevant to the article. While I’m not too familiar with how it works, I’ve included it below just to see if it’s any good.

Whether you’re selling juicers, video games, nootropics, eBooks, dresses, vitamin water, or bicycles; the Amazon Carousel can help increase your click conversion immensely.

“Make $547 in 10 minutes with absolutely zero risk.”

– Advertisement that I saw online

Without trying to sound arrogant, I suspect that the vast majority of this site’s readership is incredibly intelligent. Actually, I suspect that anyone who reads blogs or actual articles, i.e. not BuzzFeed, is probably smarter than the average person.

The majority of the population won’t seek out answers to their problems. They’ll wait for someone else to point out what’s wrong and then scramble to find the quickest fix possible. Get rich quick schemes, the “horny singles in your area” fraud, and countless other scams wouldn’t exist if people were willing to work towards something.

The ignorant and the lazy have paid for a lot of snake oil salesmen to live lavishly.

On several occasions I’ve worked for clients who helm various pyramid schemes, “miracle” workout routines, and “newly discovered” methods for getting rich. While most of their material is pretty cheesy, a few of these “companies” put out content that looks believable. They don’t claim anything too outlandish and their sites and products look authentic. With New Year’s resolutions on the way, I’ve decided to provide a handy guide to avoid getting conned:

• Is the product related to a blog?

This is actually my main criteria for buying almost anything online. If a product is associated with a blog there’s less of a chance that you’ll get ripped off. If there’s a blog you can get a taste of what the product will be like. Poorly written websites with a shady vibe and horrible design will probably beget awful products. Additionally, some guy who’s running a scam isn’t going to waste hundreds of hours creating well thought out posts.

• Are there off-site reviews of the product.

I recently looked into buying a Fiverr related eBook that was being sold on a forum I visit. While I didn’t know the member, I saw that he had a good reputation. Right before I bought his book, I did a quick Google search and discovered that his “money making technique” was highly illegal. I saved myself $20 and some legal trouble simply by looking for an off-site review.

While I think most people probably are already capable of avoiding scams, I simply wanted to throw out a little reminder. The post Christmas blogging/exercise/entrepreneurship craze is the perfect season for con men to strike it rich. Be wary and do your research. There’s nothing worse than spending $25 for a useless eBook.

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”

– Ernest Hemmingway

We’re three weeks away from the new year. That means everyone is setting goals.

In less than a month the gym will be packed with new members. The health section of the grocery store will be stripped bare. Every copy of every book about entrepreneurship will be absent from the library. Ten trillion new bloggers will try and leave comment on this site.

Then the second week of January will roll around. The gym will become desolate. People will denounce vegetables and go back to eating Velveeta cheese. The library books will go back to collecting dust. All the new blogs will have vanished. It will be like nothing ever changed.

According to a Forbes article I read, only 8% of people ever achieve their New Year’s resolution. I’m surprised its even that high.

While several of my goals ended up changing over the course of 2013, I did manage to meet almost all of them. Here are three simple steps for goal setting that helped me immensely:

1. Start early.

Next week is when I’ll be starting on my New Year’s resolutions. Making the first of the year your start date is a cliche. Additionally, starting early will put you in an environment with winners. If you go to the gym on December 23rd you’ll be surrounded by people who work out. If you go on January 1st you’ll be surrounded by chubby dorks who’ll complain about how much they hate exercise.

2.  Start small.

While I might be biased, I’d recommend having a specific monthly goal. Start off with something minor and make each month build upon it. My two major goals this year were to make money online and to get into better shape. Every month I did something that somehow played into both of these goals. If you gradually raise your expectations, you’ll stay with your goal longer. In January I wanted to simply make one dollar from Amazon Affiliates. The next month I set my goal at making $10 from Amazon. Small changes are the easiest.

3. Don’t go out on New Year’s Eve.

I’ve always thought it was stupid that people will prattle on about how their yearly goal is to “save more money” and then they’ll go out and blow an entire paycheck on New Year’s Eve. Last year I spent the night writing blog posts and reading Chess Story. You don’t have to do anything that lame, but I’d suggest using the time to either hang out with some good friends or work towards your new goals.

Those are my suggestions for setting goals. Additionally, I’d recommend that you read Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder and How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. I read both of these early in the year and credit them for providing me with a lot of motivation.