In general, I think "having a plan" is a good idea, and writing that plan out and publishing it adds a little extra "realness" and incentive, so I decided to forego my usual "Annual Recap and Ramble" and instead take part in @theycallmedan's #FinancialGoals2021 Initiative and Community Challenge.
Being part of a community challenge is a great way to focus a bit more sharply and, besides, there are potential prizes to be won, which is always cool!
What I realized in writing this is that FEW of my financial goals relate to actual investing and most relate to work and daily living... perhaps a sign of the times; times where investing becomes a luxury because you're more concerned about how to pay your next electric bill!
Looking for some kind of light in the darkness...
Financial Goal No. 1: Building my Editing Business
After we shut down our brick-and-mortar gallery/gift shop in June of 2019, I went back to what I did "before," which was working as a free-lance/contract book and manuscript editor.
I got off to a pretty good start, but after completing six jobs for about $12,000 in the second half of 2019, my business for all of 2020 dropped to just three jobs for less than $5,000, as people were unwilling to spend the money, due to what I've come to think of as "Covid uncertainty."
Jobs simply seemed to dry up, and I have never heard the words "Nah, I think I'll just be my own editor!" spoken more often.
My 2021 Goal is get back to at least $10,000 in revenue from editing gigs, even if I have to radically reduce my rates to get there.
Financial Goal No. 2: Rebuilding my eBay Businesses
Being in the business of selling things during the P(l)andemic is not an easy row to hoe. It's not that my wares are bad, but more a case of hearing "I just can't spend any money right now because... COVID."
By the numbers:
For example, I saw my business selling old collectible postage stamps to collectors drop from $13,400 in 2019 to $3,400 in 2020, a drop of 75%. I'd hoped I'd do pretty well because people were trapped in their homes, and stamp collecting is an indoor hobby, but no.... My goal for 2021 is to get it back up to generating $10,000+ I expect countless hours of direct marketing (aka 1,000's of personal emails) will be needed.
My art, antiques and collectibles eBay dropped from $13,100 in 2019 to $8,300 in 2020, thankfully a smaller percentage drop. My goal for 2021 is to get it back to the $10,000+ mark.
Part of the plan for 2021 also includes reviving my "dormant" jewelry supplies business in the hope that it will be easier to market something that "helps people make money." My goal is to get to $5,000 in 2021. The reason I allowed it to fizzle out was lack of time when we opened our store in 2016.
Financial Goal No. 3: Building my Online Art Sales
My painted @alchemystones have been a small part of how I earn a living for many years, as well as something I do for mental health and relaxation.
In the past, Mrs. Denmarkguy and I have primarily sold our respective creative work via going to various "Arts and Crafts Fairs" around the region and beyond, but that was a total bust in 2020 as ALL the events we normally attend (7-8 of them) were canceled.
Meanwhile, the two local gift/crafts stores where I had items on consignment both went out of business during 2020.
Consequently, income from selling the art dropped from around $5,000 in most previous years to just $1,200 in 2020. Whereas I am well aware that "you can't hope to make a living from ART," that $5,000 helped us have a little "breathing room" for emergencies.
The challenge ahead is to build income from art sales back up through online sales only, since we still can't rely on face-to-face events being "a thing" in 2021. I am cautiously setting a goal of making $3,000 from online sales in 2021 which seems achievable with a lot of effort going to social media marketing.
Financial Goal No. 4: Publishing on Hive, Staking Hive and LEO, and What Thereof Follows
Powering up on Hive is essentially the only thing we have that even remotely resembles investing as our month-to-month income after taxes has been at or below what it costs us to live pretty basically for about 8 months now.
Sadly, there will be no "buying Bitcoin" or "buying Hive Power" for the foreseeable future.
However, I do plan to keep creating and publishing, and my "mini-goal" for Hive for 2021 is to make it to 10,000+ Hive Power by the end of the year, which will be the most I have had since starting here in January of 2017.
I plan to get there both via active publishing, as well as through extensive curation.
I am going to keep some of my rewards in liquid form as an "Oh-shit fund" in case we suddenly need car repair, or a new water heater, or whatever this strange and unpredictable life might throw at us.
I am planning to publish a number of posts via LeoFinance, as well and my intention is to have at least 1,000 LEO staked by the end of 2021.
I basically view my Crypto Social activities as our long term savings plan, since pretty much any current cash we make tends to be spoken for, before we even have it in hand.
Price Predictions for Hive and LEO
As part of this challenge, @theycallmedan also asks for a price prediction for both Hive and Leo.
Hive
I think Hive will slowly continue to sink — with a few minor up-blips — towards maybe 8 cents or so by the end of March or mid-April. Then "something" — potentially a broader alt coin rally when people take profit from BTC — will lift it to 20-25 cents in a matter of a couple of weeks, maybe even just a week. Then we'll see several months of it going sideways, but likely on increasing volume because there's more content creation activity.
Several new dApps/projects will come onboard, along with maybe another 3-4 2nd layer projects trying to emulate LeoFinance's success and we'll finally see some "value investors" decide Hive is undervalued and take substantial long positions, fueling a steady rise to maybe 50-60 cents by year end. I really don't see Hive having another parabolic rise to multiple dollars, but I hope I'm wrong!
LEO
Feels a little harder to predict. Because of the low supply, it's easy for the price to move... a LOT. Projects like the @lbi-token can come along and substantially and unpredictably change the picture.
If all goes well, it probably won't be all that long before we see $1.00 LEO... and if the innovation and updates keep coming hard and fast without any flops, I'm not sure where the ceiling might be. However, pretty much all rallies take a breather to consolidate at a new level.
I'll cautiously predict that we'll be looking at $1.50-2.00 LEO at the end of 2021.
And that's about it for my 2021 goals and predictions. It'll be interesting to revisit this post in a year's time!
Thanks for reading, and have great rest of your week!
How about YOU? Have you participated in this challenge? What are your goals for 2021? Where do you think Hive and LEO are heading, this year? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 20210107 14:18 PST
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