Happy 2016, everyone! I am thrilled to ring in the New Year with you.

As I’ve mentioned before, I love new beginnings. The clean slate, the opportunity to brainstorm amazing new projects and create strategies and systems around getting them done…it gets my creative juices flowing like nothing else.

And the podcasts I have planned for 2016 are no exception! There are some really exciting episodes in store for you. We’ll be focusing on list building and building campaigns in your business so that you can sell more online. We’ll talk a lot about content creation and making sure that you’re getting in front of the right people to make the biggest impact. And we’ll make sure you are creating a business that you love as well as creating online training programs and products that your audience can’t get enough of.

But to get us set up for success in all these areas, I’m going to kick off the new year with some advice from my good friend John Lee Dumas. John is a favorite guest to have on this podcast because his brand Entrepreneur on Fire is a stellar example of the kind of success we’re all shooting for. And after hosting over 1200 interviews with successful entrepreneurs, John is definitely an authority on what it takes to achieve online business success.

SMART Goals = Surefire Success

John said that over the past few years, a pattern emerged in the emails he received from his audience. A lot of people were struggling with online business because they didn’t know how to set and accomplish goals in an effective way.

Contrast that with what John saw in the success stories of his Entrepreneur on Fire interviewees:

“I’m a big believer there is no silver bullet. It’s all hard work and getting your nose down to the grindstone, for sure. But I step back and ask what is one thing the Amy Porterfield’s and Pat Flynn’s and Michael Stelzner’s of the world all do well. … These people all know how to set and accomplish goals.”

So John decided to dedicate 2015 to creating a structure for his audience to take action with setting goals.

And now, in 2016, he has an amazing and beautiful product to help them do just that! It’s called the Freedom Journal: Accomplish Your Goals in 100 Days.

It’s a hardbound, 300-page physical book that walks you step by step through the process of not only setting a goal but accomplishing it within 100 days.

(True story: I have this journal right in front of me, and let me just tell you that simply holding it in your hands is a powerful thing. Something about this beautifully created physical product is inspiring and empowering in a whole new way. Looking at it makes you want to take action. Pretty amazing stuff!)

Step by Step Guidance for Your 2016 Goals

The Freedom Journal starts with John guiding you through setting a SMART goal. You probably already know this acronym: it stands for Smart, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

The rest of the journal offers step-by-step guidance and accountability in carrying out your goal one day at a time.

In the remainder of this podcast, John and I talk through the process of two different real-life SMART goals. The first one is about John launching Entrepreneur On Fire; the second one is about how I launched Webinars That Convert. After hearing us explain how SMART goals guided our most successful ventures, you’ll have some super actionable example of how you can use the Freedom Journal to accomplish your own goals…did I mention in just 100 days?!

Click here to listen to the full episode now!