One more thought. Consider retirement. When average people retire, they lap it up. I have two uncles who retired from the telephone company in their 50s with significant retirement income. They love the retired lifestyle, 5th wheel, golf and all. However, when exceptionally successful people retire, it goes like this. They travel, play golf, fish, catch up on things they have been meaning to do and then realize that they want back in the game. The most successful people in the world always come out of retirement. I think the key is to have more time off. If we vacationed like the Europeans, we would all likely love our work more. The ideal is not to give up work and follow your dream, scaling and taking pictures of the Rocky mountains, for example. That would get really boring after a short while. The key is to work less and work that fun stuff in. That’s my goal for the future. I know that I love what I’m doing. I just need to find ways to get away for more vacations. I doubt I’ll ever take that permanent vacation called retirement.

If I were independently wealthy, I’d be spending my days as a leather-ass at the local 3-6 hold em game.

Larry – I may take August off this year. So far my vacations have been short.

It looks like most of you are in the business to earn a living. I think most of us do enjoy it or there isn’t any way we could do it.

If starting with an income goal works for you do it. For me, I found myself paying too much attention to the potential brokerage fee that I lost sight of what I felt were my core competencies. So, I focus on volume. I know if volume is steady, money will come. Someone else mentioned they start with units – I know a Top Producer here that does the same. Whatever the formula, we’re all tracking the bottom line.

Go for it, and good luck with the goal setting!

I have often said the same thing, in almost the same way. I do enjoy the business very much, but I almost always enjoy my time off even more. If I didn’t need to work (for money, or any other reason) I probably wouldn’t.

My “business plan” always covers the things I’d like to improve upon, both personally and professionally but it hasn’t included an income goal for years. I give what I’m willing to give, and money seems to look after itself. That’s not to say that there aren’t years when I’m “willing to give” much more because there are things I want to get done which require some additional cash.

As far as setting goals, I’m up in the air on that one. When I used to set financial goals, I never made much money. Then I threw up my hands and just tried to be as productive as possible each minute of the day (both personal and business wise), and the money started flowing. My goals have to do with productivity, getting more done each day as opposed to hitting certain numbers. Some of my goals might seem sort of silly to some people. I was having difficulty staying sharp at work, so I set a goal to solve that problem. I now eat several small meals at work rather than a big lunch. I pack these homemade snacks, and I have found that my old big lunch made me sluggish in the afternoon. I am now sharp all day long. Goal set; goal accomplished; on to the next goal. Whether big or small, all of my goals revolve around productivity, which I have found to be far more helpful than numbers goals.

I think I smell a post.

Thanks Teresa!