December Recap and 2012 Money Reflections

December Recap and 2012 Money Reflections

What a year. Memories were made, countries were visited, relationships were made, businesses were started. 2012 was possibly the busiest year of my life. I had a lot going on and I am proud of what has happened. Here are some highlights from the blog and elsewhere.

Narrow Bridge Finance

As I mentioned in my last few monthly updates, this year had record traffic months after dealing with the impact of Google Panda and Google Penguin updates. Thanks to great bloggers and a supportive community, I had another record year of visits, page views, and income from the blog. I have to give a bit shout out to my biggest traffic referring sites of 2012. Thanks to The Simple Dollar, Wise Bread, and Free Money Finance for sending so many new readers to the site.

I also took my second annual trip to FinCon to meet with all of my blogger friends. This year, I had a horrible, 15 minute journey to make it downtown for FinCon. Thanks to PT for leading it and giving me the opportunity to run the first ever Ignite FinCon. Also, thank to PT Money Conferences and Jason Steele for ensuring we had a great FinCon Local experience in Denver each month.

Also, a huge thanks to my biggest fans, the Yakezie community, led by my friend Sam, the Financial Samurai. I would not be writing here as I am today without your support. Also thanks to my mastermind team Sustainable Life Blog and Beating Broke, and our new friend Money Spruce, for keeping me on track and helping me be successful in 2012.

Other Online Projects

You know me. When I get pissed off or passionate about something, I do the only logical thing I can think of. I start a blog. This year it was Beer is Sexy with my friends Dima and Jenna. We are deciding on the future of the site in 2013. Whatever we do, it was a lot of fun to write about beer.

I also did design and re-design work on my Denver Flash Mob website, Denver Underground Parties website, and Pinboard Maps.

New Ventures

I didn’t just start Beer is Sexy this year. I also took one idea from a dream to reality. With my friends Ryan and Mike, Denver Underground Parties went from email list to LLC. Our first live event, Masquerade NYE, takes place this weekend! We have already sold tons of tickets (and racked up huge expenses), but we are looking forward to a fun night with friends and our awesome Denver community.

I also started work on Pinboard Maps, but they project is currently on hold as I work on the product sourcing side of the business. Expect more from both of these projects in 2013.

On the DJ Yofi front, I did my first wedding party in 2012 in addition to fun gigs on St. Patrick’s Day, Christmas Eve, and a planned party for New Years Eve. This is the first year that my DJ business made a profit.

New Love

I couldn’t do any year end post justice without mentioning my amazing girlfriend, J. We started dating this summer and she supports me in everything I work on. She is completely amazing and I appreciate her, and her support, every day.

New Adventures

Costa Rica, Fayetteville, New Orleans, Omaha, Fayetteville, Leadville, Minneapolis, Little Rock, Minneapolis, Glenwood Springs, San Juan, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Thomas, Barbados, and Santa Barbara. Those are the places I visited this year. Some were for the first time, others were welcome returns. I had an amazing time exploring the country and the world this year.

I also towed an 80 pound speaker system behind my bike at the Denver Cruisers, played music in one of the top night clubs in Denver, shot my friends (paintball), helped the homeless, started work on my condo, paid off my student loans, partied till dawn with one of my favorite DJs in the world, and spent countless visits with friends and family around town. Oh yeah, and Gangnam Style. That happened.

The Year Ahead

This year, I am planning to cut down on the number of things I do so I can be better focused on a few priorities. That means changing what I am doing with some non-profits, cutting out and/or selling extra blogging projects, and putting my efforts into my top projects that I believe will succeed.

Thanks to all of you for your amazing support in 2012. I enjoyed sharing my adventures in personal finance with you and look forward to more adventures in 2013. I really read every single comment, email, and Tweet. This community is what keeps me going, and I hope we continue to grow next year.

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.  ~Oprah Winfrey

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