Setting Goals For Darbright.com 2011
I’ve been doing a lot of introspection lately (hardly any surprise there) about what I’ve been doing with my life. And I’ve been leaning more and more towards building a business around something that I truly love and enjoy… writing, personal growth, internet marketing, learning and basically creating assets that help other people.
If you can relate to this, what has always held me back from fully commiting to it was the fear of not being good enough. What made me want to devote more time to Darbright.com was the realization that as much as I enjoyed what I was previously doing for work, the joy of it has slowly but irreversibly died.
It’s also coincided with an increase in my awareness as well as experience. But then again, it could be that I’m just getting older and I want to do something meaningful with my life before I die. 
My Vision For Darbright.com
When I thought about what I wanted Darbright.com to be like someday, I was inspired to write a short vision. But when I read it, I wonder if I am biting off more than I can chew. It’s a grand vision for this little ole’ website, but something that’s worth working towards.
For what it’s worth, here it is:
“A personal growth website has to be warm, interesting, thought-provoking, engaging, provide solutions and allows interaction. It basically pushes a reader to want to grow and take action in their lives.
It’s got to be a trusted source of advice for things that work, and why.
It encourages, inspires and opens up new paths in life for my fellow man (and woman).
It has to provide hope for the future, because without hope we have nothing to look forward to.
It helps to make sense of life and connects to people with emotional, intellectual and spiritual appeal.
Simply put, it’s got to help me grow as a person.”
I know, right? It sounds great and all but it’s going to be a tall order for me to actually flesh out into reality. I’m already adapting my style of writing to make it more personal. No more “textbook” type articles that are logically accurate but bore you to tears.
You also get a little more dose of my writing personality, even though I might be more on the quiet side in real life. Well.. most of the time anyway. 
Building up Darbright.com also got me to thinking about tag lines. You know, those little one or two liners that sort of define the brand. I’ve gone through a few in the past with the most recent one being “Personal Growth For Conscious Living”.
I thought that was decent, but it didn’t really encapsulate the essence of what Darbright.com is probably going to be about. So while I was rummaging around in my head, this tagline popped out…
“Living consciously through deliberate evolution… with the occasional leap of faith.”
Yup, I know. Pretty cool huh? Even if I do say so myself.
I especially like the part about the occasional leap of faith. I can set goals, imagine and hope that I get the results I want. But in the end, it still feels like a crap shoot.
I’ll never know until I know…
And taking that step forward is very much a leap of faith, if you can imagine.
That makes the creation of a website logo really interesting. The first image that comes to mind is one of a man jumping off the cliff into the unknown. The man symbolizes you, me or a life traveller.
The jumping off the cliff is the leap of faith out into the unknown.
It might trigger off a rush of lemmings inspired to run off a cliff too. But you can’t blame me for that. I didn’t do it. Nope… wasn’t me. 
Keeping Goals Simple Enough To Succeed
Have you ever analyzed something to the point of paralysis? Where you build up a picture that keeps getting grander and grander to the point where it becomes overwhelming?
The initial problem that I faced with setting goals for Darbright.com involve knowing too much. The more I think about developing Darbright.com into a business, the more wickedly complex and sophisticated it gets inside my head.
It’s like building a mental model utilizing as many of the internet marketing principles and strategies that I’ve learnt over the years, setting up complex lead in pages, money pages, product review pages, advertising, content writing, marketing, branding, opt-in boxes and all the other seemingly “important” stuff an online business could possibly need.
If you don’t understand what I’m talking about in the last paragraph, it’s alright. It kind of gets complicated for me too.
What I’ve finally decided was to keep things simple. Out of all the chaos and complexity, my conclusion is that the simplest and most robust business model is the one that’ll stand the test of time.
It’s like having a overly complicated machine built with air pumps, computer chips, artificial intelligence, back-up power supply and other components to tighten a screw into the wall. All you really need is just a proper sized screwdriver to get the job done.
The less parts there are to fail, the less things there are to actually fail… I call this “revolutionary concept”… drum roll please…
Keeping It Simple Enough To Succeed!…
tada…!
Ok, I didn’t come up with that concept. But so long as the goals that I set are simple enough to actually execute on plus comprehensive enough to steadily move forward, reaching my goal is only a matter of time and staying the course.
The basic nuts and bolts of a personal growth website are authentic and valuable content. Basic marketing will be used to spread the love around, and hopefully it’s good enough to go viral.
If I’m putting out dumb-ass content (which is an area I’m working on improving), it’s not really doing the world or myself a service, is it?
I figure if I write enough good articles that people actually want to read, it’ll eventually reach critical mass where good content automatically goes viral. Of course, thrown in with some good old fashioned online marketing strategies.
Nothing fancier than that, really. Just good ol’ fashioned content + some understanding of how the web works.
So Yeah….
So yeah…. that’s the direction that I’m taking with Darbright.com. It’s not overly complicated if you know how to write (or type) and have basic internet marketing knowledge.
Will it work? Who knows for sure… you’re going to be the judge of that. In reality, while the process can be enjoyable, it’s only results that really count, right?
edit June 13, 2011: I’m still wondering about the tag line. I guess it really depends on my mood for the day, but I wonder if “Personal Growth For Conscious Living… With The Occasional Leap Of Faith” would be better…
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