A couple weeks ago, I decided to list everything I could remember that was a success and failure in 2015. It turned out to be a nice long list in one of my longer Celtfather podcasts.
Below, I've listed Successes and Failures, both personally and as a professional, that I've remembered from 2015.
Failures and Successes of 2015:
- Success: Had a second baby!
- Success: Awesome Celtic Invasion of Donegal and the Giant's Causeway
- Failure: St. Patrick's Day for Kids has a CD did not meet expectations. The digital downloads are still pending
- Success: Dragons versus Pirates was kick-started successfully and a whole lot of fun to promote!
- Success: Kilted Kings exceeded expectations at the Louisiana Renaissance Festival, even if tips and cd sales were low
- Success: Released 4 unique episodes of the Celtic Christmas Podcast. I love the new format
- Success: Irish & Celtic Music Podcast hit #8 on the iTunes music charts on December 21
- Success: Released nearly 50 weekly episodes of the Irish & Celtic Music podcast.
- Success: Added about 60 new patrons of the podcast since last year
- Success: Published near-weekly episodes of the Celtic Music Magazine, and I have a better more engaging format
- Failure: Celtic Music Spotlight never really took off, and I'm still not sure how to make it work
- Success: The Celtfather podcast is still being produced on a regular basis semi regular basis, though it has now turned into an audio blog for my personal website
- Failure: I have not figured out how to increase the listens to Celtfather podcast to make it something that more people have to hear
- Success: Created autoresponder series for Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers mailing list, was successful at selling using it
- Failure: Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers website is not getting much web traction
- Success: DragonCon was an overwhelming success this year with the Brobdingnagian bards and themed shows
- Failure: My part in Friday night live for GenCon was not great, in my view
- Success: I did better tracking of sales during individual sets after GenCon
- Failure: St. Patrick's Day Internet Music Festival never seem to catch on and get people excited
- Success: Because of Dragons versus Pirates storyline, I have a exciting, new plans for the Pub Songs Podcast in 2016
- Failure: Never finished the compilation CD – Irish Eyes
- Failure: Can't seem to establish a routine for exercise
- Success: I have an idea for a daily work schedule for 2016. This will be working from 9 AM to 1 PM daily. Between 8 AM and 9 AM will be either exercise or accomplishing stuff around the house. From 1 PM until when and Kenzie get home, I will do regular maintenance tasks or work around the house
- Success: Melinda was an outstanding virtual assistant for blogging and office tasks online
- Failure: I can't figure out how to effectively hire a virtual assistant that will be financially worthwhile
- Success: My website is beautifully updated
- Success: Completed 2nd annual Celtic Halloween Music Special
- Success: Monthly show at Johnnie MacCracken's Celtic Pub is turning into an event to go and see friends, PLUS listen to music! Love it! Booked for 2016
- Success: Hobbit Drinking Songs show included guest musicians. Bring more people into the fold to provide a better experience for all
- Success: Created and booked most of the attendees for Celtic Invasion of Cornwall before end of October
- Success: Celtic Music Challenge and 10 year anniversary of Irish & Celtic Music Podcast was a hit
- Success: David and Sonya Reiland successfully took over the reigns of the Renaissance Festival Podcast and have made it their own with more involvement from other people.
- Success: Invited to be Master of Ceremonies for LibertyCon in 2016
- Success: Quietly celebrated 10 years as a full-time Musician and Podcaster
- Success: Wrote new hobbit song, “The Prettiest Hobbit“, that got a great response
- Success: “Name On My Soul” became my most-requested song on CD at LARF. It's still unrecorded, but I've never had a song I wrote receive so much praise!
- Success: Good turnout for Concert Window shows, even though not overwhelming, I was developing a regular fan base at Internet shows
- Success: Gaining new LIKES on Facebook by posting videos of me performing my songs
- Failure: #CelticThursday only got an handful of people interested in using the hashtag to promote all things Celtic
- Success: Nice interview feature in Ceili Magazine, the newsletter of the Southwest Celtic Music Association
- Success: Pirates vs. Dragons turned into a podiobook. just not sure how much people like it though.
- Success: Interview with Nancy Lee Badger
- Success: Recorded a good video review of CUBE Street Amplifier
- Success: Irish & Celtic Music Podcast once again nominated for Podcast Awards
- Success: Featured as one of Top 100 Favorite Renaissance Festival Performers
- Success: I officially released 20 full-length solo albums
- Success: Getting better interaction with fans of the Irish Celtic music podcast
- Failure: Did not release Dragons versus Pirates in October as planned
- Success: Reached one of my podcasts goals of $300 per episode
So what were your successes and failures in 2015? Anything in particular stand out? And how do those affect your goals and aims for 2016?
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You could always put PvD on Podiobooks.com to see if it speaks to a larger audience. I know a guy over there. You do, too. 🙂