Hey guys, if you read my last blog post you know I just got back from Nashville, Tennessee the other day! It was a great time and an awesome way to end the 2016 year!

With the ending of a great year, I’m excited to continue the momentum of 2016 in to the new year and wanted to take the time to update you guys on what happened in 2016 and where I’m planning on going in 2017!

2016 was a year of tremendous personal growth and a huge learning experience. I had plenty of challenges when starting the year, but those challenges left me at a place where I had to decide if I was going to stay there or make some much needed changes in my life.

I’ve owned several successful businesses and have made quite a bit of money from doing so, however, none of them were truly a passion of mine. They were simply a way to make more money.

I decided this last year I was going to start investing and building companies I actually had passions for. This decision is the reason I launched this blog. One of my biggest desires is to help other people become financially secure in life and live the best life they can! That’s why most posts on here are about finance and entrepreneurship!

I also started investing in a video game streaming company and hired a couple employees. Video games have always been my favorite couch potato activity! I’d rather be immersed and active in a story than idly sitting on a couch watching a story.

Another reason I started this blog was because I decided 2016 was the year I was going to start to travel the world starting with the United States. I figured this blog would give me a good place to share my adventures with the world!

Travel I did, visiting tons of new cities I’ve never been to in the United States. (I’m obsessed with cities) These places included Dallas, Saint Louis, Washington DC, Tampa, Nashville, Columbus, and Detroit.

So what does this mean for 2017?

Well, my main focuses right now are on this blog and building my audience as well as growing aCupofDeath which is the name of the gaming company I started. Most of my time has been put in to these two endeavors as well as figuring out more ways to travel as much as possible.

However, in 2017, I’d like to dig a little deeper in these businesses and try to put out even more useful content for OMG It’s Derek as well as aCupofDeath.

For this blog, I’d like to work on creating more content, including videos and posting articles more frequently. For aCupofDeath I’d also like to focus more on our YouTube channel and producing content on there instead of simply livestreaming on Twitch.tv.

I still have a couple places in the United States I’d like to visit including, California and Hawaii, but if I’m able to do those trips early in 2017 I’d like to do my first out of the country travel to either Tokyo, Buenos Aires or Thailand. So hopefully this year you’ll see posts from those areas!

I’d also like to increase my social media presence for both OMG It’s Derek and aCupofDeath. I think social is only becoming more important for businesses to grow and provide a great way to connect with your communities so I’ll be increasing time spent on various social sites.

I’m also considering hiring a personal assistant to help with several of these things but I still need to figure out exactly what that person will be doing on a weekly basis which may take me a bit of time.

Overall, I’m excited with the progress that was made in 2016 and I’m even more excited to see where we can take it in 2017!

I hope you stick around and experience this journey with me!

Thanks for being a part of this community!!!