As we all prepare for a new beginning in 2006, I'm making plans for 2016. I would call these my resolutions, but they're more like travel plans. Where am I going? I'm headed straight into the future.

To keep you from agonizing over how this story ends, let me say I will be purchasing my own private island within the next 10 years. I've been keeping my eyes on a few islands, but I wouldn't mind flossing off the coast of Dubai.

Let's take a few steps back. The 'Oh Six is going to be my launching pad. During the next 12 months I am rewiring how I think as advised by Napolean Hill. I confess that the dream of owning my own business has eluded me for nearly a decade. But when I think back to 1995, I set out with a few friends with only a plan to pay the next month's lease. If anyone asked us where we saw ourselves in 10 years, it always seemed too far away to even spend a minute thinking about. All I did was focus on today. And now it's 10 years later.

Whenever I'm talking to people about business and I'm spitting out what I've learned from the past decade and I get the feeling they're assuming I'm not lounging on my own private island because I really don't know anything about business, I simply repeat a simple cliche: "Learn from your mistakes." I've made enough mistakes that I can write volumes of books about what not to do. With this knowledge and awareness today of what not to do, as I move forward I won't be making those same mistakes, and I realize what I need to do to be where I want to be in 10 years.

One of the first mistakes I made repeatedly that I won't be making again is not building the business for the long haul. Thus, I'm planning my 1-year, 3-year and 10-year goals.

Within the next year, to keep it simple and stupid, I'm going to solidify my routine, my system, my mindset when it comes to business. As I'm doing what I do, I'm taking notes to what works, what doesn't, what might, and I'm developing a system that is most efficient for how I work. I've never functioned in a system. I always winged it on a day to day. Being a big fan of Franklin Covey products, I've been using the Compass system for the last year and can see how much more efficient I've become with my time and focus. As the year progresses I will be sharing the development of my system, why it works, how I figured it out and why it's going to get me closer to my ultimate goal.

While I'm developing my system, I'm going to also be changing my everyday behavior so that my thoughts are always on autopilot, thinking about business. For those who don't know: opportunity is invisible. It can stare you in the eyes and you'll never see it. Opportunity can't be seen; it can only be realized.

Every person I meet, every book I read, every place I visit — I will seek opportunity. Every single person I ever meet that even has a touch of desire for starting a business, I will become their beacon and lead them to the path out of the system and from there, seek out opportunity. Each month I will read a new book to always be continuing my education. And no matter if I'm at a Chamber of Commerce seminar, Kramer's Bookstore & Cafe or sitting around DuPont Circle, there will be no one that intimidate me from asking what they do to see if opportunity is hiding in their heads, their wallets/purses or even if they know where I can find opportunity.

Maybe this doesn't make sense to everyone, but continue to read this blog regularly, and you'll see where I'm going with this.

In about three years, my business connections, contracts and coffers will be able to afford me a 2009 Mercedes CL65 AMG (or its equivalent upgrade). In case you think you're familiar with the model, keep in mind that it's $180,000 of absolute flawlessness. From now until then, I'm making it part of my routine to spend 33% of my time researching and developing; another 33% test running my concepts and ideas; the last 34% on marketing the commercial version of the product. When I find myself spending the majority of the day thinking about the project, I'm going to make it a force of habit to simply overcome the fear of failure and put the product out there on a small scale and see what happens. There is an entire concept behind this way of thinking that I will go into further as I go into the future.

From 3-6 years from now, I'm spending a good portion of my time looking into real estate and investing a larger chunk of money into the stock market. The goal at three years is to put my money to work for me. I will have read many books preparing myself (that you'll read the reviews to) for the world of real estate and investing. After 5-6 years have past, I expect the investments to start taking over as my main source of income. Some of these investments may simply be in other people's businesses. There's The Shanna Wiley Group's MingleBerry.com; there's Rukiyah Abdullah's "Seek Ye First." My homeboy Devin Johnson is in the process of starting his empire. There's Betty Bell, the Uber Editor; Afeefah and First Born Creations; working with Yohance & Yvette and their Silver Poses fashion/modeling business; my homeboy Chad McKelvey and Kindred Films. And I'm not even going to try to list all my ideas such as the interactive yearbook, the Legacies Forever concept, the business card business, the number of workshops Ken Canion and I are working on, the Oooh Ahhh franchise and who knows how many others I can't remember right now.

Around the sixth year I'm going to be actively seeking aspiring business owners and become a mentor and motivator. Whether recently retired or recently graduated from high school, no project will be too small. The goal is to find people who have the commitment to make their goals happen. I will help them do their thing as they are somehow incorporated into whatever I'm doing. This is when I start duplicating myself and planning for the last three years of my 10-year plan.

From year number seven to nine, I am teaching, speaking, mentoring, learning, leading and becoming more of a community activist. Politics is not in my nature, but I will be active in the community, especially the youth and evolving into a teacher. Within the first 3-6 years, the businesses I'm creating are residual-based. By the sixth year I have that residual income being invested into business plans that will multiply the power of the dollar. After six years, I'm going to have plenty of time to myself to dedicate to the youth out there who don't have the opportunity to learn what I'm wanting to teach.

After nine years have passed, I will spent the entire 10th year researching exactly which island will be my playground. I'm always going to call Washington, DC, home; and I plan on having a mini-mansion in Atlanta, just because; and I wouldn't mind having a small chill pad in the city that never sleeps; but the ultimate goal is that private island.

Perhaps my 1-year, 3-year and 10-year plan needs some refining and more meat on the bones. I agree. Most importantly, though, I realize that I have to at least have something to start with, a skeleton, an outline, an idea before I can expand on my future plans. Many of my friends have heard me say, "Make it work, then make it fancy." Consider what you've just read as working. As time goes by, check out this blog and see it get fancy. In between time, start writing your 1-year, 3-year and 10-year plan and let me know what your ultimate goal in life is.