John Reese revealed 5 tips on maximizing your productivity in 2007 on December 27th. Allow me to add in my own input:
#1: Prepare a WAR plan.
John wrote about having a dedicated "War Room" in his house that's set up just for planning. It is a dedicated space in which to plan out what his next moves will be. One main reason is to resist against a temptation which most of us have: of simply treating activities as they come "day by day" and doing whatever comes to mind, like dealing with non-essential or minor stuff...like checking e-mails. And then when it comes to making decisions on what to do next, these tend to be short-lived because if you start every new work day by having to make a decision about what to work on next you're seriously missing out on focusing on building longevity of your business, its brand and its identity.
In all our time serving out military obligations in Singapore (which all men here do), I found the word "mobilization" strangely attractive in business context. In exercises, I observed men of every rank moving non-stop here, there, everywhere trying to get things done (whether anything gets done at all is another matter, haha. Usually it does), all in the name of fulfilling the larger goals of what the exercise was all about. I also tend to associate the word with Hollywood war films in which you hear the commanders shout, "Now move!" or "Go go go!" (getting more cliché yeah?)
The beauty is machines and manpower get activated and mobilized for something at a snap.
It is the same with business. Without the definition of the larger goals and directions, you couldn't have felt more motivated to go go go...go where?
For seasoned marketers, it is bound to come to mind that setting up site after site to no end is pointless if they don't make much of an impact via product and service offerings. Take a good amount of time to backtrack a bit, go back to the drawing board, take out a piece of paper, and really
visualize and pictorialize a flowchart, Gantt chart, cause and effect chart, fishbone chart whatever; decide how to create a larger network of sites that complement one another, and how this network can promote and reinforce the business identity which is your X-Factor, and how visitor traffic will flow within this network. At what point do they subscribe and at what point do they get sold?
(I last heard that a formal alliance is forged between Virgin Airways, EasyJet and AirAsia to operate long-haul flights from Kuala Lumpur to China, India and the UK. If these airlines operate on their own, their impact and outreach would have been much limited. But now travellers can travel further into more corners of the world as if they were flying with a regular airline, and still at budget rates. It's the same analogy with websites.)
Once you can define a business system, the business infrastructure becomes more apparent. It combines business modeling and strategies into a whole function that drives the business to work. The more automated the system is, the better (clue: autoresponder).
#2: Set a WAR routine.
Create a set schedule of time to work only on your business.
No distractions. No TV breaks. No running errands. No playing games. No downloading music. No surfing the Net. JUST 100% PRODUCTIVE WORK.
The mind is a very good expert at one thing: distracting itself with easy options when it comes to the crunch. Some friends admire my lifestyle and my work but they don't seem to understand I also have to pay my own bills and earn my own living. I am only answerable and accountable to MY LIFE!
Therefore set a work schedule or timetable and make a commitment to follow it. You'll be pleasantly surprised when you see the changes that start to happen and how FAST your business starts to grow as a result.
By the way, if you are quite a seasoned marketer and happened to spend less time checking mails in December, why not challenge youself to bulk-delete marketing-related mails from the past 7 days and DO IT AGAIN next week so as to focus yourself into working on the business? You just might enjoy this new momentum.
#3: Learn real lessons of WAR on the battleground.
As more people around the world become more entrepreneurial, they are also signaling their willingness to learn how to apply the tricks of the trade, otherwise we wouldn't have so many subscribers. People want to get educated, but they are also likely to think twice about investing a huge sum of money in a seminar, wondering if it's of any worth at all.
Much as you try to make sense of all the free information on the Internet, nothing beats shortening your learning curve by being right there in the midst of experts. Since you pay for it, they gotta dish it, or else ask for a full refund in every right.
So
make it a point to attend at least one good Internet Marketing workshop or boot camp and network with fellow graduates. The truth is, you will be surprised to learn new strategies that has never been revealed, because they are not supposed to be revealed freely. That's how sensitive information is in this age. No doubt, you will also open up more new opportunities for yourself.
#4: Adapt to the ever-changing situation on the battleground.
Setting a fixed work routine in stone is one thing. Adapting it to fit changes with the times is quite another challenge. How much of a change is required without radically replacing the whole method of work? Take traffic generation for example. It used to be article submission, blogging, viral reports and press releases. Now it's pinging and tagging, social bookmarking, social networking, and videos. How do you squeeze in the time for all these things?
The first billionaire in human history, J. Paul Getty, said, "I would rather make 1% on the efforts of 100 people than 100% on my own efforts." From the beginning, it is imperative to get hands-on within a business to understand its dynamics, but
it's all about leveraging on other people's efforts in the long term. Why? Because time is of essence and you can't handle everything by yourself.
If you don't know AdWords, parter up with an AdWords expert to sell for you and profit-share.
If you don't know eBay, partner up with an eBay expert to sell for you and profit-share.
Pay a student to submit articles. It's just another form of "data entry job".
Surround yourself with a group of competent web programmers. You never know when you'll need their talents.
Get a professional e-cover designer under your wings.
Find a way to
outsource blogging too. I've found that my WordPress pages are indexed by Google more promptly than any other web pages.
Your role is to formulate clear instructions and commands to mobilize them into action.
In summary, create a whole system of business roles for people, and you have a battalion fighting with you.
Tip #5: Don't just kill. Take prisoners and build that list!
Even one-day millionaire John Reese wrote that one of your most valuable assets in the 'game' of Internet Marketing is your list. Once you have a decent list you can create Cash-On-Demand (COD).
You can generate affiliate commissions anytime you want by mailing your list. You can announce a new product you have and make tons of sales instantly simply by hitting "send". And
you can easily send people to any content page that might contain AdSense ads or anything else that makes you money just by mailing your list and telling them to visit.
He knows what he's talking about. He also makes 5 figures a month from AdSense and uses the opt-in approach rather than SEO...
Brainstorm more creative ways to get more people on your list. Think of some viral marketing ideas that you can execute. Find other list owners in your market that you can JV with.
Think think think!
There are TONS of ways that you can get people on your list. The trick is to
append the underlying purpose of building a list with EVERY marketing move you make. Because if you grow your list, you grow your COD income.
Bonus Tip: Identify, locate and conquer a new battlefield.
It's about tackling new niches.
Why stare at a single tree when there's a forest around you? There's much, much more money to be made in 1001 niches out there, even if you know nothing about wedding dresses or iguanas. If only I can hold a pencil in front of you and say, "This pencil IS a market." Not only that, remember to base your niches on your preferred revenue model. If you are very good at AdSense, model your niche sites to earn mainly from there. If you are very good at eBay, model your niche sites to earn mainly from there, because different revenue models requires different strategies, and you don't want to spend too much time groping and modifying through the nuances. Otherwise, get help from your battalion.
This article is modified from the original by John Reese, the brainchild behind Traffic Secrets.Pictures taken from Aliens © 1986 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.