Productivity
058: The Three-Day Window for Enhanced, Increased, and Amazing Productivity
It's very easy when you first start your internet business, working from home, to fall back into those habits that you have from working for an employer, where you have to fill up 8 hour days one after the other and no "project" really ever has to be done for you to make income.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:53 — 27.4MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
Or, some of those very things that led you to develop an internet-based business, such as wanting to dream ‘big', form your own partnerships, etc., but all of those ideas will not make any money if you do not implement them.
It's easy to get pulled into "Scope Creep", where you continue to add more and more features or additional webpages, upsells and bonuses, etc., instead of just focusing on ONE thing and pushing it out there.
These are all productivity killers. Instead, you want to think in "Three Day Window" terms.
Principles of the Three-Day Window
What is it? The 3 day window is the time period from "idea" to "implementation." You have 3 days to get it to a stopping point that if you had to sell it right then you could.
It's okay if it's not perfect. You NEED to make some websites that you will look back on later and be embarrassed by. What IS important is getting in the habit of getting your ideas implemented and out there.
What if it's lacking some features? You still put it up for sale in its "basic version" at a discounted rate. Instead of your end goal of $97, you sell the basic at $7.
Don't sell your first version with multiple features. You can't be sure that your customers want all these "bells and whistles." What's exciting to you is quite probably not exciting to them.
It's better to put the product out there and get feedback of the most wanted features and use that to develop your "deluxe" version. As you continue to refine it, you can roll out "iterations" later and charge the higher price(s).
Iterations: these are releases each time the product is enhanced/improved, i.e. Version 1.0, 2.0., etc. When Robert created Backup Creator, it only took him 3 days from start to finish to get his first version out. In that first 3 day version, it did do the basic backups. Then, in future iterations, they added additional backup capabilities (i.e. to Amazon S3), cloning abilities, and other features.
Why Just 3 Days?
If you don't set yourself an "end" date, you will run into issues such as:
You spend too much time working on it and get burnt out or bored. Or, you end up doing a lot of things that are not productive or they're fun but they don't really increase your sales, such as spending 2 hours to make a 2-minute sales video.
You could have spent that same 2 hours doing at least 2 of your 4 Daily Tasks:
A better choice than a video would be to build a bigger list. Examples: contacting affiliates, running ads for traffic to your site, knocking out a great sales letter
For more information on 4 Daily Tasks, you can check out the Four Daily Tasks book and Facebook group.
You need to think in "milestones" and take a scientific approach. The scientific approach will help you create a framework or "Spec" for your project. Within that framework, you can then be creative.
For example, if you make a video: You need to set up how many segments it's going to be and the length of time for each. Then, within those measured segments, you can be creative about what you're going to feature.
Today's Take-Away's
Don't be the guy (or gal) that has a bunch of stuff on their hard drive without taking any action to put it out there. Use the "4 Daily Tasks" Method to be productive. Do something every day that will result in sales.
There's no point in pulling "all-nighters." You're fooling yourself with a lot of empty time. It's more important to have something imperfect that is functioning and earning you money because a lot of work with no income results in boredom and burn out.
Join Robert's "4 Daily Tasks" group
Get his course on time management: Time Management on Crack
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:53 — 27.4MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
055: Time Management Hacks: Install These Quick Computer Programs Today to Get Yourself Over the Hump, Complete All Your Projects, and Have More Fun
When we run our own businesses and don't have a "boss" to answer to, it can be easy to fall back into old habits of goofing off. It's easy to fall back into the habit of filling up time because when you worked at your "day job", the objective was to fill up 8 hours a day.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:30 — 41.7MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
Today, we're going to talk about getting all that clutter that we're used to from a day job out of the way.
Quick Computer Programs Everyone Can Use to Improve Their Productivity
Online Stopwatch: Use this to time yourself doing a task so that you truly commit to getting it done in a certain amount of time, i.e. knock out a blog post in 10 minutes instead of thinking about it for an hour.
Camtasia: This software can record everything you're doing online. This is excellent software for recording tutorials, software walk-through demo's, etc. You can simultaneously record your processes as well as your spoken audio. We'll talk more in depth regarding Camtasia a little later in the episode.
Google Calendar: This is free and you already have it if you have a Gmail account. If you don't, you can just go to www.google.com/calendar to get it. It's great because you can synchronize it to your iPhone and iPad as well as share it with other users, such as spouses and business partners. It will send you popups/emails for upcoming appointments. Don't schedule EVERYTHING you do on your calendar-you'll just end up creating a glorified to-do list. Use it for essential appointments, such as meetings and webinars, etc.
Don't forget to check out Robert's Book, 100 Time Savers for more useful advice.
Essential Software/Programs for Internet Marketers
Camtasia Studio (again): You can record a full video and save that but also have the option of saving just the audio portion. You could use the audio for doing something like a podcast.
You can even record tutorial videos or "helper videos" just for yourself. If Robert has a particular process he has to go through, that he doesn't want to forget, he can record the entire process and then post that video to YouTube.
Some examples would be how to convert a .wav audio file to an MP3 file:
... Or how to convert any graphics file into a JPEG thumbnail:
... Or how to upload a book to CreateSpace:
Now that you have this process, you don't have to write it down on a piece of paper or make extensive notes. Your entire tutorial is accessible anywhere you can access internet to get to YouTube.
Access Robert's video tutorials at his YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe too.
GoToWebinar: Use this software for setting up all of your webinars.
WordPress
Most all other things that Robert needs to accomplish in his business can be taken care of through WordPress and various WordPress plugins.
- He uses a plugin called Paper Template to create landing pages, opt-in pages, download pages, thank you pages, etc.
- He uses a WordPress plugin called Member Genius to take payments in combination with PayPal.
- Then, he uses a plugin called Backup Creator to back up his WordPress sites and if you back it up to another place (i.e. your hard drive, etc.), you've now cloned that site and you can use it over and over (with editing) to produce multiple sites.
These are all plugin's that Robert has created and you can get all of them in one package by joining Income Machine today.
Additional Software/Programs You'll Find Useful
GoodSync: Developed by the same creators of RoboForm, it allows you to synchronize your folders with FTP websites, Dropbox or Amazon S3 buckets.
Let's look at this scenario: When you record a video that you want to put online (like your membership site), first you have to record it, then you have to edit it, then you need to produce it and save it to a folder on your computer, then you would have to open up an FTP program (like FileZilla), then you have to drag the file over and wait for it to upload to your website, at which point you probably go create or edit a webpage and finally your video is there. It's A LOT of steps.
GoodSync automatically uploads certain files to your website. You specify which folders it syncs when a new file is added to that folder. So, essentially, as soon as you would produce and save the edited file from above, GoodSync would automatically recognize it as new and sync it over to your website.
It's skipping an entire step of you having to open the FTP website and wait for your videos to upload.
As part of Robert's sites, Webinar Crusher and Double Agent Marketing, he and his business partner Lance run monthly Q&A video calls. They record them using Camtasia, perhaps do a little editing and then save them. As soon as that step is done, GoodSync recognizes there's new files added to those folders on his computer and it uploads them to the websites so that the replay is always available.
RoboForm and LastPass. If you don't have Roboform, get it. You want to use the "Roboform Everywhere" option.
Roboform remembers all of your passwords and stores them, encrypted, in the cloud. If you ever have to reinstall your computer or certain programs, you can retrieve those passwords from Roboform. You don't have to remember your own passwords for multiple sites and you don't have to have them written down ANYWHERE.
There is also a RoboForm app for smartphones, tablets, etc. There is also a master password to RoboForm so no one can just get on your computer and have access to everything.
LastPass is great for for shared sites.
Jing is useful for capturing screen shots that you can then send as a file. That way, you don't have to send them an entire tutorial or video, etc., just the one piece that you're discussing.
You can then save that screen shot as a file to the public folder in Dropbox.
Dropbox iss similar to GoodSync in that you have folders that syncs up to the cloud.
It's good for sharing files with others but you can also use it between your own computers. For instance, you could edit a file on your laptop, save it to the Dropbox folder, and then it's the exact same version on your computer when you get home from a business meeting.
Dropbox has a public folder that you can save videos and documents to. No one else has access to it until you provide them with a link from that public folder and now you can share those certain files with them. It's also free (up to a point).
Google Sheets: The free Google equivalent of MS Excel. Just like with Google Calendar, you can share your "sheets" with or without editing privileges. It's handy for having documents that you share with your business partners, employees, and outsourcers/freelancers.
This is part of Google's "Google Drive" products which are free software programs almost identical to Microsoft Office products that are browser-based (instead of computer-based).
Google Chrome Bookmarks Bar: This is obvious but most people don't think to use it. Most of us are familiar with bookmarks but we have 100's of them in different folders that we never even use.
Instead, use the Bookmarks Bar for your most common sites that you go to EVERY DAY. You can also use it to bookmark certain docs that you're constantly using (like a Google Sheet) and editing and when you are done with that doc, you can just delete it off your bookmarks bar. The doc still exists but it's no longer a bookmark.
Additional Sites/Timesavers
Fiverr: A website for getting quick outsourcing work done at a fairly inexpensive rate, such as graphics, transcriptions, video editing, etc.
Backup! Backup your desktop, your files, etc. The time IS going to come when a computer crashes, you lose files, etc. Spending time on recovering files or creating new ones is a productivity killer! Here are some options:
- Backup Creator: automatically backs up your WordPress sites. If you have a cPanel and/or dedicated server, use their backup options.
- CloudBerry Backup: backup your desktop/any files you specify to an Amazon S3 bucket.
- G-Safe: An external hard drive with 2 internal hard drives.
- Amazon AWS Import/Export: You can mail an external hard drive to Amazon with specifications as to which S3 Bucket you want it saved to, they will do the upload for you, and mail you back your hard drive. It costs about $120 but it's worth it if you have a slow internet connection to get that "first" offsite backup in place.
Don't forget to relax! Give your brain a little bit of a rest and enjoy some podcasts (free at iTunes, Stitcher, and other podcatchers) or listen to an audiobook via Audible. Robert recommends you take in some fiction and turn off "marketing mode" for just a little bit!
Join Time Management on Crack to Claim Your
Productivity and Mindset Training Now
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:30 — 41.7MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
046: Did You Send Out Thank You Cards to Your Customers Yet?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:42 — 22.6MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you're still way ahead of anyone who isn't trying.
Very few marketers even make the effort of doing Thank You cards. Should this be part of your everyday routine? Are there tasks that are a "better" use of your time?
Maybe. But, what if, no matter what niche you're in, you just singled out 4 random customers today and just jotted down 4 quick Thank You's? It would take just a few minutes out of your day but put you way ahead of the curve.
You just want to thank your customers for buying from you. There's no "sell", no discount and no hustle. You are just thanking them for their business. They are part of your success. Here are your tools for "Thank You" productivity...
Thank-You Tool #1: WPKunaki
On Robert and Lance's website, MembershipCube.com, as well as their other membership sites, they use a plug-in called WPKunaki, which is an address collector.
When someone joins their membership site, the plug-in pops up and asks for their mailing address and runs it through the address validator. Lance would be really crazy not to be collecting addresses.
It's nice to have it on hand. He can use it for Thank You cards, he can use it to send them webinar or DVD copies as just a quick bonus. He can also use it for geographics to target customers later for Facebook ads.
Thank-You Tool #2: Phone Calls
Sometimes Lance will even call them on the phone.
If someone just bought a $7 e-book from you, they're not expecting anything at all, not even an auto-responder-generated email. So, if you make that call, you're way ahead of anyone else.
If someone bought from you and you contact them the same day, they are going to just be happy and not have any complaints.
Thank-You Tool #3: Send Out Cards
This is a service that will allow you to send traditional cards to your customers. These are NOT electronic cards. They are "paper" cards like you would get at the store so they are very personal, not "mass e-mailed" and they won't go to your customer's spam folder or look like another sales push.
There are also gift options within the Send Out Cards system that you can send to your customer as well.
To learn more about how Send Out Cards can help you personalize your relationships with your customers, go to DoubleAgentCards.com.
Thank-You Tool #4: Google Drive
If you have a Gmail account, you also have a drive account. If you don't already have one, go get one. It's free.
You can create any doc and have it be in your Google Drive, where you can now access it from anywhere.
A good idea here is to keep a journal of different contacts/activities that have with your customers. Here is where you can keep a journal of the Thank You cards that you send out.
"Cheesy" Marketing
You want to stay away from cheesy marketing. Many marketers tell you to look up today's holiday and give your customers a "special discount" for that day (example: a "Boxing Day" discount) or to look up your customers' birthdays market to them on their birthdays.
It sounds like a good idea but all these marketers who teach this have never personally marketed to me on in this way. They've really just posted an occasional sale here and there when they're probably running low in their bank account.
It makes more sense to just sell what you sell and be consistent. You don't have to have sales all the time if you're thanking your customers for being there.
The 1-4-15-80 Rule
This is an important concept that Robert talks about in his program Double Agent Marketing and its accompanying book. It's how your list is broken down:
- About 1% will buy everything you put out.
- 4% will buy most of your stuff.
- 15% won't always buy high-ticket items but they will probably buy things where they can do a payment plan.
- Then, your last 80% will probably not buy anything products/services over $20.
If that disappoints you, you can build a bigger list OR you can take better care of your list.
Even if your list is not that big you can still make sales. If you wanted to make $50K/month, would you rather have 100 subscribers and 50 sales of $100 each, regardless of the type of products? Or would you rather have 10,000 subscribers that only purchased $5 items. Robert has asked this of several of his customers and overwhelmingly people would rather work with the first option.
It's not necessarily about getting floods of people but about building a decent size list and really adding value in cultivating relationships with those who want to buy the higher-level products. It doesn't take much to:
- Mail them a DVD (Kunaki.com for DVD production)
- Mail them a book
- Send them Thank You cards (Vistaprint.com for address labels and postcards)
- Give them a phone call
Avoid the 3-inch DVD Syndrome
There are small writeable CD's. When Robert was first starting out, he saw these and thought, "Hey, cool I can fit this mini CD into a normal sized envelope. I can record something and send it out and I am going to make so much money."
If no one cares or no one plays it and it doesn't lead to anything it's not going to get you anywhere. In other words, something has to bring the customer back. It has to be intensely valuable and/or make the customer feel very valued.
Some Fun and Creative Marketing Ideas from Robert
One time for an event he took out Facebook ads that were so narrowed and targeted that the ad was basically just showing down to the 1 person he had picked out in Facebook.
For the one person he wanted to see it, he would put their name in the ad and their picture. He did successfully sell seats to seminars just based off this ad.
Another time, he went to Amazon and bought a huge box of microwave popcorn. He left the individual packages all sealed up in plastic and sent 100 of them out with copies of a quick letter. The letter basically said, "Here's some popcorn to watch this movie" and the URL in the letter went to an online "movie" that was pitching a live event. He spent $200 or $300 altogether on this marketing and sold seats to his event this way. It was a good return on investment.
An idea he's pursuing now is to send out copies of his Double Agent Marketing book to his customers along with a highlighter and a letter that says something along the lines of "this book has so much valuable information you'll need an extra highlighter."
Closing Thoughts
Don't do this to prospects or to people you plan to joint venture or network with. Do it low tech. once you start getting fancy it really kind of backfires.
These "Thank You" and marketing ideas are for your current customers, your best buyers and those you want to come back. Do it "low tech." Once you start trying to get "fancy", it really looks cheesy and can backfire. You just want to say Thank You and do something fun for them.
You can always reach Robert at his email via robert@robertplank.com. He would love to hear from you about your business and what marketing you're doing that is working successfully, and is happy to hear your questions. He may even feature your question on the show!
Join Membership Cube 3.0 to Claim Your
Membership Site Training, Plugins & Clones Now
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:42 — 22.6MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
043: Systematize & Checklist-Enable Your Online Business (You Don’t Have to Outsource Everything)
Do you find yourself struggling with when you should be Hands-On vs When You Should Outsource? Robert shows you how the E-Myth can help you make the most effective decisions.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:21 — 44.3MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
Robert is the author of Double Agent Marketing-a book about how to do the "day job" while starting up a successful online marketing business.
When you're starting an online business, sometimes you have to be in the "Must Have" mode and sometimes in the "Nice to Have" mode and you need to know the difference between the two.
Must Have: an online platform and a product. You won't achieve any income without these two in place
Nice to Have: attractive business cards, pretty graphics, multiple social media accounts
The average person attempting to make money online and failing has nothing for sale. They're focusing on the "nice to have's" which give the illusion of productivity but they are not income-makers.
When you're building your online business, you're in one of two places:
You want to increase your online income or you want to scale back the number of hours you're working on that business so you can spend more at home and doing the things that you enjoy.
People get into online marketing so they CAN achieve having more time to do the things they enjoy. What Robert keeps hearing from these entrepreneurs is that, in order to achieve this, they have to outsource everything.
But, you have to start somewhere and even Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, started by driving packages to the post office himself.
Let's Talk about Outsourcing
You DO have to be hands on when you're first "out of the gate"
People can get discouraged at first because they feel like they are doing all the work themselves and aren't seeing much initial progress.
The solution to that problem is to go for the first shortest path to making money--making an information product.
This will make you a handful of sales but most importantly, you'll start building a list of customers and build a relationship with them. You can start "talking" to them about what they're interested in, i.e. what kind of products will they buy in the future.
Then, you make the next biggest product. You start to grow, you start to raise capital. You won't ALWAYS have to invest 100% of your time in this business but as you grow, you can add "outsourcers."
Why else is immediate outsourcing a bad idea?
You need to know exactly what is going on in your business. You need to know the in's and out's.
"Learn enough to be dangerous."
Let's say you want to develop an app. You need to teach yourself how to get an app submitted, what it takes to market it, and then source code. If you hired out all of this, what happens if you want to add new features or the app developer you used goes out of business? You are locked out of your own product!
This is why YOU need to learn the basics (and even more if possible) so that the future of YOUR business does not depend on an outsourced agent.
Most of the time, the outsourced job will never be done to the level that you would have taken it to. This is not the outsourced agent's business-it is YOURS. So, you end up taking even more time to check on the progress of the work, pay the agent, etc. Then, you feel you have to hire a manager to take care of these things and then you feel the need to oversee the manager. It becomes a vicious cycle. This is where Checklists come into the mix and they are vital.
If you outsource everything, you won't see any profit! If you are constantly paying everyone else to do tasks that you can and should be doing, especially at the beginning of your business, you will not see any profit and therefore you will not stay productive or motivated to keep driving forward.
The E-Myth: One of Robert's favorite books dealing with Systematizing your Business
A. The Fat and the Thin Person Mentalities
a. Everyone has BOTH in their natures.
b. It means that one day you wake up and you feel like a fat person and you're on the wrong track so you say you're going to work out, eat right, etc. This generally lasts a few days until you "feel thin" and you fall of track. Most everyone fluctuates back and forth between the two.
c. What this means in practical terms is that generally once people get "on track", they take a break and then things go off the rails again.
d. What's the solution? Solve a problem BEFORE it becomes one.
i. For example, when Robert and Lance first started out, they had fixed-term membership sites. Initially, they'd get a lot of members but when he looked ahead a few months, he realized their income would drop off a cliff.
ii. So, he put new products in place to generate income so that does not happen.
B. The Differences between Workers, Managers and Entrepreneurs
a. Worker-just follows instructions. Does not really care about the business itself. An example would be a support desk employee. Their only responsibility is to take support calls and fix the issues.
b. Manager-keeps things neat and organized. Examples are accountants and IT techs.
c. Entrepreneur-the "creativity" behind the business, the one generating ideas.
C. Job Titles
a. List out the job titles in your business. Don't go crazy and list 50, just do about 10. An easy way to think of this is "how many hats are you wearing?"
b. Examples would be sales copywriter, graphic designer, customer support, product creator, etc.
c. Then, you start with the one with the least amount of thinking involved and/or what's the one that if the resulting work is not perfect to you, it would not be the end of the world? THESE are the positions/responsibilities you want to outsource.
D. The Checklist-this is the CORE of our discussion
a. Even though you may not need perfection (as discussed above), you NEED consistency for your business to thrive.
b. Think about a hotel. In a hotel, housekeeping comes and changes the linen, vacuums, puts out new water glasses, etc. Although it may not be perfect every time, any single person in that hotel could do it effectively because there is a CHECKLIST that outlines what has to be done in every room.
c. Even when you have total mastery over a subject, the execution of it will never be consistent unless you have that Checklist to work from.
d. In all of Robert and Lance's programs, they have Checklists that you would personally use. For example, in PodcastCrusher (www.podcastcrusher.com), a Checklist would include:
-
- Use this headset to record
-
- Run a Mic Check
- Resize your Frame, etc., etc.
You break down each task into sections so that you can easily outsource pieces of it that you may not want/have time to do. Perhaps you want to create the podcast, but you don't want to do the publishing tasks. If you've created the Checklist for Publishing your Podcast, you can outsource that to anyone to pick up and as long as it's followed, you could have multiple publishers over a period of time and still provide a consistent product over and over.
Let's Talk about An Easily Outsourced Element of your Business
One of the first, and best options, for outsourcing in your business is going to be customer support/help desk.
When you're first starting out, it's fine for people to email you once or twice a day. Oce you get over that volume, it becomes impossible to keep managing those responsibilities and get anything else done.
Robert and Lance used ZenDesk when they first reached that level. It is really cool software that, when people email you with issues, it creates a "ticket" and you can then assign that ticket to a particular person in your organization or an autsource agent to remedy the issue. For example, you may get 3 tickets for people wanting refunds and 2 tickets for people who've forgotten their password. You can now assign those "tickets" to outsource agents who will handle those requests for you.
You can easily find outsourcers/freelancers on oDesk (now called Upwork).
On this website, you can pay someone by the hour to resolve the ticket(s) and you have the added bonus of seeing what their screen looks like while they are working so they cannot overcharge you.
You will also need a help desk/customer support system that provides canned responses to certain issues. In reality, you probably really only answer 5 to 10 types of questions, no matter how they're phrased by the customer. Depending on the problem, the customer gets a canned response back asking for further 3-5 pieces of information, then depending on that, the ticket is assigned to the correct person to fix the problem.
Because you know about the 5-10 repeat help desk queries you get, you can now "Checklist" your help desk so that any outsourcer/freelancer/employee can take that email and/or ticket and resolve the issue without you having to do it.
What would happen if you died today?
When you're running a business, you have a lot of people depending on you: your family, your business partners and your employees.
You have to think about: If something happened to me today, what processes do I have in place that will keep this company functioning and moving forward?
Use those processes to formulate your checklists!!
Robert's Book Suggestions for Today:
And, don't forget to check out:
- Robert's Double Agent Marketing (Website)
- Robert's Amazon FBA (Program)
Join Time Management on Crack to Claim Your
Productivity and Mindset Training Now
Like the Robert Plank Show on Facebook
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:21 — 44.3MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
027: Productivity and Time Management (The Secrets to Following Through and Getting Everything Done)
Check out the latest podcast episode to discover the seven secrets to getting it all done:
- Proper motivation
- Stability versus maintenance mode
- Let your neuroses and unhappiness work FOR you
- Declutter
- Avoid putting the horse before the cart
- Acting versus reacting
- Fear of completion & success
By checking out today's training right now you'll also discover:
- How to avoid the trap of "having balls in the air" or "putting out fires"
- The easiest way to ensure you'll finish what you start
- How to avoid self-sabotage and actually enjoy everything you do
- Simplify your life while putting in less hours and getting more done at the same time
- And more!
"Productivity and Time Management" FREE Report
Subscribe on iTunes - RSS Podcast Feed
Like the Robert Plank Show on Facebook
So go ahead, click that play button and please listen to the Robert Plank Show below and answer me this one question...
Out of the 7 "secrets to getting it all done" (the numbered list above) which one resonated with you the most and when will you start implementing it?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:01 — 18.3MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
The Three Biggest Breakthroughs That Are About to Change Your Online Business Forever: 80/20, 95/5/1, and 2/50/33
In our online business, I can think of quite a few "duh" moments where as soon as I discovered them... everything changed. My level of income, the things that were and weren't important,
- Just the fact that I could charge $997 for a course
- The fact that I could launch a course that didn't need 100% live training sessions
- The fact that I could re-market old courses
- The fact that I could re-market using old recorded webinar pitches (and sometimes make more money from those launches)
And anytime I deal with anyone starting out for the first time online I hear the same series of questions...
- What's the best time of day to mail?
- How often should I mail my list?
- What's the best price point?
- What's a good open rate, click rate, conversion rate once I mail?
- What should I price my upsell at?
And the ONLY correct answer to these questions: I DON'T KNOW!
(The answer is NOT "you should test that...")
I simply don't have enough information about you and your business. What's even worse, I quickly realized most people were ASKING THE WRONG QUESTIONS. Let me see your product so we can figure out what to price... oh you don't have one. How often do you mail your list already... not at all...
It's okay, it's fixable, let's just ask the RIGHT questions.
Look, you're asking around about the best day to mail and the "best split test results" because that's what you view as the fun stuff. Creating an OPTIN PAGE? Yuck... writing an INFORMATION PRODUCT? How many months is that going to cut out of my life? A 30-day AUTORESPONDER FOLLOWUP SEQUENCE? Excuse me for a second while I flip over to Twitter to re-tweet some stuff...
80/20 Rule: "The Base" vs. "The Tricks"
Have you heard of this thing called the 80/20 rule? It shows up everywhere in life. It basically means that there are a couple of things you should focus on, and a lot more things you need to cut out of your life...
80% of your results come from 20% of your effort, and the remaining 20% of your results come from 80% of your effort.
Let's say that over a 2 or 3 day period, you finished 10 tasks, some money-making and some not money-making. You ran a pitch webinar for your product, recorded some membership content, wrote an article, marketed on Facebook, checked email, posted on forums, contacted some potential joint venture partners, outlined a new product, responded to customer support issues and fixed a problem in your WordPress setup...
Were all those things necessary? I guess... BUT... it is possible that out of those eight items I listed, there were probably JUST TWO that made most of your money. Out of that list, there were probably JUST TWO things that made you the most money. TWO THINGS that you enjoyed doing, that you did quickly so it was the best use of your time. The remaining EIGHT items? You probably could have automated, outsourced, delayed, or ignored them. Were they a waste? No, but they weren't the best use of your time.
What's my point? Look at your business in two parts:
THE BASE. These are the fundamentals you literally hear everyone talking about. Have a sales letter, payment button, and download page or membership site. Have a blog with articles and drip content. An optin page giving away an ethical bribe with a follow-up sequence getting people to buy.
THE TRICKS. Run this split test, add this special graphic next to your buy button. Place this exit popup downsell. Post content on this social bookmarking site. Run a special paid ad on this site in this way. Make sure your buttons are drawn up in this special color.
For some reason, most people ignore "the base" because they hear about it so much, it's such common knowledge, that it's not new and exciting, therefore it must not be important. Gurus have created 100 pages and they've forgotten how important they are, and newbies have heard about optin pages 100 times (without creating one, or it took a month and I don't want to go through that ordeal again) so even though I hear it all the time, I'm used to hear it and I won't listen...
But the cruel joke is: setting up "the base" only takes 20% of your time, energy and effort, and is responsible for 80% of your income, I guarantee it! Does that mean "the tricks" are unimportant? Of course not, but it's all about diminishing returns. "The tricks" are still important, but they are those unimportant tasks we talked about. The tricks take 80% of your time, energy and effort, but are only responsible for 20% of your income.
Newbies get excited about the tricks because they see it as a way to skip the "outdated stuff" like optin pages or sales letters and take advantage of this hot new traffic source which is really "here today, gone tomorrow."
Gurus get excited about tricks because making THIS change to their optin page and THAT change to their sales letter and tracking THOSE sales meant the difference between a $1 million business this year and a $1.1 million business this year. Of course it's exciting to share how these Ten Changes, or Ten Minutes of Work, boosted this business by $100,000... but those TRICKS are useless without the BASE. And once you have the BASE, the TRICKS are so much better.
Marketing By The Numbers: Clickthrus and Attendance
I know, the "base" doesn't sound sexy and the "tricks" sound too dangerous. You don't want to admit that you need the base, because you're not a newbie and you don't want to seem dumb in front of your friends. But here are a few "average" numbers you can somewhat expect:
- If you have a very simple optin page with a headline, three bullet points, and a call to action... plus your optin bribe is cool enough and relevant enough for your traffic, expect a 50% optin rate, and a 1% daily attrition rate (bounces and unsubscribes)
- The emails you send "should" get a 2% clickthru rate, which should keep its effectiveness every day for a week, so if you email the same offer once a day for 5 days, expect a 10% clickthru rate of your entire list – provided your emails are interesting enough for people to click and open
- You should expect around $1 EPC if you're mailing to a decent sales letter that's an appropriate match for your audience – niche, skill level and price point – that means if you have a $100 offer, expect a 1% conversion, $50 offer, 2% conversion, $7 offer, 14% conversion
- On webinars you can expect about a 50% registration rate, 33% attendance rate (out of total registrations only), and a $20 to $100 EPC on the webinar (although that last number is SUPER unpredictable)
- You can expect about $1 per subscriber per month if you're marketing to your list (this number kept showing up everywhere for me during my early days of email marketing)
These are all rough estimates, and things might change for you, but once you know these basic numbers, life gets a lot easier. For example...
Let's say you've built your list up to 1000 subscribers, not huge but somewhat respectable (whether you're a newbie or non-newbie) if you've just made list building your priority.
Mail for the same offer for 5 days, you'll get 20 clicks each day for a total of 100 clicks...
With 100 clicks, you can count on about $100 from this promotion...
Because I gave you that "dollar per month" guideline, you can easily tell that even if you run four promotions like this per month, you're only making about $400 so there's more juice you can pull out of your list...
BUT THAT'S FINE! You have "the base" in place which only took a couple of days (product, sales letter, optin page) and now you can add "the tricks" to increase your income...
Add in an upsell to boost it to $600 or so, a coaching or recurring option, a done-for-you option, $1000 is easily within reach NOW THAT YOU'VE FIRST HIT THAT INITIAL MILESTONE of 400 dollars.
And think about a scenario like this...
- Instead of going for the traditional "send some emails" approach, you schedule a 1-hour pitch webinar and mail for it – 100 clicks over 5 days
- 50% or 50 people register for that webinar
- 33% or 16 people actually attend the webinar
Most marketers (the ones who don't know what to expect) would be super bummed out that only 16 people showed up, webinars don't work and why the heck did I think this internet marketing thing was a good idea anyway? Only 1.6% of my list even attended?
Yeah but, it's not unusual at all to convert 10 out of those 16 on a live webinar at $97, and now you've made $1000 bucks from one hour of your time (plus you have a recording) so you've potentially earned $2000 from that list of 1000.
These are all examples, and who knows what you'll experience based on your niche, audience, offer, and marketing, but you get the idea. The "base" and the "tricks" can't exist without the other. PLUS, one isn't better than the other, they're just DIFFERENT!
The "base" got you from $0 to $400. The "tricks" got you from $400 to $2000. Without the base you wouldn't have any money to improve with tricks, without the tricks you wouldn't be able to progress past the $400 mark and achieve your true potential with that list of subscribers. Without the tricks, you probably wouldn't be able to build that list of 1000 to 2000 or 5000 or 10,000 or more.
The 95/5/1 Rule
I've found that the 80/20 rule just doesn't cut it when marketing to an email list, since so many of your subscribers won't buy, will only buy low ticket or will simply be one-time purchasers, no matter what you do.
But that's okay, IT'S A NUMBERS GAME! Here's what I've noticed over the years looking back at my email list subscribers:
- The top 1% become your coaching clients
- The top 5% become your recurring and high ticket buyers
- The remaining 95% are your low-ticket buyers and non-buyers
Let me explain. Let's say that you build that list up to 10,000 subscribers. Still not huge, still not close to my list size BUT we're now talking about decent and respectable numbers.
Let's assume that along the way you've setup a couple of products. A free product, a $7 product, a $97 product, a $997 product, and a $27/month product...
100 of those subscribers will literally buy everything you put out. It doesn't matter if it's $7 or $97. They'll actually USE your tools, template, software and training. They'll actually ASK QUESTIONS during your Q&A calls if you have them.
Here's where a lot of marketers mess up. They take the 80/20 rule to the extreme, examine their business, decide to take their low-end products off the market and focus entirely on coaching. Those 100 people at the top.
Maybe the $27/month plan is all that's left standing! And then inevitably as some of the coaching students drop off (which is just what happens on the internet), they don't replenish that top 1% with new people, and find themselves doing the same "time-for-dollars" work but putting in the same amount of time for less and less dollars. Attrition!
The lesson here is that it's important to have products on all price points so you can keep people coming in the funnel and walk them up. Get them used to you at $7 or $97 and then get them to buy the high ticket or recurring programs. Don't be a price snob and only charge $997 and up, but don't wimp out and refuse to go above $7 as a price point.
Now, the top 5%... with a 10K list we're talking about 50 people you can count on to buy high ticket $497 and $997 items, join $27/month and $97/month continuity programs (once again, DEPENDING ON YOUR OFFER AND HOW IT MATCHES TO THEM) but not necessarily interact.
This group won't buy EVERYTHING you put out, so you have to make a compelling argument and actually listen to the problems, struggles and frustrations of your marketplace, create a real sales letter dissolving their objections, market it more than once and package a really good offer together.
This group is the reason to have high ticket (single payment or payment plan) membership sites, not necessarily "monthly forever" continuity. If your highest priced product is $100 bucks, and you have 50 "high ticket" buyers, that’s a nice $5000. But if your high price point is $1000, that's a $50,000 payday you just made instead.
The remaining 95% is still worthwhile for a number of reasons:
- They will still help you adjust your launches and your offers
- Some of the 95% will graduate into the top 5%
- Low ticket items can still add up to a nice healthy chunk of your monthly income
In the same way you can't have the "base" without the "tricks" ... you can't have high ticket without low ticket and vice versa. If you only had high ticket offers, you'd still need to build that list and the best list to build is a list of buyers. If you only had low ticket offers then you wouldn't be giving your top 1% and your top 5% the chance to buy your best stuff.
Here's the best thing about the internet. It doesn't cost you anything to create these extra products or keep them online, so pull out a piece of your high ticket offer or recurring program and put them on the marketplace as low-ticket items with upsells into "the bigger courses."
Can you please go into the comments now and tell me... what was a "big breakthrough" or turning point, revelation, sudden moment you had where everything changed for you and your business?
Four Daily Tasks: Focus Yourself, Defeat Overwhelm, and Enjoy Peak Productivity Using a Solution That’s Far Easier Than Time Management
If you've ever found yourself unfocused, unmotivated, unable to get "in the zone" ... you can't break free of procrastination, confusion, overwhelm... there's no time to get anything done... then you have TIME MANAGEMENT issues!
Look, you can either continue what you've been doing (and get the same results you've been getting), or drastically change everything in your life (which we both know won't last for longer than a couple of days) OR you can...
Admit you want to change
Decide what to change, and...
Make SMALL but LASTING improvements
to your everyday life...
To solve the problem, you might have heard advice like this:
- Create a long to-do list (now you have 100+ items you'll never complete)
- Say "no" to everything (now I'm bored within my own business)
- Schedule all activities, including bathroom breaks and free time, into a calendar (but what if I fall behind?)
- "Learn" about the 80/20 rule, Inbox Zero, Parkinson's Law (cute but how does that help me? And now I'm checking my email every 5 minutes to keep it at Inbox Zero)
- Delegate, outsource, lifehack
- Chunk down large tasks
- Organize your to-do list into A-B-C-D, or "Urgent But Not Important" (now I've spent all week organizing my to-do list or to-do lists)
- Just get started (gee, why didn't I think of that?)
- Write everything down on a whiteboard or on hundreds of post-it notes (how will you keep it all organized?)
I believe that you ignore most problems until they become so bad that you NEED to make a change NOW... so you take too-drastic measures, and now the solution is worse than the problem.
The Brutal Truth...
Example: You're 10-15 pounds overweight. Unhappy but comfortable. Not disturbed enough to make any real change. But suddenly, your high school reunion is a month away, or you realize you somehow became 30 pounds overweight without noticing, or you can't fit into that pair of pants...
You vow to stop eating fast food forever, wake up at 5AM every morning and hit the gym for a one hour run every morning.
What happens? You do it for one day, maybe two, until you realize HOW miserable you are. HOW much of a pain it is to wake up so early. Can't you just sleep in this one time? You're so hungry for a Quarter Pounder now... why not just quit?
Now, if your reunion was six months away, and you could REALISTICALLY lose the weight in time... you'd create a clear weight loss goal. Count your calories using an app to track your progress. Limit your portions, substitute one meal per day, swim or walk for a short time every day, get a partner to exercise with you and make yourself accountable to someone who ISN'T participating with you. That sounds to me like better planning.
7 Ways the "Regular" Approach Fails...
The same is true with your business. Most entrepreneurs that fail...
- they don't have a clear goal
- they don't have a good reason to reach that goal
- theydon't have a clear plan to make consistent progress
- they have no way to measure their progress towards that goal
- they undertake activities that aren't easy and fun (i.e. creating videos and outsource the boring activities like writing)
- they have no business partner (or team) to help
- they have no accountability partner to report back to (this is a DIFFERENT PERSON than the partner mentioned above)
The time management and productivity systems you've heard of have so many rules, and are so complicated, that the SOLUTION is less fun and more "work" than your old habits. Your old procrastinating ways. You'd rather be comfortable and slightly unhappy, than in unfamiliar territory trying to make some confusing time management system behave the way you want.
You know the type... set that timer and "work" 15 minutes, then take a 5 minute break, then "work" for 20 minutes, and break for 30 minutes... or something like that?
Or... list everything you have to do in a notebook in multiple columns and give yourself a "point" system.
Or... one of the worst, list 100 tasks and then pick the 10 that are the easiest to cross off your list today. Great, now you're just finishing the easy unimportant tasks every day.
The "Real" Easy Answer You're Looking For
Or, how about this? Follow a VERY SIMPLE system so that you don't have to throw your entire way of life out the window and make a few SMALL changes in your everyday lifestyle to point yourself in the right direction...
Here's what will help:
- 4DT: Complete just four small tasks everyday (three 45-minute tasks and one 10-minute task) and nothing else
- Calendar: Use Gmail instead of a desktop email program (it's the best solution for labeling, filtering, archiving, and searching for emails), and Google Calendar (to keep track of meetings, product launches, and other "milestone" activities)
- Accountability: Create your four tasks in the morning (or the night before) and list these to someone who is not a part of your business, but wants you to succeed, like a friend or a spouse. Don't go into detail about what they are, but meet with them at the end of the day so you can explain that you finish each task, or, if you left some unfinished, what was your excuse?
I go into each of these three building blocks in more detail in my new book, "Four Daily Tasks" which you should check out right away. The fact is that this is all you need, and you SHOULDN'T take drastic measures throwing out all the usual rules.
The Most Important Tasks
When you limit yourself to four tasks per day (not 10 or 20) they'll be the most important tasks. Here's what I mean. Let's say this was your task list on Monday night:
- Send broadcast message to email list and to Facebook: 10 minutes (DONE!)
- Record video seven of new product: 45 minutes. (DONE!)
- Contact three new joint venture partners: 45 minutes. (DONE!)
- Setup Facebook ads: 45 minutes. (didn't do it, ran out of time)
Then this was Tuesday night:
- Send broadcast email and schedule one followup email: 10 minutes. (DONE!)
- Record new podcast episode: 45 minutes. (DONE!)
- Dictate five new articles: 45 minutes. (DONE!)
- Setup Facebook ads: 45 minutes. (didn't do it, ran out of time)
Do you see what happened? Two days in a row, I didn't setup those Facebook ads like I planned. Here's what will happen on Wednesday: I'll either schedule it AGAIN, and not finish it AGAIN, and have to report back to my accountability partner once AGAIN that I didn't finish this task.
Maybe you ran out of time because the other tasks ran longer and you need to either budget your time better, take on smaller tasks, or just get those darned Facebook ads out of the way first thing on Wednesday, to save yourself the embarrassment and disappointment of reporting that, once again, you didn't do it.
OR! You might even leave those Facebook ads OFF the list for Wednesday, because they weren't important in the first place.
Self-Calibration
The more you use the "Four Daily Tasks" system, the better you'll be focused because your easy task HAS to be done in 10 minutes, and your medium tasks HAVE to be done in 45 minutes.
You'll also find yourself completing more tasks in bulk. Instead of putting out twenty 5-minute fires here and there... like, check Facebook, respond to blog comments, check YouTube, check Twitter... you're doing all those 5-minute tasks back to back so there is no break time, no procrastinating, no switching gears, just finishing everything.
Over time you'll get a good idea of what tasks really do take 45 minutes. You'll have one day after another where you will get all four tasks done, get all four tasks done, get all four tasks done, then look back and notice how many accomplishments that added up to. As opposed to having a 20-item "marathon day" and then taking the rest of the month off.
Because you built up this momentum, it's now hard to stop! Because you're moving in the direction you want, there's less overwhelm, less indecision, you'll get good at making snap decisions and you'll have renewed drive and focus like never before.
I need to stress that these must be four tasks in your BUSINESS, not in your personal or home life. They need to have DELIVERABLES, such as, write chapter 7 of book, and not "degrees of doneness" such as, "write 90% of book" or "edit web page." These need to be accomplishments that you can literally PROVE if you had to.
I've tried all the other "extreme" time management systems. They didn't last for me, and they didn't last for most people. I ended up spending my time on non-money-making tasks, I'd have trouble finishing tasks, trouble starting tasks, or accomplishing goals here and there but not actually PROGRESSING in the direction I wanted, if that makes sense.
Everything Changed When I Simplified It!
And if you find yourself completing four tasks every single weekday (or every day you choose to build your business), you've organized your life in Gmail and a Google Calendar, and you've created a private Team Site to share tasks with an accountability partner, there are a few more milestones you can use to inch yourself even closer to Peak Productivity:
- Countdown Timer: use a program like Cool Timer to countdown the amount of time you have left to make sure you stay on task and finish on time
- Unplug Days (for family): decide in advance which days of the week will be 100% dedicated to yourself or your family. This means no checking email, Facebook, or even cell phones
- Hotseat Computer (with no TV next to it): speaking of taking breaks, LEAVE the computer, leave your office and possibly go outside between tasks. That way, when you return to your computer, you can sit down, knock out the next task for today, and then leave the computer again before you have time to distract yourself with email or social media
- Camtasia Babysitter: if you're really trying to overcome a focus problem, use a tool like Camtasia Recorder to literally record yourself completing a task. You'd be surprised at how well this gets you in gear!
- Clean Desk: don't spend too much time on this, but clear out all the papers, clutter, and notes on your desk and at least store them away in a drawer or file cabinet so you aren't distracted and can dedicate yourself to the task at hand
- Cautious Outsourcing: hire someone to manage the parts of your business that you don't enjoy, or can't do, like customer support, traffic, copywriting, graphics, or email marketing
- Self-Awareness (turn "needs" into "wants"): the bottom line is that you aren't going to make any lasting change on yourself unless you gain pleasure from it and you enjoy it, so don't "force" yourself to take any action and if you find yourself stressed, confused, or just not having fun, then find out why you're not getting closer to your goal and what you can do in order to look forward to the day and eagerly knock out the tasks you have in front of you
That's the simple Four Daily Tasks approach that took me from a lazy, bored, unproductive person into someone who makes a lot more money, puts in a lot less hours, and has a lot more fun building my business.
Which of these components will you use, or have you already used, in your everyday life to achieve your goals and get to where you want to be?
Can I Give You 30 Extra Hours Per Month?
This is pretty cool. At first it will "seem" like common sense... and then you'll think "that sounds great, but it's not for me" but FINALLY... once you get to the third step, it'll hit you like a ton of bricks. This has got to be the #1 boost to my productivity all year.
Please wake up early from now on. The "average" person wakes up at 7AM on weekdays, but you know what else? The "average" person...
- is 15 pounds overweight
- only has 0.8 friends
- has an IQ of only 100
- only earned "B's" and "C's" in high school
- attended college but didn't finish
- only earns $28,000 per year
- is $2,500 in debt...
Do you want to be average or better than average?
Here's something to be said about above average people... what do the CEO's of Disney, Apple, General Motors, Virgin America, and Starbucks have in common? They're all out of bed by 5:00 AM!
My first reaction to this was, "What a bunch of workaholics! Glad I'm not one of those..." Until I discovered that although many successful people wake up early in order to get a "jump" on the day... the primary reason is for personal, quiet, reflective time.
If you're here, then chances you are:
- A student (you usually wait until the last minute)
- Self employed (self motivation is ultra-important)
- Employed (your time is not your own from 8am-5pm)
- A parent (enough said)
- Retired (possibly fixed income, health concerns or time limitations)
Either way, waking up even one hour is the solution to most of your problems. In college I discovered firsthand that staying up late or "burning the midnight oil" does NOT work. It only leaves you stressed, tired, overworked, and burned out because you half-ass rush your assignments the night before, or the morning-of, don't you?
On the other hand, here's how I became financially independent (by that I mean property owning and self employed)... I woke up early, spent about ONE (maybe 1.5) VERY FOCUSED HOURS in the morning, and once that was done, I went in to my day job for 8 hours of loyal servitude. Here's what happened...
- I separated "church" and "state" -- internet business stays at home, work stays at work
- I actually had time to eat a good breakfast
- I had time for a walk (or a run or swim for the crazy people)
- I began the day with excitement
What's also great is after work, I could do other things... relax, personal time, visit friends and family. This broke me out of the Work-TV-Sleep cycle most people are stuck in.
I could go on about studies that have shown that the parts of our brain that affect judgment get tired over the course of the day which explains why people overeat, drink, and commit crimes late at night instead of early in the morning... but let's talk about you!
Step #1: Sleep Smarter
I'm not saying you have to go to sleep early, or sleep less hours, but you need to be a little more careful about how you go to sleep...
- Have a set time that you "usually" go to sleep
- Avoid using your computer, TV, phone or iPad one hour before sleeping (the glowing light causes sleep problems)
- Your bed is for sleeping only -- if you need to nap or perform other activities, use your couch
- Sleep in a dark, quiet area that's just a few degrees colder than you have during the day (a no brainer but so many people miss this)
- Avoid eating right before bed (another no brainer)
- Hypnosis & sleep headphones (my secret weapon)
If I really can't sleep or my sleep schedule is out of whack, I use hypnosis. (I used to experiment with melatonin and valerian root but it caused more problems than it solved.) Here's what I do...
I put on a pair of sleeping headphones (basically a headband with very thin headphones so you can lay however you want).
I plug the headphone into my iPad, activate airplane mode and open a hypnosis app -- I used to use the "BinauralBeat" app but now I use one called "Lucid Dreams."
Hypnosis only works if you let it. It takes about 10-20 minutes for me. The narrator tells me to relax this and that, imagine this and that, breath in this way, count down to this number, the next thing I know I wake up the next morning and I'm no longer wearing the headphones around my head.
Step #2: Wake Up Smarter
Having better sleep habits alone might help you. But we have those days where we don't have time for 8 hours of sleep, or we wake up groggy and keep snoozing for 10 more minutes... 10 more minutes... and now you've slept too long and you're running late.
With my limited understanding, we usually wake up groggy because our sleep pattern is interrupted. Haven't you slept too long, or had a dream that was interrupted, and you woke up feeling like crap? On the other hand, you've "accidentally" only slept 5 hours and felt fine the next day, because you had your REM sleep and woke up during a "light sleep" cycle.
The most amazing iPhone app ever (you can also run if you only own a $99 iPod Touch) is called Sleep Cycle. You place it under your pillow and it "somehow" tracks when you're awake, asleep, or in a deep sleep... based on its gyroscope and the movements you make in bed. You set a 30 minute window for the time you want to wake up, and it waits until "the best time" to do it.
- Use "Sleep Cycle" instead of a traditional alarm clock to wake you up
- Get in the habit of waking up at the same time every day
- Get out of bed, out of your bedroom, and preferably outside as soon as you wake up
- Use a "Philips GoLite" and multiple alarm clocks if waking up is still a problem
- Don't check email in the morning, relax and be productive instead
Step #3: Four Daily Tasks
Now that you wake up early, you have extra quiet time in the morning to wake up, relax, and get ready for the day. Once you start your day you'll get so much done even before lunchtime (before anyone has a chance to disrupt you) you'll want to use your time wisely.
I've said this so many times I'm almost sick of it. But this is what you need -- FOUR DAILY TASKS.
Have four tasks to complete every single day. COMPLETE. Not start, not do, not try, COMPLETE. "Checking email" is not a task. Getting "35% complete with ebook" is not a task. Writing one ebook chapter, that's a task. Sending an email to your autoresponder list, that's a money making task. Setting up a web page, that's a task. What works best for me: three 45 minute tasks and one 15 minute task.
Use those three techniques to use your time better, claim your additional 365 days in the year and live longer, and accomplish at least double what you did before.
Quick question: what time do you normally wake up to get started on your business, and what's your secret to waking up at that time?
Productivity Booster: Decide to Have Fun Doing It & Enjoy Taking Any Action
It's funny, every time I ask my subscribers questions like: "Where are you stuck right now?" "How could things be better?" "If I could wave a magic wand and fix one thing about you to improve your live, what would it be?"
A very very very small percentage of people tell me things like: I need to improve this conversion rate by 1%... or I need to finish this product...
Most of the people who respond to me tell me they have a deeper problem: lack of focus, not being organized, time management, overwhelm, lack of creativity, or lack of productivity...
Why You Are Where You Are
The good news is these problems are easy to solve. Then why doesn't every one solve them? A few reasons...
First, it takes a lot of existing time and energy to break your existing habits. You'll actually put more work and effort into staying the way you are, even if it's "easier" to act a different way -- more on that in a minute.
Second, it's even easier to regress into your previous self. Think about "that one time" you took a morning run, "that one time" you went to the gym after a New Year's Resolution and then never went back, "that one time" you paid for advertising? Being a productive person is a continuous process, not a one time event!
Third, you self-sabotage yourself every step of the way. Don't feel bad, we all do it. I can't go drive to that place because I can't find my phone. I can't lift weights at the gym because I brought the wrong color shorts. I'm going to cut my run short because the battery in my iPod died. I can't run a webinar because that would mean I actually FINISHED something!
Are we agreed then? We all have a focus/productivity problem, we need to make a PERMANENT change and in a way "outsmart" ourselves to be better... BUT at the same time, we can't "just snap out of it" or "force ourselves to do it" because we won't repeat the process. Here's what you need to do instead...
How to Change Your Own Mind
Let me ask you something, do you enjoy every day going to the dentist, mowing the lawn, and doing the dishes? PROBABLY NOT!
I ask because this last week, I visited a dentist for the first time in 8 years. Don't worry, nothing was hurting, and it turns out I had no cavities. Why did I go? Because it was the right thing to do.
I thought to myself, if they find anything wrong... the damage has already been done, at least they caught it before it got any worse, I can stop worrying about it and I'm better than most people because I'm going to have a good attitude about thing this easy step.
This month, I also fired my landscaper and hired a new one. I've been meaning to get rid of this guy for a while. He stopped pulling the weeds, let the bushes grow into the walkways, began mowing the grass very unevenly, and somehow managed to break most of the sprinklers with his lawnmower.
It's something I've been meaning to do for a while... until one day, I looked out at that misshapen brown lawn and thought, I'm embarrassed to live here. One phone call, hi I'd like to terminate service, do I owe you anything, thanks bye... a second phone call, are you taking on new customers, here's the services I need, what day can you do it, here's my payment information, done.
There are two ways of looking at that. One way, "I have to get rid of this stupid idiot who can't mow my lawn." "Why does my yard suck so much." "I have to make these stupid phone calls." "I have to shell out even more money."
Or, how about this? Everything's been running on autopilot for a while, but it's no longer working out. The landscaper has other business, he has no problem with being fired. Things are a little bit broken, but I'll make two quick phone calls to fix it. And imagine how neat, clean, crisp, trimmed and green the yard will look once this new guy comes in and fixes things.
How This Affects You
You know that optin page you just can't get yourself to finish installing? That Kindle book you can't finish writing? Autoresponder broadcast email you can't seem to write and send?
Here's what WON'Tget you to do it:
|
Here's what WILLget you to do it:
|
And if you still doubt me... have you ever found yourself cleaning your apartment because you had an important term paper due? Because one was more "fun" and pleasurable than the other.
Have you ever washed your car or cleaned the dishes because you were delaying making some important phone call? Exactly.
Look... you can let this behavior guide you in one of two ways: self sabotage & procrastination (feeling that your unimportant tasks are more "fun" than the important ones)...
Or, focused action & productivity. First figure out what important task you need to do, then justify with it logic. And finally rationalize the following things:
- How taking action on that task will give you more pleasure than pain
- How NOT taking that action will give you more pain than pleasure
- How to enjoy taking that simple action, and have fun doing it, so you'll do it now, you'll do it quickly, and you'll do it over and over again
Question: What's something you've been delaying that you know you should be doing? It's ok if it's something simple, please don't include details if you are too embarrassed ... and what would get you to do it right away?
Instant Focus: Get One Productive Hour (on Command) and Finish Every Task You’ve Been Putting Off
What if there was an easy way you could not only...
- Improve your presentation, speaking, and product creation skills?
- Create more free content, get yourself more free traffic and figure out what your audience wants?
- Get in the habit of completing all your tasks in one day?
But at the same time, actually knocked out the most important tasks in your life -- even the ones you might have been putting off?
This is a technique I've been using for at least 5 years. It's really weird (but easy) to do, and it it's something I use every time I keep procrastinating on a task I want to do, I choose to do, but just can't "bring myself to do..."
- I resize my screen small enough to only have one window open (usually 1024x600)
- I close any distracting windows including Gmail, Twitter, or Facebook
- I RECORD THE SCREEN using Camtasia Recorder (you can use Screencast-O-Matic for free), narrate, and "tutorialize" the task that I've been delaying
- I upload that video recording to YouTube with a linkback to my site to get some extra traffic
For example, today I wanted to publish my book to Amazon CreateSpace. But there are many forms to fill out and lots of tweaking involved.
I had to get it done. I didn't want or need to get it perfect, it just had to be submitted!
And here's me fumbling around on Amazon CreateSpace, submitting my first print book:
I call this the "Camtasia Babysitter" -- because you're recording the screen, it keeps you from pausing or getting distracted by other windows or alerts.
What's one task you could perform, that you know you "should" do, that you "want" to do and even "choose" to do... but now you can record the screen to make sure you finish it?
