Time cannot be reversed, or drastically slowed down so we can fit more in … can it?

We will all often hear people say that they simply do not have time to put in the amount of effort they need to really get their offline or online endeavours off the ground.

So why is it then that some people can? What I want to share with you today is a little process that could help you to get more done, a LOT more done…

We all have 24 hours in the day, so what can you do to turn that same amount of time you already have, in to something that provides you with tangible ‘results’…

Ultimately your efforts will be measured by what you’ve achieved, not on how busy you’ve been.

You need to have some idea of how long you are spending over the various elements of your offline or online endeavours…

Here’s a checklist by which to assess your activities…

Do you need to perform this task at all – is it indispensable to your progress?  For example, carrying out research into your niche or keywords for it, is absolutely vital when setting up a website or Google Adwords campaign perhaps, and time should be invested in this. On the other hand, if your website is entirely ready but not yet online because you spent a week looking for the ‘perfect’ header, then that is “lost time” Your website (and bank account!) can’t claw back that time and lost revenue that it wasn’t online. (It is important to ensure your sites look professional, and of a high quality, but finishing each of your projects and getting them earning money for you, is critical…)

If the assignment is vital, is there a different, easier, way of doing it? For example, if you want to construct your own website but you are still struggling with HTML or with getting to grips with Dreamweaver (very powerful but a bit daunting for non-techies), perhaps it would be easier to install something like WordPress instead? (It’s free and pretty user-friendly.) And if you’re still sending emails to your ‘list’ from your own mail account (and do please avoid free accounts like Hotmail and Yahoo if you wish to appear both professional and also not just a one-man band), maybe you could think about using autoresponder software instead? AWeber is inexpensive and easy to use. You can send out fancy-looking HTML newsletters with it and add opt-in forms on your WordPress site using it too.

If you’re still struggling – can you get someone else to do it for you? Our own efforts really took off when we stopped trying to do everything ourselves and started getting other people to do the things we found boring, or which would have presented us with a steep learning curve.

… And before you say ‘I can’t afford to outsource anything’, it may well be of use to add up the ‘real’ cost to you of not outsourcing. Using the economics term of ‘opportunity cost, remember the need to factor in your time spent carrying out tasks at which you’re not as good as someone else, the potential loss of online earnings whilst learning new skills, loss of time to spend on revenue-earning activities, etc.

This approach to time management really can do wonders for your productivity and bottom-line!

Remember that all of the extra time you create for yourself by making these decisions about where to focus your energies can be spent moving your business forward … or on personal activities like spending time with your family.

So the next time you feel like you’re suffering from overwhelm, take a moment or two and assess whether you need to be doing those tasks at all.  With a bit of research maybe you can find an easier way of doing it, or maybe get somebody else to do it entirely…

Check out our preferred outsourcers for high-quality, great value support.

How would you like to work less and accomplish more?

The key is laziness. Implement an intelligent version of laziness.

Clever laziness involves recognising your strengths and weaknesses.

When you focus on your strengths, tasks are easy to accomplish.  Focusing on your weaknesses generally results in a lot of hard work.

Take for example, a body builder lifting a 120-kilo table up a flight of stairs.

The body builder can simply pick up the table and carry it up the flight of stairs in a minute or two.  While you, on the other hand, might struggle… needing to drag the table up the stairs. Or worse yet, you might take the table apart so you can carry up smaller, individual pieces.

A task that is easy for one person can be extremely difficult for another.  So the key is to figure out ways to eliminate or *delegate or outsource* your difficult tasks.

Ask yourself, what are your strengths and what are your weaknesses?  What tasks are very easy for you to accomplish and which are very difficult? Or what are the tasks over which you always procrastinate?

Make a list with your strengths on the left-hand side and your weaknesses on the right-hand side.  This list will become your guide to intelligent laziness.

Aim to eliminate the entire right-hand side of the page.  So essentially, all you’re left with are your strengths.

Buying (& pricing advice!) from over a century ago

Something to weave into sales copy……in more modern language of course….

“It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money – that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little a getting a lot – it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.”

This is a classic quote on the possible folly of automatically choosing low cost as the best way to make a purchase decision.

The common law of business balance is a meditation on price attributed to John Ruskin (1819 – 1900).

Useful also to convince prospects why they should pay more for your superior offerings!

Self Esteem Tips

All humans have a need to be respected and to have self-esteem and self-respect. Esteem presents the normal human desire to be accepted and valued by others. People need to engage themselves to gain recognition and have an activity or activities that give the person a sense of contribution, to feel self-valued, be it in a profession or hobby. Imbalances at this level can result in low self-esteem or an inferiority complex. People with low self-esteem need respect from others. They may seek fame or glory, which again depends on others. Note, however, that many people with low self-esteem will not be able to improve their view of themselves simply by receiving fame, respect, and glory externally, but must first accept themselves internally. Psychological imbalances such as depression can also prevent one from obtaining self-esteem on both levels.

Most people have a need for a stable self-respect and self-esteem. Maslow noted two versions of esteem needs, a lower one and a higher one. The lower one is the need for the respect of others, the need for status, recognition, fame, prestige, and attention. The higher one is the need for self-respect, the need for strength, competence, mastery, self-confidence, independence and freedom. The latter one ranks higher because it rests more on inner competence won through experience. Deprivation of these needs can lead to an inferiority complex, weakness and helplessness.

Courtesy of Wikipedia from an article about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
I studied this 30 years ago and it still holds true!)
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow’s_hierarchy_of_needs

Click on the link below for our latest video with regard to improving your self-esteem. Enjoy!

Courtesy of one of our joint Ventures, A New You After Divorce

Making 2012 a Great Year

Probably, not everything in 2011 went according to plan. No doubt, the past year has been a source of both pleasant and painful experiences for you. You might have lived through great challenges, your perception of the world might have changed and your priorities may have demanded a closer look. You may have found yourself questioning your life or struggling with many scary unknowns and uncertainties. Some of the events of last year have surpassed your wildest imaginings, both terrible and triumphant.

During good times and bad times — in your own personal life or in our world — you have the choice to rise to the occasion and display your greatest strengths or to draw back, feel scared and remain powerless. It can be difficult to reconcile your own hurtful mistakes from the past and get ready for an unknown future too. You know that you can’t change the past, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to let go of. And because none of us are privy to all of where our lives are going, the best we can manage to do sometimes is simply trust that everything will come together when we need it most.

I encourage you to step back and take a moment to reflect on 2011 and acknowledge all that you’ve accomplished. Appreciate yourself for all that you’ve endured and overcome. Honor all that you began in 2011. Maybe you didn’t do everything that you set out to do or get as far as you thought you would, but you can let go of that now. Wash your hands of regrets from last year. Forgive yourself for what you haven’t finished yet and clear a path to begin again in the New Year.

“True creativeness is finding new possibilities in old situations.” ~ Unknown

January is a Time of New Beginnings

Today is the first day of January and holds the promise of a fresh start. Sometimes you do need the opportunity to start over again, in whatever part of your life needs it most. It could be that you want to reignite passion in an old relationship, or end one altogether to make room for someone new. Maybe you feel called to change the type of work that you do. 2012 could be the year to leave your place of employment so that you can pursue another path. Maybe it’s time to choose a new outlook or better attitude; even if everything else stays the same, what a great year you’ll have with this different perspective! You can make the decision to begin today because there is nothing but a blank canvas in front of you now. 2012 is your chance to be healthier physically, or to be new again in your career and in your relationships.

Coaching Tips for 2012

1) Let Yourself off the Hook

We tend to be our own harshest critic and exaggerate the truth about how miserably we’ve failed ourselves. Stop being so hard on yourself and put the hammer away for good. Don’t let the things that have happened in the past dampen your enthusiasm for what is possible now. Just because you’ve made mistakes or have difficulties to overcome doesn’t mean that your life can’t get better now. None of you past mistakes mean that you’re a forever failure, no matter how bad they were.

A lot of good things will happen for you in the year ahead. All you have to do is embrace them. You might miss the full enjoyment of new experiences if you’re carrying the past around with you. Your past experiences be your greatest teachers so learn from your mistakes and benefit from the wisdom gained in the lessons, but don’t drag unhappy memories around anymore. Put the baggage down and leave unpleasant experiences behind you. Today is your opportunity to let go of any unproductive thoughts and feelings that have plagued you or that keep you rooted in negativity. And as you go forward, continue to release anything that is preventing you from enjoying your best life.

2) Learn from 2011

How can 2011 help you decide what to get rid of in 2012? It could be that list of ‘shoulds’. These are the things you think you should do, but don’t want to do. Are you ready to drop anything inauthentic or anything that has become an obligation versus a joy? This is a good place to start because as you permit fewer things to drain your energy or establish healthy boundaries that better serve you, you’ll feel lighter, and will be free to move forward again. Decide to remove the things that hold you back, steal your energy or cause you worry. Take at least one deliberate step to eliminate or reduce the things that don’t bring you fulfilment or happiness. Practice speaking up for yourself and saying ‘No’ when you need to. This means telling the truth on your own behalf and being more authentic in 2012. Give yourself permission to live a life that reflects who you really are. This would be something to celebrate at the end of 2012.

3) Dream Again

Every time you dream of the good things to come in the year ahead, you increase the chances of them happening in your life. When you give deliberate thought to where you want to go from here, you open the doors of opportunity. Every time you revisit your goals and dreams, you will gain more clarity, and one day they will suddenly become crystal clear in your mind. Your new hopes, ambitions and ideas will take your life to a whole new place. And don’t worry if you can’t see everything ahead of you. You won’t fully understand all of where you are going right now. Just keep dreaming, hoping and finding life’s magic, even in the face of trouble or confusion. On the hardest days, stay optimistic by trusting that these hard times will pass and that all things will get better over time.

Here is a Coaching Action Challenge for you: Choose one area of your life to focus on now because whatever you focus on and give energy to will grow and take shape. Enjoy this new beginning and this chance to start over again with a fresh approach. A new beginning holds the promise of new lessons to be learned, new opportunities to be discovered, and new interests or creative ideas to be explored. You might be thinking that the only way you can have a new beginning is to become a new or different person, but this is not true. All you have to do to start over again is adopt a new outlook and decide that you will try again.

”Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.” ~ Joseph Addison

You have the gift of another year so ready yourself for the journey! Take along some humility from the past and toss in some curiosity and excitement about what’s coming up next. Great things are in store for you. So grab your map, set your course, and hoist your sails. Discover and explore the new places and exciting destinations waiting for you in the year ahead!

Have a beautiful, magical and wondrous 2012.

How do you successfully set New Year’s Resolutions?

Here are some great tips to help you ensure that your resolution actually makes a difference…

1. Create a Plan

You know the saying: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” And it’s very, very true. Having a goal without formulating a plan is merely wishful thinking. In order for your resolution to have resolve, (as the word “resolution” implies), it must translate into clear steps that can be put into action. Ensure that you have a good plan by including 1) What to do next and 2) What are all of the steps required to complete the goal.

2. Create Your Plan IMMEDIATELY

The first few days of January are a critical time in which you need to harness your motivation. After that, enthusiasm wanes…. so there is a limited window of opportunity to create your plan. So get that pen and paper out…. or switch on your PC!

3. Write Down Your Resolution and Plan

…Which brings us nicely to Step #3. You must, must, must write your resolution down AND your plan. Look at it often; record your progress in a notebook or journal.

4. A Resolution Isn’t Just For New Year’s

Nothing big gets accomplished in a single day. The easy part is to create a resolution – the hardest part is to accomplish the tens or hundreds of tiny steps that happen throughout the year to ensure your resolution is a success. New Year’s resolutions should be nothing more than a starting point. Develop a ritual or habit for revisiting your plan.

5. Remain Flexible

Life has a funny way of throwing unexpected things at us, so expect that your plan can and will change! Sometimes, the goal itself will even change – at some time along the journey you might decide that it is the wrong goal, so continuing along this path would be foolhardy. It’s OK to change the goal, so long as it is for the right reasons.

And finally…

6. Celebrate Success

This is a very important part of the journey. Recognize even partial successes at every step along the way – identify milestones and put these into your plan. Just as a resolution isn’t accomplished the day it’s stated, neither is it accomplished the day you reach your goal. Rather, it’s accomplished in many small increments along the way. Acknowledge these incremental successes as they come.

Wishing you all a successful 2012!

Pass it on – share with as many people as you can – make it their year as well!

Why Outsource?

To understand why one should consider outsourcing, you need to place a value on your time in any business endeavor.  You need to place a value on your time in any business endeavor. Would you drive forty miles for fifty cents? Of course not. The price of gasoline alone would make the trip a financial loser. Would you walk across town for fifty cents? Walking may be free, but it wouldn’t be worth the time and effort. It would be irrational to make a long trek like that for spare change.

Outsourcing and Internet Marketing: a match made in Heaven

Strangely, many Internet marketers seem perfectly happy to walk across town for chump change. They do it every time they involve themselves in a task that they can’t complete efficiently and effectively. Time for outsourcing.

A good web designer can put together a mini web-site template in a very short period of time. Someone who’s never touched the software and who doesn’t know HTML might spend hours on the same task. (And it might be full of errors!)

Reason for Outsourcing

Wouldn’t it make more sense to pay a designer to turn out that design quickly (and economically if you compare it to the time you would have taken, how much you value your time and what revenue-earning activities you could have been involved with instead) while using the time saved to do something that will add to your Internet marketing profits? Again, it’s time for outsourcing!

outsourcing

Great SOURCE FOR OUTSOURCING

We can provide you with great outsourcing resources from a large, tried and tested company that we have happily used many times over a number of years. Contact us for more information about the best route for outsourcing.

Outsourcing and value of your time summary

Outsourcing projects to those who can do them correctly, effectively and efficiently can free up a great deal of your time enabling you to focus on those aspects of revenue-earning / moneymaking that you do best.

Stop walking across town for spare change and start using your most valuable asset—your time—to your best advantage. Work smarter and use outsourcing.

Why use Outsourcing?

Outsourcing is one of the best ways to free up your most important asset: your time. And to improve your financial bottom-line. Hiring others to handle everyday or even specialized functions (especially non-revenue earning) within your overall Internet marketing plan can be a shortcut to superb financial success.

How best to make outsourcing work

In order for outsourcing to work, however, it must be done the right way. That involves a lot of different considerations. You need to know how to hire and who to hire for outsourcing. You need to develop the right organization skills and learn to be a Project Manager. You also need to approach your contract workers with the right attitude. Outsourcing is vital but not a quick fix. Start with a small project and measure the outsourcing company’s success. The saving of time and low-cost associated can be a great benefit of outsourcing.

What not to do re: outsourcing

Too many Internet marketers deal with contractors as if they’re robots. They make unreasonable demands both in terms of work-load and timescales. They communicate with the outsourced workers in a superior tone. They don’t handle disagreements or questions with civility. It’s sometimes as if outsourcing turns otherwise nice Internet marketers into slave-driving monsters. That often results in disagreements, missed timescales, low productivity and even shoddy products. Not great for your reputation!

Source for outsourcing

We can provide you with great outsourcing resources from a large, tried and tested company that we have happily used many times over a number of years. Contact us for more information about the best route for outsourcing.

The best way to make outsourcing work for you

That’s not the best way to make outsourcing work for you. You should approach those with whom you’re working with respect, politeness, understanding and decency. That’s the best way to forge valuable, lasting relationships with your outsourcing company and to encourage the best possible work from contractors. Additonally, be sure that you’ve clearly specified your requirements and documented the agreed project scope and timescales of the work. Pay close attention to these guidelines and you’ll certainly benefit from outsourcing.

Three traffic-producing opportunities using social media or web 2.0

A few years back, you had two ways to drive traffic to your website. You could either pay for it by implementing an advertising campaign or you could try to build a site that you felt the search engines would love in order to get traffic via them. (A third way of course is article marketing.) The maturation of the web has led to a third core means of generating traffic. Social media and other “web 2.0” strategies represent a potentially efficient and effective way to secure visitors to your website.

traffic

Here are three examples of leveraging these traffic sources to your advantage

YouTube Traffic

Video continues to gain traction as it becomes easier to create and edit and as users have greater levels of accessibility through faster Internet access and use of mobile devices such as smart phones and iPads. When done the right way, a short, home-made video can produce a great deal of traffic: often more than a similarly-targeted traditional article.

See my YouTube channels for examples.
http://www.youtube.com/user/VindenGrace

http://www.youtube.com/user/DunedinConsultants

For help on creating videos for your websites, please contact us.

Twitter Traffic

Twitter, often described as a micro-blogging platform, allows you to develop relationships and reach audiences easily and for free. If you handle this opportunity the right way, you can turn the service into a traffic driver that delivers targeted customers.

See our Twitter channels for updates and examples:

@vinden

@vindengrace

@coacheve

@evegracekelly

@LiveSuccessFull

@Coaches4Divorce

FaceBook Traffic

Sometimes it seems like everyone you know is on FaceBook. Between its ease of use, ‘addictiveness’ and that old “six degrees of separation” concept, it’s easy to build a social profile that many people will see. Plus, you can integrate everything else you’re doing with your FaceBook account.

Advertising and SEO still bring home the bacon for many Internet marketers in terms of traffic, but social media is really beginning to have an impact these last couple of years. If you’re not involved, you should be! It’s all in the name of that all-important traffic.

Internet Marketing: Product Creation

In the vast world of Internet marketing, you can be a product owner through product creation or product development or an affiliate. There are good reasons to consider both options. I thought this would be a perfect time to cover a few of the advantages of going the “it’s my product” route vs. being an affiliate as, with such a crowded market-place, you need a way to stand out. That’s by product creation.

Why ‘Product Creation’?

Initially, being your own product owner/creator gives you a chance to bring your unique vision and ideas into the world. There’s nothing quite like seeing “your baby” succeed in the marketplace. That’s a kind of personal fulfillment that you can’t quite replicate as an affiliate, although affiliate marketing can be very lucrative. That’s the joy of product creation or product development.

Benefits of Product Creation

Personal fulfillment, however, doesn’t pay your bills. Most of us involved in Internet Marketing are also interested in making money and that’s another great reason to consider creating and owning your own product through product creation. Instead of being one of many affiliates for someone else’s product or service, you can be the person who has a collection of affiliates working on his or her behalf. Think of how many sales a good affiliate could make for you. Now, start multiplying it by many affiliates. When you’re at the ‘top of the food-chain’, those multiplied earnings flow in your direction. Additonally, it enhances your reputation as a ‘thought-leader’ or trail-blazer to be seen to have your own products.

Product creation

Product Creation Assistance

If you need help with product creation, feel free to contact us about our mentoring programs.

Product creation

Product Creation Summary

There’s a lot of work involved in product creation, it’s true. (We know only too well from our own experience! We’ve written many books, created many face-to-face courses, home-study courses and workbooks.) There’s also work involved in managing affiliates. Successfully launching a new product, even with the help of affiliates, requires some effort and know-how, too. Being the product owner/creator isn’t necessarily the easiest thing in the world. It is, however, the best way to put yourself in a position to maximize your profits. So, crack on with your own product creation.