How to Build Success – Part 2

Today we’ll talk about managing our time. SMART – Specific we covered in Part 1, today we will cover the “M” in the SMART system, so managing our time. If you missed Part 1, you can read it by clicking here.

Training and Research

My research is divided into several time zones. I call them zones because they are separated and I don’t want them to mix. Some of the research I do is vital to my work, other research I do is non essential to my success.

1. Researching a new article I want to write for a new post to my blog or for guest posting. This is something that is part of my workday. But I have to be very careful as it can lead me down the rabbit hole. I have to really focus to avoid that hole.
2. Researching a new idea for a product I want to sell. This type of research is not allowed unless my work for the day is done.
3. Researching for fun. This is almost never an option. If I want to have fun, it’s pretty much not happening via the Internet. I’d rather play racquetball, hike, watch TV, or go to the movies. So, I avoid YouTube because there are just too many cute, funny, and amazing videos on YouTube.

Those are some examples of how I divide up my time and prioritize my day.

The point is, set goals and stick to your goals. When you work without goals, it’s like sailing without a compass in the fog. You will never have a clear direction of where you are going or how you will get there. Failure loves to hang out in the fog.

It Takes Money to Make It

This is a true statement. But you can manage the way you work with this issue. You can either save a little money from your offline work or work online where the opportunity to get paid for your time is 100% guaranteed.

Avoid getting into debt to make money online as there are no guarantees you will be able to pay it back before things get out of hand.

You can make money online by doing simple chores that generate enough money to buy a How-To guide within your budget. Be selective when choosing how to make your first dollar online. There are many excellent tutorials that teach you how to make money online are less than $10.00.

You can earn $10.00 within an hour to pay for these inexpensive guides that you want to buy. There are three websites online dedicated to paying you for doing specific chores online.

• Fiverr.com – You decide what you’re willing to do for five bucks ($4.00 after Fiverr fees) and you get paid after you have done the job. Some of these jobs are incredibly easy to do or learn. There are plenty of Fiverr YouTube videos to help you get started.
• iWriter.com – This site pays you to write articles. It takes about 15 or so articles to earn about $20.00. It may take you 5 or more hours to generate your first $20.00, but it’s not a loan, it’s money you can spend on your first guide.
• Mturk.com – Mechanical Turk is a site run by Amazon.com. You will need to visit that site to really understand how it works, but people pay for all sorts of things that they need done. Some of these jobs are stupidly simple like clicking on a Facebook Like button for .05 cents. But if it’s something you can do and watch TV at the same time, it’s a far better idea of how to pay for that $9.00 guide, than using your credit card.

No Excuses – Work & Get Paid

There are so many people who become insanely upset and frustrated because of not earning a dime from all of their hard work and time put into trying to make money online. However, you can be a total newb, without any skills on creating a website, blog, or product, and visit any of those 3 websites I mentioned above and start making money.

Yes, it’s work. But the pay is almost 100% guaranteed. You simply cannot fail if you do the work you promise to do. I think anyone can click on a few LIKE buttons, write 20 blog comments, or watch a free video and learn how to do a simple chore that someone needs done on Fiverr.

Think of it this way. You could spend 10 hours learning how to set up a WordPress blog to make money in Adsense. Or you could spend 10 hours in Fiverr doing a variety of Gig’s that generate a few hundred dollars. 100% ROI on your time. Learning has a 0% ROI on your time.

Read Part 1

How to Be Successful Online – Part 1

First, let’s be sure to understand that our focus is not on our failures. We can learn from failure, but we do not want to focus on it. We can learn from our successes and it is these things we want to focus our attention on.

Today’s post is about being SPECIFIC in your game plan. Setting goals, avoiding distraction, etc…

Pay Attention to the Addiction to Learning

One of the most difficult things to overcome in this business is the addiction to learning. Learning new things in general can be very exciting. Learning new ways to make money seems to be the key to unlocking those endorphins in our bodies. Like those extreme sportsmen who climb cliffs without a rope seeking the ultimate rush released by the constant reminder of sudden death should they lose focus, we who surf the net feel that rush when we learn of a new way to make money.

Perhaps sometimes it’s simply having that “AHA!” moment when all the pieces flow together and our own creative juices start to flow. Whatever the cases, this is a very dangerous addiction to have. The way to avoid allowing this addiction to grow or the way to overcoming it, is to set specific goals for our online activities.

What Type of Goals Should We Be Setting?

If there is one thing I have procrastinated about it has to be taking the time to set up my daily goals. However, daily goals have saved me from going down that rabbit hole of new thoughts, new ideas, and hours of wasted time pursuing things that cannot help me now.

When setting up goals, it’s a good idea to create long term goals as well as short-term daily goals. Get started making money with the 100% ROI, then work on building up your skills and knowledge.

How will you divide up your time?

50% action – 50% learning? One man in the Affilorama forum said he tamed his learning addiction and now his focus is divided into 90% action and 10% learning.

I believe the day I read that was the day I decided that was the perfect ration for me as well. However, I have been online for over 10 years learning, first making money designing websites and SEO. When you are first starting out, your learning curve is high, you may need to divide your time into 50% learning and 50% action.

Emails, Social Activity and Other Distractions

Decide how much time you will spend reading your email. Email is perhaps one of the most difficult things for me as I have to read it in the morning to be sure that I take care of my clients or other urgent requests that I should get to before working.

To avoid getting distracted by email I have folders set up in a variety of categories. Email from clients are read before I work. Any email that is promoting an offer, I move them to my “Promotions” folder. I do not allow myself to read it until the end of my work day. Out of sight, out of mind. Sometimes I never read them but so far the earth has not shattered into space so I’m OK with it.

Social activity is something I really do very little of online. I have two Facebook accounts. One is for business, the other is for family and friends. With my business, it’s easy. The only thing I do with my business FB page is share my blog posts and Newsletter posts with them. It requires a click of a button to do this.

With my friends and family account, I only go there to announce something special like, “Hey guys, I bought a new house, check it out” or “Yo, come to our BBQ sat, bring food and beers”.
Other than that, I have not time for social activity online.

Fun stuff? Well, this is something only allowed on my days off or at the end of my work day online. And since I really don’t like to be on my PC any longer than when I’m working, I guess I don’t do a lot of fun stuff online.

Part 2 – Where to Focus Your Time

Why have 62 Universities gone Google? What about the 4 million companies using Google Apps for business? Why is it that more businesses are joining every day at the rate of 5,000 per day?

Going Ape Over Google Apps

This is some of the recent Google highlights reported by an official Google Apps Marketing Manager, Jeremy Milo.  Let’s consider some of these apps that some have gone Ape… er… Google over.

Introducing the Power of Google Chrome

You can take your SmartPhones, Laptops, and iPads with you, but you can’t always connect to the Internet.  This may be a little bit frustrating at times, but Google Chrome offers a solution.

Working Offline – There’s an App for that!

With Google Chrome you can continue to work offline in Gmail, Calendar and Docs. The thing about Google is the way they integrate everything that is “Google”, making it easy to go from one thing to another.

More Apps to Go Ape Over

So, you log into your Gmail, and you are logged into Blogger too. Plus, there are tons of other apps you can work with using the same account.

• YouTube – You should be uploading and sharing videos on your site using YT
• AdSense – One of the more simple ways to make money online with niche blogs.
• AdWords – Good to have and login to when using G Keywords tool.
• Analytics – A must for tracking the who, what, when, how, and where from your site.
• Blogger – A great social network for aiding in building a powerful blog network.
• Webmaster Tools – Get the SEO tools and advice you need directly from Google.
• Blog Search – Ah yes, this is a great way to discover other blogs that share your niche. Find blogs you can comment on as well as submit guest posts to.

And there’s plenty more.  If you have yet to experience the Google apps listed above, it’s time for you to check them out. These things along with other social apps like Facebook and Twitter are a vital part of driving traffic to your site as well as part of your SEO circle of success.

Let’s see what the fuss is all about for the new Gmail is bragging about. They’ve redesigned it to be as “clean, simple and intuitive as possible.” What do you think?

Here’s the Scoop on the GOOGLE APPS Thingy’s

There are many ways to drive traffic to your blogs. Google’s search engine is just one way. Facebook, Twitter, and social blogs like Blogger are part of the big picture.

I have yet to use Google Chrome. It’s my next task on my list of things to do this coming week.

How about you? Do you use Google Chrome? What do you like about it?

Tracking is always a MUST DO chore for webmasters. Google offers a great tracking through Google Analytics. And if you have a WordPress blog you can use a plugin for that.

There’s a Plugin for That!

Seems like when it comes to adding all sorts of great things to WordPress there’s always a plugin for it. I wonder why that catch phrase didn’t ever get attached to WordPress? Ah well, it’s ok, let’s steal it and use it anyway.

How to Add Google Analytics to WordPress Video

The following video will show you step by step how to add Google Analytics to your blog.

Google Tempers it’s Shield Buying Motorola Anti-Competitor Resistance

As Google slaps down an easy 12.5 billion dollars to acquire Motorola Mobility (including 24,000 Motorola patents) other companies that ship Android devices are pacing the floors.

Will this savvy move will  Google an earlier access to the Android source code?

Google seems to have a closer connection to it’s competitors as they are saying that they are totally confident that this equitation won’t hurt a bit. The reason for this confidence is based on Motorola maintaining control over it’s company decisions.

How do you spell, Nepotism?

The question remains – Will this protect Android from the evils of the anti-competitor threats from Apple, Microsoft, and other companies who just don’t happen to be important enough for us to mention?