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Increasing Productivity In Your Online Business
Copyright (c) 2006-2012 Willie Crawford
Running an online "empire" of approximately 1600 websites and blogs, selling a variety of products, services and ideas, I have to be much more productive than the average person in a "regular job."
During a typical week, tasks I personally perform include:
Writing several ezine articles, and publishing 3-5 issues (each) of 2 different newsletters
Writing or revising web copy for my own products, and reviewing or writing web copy for clients
Consulting by phone, email, or in person with any of 2 dozen clients
Conducting teleseminars and brainstorming or mastermind sessions
Doing project to fund and/or produce my own television cooking show
Working on my next print book or ebook
Speaking at seminars or writing/polishing my presentation for the next scheduled seminar
Doing things with my family and friends, and fitting in exercise and recreation
Reading/reviewing any of several ebooks, books, or software packages produced by clients, potential JV partners, or mentors.
Monitoring advertising and promotional campaigns, as well as doing media interviews, and measuring their effectiveness. Ok, so I'm admittedly a bit of a workaholic :-)
With such a busy schedule, I have to utilize a lot of tools and techniques to maintain my productivity. Here are a few of the ways I manage to get it all done, and still have time for relaxing (perhaps you can adopt some of these):
Stop procrastinating. Jobs that you dread doing often are nowhere near as difficult as you imagined that they would be. Develop the habit of tackling the most challenging tasks first and you'll likely get a lot done. I developed the habit of doing this while working as a door-to-door salesman while in college, and later as a soldier. In both jobs, success often came from doing things that you didn't necessarily want to do.
As a soldier, and aircrew member, I also learned to compartmentalize. When you compartmentalize, you block out everything except for the task at hand. Flying at 600 miles per hour, at tree top level, you really couldn't afford to be thinking about the fight you had with one of your teens that morning! Online, if you can compartmentalize, you won't worry about what you might be missing on one of the discussion forums while you spend 3 hours revising a manuscript or website.
Give yourself firm deadlines, just as you would have if you were working for someone else. Pretend that you have a boss that's constantly looking over your shoulder.
Tell someone else those deadlines if you need the accountability. Setting and meeting deadlines is very satisfying. Work expands to fit the time available, so without written deadlines, you'll likely take much longer to do even simple tasks.
Schedule things based upon your personal body clock. Schedule things requiring greater focus or creativity for times when you're at your peak. Schedule things like answering email and returning phone calls for when you're typically less productive.
Value your time and let others see that you value it. This will cause them to spend less time trying to waste your time on small talk. There is a time for small talk, but it's not when you need to finish an urgent project within the next hour or two!
Do the things that you do best and outsource the rest. As an example, I discovered a long time ago that creating graphics, and writing programs, are not two of my strong points. So I hire these two tasks out.
You should even hire out things that you are good at if you have something more pressing that needs doing. I consider myself a "fairly decent" copywriter, yet I often have other copywriters write webpages for me.
Have a designated place to work if you work from home. I often grab my laptop and go work in a favorite spot by the ocean - that's where I'm extremely creative.
Pick one or two pressing tasks (preferably ONE) and do that task before allowing yourself to work on anything else that day. You'll get the satisfaction of crossing that task off of your "to do list." You'll also get the satisfaction of seeing that project start to produce results... or income.
See one project through to completion before starting the next. Having a dozen projects half completed produces no more income than not having started them since you can't generally sell something until it's ready for market.
Maintain a to do list. This list allows you to get things down on paper, and off of your mind, as you focus on one task at a time. You don't worry about forgetting something that you need to do. There is also a certain sense of accomplishment when you cross something off of that list!
Use software, computers, and faxes to automate some tasks. Autoresponders are great for following up with customers for example. I use the system at http://ProfitAutomation.com because it is an all-in-one integrated database. I recommend that you check it out, and grab the free 30-day test drive.
Utilize travel, exercise, and dead time. All of the super successful people that I know keep audiotapes, CDs, DVDs, and manuals from courses, seminars, training sessions, and teleseminars in their cars and briefcases. Time spent driving, sitting around waiting rooms, or even going for a brisk walk, does double duty.
I personally workout with an MP3 player (on an arm band). Since I'm admittedly a workaholic, I don't feel guilty taking a hour or two off to exercise. I continue to "work" as I exercise. The MP3 also distracts me enough so that I don't notice the pain from the exercise :-)
Handle each email, or piece of paper, only once. When you first open it, act upon it, pencil it onto your to do list, delegate it to someone else, or trash it. That way you only have to read, and analyze, that piece of correspondence ONCE. Be very rigorous on this one, as it's a tremendous time waster for many online business people.
Delegate. Even though you may be able to do a task better, acknowledge when others can be trusted to do a satisfactory job, and allow them to do it. Focus on doing what is the highest and best use of your time.
My last few years in the U.S. Air Force were spent testing computer software and hardware. The joke was that you had to know when it was "good enough for government work." Contractors built items and created software to specifications. If an item did what it was suppose to do (according to the specification documents), but wasn't perfect, you had to know when it was good enough.
When you start delegating you have to learn to recognize when a job is done "good enough." Even when you are doing a task yourself, you have to know when it's "good enough." Otherwise, you will NEVER finish it. One of my mentors use to constantly say, "Focus on completion - rather than perfection!"
Learn to say "NO!" Most of us are constantly approached with requests for help, and with joint venture offers. We have more requests for our time, and other resources, than we can fulfill. It's critical that you learn to recognize when "your plate is already full" and then how to politely say "NO."
I've just given you a handful of tips, that if applied, will allow you to accomplish more than you probably ever imagined.
I do want to recommend that you get and read (several time) a copy of the best time management book that I have ever read. The book is by Dan Kennedy, and is called "No B.S. Time Management For Entrepreneurs - The Ultimate No Holds Barred Kick Butt Take No Prisoners Guide To Time Productivity and Sanity." You can get the book online at Amazon.com or Barnesand Noble.com. Reading it's a great investment of your time... provided you apply what it teaches.
I also recommend that you grab a free 3-month subscription to Dan's No B.S. Marketing newsletter. This is a newsletter that is mailed to you each month (along with a companion CD). This newsletter will continue teaching you how to get more out of your marketing efforts. Grab a free 3-month subscription now at: http://www.dk3monthspecial.com/best_offer
Read through this article several times, and then begin applying what I shared. Also, pass the article along to some "frazzled" friends. They will appreciate it and have more time to be friends :-)
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Willie Crawford is a corporate president, executive television co-producer and star, published author, seminar speaker and host, tele-seminar trainer, retired military officer, karate black belt, network marketing trainer, and lifetime student of marketing. Subscribe to his free 9-year-old Internet marketing ezine today at: http://WillieCrawford.com/ezine.html
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