Well, I’m sorry I haven’t sent out an email this last week or two, but I’ve been really busy breaking one of my golden rules.
Which one?
I’ll get to it in a moment.
I think I’ve said before in one of my earlier emails that Mike Filsaime is one of my mentors. I finally met him last September (and again in October), and I signed up to his mentoring program.
It’s greatly accelerated my learning, and that’s what I paid for.
Plus, Mike is a nice guy and I have a lot of time for him.
If you take the time to go meet him at one of the many public venues he attends and ask him a direct question, he *always* gives you a direct answer. He works on a policy of total disclosure.
That’s why I like him, there’s no edge.
He’s a marketer and he sometimes goes into sales mode, but that’s what he does – that’s how he earns his living.
So what’s the golden rule I’ve been breaking?
It takes a little explaining, but it can be summed up as "work on one project at a time with laser sharp focus".
This is one of Mike’s concepts for earning money online.
I might be generalising here, but I believe we all tend to jump from one thing to another and never focus on just the one subject. We do that because we don’t want to miss out on anything.
(I’ve missed out on a few good things by not taking action there and then, and I guess you have too.)
But we can also sometimes be guilty of taking too many little actions with no direction, or at least they may all have the same general direction, but they’re not taking us the most direct route.
So this is the concept behind this golden rule, and why and how it works.
You must only work on ONE project at a time, and with laser sharp focus. Get the project complete, get the product out there, and start earning income from it.
THEN concentrate on the next one.
30 days per project is all it should take if you’re completely focused, sometimes shorter, sometimes longer. If you’re starting out, then 30 days is all you really want to spend on a project.
And as you build and launch each one, your income increases month on month. Some will flop, some will be successful, and over time you can’t lose…
So how many do I have on the go at the moment? Umpteen. I’ve broken the rule with the best intentions of course.
And when you break the rule it spreads you very thinly because you’re spinning lots of plates, and running from one to the other.
Think of it like this. If you have a 30 day project, it takes 30 days to complete, give or take. (D’uh!)
And you can start earning money from it.
If you have another 30 day project straight after it, then that’s 60 days, and you have two products out there earning you money.
But…
If you try to do both 30 day projects at the same time, then you get this strange effect where each project now takes 45 days because you’re not completely focused on either one, making a total of 90 days to complete both of them.
But where it really all starts to go wrong is when you have another "great idea" and start working on that too. Now the 45 days turns into 60 days per project, and then guess what?
You have *another* "great idea" and nothing ever gets finished, and projects eventually get dropped to be replaced by "better" ideas.
It’s happened to me, and to a lesser extent it’s happening now. I’ve been side tracked by several projects which has slowed me down and made me very busy.
One of my projects I wanted to launch tomorrow, but that’s not going to happen now. My aim is to get it ready for Tuesday, and I should know if I can achieve that by tonight. I may have to push it back another few days.
So more news on that as it happens.
So I want to know, here’s my question to you – is that what’s happening (or has happened) to you too?
You can reply to this by leaving a comment here on the blog.
It’s worth noting that I’ve turned off the nofollow tag on all my blogs. So that means that when you post and enter your URL, it counts as a back link to your site by the search engines.
I thought you’d like that.
Now further up I mentioned that I was on Mike Filsaime’s mentoring program. It costs me $500.00 a month.
For that money, I get pretty much every item of software he’s ever released for free, plus most of his services too.
More importantly, three times a month (each Wednesday), I get to dial in and hear brand spanking new material which is sometimes with industry experts, and sometimes Mike does a brain dump on a topic he knows well.
And once a month is a call in day where I can chat with Mike or his CEO Tom Beal, or one of the other mentors (Donna Fox and Paulie Sabol) or all of them if I feel like it.
If you consider that each of these Wednesday call ins costs me $125.00 a week, how would you feel if you could get access to some of this content for a much lower price?
Well…
I can’t give you the direct content I get to hear and see as it’s copyrighted material and I just wouldn’t ever do that kind of thing.
But…
What I have for you is just as good.
It’s a VERY recent interview of Mike Filsaime talking to Simon Hodgkinson and Jeremy Gislason.
In it, Mike covers the same kind of material he does on the Wednesday call ins I pay $125.00 a week for.
It’s GREAT content. Mike is an animated speaker, and when you hear him you’ll realise just why I’m happy to pay what I do.
How much? $12.00 until the 3rd July then the price is going up.
For your money, you get an MP3 plus a written transcript of the call in PDF format if that’s how you prefer to learn.
Go get it from here:-
http://www.frankhaywood.com/recommends/mmsmf
You’ll enjoy it.
Hi Frank,
Wow, what a great insight, thanks for the tips.
I spent 4 months on my first project, but it was
really rewarding. But now that I know the time-frame,
I think I will adjust my workflow accordingly.
I have been expending way too much energy, I believe.
Thanks for the tips and tricks, keep em coming!
Best Wishes,
Jeff Davis Award Winning Copywriter
Yep. This happens to me all the time. It is indeed hard to keep focus with things changing all the time online. And, with all the great offers coming up and into my inbox, it spouts even more creativity in my brain!
I am trying to focus more on one-at-a-time projects and less on multi-tasking. But, as an Internet Marketer this seems to be a losing battle at times.
Great post, very inspirational though 🙂
Tracy
Hi your blog on doing 1 project without finishing another one, really hit a note with me ,,,,, IS EXACTLY WHAT I’M DOING RIGHT NOW,… I’m still learning about all this suction an online marketing stuff, it’s a bit of information overload at the moment but I think I’m getting there SLOWLY, A bit too slowly for my liking, but it’s exactly like me , I’m starting one without finishing the last, kind of gettin bogged down, but it my own fault, I need to focus, on JUST THE ONE, perhaps if I write it down somewhere, mite help me, But the thing is there is JUST SOOOOO MUCH to think about.
Anyway thanks for email I’ll take it in try an focus.
Frank,
Jumping from project to project is what I have done for the past couple of years. I agree with your comment about keeping focus on the project at hand. That is what I am doing now.
I may maintain a few projects but I try to fully implement now before I move onto the next. I’m glad to know that I am in good company. 😀
Greg
http://www.marketingsoftwaretools.com
Hi Frank
Thanks for the information your shared, I am often working on ten different things at once, and end up with nothing finished, so I will definately try out this technique and hopefully get everything done!
Just off to buy the report because at that price its simply too good to pass up!
Thanks again Sally 🙂
That is completely my problem. Not only does it cost time, but it cost money. I have spent so much time and money on stuff and have not succeeded in anything that I am overly frustrated. But it’s simply because I have not focused. Working a full-time job, and with 2 kids under the age of 3, plus a wife & all of the house chores – I have very little time to do anything. I don’t see how people do it. I wish I did. I wish I could figure it out because I feel like I am so far from my potential. I just haven’t found that niche – that thing that excites me to no end. And now – now I have no money – probably have to file bankruptcy, which really makes it difficult. Anyway, thanks for the advice. Just wish I heard it this time last year and took it to heart.
Jamen
P.S. For any ideas/suggestions, feel free to e-mail me at (email address removed to stop those spam harvesters, but I have it).
Frank, I think you have just nailed the number one reason why we newbies find it so hard to start generating cash flow. Because we’re not sure about what we need to do — and because most solid systems take a while to put into place before they start generating income — it’s easy to become an info-junkie vs an infopreneur, with the flow going out and not much coming back.
It sure took me a while to realize that my actions are directly related to my results — and that there ARE terrific plans to follow that will get me to where I want to be. The roadmaps are there. But I can’t just keep buying maps and not putting gas in the car and driving it to one of the destinations, and expect to be in another city by nightfall — that is just plain unrealistic thinking. And so is a lot of the way we think about our business.
In fact it took me around five years (I am embarrassed to admit) to get the discipline it takes to sit my behind in the chair and complete ONE project, before getting distracted by all the other things I want to do in addition to that one.
That rule you talk about is so easy to break — and it’s the most important one NOT to!!!
Thanks immensely for reminding me about it once more — I really needed to hear this (while I am sitting here plotting out how to keep my 27 other projects alive that I just KNOW are going to make me money — but not until I finish something.)
New mantra: finish the project and allow NO distractions until it’s complete. Earn money from it. THEN move on to the next project. . .
Nancy
Hi Frank
well said, I had the pleasure of listening to Mike at the World Internet Summit in London last summer where he said exactly the same thing about focusing on one project at a time
Newbies out there take it from me, I cannot help but jump from one opportunity to another without completing the last one, until now that is now the money is running out fast to support it.
What I ended up with was about a dozen ideas making no money.
So what I did was unsubscribed from all but 3 of my favorite Internet Marketers, yes Frank was one of them who survived and picked one of the projects to work on which I’ll stick with it until its making money on autopilot (well almost).
This has resulted in my first £315 income in the last 10 days, not a fortune but when you have spent a few thousand with very little coming back over the space of 13 months, it is a start.
Graham Burt
Scotland
There is never enough hours in a day no matter how much I try to get things broken down into smaller tasks to complete. That said I’ve gotten my turn around time down to 45 day from 65 or so. Getting there.
Does it ever get easier? LOL
Guys and gals, I know, I know.
To mix metaphors, imagine the slap in the face for me when I realised I’d been chasing my tail.
I know this sounds like a hard sell, but you need to go buy the interview and transcript, and take some time out to read it (my preferred method), or listen to the MP3.
Several times…
It’s great stuff, and is why I chose Mike as my mentor.
Jamen, I know this sounds trite, but don’t let bankruptcy happen to you. I’ll email you soon about this.
And Nancy, I have a little smile on my face as I write this, but you used the N word.
😉
Mike has a few things to say about that, and I’m sorry to say he’s right, and even sorrier that I’ve also labelled myself with that same N word in the past, but not any more.
Graham, that is brilliant! And I AM NOT being condescending, I wouldn’t say no to £315 (approx. $630) in 10 days.
“Breaking the seal” on an income stream is the hardest thing to do. And seeing that money come in for something you’ve done is a lovely feeling, not just for the money, but for the big hug you get off your loved ones when you say “look what I did”.
🙂
And building others means a trickle more money coming in here and there.
I’ve spent effort, put stuff “out there” and made 1 sale in 6 months. In fact one site that I’d completely forgotten about did a sale the other day for $7, which almost pays the domain registration fee for another year.
It’s in way too competitive a market, but you live and learn.
The trick *really is* finding something in demand that you can (relatively) easily take a slice of.
Easier said than done.
Although there’s a tool that’s arrived recently that makes that job much easier.
I’ve never been very impressed with any of these keyword tools that are service based with a monthly fee. But I have one now that knocks the spots off anything I’ve seen, and I’ve been using it to research some new niches.
You can buy it outright too, so no monthly fee.
http://www.frankhaywood.com/recommends/ni
That’s a big thumbs up in my book.
Lissa that’s a good point, 30 days is subjective, and it depends on what it is you’re doing as to how long a project should take. The point is, pick a timescale you think you can cope with and stick to it.
It probably does get easier, and when I get to that stage I’ll let you know.
😉
But missing from this (and you’ll get this in the interview) is what LEVERAGE can do to your business. A 30 day project is easily achievable if you can get other people to do all the donkey work while you concentrate on the marketing and sales.
But I believe you do need to do it yourself a few times first so you can put together a plan of action for future projects.
Jamen
First of all, I empathise with your situation.
It’s hard accomplishing most things when you have a family, but even more so when you are trying to break into something new. Especially when it’s Internet Marketing.
You want to give your family a better life but it seems to be taking a lot of time and effort to achieve it.
Why do I empathise? Because as a mother of three children, I am the wife of an Internet Marketer. I don’t know whether we started this backwards but for reasons that I won’t go into, my husband ended up going self employed without the security of a full time job behind him!
I had to work for a short time to allow my husband to ‘move forward’ on the internet business and at times it has been nothing short of stressful.
My family wonder why he doesn’t get a ‘real job’, friends and people that ask what he does look at me blankly when I say he’s an Internet Marketer and to be honest I can’t even be bothered to explain as their eyes glaze over even more.
I have had enough self doubt because of it to share out with a few families not just my own!
Have I told him to stop it. NO. Why . . simply because I believe in him. It’s taken a while but slowly it’s building up. Not enough to make me whoop with joy and retire, but it’s putting food on the table.
Through Internet Marketing he has made friends, been able to network and thus share ideas and problems with others. This is why Frank’s email made me sit up and take notice. It sounds like my husband and hence why I read it. (I try to take an interest even though I don’t understand most of it!).
I realised some time ago that one of my husband’s main distractions was me. Once I realised what he was trying to do for us I backed off. Our house needs repairs and decorating, but it will have to wait.
I decided that the children were the most important. Making sure they are happy, leaves me happy and in the right frame of mind to support my husband. I am no Stepford wife either.
Plus I love the quote from the film Galaxy Quest – “Never Give Up, Never Surrender”.
In a very long winded way what I am trying to say is this. While I can’t comment directly on your situation and how to help with the bankruptcy side, something my husband continually tells me is this.
Even though we have been almost at the point of having to sell our house we are lucky! It’s a case of prioritising and removing the unneccessary stress we cause ourselves.
Our children are healthy, at least we have a house to sell should we need to (a bit drastic but it has to be said) and both parents are on call for the children. He has taken on a part time job to supplement our income for the time being which has helped and we both try to be positive.
Also it’s hard to cut through some of the bull that flies around with Internet Marketing so it’s finding the right people to listen to without spending a fortune (which we have like others on this posting!). So coming to blogs like this one can be really helpful.
I sincerely wish you all the best and remember “Never Give Up, Never Surrender”. 🙂
Hi Frank,
You are right, This has been happening to me, It’s interesting how your ideas flows in your brain and you start loosing your focus in the project you are working on.
I realize now the importance of focusing in one project.
Thank you!
Frank,
I have been and am doing that. Doing about a thousand things at once and getting absolutely none of them done.
I have been unloading news letters like crazy and not even taking on any new freebie downloads. Clearing my plate so I can do just what you are so kind to remind us all about.
Thanks for the reminder.
Justin
Hi Frank
Your piece really confirmed to me what the main trouble is for me with internet marketing – jumping from one idea to another, one project to another and getting nowhere fast. I have accumulated so many emails coming in now that I seem to spend most of my time just reading and/or deleting. I have to unsubscribe from some or drown in them! Thanks for focusing me on the problem again.
First let me thank you for an outstanding product in smartdd, this has helped me greatly in being able to accomplish more with less time spent.
I also have a tendency to attempt to tackle many projects at once and have found it slowing all of them down and detracting from the final quality of each one. It is posts like this that help me to step back and refocus on what priority projects are.
Working full time as well as internet projects. Time is a important factor.
Focus is a must to make the most of that time.
But, like most people yes there are hundreds directions to go with
new ones everyday.
You are on the mark with your advice “Focus and Time Frame Projects”
Hiya, couldn’t agree more – as a newbie a couple of months ago I was signing up for everyhting that came my way – now it takes me over an hour to sort through my bloody inbox!! – I’m gonna unsubscribe!! – it does show you though how many people are using the same emails as each other and how transparent some of that crap is.
I’m diagonally parked in a parallel universe – I think!!
cheers
Stu
So true… unfortunately. I’ve been working on getting a site ready for an embarrassingly long time partly because I get side-tracked by other online and offline projects such as my other sites, my other products in development, my other sales channels, not to mention my home life which includes raising 5 kids.
Another problem I’m facing is perfectionism or something like it. I have heard the horror stories of launches gone wrong so I’m determined to get everything just right. I don’t want to put affiliates through awkward mishaps, and as a result I’ve been painstakingly attending to details with my programmer and pouring over a script while dealing with my own technical learning curve.
It sort of feels like remodeling a house. It always takes longer than you think it will and cost at least twice as much.
I know what I have to do. I just need to *focus* and do it.
Thanks for your words of wisdom,
Thalia
Hi Frank,
I know that rule: Focus on 1 project at a time till it’s done…
[Beep! You got mail! Hmm… Let’s see what’s this in my inbox… Hey, it’s an email from Frank. What’s this about the valuable things he has learned…]
Now, that’s a good rule. But you know what? It’s easier said than done. I mean, there are so many distractions in…
[Ding dong! Who’s at the door at this hour? I better go see…]
…our life it isn’t easy to focus on a project. But, with determin…
[Rrring… Hello? Yeah, yeah, yada yada…]
..ation and constant reminder, I’m sure we can do it.
You can always start small. Like, I’ve decided to focus on finishing this comment and I did it. That’s an accomplishment, I must say.
Now, who says you can’t focus on 1 project at a time? 😉
With tongue in cheek,
KokPang
I can agree that I have bit off more than I can chew. I am the same way
when it comes to finishing unfinished projects.
I have a hard time doing one project, only to start another and
not finishing it, then another and not finishing it, and on and on. I have a hard time
keeping focus on just one project at a time and sticking to it until it
is finished before starting another.
To me, I have to think about what is all involved in running a website,
such as autoresponders, mailing lists, seo/keyword optimization, linking and so on and
so forth. I feel that I have to get everything in place for each site just right
before I can start on any other project at all. My problem is that I want to
make sure all parts are working right on all of the mini sites at once, or all at
the same time before
proceeding to the next project. (It also helps to have someone on the other end
to test out my work to make sure all is working right…paypal & etc).
The same goes for my main website, at present. I have been working at it for almost
a year, and it still isn’t finished all the way. (Which is why I just recently
placed an ‘under construction’ sign on it). I hate the fact that I tend to be one
who procrastinates and puts off unfinished business. What I got to keep thinking
and realize is…’the sooner I get this done, the sooner I can start making money…
which means the sooner I start making money, the sooner I can begin increasing my
money streams…and the sooner I can create more money streams, the sooner I don’t
have to work for somebody else’. To that, I say ‘Yeahhhh!’
To end, I can give credit to the one who got me inspired and interested in information
products in the first place, Jim Daniels. (Bizweb2000.com, make-a-living-online
.com) I have learned alot since from many online infoprenuers (and have more than enough emails
from them to last a life time–have to start paring back on that soon).
Anyways, this is from my perspective.
Thanks much
David
Hey Frank:
I totally agree with you and many others that have responded to this post. Most newbies are so overwhelmed with every new product that comes out, and with every ‘Guru’ or ‘Expert’ telling them to do this, no do that, that they end up, using your words, “chasing their tail”.
I too, did this when I first started with Internet Marketing.
And I too, spent a fortune trying to find the answer.
And I too, had many long, long nights doing research into this Internet thing.
And, I too, am a strong follower of Mike Filsaime.
I would also recommend that everyone at least look at what Frank is offering you with regards to interviews with Mike Filsaime. I have listened to this recordings several times and I get something new out of them each time I listen.
My best advice, like Frank’s, is to find a mentor that works in the same fashion that you would like to, and that gives of themselves without digging into your pocket every day or every week. Once you find that mentor, or possibly two mentors, tops, unsubscribe from everyone else and follow the mentor you have chosen.
There will always be a difference of opinion between people, in anything in life. Save yourself from questioning each and every decision you make, simply because one Guru says this and another Guru says that, and follow your leader.
I like to follow Mike Filsaime and Michael Cheney, but you may find other mentors that you want to follow. The idea is to find a mentor and listen to what they say. After all, they’re the ones with the bank account, they can surely help you on your way.
Above all else, you MUST TAKE ACTION!
No mentor can help you if you aren’t willing to help yourself.
If you haven’t already, please check out http://thenewbiecentre.com for more newbie insights.
Good health and much prosperity to everyone.