You’ve probably heard of the phrase…
“If you keep doing what you’ve always been doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always been getting”
Running your own business can be tough so at the end of every year take time to reflect on your successes and failures so you can take your business to a higher level the following year.
Here are 12 simple productivity tips I learned this past year:
1. Maintain a birds-eye view of your business
When you get down in the trenches (ie coding, creating products, etc) you often lose site of the big picture of your business. Take time each week to look at your business from an objective viewpoint.
One way to do this share your views with a friend or a loved one (I usually discuss with my wife). Another method is to take a break from your computer for a couple of days. I usually go skiing in the winter and hiking or swimming during the summer. The break frees up my creative mind.
2. Create specific goals and objectives
Unless you create a road map for success you’ll lose site of your destination. Keep your goals and objectives close by (ie taped to your office wall) so you can refer to them each day to help you stay on track to accomplishing them. If they are out of sight you’ll easily forget about them (ie out of sight out of mind).
3. Use the most creative time of your day to get the most done
Each person differs when their most creative time is. The most productive time of the day for me is the first few hours in the morning. This is when I create new content. Alternatively use this time to tackle the most difficult task first (ie writing up a client’s contract) otherwise you’ll keep putting it off until later and will never get done.
4. Create a content calendar each month
If you don’t want to stare at a blank screen every time you sit down to create new content then create a content calendar. It will relieve the stress of coming up with new topics and keep you organized.
One of the best online tools I use for this is Trello.com. I use it for creating and organizing new topics for my blog and YouTube channel.
5. Work in specific blocks of time
Instead of being overwhelmed by a large project that needs to be completed, break it up into specific time blocks (ie 30 minute blocks). You’ve probably heard the phrase…
“How do you eat an elephant?”
Answer: “One bite at a time.”
To increase your productivity, take a break after each time block (ie walk around the house, have a conversation, stretch for 3 minutes). Every day take a couple of hours away from your computer to relax, free your mind and stay healthy. I usually go for a jog, bike or swim depending on the season.
6. Build a list of responsive subscribers
Building a list of subscribers is one of the greatest assets you can do for your business. It enables you to build long term relationships with the people on your list plus it generates repeat income by recommending new products (ie your own as well as affiliate products).
Having a lot of people on your list is useless if they don’t respond to your emails. Send personality-drive emails once or twice a week to keep them engaged. Once a year clean your list by removing the people that never open or respond to your emails.
7. Create a marketing funnel
This is the system where you are constantly generating sales and/or leads for your business. Continue to test and tweak your funnel to maximize the results.
The main components you should have in place include:
- Traffic generation
(ie Social Marketing, YouTube marketing, Facebook advertising) - Opt-in squeeze page
- Free report
- Autoresponder email follow-up series
- Sales page (ie promote your product or service)
- Product (ie ebook, video series, membership site, etc)
8. Create 3 reliable traffic sources (to feed your funnel)
Traffic is the lifeblood of your business. Without it your business won’t survive. Avoid the mistake of only relying on one traffic source (ie search engine optimization).
For example for many years I practiced SEO to gain top rankings in the search engines for my website. This enabled me to constantly get new leads for my web design business. When Google changed their algorithim (ie Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird updates), I suddenly lost all my rankings resulting in lost leads and sales.
My current 3 main sources for generating consistent traffic include:
- YouTube Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Facebook Advertising (Facebook Ads)
9. Research the market before creating your product
Don’t make the mistake of falling in love with your idea or product only to discover it’s not profitable. You can easily waste weeks and months developing and promoting your product only to discover there’s no demand for it.
The more you research and test your idea before creating your product the greater the potential of it being a success.
Example
Find an affiliate product that closely resembles the product you wish to create then run a Facebook Ads, or Google Ads campaign to test the market. If you generate affiliate sales from your test campaign you’ll know your product will be a winner.
10. Speed of implementation
If you spend months creating and marketing your product but don’t generate any sales you’ll easily lose inspiration and conclude internet marketing is a waste of time and money.
Many online marketers succumb to “paralysis of analysis.” This means they spend weeks and months trying to perfect their product before releasing it to the public. The result is that it never gets done. The initial inspiration and excitement gradually disappears and so does your motivation.
The speed at which you implement the process of product creation and promotion will determine its success or failure.
11. Test and tweak
Without continuously analyzing and testing what works you will have no idea what caused your product to succeed or fail. Make sure you monitor your traffic statistics (via Google Analytics, YouTube Analytics or Web hosting panel) to see how many visitors you’re receiving, where they are coming from and what keywords people are entering in the search engines to find your website.
Continuously work on improving your marketing funnel by testing different headlines, sales copy, email follow-up messages, graphics, etc.
At the end of each year evaluate what strategies and products were the most successful and which areas need improvement.
12. Avoid “shiny object” syndrome
Every day new opportunities present themselves to you in your email inbox (ie new training course, software or strategies to get things done). It puts you in a confused state of mind deciding if you should take it or not.
When such a situation presents itself just say “NO” otherwise you’ll lose focus and distract you from your most important activities (building and marketing your business).
The only time to say “YES” is when the new opportunity can be immediately applied to your business.
If you follow these 12 steps you’ll avoid the pitfalls most online business owners suffer from and increase your potential for profitability and success.
And now I’d like to invite you to subscribe to my free e-course 21 Ways To Promote Your Blog Post
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