… thinking what the heck does make this business so hard? I mean actually it’s not that hard, it’s just hard to stick to it. I started to doubt my decision of giving up on my students and doing this full-time. Depending on the Internet to make my money. Wow. How could I ever do that? Well, I remember that I had the same thoughts when I started out with my private lessons agencies. So business in the beginning always seems to be spiced with doubts. The problem is just to get back on track. Here are some of my experiences how you can get if you sometimes wake up and think this yourself:
Since a week the creative fair is over. Mum and I prepared so long to go there – find new contacts and do some work online – it turned out well although in amount of money we made less than expected. But one great thing we found though – a book shop which is willing to sell our DVDs (german site) 
If that turns out well – it’s all we could ask for.
But since we are back we made the mistake not to recover (the fair was super exhausting) but jump back to work the day after it. And that was just frustrating because we both didn’t really now how to go on now. I thought I need a day or two to get back on track but it actually took me the whole week to figure why this was so damn hard.
I think we focused solely on the fair for some months and on the creation of products for it. It’s not that I regret – we still sell the DVDs on the new site and on Ebay – it’s more that we had a clear focus and did all to be ready for that day – and we were.
Internet Marketing doubts
Now we are back to setting our own goals and tasks and we haven’t been inspired at all this past week. Beside dealing with computer problems (which can kill all creativity) I had the problem that I didn’t know on what to focus. And that usually kills productivity.
So here we go – the number one problem in this business is the focus. You want to move mountains but actually just move little stone daily – and it’s up to you to move each little stone to make a mountain of it. That’s the hardest part – to accept that you really can’t accomplish tons every day. It needs time and focus.
I recently read a post from Paula and Dawanda at Affiliateblogger online where they described what they do every day. Actually this woke me up a bit as I thought – they focus. They clearly focus on e.g. back linking with guest posts or forum profiles while I jump from here to there and set up my little oil wells but you can take “running” literally. I need to do what I do again and again and it never seems to be enough. Focusing means building long-term success.
So here is what my day looked like so far:
- Get up at 6 am
- Have shower, breakfast, check emails
- Go to Mum, pick her up for a walk
- Go for a walk
- At around 8 or 8.15 am we are back and get on our desk
- The question appears: What do I need to do today? And then it starts – we do a bit here and there, what is necessary but what doesn’t help us to built our success immediately. So once I realized that this is the problem I want to change:
So it seems I need to set goals by week or month and accomplish them. The more you focus the more you earn – that’s the point. If you just run from one task to the other you won’t get much accomplished and work always in the middle with all what you do. The best thing is to set goals but small ones just as:
- get xx new subscribers this month and make a list on how to get there
- earn xx more dollars this month and make a list on how to get there
- Did I do something to put one stone on the mountain?
- Did I focus on the goal I set?
Oh, boy, I can relate.
One thing I’ve started doing lately is to take a moment in the morning after waking but before getting out of bed. I haven’t been distracted yet by the million-and-one picky little things that demand attention, and I can consider my course of action for the day.
Charleen Larson recently posted..Dr. Zebrovski, world renowned dance psychic
Hi Charleen,
thanks for your comment, so nice to meet you! I’m so with you – we just need that moment every day to just re-think what we do and what we have to do.
I think a good piece of advice that I have tried to implement is plan today what you are going to do tomorrow. Then you don’t have to waste time and energy thinking about what to do…you just look at the list and start working. It can be hard to do this everyday though especially when things in your business change a lot or quickly.
Ade recently posted..Why Do People Fail To Make It Online – Money For Nothing And Your Chics For Free ?
So true, Ade! I have a to do list next to me now so i feel really relieved and have the feeling that I got the “work done”
Twitter: muhsin_aziz
says:
Hi Monja,
I totally understand how it feels like to sit on your desk ready to work
but only to realize that you have no idea where to start.
What I do after setting up my goals is I broke down the things that
I need to do in a weekly basis. From there, I broke it down to a daily
things to do.
Everyday before I go to sleep, I will write a ‘to do’ list and after I finish my day,
I will do ‘done list’. This helps me to keep track of where I am & where I am heading.
Take care ok? Keep in touch!
Sincerely,
Muhsin
Muhsin recently posted..The Missing Link To Achieving Your Goals.
Goal Setting and Constructive Planning is one of the most important things in internet marketing.
Monja,
You’re not the only one with doubts. My site launched a week ago and I’m having doubts already! haha.
I know I have to be patient and set daily/weekly goals. Anything new is hard and challenging – keep going!
Will,
keep going – nothing to lose, just to win! Good luck!
Twitter: dsch01
says:
Great post Monja! This is exactly what I was focusing on today. I realized that I had gotten on way too many lists and had lost focus in the past several weeks. Jumping from thing to thing burns you out and makes you feel overwhelmed.
I reset my goals today to focus on 1 project that will grow my business instead of bouncing between 5 and not accomplishing any one of them effectively. Too many goals and too many lists are productivity and motivational killers.
Keep up the great work!
Hi Dan, Thanks for your comment! I think focusing is absolutely essential. When I learned something this past year than that focus is everything. Once I sat down and worked really hard on ONE thing it usually worked. When I spread myself thing – nothing is working for me and I easily get frustrated. Good luck to you!
I can relate to your article as I have been online all Friday and it is now 3 a.m. and my eyes are getting heavy and about to fall asleep at the monitor. None can say blogging or working with an online business or website is easy unless they hire someone else to do all the work for them. It is tough and a hard way to go but all we can do is keep plugging at it each and every day and one day we all just may find the rewards from all the labor that was involved.
i so agree with you kathy, it´s a hard way to earn money but i still feel it´s worth every minute i spend on it. just learned the hard way that you really need to plug off by times and simply enjoy life because otherwise you just go crazy. wish you all the best and i´m sure it will pay off!
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