Keeping Your Sanity and Time Management
KEEPING YOUR SANITY AND TIME MANAGEMENT
This page is devoted to help you keep your sanity and manage your time right in this demanding and sometimes ungrateful world of digital marketing.
You have decided to build your online business. First, you have to know that to be successful in your digital marketing business, you have to be willing to put in long hours. Most probably, you will not see results for months or even the first year.
There are so many fake products promising you to make huge amounts of money at the push of a button but there is no such thing.
Raise your hand if you ever bought internet marketing products that you either never used or regretted buying as they did not fulfill their promises.
You also have to be prepared to learn many new skills and knowledge. Most information can be found on the web by doing an “how to…” search so resist the temptation to buy any course until you know exactly that this course is what you need.
It will be hard to face the naysayers around you as you most probably will have no income to show for the first year or two.
The competition is fierce and whatever niche you choose, you will not be alone. Your hard work though will make you the expert if you persist.
Over 95% of all digital businesses fail. The number one reason is that people give up too soon. They imagined that the second their website would be up, people would come running to buy stuff. That is not the way it goes.
You will be bombarded with product offers all promising you fortune and glory. You will have to resist the temptations by unsubscribing to as many lists as possible. Choose one or two lists at the most from marketers who give you real value and are at the level you need to be. Consider the rest as noise.
You will have to choose where your energy will go as you cannot humanly do everything like videos, podcasts, blogging, social media postings, etc. The good news is that you do not need to be everywhere either. Choosing the medium that you enjoy is a sure way to make sure you will stick and succeed in the long run.
As people wanting to succeed in internet marketing, you are bombarded with product offers, most of which you do not even need. You can relate to buying useless courses that promised you to be as successful as the person who sold it and got nothing out of the course, or worst yet, did not even listen or open the course.
The truth is that you don’t need most internet marketing products and you just need to get started. Do not get caught up in the vicious cycle of buying products or courses or enrolling in endless webinars and not going anywhere in your business. There are people who have spent well over 80 000$ in teaching material and do not have a web site up yet!
There will be products and services you will need in the process of developing your internet marketing business, most of them not expensive at all, or even free.
More and more, webinars are basically people bragging about their personal success followed by a long sales pitch without offering much value. Too often, you will get all flared up after listening to a webinar but will end-up not knowing how to reproduce the success you have heard about.
To be fair, there are a couple of courses who show you a clear step-by-step process how to build your online business like this website.
Honestly, though, it is less complicated than they want you to think.
Digital marketing consists of building your brand by offering quality content and offering your products, digital or physical, by using means of visibility.
Successful internet marketers are often millionaires and it is easy for them afterwards to promise you: “Do as I say and you too will become a millionaire.” The most frequent consequence of this is that…they become multi-millionaires and you just got caught buying another useless course in hope of getting fast cash.
Do not waste your time in digital marketing forums or groups unless you have a specific goal. Most of these forums are not always moderated and you can get wrong advice or waste time you could be building your digital business.
Most very successful internet marketers do not hang out on forums as they are busy growing their businesses. You should do the same.
Another way to keep your sanity while growing your internet marketing business will be to try to prevent really bad things from happening to you. John Reese said it best when he said: “It’s not a question of if you computer will crash but rather when your computer will crash.” It is very wise to do frequent back-ups of your computer so in case of a crash, it would take you a couple of hours only to recover.
You also need to back-up your web sites as you cannot rely on your web hosting company to do that for you. You will save yourself a lot of stress if you back-up your hard work.
Another good way to keep your sanity while growing your internet marketing business is to allow yourself some quality time with your loved ones and family.
Often, if you take some time off, your mind will be clearer and you will get more accomplished the next day. We all need a little break once in a while.
Furthermore, if you have children, you need to realize that even though you might be growing your internet marketing business for them you should enjoy their company now. The problem is that while you are working hard, they are growing and when your business is successful, they might not be around to enjoy it with you. It is a good policy to enjoy quality time with your loved ones now while growing your business at the same time.
All right! For those of you rolling their eyes in disbelief saying: “What does she know? Who is she to tell us what to do? My children understand that I am working for them. There will be plenty of time to enjoy life later.” Here are two true stories.
I have a friend who was working very hard, burning the midnight oil often. One day, at the age of 56, he dropped dead of a heart attack on the job. Nothing could be done to save him.
Another one of my colleagues was working very hard to get a good income and pay for all the fancy toys he was buying. One night, he came home but had forgotten his keys. He rang the doorbell and his four year old son answered the door. After opening the door, the little boy turned around and screamed: “Mom, there’s a MAN at the door.”
Make sure your family recognizes you and enjoys quality time with you every occasion you can.
Many people get caught-up in building their internet business and forget about their own well-being. Working at the computer many hours per day will not get you in shape in any way. At the best, you will have two to ten strong fingers.
Allow yourself some time during the day to exercise and get your heart pumping. It is a very good idea to exercise as often during those periods, your mind will be clearer and you will get great ideas.
It is also a very good habit to get up and walk around for a few minutes every hour or so. This way, you can say “Hi” to your loved ones, move your body around and get a couple of good breaths of fresh air in.
Also, always hydrate yourself well. It is a scientific fact that if you are dehydrated by as little as 10%, your brain functions slows down by 30%. We all know that you need your brain to work efficiently. Having a glass of water next to you while working is a good idea.
It is also recommended to always have a proper ergonomic, working, position. A person engaged in writing a very interesting text tends to slouch over and can get back and neck pain. Sounds funny but working with your shoulders aligned with your pelvis is a good habit.
Determine what you want and need in growing your internet marketing business. It is easy to get caught-up in the trap of wanting more and more money and not having any precise goals. There are many millionaires who still think they need more money and are more stressed about money than a person with an average income.
On the other hand, many cool millionaires have a great relationship with money and are not afraid to share and enjoy their money.
By setting your goals, you have to be precise. If you say: I want to be rich, that is too vague and nothing will happen. You also have to be honest with yourself and know what makes you happy.
Setting-up a calendar with what you want done and by what time is a precious tool.
There are very successful and rich people who will work until their very last day on earth as it is one of their pleasures.
Take a moment now to write down your goals:
1) How much money do you want to have?
2) How many hours do you want to work per week? It can be 0.
3) If you were rich, what would you be doing?
4) Name three things you want to have accomplished in one year, in two years? In five years? In ten years? Before you die?
5) What would really make you happy?
6) Do you need to improve your health?
7) What else do you need right now? How can you get it?
8) If you could, would you spend more time with your family?
9) What is your main goal in building your digital business?
10) Can you afford to start an online business?
HERE IS YOUR CALL TO ACTION
1) Whatever you learn, take action. Such an action could be to conclude: ”I am wasting my time here. Let’s go somewhere else.”
Even if what you create is not perfect, it is the foundation for your digital business.
YOU NEED TO TAKE ACTION or else you will not accomplish anything in your internet marketing business and the members of your family and friends who were saying you would fail will be right…and we don’t want that!
This is the reason why every page on this site ends with a clear action call
2) Sit down with a piece of paper and write your goals in your digital marketing business. What do you want to achieve? In what time frame do you want to accomplish all this? Are you committed to devoting your time to succeeding on the internet?
Writing bite size, daily goals is a great way to get so much accomplished and keeps you upbeat as you strike out all that you have done on your list.
3) Take a moment to evaluate what you have done so far in growing your internet marketing business and be proud of yourself!
4) Realize the time and money you have wasted in buying those courses promising you false easy solutions.
5) Evaluate your physical health and decide to take good care of your body while developing your online business.
6) Evaluate your mental health and see if you need a well-deserved break.
7) Turn-off all notifications on your cell phone and laptop. Unsubscribe from as many email lists as necessary and try to keep 0, 1 or 2 max.
8) Limit your television and videos viewing time.
9) Allow sufficient time to obtain a good balance between your social/ family life and your business. Many successful digital marketers involve their family in their business.
10) Click on the printable version of the biginternetmarketinggame.com gameboard below, print it and post it right in front of your eyes when you are working at your computer. Feel the joy of crossing each square as you complete the steps to be done.
It honestly takes less than a couple of hours to have a web site up and running. Grab your free access to GrooveFunnels and start creating your webpages if you have not done so yet.
11) Work smarter, not harder. For instance, you can use a video you made to do a podcast, a blog post and social media posts without having to create new content. You get the step-by-step process on the square called content is king.
12) Give yourself clear deadlines.
13) Choose one strategy and stick to it for at least 6 to 12 months. This is the only way you can really see if it works.
Do not get discouraged if things seem to not be moving in the beginning. It is normal. You need to gain momentum. You are pushing the car uphill.
14) Create to do lists, mental maps or have an action notebook.
15) Reward yourself when you complete a milestone. No one else will do it for you as they have no clue what you are doing.
See you on the next square!
Nathalie
