Hi. With the launch of the latest Giveaway event, I felt it was a good time to re-visit a topic that's close to my heart — the idea of keeping focused on your objectives and not allowing yourself to be distracted by every single freebie that comes along.
If you were a subscriber of mine back in August 2008, you'll have read this already (but I think it's worth repeating). Here goes…
There's a lot of stuff to download on this giveaway site so, before you go there, I think it's worth saying a few words on the subject of downloading stuff.
The first thing I would say is, don't download everything you come across just because you CAN. It's important to remained focused in your business. It's very difficult at times, with all the distraction online, but it's very important.
One way to stay focused is in terms of the ebooks, software etc. that you download. If you have no intention of selling products on Ebay, then there's no point in downloading an ebook on the subject. Similarly, if you're thinking about downloading an ebook on, say, building a list, think before you click.
Haven't you ALREADY downloaded 17 ebooks about building a list — and never even looked at them…
Don't do it! Don't click the download link, you don't need it. The only exception in the two cases above would be if the product came with resale rights or private label rights — if you're into that type of thing.
But, again, there's no need to download every resale rights product you see. Ask yourself if you're going to put it to use. If you're inclining towards 'no' then move on.
There's plenty more where that came from. Plenty which are better or more relevant to your business.
We're being bombarded with more and more free products to download so it's important to remain in control by developing a filtering system. If not, we risk spending countless hours just downloading with little time left to actually DO anything.
Even by staying focused, there will still be no shortage of stuff that you'll want to download so it's important to develop an efficient way of storing it all on your PC. For a long time I had the habit of calling folders things like "new-stuff-from-free-viral-giveaway-site" and then downloading everything in there. Pretty soon all I had was heaps of stuff in heaps of folders and no idea what's what.
A far more efficient system (in my opinion) is to store your downloads based on theme or topic. So, you create, for example, a "Downloads" folder in your "My Documents" folder and, inside that "Downloads" folder you create a number of sub-folders each covering a topic.
So, you might have a folder called "ezine publishing" and a folder called "copy writing" and a folder called "traffic" and so on. Now, when you download an ebook that deals with the topic, you place it in the corresponding folder. That way, when it comes to the moment that you want to work on that area of your business, you'll be able to go directly to that folder and have a wealth of information and resources already sitting in one place.
Also, if a product includes resale rights, then here's a simple trick to make that fact stand out… place something like this at the start of the ZIP filename: "_RR_" So, for example, let's say you download a product plus sales website and the ZIP file is called: productname.zip Change this to read: _RR_productname.zip The underscore at the start will make sure that all these products are listed together at the top. You can do the same thing for other traits, such as "_PLR_" for Private Label Rights and so on.
Another good idea, if you BUY ebooks from time to time, is to put a "bought" folder inside your topic folders. That way you'll see that you've actually spent money on something related to this topic, so let's see if you can get a return on your investment. I can't remember buying it but, if I bought it, it must be because I though it was worth it at the time. Let's check it out.
It's also important that you delete the junk. If you've just wasted 10 minutes on something that turns out to be a bit of a dud, then get rid of it. Don't leave it on your PC ready to waste another 10 minutes of your time again in the future. Just say "Go away useless junk!" and hit the Delete button.
—– Sidenote —–
Here's an excellent resource to help you organize your downloads. It's a PDF ebook called "The Expert Guide to Organizing Your Internet Marketing Information" — and it may be just what you need to bring FOCUS to your online efforts. You'll find a direct download link here: http://www.ebooktimes.com/IM_Organizer
—– End Sidenote —–
And, seeing as I've rambled this far, here's another thing you could do this week to help bring focus to your business…
Get a sheet of paper and make a list of all the things you'd like to achieve with your online business between now and the end of the year. You might want to, for example, write a number of articles for your website/ezine, create a viral ebook to promote your site, start that new website you've been half-planning for ages, put some resale rights products online…
Write them ALL down. Leave the sheet of paper on your desk for a few days and, when something comes to mind, add it in. Now, look over the list and put everything in order of priority. The more important it is, the higher it goes. Once you've done that, look at the top, most important points and list out what's required to get them completed. A list within a list.
By breaking down the task in a series of smaller parts, you'll be better prepared to take it on. Now, one day every week between now and the end of the year, use the lists you've made to make a new list of the things you want to achieve over the coming week. There's no need to get fancy. No need to put down exact times etc. that you're going to complete each task (unless you want to).
Just make a simple list for the week and remain focused on it for the entire week. Your primary objective is to strike as many things as you can off that list. You'll be amazed at how much focus this will bring to your work and you'll be doubly amazed at how quickly things begin to move once you GET that extra bit of focus.
An thus ends the ramble.
Stay focused!
Michael
