Holiday Progress

As I'm in malta on a pay per minute internet cafe, this weeks is a short one.

And also because I am on Holiday...

Just thought I'd let pearson know that since Monday, when I went on Holiday, my affiliate income has totalled 109.74GBP - so far...

that's from two adwords campaigns.

Now I will resume my work/life balance and speak to you all again in a week

"Getting ready for a long holiday" - day

Well this week has been mad in all senses of the word!

I have a feeling that the list of things that Pauline and I achieved this week is longer than usual. Maybe it has something to do with the accountability calls ( Hi guys ) ,
Maybe it has something to do with me going to Birmingham this Saturday
Or even that we're going to Malta on Monday and I haven't got any summer clothes yet.

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How I'm Doing This week:

Well I have received my holiday reading. I finally sat down and used my amazon affiliate link to buy some books that the seaside landlady suggested I'd get back in July I think:

• Syncronicity
• e-myth revisited
• Anyone can do it - building coffee republic from our kitchen table
  

How's that for geeky! No, wait - it gets worse:

• The hotel we are staying at - we picked it because it was the only one in the catalogue that offer their customers an internet connection...

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Last weeks targets:

=> exercise 4 mornings before Friday & log my pulse when I wake up every morning.
RESULT! Went out on the bike twice, had a little Taibo session and went for a long walk.

=> The money website newsletter will be sent out again as soon as the DNS changes are completed. There are a good few articles and reviews on there now, and I can add the rest of them as I go.
RESULT!! I even did some more design stuff to sort out the template I am using on the site.

=> Brainstorm the things that needs planning, and then prioritise. we've got most things down - like the top 6 things that needs to be done first and in what order.

This one scares the living daylights out of me. but we did some planning, and built the mind map as well as a short list of priorities. However we spent most of the week updating the businessplan and taking action getting ready to buy this thing.

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New things I will do:

This week? Swim in the mediterranian (sp?) and the same next week. And enjoy the sunshine and the wine

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Things I am dropping:

my day job. for two weeks anyway.

I didn't have to drop my land line. It's now fixed. They were reasonably quick to come out, but I should have expected that as they sure charge enough for the line rental!

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This weeks lessons:

Doing new things are scary. Terrifying!

Spending over £20k to buy ourselves an income is not something I would have considered doing only this time last year. But all the signs point to it being a good decision. I KNOW that the things I know about internet marketing and so on WORKS. I also know that market research and split testing will help reduce the risk. I have other avenues of income opportunities available to the business model so that I can reduce the risk even further. I know I am married to someone who has graphics design, desktop publishing and exceptional drive for the things she enjoys doing. Both of us have at least two mentors each - I even have a mastermind group to rely on for advice. We have a network of contacts inthe niche, in the publishing industry and in the corporate and marketing arenas.

A no brainer. based on my knowledge.

However,
the gap between the KNOWLEDGE and the DOING IT is filled with FEAR.

I hope it's like that for everyone, or I'm in trouble!
I guess having decided to make some movements forward in April, and just deciding to stick with it no matter what, has made it easier for me to face the fear and do it anyway.

But obviously - NOT without checking the size of the gap!

And another lesson is that AdwordsMentor seems to be making a difference.
My Turnover from July to August doubled.
My Turnover In September is at this present moment £150 short of my turnover last month.
I'll let you know if there's any long term improvements as with my luck this upsurge is only seasonal.

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Next Tow Weeks Targets:

=> Enjoy my two weeks holiday.

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This weeks audience question:

What bugs YOU when you are trying to find your next holiday online?

Wet as a Drowned Cat!

Just to keep Pearson pleased, I really felt miserable biking in the cold rain this morning. Daft thing to do really and I can only sit here and hope I don't come down with the "man-shuffle"

But other than that it's been a productive, if not scary week.

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How I'm Doing This week:

Well. We went to see the vendors last weekend. nice folks. Their reasons for selling sounded very plausible. They were very similar to Pauline and me, only I have the benefit they hadn't - access to a bunch of people with marketing acumen. I spoke to someone I know in the industry, who told me NOT to get into the industry as it is a cut throat, hard industry to succeed in. We saw an accountant who said we should go for it as it was such a small financial risk that there was no reason NOT to try it. Besides it would be significantly easier than to start from scratch. So I dug out another 4-5 different industry market reports and found a couple of swot reports that pointed to some obvious flaws in the way the traditional actors operated, like not offering upsells or a sales funnel. It also told us where brand loyalty can be created. It also confirmed that the business' distribution of sales to the various sales channels were in line with the industry, almost perfectly.
So we put in an offer, had it obligatorily rejected and we offered our next offer an hour later which was then accepted.

So subject to everything, come November 1st, we should be the proud owners of a running business.

Now the trick is to get the balance between the technician, manager and entrepreneur right....

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Last weeks targets:

=> On my bike 3 mornings before next Friday. (while it is moving at speed)
RESULT! ( did them all, and it's a great feeling just to get out there )

=> Get one more review categories relocated to the new server by Friday
70 Percent Result. I just need to configure (?) the last 4 out of eleven reviews and then this is done.

=> No goal for google. Other than to keep the spreadsheet current.
RESULT! as up to date as google will let me be.

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New things I will do:

I am what I eat diet. Or try at least. Mung beans don't sound appealing until a chow mein fan like myself realise they are often used as stir fry bean sprouts. I keep on calling them dung beans though. Feel sorry for my wife. She lives with this sort of humour 24/7
I will attempt to list 6 things to do every 48 hours, that needs to be completed in 48 hours. if I can spend enough time thinking through it properly.

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Things I am dropping:
Mysteryshopping jobs for fast food restaurants. I swear they have hypnotic drugs in those things to make you drowsy, lazy and weak in will.

A regular phoneline. Or a brick on the BT van that never arrives to fix my phone line. Some of you may have the pleasure of sharing my experience on the 10am call, but if it gets as bad as it is tonight then I'll be dialling in my mobile.

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This weeks lessons:

Accountability is a great help if you want focus. And adding the goals to the Friday Progress again made a huge difference in my productivity. I wasn't simply going through the motions this week. I had targets that I was accountable for again.

In my experience, there are two types of people. There is one type that can never sit still. If they have nothing to do they do anything to avoid being idle. That's not me.
I belong to the other group, who strive to become idle. At every opportunity, if there is nothing to focus on, my "default" reaction is to seek out idleness.
So having these goals hung up in front of me every time i sit idle in my leather office chair snaps me back on track.
I guess testing accountability without goals over the last few months will show that it is far less productive than accountability with 2-3 goals defined.

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Next Weeks Targets:

Smart goals.hmmm.
I could list quite a few, but the overall goals for this week are as follows:
=> exercise 4 mornings before Friday & log my pulse when I wake up every morning.
=> The money website newsletter will be sent out again as soon as the DNS changes are completed. There are a good few articles and reviews on there now, and I can add the rest of them as I go.
=> The business adventure has just changed to a venture as we have had our offer for the business accepted.So it's time to nail down all the things that needs putting together: Pauline & I need to Brainstorm the things that needs planning, and then prioritise. we've got most things down - like the top 6 things that needs to be done first and in what order.
No, I don't like challenges!

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This weeks audience question:

Have you seen my blog lately?

Thanks

Hi again.

First of all a thank you for all the feedback I got after last weeks post. It's good to find out that you actually read and enjoy my ramblings, but you DO know I do this for selfish reasons don't you?

Even so. I will post some news about accountability calls later this evening.

My selfish reasons? Well I need help with my focus and making sure I don't take on too many things. Or more than I can comfortably handle. And I am not getting that help from these posts in their current format.

I've tried to limit the time I spend on my blog every evening as well. Ok. I confess. I forgot to post this week. And last.

If there is a lesson I can take from the last two weeks is that writing about what you are supposed to do for the following week helps you stay focused.

And at the moment my focus is on two things. It should be on 3, but it is on two. because I've been slacking. No need for excuses as I guess there is only one person responsible for my progress. Am I going to beat myself up about it?

take a wild guess!

now on to the progress update

How I'm Doing This week:

I did say last week that google ads were doing quite well. Sorry Pearson, but I'm afraid to say I'm doing well out of this one at the moment. It turns out August was the best month I have had so far. By about 26 per cent. Don't be fooled into thinking that it is making me rich though. It's not.

I am currently only running the two campaigns that regularly make me a profit, but the profit is enough to pay for other investments like seminars, webhosting, software and so on. just.

One thing I'd like to mention about adwords though - ebooks don't work. For me at least.

I personally think it is because people like to buy from somewhere they feel they know, like a brand or on a recommendation from someone they trust. I don't pre-sell via my own website, but direct all the google adwords traffic to the merchants website, so I am finding that I have better luck when I promote the industry or niche leader.

Like when I made over £300 in the three months before christmas last year promoting to the keyword [freeview] in the UK. it cost me 5p per click to stay in the top 8 adverts. I held the top spot most of the time in fact. But now the searches have drop to a third of what they were and the adverts from my competitors remain. And about 9 others. Although the search to results ratio is very good at 29.

Feel free to give it a go, but be warned the profits I earned from this amazon promotion was under £30. At 5p per click...

But that's better than some of the others though. Allposters.com is all I have to say to that one. And about 23 others merchants as well.

And freeview isn't as hot this year as it was last year. Or I asume so anyway, until the TV adverts tell me otherwise.

And for my SECOND trick this week -
My intrepid business (ad)ventrue shuffles along. The To-Do list is beginning to look a little less cluttered as the DONE list gets longer. And by Monday "visit the premises" and "meet the current owners" will have moved over to the DONE list. I've found a number of helpful websites both for business plans and about the e-myth, but will I ever tell you what this busines is about?
The THIRD trick?
Now, I said initially I was focusing on only two things this week. And I meant to say that the third one was ignored. And that would have been my money site. Although I haven't sent out a newsletter for the site in - hmm - quite a while - I actually didn't ignore it this week. I am just not giving it my all. I have added articles and reviews to the new server but not at the rate I need it to happen. And I have had some ideas about how to re-brand it as well, but that will have to wait until I have migrated this stuff over!

New things I will do:
Add "next weeks targets" to the template

I have also dug out my trusted two wheeler which I intend to use at least 3 mornings a week. I have the pleasure of being woken up by a wet nappie on my face every morning at 06:01am so I might just as well spend the time before work doing something about my fitness.

Things I am Dropping:
Hollyoaks.
It wasn't really my thing initially, but it has become a bit of a family wind down time. I'm not going to be able to abandon the living quarters and escape to the office during Hollyoaks, but I will be able to spend that time doing some housework.

But I will never give up Neighbours! (when I become a full time home worker, I will watch the lunchtime airing, but while I am in the office, I am unavailable after 5:35pm )

This weeks lessons:
Writing every day about what I am going to do the next day or what I have learnt from today is a great help.

Although I must admit that I am inclined to think that looking BACK at what I did shouldn't take longer than thinking about what I should do tomorrow.

Getting into the money saving market was a decidedly BAD idea. The model I chose didn't make me stand out, but I think an audio format, as well as a "progress" ( funny that really, don't you think? ) style blog / weekly article series along the lines of: THIS week I will try the stupid money saving tip over THERE.

Why will I try this when I have completed my money website migration? Because the best feedback has been about the stories about ME and what I went through. And I love to talk about money as much as I dislike writing about it.

Next Weeks Targets:
=> On my bike 3 mornings before next Friday. (while it is moving at speed)
=> Get one more review categories relocated to the new server by Friday
=> No goal for google. Other than to keep the spreadsheet current.

This weeks audience question:

Paul C - Do you have those mindmaps with Mike Litman anywhere convenient? I'm on mindmanager x5 if that helps.

Anyone know how to value a business with a max turnover in the last 5 years of £52k ( ca 10k average per annum ) & stock/equipment valued at £5k (representing a max potential revenue of ca £56K ? ) I have a fair idea, but if anyone would like to offer their insight, drop me a line to glenesha42 AT btconnect.com

Cheers,
Jon
(still progressing)