Time Tables & routine

How I'm Doing This week:

I haven't been following my Time table as rigorously as I intended, but it usually takes me a while to get into things properly. Google isn't raking in as much as I hoped it would either, but it's been a good month anyway.
I have wasted endless time siting in front of the TV or browsing aimlessly this week. The forum isn't "aimless" by the way, but may not always be "productive" time.

Current Goals:
= My Clickbank Money book: One evening a week at least ( up to 3 hours )
= Our Business ( 2 to 3 Evenings a week ) - 6 to 9 hours )
= Succeeding in my new job. It is commission based and I need to focus on getting great.

Current Weekly Time Table:
I'll Make Thursday my Google & inspirational / reflective day.
Friday's Remain my progress report day.
Saturday Mornings I am accountable to others.
Sunday I will spend as I please, researching or catching up or just having fun. ( or business day, if required )
Monday is Money day.
Tuesday & Wednesday is Business Days.

New things I will TRY to do:

Moderate the UK forum... So be gentle with me! Please...
Read my emails after 10pm, when I am done with proper WORK.

Things I am Dropping:

It should be important to me to actually remove something that I do which is more harmful than beneficial. I'm not ready to look inside myself yet, so I'll look at other things. So. Unless more people want to sign up to my Utility Warehouse club, I'm quitting it.
http://www.telecomplus.org.uk/fareham
I get a £5 for each sign up 90 days after the service start date & you can have that back. There is a tiny residual income element to some of the services and I only need a few more people to cover the fees I pay to be a reseller.
The service is good value, but not the cheapest on international calls. It is however quite competitive on internet, mobile, gas & electricity.
But if there is no interest, I'll ditch it.

Next Weeks Targets:

Write on the clickbank book for 3 hours in total.
Exercise 3 x 20 minutes.
Complete all actions assigned to me at the business focus meeting - and on time. I don't know what they are yet!
Send out that newsletter!

Last Weeks Achievements:
We've found two new online outlets for our books. One of them wants to do a feature on us as part of their re-launch. The other is reviewing our titles.
With the help of a mentor I have also finally cracked how to approach bigger online partners to ask for their help in promoting our two main campaign packages. Mainly because he helped me come up with the campaing packages!
I had the pleasure of working in a 3rd floor open plan office where the elevators were out of order this week. and the filter coffee is only available on the ground floor... So I achieved my exercise goals.
I have also migrated a whole section of money tips onto the website.
But I have yet to write a single word on my clickbank book.
Nor have I sent out any newsletter.

This weeks lessons:
If things don't always go to plan - adjust the plan! Things happen that you don't expect. It invariably does in my life anyway.
I was thinking of the map reader realising that the map didn't match the surroundings. But he doesn't re-write the map! What he does do though is use the map to find out where he is accoring to where he wants to be, and adjusts his route accordingly. So although the goal remains the same, sticking to one plan may not be a good idea.
And once in a while someone or something comes along to test how well you know where you are and how good your plan is.
So if I find myself OFF plan, I need to know where I have drifted off to, and then decide how to progress towards my target.
It's infuriating and frustrating while I am lost though!

A Day Late, but what a day it's been!

I have a good excuse! I usually do come up with some sterling reasons why I failed to do what I said I was supposed to do. It's something I have perfected over the years.

I didn't mention it in last weeks post, but yesterday, after a hard day at work ( new job that unfortunately requires me to work 5 days a week in the office again. ) I had to drive from the sunny coast of Hampshire all the way up to Lincolnshire in a great big van.

Why?
To exchange contracts and complete the purchase of our business and to take posession of the equipment & stock and to transport it back down again.

We weren't going to do that last night obviously! :o) There are limits to Paulines super human abilities. We drove up last night because we didn't fancy a 4-5 hour drive in a van on a very very VERY early Saturday Morning, do 3 hours of VERY hard physical labour, and then drive 4-5 hours back down again. Only to spend another 3 hours emptying the van we worked so hard to fill!

So we arrived at the premises at 10am, loaded up the van until about 1pm, had lunch, signed the contract and handed over the balance of the money.

And I mean MONEY! The bank has a limit to how much money you can transfer electronically in any given period, and the purchase price exceeded that. But ask for help and you wouldn't believe how many £20 notes a bank will have available on a Friday afternoon.

And one bank clerk in Newark probably thought something dodgy was going on in the neighbourhood when a bloke strode in with wads and wads of £20 notes to deposit this Saturday afternoon.


No I haven't written anything on my money book.
No I haven't added content to the money website every day.
No I haven't published a newsletter yet. I've written it twice, and it's vanished off my site twice but I haven't published it.
Yes I have exercised. Twice. Plus loading and off loading a van today. I am also walking the stairs at work instead of taking the lift.
Yes we did clear enough space for the books.
Yes I did host the call ( but I got there late! )
Yes I am on top of google.
yes I have also launched two new campaigns.
Yes, I have stopped them again as they were just about breaking even.
Yes, I lied: they heammoraged money.
Yes I have been working 5 days in the office, 10 hours a day. I have so much to learn it's insane.
Yes I have gone to bed before 9 on two of those working days.

Yes, I WILL finish the clickbank money book before the 3rd of January ( as I MAY be going to Las Vegas for 9 days from around the 9th for my new job - depends on if they think I should go to this business event. Don't shout too loudly. Vegas stands for everything I detest in this world so it's not an experience I am looking forward to.. )

Yes I will be devoting the next 2 and a half months to 3 things:

= My Clickbank Money book: One evening a week at least ( up to 3 hours )

= Our Business ( 2 to 3 Evenings a week ) - 6 to 9 hours )

= Succeeding in my new job. It is commission based and I need to focus on getting great.

I'll be trying to stick to a strict agenda for these next months, just to see if it works.

I'll Make Thursday my Google & inspirational / reflective day.
Friday's Remain my progress report day.
Saturday Mornings I am accountable to others.
Sunday I will spend as I please, researching or catching up or just having fun. ( or business day, if required )
Monday is Money day.
Tuesday & Wednesday is Business Days.

And thats WHY I forgot to write a Friday progress report yesterday.

( back to it's usual format next week )

Cheers,
Jon

A Resounding Failure!

Get ready for a lesson in Failing Gracefully!

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How I'm Doing This week:

As I start to write this, I am feeling really positive about all the things that I have done this week:
Got a new job - starting Monday at 10:30.
Updated our business plan - again!
Updated the processes we've already defined and defined a few more.
Written up an early organisation chart of our publishing business.

Usually I am a bit despondent at this point. only to find I had no reason to be. This week It is almost the other way around. When you come to read about last weeks targets you will notice that this week is unique among ALL the Friday Progress Reports I have ever posted -

I Failed to progress on most of them! Totally failed to do a single action to bring them forward!
I have NEVER failed to progress on ANY of the targets I have set myself.

Now, feel free to laugh at me and think - I never thought he'd last - to yourself.
But I'll choose to disagree with you. Although I'll happily leave a smile on my face.

Because i did progress my business. Just see the list I opened with. But I didn't progress those things that looked important to do last Friday.

So failing to achieve those targets isn't a failure to progress - I just choose the wrong targets that's all. I'm not going to get too hung up about not achieving a target, as it is the destination that is important. A target is just something to aim for in the hope that it well get you closer to where you want to be.

Disagree? Well, then. I ask you this - If your target is behind you, do you still aim for it?

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Last weeks targets:

=> Fitness, pick up with the work outs again and maintain and improve the lower pulsrate I achieved in Malta. Down to 62 now from 68 two weeks ago

Result: FAILED!
Couldn't even TELL you if I am improving as I haven't measured my pule ONCE. However, it is the best indicator of how fit I am. And with this new job role I am taking on - fitness is crucial to succeed. Nor did I even get off my bum to exercise at ALL!

=> Google, Finish the spreedsheet template.

Result: FAILED!
Finish the template? I didn't even update the data in it until yesterday, when I found out I have been loosing money since Saturday. big time!

=> Publishing. Clear Space. Choose between distribution or Margin.

Result: Half A SUCCESS
we're clearing space for the company equipment we're going to get ( oh and the stock!) , and I have managed to contribute to this. We've moved most of the books out of the office, but the utility room down stairs needs a great big cleanout this weekend. Did do a run to the tip with a bootfull of stuff last weekend, but that was the obvious crap. The rest are in theory sellable, but they are large items. And as for distribution or margin, it seems logical to increase the distribution first to be honest.


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New things I will do:

Get started on the Monday updates really. Only, I am dependent on Google sending me the file on Mondays. So I will do it whenever they send me a file.

Syncronice the goals in this blog with those I mention in my mastermind group.

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Things I am dropping:

Nothing comes to mind really. Other than that my google cash cow is now on profitability watch. The company I advertise for has started google advertising on ALL my keywords... annoying.

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This weeks lessons:

1. Affiliate merchants don't really like to pay you the commission. They are happy to let you take the risk, but if you hit on a gold mine, it seems they'll happily jump in and take over.

I don't care. I am already testing another merchant in the same niche with nice click to impression rates so far. Just have to see how the clicks convert to sales before moving all the campaigns over.

2. listen to off the cuff (?) remarks.
Spotted two independent one's this week, and managed to use the two together to find some highly interesting keywords for a campaign I hadn't even considered. The fact that the keyword don't convert well to clicks is another matter, but the opportunity is there once I tighten in the keywords a little and change the adverts around slightly. But at least I am getting impressions.

3. As Oracle Gary keeps on saying " keep the WHY in mind". I find it helps keep things in perspective.

4. Writing about my goals and whether I achieved them or not is FAR MORE effective in driving home the lesson, than just talking about it. I couldn't begin to pretend WHY, but I would expect it is for one of two reasons: I put more thought into what I write than what I say. I get it re-iterated over and over again when I write it when I proof read my post.

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Next Weeks Targets:

= Enjoy myself on my Sons 2nd birthday this Sunday.

= 4 times 20 minutes exercise

= remember to host the call! ( And get my car to the garage and back before 10am! )

= clear the office and utility room as much as possible before the great book-flood.

= post money tips newsletter & add new content every day.

= complete the first chapter of the US Market targeted money tips book.

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This weeks audience question:

In The Portsmouth Area In Two Weeks time? Bonfire Party invites Available to anyone who wants them.

( I also have a Hilton Nearby in case anyone wanted to have a Collocvial Co-operative Mind sharing event experience the same weekend? )

I'd love to present the business venture to anyone who'd care to help me make a success out of it!

The Importance of Being Clueless

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How I'm Doing This week:

Post Holiday Madness!

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Last weeks targets:

3 weeks ago I wanted to have a great holiday. And we did. I even got fitter while we were away! inspite of the daily ice creams!

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New things I will do:

Do my google accounts on Mondays. I check the adwords progress daily, but I shouldn't need to waste time updating the accounts once I have automated the rest of the new spreadsheet. Well those things I am able to automate with my limited knowledge.

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Things I am dropping:

Nothing comes to mind really.

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This weeks lessons:

It's like someone's given me a key.

I am strangely perceptive at the moment. And ideas & stuff for the business are coming thick and fast. Only, not now - as I am dead on my feet.
I can articulate my ideas better. I am more understanding of WHY people do things that are annoying. Or try to sabotage my progress in the fast lane.

And I'll let that rest there. There is no point in analysing too much. Things are happening for a reason. Just accept it.

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Next Weeks Targets:

=> Fitness, pick up with the work outs again and maintain and improve the lower pulsrate I achieved in Malta. Down to 62 now from 68 two weeks ago

=> Google, Finish the spreedsheet template.

=> Publishing. God where do I start?
Well what's important this week is to clear the space to fit the books and maybe even sell off some stuff on ebay in the process.

The offering to the potential online customers needs selecting as well. I have a number of different ways to do this and it all depends on what's important to our business - margin or distribution. Right now I can't make my mind up.

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This weeks audience question:

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

Away with the Syncronicity

Still in Malta this week.

after struggling for 4 days with the coffee republic book I put that aside and read through e-myth revisited in 2 days.

very easy book to read as it is light on new cotent, but it's always good to get implicit knowledge expressed explicitly.

To say that I was unimpressed by the book is an understatement. I know about systems, so my lack of enthusiasm for the book doesn't mean I disagree with the message. far from it.

anyway.

I am also half way through syncronicity and that's about it.

Google advertising? roughly 300GBP since the 20th. roughly as the smallest one should account for about 45 and the other one is already up to 263.

Now, this should be the last time I mention actual earnings but for me it is just a cool way to highlight the power of this thing - I made a bit of money, while I was on holiday.

Now how to get this done with my publishing business....