Planning For Success
Self-Nourishment Time
I didn't start out to put self-nourishment at the top of the list, but if you don't schedule this in, you will end up as a puddle in a lonely corner. Take care of yourself first. If that means meditation and journaling time, schedule it, if it means contemplative walks or long runs, allow time for it each day. Add to this the taking-care-of-yourself things like shopping for and preparing nourishing meals and keeping your home environment tidy. It includes family and relationship time. Schedule it first!!! You deserve it.
Passive Income Creation
This is your creative time. It is the time to write your workshop, teleclass, e-book, or audio book. Schedule time to create downloadable items that bring in passive income while you sleep. I have one whole day set aside for writing and it is my favorite day in the week.
Marketing
This could take the form of making calls, writing and posting articles, creating a podcast, optimizing your web site, contacting venture partners, strengthening your affiliate program, or creating sales pages and other new marketing materials. This would include attending networking events and giving talks and writing an e-magazine. If you create or strengthen one new marketing aspect a week, you'll have added 52 new marketing approaches in a year!
Client Time
Pick specific times you want to be available to clients and then schedule them there. You'll be amazed at how much time you free up when you ask them to adhere to your schedule rather than allowing yourself to schedule according to theirs. Of course, you can make acceptations, but you get to have first choice of the times you will be available. Pick two or three days a week for clients and schedule to those until they are filled. Then look at how you might need to raise your prices to increase your income while still having two days left to create new products and market.
Product Delivery
Delivery is about completing the things necessary to put your product or service up for sale. It could be a sales page, a CD cover, or a new web site opt-in offer. Delivery would include selecting delivery process for a new product, ordering the blank CDs or the covers. It could be about exploring the various mailing services. Sometimes it's just about finishing your product, like editing a CD or proofing an e-book. This may not take up much time, but do be aware that it is necessary to schedule this completion time.
Organization
Organization is one of those places in which you might hire some help. If you do it yourself you have to schedule in time to answer e-mails, research on the internet, pay your bills, put your files away and create new organizing systems for a new project. Sometimes simply putting off answering e-mails till noon gives you a free morning when you are at your freshest to devote to a project. One very good technique is to take the last 15 minutes of your day to straighten up and put away. Then create your "To Do" list for the next day. It's invigorating to begin your day in a neat environment. I have a TV in my office, so sometimes organizing can be combined with entertainment. I also listen to classical music a lot. Turn up the music and dance around while putting stuff away!
Reading
There is so much information available to us on the Internet, in free reports, conference calls, e-magazines, and great business books that it is easy to increase your business knowledge. Schedule time to read. Read for inspiration too. Continued learning is a vital aspect of business growth.
Special Project
If you are launching a new project, schedule time for the meetings, discussions, thought process, drafts, investigation of new resources, etc. that you can think of. You may have to put this in your schedule first if the project will be especially profitable for you. For instance, I want to create a lot of audio products in the coming year. I absolutely must schedule three to four hours a week for every one hour of audio I want to produce. Make a plan for your new project and schedule all the aspects into your calendar.
Stay Close To The Money
We are the creator of our own business. We are the source of the new ideas, the inspiration, the drive, and the enthusiasm. That's what I call staying close to the money. This is how your business grows. As you schedule these aspects of your business life look for things you can delegate. These will be things you don't like to do very much, are not very good at, or that are taking up too much time away from creating new products.
Say "No"
If you find yourself super busy with no time to sit and watch the clouds change form, you might want to look at your reasons for saying "yes" to an activity. Do you have a need to please? Do you think you are the only one who can do it right? Is it something that used to serve you to do but doesn't any more? It's ok to say "no." It's ok to elect to do only a certain portion of a project rather than be the leader. It's ok to stop doing some of the things you have been doing out of habit. Take a good hard look at why you are doing the things you are doing. And make a fresh choice. Accept only the ones that serve your current values and business strategies.
Schedule it!
I made a typical weekly schedule in Excel and used colors to delineate the time spent on each project. I work at home. I am at my desk at 9 AM, take a 15-minute Falun Gong movement break mid-morning and get a cup of tea, take a half hour for lunch, and stop around 5PM. Often I go back into my office for another hour and a half at 7:30 or so. Saturdays are absolutely set aside for creativity and Sundays are lie-about-smartly days. Adjust them to your needs and expectations.
Make this schedule fit you and your lifestyle but schedule it in your calendar. I find it really helpful to set aside a whole day for a certain activity. For instance, Mondays are about writing an e-magazine and posting articles to the Internet. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are client days.
The time you spend planning is time well spent. Remember, you can always create a schedule and then adjust what you have created. If your project changes, or a new opportunity shows up, rearrange and prioritize. As you do, choose the projects and activities that speak to your heart and bring you the most income. Plan for success!!!!
Related Tags: marketing, planning, success, project management, scheduling
Cara Lumen, M.A. Internet marketing coach, and author, provides innovative and profitable internet marketing strategies to entrepreneurs. Her business e-books are respected for their clarity and basic "start-here" message. Her free-e-magazine, High Intentions is available at http://www.caralumen.com
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