Time Management for Internet Marketer – I
The majority of the time management books are about managing your chores, office work and personal time.
Rarely will you find time management books targeted for online business owners. To really make use of your time and shave hours from working on your online business, you need tips which specifically help you with running an online business.
Tips which does not apply to a normal brick and mortar business.
This is why a lot of Internet marketers struggle with time management. They spend hours and hours working on their business and not getting much done. They need information which is related to running an Internet business.
Here are the first of 2 tips:
Tip #1 – Off Topic Browsing
One of the ways to market your business online, is to post in forums. However, this task is dangerous.
It is dangerous because the activity eats up a lot of your time which you have not counted for.
When you visit forums to post, you can come across several articles which are interesting and which apply to your business. You naturally start reading these posts and before you know it, you have spent over an hour on reading.
This happens to everyone which is why you have to control yourself when surfing.
You must set a time frame and set alarm clock to remind yourself. For example, your task is to use 30 mins to read forum post related to your business, communicate with people and build a relationship. When 30 mins finished, then move to the next productive task. Do not go off-tangent and start reading other threads for information. You have work to do.
Tip #2 – Reading emails
As an online business owner, you probably have signed up for a lot of newsletters and lists from other marketers or companies.
A lot of these emails are pitches for the latest products or recommendations for their affiliate links.
What you need to do is organize how you read your emails. Since you have so many emails, reading them all will take over an hour of your time.
Here is how you handle them.
Scan through the emails and answer them immediately if related to your business. Ignore the rest for the time being.
Go through the email subject quickly and delete emails which are obviously promotion for a product.
For emails which offer good tips, file them for reading later on when you have free time.
If you do this simple procedure with your emails, you will find that you do not necessarily have to read everything that comes into your inbox.
Self-discipline yourself with this task and you will be able to save well over an hour on reading emails. When you do this often enough, you will find that you do not need to read that many emails.
Try to check your email at the end of the day after you’ve finish your productive activities. This habit save me so much time during the day.
Want to learn more about how to run a profitable business instead of set up a website. Sign up for the “Easy Cash Webinar” offer my my mentor Alex Jeffreys.
Hi Kin,
Greetings from the other end of the world.
I agree, time management is key. One way that I now practice to avoid email overload is redirecting all emails from the lists I subscribed to. I use a new gmail account for this. I go into the sales emails and change my subscription. That way I can clear my inbox without deleting the sales emails in case I want to check how they formulated their marketing. And I’m not tempted to dip in as I don’t see them all the time.
Right now, I have my Outlook closed until lunch time, then 15 minutes email browsing then closed again until this evening for another 15 minutes. It helps with email withdrawel symptoms.
Max´s last blog ..Why I Have A Coach
Hi Kin,
Great post mate,
Forward to basics was my favourite module as if it wasn’t for it I would still be doing a small bit and jumping to something else and then back to what I was doing.
At the end of 4 hours I still had an hours work done. The timer is the life saver in this approch and them small breaks keep you focused.
We have our blogs up now lets keep the momentum going and make our lives a success
Glyn
Kin,
This is a great post because the information is so true, especially when posting in forums.
Having been doing that to build up my business but it is difficult to stay away from reading other posts, especially as its a subject we’re all interested in.
The MWA community is really going great guns now.
You’re blog looks great and well done.
Reach new heights,
Nathan
Nathan Rufus´s last blog ..How To Go From Employed To Unemployable In 346 Days… Or Less!
Hey Kin,
Good post and like the layout of the blog.
Had a little chuckle at the off topic browsing point. So easy to do, you read a post which has links to another post then you check on all the posts of a particular person who contributes a lot. So easy to do. Focus is one of my main problem areas that I need to and will improve on. Absolutely necessary if you want to succeed, well, succeed without being online 24/7 anyway.
Simon
Simon Croft´s last blog ..The Journey Begins Now
Hi Kin,
This is a great start. You Know I think anyone who says they don’t have trouble with time management and productivity is probably lying, its something that takes a lot of time and effort to achieve real productivity.
Nice blog by the way, clean tidy minimal. Good stuff.
Here’s to success
Tony
Anthony Murphy´s last blog ..I’m no expert, but…
Hey Kin
great post alot of good info your blog is looking good ive only set up my one recently to so keep up the good work
keep in touch
Davy
Hi there Kin
you are right about that i use to find myself reading emails all the time and not getting any where at all, i started with alex there 4 weeks ago in the 3.0 and my life has changed in a big way, thanks for the tips i never thought about going to forms at all,
thanks Bezzer Brown
Hey Kim,
Thanks for the post. Time management is always a problem when you are working alone in your house. Stay productive, but take breaks. Planning with regular paper and pencil can help to keep you focused. Mind mapping your ideas then testing for the best results is a good strategy.
Thanks for the post
Steven
MWA 3.0
Steven Keltsch´s last blog ..The Law of Attraction
Hey Kim,
Great post. That is why I enjoyed the information in Forward to Basics so much. There is so many things we could be doing that are good but are not the best things to build our businesses. Goal setting, planning and organization are keys to the foundation of a successful online business. That is what I appreciate about the MWA 3.0 community–focus, passion and actionable proven plans. It going to be a fun ride.
All the best.
PJ
Hi Kin,
I appreciate both your tips. They are simple, but often turn a bad habit into a good one, can be very hard. There want the right techniques and technologies, because change the mindset is one of the most difficult process for the humans being.
For example in these last months, after a powerful seminar in London really effective, I’m been able to change my habits in 2 important aspects of my life:
- relationship with money
- relationship with other people
Probably you’re asking now:
“How can I get it too?”
Well, through studies and deep experiences that I have done in last 2 years live, I could find that you can change bad habits and turn them into better, through 2 principal ways:
- Unconsciously
- Consciously
The first method is the much faster and deeper and expected the use of Hypnosis. But you can’t do it by yourself, not even if you want to record your voice and then listen to it.
So the solution is to find a good hypnotist and make the right choice.
The second method is a little slower, but provides the same good results too. And you can change your bad habits in different ways and using different methods.
Personally what I have found really effective – but remember is only my personal perspective – is to recondition yourself at least 3-4 times per day, with specific exercises where you are engaging with all your senses and your fisiology.
And you can also combine this method with written exercises, visualization processes, dissociation -association processes, and many other extraordinary things.
What I hope to explain Kin is that your post is very interesting, and I have learn two methods that you use, really good for be productive in daily tasks. And Kin, I will do exactly what you suggest! But probably for me it will be more simple because of what I have learned in the past and I have wrote specifically little before.
But for many of those people that still aren’t able to adopt these healthy and productive habits into their business – how those you just suggested – this task can be very hard. Infact the high percentage of failures that all we can see in new businesses, probably drift just from this difficult process of changing.
However, let me tell that can be difficult to change a bad habit in a better one, but if you really want this, you can achieve all what you actually want!
Thanks Kin for open my mind with your valuable suggestions and personal experience.
You have a great force, a clear expressive style of what you think, and most important of all, you want succeed. And I already know that you early will succeed!
My hand on my heart,
Alberto
Hello Kim,
Your blog post was “right on the button” for me – loved it!
My problem has always been trying to do many things at once – and this always resulted in loss of focus. The problem was I was NOT aware of what a real issue this was for me as I always seemed to get things done…..eventually!
The issue was really rammed home to me when I read Rich Schefren’s “Internet Business Manifesto” – http://www.strategicprofits.com/manifest – especially the the part relating to “productive” verses “wasted” time when he showed me just what my time is worth! hit me like lightning for the very first time.
Then I could not hide my weakness from myself any longer.
Loved your writing style Kim and the practical tips as well.
Peter Beckenham´s last blog ..List Building…..Ground Zero
Hi Kin,
Just thought I would pop over here from Dave Jeffery’s Blog. Congrats on your 4 month old!
I think it is our kids that make us realise we can do more. Before I had my daughter I think I was running around blind folded. Now I am focused and determined. Their future is dependent on our success.
Thank you for the time management tips. I still need to work on this a little around my 3 year old. It is hard to block out the time in chunks. I often find myself working while she is asleep, like now!
Good luck with it all!
Cheers
Jacinta
Jacinta Dean´s last blog ..Fire And Loss: A Business And Personal Lesson For You!
This is good advice. I could have saved so much time when I first started out if I had been given this information then. I used to run around like a headless chicken.
Then one day I started a to do list and life became so much easier.
Next thing its outsourcing and away you go.
Andy Beveridge´s last blog ..I made it in the end.
Hi kin
Great advice, even though I’m better now than a while a go i still find myself getting sidetracked and realise an hour has passed!!!
Info overload or what!!
Nick
htp://www.workfromhomeideas-nickstentiford.com
Hello and Greetings Kin Lau,
What a great blog post. Your site is coming along nicely.
I too am guilty of neglecting the ever so important “Time Management” part of network marketing. Thank you for the suggestions. I believe by taking the time to map out your week and upcoming months, you will achieve better results.
I will be documenting my Time Management suggestions and progress on my blog.
Feel free to stop by and say hello.
Long live MWA 3.0
Douglas J Gregory
Hi Douglas
Thank you for visiting my site, I want to go to your blog and place comment as well, but the link is not valid.
Regards
Kin