6 Hours a Day Spent On Internet Marketing

[steveweber]

As a work-at-home marketer I often find my time "nickle and dimed" away with the dozens of little tasks which may not be the best way to spend my time.

So this week I am limiting myself to 6 hours of work per day...period.

My plan is that I will better prioritize my time; I'll be forced to spend my time on the tasks I REALLY feel are important.

What do you think?

Does anyone use a method like this to increase productivity?

[Brad Spencer]

Absolutely Steve!

This is the basic idea behind Jimmy D. Brown's Six Figure Formula coaching program. So you know lots of people are using that.

Here's the deal. Outsourcing is probably one of the scariest steps a person needs to take before realizing "true" success (I define "true" as having a business that pays what you want without having to work long hours...simple and probably what most people want)

Here are some quick tips I'd suggest to get under your 6 hour goal.

1. Outsource boring/repetitive tasks- article writing, article submission, uploading web pages to test, routine emails, creating autoresponder campaigns, etc are all good places to start there.

2. Get a Stopwatch- as you focus on time mgmt, you'll notice certain tasks take the same amount of time. The trick is to track this. So if you find out it takes you 5 minutes to write a forum post, see if you can't try and get that down to 4 mins. This extra minute will be very valuable when you repeat this over and over (1 min a day is a half hour a month!)

3. Think in terms of your "dollars per hour"- this trick I got from Jimmy D. Brown's coaching program that I referenced above. This helped me with Trick 1 (outsourcing) as well.

For example,

If you wanna make 10k per month
Working 30 hours a week (5 days x 6 hrs/day)

Your hourly wage is $10,000/ 120 hrs month (4 weeks x 30 hrs)= $83.33 an hour.

Pretty profound isn't it?

So if you can outsource a task for $20 an hour, shouldn't you do this (assuming you have no reason for keeping this task in house based on your business model) ?

4. Create Income Rivers- this will increase your salary w/o adding much work

The big key here and for IM this almost always means continuity (membership) sites. You work 20 hours in a month to create it and 3-4 hours a month into perpetuity to maintain. This income river increases your monthly income w/o needing to increase the amount of work you do.

BONUS TIP: You could outsource some of your "maintenance" work and then use Tip 1 and Tip 4 for a double whammy.



Hope this gets you thinking

Brad Spencer

Originally Posted by steveweber

As a work-at-home marketer I often find my time "nickle and dimed" away with the dozens of little tasks which may not be the best way to spend my time.

So this week I am limiting myself to 6 hours of work per day...period.

My plan is that I will better prioritize my time; I'll be forced to spend my time on the tasks I REALLY feel are important.

What do you think?

Does anyone use a method like this to increase productivity?

[steveweber]

Originally Posted by Brad Spencer

Absolutely Steve!


1. Outsource boring/repetitive tasks- article writing, article submission, uploading web pages to test, routine emails, creating autoresponder campaigns, etc are all good places to start there.


Brad Spencer

Thanks Brad for that great reply...I appreciate it! Actually, I am just now getting into outsourcing on a regular basis too!

[Gabe77]

On the average, I'm spending 4-5 hours in front of the computer writing articles! If I don't track my time, I end up spending more which is really a waste. Learned my lesson, so now I keep an alarm beside me. I allocate the number of minutes or hours that I should be spending on a particular project. When I'm really swamped, I turn to outsourcing. The free time I get from outsourcing allows me to do other important things.

[steveweber]

I'm going to try the timer idea. I'm not usually that structured of person (and that might be a problem I need to work on), but I think I may learn some things about how I'm spending my time better. Thanks!

[Chris Stigson]

Great post! It makes me feel that I need to increase my productivity even more - I already do 1 hour jobs in 15 minutes, but need to hire more people!

To the Philippines we go, they are super cheap and can get the job done real well for you!

Recommend John Jonas Replace Myself to learn more about how to get that lifestyle you truly desire...

- Chris

[stayfocused]

Outsourcing is essential to make your business grow without you having to put in crazy long hours.

When I was just getting started I would put in 12-15 hours every single day. I thought I was being the most productive person in the world. It wasn't until I met someone who was making 10x's what I was making and he was working less in 1 week than I was in 1 day.

I now have 3 VA's working for me and I work less now and get more accomplished in a day then I ever did slaving 12 hours a day.

If you don't like to do it, out source it. That will free up creative and productive time to focus on what you do enjoy doing and you will actually get more done!!

[xlfutur1]

Originally Posted by steveweber

I'm going to try the timer idea. I'm not usually that structured of person (and that might be a problem I need to work on), but I think I may learn some things about how I'm spending my time better. Thanks!

Steve, check out Derek Franklin's theactionmachine.com
I've been using it lately (used to use the dollar store timer) and its a killer way to stay organized. It even has reporting so you can print out all the actions you completed that day. I highly recommend it as a tool to use every day.

[ajiabs]

Have you read 4 hour workweek by Timothy ferris. he had some practical ideas on cutting down the noise level. some are pretty good.

[Kent F]

Good point Steve for sure - more focused, efficient work - thanks.

Kent F.

[garyv]

Originally Posted by xlfutur1

Steve, check out Derek Franklin's theactionmachine.com
I've been using it lately (used to use the dollar store timer) and its a killer way to stay organized. It even has reporting so you can print out all the actions you completed that day. I highly recommend it as a tool to use every day.

I'll second the action machine - I've been using it lately, and it has been saving me a lot of time.

[steveweber]

Thanks guys! I will check into those too!

[Kyle Tully]

Originally Posted by steveweber

As a work-at-home marketer I often find my time "nickle and dimed" away with the dozens of little tasks which may not be the best way to spend my time.

So this week I am limiting myself to 6 hours of work per day...period.

My plan is that I will better prioritize my time; I'll be forced to spend my time on the tasks I REALLY feel are important.

What do you think?

Does anyone use a method like this to increase productivity?

Great idea Steve.

I wrote about this on my blog about a year ago:

"Parkinson’s law says work expands to fill the time allocated to it. If you choose to work 7 days, you’ll magically find 7 days worth of work to do. The flip side is that work must also contract in a similar fashion. If you choose to work 5 days you’ll make sure you get all your work done in 5 days."

Just replace "days" with "hours" and the same theory applies.

My biggest secret to productivity (not to mention enjoying life) is to work less.

You actually get more done!

[steveweber]

Yes, it took me a while to learn that blood, sweat and 60 hour weeks were no guarantee to success

[Paul Moore]

Yes Steve,

I used to spend hours of aimless time online, but now I am results driven. I have my whole day broken down into blocks of time ie. half hour segments, and I use a timer to transition between. The difference is night and day!

[SeanSupplee]

Hey Steve,
While everyone is saying great idea you could be making a mistake. Maybe maybe not but I will go against the grain like I always do lol

Those small tasks you do every day are they helping you grow and your business grow? If they are make a copy of what you do every day easy enough for anyone to understand and OUTSOURCE IT
Outsourcing is going to free up a ton of your time and continue to help grow you and your business that much faster.
Not sure where you stand but just wanted to throw in another option.

[nicholasb]

I only work about 4 hours a day now, if you can even really call it that, I use to go about 12 hours straight, now I pay a team of 4 people 10.00 an hour to do most of the tedious little crap..

[steveweber]

Paul, Sean, and Nicholas...thanks! I really appreciate the comments and advice!

I have to say that I "cheated" today a bit...worked an extra few hours. I was deep in setting up a new site.

[Azlan]

I use to work all day for IM.. now i beginning to hire people doing the repeated task... still learning and have a long way to go...

thanks for the inspiring post.

[AndyBlackSEO]

I'm a culprit for this. I can easily waste an hour or two each morning doing things like checking forums, analytics and adword etc. Things that are not productive to spend that amount of time on.

This thread has certainly opened my eyes to how unstructured I can be. I think I am definately going to make a concious effort to organize my time more.

Thanks for all the ideas!

[Hililuud]

Originally Posted by steveweber

As a work-at-home marketer I often find my time "nickle and dimed" away with the dozens of little tasks which may not be the best way to spend my time.

So this week I am limiting myself to 6 hours of work per day...period.

My plan is that I will better prioritize my time; I'll be forced to spend my time on the tasks I REALLY feel are important.

What do you think?

Does anyone use a method like this to increase productivity?

Do the 20% that will get you success and the 80% later...

[Pat Jackson]

I have actually just put together a plan myself of working 6 hours a day, 5 days a week.

The tasks that I've set for myself ensure that I have to be PRODUCTIVE and I've made some rules such as not visting forums, no email, etc during those hours to help achieve this.

My goal is to establish a consistent source of income after a 3 month period.

[Steadyon]

Originally Posted by Brad Spencer

Absolutely Steve!

3. Think in terms of your "dollars per hour"- this trick I got from Jimmy D. Brown's coaching program that I referenced above. This helped me with Trick 1 (outsourcing) as well.

For example,

If you wanna make 10k per month
Working 30 hours a week (5 days x 6 hrs/day)

Your hourly wage is $10,000/ 120 hrs month (4 weeks x 30 hrs)= $83.33 an hour.

Pretty profound isn't it?

So if you can outsource a task for $20 an hour, shouldn't you do this (assuming you have no reason for keeping this task in house based on your business model) ?

Brad Spencer

Brad,

I think we all understand what you are saying. Yes one should consider outsourcing etc...

However, you have got your maths wrong on the way to calculate what to pay.

Your method does work if you have the money already to pay for it, or if you are making the $83.33 per hour in your example.

If someone has no money or very little income then they can't pay $20 an hour.

Per your logic, if someone wanted to earn $100,000 per month (120 hours) then there would need to be an average income of $833.33 per hour.

So on this logic you could outsource something even if it costs $500 an hour to do.

Wanting to earn $100,000 is not the same as actually earning $100,000.

Too many businesses spend or commit money they don't have, and end up in sh*t creek.

Two golden rules:

1) Make loads of money
2) Spend less than you make

[BloomerBeak]

You're right, Steve.
And I believe in order to follow this, discipline is really essential. I do the same, I mean set myself to work 4 hours a day for IM and 4 hours programming. I'm already succeeding with the programming part, only the IM is a little problematic. I lack the discipline, but I should do it.

[steveweber]

Originally Posted by nlfast

Maybe to the IM newbie,you need do everything yourself first,otherwise you don't the basic way that IM need.and I think if you only take IM as a part job it may also difficulty to outsouce something

Yes, I'm glad you brought that up. I don't think it is realistic for a beginner to think they can only work 4 to 6 hours a day at Internet marketing and enjoy a full time income once they quit their day job.

In the beginning there is so much to learn. I worked at IM in my "spare time" while I still had a job...I didn't get to work even 6 hours a day at it except on the weekends. But when I took the leap and quit my job, I buried myself in setting up systems and sites....no way could I have limited my hours during that time.

If you are a just beginning, it's OK to work at a lot of hours...just don't burn yourself out.