What I've learned...
Hey warriors, I wanted to share some things that might help newbies, and those struggling, to focus on becoming successful and avoid several of my mistakes.
Focus and planning is my main advice for anyone in the business. But this is easier said than done. It hasn't been until just recently that I have taken a look at the past year and a half or so and decided to reset my journey in I.M.
You see, my background is in education. I'm currently an elementary school principal and taught students for 7 years prior to my movement into the office. When I teach I'm thoughtful, careful and intentional about the decisions I make on a minute by minute basis.
In my teaching I determine in advance the learning outcomes (objectives) I want my students to achieve. From this I plan backwards. Each lesson is geared to give my students the next set of skills they need to get a step closer to their end learning goal. I monitor their progress through frequent, authentic assessment and provide feedback. I intervene for students needing additional support on a regular basis. I end a unit of instruction with a summative assessment to determine the learning my students can demonstrate, and maybe even more importantly, to determine my instructional effectiveness and help me to plan the next unit of instruction. This process continues for every unit I teach. It can be broken down into these steps in a nutshell:
1. Determine End Goal (Objective)
2. Plan backwards lessons needed to get to End Goal
3. Frequently Assess along the way to make adjustments needed
4. Conduct Summative assessment to determine success at meeting End Goal
5. Intervene for those not meeting End Goal
6. Reassess to determine success at meeting End Goal
7. Rinse and repeat for every lesson, unit of instruction, subject, etc.
What I have found to be ironic is my lack of following my training when it came to my internet marketing journey. Until very recently, my steps included the following
1. Purchase the next "biggest, greatest" WSO, or new marketing strategy
2. Put in at least one week of true effort
3. Become disappointed when it produced little to no results
4. Move on a purchase the next "biggest, greatest" product
5. Follow steps 2-4 over and over again.
It was easy to become frustrated at the product seller when I didn't see the immediate results I was expecting. But in fact, I started to realize, unfortunately not until after many months and quite a few dollars, it wasn't the products at all but instead my lack of focus and planning.
It is October 2012 and this is a new day for me personally. I have realized I have the training necessary to be successful in this business. In fact, I had it before I ever read my first $7 e-book about blogging. I just needed to apply my training to my I.M. journey.
Sorry for the long post, but hopefully some will find something they can learn from my experiences. My new steps in I.M. are as follows:
1. Determine an End Goal (Objectives) for any project I start
2. Break the project into manageable steps all building upon each other to reach my end goal. (create timelines for project steps and stick to them)
3. Frequently assess along the way to measure progress towards the main goal and make adjustments as needed. (advice from others, tracking, etc.)
4. Conduct a summative assessment to determine the project's success and determine whether or not to continue to invest time and/or money into the project to achieve my main goals
5. Intervene on my project steps if needed to improve performance (ways to increase conversions, split testing, etc.)
6. Conduct another summative assessment to determine the project's success.
7. Rinse and repeat!
Thanks again for reading my long post. In short my advice for any newbie or anyone struggling is to start with an end goal, plan each step intentionally, take action, monitor frequently, adjust as necessary, avoid distractions that aren't in your original plan and seek the advice of others.
Focus and planning is my main advice for anyone in the business. But this is easier said than done. It hasn't been until just recently that I have taken a look at the past year and a half or so and decided to reset my journey in I.M.
You see, my background is in education. I'm currently an elementary school principal and taught students for 7 years prior to my movement into the office. When I teach I'm thoughtful, careful and intentional about the decisions I make on a minute by minute basis.
In my teaching I determine in advance the learning outcomes (objectives) I want my students to achieve. From this I plan backwards. Each lesson is geared to give my students the next set of skills they need to get a step closer to their end learning goal. I monitor their progress through frequent, authentic assessment and provide feedback. I intervene for students needing additional support on a regular basis. I end a unit of instruction with a summative assessment to determine the learning my students can demonstrate, and maybe even more importantly, to determine my instructional effectiveness and help me to plan the next unit of instruction. This process continues for every unit I teach. It can be broken down into these steps in a nutshell:
1. Determine End Goal (Objective)
2. Plan backwards lessons needed to get to End Goal
3. Frequently Assess along the way to make adjustments needed
4. Conduct Summative assessment to determine success at meeting End Goal
5. Intervene for those not meeting End Goal
6. Reassess to determine success at meeting End Goal
7. Rinse and repeat for every lesson, unit of instruction, subject, etc.
What I have found to be ironic is my lack of following my training when it came to my internet marketing journey. Until very recently, my steps included the following
1. Purchase the next "biggest, greatest" WSO, or new marketing strategy
2. Put in at least one week of true effort
3. Become disappointed when it produced little to no results
4. Move on a purchase the next "biggest, greatest" product
5. Follow steps 2-4 over and over again.
It was easy to become frustrated at the product seller when I didn't see the immediate results I was expecting. But in fact, I started to realize, unfortunately not until after many months and quite a few dollars, it wasn't the products at all but instead my lack of focus and planning.
It is October 2012 and this is a new day for me personally. I have realized I have the training necessary to be successful in this business. In fact, I had it before I ever read my first $7 e-book about blogging. I just needed to apply my training to my I.M. journey.
Sorry for the long post, but hopefully some will find something they can learn from my experiences. My new steps in I.M. are as follows:
1. Determine an End Goal (Objectives) for any project I start
2. Break the project into manageable steps all building upon each other to reach my end goal. (create timelines for project steps and stick to them)
3. Frequently assess along the way to measure progress towards the main goal and make adjustments as needed. (advice from others, tracking, etc.)
4. Conduct a summative assessment to determine the project's success and determine whether or not to continue to invest time and/or money into the project to achieve my main goals
5. Intervene on my project steps if needed to improve performance (ways to increase conversions, split testing, etc.)
6. Conduct another summative assessment to determine the project's success.
7. Rinse and repeat!
Thanks again for reading my long post. In short my advice for any newbie or anyone struggling is to start with an end goal, plan each step intentionally, take action, monitor frequently, adjust as necessary, avoid distractions that aren't in your original plan and seek the advice of others.
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