Not making headway? Try this simple technique...

Are you sitting behind your computer every day like clockwork, slaving
over your business and still not making headway?

Are your sales basically non-existent? Are the sales you were getting
dropping off?

I'm about to share with you a technique that might solve your problem.

For months and months, I've struggled to make money and always been
amazed when my CB account keeps showing measly money. It doesn't
seem to matter how much I do, the income never goes up... but it does
go down.

I've looked at my sites, added opt-in offers, written articles and
distributed them to the top article directories, posted to social media
sites, but nothing I do seems to make any difference. I'm just in a holding
pattern.

So today I'm painfully frustrated that I cannot yet earn a living online...
and I really need to because it's about to become my only source of
income. Cripes, I've been at this now for a solid 3 years (well, seriously
since 2005 actually) with no forward advancement beyond year 1.5 yet I
keep reading about other Warriors who just made this or that amount, and
how well their businesses are going.

What could possibly be wrong, I wondered? Well... am wondering, because
I still don't know the answer. Why are other people living on a full-time
internet income and why am I not?

I'm sure many of you can relate to this.

Now, I just remembered an idea that worked in the past that showed
me exactly what I need to do to fix it.

It's easy really.

When you get to your computer every day and put fingers to keyboard,
what do you do? Like many, you probably open your email, right? So how
long does it take to go through all the spam and deal with the real stuff?

Let's assume you can do all that in 30 minutes. Then what? Do you take a
coffee break? Or do you move on to another task, like writing an article or
two?

Ok. Good. So let's say you stuck with it through the email and 2 articles,
and maybe you distributed the articles to 5 directories.

Time for lunch, right?

Ok. Lunch is over and you're back at your computer.

This is where I get stuck. How about you? I usually take another look at
my emails which is usually just more junk. I visit the Forum. And before I
know it, I've spent the rest of the afternoon responding to everyone
else's problems.

And then it's time to walk the dog... and have dinner... and the day's
virtually over.

I rediscovered this by trying to write down everything I've done on my
business in the past 2 weeks. Embarrassing as it is to admit, I've done
little promotion, yet I'm of the assumption that I've done a lot.

At this moment, I have no idea where I spend all my time. It just goes,
presumably on fixing, modifying my sites and products. And then I wonder
why I do not make more sales.

This isn't new for me... I found this out a year ago which led to the use
of checklists and to-do lists. While they made a tremendous difference in
my productivity, there is still a problem that I just recently figured out. I'll
get to it in a bit.

If you're like me, this might be your problem.

1. You aren't scheduling your daily activities
2. You aren't scheduling "enough" daily activities
3. You aren't completing those activities
4. You don't have enough activities to add to your list

For me, the biggest is #4.

After writing articles, doing a bit of social bookmarking, submitting my
articles to directories, and working a bit on my sites, I run out of things to
do. So instead of looking to see what I can do, I decide I'm finished for
the day.

It's crucial that I (and those of you like me) to have a distinct plan for
each and every day. You need to figure out how long each task takes and
then see how many other tasks you can add so that each day is full and
productive.

It's so easy to do a few things, do "busy" or "favorite" work, and not
accomplish much towards making money. This is nothing new here at the
Forum as it's been mentioned numerous times.

A year ago, I started using check lists and to-do lists to keep me working
on the things I needed to do to move my business forward. And then
something happened and I stopped. I'll explain that in a bit, too.

In my case, I haven't yet mastered many marketing skills... article
marketing mostly. Even with my talents, I cannot seem to produce more
than 2 articles a day without losing focus. Although if I set my mind to it,
I can pump out 7-8 in one day but it's exhausting. (I'm gettin' old,
dotchya know.)

It's important to focus on many different marketing techniques. That way,
you get some variety, you don't get bored or stressed doing the same
thing hour after hour, and you hit a wider market. While I have lists of
"ways to promote your product", I've never tried more than about 3.

If you're in this boat and wondering why you aren't making money, do an
evaluation of your schedule. Track everything you do every day for 2
weeks. Mark down how much time each task takes vs how many hours
you have available in a day.

It will be an enlightening activity because you probably aren't really
working as hard as you think you are... at least not on the things that
really matter to your business. And that's where checklists and to-do
lists come in. You'll be amazing how your productivity and motivataion improve.

The final, biggest revelations for me during this exercise (which I've
actually repeated over several recent months), relates to something I
have read about many times.

Do what you are best at, and hire others to do the rest.

How many times have I/we heard that?

What I discovered the other week is that I am really good at getting
through the creative stuff. My strengths are in the creative - not
in marketing. So although I had those great lists, I didn't get to enough of
the marketing because it's just not where my talents lie.

I've decided that it's time to find people who can do that "marketing" part
while I have fun producing products and web sites... I really love doing
those.

Why didn't this really sink in before? Because I kept thinking... I can't
afford to hire anyone so I'm just going to have to do it myself. And that's
when I buried the fact that I can't be good at everything - no matter how
determined I might be to learn and apply.

Well, now I know different. About 15 years ago, I stumbled across an idea
about bartering services that I wrote up for my editor. Somewhere along
the way, this concept completely slipped my mind, until the other week.

Basically, you find people with skills you need and you swap services,
rather than money. It's kind of like joint venturing, but not quite.

If you're in this situation where you lack skills but have some to offer,
approach people with this opportunity. I did it with my eavestrough guy -
I built him a brochure - he took $100 off his bill. It can work online, too.

Well... that's about it.

Now, if anyone knows where we can find services to barter, how about
letting us know? Maybe I'll start a site...

Sylvia