Need help with focus!

by mikecorso

Posted: 14 years ago 16 replies

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

I'm experiencing a commitment block at the moment. It happens every time I fall in one love with one or more of my ideas (I'm pretty passionate about each one although I'm feeling the need to move off of Cool Site of the Day even though it may have the biggest financial upside.) So, please help me out. Here's what I'm looking at:

Cool Site of the Day - Take Cool Site of the Day to the next level (meaning: make it more StumbleUpon-like). Pros: possibility of selling to a bigger media company. Cons: requires capital to hire engineers.
KidMoguls.com - Teach people (kids and newbies mostly) how to start a blog. Pros: I can quickly update and launch this membership site based on material I've used over the past 4 summers teaching kids at a tech/hobby camp. Cons: not much
Not Even Hands Free - National online and offline campaign (kickstarter enabled) to keep drivers off the phone while driving. Pros: a) the time has come; good feeling from doing something proactive rather than reading depressing headlines about traffic accidents from talking/texting behind the wheel. Cons: not many
SoberRoads App - Keeps convicted drunk drivers off the road by enabling police to track cars of convicted drunk drivers to make sure THEY ARE NOT DRIVING. Pros: a lot. Cons: not many
Kill The SAD (Standard American Diet) - Fight obesity via a membership site teaching everything my sister and I did to drop 50 lbs (combined). Pros: make people live healthier lives; possibility of marketing our own power shake (11 ingredients). Cons: crowded field?
StairwayToGuitars: curate the best site for guitar lesson videos. Pros: started stairwaytoguitars.com--just needs community/member contributions (video uploads); Cons: not sure how to monetize.

So, what do you think? Of the 6 projects above, on which do you recommend I focus? Post your thoughts here and/or complete this short survey: mikecorso.polldaddy.com/s/which-ideas-should-pursue-now

Thanks for your input,

#focus #ideas

malcsimm

14 years ago

Mike

Wow - you've got a lot of options!

From the brief descriptions, the "teaching blogs to newbies" seems to me to have appeal, for three reasons:

- It's a huge market
- You have much of the material, and
- It lends itself to backend sales.

That's what I'd go for personally.

Good luck, and I think you are right to focus!

Cheers

Malc

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mikecorso

14 years ago

Thanks, Malc, that's where I'm leaning....today! So appropriate for someone like yourself to chime in here (re: focus/organization).

BTW, you familiar with Simpleology? Been grounding me real good these days.

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malcsimm

14 years ago

Originally Posted by mikecorso

Hi Mike

You might like to check out The Secret Weapon - - - The Secret Weapon

Here, Evernote and GTD are smoothly integrated with TSW. If you are familiar with either Getting Things Done (David Allen) or Evernote, then this really helps to pull thing together (for free) on the Time and Project Management front.

Good luck mate!

Malc

:-)

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Killer (FREE) time management system WILL make you super-efficient - you'll wonder what hit you!!

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Augzie 14 years ago

I think if you really take the time to think about those options ONLY you will know which one YOU really want to do.

That is the best option because now you have accepted total responsiblity. Without sound cheesy: with great power comes great responsibility and vice versa.
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- mikecorso 14 years ago
  
  Augzie--agreed...but it's nice to go in with some consensus
  
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Michael Ten 14 years ago

I think that "Kill The SAD" is potentially the best idea. It is competitive, but the need is HUGE and could really help/benefit the most humans I think.
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- mikecorso 13 years ago
  
  Thanks, Michael, I will not abandon THAT one especially since my sister and I have proven that eating habits can change and the effects of those changes inspire permanent (or as permanent as we can tell, so far) lifestyle adjustments.
  
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sweetcrabhoney18 14 years ago

I'm a lot like you -- tons of projects going on at one single time. I use this program online called the Action Method. It helps my organize which project to do first. Maybe it will help you as well.

One thing that happens a lot for me is that I get bored of a project or it becomes stressful or I can't think of what to write. My advice -- consider the one that has the shortest to do list and the one that you will get the most pleasure from.

Another thing that works is personal or public deadlines. Like creating a sale page or whatever with a deadline on it and lightly marketing it so that you must meet that deadline or suffer lost of sales. It really does light a fire under you...

My last tip is to outsource the easy tasks. I found that getting a VA was the best thing I ever did. I can outsource research , repetitive tasks and things I just hate doing. It saves me hours a week and only cost about $50! Since you seem to be building membership sites, getting help with the bulk of the design can save you a ton of time and allow you to focus on the content and/or the marketing.

Good luck!
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- mikecorso 13 years ago
  
  SweetCrab,
  
  All good advice. I will say that I use ActionMethod (very good tool) BUT I found an even more effective project/task manager for me: Simpleology (this is Marc Joyner's thing...Marc is a legendary IM guy).
  
  I also benefitted from reading David Allen's 'Getting Things Done'.
  
  Finally, like you said, I've got to hold myself more to deadlines AND I'll return to outsoucing, for sure.
  
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- mikecorso 13 years ago
  
  WarrenPeterson,
  
  You'll appreciate this: I reread your first bit of advice SEVERAL times:
  
  "Which one would give you the most joy? Which one most aligns with your own personal value system? Which one is most true to who you are as a person?"
  
  Well, I would derive joy from all, however, I wasn't sure if all of them were 'most true' or aligned with my 'value system' so I decided that the one project that I HAVE to stick with (Cool Site of the Day) is the one least aligned with ME. Therefore, I'm committing to this:
  
  Figuring out a way to donate to one of my favorite causes (charity:water or Amnesty's 'Stop Violence Against Women', Teaching Tolerance) every time someone visits the daily 'Cool Site of the Day'. In other words, I (with anyone's help out there) will find a sponsor to donate money each time the 'Cool Site of the Day' is viewed (coolsiteoftheday.com/frmindex.html).
  
  I feel so much frickin better already!
  
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  geraldspins 13 years ago
  
  It'd be good to focus on one.. but if you could, try doing 2 at once. At least I do that, helps me diversify just in case one doesn't work out too well, so that I wouldn't get discouraged.
  
  Oh, and if you're only going for one, I vote for Kill the SAD!
  
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  mikecorso 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by geraldspins
  
  It'd be good to focus on one.. ... and if you're only going for one, I vote for Kill the SAD!
  
  You guys have been AMAZING. Here's where I'm leaning:
  
  Kill the SAD
  
  Teaching Kids/Newbies (Overlapping all that I teach on KidMoguls onto Cool Site of the Day)
  
  I'll post my efforts every step of the way--I believe it will become a great case study for many of you out there.
  
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WarrenPeterson 14 years ago

Slow down on the ideas (shameless plug for a post I just recently wrote on this exact subject: Great Idea? So What?)

You need instead to spend time on yourself and your potential market. Any of those ideas could make money, or could drive you to depression and a different career. In other words, the idea itself won't make you or break you.

Which one would give you the most joy? Which one most aligns with your own personal value system? Which one is most true to who you are as a person?

After you decide there, then study the potential market for your first choice. (And, don't become emotionally locked into it so that it becomes your only choice). What are the pain points for that market? What are the needs, wants, desires, of that market? What specific problem of that market would you be solving with your company?

So spend time first understanding you and then study the potential market. It may turn out that while you are in alignment, there is no actual market - that is good to know before you spend time, effort, and money on the project. On the flip side, you might find a market need that you personally do not align with - this is good to know as you would realize there is revenue to be made but it won't align with you personally so maybe it is best to simply own that and let someone else run/operate it.

Hope this helps!
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jamesrich1

14 years ago

Originally Posted by mikecorso

Kill The SAD (Standard American Diet) - Fight obesity via a membership site teaching everything my sister and I did to drop 50 lbs (combined). Pros: make people live healthier lives; possibility of marketing our own power shake (11 ingredients). Cons: crowded field?
StairwayToGuitars: curate the best site for guitar lesson videos. Pros: started stairwaytoguitars.com--just needs community/member contributions (video uploads); Cons: not sure how to monetize.

One of these two sounds like winners. You can actually focus on both if you split your time but it would be better if you dedicated all your time towards making one successful first. I say do the (SAD) idea because you are already a walking testimonial.

Thanks

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Elamros 13 years ago

I think the "Kill the SAD." Even if it is already a crowded field, I believe it is a micro niche. The product has a market. But whatever you choose, it has to be something you really like and love. You need to be really good at it too. If you are really, really, really good, when your clients/consumers and when people in general see your product, they would consider you an authority about that particular topic.
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JoeyXoto 13 years ago

Kill The SAD all the way. Massive market, and I love the name
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