I’m lucky that I was introduced to the concept of goal setting from my time in Network Marketing. I was encouraged to set big goals by my mentor and at the end of my first year in that business I decided to set a goal of £100,000 (approx $200,000 USD) in sales in my second year. Even though I was only running that business on a part time basis, I achieved that goal and more, and I’m positive that without a clearly defined goal, and a well thought out plan to keep me on track, I wouldn’t have come close. I now use the same principles to set goals, and plan for everything I do.

People start online businesses for many reasons. They may already have a business and want to expand into the online realm, it may be a way of earning some extra money in the evenings and weekends around a job, it could be a hobby or past-time which slowly develops into a business, or in some cases, people start a business with the intention of building a long-term residual income.

The problem however, is that more often than not, online businesses are started without a long term goal in mind. And without something solid to focus on, it’s all too easy to lose focus and interest, especially in the early phases of an online business when the income may not be enough to keep motivation up by itself.

Attitude + Skills + Effort = Success

This is true, except that it leaves out one vital component – vision. A person with a great attitude, lots of skills, and who puts in lots of effort can still be knocked off track, lose focus and fail if they don’t have the vision to see a project through to fruition. On the other hand, someone with a massive goal, clearly defined, and the belief that they can accomplish it, will find a way even if they are lacking in skills!

Start with a goal

A goal is a ‘dream with a deadline’ and needs to be large enough to get you through the highs and lows of any business. At the same time, a goal needs to be achievable (remember Napoleon Hill’s words, “What man can conceive, and believe, he can achieve”).

Be specific

“A big house” or “A fast car” are not goals. If you’re a car enthusiast, and driving a big fast car is one of your primary goals then you need to be specific about it. You need to know the model, the colour, what it looks like, and feels like. Our unconscious brain works through vision and feelings, so if you want that big car goal to drive you to success you need to make it real. Many people suggest getting a picture of your goal, and hanging it on the wall where you’ll see it every day. I say that’s not enough – you need to ‘feel it’ not just look at it. Call the dealership and book a test drive, feel the steering wheel in your grip, listen to the engine, smell the leather seats – those are what make it real and will help to program your brain that you can achieve this!

Timely

If you have no deadline on a goal then you have no sense of urgency. Only a goal which has a clearly defined deadline will be of any use to you. I am getting married next year. We have planned the wedding for June, as we have a goal to mountain bike from Banff in Canada, down through the Rocky Mountains to the Mexican border and to catch the weather window we need to leave in August. That’s a pretty big goal as it means taking 3 months off work, and we have a very specific time frame. This should mean that the snows will have melted in the high passes before we reach Colorado, but if we were to leave much later we’d be likely to hit New Mexico in monsoon season. This makes it a perfect goal… We are both passionate about the trip and will do whatever is necessary to make it happen, and due to the timeframe we have a strict deadline to adhere to. Working from that goal backwards, we know how much we need to earn from our businesses before then, and that the business must be automated enough by then that we can safely take 3 months out. (Note: This is a photo of our route map, on the wall of our living room where it acts as a constant reminder of our goal every day!)

Stepping stones

A major long term goal is great, but you need smaller ’stepping stone’ goals along the way. Our trip to the Rockies next year is actually a ’stepping stone’ goal, while our major long term goal is to move to France and buy a chateâu. We also have smaller monthly goals to help keep us on track.

Stepping stone goals

Without these smaller ‘reward’ goals, it’s too easy to lose motivation. By achieving the smaller goals you get a sense of achievement which in turn helps your belief in reaching your main goals. These stepping stones should follow the same basic rules as your bigger goals, in that they need to be something you are passionate about and will drive you, they need to be clearly and specifically defined, and they need to have a clear deadline. The only difference is that they are shorter term and easier to achieve.

Take time to set goals

Spend some time to define your goals properly. Ask yourself why you are building a business online, what are you trying to achieve? What is is that you want out of life? Where do you want to live? What car do you want to drive? Do you want to travel?

The beauty of an online business is that, if planned and executed well, it can give you whatever you want and the flexibility to enjoy it. Don’t be tempted to skip this exercise, it will pay you massive dividends.

If you’re looking for more information on Goal setting then read Jim Rohn’s Seven Strategies for Wealth and Happiness.

You can ge more videos like this at TED.com

Now, if you’re wondering why I would post this video on a blog about buildng an online business, you maybe need to go back to the drawing board and re-asses WHY you’re doing this. The technical side of this business is really quite easy to learn, the psychology of copy writing and marketing can be taught, but if you don’t have a clear goal, a ‘definite major purpose’ your chances of success are nil!

Hope you like the video, and see you tomorrow!

Before you make that first sale, everything is theory. You can spend forever reading articles, trawling forums, devouring ebooks and courses, and learn a ton of great stuff, but there will be massive doubt in your mind until you start to see some money coming in.

Will anyone buy my products?

Will anyone want to buy through my affiliate link?

Would anyone pay for my membership subscription?

That first sale, for many people is a turning point. I remember my first affiliate sale and being over the moon at the measly $10 commission I had made. My fiancée was less than impressed, especially since it had taken me several weeks to get to that point, but to me it was proof that I could build a business online.

If you’ve yet to make your first sale, that should be your primary goal… to get just one sale under your belt.

Napoleon Hill said it best in his seminal Think and Grow Rich:

What man can conceive, and believe, he can achieve.

I know from bitter personal experience that it can be massively demotivating and frustrating when you’re dong everything you can, but seemingly making no progress. It felt like I was spinning my wheels, working flat out but getting nowhere.

In fact, I was making progress. While I wasn’t seeing results in terms of sales, I was laying the foundations. I was creating content, and starting to attract traffic, and that’s where it all begins!

Making money online is not rocket science, even if sometimes it feels that way. Read some Internet Marketing Guru’s material and you’d be forgiven for thinking this is black magic, but it’s really not that complicated…

1. Create content

2. Drive traffic to that content

3. Convert those visitors into customers

OK, so there’s a lot more to it but in essence that’s all you’re doing. Of course there ways to go about it. You want to capture those visitors by way of an email opt-in so you can send them more content and offers. You want to ensure that your sales copy is up to scratch. You need to make sure you’re targeting the right people, in a suitable market. But don’t over complicate things! Keep it simple, focus on your goal of getting customers, and then building a relationship with them so they become repeat customers and you can make a fortune!

Set yourself a target. Aim to get your first sale, or your next big sale, or to hit a new income best next month, or whatever will stretch you out of your comfort zone. Make it a big enough goal to stretch you, but one you believe you can reach. Remember – what you can conceive and believe you will achieve!

One of my favorite authors and speakers, Jim Rohn, explains it well:

Suppose you had a bank account, into which $1440 was placed every night. You are free to spend that money in any way you choose, but at the stoke of midnight the balance is cleared. Any money you didn’t spend is lost forever, but a brand new $1440 is deposited before you awake next morning.

Of course the money in Jim’s example is a metaphor for the 1440 minutes of time we each have to spend every day. The difference is that we can always earn more money, but when time is spent it is gone forever!

Time management is a rather poor term for being efficient and productive; getting more done. It’s not possible to ‘manage time’, however we can manage ourselves and how we spend that time.

A major part of my talk dealt with procrastination, and how it can be such a hurdle to running an effective online business, especially when working from home. Over the past few years I’ve found a number of techniques to help avoid procrastinating and I’d like to share the three most powerful ones I use on a daily basis with you.

Plan

There’s an old saying, “failure to plan is planning to fail” and it couldn’t be more true. I always have to fight with myself over this one, I get an idea and my instinct is to dive in headfirst and take action… STOP! All that will happen is you’ll get half way though, change your mind and have wasted time and effort. I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t take action fast, in fact “Ready, Fire, Aim!” is one of my favorite mantras at the moment, but take the time to plan it out first – whether it’s discussing your plans with a business associate or mentor, listing the steps you need to go through, or creating a mindmap so you can clearly see the route ahead, a little time planning will pay huge dividends.

Eat That Frog!

If you’ve never heard the phrase Eat that frog before then I urge you to read the eponymous book by Brian Tracy. As the name suggests, we are most productive when we do our biggest task (which is inevitably the one we are most likely to procrastinate on) first… The title apparently comes from an old Italian saying which roughly translates to, “If you start every day by eating a live frog, you know things can only get better”. I believe that can be continued with, “If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first!”. Amphibians aside, once your biggest job is done a weight is taken off your shoulders and the rest of the day, week or project really does go more smoothly.

To Do List

This has helped me more than anything, and like most gems of wisdom it’s very simple. I heard it from a very successful businessman in Scotland and it has certainly helped me, so I’ll share his three simple steps to success: Each night write a list of tasks for the following day, when you wake up start at the top of the list, don’t go to bed until you reach the end! If you want to take that a stage further then check out this great free To Do List software.

Now the big question… how much of what you learned have you put into action?

If you’re anything like me, and I know from chatting to a ton of people about this that many people are, you’re an information addict. You try to soak up knowledge like a sponge, devouring every article, ebook and video you can lay your hands on.

When I was first getting started online I spent a small fortune on products. I would read a sales letter with the intention of trying to find out why it worked, what the key factors were in the hope that it would improve my copywriting – and by the time I finished I found myself clicking to buy, believeing that one more ebook, or one more ‘killer product’ would make all the difference and I’d be successful.

In fact all that happened was my office got fuller and fuller. I like to print ebooks and reports off, spiral bind them and read them away from the computer so my office was piling up with half read books and manuals dotted with highlighter pen, but I still wasn’t making any money.

Taking action – going from learning to earning

Learn as much as you like, get your attitude right and a great work ethic and none if it means a thing unless you take ACTION. Massive action is what separates the massively successful from the ‘also ran’.

Now, I’m going to tell you something your unlikely to hear from any other Internet Marketer – You don’t need to buy any more products! I bet that 99% of the visitors to this site already have enough material to build a successful online business. What you need to do is put that learning into practice… Get a website online, a blog, a review site, whatever. Start driving traffic to that site by any means – forums, articles, social media etc. Then get yourself an autoresponder and start building a list. Now, finally, start promoting affiliate products to that list and via your sites… what do you know, you’ve made a sale! Now rinse and repeat!

Once you make your first sale everything seems a little easier. You’ll build on previous successes and start to develop your business. Sure you’re going to want to develop your own products, build relationships with JV partners and explore some of the more advanced techniques of Internet Marketing but the first step has to be action to create that first sale. If you really are just starting to learn and you don’t have a ton of reference material then start with somthing simple and cost effective like Russell Brunson’s Free DVD offer. You can then reinvest some of your early profits into other products and courses to further your development.

As you probably already guessed, I bought the book because of the title – I mean who wouldn’t buy a book called that? It’s right up there with Think and Grow Rich and Shut Up, Stop Whining and Get a Life as one of my all time favourite titles – but you know what they say about judging a book by its cover!

The book revolves around the premise that anyone can free up their time, and live a flexible and wealthy lifestyle by changing their mindset and using some simple strategies. Ferriss is a big advocate of Pareto’s principle (the 80/20 rule) and suggests using it ruthlessly to eliminate all unproductive tasks, while making those tasks which are highly productive as efficient as possible. He has some great ideas such as planning ‘mini retirements’ rather than working your whole life for a retirement at the end.

The book is split into 4 chapters – Definition, Elimination, Automation and Liberation. Definition covers dreaming and goal setting, freeing yourself from the ‘45 year plan’ of grinding away every day in the hope of enjoying your retirement. Elimination, as the name suggests, is all about putting an end to unproductive tasks. Ferriss suggests selective ignorance and a low information diet to clear the clutter and keep focussed on what really matters to drive your business forward. Automation is where he really gets into talking about outsourcing, getting your business systemised and non-reliant on your daily input and presence. Finally, Liberation is about been free of your job, business or location and able to travel, live anywhere, work anywhere and do the things that you really want to do.

Now I know that opinions have been very mixed about this book – you either love it, or hate it. I love it! In fact, it is the first and only book I ever read twice in a row – I got the end, and went right back to page one and read it all over again!

If you are currently in a J.O.B. and wanting to run your own business, or you do run your own business but feel like a slave to it (most business owners I know work much longer hours than their employees!) then I urge you to not only read this book, but to study it and put the theory into practice. Why work hard 8 hours a day, 6 days a week with 4 weeks off every year, just so you can enjoy a retirement which, let’s face it, is far from guaranteed? Life really is short, and you can either live it, or postpone it in the hope of enjoying it later…

Since reading this book my life truly has started to change. I’m looking at my businesses, and my lifestyle in a whole new way. I’m now systemising my business in an attempt to take myself out of the loop, to be less reliant on location and time constraints. Have I achieved a 4 hour work week? No, not yet! But I do feel that my business is heading in the right direction and I have my own ‘mini retirement’ planned for next year: a three month mountain bike adventure in the Rocky Mountains with my wife… and I won’t even be working 4 hours a week on that trip!

Check out Tim’s site at www.fourhourworkweek.com

That, however, was the problem. I was getting so much work that I was having to turn projects down. There are only so many hours in the day, and when you’re self employed you can’t just spend all your working time doing your actual work. On top of designing websites there are accounts to be done, and marketing, and admin and all sorts of other tasks. I knew that in order to scale my business I needed to take on an employee, but the idea scared me. My father had been an employer for the past 40 years and I knew about all the stress, and headaches, and health and safety, and pensions, and respinsibility that came with it. An employee would mean having to be at the office on time to open up, and stay until closing. No longer could I wake up and, on finding the sun out and the winds right, decide to go kite boarding for a few hours before rolling into the office at lunchtime and making up the time by working until midnight.

No, employees certainly sounded like too much responsibility for me so I struggled on, trying to be a one man band and do everything myself. Luckily for me, it was around this time that I stumbled upon Network Marketing. Here was a way of scaling a business, and leveraging other people’s time and effort, without the need for employees. I started building my Network Marketing business in my ’spare’ time and as that began to grow into a substantial second income I eased off on the web design.

More recently however I’ve been more prolific on the web again. Creating my 1DayWebmaster seminars and a number of other projects has, once again, started to put strains on my time. The idea of taking on employees has once again reared its ugly head.

That was, however, until I read a book that changed my view of business all together, The 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss. Tim spends much of the book praising the virtues of outsourcing, a subject I’d never paid much thought to before hearing about the book over at Internet Business Mastery.

Put simply, outsourcing is the process of paying a freelancer to take on a specific project for you. It could be writing a report, building a website, creating a small piece of software, carrying out market research or any number of other tasks. Now, I know from personal experience that the perceived cost of hiring a freelancer is often the stumbling block here but you may be surprised with how incredibly cost effective it can be. Let me describe my first venture into outsourcing by way of example.

I had an idea of writing a report about home business opportunities in the UK. I had been thinking about writing it for months and had got as far as drafting a rough outline of what information should be included but not further – the thought of spending hours and hours researching each opportunity, and writing the report was hardly a task I would relish, although I was convinced it would be a marketable product.

Enter outsourcing… There are quite a number of outsourcing websites these days and the one I chose was getafreelancer.com

I signed up for a free account set about posting my project. I wrote an outline of the project, what I expected to me included in the report, what opportunities I wanted toi be included, how the report was to be formatted etc. I included a list of 60 UK home business opportunities and one sample page which I wrote to give an indication of style and content… Then I waited.

Getafrelancer.com and many of the other outsourcing sites (rentacoder, elance etc.) work as a kind of ‘reverse auction’ where freelancers bid on your project and you can choose the one best suited. As well as price you can be guided by an ebay-like feedback system and private messages with the bidders.

The first bids started soming in within about 2 minutes! First were $500 bids from very professional sounding individuals, although their PMs sounded generic and stilted. Slowly, more and more cam in until after about 6 hours I had 18 bids ranging from $500 down to $30… I went with the one for $30!

The bid was from a Kenyan woman whose English wasn’t perfect, but it was very, very good and was expecting to have to edit the report myself anyway. I was told it would take 3 days!!!

True to her word, 3 days later I received a 90 page report packed with information about the business opportunities I had requested. For 30 bucks! I couldn’t get over the amazing value for money – if I had employed someone local to carry out the work it would have cost me a small fortune, yet I had just managed to have the entire report written, in 3 days, for less than the cost of a decent dinner!

Needless to say I paid up, left glowing feedback, and have been using outsourcing on a regular basis since. In fact, I still don’t use it as much as I could and that’s something I’m working on. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and find it hard to relinquish control and delegate but it’s something I’m working on.

I’ve learned a lot since that first venture into the world of hired help so here are my top tips to getting the most from outsourcing:

1. Plan your project

They say that failing to plan is planning to fail. Freelancers might be great at what they do but they are not mind readers. If you’re not clear of exactly what you want, how can you expect them to deliver?

2. Be specific

The more detailed your project outline the better chance you’ll get what you want at the end. For a book or report give chapter headings as well as a synopsis. A sample of writing style is also a good idea. If there is research to be done give examples of books or websites where you expect that information to come from.

3. Research your freelancer

All good outsourcing sites will allow you to view feedback but it’s also a good idea to look at a sample of pervious work. Use PM or email to discuss the project before choosing a bidder to make sure you’re compatible.

4. Define rights

If you’re having a report written, or software created for example you need to be sure to get the full rights to the work. In order to avoid any potential legal problems in the future use a contract saying that you get full rights to the work and none are retained by the author.

5. Use multiple freelancers

You can save money on larger projects by getting the work done by multiple people. For example, having an ebook written by a native English speaker will generally cost you a lot more than having it written by someone in e developing country who speaks English as a second language. However, you may find you can have the book written cheaply by a freelancer in India for example, and then have it edited by a native English speaker at a fraction of the price.

6. Agree payment schedule

For larger projects it’s a good idea to setup multiple escrow payments which are released as the project develops. For example, you make the first payment when they deliver the first 2 chapters, second payment when half done and final payment on completion. This creates trust between you and the freelancer and also alows you to monitor the project as it progresses and catch errors early on rather than waiting until you get a complete project with fundamental flaws.

7. Finally – Start off small

Handing over control of any project, and a payment for the pleasure, can be a daunting experience. Start with a small, non-vital project to get yourself into the mindset, learn from the experience and also scope out the freelancer you’re hiring. If they do a good job, and you manage them well, you’ll feel more comfortable delegating a larger project in the future.

There really are only 24 hours in the day, no matter how hard you work! There’s only so much you yourself can do in that time so if you want to get more done you’ll need leverage. Sure, employees could be the way forward depending on your business, but they also come with massive responsibility and costs. Network Marketing is another great way to leverage your time but it doesn’t suit everyone… but hiring freelancers is a method that will fit most business models. Start small, test the water, follow the tips above and watch your productivity soar!

In fact, over the past 7 years I’ve gone from commuting to a J.O.B. to working from home, to renting an office and commuting there, and back to working from home again. I now love working from home, but there are still days when I’m tempted to get an office again and to be honest, it’s always going to be a bit of a compromise. For every advantage to working from home, and it’s not for everyone, but with some careful planning it can be the best move ever and most days I feel like the luckiest guy in the world!

Pros of working from home

No commute – This is a big one… While other people take an hour or longer, driving through traffic or sitting on the train to arrive at the office it takes me 3 steps, literally, from the bedroom to the office. No wasted time, energy or fuel and no chance of getting delayed in traffic or rail strikes!

No dress code – Ever rushed to get ready for work only to remember you forgot to iron your shirt, or that your jacket’s still at the cleaners? Ever wished you could just turn up in your jeans, or even your boxers? I can! In fact, unless I have a meeting with an important client or I’m running a seminar I never have to think about what I’m wearing.

Flexibility of timing – I like mornings. Now I know many people won’t share my enthusiasm for pre-6am work but I often get my best work done early, before anyone else is up. Other times I’ll be on a roll and work way past midnight on a project. If you work in an office that’s just not possible. At some point you have to go home for dinner, and by the time you’ve commuted for an hour the next morning you’re not in the zone anymore… Working from home means you can work when you’re most productive and when YOU want to.

Tax benefits – This blog is not the place to give legal or tax advice but suffice to say that a home office gives you tax benefits. You need to do your homework and speak to an accountant but you’d be surprised at what you can legitimately claim for if you work from home!

Better health – It’s a well known fact that stress is a killer. Without doubt, getting yourself out of the office ‘cubical’ environment and into a comfy leather chair in a home office can do wonders for your stress levels. If I’m having a bad day I can stop for a cup of tea in the garden, take the dog for a walk or play a few chords on the old guitar – whatever it takes to calm down and ready myself for the next project… Try turning up to the office with a garden chair, guitar and a rottweiler and see what sort of a reception you’ll get!

More control – This ties in with several of the above, but simply working from home allows you to take more control of your life. You’re not clocking in and out at set times. There’s no boss breathing down your neck, watching your every move. If you need time out you can take it and make it up later… You are the master of your own destiny.

More time with family – Another massive one! Coupled with not having a boss on your back, and avoiding the commute, this is the one that non-homeworkers are most jealous of. Instead of leaving the house at 7am and not getting back until way after dark in the winter months, I’m at home all day. You can always make more money, but you can never get back lost time!

Wow, so it sounds like working from home is ideal… well not so fast. Like I said there are pros and cons so lets take a quick look at the downsides to turning your back bedroom into your office.

Cons of working from home

Distractions – For me this was the biggest problem when I first began working from home. In the home there’s always something to do. You pop into the kitchen to make a coffee and while you’re there you notice that last nights washing up needs doing. The dog walks in and demands a walk. The postman turns up with your new Playstation game and you decide to test it out ‘just for 5 minutes. Or the big one for me, uninvited guests. In fact, you can help prepare for this one by speaking to your friends and family. You need to make them realise that just because you’re not “going to work” anymore, you’re still working and that interruptions are detrimental to your business. Let people know what times you normally work and ask them to try and keep social visits to non-work times.

Lack of contact – In an office environment there are always other people around. People to bounce ideas off, to compete with, or just to interact with on a social level. Working from home can leave you without that contact so you need to replace it. IM and forums can be great tools for bouncing ideas, and networking events and conferences are even better. If you’re the type of person who needs people around you could try taking your laptop and working at a local cafe or library from time to time.

Can’t escape work – This was a big problem for me at first. When your home becomes your office you can get in the habit of always being in work mode and never switching off. The first thing you do when you wake is check your email, you’re at the computer until well after midnight, and you’re taking work calls 24/7. Stop. One of the main reasons for working from home is to gain some control in your life, not to let your business take over. Schedule your time and set boundaries for work and home. If possible set your office up in a separate room from the rest of the house, or at the very least not in the same room your sleep in. Set up your voicemail to take calls out of hours and don’t give in to clients who know you work from home – they wouldn’t expect an answer at 10pm if you still worked at the office so they shouldn’t now!

Pro image to clients – This very much depends on the nature of your business. Working from home can give an unprofessional image but it needn’t be a problem in most instances. If you need a professional looking address get a PO box, or a virtual office. If you have to meet a client suggest you go to them (great customer service) or meet out for lunch.

No regular paycheck – OK so this is really about running your own business, whether from home or from an office. Some people just aren’t suited to it as they need the so called security of a J.O.B. but I realised a long time ago that the only real security was in working for yourself and being in control… you will never sack or downsize yourself! There are really only 2 solutions to this – either build your business part time until you’re earning enough to quit your job, or bite the bullet, burn your bridges and go full steam ahead… Quitting your job will certainly give you the motivation you need to get things moving fast!

It’s all down to you – If it’s your business then you’re the one who’s accountable. It also means you need to be a jack of all trades from marketing to accounts and everything in between. To scale a traditional business normally means taking on employees which wouldn’t really work for a home based business, but there are alternatives. Outsourcing using sites such as GetaFreelancer.com and RentaCoder.com can be easy and very cost effective, taking the load of you and freeing your time away from the nitty gritty task, allowing you to concentrate on building your business.

So what’s the answer?

The decision to work from home shouldn’t be taken lightly. As you read above, I’ve switched back and forth from office to home and finally found that working from home gives me the best lifestyle but take some time to plan and organise yourself if you decide to set up a home office. As for running your own business, that in my opinion is a no brainer – you’ll never get rich working for someone else and it’s the only way to take control of your life.