The process itself needs to be enjoyable, or trying to hit that faraway goal will feel like a slog through the mud. Training yourself to enjoy each tiny step in the process will teach your brain to enjoy trying.
115
Measure Success
All this stuff has a purpose. Most of us aren’t naturally designed to be great entrepreneurs. We need to learn step-by-step and rewire ourselves for success. That’s why setting up proper feedback is just as important as tracking our success. With weight loss, you can simply get on the scale every day, but you can’t remember what you weighed three days ago or eleven days ago. Every time I take my measurements, I enter them into a tracking website. It gives me line graphs so that I can see my progress. I do the same thing tracking my books on Amazon. I want to see trends, not just today’s numbers.
Whatever method you choose to pursue, it needs to have a tracking element. You can use a task manager or a notebook. You can even start a blog about your process of writing a blog. Each day, you write about the goals and what you achieved. You will find that shockingly rewarding. After the first few months, you’ll have some money coming in online, but you will feel like you haven’t accomplished enough. In those moments, you can read your first blog posts and see how much you have accomplished.
Whatever method you choose to use, checking off boxes and being able to see the accomplished goals behind you are crucial. You need to see that you have made progress. You might think your brain can remember those feelings of accomplishment, but it simply can’t. Our brains are terrible at long-term thinking.
I track big and small goals all the time. For this book, I have a total word count goal of one hundred thousand words. That’s how long I want this book to be when I finish it. That’s a huge goal. That’s like planning to climb Everest. I have broken it down in two different ways. I have a book goal of one hundred thousand words and a daily goal of ten thousand words. With Scrivener, I click an icon, and it shows me where I am with each goal. The daily goal resets at midnight so I am always current. Sometimes looking at how much I have written today feels good. Sometimes I like to watch that little bar graph march closer and closer to my overall goal. Both give me feedback, track my progress and give me good feelings.
I have also chopped this book into dozens of tiny sections inside each module. As I finish a little section, I get a sense of accomplishment. I have multiple tracking methods to ensure that I am always feeling good. You want to find a measuring system that works for you.
We all require different types of feedback. Some people learn visually, and some people learn by listening. That’s why this book comes in audiobook format too.
There is no picture-perfect way to track your progress that works for everyone. Try out different methods and see what works the best for you. Which way of tracking makes you feel the best and most successfully motivates you? That’s the answer you want to find.
116
Power of Process
There are some micro steps that we only have to complete once. You only have to buy your domain name a single time. That’s a one-time micro goal. But there are other steps we’re going to need to do over and over again – every day, every week, every month. Those goals aren’t as hard as they might seem because the brain likes repetition.
I told you my morning process for starting my day and moving to my office nook. If I got over there at different times every day, it would no longer be a process. Coming here at the same time has created a pattern that my brain likes and my increase in efficiency is the proof.
When you are running a blog, there are tasks that you have to repeat over and over. Turning them into repetitive goals that you do in the same order creates a process. You have to write your blog posts, and you’ve got to put them out consistently, or your whole site will die on the vine. It’s something you don't want to screw up.
You can write a post every day. That is one process, and it works for some people. You can write fifty posts at the start of each month. Or you can write five posts for the week every Monday. That process works well for other people. On my blog, I have over a hundred posts that I haven’t published yet. I think of an interesting idea, and I save it in draft mode along with an image inside my blog. When I want to write the idea is ready for me. That’s part of my process.
Another part of your process will be finding images for your posts. You might decide to look for images while you are writing each post like I do. Or you write five blog posts on Sunday and then Monday you get images for all of them. Find the process that works best for you.
You’ll also need to check comments and do housecleaning once in a while. You need to update the software and make sure everything continues to run smoothly. Wordpress is going to help with that, as a lot of the updates now are automatic, but you still can’t be totally asleep at the wheel. You also need to check your email.
Instead of leaving your email open to beep at you as an email comes in, you should set a specific window where you check email. That way a surprise email doesn’t destroy your workday, and you aren’t hitting refresh on the thing like a zombie.
The more you break down your days and weeks into small goals and tasks, the easier it will be to maintain the crucial momentum it takes to succeed.
117
Routine
Let’s talk about routine. It’s the structure around your work time. When you’re planning a routine, you want to take into account as many factors as possible. Let’s imagine that you want to learn guitar. To establish a routine, you start by asking some crucial questions.
What time will you practice each day?
When will you have lessons?
What is your budget and plan for buying your first instrument?
Electric or acoustic?
Where will you take lessons?
Where will you practice?
You might already have these questions bubbling in your head, but if not, now’s the time. Start by figuring out how much time you can realistically invest in this project. If you’ve got a family and a full-time job, a lot of your day is already allocated. If you’re out of work, then you can put in fourteen hours a day or more. Those kinds of hours can be both a blessing and a curse. You have so much time that you start to be inefficient. Just like someone who starts a business with a ton of cash and makes poor spending decisions, you can easily chase a rabbit for six hours and still get something done with the rest of your time. If you don't track your time properly, you will look at your total accomplishment for the day rather than your efficiency.
You might not even have a computer at home, especially if you’re younger. You can get games, movies, and everything else through a tablet or smartphone. If that’s the case, you need to plan a budget for a computer that will get the job done without breaking the bank. There are tons of computer setups out there that will let you get basic tasks done without breaking the bank. Running Photoshop and rendering your videos will probably be the most intense things a work computer does, and you can do both of those well with a $600 system. Plus, that computer is now a business expense! Can you say tax return?
Establish your budget for training and software now and stick to that number. Most of you will decide to go into this with a plan and stick to it. If you’re going to join any masterminds or local groups for people trying to make it online, put that into your schedule. Plan it out in advance.
Are you going to work before or after your main job? Will you eat dinner before you start or after? These little steps seem tiny now, but having a clear routine will make an enormous difference over time. When you go into an office, there is a lot of routine and structure in place designed to maximize your success. Lunch is at a fixed time. Breaks are at a fixed time. Do you leave the office after an hour for lunch? Of course not. You don’t eat lunch randomly at the office, and you should have the same mindset at home.
If you can’t work in your house, you need a good remote location. There are offices that you can rent by
the hour. These shared spaces are pretty cool. First of all, you know you are paying by the hour so you will be super efficient. Secondly, they come with high-speed Internet and other amenities. You can have a little office if you need to make phone calls. Depending on your personality, that isolation might not work for you at all. You may need to be in a coffee shop instead. That way you are in a social environment. That’s fine too. Just make a plan and then implement. Choose a location where you can work efficiently. If you need to speak out loud on phone calls or webinars, a coffee shop will be very limiting.
The more you plan out your routine now, the quicker you will hit your stride. Having a stable routine will help you stay on track as you work your way to the top.
118
Failure is Coming
There’s so much conflicting advice out there about when to give up; it can feel like a tidal wave of clichés sweeping us away from good decisions. Never give up. Don’t throw good money after bad. Don’t quit right before your breakthrough. Don’t beat yourself up over mistakes. Don’t get scammed.
Knowing when to move on is hard.
I have had a lot of projects fail online for different reasons. Seasons change, and people move on. The Internet is always changing. A few years ago, MySpace was the king; now it is a virtual ghost town. I haven’t logged in for a decade. The same thing could happen to the current social media king. That’s why companies now constantly buy other companies. They are diversifying. The most valuable thing about Yahoo right now is the stock they own in Alibaba. It’s worth more than the rest of the company combined. Diversification protects you from the hard times.
You want to open new revenue streams to prepare for the rainy days. The more revenue streams you develop, the more secure your family’s future.
The biggest mistake you can walk into is assuming that there is no more failure in your future. Look how many great people failed their way to the top. Ronald Reagan lost the election for president in 1976. Nobody remembers that failure anymore because he won in 1980. Wins will always be remembered far longer than losses. Most great people failed their way to the top.
I want you to prepare for those failures that are coming your way. Have a plan for dealing with them. The real danger is if one failure knocks you off the rails. You mess up an interview or something small, but then you are so upset that you don’t work for the next week. That’s when a failure turns into a cascade, and THAT can ruin you. Knowing that failure is coming will prevent you from overreacting when things get tough.
Whenever you hit a failure, focus on adapting and overcoming, not kicking yourself while you’re down.
119
Scaffolding
I’m a pretty talented guy, and I know how to crowd out distractions when I have to. But there are limits. I can’t record a video at a coffee shop. I can’t do anything at all from a nightclub – not even send an email!
Distractions don’t just come from environments; they come from people too. I can find a place to work in my house, but could you imagine trying to accomplish the same thing with a friend stopping by every five minutes to ask for a favor or the phone constantly ringing?
If I’m in a noisy place, if I’m surrounded by distractions, if the people around me want to sabotage me – that’s going to crush my potential for success just as sure as anything. All of these things - the emotional surroundings, the physical surrounding, our routine, the people – all of that is scaffolding.
We want to be sure we surround ourselves with people on the same path. Then you can share ideas and commiserate. That is one of the reasons why I created my forum. It’s a place where other people are waiting to meet with you and chat about the struggles and successes of making it online. It’s also worthwhile to find people near you who are on the same page. Finding other people who are trying to build their businesses in your community gives you people that you can talk face-to-face with. I found a lot of value in these groups when I was just starting out.
You’ll often find that other people have great solutions to your problems. They are on the same page, so they have a great perspective. If you spend all your time with people who aren’t interested in freedom, they will constantly distract you from your path. They’ll start doing things that seem “nice” on the surface, but they’ll get more and more aggressive. Just ask someone trying to lose weight. You want to work, and they want to go to a bar. You want to network, but they want to play PlayStation.
That’s the danger of lacking a supportive group around you. Please take the time to work on your scaffolding. Find people that motivate you and follow them. If you like what I’m talking about, then following my blog might help to keep you inspired. If I’m not the right fit, find someone who is. There are tons of great mentors out there. Just following someone else’s journey can help you to stay motivated.
We are building an online business, but doing that in isolation can be brutal. That is why the beginning of this book was about networking and connecting at live events. That’s where you will find the best people to inspire and motivate you.
120
Temptation
Right now, I’m trying to lose a ton of weight and get super fit. My current temptation is garbage food. If there are snacks in the house, they are going to end up in my mouth.
There are limits to temptation. I might want to get a snack, but am I going to drive halfway across town to get a bag of potato chips? No way, too much effort. My family doesn’t keep anything greasy or salty or sugary in the house. Just last night I was rifling through the cupboards like a curious bear; I was a little ashamed of myself. But guess what? There weren’t any snacks around.
That forces me into Plan B – get a glass of water and admit that I’m not hungry.
I’m acutely aware of how much temptation I can resist and where my failure point is. You need to learn what you’re failure point is. If you are in the grind on some work and get a text from a friend, will that throw you out of your rhythm? Will you suddenly want to go meet up with your friends? Then you need to turn off your phone while you are working. Email is a similar and very distracting temptation. The Internet as a whole is a pipe to unlimited temptation. Everyone has a different limit.
There are plenty of people who can be in a room with a bag of cookies, and nothing bad will happen. If I’m there, those cookies better have an up-to-date will, because they won’t be there in the morning.
The main reason I can have my phone near me when I’m working is that nobody texts or calls me. I only use my phone to connect with my family and send baby pictures to relatives. Your phone can be a real nightmare, though. If you let apps send you alerts, then you can expect a barrage of annoying beeps and vibrations. This game has some free imaginary points, you’ve got a new voicemail, a new show is out on Netflix. Your phone can turn into that needy ex that you thought you broke up with.
Some people go to the gym and spend two or three hours on a forty-minute workout. Why? They spend more time talking than they do sweating! The need to be social kills their effectiveness.
When I pick a gym, I like going somewhere dirty, with as few amenities as possible. The kind of place that scares all the women away. I’m there to complete a task, and I don’t need any other distractions.
Your workspace isn’t just about feeling good. It’s about focusing on what you need to get done. I love where I work right now; it’s like a temple of achievement. I can get into the office mindset, but every time I look past the computer monitor, I can see the blue ocean or my daughter swimming in the pool.
It’s a constant reminder that I have a great life and that my work is paying off. The harder I work, the more fun my family gets to have.
I know a lot of people love having an impressive office with fun couches that people like to visit. That doesn’t work for me. I’m here to put in my hours and then enjoy my free time anywhere else. This is a place of work and nothing more. Rather than mixing chilling and working for six hours, I get that job d
one in four. That gives me two extra hours surfing or hanging with my family. That’s a great result.
XVIII
Talent
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
- Calvin Coolidge
121
Born Funny
A comedian walks onto the stage, and he’s just killing it. Everyone in the crowd is screaming with laughter, and you’re bent over, face turning red. You start thinking about how hilarious this guy is. Maybe you start wishing you were born funny so you could make people laugh in the same way. Wouldn’t it be great to make people laugh around the office? Or even around the house?
I used to teach people how to be funny by going to small events and giving presentations on humor. I did a lot of research to figure out why some people are funny, and some people are simply death to a good joke. It boils down to a single moment in childhood.
Children don’t create jokes; they repeat them. As a child, you repeat a joke you heard from an older sibling or on television. Every kid has a moment when they tell a joke that just bombs. It’s an older kid joke that they don’t understand, or they just tell it wrong. One of the other kids turns to them and says, “You’re not funny.” That single statement changes the course of your destiny. You go home and realize that you just aren’t funny. That statement changes your life, and you no longer believe that you are funny.
Serve No Master: How to Escape the 9-5, Start up an Online Business, Fire Your Boss and Become a Lifestyle Entrepreneur or Digital Nomad Page 22
