Did you know less than 3% of people actually sitdown and write out their goals. By writing down your goals and reviewing them on a regular basis you are far more likely to stick with them because they are in your face. Most people start out the new year with a resolution or two and they fade quickly because of two reasons. First, they don’t see the results they had hoped for fast enough. The second reason is because the resolution is hard! Guess what, if it was easy you would already be doing it and it wouldn’t be on your list!
It takes about 21 days to form a habit so it’s important to remember that with your goals. If you quit before 21 days you really never gave yourself a chance to adjust to it. So my first tip is that no matter what, stick it out for 21 days to give your body and mind a chance to adapt, you will be glad you did! Here is my list:
- Write your goals down on paper- By writing your goals down you already put yourself ahead of most of the population so your off to a great start.
- Put them up- Writing your goals down is a great start but now you have to place them in an area where you will see them every single day. If you start each day with your goals in mind you have a better chance of making the right choices to reach them. Many people make the mistake of writing their goals down and then putting them away until the next review, bad idea.
- You have to want it- I truly believe anything is possible if you want it bad enough. If you really believe in your goals 100% your chances of reaching them go up dramatically. You have to be completely convinced mentally that this is exactly what you want and you have to be committed.
- One small thing- Each day you need to do at least one activity to move you closer to your goal. After you right down your goal you need to list out the steps you need to take to reach it. Break it down into small activities that fit into the time frame you give yourself each day to reach the goal. If you only have 5 minutes, then take 5 minutes and perform the most important activity that will bring you closer to your dreams.
- It will be hard- Like I mentioned in the beginning of this post, your goals are usually not going to be easy so expect that up front. If it were easy you would have already done it and it wouldn’t be on your list. Prepare yourself mentally and commit to your success no matter how long it takes.
- Celebrate small victories- It’s important to reward yourself along the way, take time to congratulate yourself and pump yourself up for completing each step. That is another reason to write down the steps to reach your goal so you know when to reward yourself.
Well, now it’s time to get out the pen and paper and make it happen. No one else is going to do it for you so get started today. I almost left out the most important part. GET STARTED!!! Oh yes, please comment below and let me know if there are any additional steps that you take in reaching your goals!
Continue Reading
If there is one thing I have learned after owning multiple businesses over the past 20+ years is that you must have passion for what your doing. I have two rules when it comes to working and I do my best to live by them.
- Do What You Love-Love what your doing. Life is too short to be miserable, your only here once so you might as well make the most out of it. I have started many businesses in the past and once I started to dread what I was doing, I was done. I either sold them off, liquidated, or closed the doors.
- Be Well Compensated. I have no problem giving to charity and doing things for free, but not when it is in regards to my income. I have hobbies where I don’t make a dime and that’s fine. But when it comes to making a living, it has to pay well.
I have found that if either of these things are out of balance, it doesn’t work. You can absolutely love what you do but if you can’t make a living and pay your bills that will get old really fast. If your in that boat you better find a way to monetize or make it a hobby! On the flip side, you can make a lot of money but if you hate what your doing that doesn’t work either. And in case your wondering, I have been on both sides and even in the middle or sweet spot!
Back to passion, running your own online business takes a lot of work to get things off the ground and you really need the passion to help inspire you. You are going to talk about your niche, answer constant questions about it, live, eat, and breathe it. If your choosing a topic because you have heard that someone made money that way I would be very careful. I will tell you a personal story that might help bring this home. I started a website in an industry that I am absolutely passionate about. In fact, I have been involved in this niche for over 26 years and I still love it today. When I first launched the website it was a year before it started making money.
The key point here, I didn’t start it to make money, I started it because it gave me a new outlet for my passion and monetizing was just a plus one. I spent hundreds of hours learning internet marketing to be even better at the niche I was in and plenty of long nights. I don’t recommend that business model because it’s expensive and it caused me to go way to deep in some areas (programming and coding) that I really didn’t need to. On the positive side, I learned a lot and found another passion, internet marketing. If your trying to find your passion or your niche, I would suggest the following steps:
- Make a list of everything you like to do, and try to get as many as possible. It doesn’t matter if it can be a business at this point, just make a long list.
- Make another list of everything your good at and I mean everything. What do people ask you to help with because your good at it?
- Write out your ideal life, break it down by the day, week, month, and the year. What does it look like, where do you live, what do you drive, how do you spend your time? This is important, these turn into motivational factors later!
- Next, take the top ten things out of the first two lists and see if there are at least five things you would like to do and you thing people would pay you for.
- At this point I wan’t you to make a list of keywords that someone might type into Google if they were looking for that. For example: Basketball coach- keywords- improve basketball skills, basketball drills, better jump shot. Does that make sense, are you getting the idea?
- Once you do this, head over to Google and type in the keywords, investigate the websites on the first page, see if there are Google ads on the side, if so, it’s more than likely a profitable market.
- Go over to Amazon and see if you can find any books on that topic, if there are at least 10 books on the topic, you might have a niche.
This is just an initial list to help you find your passion and turn it into an online business. Start with your passion and do your best to design a life based around that. I am not saying you should run out and quit your day job, but starting a gig on the side and establishing your internet business can really go a long way. Good luck and let me know how your doing!
Continue Reading
