I don’t have tons of free time for my online business.

I don’t go to many online webinars from the “Pros” … I don’t host them either. I rarely send out e-mails to my list (once a month), barely do interviews or guest posting. I don’t have the time to dedicate those methods to my online business growth right now, and I think most would say those a pretty important ones.

It’s not that I don’t like those methods, or they don’t work, they can and do, but not for me while I’m being cut throat with my time, and holding to building IT Arsenal in only a few hours a day or less.

I focus mainly on those people who buy what I have on the shelf, or might, or have already. When I do promote something or get approached, I make sure I’m the winner for that person and they have the best experience possible. Service is my strength.

I’m just making something more obvious for myself that wasn’t previously. I don’t do a lot of popular business builders right now, or if I do, I ease very slowly into them, and it’s okay, there’s no right way and as shown below I can still earn an income without them.

That is something that is consistently mind blowing about business, it’s a human interaction when generally referenced. That’s it. You provide something, and someone pays you for it. There is no specific set of right ways or wrong ways. It’s also what makes it so difficult to grasp and pin down.

These revelations are landing for me as I’ve been in this (business) space for almost a year and a half down and continue to make sense of online business and what’s working for me right now. A beautiful meeting in Laguna Beach, CA helped grant perspective on doing more of what works helped too.

WHAT’S WORKING

Partnerships – rebranding a sales page, but putting a partners information in a few paragraphs or customizing the pitch to a partners users is special. Do this for someone  you’re hopeful to partner with, research their audience a little, and offer a cut. They will love to promote what you’re offering, as long as it looks good. Do as much as you can to help people partner with you, when they grow, you grow. I’ve seen this specifically with 3 partners now! Ashley, Laurie, Cath, and soon Stella. I’m going to try and co-brand a product with Ashley from The Middle Finger Project this year. Sweeeet.

Links links links. Sales links, information links, YouTube links, all that I have produced all with the focus to inform or sell. I put together a quick spreadsheet that has links to all my relevant accounts, and buyable services which is now up to 2 services and 2 products, and it’s absolutely great when someone e-mails with their problem and I have to do nothing then a few words and a link.

Having things on the shelf. It doesn’t really need saying, but it still weighs on me. I see so many people out there interested in online business but they aren’t providing anything. They have NOTHING on the shelf. Things exist because you put them into existence. Patton said a good plan ruthlessly executed right now is better than a perfect plan next week. Actions = results. Put your idea on a page, even if you have nothing to back it up, and put that page out there, deal with the rest when someone tells you they want what you have.

Trading services – I trade tech support for graphic design, coaching, and well…food.

Batching my industry reading and sharing all of my responses via bufferapp.com at one time. I’m my own worst enemy, and sometimes not reading, keeping up with my RSS, or magazines, or friends in the “fields” blogs…it bugs me. I use to try and keep up, which was a losing game. I now schedule time, batch all the “catch up” …and then use bufferapp or buffer which schedules out a stack of responses over the course of a few days as to not overwhelm. In general this has caused much more feedback and interaction.

YouTube – There’s no surprise this is a massive traffic potential. Their new interface, and my revelation that screen casts are big hits with users have my engagement and user interaction way up and actually producing clients and buyers. Is it time for you to look at YouTube as a tool?

Re-occurring payment services. I love this model and I’ve found it works exceptionally well with technical support which can be nebulous in naming convention or issue. Instead covering a broad topic, with specific deliverables for a monthly fee. It creates freedom in my schedule, and re-occurring income.

Tools

• Hellobar.com
• WordPress Plugins/Themes – Contact Form 7, Slidedeck, Platform Pro
• ScheduleOnce.com
• PayPal Re-occurring products – Mentioned above
• FollowUpThen – I’ve mentioned this before, and now use it to make sales. After I’ve worked with someone I schedule a follow up e-mail for a week or two later with a custom note to check in and a link to a service I think they could use.
• Affiliate Systems – I’m starting to sign up and become an affiliate for each system/service I use. I copy/paste my affiliate links into a spreadsheet and have them on call, I find I can easily patch them in on e-mails in social media when and ONLY when they come up organically as a need for someone.

There’s nothing revolutionary, but the difference is being on the court, not in the stands with what I’m building. Critical mass continues to build, and I’m excited for my next stand alone product and more slow growth. It seems to be my mode of operation and with how many hours I have (or don’t have) to put forward, I’m fine with that. I’m having more fun than I recently have.

INCOME/BUSINESS REPORT

• 2011 Income – $19,170
• 2011 Business Expenses $1913 (I have to verify this, there might have been other purchases that I use for business and personal use)
• Jan 2012 – $2140 (Great start, I want to double this monthly as my overall online business goal, but still, great start)
• Jan Website Traffic 1427/1258 Unique
• Jan Product Sales – 3
• Jan Service Sales – 4
• Jan Service Sales Re-occuring – 5
• Jan Affiliate Sales – 8

This year’s goal is 32k from IT Arsenal and I’m very hopeful

I love what I’m doing and I actually feel like I’m making a real difference for people, how touchy feely and awesome.

2012 Dreamlines (still developing)

I’ve simplified this to a spreadsheet with being, having, doing, with status, comment, monthly cost. I review it weekly, those who want to accomplish big things, review their goals often. I’m not so concerned about my other living costs currently as I want to pay for and sustain my dreams and goals with my business and the income is on top of a full time job income. When that changes, I’ll incorporate living needs.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Avg9sbYSEUyFdFZOOXZ3d0c5bmVjWGRudUE1Mi1yOEE

need some motivation? use fear.

what would it look like if you dropped everything to pursue a passion or goal you’ve really wanted to accomplish and it failed miserably? what would happen to you emotionally, what would happen to your bank account, your relationships, your day to day activities?

fear typically isn’t seen as is a good motivator, but it can be. why? because after you’ve looked your fears in the face, they aren’t so scary.

see my example below as i go through asking myself what if tried something big and it all went south.

i’ve done this before, but i could use a good reset, and want to challenge myself.

so…what if i was bold enough to quit everything not in line with my business vision and idea of an online business that makes 5k+ per month with flexible and minimal management. what if i stopped wanting it all, and stopped fighting this tough upstream battle i am sometimes waging to work a job, get in better shape, keep my life organized, read business books, play ps3 games, be an awesome husband and build a business all at once.
(i almost wrote this article about dropping everything to run an ironman, i really want to do that too, training for those things are like another job)

what would that look like?

• i would quit my 9-5, stop working out on a strict schedule (or getting mad when i don’t), ease up on keeping everything ruthlessly organized in my life as is my way.
• i would need to sell my car after a year (to avoid payments) or so, which is probably inconsequential.
• i would need to get really passionate about something specific. so much so people would see me as “off”.
• i would have to get really committed to being a salesman for myself everyday.
• i would need to come up with some pretty convincing arguments and commitments to my wife for quitting a good job that i get “enough” satisfaction and security from. this would be the biggest mental and day to day challenge, because my life impacts my wife’s and i want to make her happy.

what if it all failed

• what if after 6 months i wasn’t making any money and it wasn’t going well? i’d have to get another job, one i might hate, to pay bills, and feel like an income producer.
• i might feel less fulfilled than i do now if i had to get a crummy job. i might feel temporarily like a loser, and let down or be looked down on to some friends and family. i might not find a job.
• i’d have less stuff, maybe no car.
• i run the off-chance risk of getting injured and not having health insurance.
• i’d miss a lot of movies, tv shows, and social relate-ability.
• there might be a few heated conversations with my wife about “being a slacker” or something similar
• i might spin my wheels and work more hours, but make less, and produce less.

…honestly though, i’d probably just make a little less, and have to find a new job if things didn’t work out eventually. my identity isn’t my job, i believe i have a higher calling than that, one that’s more about character.

that’s all i can think of in terms of what i’d have to give up or could potentially lose. is that really it? no one died, the sky didn’t fall down? a little less money, comfort and some personal ego and confidence injury. certainly not good stuff, but not the end of the world, and probably easily repaired in another 6 months.

now for the “what if’s” and things went well

• what if my products, services, and online authority generated $75,000 a year with potential for more the next.
• what if i woke up everyday more energized because i was doing something i love, and it was paying the bills (and then some) on my own schedule.
• what if because my work was paying me over and over, and my business notability (saturation) was growing, i had more time in my day to day to read, run, travel, pray, give and play.
• what if i could pay for better vacations, and have more flexibility to spend time with maria.
• what if i was able to train for long distance triathlons while running a business that generates $75k a year. cool.
• what if my personal endeavors helped 200 people or businesses a year and i got to see it right in front of my face. what about 2000.

wow those potential rewards sound pretty awesome, they’d probably sound unfair to people or like some sort of scam if i was just listing them off to someone as an all day reality, mostly the more time and more money part, yet so many people live like this. (want proof? i can offer you some, and so can sean ogle)

this imagery is pretty powerful. it’s high risk when you consider going for your goals bar-none, it’s also high reward.

(reality check – even if i had all the time in the world, i’d still have the same will power challenges to motivate myself to action and maintain the business)

sometimes i have tastes of these rewards because of my business, and lifestyle changes. when you mix mastery over something you enjoy that brings financial freedom, and time to pursue new things and your passions…..it’s like life’s “good stuff fusion experience”.

we all have tastes of this if we’ve ever taken some extended time off (minus the income).

this imagery can help remind your dream is possible if you make the right big moves, and that even if you fail horribly, the world won’t end, and likely the damage won’t even be that bad. new experiences and doing things out of your comfort zone are good tough things. try it in your next journal entry, blog post, status whatever.

reflection

i often land on the side of wanting it all and trying to do it all, but that’s not necessarily better or possible.

in truth, i’m scared, and i think i can hit my goals while taking on everything else. it won’t be as easy but i think it’s possible. maybe i just want to be safe though, maybe it’s easier to make excuses this way, or i get to appear more normal. it can be frustrating. hello mental struggle….i digress.

after playing this little mind game i’m much more likely to take a few big risks in the near future, and realize it wouldn’t be so bad if things went wrong.

life’s here to live. you should write out a list of what would happen if you dropped everything to pursue a big goal or calling.

there’s so much potential greatness to be had. what am i putzing around for? what are you putzing around for?

Photo: Das Experiment

i’ve gone on at length on this blog about automation, and workflow. (See Life’s Easy Mode in 3 Steps | Automate Your System). today i’m going to expand on techniques i use in my technology support business for chopping out time otherwise wasted. you can use these techniques in your business and life.

i’ve continued to put effort into NOT wasting my time by utilizing services that have dual outcomes to a business goal, tools for automation, filters, workflow and the practice of selective ignorance. the more traffic i get, want for freedom, questions about something i’ve produced and so on push the importance of these techniques, although saving time is generally accepted as a good thing.

some tactics are fundamental for me now, certain actions have to be automatic, they need to be completely out of my way so i can continue to struggle with real metrics, new sales, new creation, marketing, understanding my clients, and where else i’m screwing up and not taking action.

the more time you spend in “administration” the more you’ll be infuriated by your business efforts, try these on to get more done. *note, more of the right stuff, not wrong stuff. you never want to efficiently waste time

below are some ideas on expanded techniques for business automation. each of them is going to have a slightly different application depending on your circumstance, i’ll list them below and then elaborate on how i specifically use them.

• learn your freakin shortcuts
• use gmail filters
• use canned responses
• repetitive calendar events
• ifttt
• use alarms (train your pavlovian response)
• follow up then
• use templates for agreements, and newsletters

shortcuts

in google mail, in your calendar program, in your web browser, on your computer. the ones i’ve found lately most helpful are marking something as read in google mail, which is “shift + i” and “c” for composing a new e-mail. i’ve also loved the combination “command+shift+4″ on my mac operating system for taking a screenshots. find what programs you use most, and learn 2 shortcuts for improved usability. (gmail keyboard shortcuts, go ahead and take a peek. http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6594)

e-mail filters

if you’re not using these, i ask why not? i filter everything from mint.com, facebook, twitter, most of my banks, credit cards, my amazon account. sometimes i filter them into one folder such as “web 2.0″ sometimes into many folders. i’ve automated most of my bill paying, so i have the filter also mark messages as read. i scan my folders once a week and although probably receive 100-200 e-mails a day, only actually have to deal with 10-15. you’re mail program likely supports filters, otherwise called “rules”. learn how to use them.

canned responses

another e-mail behavior here, because e-mail is a life sucking endeavor. create templated e-mails for people. the trick is you usually can’t come up with a template e-mail off the top of your head. so, here’s the action. come up with 5 scenarios and write for those.

i have a scenario where someone is asking me a question about something computer related, my canned response has an opening line, a space for resource links and a closing thank you. often times i just have to unload my brain into the middle and copy paste some links and appear saintly to those in need. if you are running a website, or selling something, you get questions…create these, keep them as word documents if you don’t use google, or drafts to open and copy paste in your e-mail program

tip: i don’t like google’s canned responses, it’s cumbersome, i use the program “Evernote” to keep all my support related canned responses, and they save tons of time, and do a service to others.

repeating calendar events

one way i save time is forcing everything to exist in time. what i mean by that is i don’t have a never ending to do list, i load up the calendar, things that have no time, go somewhere, and are addressed then and moved. follow up actions like “did this happen” also go into the calendar. the boost here is a majority of our days are pretty similar, and so repeating events to train yourself into productivity absolutely unquestionably works.

i have repeating events for workouts, for business networking for client work, paying out affiliates, and so on. befriend your calendar program, which will support alerts. today, those alerts can come to you as a text message or a pop up, or friendly phone alarm. this methodology promotes working in batches, and blocks which elite performers are known to work in. (If You’re Busy, You’re Doing Something Wrong: The Surprisingly Relaxed Lives of Elite Achievers)

ifttt.com

it stands for if this then that and boy do i love this new web service i just found. it’s “stupid” powerful but does take an initial investment to figure out. basically is takes all todays best websites and tools, and allows them to interact with each other. when something happens, (ie, someone follows you on twitter) take an action (send them this message) or another example, when you bookmark a website in google, it tweets it out.

the possibilities are endless. these are most handy in specific workflow situations…check out some of the “recipes” … meaning schemas of how users are implementing this tool. i have saved tons of hours from this tool in the realm of saving data and automatic responses. http://ifttt.com/recipes?sort=popular

use alarms (cell phone or computer)

in the same vein of calendar events there’s alarms. i have several alarms that aren’t on my calendar that have since trained me to take certain actions. these again, like most things are hardest at first, and now are automatic. train your pavlovian response to get up out of bed in the morning because of a specific alarm. only listen to this alarm, make it special in someway and practice (yes practice) literally jumping out of bed when you hear it.

other suggestions are clearing out your e-mail when you hear a specific alarm, or eating on a schedule (for losing weight). our minds are trainable,  you are already trained to do a million things by society, (anyone clean out their Word with Friends que from one little sound?) take back some control and create your own positive responses with your cell phone alarm.

the key? practice. do it purposefully for a week, it’ll stick after that. i’m currently doing this to wake up and it’s amazing how well it’s worked. about 5 times a day i consciously lay down for 2 minutes, set an alarm, bounce out of bed and walk to living room (where i work out in the AM) … the next morning when i hear that alarm…i’m compelled to do the same despite my sleepiness.

followupthen.com

this website has helped me batch my e-mails. when there’s an e-mail i need to deal with but it just needs to get out of my inbox, i can’t forget about it and file it away but i really can’t stand it being in my inbox, as that builds a slippery slope, i hit reply to that e-mail, change the TO box from whoever to 2days@followupthen.com or whateveramountoftime@followupthen.com … and let it fly. you don’t even need an account to use it…just try it. helpful for e-mail junkies and batching e-mail into two times a day or so.

templates

templates are like workflows, they suck to set up, you don’t do it, but once you have them, you clamor for them everytime a specific situation arises. schedule sometime in your calendar to make 1-2 templates for specific situations in your business. such as, a new client welcome e-mail, how about a newsletter? use this slammin template i just made after listening to AppSumo’s copywriting class, which was one of their amazingly time sensitive promotions, (they are like Groupon for entrepreneurs).

<—
*put in a 540 pixel wide table so it’s easy to scan – use arial 12 – try georgia 12

possible subject 1
subject 2
subject 3
subject 4

Attention
headlines – how to make good ones?
trick 1 list things that if you overheard it would turn your heard and go WHAT?
trick 2 go to digg.com type in your topic, thing your selling or promoting. order by most dugg and use those headlines and swap in your topic or change things

Interest
educate, give something critical or valuable
if it’s valuable you can write a lot
interesting facts
story about the product or offer
setup information stuff like that

Desire
“benefits” of what you are promoting
more sales
more reliable website
bigger muscles, more hits

Action
we’re running a promo, or get your’s now for, check it out now here at this link, or see the deal here.
make this bigger font, bold, different color

PS. make a claim here, like. after i used this, or guarantee, don’t like it?…read this review, or %100 money back guarantee. or, one of my users, jane, has this, and here’s her site…
—>

all of these techniques need some amount of set up. take 15 minutes a few times this week and apply a few of them for compounded time savings over the next few months and into 2012. once you have them down, they become automatic, you reap the benefits and can focus on hopefully more important items, or at least continue on in your journey with less hassle.

keep on keepin on!

I’m a tool hoarder. I’m an app junkie….I can’t help myself when a new website, app, or service springs up promising me untold productivity, informational, or business riches. I sign up, I bookmark, and I try to make the best use of them as I can. I’ve found some great ones lately, but haven’t shared them with you, until now.

Some tools you just can’t live without, it’s not necessarily because they are the all around best, (sometimes it is) but often times it’s because they fit your workflow, your clients needs, or your specific needs.

I’m laying out some recent and awesome finds below, along with a one or two-liner on what I use or have used them for.

They fall into the categories of productivity, time management, life automation, information mining and expanding your capabilities. Most are online service applications, some are desktop download and install applications.

I truly hope you find some gems below, special thanks to Noah Kagan’s @appsumo for shedding so much light in this area, your service (and newsletter) is a gold mine.

• InboundWriter – live updating SEO analyzing of your writing. i think this will get huge, especially if you do a lot optimizing for keywords
• Gist – link up your networks, it pulls your contacts then scours the web for info on them. great datamining tool, and contact sync tool.
• 750 Words – a no rules, empty your mind by writing website. i’m finding it really really helpful. i’ve never been able to “journal” but this just go and type website has something to it that has me sticking to it.
• Evernote – ok so i’ve shared this before, it’s so great though, how are you not using it?
• Sparrow – switched from Apple Mail to Sparrow since my e-mail is Google Apps/iCloud based, i haven’t looked back. it’s faster, a smoother, and searches better.
• Focusbar – tiny Mac application that pleasantly annoys you with something you’ve told it you want to focus on. it’s actually bringing me back to my goals until i accomplish them when i sit down to do something that needs a chunk of time.
• Google Docs Spreadsheet Forms – use this for information capture everywhere.
• Buffer – find yourself spamming your twitter account then not using it for a while? use buffer to pace out your tweets really easily, more easily that Hootsuite
• ifttt – this is a powerful automation tool. it’s like if you had access to every website services API (the stuff they use to talk to other things) and can do basic functions with them. the website name stands for if this then that and it’s all about tasks and triggers. it’s saving me time.
• Hello Bar – easy call to action implementation, just reminded me i need to put this back on itarsenal.com
• Ge.tt – super low friction, no account needed, unlimited space boo they  moved to a pay model with only 2GB free file sharing. Use dropbox instead.
• ManageWP – i don’t want to tell anyone about this so i’ll be cryptic. if you manage more than one WP install, you don’t want to click this.
• ScheduleOnce – easy google calendar integration appointment scheduling. see in action here – http://itarsenal.com/scheduler/
• Join.Me – web-based, free, screen sharing. alternative – teamviewer.com
• LinkedIn Answers – a new forum for showcasing your expertise, and getting referrals, or new users from it.
• Facebook Groups – i created a group for feedback and invited a bunch of people, the involvement was rapid and bigger than i expected. try it for data mining.
• App Sumo – treasure trove of time sensitive deep discount deals for business oriented training and software
• Newsmap – i don’t keep up with news very well, this literally makes a size map of all the news going on. things with more articles on the entire web show as bigger, meaning it’s easy to see what’s happening very very quickly. tip: you can easily narrow it down to juse US, or just Tech, etc.

Cheers!

so i’ve had mild success online maybe you’re in the same boat. let’s grow them to something more than “mild”.

i’ve taken this blog, grown it, started a business, grown it, explored information products, automation and efficiency tactics, service creation, selling and marketing. i have the basics down, i understand the playing field, i have some really successful contacts and networking friends.

does this sound sound familiar to you?

i’m psyched and overwhelmed at times. i want some big wins and upward growth. how do i do that?

here’s some snappy answers, purposely short so i will, i mean you will take one to heart and go with it.

1. focus on a measurable simple goal, like 10 sales, 100 subscribers, $10,000. write it on a card everyday, put the card in your pocket. carrying it around has an impact you don’t realize until you do it
2. stop pretending that more time will solve everything. if it’s important you make time
3. implement faster. get to a point where you can measurably test as fast as possible, then ask yourself if your new idea/product/service is worth pursuing
4. work on internal projects, not just client needs.
5. downplay referrals and repeat business, they are nice, but aren’t secure and they aren’t investing in the future, they are relying on the past.
6. get feedback on what you are working on, now.
7. write about them. try 750words.com (thanks @bybloggers) it’s amazing what blathering on about your endeavor will do for it, and do for you mentally.
8. be ready to equip people to sell for you. have information, or a program.
9. do something for someone else everyday. it will come back to you in a business way, i promise

more importantly, how much time do you spend (or have to spend) with those people to pay you?

there are obviously a lot of ways to skin the cat of online business

most of the people online making money in less time are closer to having 10,000 people pay them .50, because they’ve set up a system where they need to invest very little in their direct relationship with you for your money.

their relationship may appear direct, and can be very sincere, but must reach their masses on a general level. this allows the “relationship” to be more calculated, more automatic, and more systems oriented. note: it had to be grown from small to large somehow and takes more effort early on.

it allows them to spend less consistent time working everyday yet make more or the same money and scale upward without doing everything over again. IE. they get freedom & money. no wonder copyblogger loves to talk about systems and the topic of automation is so hawt right now

people who’ve reached this stage can still connect and interact personally with some users, say in the comments section of a blog, but what we don’t realize is that this a small fraction of those buying their products, spreading their message, and paying their bills. they aren’t doing anything wrong, most of the people buy a product and never try to interact with the creator anyway. i know, i’ve experienced this on a small scale. it’s weird, but cool. it’s happening to me now, and caused this reflection.

the percentage of people you’ll get to interact with personally needs to go dramatically down if you want your sales to go way up without having to charge way more, or spend more time.

it’s ironic, but making a more automatic income online is directly at odds with having direct relationships with the people making you that income. that concept is holding some people, myself included back.

it’s funny because these things seem to drive each other apart. you build relationships, they get you lots of traffic, you make products to utilize traffic (smart), now you interact less with relationships because you have lots of traffic to utilize, now you have to care more about numbers as the best “evaluation” of your relationships because you can’t write 2 page e-mails and have phone conversations with everyone who thinks your stuff is cool and pays you for it.

note: you could always charge a lot more as a way to keep focus on relationships, but that still doesn’t scale, and puts a lot of your eggs into a few high priced baskets, not really my goal here, but i thought i’d give it lip service.

soooo…i have yet to take stock in my numbers, check them regularly or focus on driving them up, but that’s changing because i’m making more sales, and gaining more traffic and doing more reflecting like this. people buying aren’t always writing me notes, now i want to know why they are buying, or not buying.

several sales have happened where i haven’t and probably never will interact with the buyer.

woah, i’m nabbing some of that freedom and money. this is one of the goals of my online business. i go play basketball, and yet i make $100 while doing it, and make someone somewhere happy or more capable, or something good because of something i did earlier.

i keep thinking my site, or my product, or my thing isn’t ready enough to actually track numbers for, but i think it has more to do with the fact that i didn’t need to look at numbers, i knew who all my users were (more or less). i also haven’t been regularly posting new content or refreshing my pages, so i didn’t care what was getting hit. that is changing.

i like people but relationships don’t scale. it’s sad but true. this is probably why my numbers historically have been low, yet, i’m still earning decent business, have a high referral rate, and continue to close service gigs. i have less people, taking lots of time, and paying me lots.

as saturation, popularity and numbers increase, i’m spending less time with people, and so my numbers are becoming more important. the numbers become a more time-valued way to check how good my stuff is and how happy my users are. now it makes a little more sense to me why successful people obsess over their numbers so much, and shift focus to contained product type offerings.

it doesn’t mean you don’t care!

i don’t think a lot of sales and traffic means you have to care less about individual users, it’s just a fact that you can’t interact with all of them, but still need feedback. you also like having more money and more freedom. it’s cool to see this front loaded “passive” income concept come to life in various ways.

you also can’t overlook that your relationships are where the concepts and creation of products and services come from. without the relationship, you’d have no business, so while they seem to be opposites, they are both very much important, you better care very much.

i’m guessing you can take on a good number of users and still interact with most of them in some small way. i recently sent out a tweet about how the CEO should interact with his first 1,000 users with a custom e-mail. i liked it, and thought it could be mostly automated.

here’s to tipping the scales in that continued direction.

if you made this far, thanks, that post was probably hard to get through, hope you found something in the mental struggle.

how i’ve built what i’ve built so far in online business with IT Arsenal, in shorthand, the bullet point, non-link-bate list form for review and recap.

i find it valuable to look back on the past, to improve and reflect and see where i got stuck.

START

• life design goodness, removing distractions, physical and mental waste, practicing efficiency and automation tactics.

• creation of business idea. use what i know, sell it in service and product.
• thought i would blog more. website goes to a blog homepage at this point.
• reading 2-8 business books
• networking a lot, not sure about what though
• tried to get specific, but didn’t really
• unfocused website, but launched first product with dedicated sales page on backup (backup informer)
• some success, sales, guest posts and realization of internet business realities
• lots of great, but aimless networking
• lots of great but aimless blog posts, not even on my business blog

• hired business coach (corbett barr)
• hired tagline name coach (catherine caine)
• joined in an online business competition or two

• blurry focus
• blurry focus
• blurry focus
• struggling what my business really was, how to grow business services, and stand alone online products in the IT field
• blurry focus
• attended some physical events and online webinars.
• changed website homepage to a focused message as a test, got stupid and specific on one thing (got great results doing this)
• finally declared a specific business goal, not some, i want to…bla bla crap. the goal. make money. make 5k+ a month in sales and services and enjoy it.
• became obvious i needed to sell more, and have more to sell
• developed a more or less made up board of directors with real people
• clearer focus
• developed another info product
• developed a service with a sales page, and forms for a majority of user interaction
• started a newsletter signup
• started an affiliate program for my info product, i don’t push it in people’s faces
• clearer focus
• clearer focus
• website still tries to say too much but it’s better (says noah kagan)
• deliberately partnered with some of those who i’ve networked with over time to sell
• sales come in steadily
• services offered are scheduled 2 months out
• got married
• i’m making an easy 2-3k per month, starting to tip from one-on-one to product and streamlined service sales
• traffic increases, regular ejunkie purchases are normal weekly occurrence
• need more production, more automated (front loaded) type sales, bigger numbers
• mild success
• clearer focus
• producing more content
• mild success
• moving toward a breakthrough

there’s obviously a lot of little things not represented here, but i wanted to look back quickly at how i got here, and move forward.

the more i read articles about “how to start a virtual busines” or online business, or whatever else you want to call it, i’m realizing there is no “how to” for this…no matter how much you try to put a formula on it, the way you grow a business is going to be unique to you, the important part is to continually step forward toward a constant goal.

current worries

i’m worried about my website, it needs updating, the homepage says june. i need to take what i’ve learned and get another product out there, re-invent the next version of what i’m doing. i’m back from my wedding hiatus and need to push forward now.

i’ve never realized how much businesses are constantly re-inventing, or re-working things.

i need actually send to my list, not just have one, need to charge more, have more sales pages, fail forward more, raise the stakes, seek out customers, spend more time and more money on creation and testing creation.

i need to stop wasting time in my inbox
i need to stop living off repeat buyers and referrals (even if they are great!)
i need to stop planning
i need to stop avoiding the hard work, like what exactly is this next product i keep talking about

i need to do less one-on-one business and more product and streamlined service business

i’m wrestling with mild success

the lean start up movement applied to solo entrepreneurs…implementing fast, getting feedback immediately and cheaply, trying out your ideas on your friends, building a newsletter and being real. i’ve read all these things, i get it.

yet…i’m slow to make the time needed to get it together, to test, fail, flourish, go.

why is it the space between having the first revision up, and executing something with real vision is such a huge gap to jump?

it takes several rounds of realizations, work, talks, and actions just to see the gap, bridging it, along with everything else that’s going on somehow always consistently get’s to the bottom of the barrel.

i’m still growing up, always will be. that’s the bullet point story so far.

onward

if you think your business and your personal life should be separate, you’re probably right, but not %100. there’s a balance and a line to be drawn certainly but i believe it’s a little different for everyone and unintelligent to never let people know you’re human after all.

adding personality and personal insight to your business draws people to you, builds trust, likability, and interest. there’s an intriguing psychological game at play though, make sure to keep a few rules and you can use who you are as an advantage to building your business, don’t get personal at all, and you’re subject to how people like the pixels in your logo, get drawn in by your persuasive text, or need what you’re selling for basic life functions. unless you sell toilet paper, it’s to your advantage to have personality.

here’s my experience

i’ve seen sharing who i am invite people i’d never have talked with to ask me more about what i do, and then buy from me.

3 ways this improves business & what it does to people’s brains

people see passion, see the real you, and validation for your sales crap

when you post how excited you are about the upcoming convention about whatever, or company X just released a product. people realize how well you know your stuff, they see passion in that picture you posted of you taking apart an iPhone for your cousin over the weekend and a silent trust is established right there. point, you.

people see similarities to themselves, trust, and buy motivation

everyone has a family, goes through trauma, attends big events, or has interests. sharing these will build similarities to you and your buyers. it’s innate that people who identify with other people buy more of what is recommended to them, or put out by them.

oh tim ferriss how you’re life intrigues me, it’s no wonder i bought 40 copies of his last book and then sold them to the very audience of this blog.

people see accessibility/connectedness…and an opening to get involved

when i am viewing a businesses website or walking into a business, the owner or management often appear as though they are powerful beings pulling the strings that only come out for problems if at all. i don’t feel connected to a person at all, i look at their wares and website, make a mechanical decision and get out. i don’t ask questions, or linger.

the personal connectedness you get when you feel even just a little “in” someones life, which is something easily done today, creates an environment where i think, “well sure he’ll respond to me, i mean look at him, he eats ice cream with his kids and run’s triathlons, i run triathlons…”

how to & cautions

persona

you’re a celebrity now, or at least a business owner, so you’re in some sort of light where people will be analyzing you. act like it, and play by google’s rules and assume everything you share, someone will read or see…so be smart about it. this means stay off Facebook while drinking, amongst other things. be who you are, but leave extremely opinionated thoughts to personal conversation, where i believe it should stay anyway as it does the most to build real relationship. we need more real relationships these days.

access & timing

sharing your mistakes when you’re in control of what get’s presented is ok, trust building even, make sure it’s on platforms that you manage. alluding to crazy experiences or behavior is fine, but mostly when it’s in the past. it’s alright that i’ve rap battled with my friends, done the milk challenge, and have completed a 360 degree trampoline moon bounce. announcing  “OMG, i will be doing these things soon” may reflect poorly with potential buyers who somehow find themselves on your instagram stream or something.

i see ashley from the middle finger project do this well.

ratio

absolutely share about family, big events, aspirations, and interests…but do so sparingly. try a 1 (personal) to 8 ratio on posts that are about others, promoting others, and about your niche. this is influenced by chris brogan and his co-authored book, trust agents.

how?

Facebook and Twitter mostly. there is a share button on every freaking site today, this is a non-issue. using them effectively is what to focus on. (see cautions)

what to share?

sometimes it doesn’t matter here are some ideas.

• big moments in your life, with pictures.
• events/conventions/meetups in your niche you’re thinking about.
• case studies about what you are working on.
• the research you do in solving problems or building products.

personal experience. sharing my wedding photos has been one of the biggest things for my business surprisingly. wedding pictures are just one of those things everyone loves to look at, for some reason as they gloss over these pictures something sticks, and i get an e-mail that goes, wow those pictures were awesome, hey i need some website bla bla, or i saw you’re selling so and so…and then there’s the sales that are hard to attribute, but i can’t argue with there increased happening and have to think people just picked up on me because they liked some pictures, then read a blog post, then saw a testimonial.

*obvious but important point, it’s great to share just to share, but in this context we want to build relationship so our business is also present in someway. IE. have a business, have a product, have a goal. if you can’t answer to those things, go back a few steps and worry about that first.

who does it well?

you know who i’ve seen do this amazingly well, and always gets a ton of interaction, pamela slim author of cubicle nation. friend her on Facebook and see what i mean. i’ve read more about her kids, and subsequently more about those she recommends in business than many others in my steams of incoming content. i seriously pay more specific attention to jenny blake and charlie gilkey (as in writing their name from memory) because of her.

runner up in this for me is cath duncan and pat flynn.

3 things you didn’t know about  me

i have 2 brothers and 2 sisters. i’m in the middle.
i’ve had 8 knee surgeries. 7 on the left, 1 on the right.
i love to vacuum and i just bought a dyson animal

can any of you relate to those things?

sharing bits of who you are in the business realm is very much part of emerging business models and methods. it’s not necessary by any means, and there are more traditional methods that don’t ever show a face to a business, but having one certainly helps build a bridge for sales and authenticity, even if it’s in a small tucked away part of your website. what do you think? what’s your experience?

be careful of overdoing it, think tactical, but don’t be afraid to be personal. keep workin it.

It will save you time, it will save you hassle, and streamline communication with whoever is involved.

Regardless of what tool you use, use one. The availability of having a page on my business site to point people to when they give you a “lets chat” or “great, I’m interested” or whatever variation of that you get is a huge freedom and nice big step for automated scheduling. I’ve found different solutions work for different websites or presentations, here are my experiences for your gain and reporting.

Tungle.me – Nice desktop integration (iCal/Google), customization, and just bought by RIM. If you want to put it on your website, I found their widget a little unflexible, but at least they have one. Cheap to free.

Bookfresh.com – Very little customization, expensive, but a nice compact box for sidebar’s or website pages. Didn’t want to pay for the calendar integration. They have a different take on scheduling, which allows you to create slots people have to pay for to get, which might work well for hard core consultants. I find it difficult for people to get in the funnel without a previous meeting to actually pay for a meeting though, so it was self defeating.

ScheduleOnce.com – I’ve chosen to use ScheduleOnce because of their deep integration with Google calendar, well laid out appointment slots, and while they don’t have a website embed option, the entire scheduling page they provide fits in an iFrame (website within a website) very well on a full wdith page. I also appreciated their fast support response, and cheap premium plan ($29 for a year). Ultimately, it was because this model fit well on my website, and integrated easily with my iCal (iPhone, etc) while providing an appointment mode for slots.

*Google also offers “appointments” now built into their calendar.

There’s no “ultimate” solution. A scheduling tool needs to apply to your solution to a certain degree, but go get one. You can see how mine looks at my business website here.