Power of 4 For a More Focused Business
***Important Update***
[Taking note of fellow students comments (see below and feel free to comment too) and reviewing a couple of things, I have decided to rephrase the 4 Hours part of the Power of 4 Square and revisit some goals and adjust their term (short to medium to long etc) as noted by Garry [and by extension JT] Alex said if you have one major business goal you have a 95% chance of success, if you have two it drops to 70% and more than that and it drops to less than 50%…I want 100% success so I will take this advice and use it – just shows it’s never too late to readjust your thinking…and now please read the post…..:-]
-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-
How Many Letters in KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)?
The school I went to tells me it’s 4….
As discussed in a previous post speaking about goals for 2009 (the year to shine!) I wanted to find something that made it easy to manage what I was doing [and why I was doing it] and not to be distracted by things that will not get me to where I want to be….make sense?
So I was thinking about many of the things that my mentor Alex Jeffreys discussed as early on as Module #1 of our coaching program….and that is Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) – know and focus on the things that make the money and the [by now] infamous phrase: This is business!
So looking at where I am starting from and where I want to be I decided to start with the end in mind and reverse engineer my year……
Where Am I Now?
As many of you will know I live and work in Ireland – I have a [wonderful and young] family and a full time job. Therefore my time is somewhat limited – not an excuse – just a fact that I have to manoeuvre and manage around. You no doubt can relate to this if you are in the same situation.
However, in thinking about this [time-limit thing] I could use it to my advantage…..
Knowing that I only have X amount of hours – then I have to be sure that this time is spent productively – no flaffing about etc. It will force me to utilize the 20/80 rule [again as discussed by Alex as well as Tim Ferriss of the Four Hour Work Week - excellent book, get a copy!] and see where the best use of time and resources should be directed.
This may [and probably will] involve investing [that is paying hard earned cash for] in time saving programs that I will report on later
Interestingly, in relative terms, I get a lot of refferal traffic from Twitter with an average 2 page visit spending 3 minutes on this blog. this is amazing too as I don’t pimp Twitter at all [that is to say not every tweet has "visit my site" etc]
I am a relative newbie to the internet marketing game, I like it [some play golf I like to learn how to get financial freedom] and I learn fast – but it has been hit and miss and is by no means a business in it’s own right [yet!]…which brings me to my next point…..
Where Do I Want to Be? [Desired Outcome]
2009: time to shine! The mantra of Alex Jeffreys students.
So where do I want to be in Dec 2009 – well if it involves a beach and a hammock I will be very glad! – but you see for Alex [and hence for me] that is not specific enough! In fact I have to be specific about 4 goal areas which can be summed up in the acronym P.I.B.E
- Personal
- Income
- Business
- Entrepreneurial
So let’s take the first one…
Personal Goals [Overview - more specifics later]
- Get Fit [I think this is important on a lot of levels]
- Disneyland Paris with family
- New Zealand 2010
- Vegas with 500
- Meet Alex Jeffreys and buy him a drink or two to thank him for his inspiring coaching course…[Alex - I am comin' to Cardiff mate!]
- Afford Mass Control Program and Seminar [I know that's business too but hey!]
Income Goals [Overview - more specifics later]
- 3 Niches at $50 a day each [edit: longer term goal after I master 1 niche and grow my list]
- Minimum profit of $50K by end of 2009
Business [Overview - more specifics later]
- List Building [par excellence] 7500 by year end!
- Keep a Success Journal [just do it!]
- Update Blog look and Seo effectivness
- Office space [at home]
- Focus on Giveaways [create killer content]
- Twitter [build followers to 2000 by end of March]
- Oil Rigging
- Podcasting [iTunes]
- Build a leverage system in line with the Power of 4 [Outsourcing, paid solutions]
- My own product ready by September [Free eCourse, list promotion and future coaching program [not the internet niche]
- JV partners – Fortunate 500
- Book [ordinary - as in off the shelf type!again longer term but here for prosterity]
- Public Speaker for Events [If I get myself sorted I might get to do this in Vegas, hey Alex?]
- Continue to support and promote the Profit Pulling Project and my fellow students
Entrepreneurial [Overview]
- Master Video [production, scripting, camtasia etc]
- SEO
- Public Speaking
- Increase business acumen
- Learn how to run a coaching course
So……
What is the Power of 4?
Well as shown and illustrated above you can see that I have broken my development with the Alex Jeffreys Coaching Program into 4 areas [it makes it easier for me, and feel free to use it if it makes sense to you!]
They are:
4 [as many]Hours [as I possibly can]
Like many and [even maybe you I am building an online business while working full time as well as having a lovely young family that requires a lot of time. So [borrowing and inspired by Tim Ferriss] I have landed on the number of 4 hours a week.
A little disclaimer here:
These are what I do hands on with my business which will be things that I do not want to outsource and that I feel personal about [or things that I have to do like videos and podcasting and tweeting etc].
I would also be doing oil rigging personally and commenting and connecting with people on a personal level whereever possible.
In terms of Article Writing [I might write a few seed articles just to make sure that it has my personality - but spinning etc will be done elsewhere] as well as Techie Stuff etc I will outsource these functions [as it is still cheaper to get others to do most of it and would look better than what I could do too!]
Time spent listening to modules, or training etc are not counted because I will substitute that with watching rubbish on TV [that makes me nada!]
4 Traffic
I want to do 4 things a week that will have a positive impact on Traffic Generation to m site/ squeeze page.
As discussed above I will be focusing on media and social networking as well as Giveaways Sites to grow my list, so this section will involve moving that forward in a concrete way. As seen in my Traffic Generation Mind Map – there are a lot of things that can be done, but I want to focus my attention on what will get most people to my site and onto my list!
4 Goals
4 tangible actions a week that move me towards my P.I.B.E goals desired outcomes. These will work in harmony with the 1 year, 90 day, 30 day, 1 week, 1 day breakdown that Alex Jeffreys recommends.
This exercise will run in sync with the other three squares in the diagram; i.e. actions to generate traffic will naturally move me towards achieving my Business goals of building the list to 7500 for example – I see this as the policeman of the 4 – keep me from being a busy fool!
4 Posts
Value, Value, Value is the [other] mantra of the students and I will endevour to add to my readerships’ experience by providing 4 post a week [google likes this too - frequency is good], recounting the highs and lows as well as informative, useful information that the reader can take away and use….[oh and a bit of fun as well!]
These will also include multi-media [video and audio, lots of it!] as well as stuff from and directions to other peoples blogs, videos, reports – where it is appropriate and adds real value – no rehashed cacca here!
Oh, and I want each post to have a picture, because I like it when other blogs have pictures on their posts.
Final thoughts…….
I will play with this one, but I would like it if I could have a specific day for specific tasks – like Friday is video and I do all my videos on Friday….we’ll see how it works out!
Key here for me [and for you my friend] is FOCUS – and not tangents!!
My man Gary “GazzaMan” Simpson [http://motivationselfesteem.com/talk/] has a great time management book that I will be using to help me to do this….
Just to say thanks to all my fellow students [you know who you are] for your continued inspiration and support. As Lennon said: “and we all shine on….like the moon and the stars and the sun….on and on and on and on….” – may this be your year to shine!
And a special thanks to Alex Jeffreys for making this a chance to look my wife in the eye and say:
“Hey! This ‘Internet Thing’ just might work…in fact for the first time ever deep down inside I KNOW it will”….and she believed me!
See you on the beach!
Harry
Tags: goals for 2009
February 11th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Hi Harry,
Great Post. You’ve certainly thought about this a lot and mapped out where you want to go which is crucial. You’ve certainly listened well to what our leader Alex Jeffreys has taught us.
Regarding, your targeting 3 Niches I think that is a reasonable long-term target but initially I feel you need to get one up and running to your satisfaction firs, before moving on to the next one.
Just looking at my notes from Webinar One Alex mentioned if you have one major business goal you have a 95% chance of success, if you have two it drops to 70% and more than that and it drops to less than 50%.
Also, I would try and make a GOAL of increasing the amount of hours you can spend on this a week from the current 4 to say 8, or even a 50% increase to 6 would make a big difference. Just think how much more progress you can make in all other areas by this one change. Now you mention getting fit as a personal goal and this can probably help you with more available time as a by-product of getting fitter. Let me explain; it is a know fact that having a good exercise regime coupled with a good balanced diet will increase energy levels. You thus may be able to get up half an hour earlier each day and feel bright and refreshed or even stay up longer on a night allowing you so spend more time on your online business of whatever else you want to do with the extra time and energy
Oh, BTW you have missed a word in the second to last para –where you talk about looking at your wife’s ?????
I hope many of us can get together for a drink one day. I’d love to meet you Harry.
Garry
February 12th, 2009 at 6:05 am
Hi Harry,
I love your plan although I agree with Garry. Concentrate on one thing at the beginning. That is also what Alex told me last Friday. He met with me for about 5 hours before Rich Schefren’s event.
He told me to concentrate on nothing else but building and nurturing my list until I have at least a few thousand subscribers. I set my goal for 2009 at 7500 too.
I got your tweet and I will be glad to help you out with giveaways. I keep saying that I am going to release my ebook “JV Giveaways Unleashed” but I keep going back in and tweaking.
My wife got switched to nights so I am playing Mr. Mom when I get home during the week. That is why I am up at 1 am writing this when I have to get up and go to work in 4 hours.
Your going to have to try and up that 4 hours to about 10 I think. Come on, you can sleep when your dead! Just kidding. That used to be my motto when I was young and would stay out all night partying and then go into work half pissed on 2 hours of sleep.
Outsourcing is definitely the key but the catch 22 is that most of us don’t have the money so you have to bite the bullet and go with out sleep for a while until you can make the money you need to outsource.
Email me with your questions about the giveaways, I’m going to go get those 4 hours of sleep now.
JT
February 12th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Hello there,
4 a moment there I was not sure what this post was 4
Then it struck me after thinking 4 a short time …
It was about 4 and your business plan ha ha ha !!
Great post
Cheers
Tommy
February 12th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
[...] Power of 4 For a More Focused Business So where do I want to be in Dec 2009 – well if it involves a beach and a hammock I will be very glad! – but you see for Alex [and hence for me] that is not specific enough! [...]
February 13th, 2009 at 12:48 am
Hi Harry,
Amazing Post.
This must have taken some of your valuable time, its great.
I agree with JT, i would concentrate on building your list.
Keep spending the time you have on article writing, oil hopping, blog writing, make another short video.
I get up 1 hour early every day and post messages on blogs and write on my own blog, i find this helps.
Until the last session with Alex i was on information overload, trying to get my first ebook finished, changing my blog style, twittering people, emailing and worrying i am getting left behind.
Now i am only concentrating on driving traffic to my squeeze page to build my list.
When i have 2000 on my list i shall then move onto the next step.
Back to basics
Mark Terrell
February 13th, 2009 at 12:49 am
hey harry,
we’ll i said i was going to bed – and here i am, I just couldnt
resist to read the post, and im glad i did,
man you make me so proud the way you speak –
- i can tell you one thing – now you believe yourself that you
can make a full time living online – YOU WILL !!!
Dam so many people moan about it being so hard – i used to be one of them, but i pushed foward like i see you doing – and great things started to happen,
tell your wife i said hi – and i know this is going to work out for you guys –
- man just think back to that first blog post you wrote about me, (han)
you had hundreds of people WOWed by your story and i myself was hooked,
now imagine doing that with the market, -
- dude what im saying is YOUR MADE … just make sure you have a plan and K.O.T.O.B.O.T
Also before i DO go to bed,
you say your going to keep fridays as video days,
i heared Rich Schefren talk about this a couple of weeks back
every other day he is productive and will only work on the MAIN task at hand,
then the days in between he will do all the odd jobs etc …
man im so looking forward to having the chance to finish the coaching program and plan // map out my 2009 using this
system.
last week i worked for 7 hours in 60 min sessions doing nothing apart from ONE main task,
when i finished it was as if id done a month of productive work.
what im saying is FOCUS – <<< Right now i dont have much as im ready for BED,
i have cameron AKA chewie in the morning (we’re going swimming)
then i need to book somewhere to take katie for the weekend.,
okay bro – enjoy yourself – and thanks for keeping onto me about this,
talk soon – <<< cya soon
Alex
February 14th, 2009 at 2:10 am
Hazza,
Now I KNOW how people must feel coming to the Gazz-Man’s monolithic blogosaurus – LOL! There was so much to read. Well said dude.
Oh, and thanks for the plug on the ACTION Planner. That manual has helped so many people and yet the vast majority of the so-called F500 just don’t have it. Weird huh?
Anyway, what’s happening with the Star-Wars theme?…
bzzzzzzzzzt. Hmm, my light sabre is working rather well…. bzzzzzzzzzt. Just thought I’d turn it off before I cut a slice through your page – LOL!
Gary Simpson
February 14th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Hi Harry,
A very well thought out and presented post. Made me take stock of what I’ve been doing and where I want to go.
I’ve also had some good traffic via Twitter – post useful Tweets and people will want to know more.
I noticed you have very few followers on Twitter. Start following other people that are following Alex Jeffreys and they will follow you back. Make sure you DON’T follow more than 200 a day, though. Twitter doesn’t like that!
Then use Twitter Karma (check Garry P’s link on his blog) to bulk follow/unfollow people. It’s much quicker.
I’ve built my following to over 2000 in just over a month this way!
Good luck – your doing really well.
Keep focused on your VISION too – feel what it will be like as though you’ve achieved it already. It really helps and keeps you motivated!
To your success,
Dave (F500 member)
February 21st, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Harry,
I’m so glad I stopped by. If you don’t mind I’ll print this out and revised it a little to fit my goals. You did all the work of putting it together, why re-invent the wheel?
Well done,
Theresa
February 25th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Hey Harry,
This is very well thought out ~ if you follow this you’ll definitely get somewhere, I am unsure if Garry is right about increasing your hours though.
I’ve been working flat out on two programs simultaneously but note that there’s a law of diminishing return in terms of the number of hours worked in a day.
Indeed one day I worked myself into a standstill. When I took a day off my productivity rocketed dramatically and I did twice as much in half the time.
Now I spend almost as much time using a fountain pen as on the computer.
The work you’re putting in mapping out how you’re going to achieve will pay far bigger dividends than getting zoned out on-line.
Good luck to you.
Stephen
February 26th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Thank you all for your comments they were very useful [some of which I have noted in the edited body of the post]
I have been mad busy at work [I knew I would and this was planned also
, so I hvae not had the chance to get back as soon as I would have liked.
I think that the 'productive day' is excellent and by setting myself a relative limit then I am forcing myself to get more achieved in the 'agreed' time...this is working well for me and I will continue with it [all be it that the 4 hours will have to be revised]
I will keep you updated and all the best in your business building!
As AJ said – this really is just the start!
Harry
April 9th, 2009 at 5:21 am
Hello Harry,
Update on our new twitter software.
Most of the JV’s have had the software for a few weeks. We are coming around the last turn and heading for the home stretch. The beta results have been nothing short of amazon. Our JV partners are averaging over a thousand follows a week in their own niches.
http;//mytweetelite.com started brand new 3 weeks ago ( zero following – zero followers ) if you click on the link you will see we are over 5000 following back and have followed over 15000 to achieve this. Soon on my tweet elite their will be a second video talking about the software and how it works. This will be the last video before the final launch video.
I am going to share a secret with all my readers, not only will you be able to get this software. We are going to give away such a terrific bonus that this will become a no brainier. So stay tune and check out the new video at My Tweet Elite
September 28th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Harry
How are you getting on with your goals and progress to your targets?
I’ve joined Alex’s MWA2.0 course and am loving it, but slightly struggling time wise whilst also maintaining a full time job so like the idea of your focus in 4’s!!