Writen by Elliot Hanson
We're all guilty of doing it, procrastinating when we should really be doing something else more important. Procrastination kills progress for people who fall into a cycle of spending days, weeks and even months staying "busy" without actually doing any real business or work.
This time is spent usually doing activities that don't further the growth of your business, browsing forums and checking email fall into this category. It's easier to stay in your mental comfort zone or "busy" rather than networking, applying those SEO techniques you learned yesterday or actually paying for your first advertisement.
To get yourself out of spinning around in circles here are a few things you can do to move forward to get some real work done:
1. Make a To Do List
Make a list of all the things you need to get done today, tomorrow this week, next week and within the month. As you go through the list getting things done you'll find yourself adding more things to the list of things to do and this will get you moving forward towards your end of the month goal. Keep this list around your work area so it is ready at hand and visible to remind you of the important tasks to be done. Be sure to jot down ideas when they occur to you also.
2. Keep Your Steps Small
It can be overwhelming when you look at your month's goal and don't know how you're going to reach them . You need a plan of action to bridge the connection. It is important to keep your steps small in the beginning so you can reach your goals. For example if you want to get up a flight of stairs you need to walk up the staircase one step at a time. If you try to jump up them all at once to get to the landing you're going to hurt yourself. Keep these tasks small and manageable so you'll be able to get them done and move on to the next one. Eventually you will reach your goal, maybe even surpass it.
3. Get That First Customer
No matter what business you're in or whether you do business online or offline, without customers you don't have a business. Finding those first few customers is very challenging. A first customer doesn't have to be a stranger it can be a friend or family member. Give that friend or family member who needs what you have to offer a discount. If they like your business that friend or family member will eventually recommend your business to someone they know who needs what you have to offer. Friends and family also make great advertisers for your business.
But don't wait for that friend or family member to spread the word about how great your business is, use part of their payment to advertise online or offline (preferably both). Cheap methods do exist so don't spend a small fortune advertising.
4. Forget about Being Perfect
For new small business it's hard to move past the fact that they aren't the perfect business with all the tools they need and the big budget. Forget about being the perfect business or having ideal conditions and work with what you have now and use your strengths to leverage growth. When you starting out you are entitled to not be perfect. Just don't take imperfections too far otherwise your customers will flee in mass. Just because you're the one-man show in you're bedroom doesn't mean you have to appear that way to the public.
5. Believe in Yourself and Your Business
This may sound cheesy, but if you don't believe in your business how do your expect customers or anyone else to either? You need to give a good impression about your business. It all starts with changing the way you talk about it.
Talk about your company like it already is a business, not like it will be a company some day, it seems you're not really committed to what you're doing to people you relate this information too. What you're also doing to yourself subconsciously is you are mentally conditioning yourself to treat it as a part time hobby. A Business is a business not a hobby.
Instead of saying "I'm kinda starting my own business" to family or friends say "I own my own business," this shows them you're really serious about what you're doing and it also comes in handy to stop the naysayer's and skeptics from telling you to "get a real job."
6. Look Ahead to the Future
A good way to see if what you're doing right now is going to get you to your end of the month goal is to look at what you're doing right now. Will reading email get you there? Probably not. Stop reading email, don't go to fourms and chat; do some serious work which won't waste valuable time and more importantly get you moving forward toward your goals.
7. Remember Your Purpose
When you look at the larger tasks you still have to do and would rather eat glass than do them, remind yourself of your initial dreams you had on the very first day you started out on the long road. What purpose is this work serving you? What dreams did you have for yourself? What do you want? Do you want to be financially free? Travel the world? Just have more time to spend with the kids? The purpose of your work is to turn those dreams into reality.
8. Finally, buddy up with a friend to help you get the work done or get someone who will motivate you when you need it. You can even form a joint venture to work with someone. If you don't have someone who wants to team up with you, online forums are a good alternative. Find a fourm, which deals with other like minded people and you will learn a lot. Seek out a member or two to partner up with, as they say two minds are better than one.
By putting these 8 methods to action you will be far beyond the busy work stage.
Elliot Hanson is an entrepreneur and educator whose perspectives are changing the way people think about money and life. You can find more of his writing and and subscribe to his free ezine by visiting, http://lifeliberator.blogspot.com
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