Setting Goals
Okay, I have to get this off of my chest. So many people post their goals (one of the first steps in WA) and say things like:
1. I want to make enough money. 2. lots of money. 3. all the time I can.
These are not Goals. Goals by nature are:
Specific, realistic, and obtainable attainable.
The above are very generic terms. For example take number 1. "I want to make enough money". What exactly does that mean? Is enough money $1, $100, $1000000, or $10,000,000. Enough money can mean many different things.
Now if you say I want to make $10,000,000 a month. Do you think that is realistic? Probably not. There is nothing wrong with setting lower goals and moving those goals up as you achieve them. In fact, this is exactly what you should do.
A Good goal for number one might be I want to make $500 a month within a year. Will it be easy? Probably not. Can it be done? Absolutely. It is a very specific amount.
Now the number 2. goal that I posted above is really the same situation. So what if I changed that goal to something like this: " I want to earn $20 per hour" Okay that is specific, right? Yes it is, but you are thinking like an employee. You are not an employee, you are a business owner.
So let's take a look at this from a business owner's perspective. Let's say you start a store in the mall. You have to invest a lot of time and capital. Sometimes you are into the program for 6 months to a year before you even open your doors. Lots of money and time involved in that. The first 2 years after that, if you are successful you might start to turn a profit.
Now the bonus of building a business online is that you don't have to invest tons of money to be successful. You can turn a profit much quicker, but you still need to put in a lot of time.
On Average it takes 3 months to get your first sale and 6 months until you are making regular sales. Do you think that if you post one article and wait 6 months you will be making regular sales? I would bet you would not even have one sale. You need to build and build and build.
Okay so that was discouraging. Hang in there though. Once you build up your site, you will be putting much less time in and making more money each month. For example I have some sites that I haven't done any work on in the past 6 months other than updating the plugins and themes, once a month. This takes about 5 minutes a month, but I still get sales from those sites.
If you were to convert those figures into hourly rates it would be astronomical, but that is not the way to look at it. Look at it more like a salary that you have created.
Okay lets get back to the final point at hand. The third point is people say all the time they can, or 24/7. What exactly does this mean. Most of the time people will say that, then say they didn't succeed after 1 year. Why is that? Because they dont make the time to work on their business.
Do yourself a favor, when setting a time commitment set a specific time. I will work on my new business 2 hours a day 5 days a week. Or I will put in 15 hours a week. See the difference.
I always suggest to make a schedule and treat it like work. You need to do it, and this is the time you will do it each day or week. The figures above are just numbers I pulled out of the air. Do what works for you. Just make sure you put in the time.
Okay I think I am done with my rant. Let me know if I can help you out at all.
Marc
Recent Comments
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So I rethought about my answers and I have written down my new answers on a piece of paper. Thanks for feedback much appreciated.
Great job. As long as you are looking at them. It is also a good thing to place those goals somewhere you see them all the time. Even read them daily.
Marc
Ok Marc i get your point thank you as well i'll be more realistic and honest with myself. I do need help with tis program I have no clue what I'M DOING. I have watch several videos o youtube but i going to take your advice so i can start off on the right ffot.
The best thing I can say is stay focused here. You have everything you need. Just work through the lessons. Let me know how I can help.
Marc
I have worked and built my website in 6 month..pretty much done all the right stuff but money is still not coming in..So I think to be more realistic it takes more than 6 months for most to start seeing income
Keep it up. The more articles you write the better your rankings will come. I know the first month I wrote 28 articles on my main site. Now that the site has aged a bit and it has quite a few articles on it, I am lucky if I write one a month, but it continues to make money.
Marc
Yes I am glad for you, only newbies should be prepared to know that it takes more than 6 months to start making money, I came with long time goals and I have not be affected much.
But still wonder when am I going to start making money, it's good question to ask.
But those who came in with short term in mind, it can be very frustrating.
Thanks.
We must always have a goal. 1st goal of the day on waking up. Get out of bed.
From there your goal is your next movement which must grow through out the day improving on yesterday so that tomorrow is a better day for a gold.
Everyday actions must have growth. Call it a goal or your future. My goal is to be better than yesterday and tomorrow better than today.
Tom.
This is amazing Marc. If I didn't know any better, I would think that you read my mind on this topic. I actually wrote a blog about this on my site... about the difference between goals and resolutions and using SMART!
Cheers!
David
Thank you for the comment. I just see it over and over. People misunderstand goals and wonder why they never reach their goals.
Marc
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Thank you for this post. Very interesting. I think I will take some time to rethink about my goals.
I am so sorry for the late response. I don't know how I missed your contents. Thanks for your comment and let me know if I can help.
Marc