How to stay consistent developing your business?

[Zizu]

Alright.


Here's a question for all of you guys who developed their business while working 10+ hours most of the days while mantaining a relationship.

How??


Some backstory first:

I've been a coach driver for the past 4 years (7 years in the industry) and after searching for some business ideas, I got to creating a blog earlier this year. I'm way past the phase where working on a laptop in Bali is the ideal life. F*ck that. But I thought of my blog being a good base for other stuff related to my industry, plus I'll also be able to sharpen different types of skills with it.

Our tourist season here lasts from April to November, and when it starts, it's just full grind mode. Forget everything else exists. The funny thing is I don't have a problem with this anymore. Me and my partner know exactly what we want now and we're both working hard at our jobs to save for it, so more drives = more money.

Unfortunately, as I've been getting more drives, I have less and less "brain capacity" to focus on the blog. I'm not going to lie. I have a few spare hours every week, enough to write a quality blog post. But I have been on tours for the past month and a half, with little rest time between each. And it just makes me so tired after a while that the first thing I do is just sleep for 12 hours the first day I come back.

This sucks because I've really been enjoying blogging lately. March had around 1000 views, April had 3000. Unfortunately down to 300 now in May as I only posted 2 blog posts, and it looks like the facebook groups where I got most support from arent happy about my posts anymore. Instagram had a fair reach for my profile size (like 20 followers but over 13k monthly reach at one point), plus got almost 20 people in my facebook group as well as 7 on my email list. These numbers are tiny but they mean a lot to me.

Long times away from home also require me to mantain my relationship, leaving me with even less time and willpower to do anything business related.

On the forum, I read stuff about bad time management and this and that. Watch less TV, play less videogames yada yada. And all of that is completely correct - But building a thing while working from 9-5 and while working from 8-8 is a different story.

Is it possible that I just don't have enough fire in me because me and my partner (although renting) are content with our situation? Am I just a workhorse who is not destined to build something?

Coming to the end of this post, I don't even know what kind of answers I'm expecting. Perhaps somebody giving me a wake up call and telling me I'm a lazy sod?

cheers

 

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[Elisa LoveHate]

Hey there,

I feel you. I was writing for my blog while working a corporate job for 10 hours a day. It had a good number of views, I created many connections, and it was satisfying. Until I had burnout and quit my job, quit the blog, and left the big city.
It's not bad time management if you work many hours, it's important to rest too.

The only thing I would suggest is to focus on the reason why you are writing this blog. Are you planning to earn something from it? I suppose yes, but how? I would focus on that to understand if it's worth it.

 

[jennydav]

I how to don't think about possible failures all the time?

 

[Devilery]

I how to don't think about possible failures all the time?

You may not want to hear it and there are different ways to think about it, but to me, it's really all about commitment.

I am well aware that the odds are stacked against me if I look up the data - how many businesses succeed, I see 90%+ failures. Very few can achieve it, but I've committed to it, so the statistics don't bother me. I can keep going, and endure the failures because I have accepted how difficult it is. I believe this awareness and acceptance are a must, the sooner you understand that it's very F*cking difficult, the better.

With that out of the way, you also have to realize that the success formula is simple - you provide value to a person in a way that returns enough value to you for it to be sustainable and leave room for growth, then you figure out if you can use the same system to provide value to 100, 1000, 1 million people while still receiving a proportional amount of value in return, put simply, is it profitable?

While the statistics are not motivating, you also have to realize that there is an abundance of opportunities and most people won't endure the process, so just become tough enough to be one of the few who can get to the other side.

 

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[heavy_industry]

Forget about the result and focus exclusively on the process.

"Commitment" is to less of a word - you need to get addicted to the process.

Statistics are nice and all, but they have NO predictive power over your own individual outcome. Your chance of success may range from 0% to 99% depending on how well you do things.

Here's a question for all of you guys who developed their business while working 10+ hours most of the days while mantaining a relationship.

If you can't or don't want to quit your day job, wake up 3 hours before going to work and do the business stuff first thing in the morning when your mind is fresh.

A blog promoting digital products is not exactly the most complex operation in the world.

2-3 hours of maximum focus a day is everything you need to see good results in a year.

 

[circleme]

The only thing I would suggest is to focus on the reason why you are writing this blog.

I seriously believe that this kind of mindset is the number one reason why most entrepreneurs fail and their projects end up in the Gobi Desert after a short time.

If I, and this has been one of my biggest learnings within the last 12 months of my Fastlane journey, focus only on the WHY and the goal, but during the process, I realize that the result/goal is not being achieved as quickly as I would like, the following happens:

1. I doubt that it will work.
2. It becomes extremely demotivating.
3. I start considering trying something else.
4. Ultimately: I quit the "business stuff" because it doesn't work anyway.

Moreover, I have become very critical of business goals, even though I set them for myself recently (in the form of XY cash flow per month).

The reason?
Unfortunately, I can neither influence nor control whether I will achieve Y cash flow in X months. If this is still someone's goal, there is a high probability that one or all of the above four points will occur again.

(My) solution?
I only focus on the activities that move the needle AND that I can control/repeat. At the end of the day, for me and presumably 99.9% of other companies, these are exclusively activities that generate MORE traffic and achieve more sales conversions. Just these two.

Can I guarantee that I have increased my MRR by $500 by the end of the month? No. Can I guarantee that I have acquired two new premium customers by the end of the month? No.

However, what I can certainly guarantee and control:

• The number of blog posts I write
• The number of tutorials I record
• The number of features I develop
• The number of products/solutions I create
• ...

In short:

Forget about the result and focus exclusively on the process.

Nevertheless, I must admit that this is something I still struggle with, and it simply takes time to internalize. Moving away from the money mindset and towards the value mindset. Moving away from the result mindset and towards the process mindset.

 

[MTF]

I'm in Croatia now and I have mad respect for tourist workers here. Your job is insanely hard and I can't imagine doing anything productive after or before work.

Having said that, a few thoughts:

• If you've been getting SEO traffic, your blog most likely dropped because Google completely F*cked niche websites and there's no going back to the good old days.
• A blog is not a business. Have a product first, then you can use a blog to get new customers or nurture your existing ones. But writing for the sake of writing is not a business.
• If you want to have a content-based business, YouTube is much better than a blog because it can still grow organically.
• What do you do outside of the tourist season?

 

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[Elisa LoveHate]

it's really all about commitment.

I only focus on the activities that move the needle AND that I can control/repeat.

Totally agree!

 

[heavy_industry]

Nevertheless, I must admit that this is something I still struggle with, and it simply takes time to internalize. Moving away from the money mindset and towards the value mindset. Moving away from the result mindset and towards the process mindset.

As soon as you master this, you will unlock unlimited motivation to do anything.

This applies to lifting weights, academic pursuits, and any other human endeavor which requires consistent effort over a long period of time.

Why?

Because this is how the reward system works in the brain:

If your motivation is exclusively tied to an end result, you put in a lot of effort into it, and the result does not show up - you are going to be sorely disappointed and inclined to give up.

This is not "mental weakness". It's your neurotransmitters telling you to F*cking STOP because whatever you are doing is futile.

If, on the other hand, you are inherently motivated by doing the work itself, this creates an instant feedback loop and will result in you getting ADDICTED to executing the process.


Take a look at @Johnny boy - all he does is work from sunrise to sunset and has never been happier.


Or listen to what a real entrepreneur has to say about this:

When you can do the HABITS without the RESULTS then you will make it.

Can you be tied to a process with NO EXPECTATION OF AN EVENT?

 

[Zizu]

Hey there,

I feel you. I was writing for my blog while working a corporate job for 10 hours a day. It had a good number of views, I created many connections, and it was satisfying. Until I had burnout and quit my job, quit the blog, and left the big city.
It's not bad time management if you work many hours, it's important to rest too.

The only thing I would suggest is to focus on the reason why you are writing this blog. Are you planning to earn something from it? I suppose yes, but how? I would focus on that to understand if it's worth it.

I started writing for two reasons - one is to help colleagues with the same struggles I used to have (and am still having) and to rise awareness about the industry, and the second one is to build a business out of it in the following few years.

Forget about the result and focus exclusively on the process.

"Commitment" is to less of a word - you need to get addicted to the process.

Statistics are nice and all, but they have NO predictive power over your own individual outcome. Your chance of success may range from 0% to 99% depending on how well you do things.


If you can't or don't want to quit your day job, wake up 3 hours before going to work and do the business stuff first thing in the morning when your mind is fresh.

A blog promoting digital products is not exactly the most complex operation in the world.

2-3 hours of maximum focus a day is everything you need to see good results in a year.

Waking up before is exactly what I used to do before the season started. I work year round and from November to March its much quieter and I have plenty of time to do my own things. April to October though I barely have enough time to go for a haircut.

I had this routine where I'd wake up at 6 every day (including my days off from driving) and write whenever I had the time BECAUSE I did have a lot of time. As soon as the season started all of a sudden, it all went to hell. I can't afford to wake up 3 hours early because I'm driving people. Dozing off while analysing data in a cubicle is one thing, but if it happens to me I'm gonna end up in the news (and not because its a good thing).

I started pretty late with this so I guess the best thing I can do is just grind and write out posts daily for the whole summer (I do 1 blog post a week).

I agree with the rest you said though.

I seriously believe that this kind of mindset is the number one reason why most entrepreneurs fail and their projects end up in the Gobi Desert after a short time.

If I, and this has been one of my biggest learnings within the last 12 months of my Fastlane journey, focus only on the WHY and the goal, but during the process, I realize that the result/goal is not being achieved as quickly as I would like, the following happens:

1. I doubt that it will work.
2. It becomes extremely demotivating.
3. I start considering trying something else.
4. Ultimately: I quit the "business stuff" because it doesn't work anyway.

Moreover, I have become very critical of business goals, even though I set them for myself recently (in the form of XY cash flow per month).

The reason?
Unfortunately, I can neither influence nor control whether I will achieve Y cash flow in X months. If this is still someone's goal, there is a high probability that one or all of the above four points will occur again.

(My) solution?
I only focus on the activities that move the needle AND that I can control/repeat. At the end of the day, for me and presumably 99.9% of other companies, these are exclusively activities that generate MORE traffic and achieve more sales conversions. Just these two.

Can I guarantee that I have increased my MRR by $500 by the end of the month? No. Can I guarantee that I have acquired two new premium customers by the end of the month? No.

However, what I can certainly guarantee and control:

• The number of blog posts I write
• The number of tutorials I record
• The number of features I develop
• The number of products/solutions I create
• ...

In short:

Nevertheless, I must admit that this is something I still struggle with, and it simply takes time to internalize. Moving away from the money mindset and towards the value mindset. Moving away from the result mindset and towards the process mindset.

Yup. Sometimes we get lost in the bullshit but it all comes up to ONE THING you need to do for your business to go forward. For me its just writing and that's pretty much just what I do.

I'm in Croatia now and I have mad respect for tourist workers here. Your job is insanely hard and I can't imagine doing anything productive after or before work.

Having said that, a few thoughts:

• If you've been getting SEO traffic, your blog most likely dropped because Google completely F*cked niche websites and there's no going back to the good old days.
• A blog is not a business. Have a product first, then you can use a blog to get new customers or nurture your existing ones. But writing for the sake of writing is not a business.
• If you want to have a content-based business, YouTube is much better than a blog because it can still grow organically.
• What do you do outside of the tourist season?

Hope you're enjoying your time here. If you're anywhere around Šibenik hmu for coffee. To answer your questions:

1. 99.9% of my traffic is from facebook groups, I get like 15 clicks a month from SEO

2. My aim is to write an ebook (yeah spare me the laughs I know) as the first product. Most of the blogging I do is in the categories about that and I have a mini version of the guide as a lead magnet, but I'm just not selling anything right now (except for plugging some affiliate links now and then - no income yet).

3. I'm more of a writer than a speaker. Using instagram to supplement my blog currently though.

4. I work as a bus driver year round. But as i said above outside the tourist season I have much more time as I just drive school routes and the occasional charter drive. Looks like I'll have to do all the work in the winter so it posts itself in the summer.

 

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[Kevin88660]

I how to don't think about possible failures all the time?

Just press the restart button like losing a computer game.