No More BS, Here's To The Process

[ValueAdder]

I'm starting this thread partly to help keep myself accountable, track my progress, and because writing everything down will help show where I've made good and bad decisions and the consequences for both, rather than just guessing. I've read several other progress threads on here, which have been helpful for me, so I think this could be helpful to others going through their own processes as well.

I decided on a niche a couple weeks ago and purchased a domain name and hosting. The main keyword for the niche gets about 200k avg monthly searches and the industry has magazines, books, retail and affiliate products, along with a ton of sites (This would have scared me in the past, but now I realize that this means there are a lot of needs for this niche). I'm targeting several long tail keywords that total about 5,500 avg monthly searches, which appear to have little competition, rather than go after the main keywords that are really competitive and highly saturated.

After throwing $hit at the wall for the last couple of weeks, this morning I decided to write out a plan for the next 3 months, with a goal of uncovering a need that I can fill at the end of these 3 months. I'm only planning out 3 months because after I find the need, it will help determine my long term strategy, at which point I'll share my next steps.

3 Month Goals & How I'll Achieve Them

1. Traffic (how will I get people to visit my site?)
   1. Content (Videos, Articles, Reviews) - 1 piece per day minimum
   2. SEO (Just learning this but here's what I've got so far)
      1. On-page SEO (keyword density, H1 tags, article/page titles - installed Yoast SEO plugin)
      2. Facebook page - can share links, articles, videos, etc...
      3. Twitter - same as Facebook
      4. Pinterest (definitely a visual niche, so posting images on Pinterest to link to site)
      5. PPC (have no idea what I'm doing here, so will need to learn)
2. Make sure the site is easy to navigate and understand
3. Email List (once people visit the site, need to turn them into subscribers)
   1. Signup for MailCheat(Chimp)
   2. Figure out a reason visitors would want to subscribe
      1. Short eBook
      2. Free giveaway
      3. Free giveaway, just pay s&h (saw this on here somewhere)
      4. Other...
4. Find Need
   1. Ask for it on the site, on Facebook page, Twitter, from email list, etc...
   2. What are people searching for?
   3. What are people asking for?
   4. Hot topics in the niche

I have content scheduled every day for the next week, so my next step is to setup the Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest account. Then I'll pump out content for the next week as I dive into SEO more.

So that's the plan for finding a need in my niche. If you see any holes in it or have any suggestions please let me know.

 

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[LightHouse]

All of that can be done in a week or less, what are you going to do the other 11 weeks?

 

[ValueAdder]

All of that can be done in a week or less, what are you going to do the other 11 weeks?

Great point. I'll focus on getting this done in the next week and then figure out week 2.

 

[ValueAdder]

Over the weekend I setup a Facebook page and Twitter account, signed up for MailCheat(Chimp) and created a signup form and spent time learning SEO and applying as much as I've absorbed, going through all of the posts on my site and updating them. There's so much out there I could've spent a year reading everything, so I just cut myself off and jumped in.

Since I have posts already scheduled for several days, once I've made all of my current posts SEO friendly, I'll start cranking out more content. Should be tonight or at the latest tomorrow morning.

I actually screwed something up in my hosting account (this is still pretty new to me) and my site was down for a day and a half. I was able to figure out what I did and how to undo it, so it's back up and running now. While the site was down, which I mistakenly thought was temporary, I found places where my target audience likes to share online and searched for what type of problems and needs they have. I spent a number of hours doing this and it may just take more time, or I still need to change the way I think to really see what they need. It's probably a little of both.

For the rest of the week I'll be:

• posting
• set up pinterest account
• talk with a buddy who's had really good success w/PPC for some guidance
• continue to dig for needs/wants in the niche, which should help with what to entice visitors with to subscribe, as well as product creation.

3 months was a ridiculously long time frame to get this stuff done. Thanks @LightHouse for the kick.

 

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[LightHouse]

Over the weekend I setup a Facebook page and Twitter account, signed up for MailCheat(Chimp) and created a signup form and spent time learning SEO and applying as much as I've absorbed, going through all of the posts on my site and updating them. There's so much out there I could've spent a year reading everything, so I just cut myself off and jumped in.

Since I have posts already scheduled for several days, once I've made all of my current posts SEO friendly, I'll start cranking out more content. Should be tonight or at the latest tomorrow morning.

I actually screwed something up in my hosting account (this is still pretty new to me) and my site was down for a day and a half. I was able to figure out what I did and how to undo it, so it's back up and running now. While the site was down, which I mistakenly thought was temporary, I found places where my target audience likes to share online and searched for what type of problems and needs they have. I spent a number of hours doing this and it may just take more time, or I still need to change the way I think to really see what they need. It's probably a little of both.

For the rest of the week I'll be:

• posting
• set up pinterest account
• talk with a buddy who's had really good success w/PPC for some guidance
• continue to dig for needs/wants in the niche, which should help with what to entice visitors with to subscribe, as well as product creation.

3 months was a ridiculously long time frame to get this stuff done. Thanks @LightHouse for the kick.

This is half a day MAX, You are not working as hard as you can be. Do you really want it?

I do not think you entire angle is driected right in the first place, BUT, before Anyone wastes time going through that end, you have to be willing to really put in the work. You are being safe and comforatble with yourself... and really... just building a job.

Keep it moving, and keep it moving fast.

 

[ValueAdder]

This is half a day MAX, You are not working as hard as you can be. Do you really want it?

I do not think you entire angle is driected right in the first place, BUT, before Anyone wastes time going through that end, you have to be willing to really put in the work. You are being safe and comforatble with yourself... and really... just building a job.

Keep it moving, and keep it moving fast.

Thanks for taking the time to push me. I appreciate your honesty, it's clearly what I've needed for a long time.

Even though I've done more this weekend than any other, you're dead on that it wasn't enough and still felt safe and comfortable, which isn't going to get me anywhere. I definitely want this and am willing to put in the work. I need to better spend my time and energy on what will propel me forward in a fastlane business, not a job.

Your comment that you don't think my entire angle is directed right concerns me. What do you mean by that?

 

[LightHouse]

You are building a website (solution) for an unknown (problem). That is in correct. Solving a need might not need a solution that is a website.

You should have a problem that you know first, make sure its something you can do or sell at a profit, then build a solution.

Otherwise you are going to have to redo everything, waste time, money, etc on something that doesnt work for what you need. You have it all completely backwards because you are channeled into wanting a web based business because its easy and cheap.

 

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[Andy Black]

^^^ what he said.

You don't need a blog, to learn SEO, or even to try and build a list at the moment. You will be churning out content that no-one will find or read.

Don't try and build an audience/list, go teach someone something - this week!

Similarly, forget building a business or website, and go help someone - this week!

If you are writing about a topic you already know and can help people with, then go find their watering hole and help them there.

I personally go looking for forums where people are stuck, and try and help. You will start finding common themes with your answers, and can then create a thread to direct people to the next time. Voila, you uncovered a need and helped solve it.

Then you can work out how to monetise...

 

[ValueAdder]

You are building a website (solution) for an unknown (problem). That is in correct. Solving a need might not need a solution that is a website.

You should have a problem that you know first, make sure its something you can do or sell at a profit, then build a solution.

Otherwise you are going to have to redo everything, waste time, money, etc on something that doesnt work for what you need. You have it all completely backwards because you are channeled into wanting a web based business because its easy and cheap.

Thank you! You saved me a ton of time. I convinced myself building a site was the way to figure out what people need and I admit, it seemed somewhat easy and is cheap, if you don't consider the time I would have put into it.

Step 1 isn't traffic, it's knowing the problem.

 

[ValueAdder]

^^^ what he said.

You don't need a blog, to learn SEO, or even to try and build a list at the moment. You will be churning out content that no-one will find or read.

Don't try and build an audience/list, go teach someone something - this week!

Similarly, forget building a business or website, and go help someone - this week!

If you are writing about a topic you already know and can help people with, then go find their watering hole and help them there.

I personally go looking for forums where people are stuck, and try and help. You will start finding common themes with your answers, and can then create a thread to direct people to the next time. Voila, you uncovered a need and helped solve it.

Then you can work out how to monetise...

Thank you for the great advice. I'm definitely glad I posted this progress thread instead of just plugging away with my backwards plan. It's hard to add value if i'm building a website nobody needs or will ever visit. Finding problems I can help with is really what I need to focus on right now.

 

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[RHL]

Lighthouse is fundamentally correct, but I feel there's still value in action taking. Every success I've had (meaning actual profit, worth the time, not a bust) didn't look like this:

I think I have identified a need->I take action on that need->Profit

It looked like this:

I think I have identified a need->I take action on that need-> While taking action on that need, a larger, more profound need that required an INSIDERS's knowledge or the trust of companies/people in that particular niche is exposed->Act on that much clearer need-> profit

Your first shot at entrepreneurship, like your first move in BattleShip, is always going to be a little bit blind. It's how you follow up and evolve from there that makes you a success or not.

 

[LightHouse]

Lighthouse is fundamentally correct, but I feel there's still value in action taking. Every success I've had (meaning actual profit, worth the time, not a bust) didn't look like this:

I think I have identified a need->I take action on that need->Profit

It looked like this:

I think I have identified a need->I take action on that need-> While taking action on that need, a larger, more profound need that required an INSIDERS's knowledge or the trust of companies/people in that particular niche is exposed->Act on that much clearer need-> profit

Your first shot at entrepreneurship, like your first move in BattleShip, is always going to be a little bit blind. It's how you follow up and evolve from there that makes you a success or not.

I totally agree, but your first step even in your actual... is missing from his action plan right now. He is just building a site and throwing things around. There is nothing wrong with that in a sense if you want to learn, but you dont want to focus on it 100%.

You are going to learn more, and find a lot more problems and solutions if you are atleast headed in a direction that you know will lead the finding some viable need.

You are right though, for clarity I did not mean to say dont do anything and just research forever. Action taking is great, just find a focus first and make it worthwhile.

 

[RHL]

I see what you mean re-reading his stuff. Yeah, you need to have a game plan, even if it's not going to lead to a hit.


Another biggie is this: Don't try to hit a grand slam on your first time at bat. Instead, try just to make it up on the board.

 

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[ValueAdder]

With the great feedback/advice here I took a step back and talked with several people the last couple of days. There's a pretty substantial complaint at the company I currently work for about a process that destroys productivity and ends up taking us away from selling, for literally hours every week. It directly impacts the bottom line. There are about 100 people just in my company who for years have been begging for a tool that simplifies this process. So far no one has taken the time to build such a tool, at least not one that's worked.

Since I've had the same complaint it's something I've put some thought into in the past, and I think I've figured out a way to actually do it. It'll take a good amount of work, and quite a few hours, but I believe I have everything I need to create it. I ran what the tool would do past a few coworkers and they said it would have a huge impact on their days, which was no surprise but I wanted to make sure others felt the same way about it. Most of us just work really long days to get the work done, but they immediately saw that this could save them hours.

Rather than build a website that doesn't solve a need, I'm going to build this tool (actually started already this evening) that people have been asking for over the past several years. It definitely solves a need and, once finished, I'll be able to use it myself to reduce my hours while increasing my output at work, helping me focus even more on building a fastlane business.

 

[Andy Black]

^^^ Nice.

Sounds a lot like Dane Maxwell's story.

Now just make sure you work in an 'agile' fashion and get feedback early and often.

 

[ValueAdder]

I've been working on this solution/tool for just over a week now, putting hours a day into it. I see why no one has tackled this yet, it takes a lot of effort and I've ended up learning a lot so far. What's been great is that I'm roughly half way to a minimum viable product now. For 3+ years I've been asking for something like this and in 2-3 weeks I could have had it. It would have saved me countless hours, probably weeks of real time over those 3 years.

I've shared what I've got so far with a couple of people and what they've seen they've really liked and have commented on how much of a time saver it would be for them, that they could focus more on selling and less on this time sucking necessary evil of a task. I've included a couple of their suggestions but when I've asked, "could you get by without this at first?" and they've said "yea, it would be nice to have but not necessary", I've just written those down as something to possibly add after I've put the mvp out there.

I'm not aiming to create something that looks great right now or has every bell and whistle. All of my energy is being put into just making it do this one task that takes so much time to accomplish. In the past I've always thought that anything I created would have to look great and include everything under the sun for anyone to ever find it useful, but I realize now that how this looks and how many features it has doesn't matter, it's how quickly I can get something that solves a problem into the hands of those who need it.

 

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[tafy]

Are you creating this on your own time? Have you aproached the company about it yet? Is it web based or downloadable software?

 

[ValueAdder]

Are you creating this on your own time? Have you aproached the company about it yet? Is it web based or downloadable software?

I'm creating it on my own time and have not approached the company about it. As of right now it's downloadable, but ultimately web based is a better option because it requires monthly updates, which is how often the data is updated by the vendor.

 

[ValueAdder]

After making good progress out of the gate, this thing has gotten big. I'm trying to focus on keeping only the most important features, which I feel I've done a good job of. It's an analysis tool for businesses to make intelligent buying decisions for specific products. It sounds like it would be easy to do, but there are a lot of variables that go into it, which is why our customers depend on us to generate them and help them make these decisions.

With what I have so far, every project I've tested it on has highlighted something I've left out that's important to it's functionality. With that said, it's still brought my time to generate a report down from an average of close to 4hrs to 30min! I showed a friend on my team my latest version for feedback and he was blown away. He admitted there were still a few things missing, but he was begging for a copy once it's done.

My biggest concern is that I need a way to secure the formulas and data sources and clean it up to be good enough to present the report to a customer. Right now I'm doing this manually, but I know there's a way to do this with the push of a button. I'm just struggling with how to configure this piece, which is really what's holding me back right now. I feel like I'm so close to figuring this out.

It's amazing how much you learn when you just get after it and start working on something.

Just wanted to give a quick update. Now back to work.

 

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[tminch55]

Great job doing it on your own time. Doing it on company time would spell disaster! I was concerned until you clarified. You are doing fantastic!

 

[LightHouse]

How has this been going?

I am hoping lack of updates is the indicator of working your a$$ off in the trenches getting the thing built and selling it?!!?

 

[ValueAdder]

Thanks for checking in LightHouse.

I've been working on it nearly every day. It took a little over 2 months to work through some of the main issues I was having. I got it to a point where others could give it a try. Once it was in their hands they pointed out some shortfalls that would keep them from using it. It's also some things customers in my 9-5 either ask us for or have to do themselves, so it makes sense to incorporate those.

Now I'm working on getting those features into the tool and the tool on-line.

I've been learning a lot about creating a tool, getting actual user feedback, and choosing what to ignore vs incorporate. It's been something else and right now I'm focusing on getting this thing working and into paying customers hands.

 

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