I must admit I’m having a really hard time setting my goals for 2010. The fact of the matter is that a web career can change from week to week – you try new things, you learn new things, and you figure out exactly where your effort is best spent. This is why it’s so important to have a plan that’s fluid and that can move with what’s right for you.
At the same time, I’ve also come to realise that setting small goals also has its place. For example, I’ve decided to take part in Tiffany Dow’s 52 week Squidoo challenge: to write one product-based Squidoo lens (based around the Info Product Killer formula) each and every week of 2010. You can download her guide from her blog here: http://www.tiffanydow.com/blog/main/marketing-in-2010-my-plan/
Am I Doing Enough?
One of the things we all battle with is questioning whether we’re really doing enough. This Squidoo challenge is a good example of taking very small steps to hopefully achieve something big. 52 Squidoo lenses probably aren’t going to make us rich, and doing one a week doesn’t seem like a lot of work.
I’d thought about doing more than one per week, but when I really thought about it I realised that sometimes you need to set smaller goals to make them more achievable. If I stick at one per week I know I can really do it. If I tried five a week, I’d probably get bored or lose faith if not all of them worked.
Everything You Do Adds Up
The 52 week Squidoo challenge is only a part of my passive income generation for 2010. On top of this I’m carrying on building niche blogs, IPK style blogs, PLR packs and more. It all adds up, it all helps to make my earnings less dependent on any one source and, above all, it makes work a lot more varied and fun!
~ Web Career Girl
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Forest (4)
Loren Jaslyn (4)
Des @ Affiliate P... (3)
Eric (3)
John (3)
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Twitter: BuildThatListCo
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January 11th, 2010 at 9:51 am
That is exactly it. I think sometimes me fail because we try to do too much! We just need to take it one step at a time.
Tom | Build That List´s last blog ..Squeeze Page Tips For Better Conversion
Twitter: webcareergirl
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January 11th, 2010 at 10:17 am
Tom – I am always taking on too much and giving up – 2010 will be different. Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment
Twitter: Kidgas
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January 11th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Ruth,
I think you make 2 very important points in this post.
1. Your plans have to be fluid. This is especially applicable to myself recovering from an illness and being busy at work, etc.
2. Making small achievable goals is important. Otherwise, it is too easy to get discouraged. And the little things do add up.
Kidgas´s last blog ..Passive Income is Working Well
Twitter: webcareergirl
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January 11th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
Kidgas – I saw your post about your illness today – I’m glad you’re recovering. Sometimes you do need to just stop working when something like that happens. It’s just one of those things about being self employed, we need to shift our aims when something changes.
January 11th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
“I’d thought about doing more than one per week, but when I really thought about it I realised that sometimes you need to set smaller goals to make them more achievable.”
Hi Ruth! I hope you don’t mind, but I took the climactic part of your post. I think this one nails the essence of everything you’ve said. Personally, when it comes to setting goals, I just create one and focus all my energy on that. Well, besides the fact that I’m a guy and I’m as dumb as a donkey when it comes to multi-tasking, I feel that it’s better to shift your focus on another objective once you know you’ve succeeded on the first one.
Anyway, I do wish you the best. I’ll try to come back here whenever possible. =)
Cheers,
Ryhen
Ryhen | Mind Power´s last blog ..Cause and Effect: How To Really Change The World
Twitter: webcareergirl
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January 11th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Ryhen – Thanks for leaving your thoughts. I honestly WISH I could just set one goal at a time. I think it would do me so much good. I think you have a good tactic there!
January 11th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Best of luck with the lenses. I’ve not tried any directly product related ones yet (definitely on my to do list), look forward to hearing how you progress with it.
Des´s last blog ..A Look Back Over my Shoulder
Twitter: webcareergirl
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January 11th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Des – Thanks a lot, I will definitely be posting about my progress (not much to report yet!)
Twitter: nerddiary
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January 11th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Yeah, it seems like it’s all about baby steps and constantly moving forward. Although, it still blows my mind that people make money using Squidoo. But, that’s probably just because I’m doing it wrong. I’ll check out your link and see if I can finally get it.
Affiliate Guy´s last blog ..Step Three: You need Twitter (really?!)
Twitter: webcareergirl
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January 11th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
Affiliate Guy – I think I have been doing Squidoo all wrong too. I never tried the product approach with it, though, and from my HubPages challenge I did get the feeling that products would work well promoted on Hubs, so hopefully I’ll have some progress to report with Squidoo soon too.
Twitter: lisanthemum
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January 11th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
It’s easy to look at the 52 lens challenge and feel like it’s too simple…but I realized that it can easily take me all day to finish my tasks. If I try to do more, I’m going to fail…it’s such a hard balance, especially mentally when you feel like you should be doing more!
Twitter: webcareergirl
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January 11th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
Lisa – I always feel like I need to do more, but when you sit back and think about how much 1 lens will bring you if you stick at it for a year, that’s a pretty nice thought! Anyway, I think we will be getting much quicker at the whole process soon. I find I can write the lens quickly but all the setting up, finding keywords etc. takes a while
Twitter: lorenjaslyn
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January 11th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
Yet another great post Ruth. It’s funny…I just spent hours last night and the day before that building and finishing up my first two squidoo lens’ and it seemed like it took me forever.
I’m already trying to finish up small tasks throughout the day, but I do have to stop my self at times for being at risk from “information overload”. Yeah, sometimes I have to sift through the bad info to get to the gold mines. But honestly, if you complete small tasks each day and week–you can be so much closer to your goals than taking on the world and giving up. I appreciate your informative posts and will stay tuned!
Twitter: webcareergirl
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January 11th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
Loren – I still get the information overload, though it is a lot better than it used to me. Sometimes you just have to tell yourself to ’stop’ and get back to the small task you’ve set yourself. And, like I just said in the reply to Lisa above, I do think we’ll get a lot quicker soon when we’ve had more practice building these lenses.
Twitter: lbogaerts
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January 11th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Ruth, you touch some very good points in this post. As you said, an internet career isn’t set in stone, and will change when the market does, as well as when you’re knowledge grows. Your goals need to be flexible enough to accomodate that. I did set out my business plan, but I’m sure, half way through I’ll be adapting to see what didn’t work and what did.
Also, setting smaller goals, like the 52 week squidoo challenge, does help us stay on track. I believe that a lot of people (not all of them, mind you) go for the internet career because, basically, they are bored easily and this way they can easily change their business and/or goals. When you set out those smaller goals, you have the time to learn what fits you and your business without burning yourself out in the process, or without starting a million and one different things and following through with none of them.
Leslie
Leslie´s last blog ..Working At Home When You’re A Mom
Twitter: webcareergirl
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January 11th, 2010 at 8:43 pm
Leslie – I really like the way you’ve laid out your goals for 2010 and I think that you still have flexibility within them. Things always change, but your outline is a good one for making sure you’re always moving forward. And you’re right about getting bored easily – I find myself changing what I do all the time! I really need that variety sometimes.
Twitter: lbogaerts
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January 11th, 2010 at 11:02 pm
I try to keep some flexibility, yes. I’ve already changed some things around. Normally I wouldn’t start new blogs in the beginning of the year, but I will be doing some holiday blogs. I won’t fully complete them, but they will be started this year, with the intention of finishing them up well before the holiday next year. That way they have some aging behind them when I start working on them.
And I’m glad to know I’m not alone with the “being bored easily” issue. You know, doing this makes it easy for me to challenge myself more then I would with a normal nine-to-five job. That’s one of the things I love of working at home and for myself.
Leslie´s last blog ..Working At Home When You’re A Mom
Twitter: webcareergirl
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January 12th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
I love the challenge too Leslie
January 12th, 2010 at 3:34 am
I really trust small things working together to generate good income. Internet is a great market to do that. And chances are that one of these sources becomes a very important one.
I really like that you have very specific goals. I mean, you don’t just say “I want to make more money”, but you say “I will make more money by doing…”
Isaac Ben´s last blog ..Steps to financial freedom – Introduction
Twitter: webcareergirl
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January 12th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Isaac – I have to make specific goals or else I just find that all my days somehow get wasted. I’m not very good at staying on track otherwise!
Twitter: MichelleRAdams
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January 14th, 2010 at 10:46 am
Good luck with your Squidoo challenge Ruth, you showed some great commitment to your ebook writing so I have no doubt you’ll follow through on this too.
I love your ’small weekly tasks’ concept, it makes something big seem so much more achievable.
Michelle Adams´s last blog ..Flipping Untangled
Twitter: webcareergirl
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January 14th, 2010 at 11:17 am
Thanks Michelle, comments like that are really encouraging
Twitter: bluepop13
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January 16th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
As I have three blogs I’ll be running I’m really one to talk here lol.
I think focusing on one thing will get you further in the long run. Of course, managing time could also allow you to focus on one thing while having multiple activities going on over all.
We’ll see what happens.
Eric´s last blog ..Inspiration, Smart Work, Success | The InfoPreneur
Twitter: webcareergirl
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January 17th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
Eric – I have lots of things on the go at once too, and I definitely agree that it’s so much easier to focus on one thing. Unfortunately my brain doesn’t seem to let me do that! So I’ve broken it up into these ‘bite-sized’ weekly chunks and it seems to help. Good luck with your blogs!
Twitter: frugalzeitgeist
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March 4th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
I’ve never given enough time to Squidoo but I have the OWM guide… I would love to follow it just never have…. I also have the Info Product Success Formula from Josh Spaulding which is great… I need to go over this as have just started planning my first product….
Forest´s last blog ..Get Over The Fear Of Cooking At Home…