Here's What You Get in a Robert Plank Webinar Series...

Productivity 12 Comments »

Nothing for sale today.  If you're on my list you saw the PLR Copywriting 4-week e-course Jason and I are running.

I'm going to give you a peek at what happened inside the member's area at the end of the first class, just so you can see what happens when you combine proven step-by-step solutions with CHALLENGES (instead of homework) with accountability... the productivity level reaches a kind of critical mass:

Question: What was your favorite webinar series and why? What would you want to see on the inside if I offered a HUGE webinar course for you guys?  Answer in the form of a blog comment below.  I appreciate it.

Time Management on Crack 2.0

Productivity 30 Comments »

I wrote a little bit this past weekend.  I got so excited about the talk I'm going to give at the Action Seminar on MAY 29th (not April... I'm such a dork) about balancing your day job with internet marketing and manufacturing your next video product line... that I updated my Time Management on Crack report.

It would be bragging to tell you Jeanette Cates, Marlon Sanders, Mike Paetzold, David Deutsch, David Risley... plus 494 other smart people paid me money to get access to the information in that package.  (My high school graduating class was smaller than that!)  Did they invest to get access to my four levels of productivity, or to get access to my 13 unique systems for writing articles, making videos, writing sales letters, creating products and getting traffic?

Maybe they joined for the bonuses like the video that showed me writing a sales letter in one hour with no edits, or the bonus video that explained 17 additional "Motivationality" milestones, or even the bonus BONUS 90-minute "Take Massive Action" webinar recording... who knows?

Whatever the reason, I've edited the book to add 10 additional procedures on everything from screen capture video recording, article videos, talking head flip camera videos, webinar production, getting a virtual assistant, building your "brand" including a USP and a blog... the stuff that you not only need to know, but repeat enough so that it's INTUITIVE so that in the future all you really need to do is flip to that page and follow the step-by-step procedure to accomplish that task.

The book was 10,000 words long.  I went in and removed about 3,000 words, then wrote 13,000 more words to cover all 23 procedures.  Now it's exactly 20,000 words... not 19,997 or 20,003... twenty thousand words, I guess I'm weird like that.

Big Problem: I haven't released it yet.  I need 10 honest reviews I can use before I release it to you guys (people who already bought get the update for free since I provide 750 days of updates).  And then version 2.0 is yours.

If you haven't bought Time Management on Crack yet, get it.  If you have it, please leave a comment below telling me:

  1. What one thing is taught you about time management that you didn't already know.
  2. What is reminded you about time management that you knew but forgot.
  3. What you're going to do in the next 7 days now that you have this information.
  4. Your name, your URL, and your picture.

Comment below with those 4 items, list it in that numbered format so I know you hit on all four elements, and answer questions 1-3 in complete sentences (you only need one or two sentences).  Once I get that from ten of you, everyone who bought will get the updated report.

On your mark, get set, GO!!!

Internet Marketing Time Management

Productivity 19 Comments »

When I was working at a day job, I probably only had 1 to 3 hours to put into my business each day, so I crammed in whatever I could every day.

Now that I have a lot more time to put into this, I categorize each day of the week to PRIMARILY complete a certain task... I picked up this tip years ago from a report written by Willie Crawford.

Here is what I do during the week. I'm always improving my systems so you won't always see this formula but here is what I plan for...

Monday: Writing Day. Write all e-mails to be sent out the rest of the week.  I tend to launch (or relaunch) one new product a week, so all I need to do is think about four things to mention about what I'm launching (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) and write those as four quick e-mails.

E-mail marketing is always quantity over quality anyway, so why not send short and to-the-point e-mails that blend content and sales (which makes it okay to end each daily tip with a pitch).  If I'm feeling nice, I might hit them four days of the week with regular e-mails and then a blog post on the fifth day.

But the point is, I get all my e-mails queued up one day so I don't have to worry about sending e-mails the rest of the week.

Tuesday: Customer Service Day. Here is where I knock out all the refund requests, lost download links, and so on.  I answer customer service a little bit each day but I get so much, if I answered customer service first thing every day, I wouldn't get anything done.

Right now, the majority of my support requests come from Action PopUp, which is silly because if people read the instructions and tried things like disabling other plugins temporarily, making sure all files were uploaded, and testing the plugin on the default theme, it would eliminate 90% of all problems.

But people still need my help and I'm happy to help them.  Tuesday is where I clear out customer support so that I'm about 24 hours behind instead of my usual average of 3 days.

Wednesday: Webinar with Jason. Without webinars, Jason and I could not have had several back to back $30K months.  I'll be honest, our latest webinar didn't sell out as well as I thought as it would and I fell to $21,000 in April. But I've still made roughly $110K in the first four months of 2009.

We run the rolling four week webinar model. We have a big launch and create a four week e-class on a topic... anything from video selling to product creation... have a 90-minute webinar once a week and fill in stuff in a private blog in between.  At the end of week number four, we sell them on the NEXT four week webinar.

It's a great model and I can actually get customers to do things they wouldn't do if they bought a stupid e-book from me.  During the day I add content to that blog for the week, then at night I co-host the webinar.  Right now we're smack dab in the middle of Webinar Crusher.

Thursday: Webinar with Lance. Since the April dip I decided to get a second e-class going to target a whole other crowd of buyers... Lance's new-school low ticket buyers who appreciate a good funnel.  Same rolling four-week model.  Right now we're hosting the Blog Invasion System.

Friday: Product Creation Day. I keep pushing so that if I want to create a product, I do it in a day... or at least a weekend.  On Friday I'll either write a report, or knock out a bunch of PHP scripts or WordPress plugins.  If I'm on a roll this will usually carry over into the weekend.

The weekend is usually a mix, but I definitely ignore most e-mails until the weekend is over.  I definitely spend a lot of time away from the compuer on the weekends but I make sure to put at least 5-10 minutes in.

There you have it, my day-to-day system...

  • Monday: Writing Day
  • Tuesday: Customer Service Day
  • Wednesday: Jason Webinar
  • Thursday: Lance Webinar
  • Friday: Product Creation Day

What's your daily system?  Do you even have one?  If not, post a comment below and make one up.  I need 11 comments and 11 tweets to this post if you want me to keep adding to this blog...

Explode Your Productivity in 3 Simple Steps

Productivity 22 Comments »

It does not matter what profession you have, if you are self employed or employed by someone else, you need some way to stay motivated. On the other hand, if you really are self employed you probably have a difficult time every now and then to keep performing tasks that make you money, day in and day out.

If you want to stay productive for as long as possible, keep in mind the 24-48 Hour Rule. Also make that extra effort to improve your typing speed, and do everything you can to put yourself in the right mindset.

The 24-48 Hour Rule came about when I realized that whenever I work on an article writing campaign, create a video product, or write a report or e-book, 80% of the work is completed within a 24 to 48 hour period. If I take any longer, my productivity declines considerably. Even if it takes me 3 to 7 days to write a book, I tend to drag my feet or focus on other tasks during that time.

You need to work inside a 24 to 48 hour box where you are not distracted by anything else. Stay up all night, wake up early, decline an invitation to hang out with friends, do whatever it takes during that time to finish. I say 24 to 48 hour box because I tell myself I am going to finish in exactly 24 hours, and end up going to 48. You need to set that 24 hour goal, and end up finishing within 48 hours.

Another bottleneck you are going to run across is your typing speed. You need to learn how to touch type using programs such as "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing." You might type a little slower the first few weeks, but if you can bring your typing speed up to 50 to 120 words per minute... any programming, copywriting, e-mail marketing, forum posting, or article writing you do will take a lot less time.

Finally there is the mindset factor. You need to be in the right mindset and train your brain to hate being poor or not having products completed. You also need to reward yourself after you have finished a job, so your brain associates your success with happiness.

Those are the three easy steps to exploding your productivity and getting a lot more accomplished.

Work: My Most Hated Word!

Productivity 41 Comments »

You guys had a ton of good guesses about my most hated word... but the word I'm trying to get rid of is: WORK!

No one wants to do work. My girlfriend always says, "I have to go back to work after lunch" or "I got to work at 10 o'clock."  I keep correcting her... you aren't going to work, you're going back to the rehab center to help old people and make a difference.

  1. When Jason and I hold e-classes, he always gives out "homework" and I get him to rename it to that week's "challenge."
  2. Jason never says he is "sick" ... instead, he has the flu or has a virus he needs to get rid of.
  3. When I get off the phone with business partners, I've stopped saying, "Get back to work."  Instead, I say things like, "Get back to having fun building your business."

Finally, when I get an angry customer, his e-mail usually says a PHP script didn't "work" ... what a waste of time, because I always have to reply and say, "How did it not 'work?'  Was there an error message, did you try anything?"

Even when something "works" in a positive way, it's still not specific enough... it needs to be benefit-oriented.  (The script didn't just "work" ... it showed up on the page and gathered opt-ins!)

Look at how many of you took time of your day to answer the previous post... you were escaping your "work!"  (Ironically enough, the very FIRST answer within 10 seconds was the correct guess.)  You need to find a way to make your so-called "work" enjoyable... turn it into a game:

  • Friendly competition: Get an accountability partner and try to earn more money than him.
  • More output: If you wrote 10 articles last week, write 12 articles this week.
  • Less time: If you spent 20 hours building your business last week, do those same tasks this week in 15 hours and take Friday off.

Many people ask me and Jason how we get more done in a week than most people do in a year, how we can work for long stretches of time without burnout and always stay motivated... it's because we don't WORK!  We have fun writing copy and creating video products.

For the rest of the day today, count the number of times you say the word "work."  If you said it 10 times today, then make it a goal to say it 9 times or less tomorrow.  After that, only say it 8 times in a day... until you stop using the word "work" altogether.

80% of getting things accomplished and making money is just having the right mindstate, not necessarily the best skills... that's why so many people went ga-ga- over Time Management on Crack.

At the very least, catch yourself whenever you say this bad word.  That's a step in the right direction.

© Robert Plank, 4280 N. Berkeley Ave, Turlock, CA 95382, 408-277-0904, jx@jumpx.com