As this year is winding down and another one is about to start up, everyone I know and see (including me) is wondering: what worked this year? I’ll give you a hint: the same things that always worked like building a list, optimizing paid traffic, buildling relationships and following up with your subscribers, training those subscribers, being in-tune with what your market wants and presenting your irresistible offer in a new and exciting way that gives them what they want and sneaks in what they need!
That’s why I want to share what I think are the six most valuable lessons (in both your marketing and your mindset) that have stuck with me over the years that I think will carry you into the next 12 months and then some:
Life Lesson #1: Strategies vs. Tactics. You need to know the difference between strategies (things that always work) and tactics (little tricks you have in your back pocket to use every now and then). How many times have you heard of a business that relied on one single website, or one single Google loophole, and then one day, poof, it was gone? How many times have you seen a marketer get desperate and discount the price of a product just to pay the bills? And then they were lost on how to pay the bills next month!
Life Lesson #2: Decisions. Every decision you make either changes your actions or changes your mindset. Getting angry, becoming a victim, “bitching and moaning” are natural ways you’re trying to change your mindset but unfortunately that will lead you down the path of more destructive actions. Instead, turn should-to’s into have-to’s into want-to’s.
Life Lesson #3: Self-Awareness. You really don’t work as “hard” or as “fast” as you think you do, and you need downtime. You’re not an employee in your own business. It’s not about running out the clock the same way it is when someone else is paying you for your time. Alcoholics Anonymous has the term, “Progress not perfection.” If you want to get paid as little as an hourly employee then act like one, but if you want to be a productive business owner who works smart (not hard) and leverages their time, then do what other successful people do.
Life Lesson #4: Pick Your Battles. You need the ability to fall on my own sword (a little bit). Apologize when it’s necessary and move on when it means you’re making progress instead of being weak and surrendering. Bite your tongue and let the other person win if it means more money or more happiness.
Life Lesson #5: Hope for the Best and Plan for the Worst. You really need to AUTOMATICALLY backup everything (your desktop and your website), in multiple locations and in multiple ways. So many things aren’t valuable, or aren’t important, until they’re gone, and now you’d pay $10,000 for that one missing file that you could have saved by spending 2 minutes clicking a button. You’ll get old someday. You’ll die someday. Others around you will die someday. Don’t get bogged down by that thought, use it as a tool to focus and get where you need to go.
Life Lesson #6: Life is too Short, So You Need to Be Everywhere. You’re probably thinking too small. You need 100+ articles on the internet. You need a blog, a podcast, a Kindle and CreateSpace book, a product for sale, a Facebook account, a fanpage, a Twitter account, a forum username on at least a few popular discussion boards in your niche. You need an email newsletter, multiple optin pages, and all these things need to lead right back to YOU.
Thanks again for being such a loyal reader of my blog. Please comment below and sure, in one sentence or so, share was what your biggest insight of 2012?
