When you first start out to build a business there are numerous details and there may be a lot to learn. It can be overwhelming unless you have an organized plan. Don’t try to do it all at once but make a few lists. Have one that includes everything and then pick a few things from that list each day and put it on a ‘short list’ of things to accomplish. Don’t be a hero. Make it manageable and doable so that you don’t get discouraged if you can’t get to all of it.
Once you get through the real chaos and things settle down, remember the first priority is to take action on things that will produce income the soonest. So for example don’t spend a year tweaking your website which may include an online class in HTML. No money in that and if nobody sees your site because you haven’t got your marketing and advertising running, then it’s a waste of time in a sense – although great to have a spiffy website.
Of course it goes without saying it IS important to have a website that functions properly and does not have bad links or errors that may dissuade someone from taking action while they are there. It is true that your website represents your business and you, so some attention should be paid to this. However, just don’t get lost. Maybe make learning the technical ins and outs a priority for your long-term plan but remember it’s about the money and money comes from advertising and getting traffic to your site.
The point here though is that you should always be learning as you go. Even years after you start your business things will still be changing, improving or being superseded by something more effective. You should be ‘up’ on everything so that you give your business the best chance of succeeding. There is just no excuse not to remain well-informed. There is almost nothing you can’t find information on just by ‘Googling’ it. (using a search engine to conduct a search or query).
Find out what words mean if you don’t recognize them. The beauty of the Internet being you can take your research to any level – the more you read the more terms you will encounter that you want to define and so you are off on the next query. They always say ‘information is power’ and that is so true. However unless you take action using the information it is not going to help you. So this is why you need a plan.
Have some regular time to learn in your work day schedule – You can get ‘lost’ and really start to eat up your time if you are constantly ‘surfing’, just as you can be taking too much time to read endless email advertisements. Make your time count so that you get everything done that you intended. Just don’t get bogged down so that you do not have time to keep growing.
