Having downloaded Alex Jeffreys recorded Module 1 Forward to Basics and listened to the recordings in 3 blocks I have to say what he says really does make perfect sense. Having some Project Management experience and qualifications there is not a lot that is new to me from a planning point of view, but he presents the facts in a coherent way so that you can apply structure to your business which does not come naturally to me.

Internet Marketing is a business like any other in my mind, I have run various businesses for years, with varying levels of success.  One thing I have never done is written long term plans and broken them down and tracked progress all the way – perhaps that is where I have been going wrong!

From a marketing and leverage point of view, I knew from the outset where you need to be at – in front of the money, for me and most people I guess getting there is the problem.

I have summarized the points that stick out from Module 1 with own take on them as follows:

“You market with people not to them” – you must provide valuable free content to people first and become known liked and trusted – people spend online due to emotions as in any other consumer environment – I envisaged that before the program but not in such a focused and coherent way

“Use leverage” – be associated with successful people

“Don’t get it 100% right, get it working, you can re design afterwards”

“Start small, think big” – I take this as getting all the business fundamentals and personal organization in place so that you can increase a business without getting overwhelmed with workload

“Cash Flow” – step in front of the cash, let the cash flow to you don’t chase money

“there 4 types of person”:

  • - unconscious incompetent – someone who cant do it and don’t realize it
  • - conscious incompetent – someone who cant do it but does realize – definately me!
  • - conscious competent – someone who can do it but do know
  • - unconscious competent – someone who can do it but don’t realizeWrite down all bad things – constraints” – things you cant do that need to be outsourced, or lack of time, etc. Spend time on things that you can get done

“Plan – do a roadmap for the whole thing, plan from the end and work backwards, know the end goal to move towards occasionally deviating along the way”

  • Business Plan – goals of business, where you want it to go
  • Entrepreneur Plan – goals in life, what does the business need to do
  • Personal Plan – personal things, new cars, hols, etc

“An idiot with a plan will always beat a genius without a plan” – break plans down into 12 month, 90 days, 3 x 30 days, weekly – plan tomorrow today – break tasks into A, B and C priorities. Work to countdown, take breaks and no interruptions in productive tasks” – if you did an A List task 4 times a day you could do more in a week than others do in a month.

“Do daily did sheets” so you can move the unachieved tasks forward and analyze what distracts you – thats a new one on me, but a very good way of sharpening your focus to do productive things.

“Use Mind Mapping Software” – don’t go down rabbit holes, a few weeks ago I started using a Gantt chart, a project planning tool which does a similar thing and helps you  break down your tasks and assign resources to them which made things a whole lot clearer, though I see the Mind Mapping tool as the start and the Gantt chart to break down the plans into detail in lieu of the weekly/monthly task sheets, and using it as a tool to prepare your daily tasks.

Thats enough for now, keep up the good work Alex and Garry, you’ve knocked the nail on the head by saying what needed to be said!  Lets see what Module 2 brings

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