Setting Goals – those two words are almost like a burden to me. The action they describe is essential for success, yet as simple as the task sounds, I find myself almost paralyzed in the fear of what is to come.
As I mentioned in a previous post, Lifehacker did an article about setting goals. They talked about the reasons that people don’t like to setting goals and I talked about how I felt like they were talking about me.
The act of setting goals is difficult for me for a few reasons. I always carry small goals around in my head. They’re usually small and insignificant goals that don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes I feel a sense of accomplishments when I meet those goals. Other times I wonder who I’m kidding because I feel that they’re not really goals at all.
Fear of failure – I would say this is the number one reason that I have a hard time plotting out my ambitions. I’m not superstitious, but perhaps there’s a small part of me that thinks that if I write something down that want, somehow I’ll make it not happen. Maybe it’s not so much that writing it down will make it not happen as much as it is that there is a HUGE fear that everyone will see me as a failure if I don’t meet those goals. Maybe the problem is that when things are written down, there’s PROOF that the goals were set. There’s no room for dancing around it later.
I think that’s one of the reasons I hesitate to make my new internet marketing journey public (I mean to the people who know me in real life!). If they see what I’m doing and go and look at my goals then there are people in REAL LIFE who can see me if I fail. But – to the strangers who exist in pixels (as Anna so eloquently put it!) if it all goes to Hell, I can always log off and step out of the Matrix.
Well, now there’s a problem. Perhaps it’s less a problem and more a solution. The problem is that I have befriended some people in the Matrix. These people (as far as I can tell anyway!) are interested in seeing me succeed. These people have offered up their time and advice and I cannot let them down now. I cannot let myself down now.
So I’ve made a decision. I will be setting goals. I will be writing them down. I will be posting them for the world to see. I have no idea what these goals will be just yet, but I hope to have them posted soon. I guess in a way I’m setting a goal now. I hope to have my goals posted by the end of this week. I would go for sooner, but this is actually going to be quite an arduous task for me and I need time to think about it and put it together.
What I would ask of my more experienced friends is do you have any advice you can offer up to help me with this? How do you go about deciding what your goals are and the time frames you give yourself to meet them? I have some ideas in my mind about where I’d like to go, but I really feel like I am very unqualified to set reasonable goals. This is where internet marketing starts to get difficult for me (at the beginning???).
For those who are interested. I have finished reading Holly’s book. I will be going back and figuring out where I need to start. But I have met that “goal”. Now it’s time to start REALLY setting goals.
Tags: Advice, setting goals, Updates
Tags: Advice, setting goals, Updates
October 6th, 2008 at 3:30 am
You can start with the smaller goals that lead up to bigger goals and are easier to reach.
Whenever you are trying to produce a particular product, there are “subproducts” that lead up to that product. If you go for the subproducts first you can then go after the bigger ones.
So lets say I have a a niche site and I want it to make $500 per month as my next target. Then I calculate that I would need to get 500 visitors a day to make that much money on that particular site. My first goal is to get 500 visitors a day. That would be a subproduct. Its not the only subproduct – I might want to later revamp the site, monetize it better, add more pages (which also brings more traffic), create a mailing list, etc. But one subproduct is 500 visitors. Once I have done that, I have reached one goal.
In your case you don’t have a niche site yet. You have this blog which you are building and it is a future asset.
I believe your next step is to find a niche, no? So you aren’t at the point of driving traffic yet haha.
Well, then your first subproduct is to find a niche, no? Do some good keyword research, find something which is interesting, within your immediate abilities (doesn’t require advanced technical skill yet) and also profitable (find out how much money that subject makes – checking the average cost per click in Google helps with that).
Don’t overdo yourself. Better something with less competition and less traffic, than lots of competition and lots of traffic, for your first niche. But try to make it something that has a potential of building.
For example, I took “Free Poems” because the searches vrs competition was good and because I had a ton of poetry to use as original content. It was also interesting for me. Poetry is not a high-money subject though, and it doesn’t earn a lot compared to its traffic. But it was my first site to start earning money – like $100 a month. Nothing special but enough to convince me that I was learning something. I made it to #3 on Yahoo and Google. It was a realistic “first niche” that I could have a win at. It wasn’t overly competitive but it took some work.
But one day, that can expand from “Free Poems” to “Poems” (which gets a lot more traffic though it is still not a big “money” word.)
So, choose a niche which is reachable but expandable. Something you can get to the top for on a “smaller sub-keyword.” You can then use that as a stepping stone to get to the top.
And when you choose your URL, keep that in mind. Don’t make the mistake I made on another niche where the url is “findportable bla blas . com” and now I realize I should use it to sell bla blas, not just portable bla blas. I wish I hadn’t put “portable” into my URL but its too late to change now!
Okay, that was a mouthful. You might need a nap now.
October 6th, 2008 at 3:31 am
Oops – typo! Can you please activate your “Ajax Edit Comments” Plugin!
October 6th, 2008 at 6:29 am
Typo edited and ajax edit comments activated
Thanks for the tips, Anna. It seems that, in my mind, your response covered a wide scope of my concerns. For example: one of the questions I had in my mind was “Do I set a monetary goal – like x dollars per month, or do I set a action/result type goal, like get x to get x?” One of the many reasons I get frustrated with setting goals.
But you’re right, it’s a good idea to step back and look at the BIG picture first and then zoom in and look at the details of the mosaic. (ooooh…art reference, does that make me smrt? <—- intentional…you’ll get used to my sense of humor yet…) My boss calls it “Flying at 30,000 ft” and “Flying at 10,000 feet”.
Do you find that giving yourself “deadlines” helps you in setting goals or do you find that you have intended results and you just know or map out those things you need to do in order to achieve those results?
And yes, I do need to find a niche…people always tell me that I’m very creative, yet this part stumps me too! I’m sure I’ll figure it out, though…eventually! lol
October 6th, 2008 at 6:55 am
“Do you find that giving yourself “deadlines” helps you in setting goals or do you find that you have intended results and you just know or map out those things you need to do in order to achieve those results?”
I would say yes to both, but I don’t usually need deadlines because the amount of work I get done just depends on how much time I have on my hands to sit in front of the computer. The main thing I have to control is my priorities and complete cycles of action without getting dispersed – that’s where those Notepad “To Do” lists come in, “Task Lists” as you call them.
Even those got too confused, with high-priority items mixed with trivial items, and huge projects mixed with “upload bla photo.”
So I wound up making a folder full of them, each categorized with a different list for every campaign or field of activity. Whenever I get something done on those lists I transfer the item to the “Done” section so in case I find myself wondering what I have been doing all day, I can go look at my list!
I also try to separate the “incomplete projects” from the “new ideas” and give more time and attention to the former.
P.S. Thanks for enabling the comment editor!
October 7th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Ahhh man, some good stuff here! I can’t front, I’m a skimmer and some of those paragraphs started to make my face hurt, but I got most of it. I agree with Anna that you should start small and work up…..but always have “lamp posts” in mind.
I have immediate goals I want to reach, but also have very specific goals that I want to reach. There is one major goal I have set for myself, that will show me I have “made it”. Those goals are not the same for everyone, and will depend on what you want to do.
I set money goals lol, like x amount per month. I also set visitor goals….and many other ones.
I think there is some validity to not wanting to share for fear of failure, but if you can find some folks to share with then that all goes away lol.
Set goals, but let them be elastic! You want to set goals, not limits! What you believe you can do will be what you can do…if you only think you’ll get to $500/month, then that’s what will happen. HOWEVER if that is only a stepping stone and you see it as only a “mark” along the path…then you will not so much focus on that number….but it will be an indicator of success on your way to your main goals.
Don’t short circuit yourself man! Aim for what you want and make small markers to track your progress.
Normal Joe´s last blog post..Optimize Your Time Online By Using A Schedule
October 7th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Anna – sounds like you’ve got methods that are working well for you there. I’ve experimented with so many different “getting things done” methods. I can’t yet seem to find just the right thing to help me stay organized (yet). Prioritizing has always been a challenge for me as well. Perhaps one of the reasons that goal setting is such a challenge. But, point taken
Joe – “…some of those paragraphs started to make my face hurt.” Dude! I almost fell off my chair I was laughing so hard at that. You’re a real trip!
I did like what you had to say about setting goals, though. I think to add to what you said, goals need to be not only elastic, but they need to be allowed to be dynamic. Goals might change based on circumstances that present themselves. I think that’s one of the reasons I don’t like setting goals…they sound so “final”. But…that’s not really the case, now is it?