Here's something else to think about: Is this goal what I really want, or does it just represent what I really want? If the latter, what is it that this goal represents to me? Do I really need to have this to get it?
All of this is important to think about. The goal of this book is to help you get what you really want, in the shortest time possible. It's not for me to try and influence your choices.
Here's another example. Let's say you want to run a newsletter, and you want huge numbers of subscribers.
How many is huge? How soon do you want to get to that number? Be specific.
Okay, now, how do you get that many people to subscribe? If you're like most people, you think about publishing articles in other newsletters, putting up a web site and driving traffic to it, creating a sig file and posting a lot, or giving away free stuff to get people to sign up.
And you stop there.
BANG!
Ya just shot yourself in the foot, pardner.
Yes, these things still work, but people are busier than they were, so the old approaches to newsletter promotion are less effective. Every hack with the $20 to buy a membership in a business site uses them, so they just don’t get as much attention as you’ll need.
Let me tell you about a couple of people with an interesting approach Each one has a sort of self-evaluation on their site that's based on proven psychological concepts. Kind of like you see in a lot of women's magazines. The key is that the topic of the evaluations is very closely tied to their prospects' business skills.
The first one to do this used to score the tests herself every week. It took 8-12 hours a week, but she thought it was a great way to drive traffic. And it was.
I thought it was a great way to go nuts. It was that, too.
So, I automated the scoring using a simple Perl script, (freed up her Fridays completely, which was worth it by itself) and she put in a note at the top that said that anyone taking the quiz would also receive her weekly newsletter with more in-depth information on the subject.
She was sure that would cut down the number of people taking the quiz. It didn't. She's been getting a couple of hundred new subscribers a week for years, with exactly NO promotion of her newsletter or that quiz at all.
None.
She doesn't have a high traffic site. She doesn't give out bonuses of any kind. She doesn't spend money on acquiring subscribers. What she did is make the subscription a natural extension of a service that her visitors already wanted.
I'll repeat that for emphasis
She made the subscription a natural extension of a service that her visitors already wanted.
By the way, very few of these people unsubscribe. The quiz acts as a qualifier.
If you can do that, you're years ahead of the people who do things in the more traditional way. What do you do now that could be adjusted this way?
Stop right now, take a look at your current promotional methods, and ask yourself: She made the subscription a natural extension of a service that her visitors already wanted.
By the way, very few of these people unsubscribe. The quiz acts as a qualifier.
If you can do that, you're years ahead of the people who do things in the more traditional way.
What do you do now that could be adjusted this way?
Stop right now, take a look at your current promotional methods, and ask yourself: "How can I hook my goal into this in such a way that it adds value to the experience of the people I deal with?”
“What do they want from this, and how can I change this so that doing what I want them to do gets them closer to what THEY want?"
Watch the cool new ideas you come up with.
Now, the second person. He has a quiz on the same subject. It was, in fact, suggested to him by the first publisher. The content is pretty similar, but the presentation is a bit better. And he promotes it a little. Not a lot, but enough to get a few links to it.
He averages over 300 subscribers a day. Over 100,000 subscribers last year, from this one page alone.
If he stopped promoting it entirely, I estimate that he'd drop to as few as 125 new subscribers a day, average. Only 45,000 a year.
Again, not bad for the work. At current market rates, he'd have to spend from $25,000 to $150,000 to acquire 100,000 tightly targeted subscribers through list generation services. And he wouldn't keep nearly as many of them.
For these people, the list is a part of a formula that would lead to a goal. The list itself is a much under-estimated part of that formula.
Neither of them aggressively looks for links, tests any form of referral (viral) followup, or uses any form of deliberate publicity to build on their success.
You should if building a list is a part of your plan. And you should keep in mind that the real advance here isn't the technique, it's the concept behind it. Making your desired end a by-product of providing a service that people already want.
Sometimes the tiniest modifications yield the biggest results.
That last sentence brings up something that you'll want to keep in mind as you do these exercises: This is a living process. You may go through a lot of iterations of the worksheets before you get to your goals. Things will change and you'll adapt. Or you'll come up with better ideas as you get used to the process.
Don't be afraid to change.
Now, back to the process...
Okay, so you've done some warm-up. You have the goal and a general idea of what you'll need to acquire it. And you're already thinking about ways to shorten the process.
What's next?
Put it in reverse. Yeah, you're going to go backward. (Just humor me here, alright? Print out the "Project Packet," and grab the "Step-by-Step" page.
Now, ask yourself one question: What is the last thing I need to achieve before this step becomes a reality?
Write that down. In the case of the house in Beverly Hills, you'd need to close on the house.
For each step, repeat the question: Just before that, you'd need to have the money.
Repeat the question: Just before that, you'd need to get approved for the loan. Or you'd need to get to the final phase of the money-making process you're using to pay cash. (How much is the total?)
Repeat the question: You'd need to be halfway to the total required. How much is that?
Repeat the question: You'd need to be a quarter of the way to the total, have a good plan for how much you're going to pay, know what neighborhood you're going to be moving to, and how you're going to achieve it at less than market prices.
Repeat the question: You need a plan for making the money, and forgetting the info to cut the costs.
This is a simple example, but it illustrates the principle. You decide where you need to go, and then work backward to where you are now. And to start with, you only do a very sketchy linear map. Don't fill in the how yet. Just the what.
The key is in developing a strategy and measurable benchmarks to gauge your progress.
Another approach to get a view of the landscape: Assume you were already in the position of having achieved your goal. Then it all slipped away.
What would have to go wrong to cause you to lose your desired position?
Go over it step by step. Trace it back.
Now, write it down IN REVERSE. The last things you lost are the first stages of getting to the goal.
Yet a third way: Assume you're already there. Really put yourself in that position.
Now, remember what you did to get there. Then write it down. It sounds strange to try and remember things you've never done. Until you do it. It works.
A fourth way: Put yourself back in the position of remembering how you got there. Say out loud "My big break came when..." and complete the sentence.
Write that down.
By now, your brain should be focused on the process enough to unfreeze and think creatively.
That's the single biggest key to achieving goals. Allowing yourself to actually think creatively. Most people don't have three truly creative thoughts in a month. You can have them on demand.
Just look at things from as many different perspectives as possible.
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