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Well, it’s not quite the end of the month but I took a look at my January goals to see how I’d done.

Ummm… right.

Well, I did manage to make a sale on a product I’m selling exclusively.  Woot me!  I’d love to be able to sell more, but I’ve also managed to do next to no marketing for January for it either.  That’s a my bad, not the product bad.  So February is looking like the month I do a bit more marketing and see if I can start bringing in some $$.   I think the biggest obstacle I’ll have to overcome is that this is a very niche oriented product - not everyone has one, not everyone wants it either.  So I’ll have to be a bit more creative trying to market it.  I’ve tried Google’s PPC for the product - but again a lot of numbers roll by and not a single click.  Could have been the ad, could be the landing page… I’m not sure.  I think I’d like to test out the landing page idea though for the product and see where it takes me.

As far as other monetary goals I’ve had for January… well, I’ve not really come anywhere close.  My side projects have taken up a lot of my time, more than expected so what I was planning on focusing on after those projects were done, I’ve not had a chance.

I also cancelled my ZiggyHost account.  For the past while it’s been a bit of a nightmare for me.  On and off they’ve had major downtime.  Not impressed.  Then they changed their servers and I lost all my sites.  I couldn’t get a hold of anyone to tell them this… so they’re bye-bye.  Then I tried getting to them through their support pages, email - anything that they had on their site that I could try to get a hold of someone - I tried.  I never heard from them.  So I canceled my subscription.  I’m ticked.  But maybe that’s what I get for going the cheap route.   So for now I’m sticking to HostGator and maybe sometime in the future I’ll try a different hosting company.   So maddening!  But I’m glad that I’m rid of them too.

There were other goals I’d wanted to reach through my affiliate marketing, ad networks - that I didn’t reach, but it’s definitely set things in motion for February.  Maybe not so lofty in the goals - but still a lot to do.  Fingers crossed!

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I’ve been reading some blogs lately and I’m wondering why I still have them on my RSS reader. Seriously. It’s not because of what they’re saying - it’s more like, what they’re not saying. There have been rumblings across the ‘Net that I’m not the only one who’s been feeling this way, and I’ve been feeling this way for a while now.

In some ways I feel that this site has lost it’s bearings as well. In the beginning it was a journey about my personal adventure on making money online. It’s been 2 years and I’m not making a ton of cash - I’m making more than I was before, but you’d think by seeing some of these Affiliate Marketers, Make Money Online types that in all honesty I’ve failed. I’m not making $20,000 a month with my blog. Honestly, even when they show what they’re doing - I’m still perplexed. How did they get the hype going on their sites. Seriously. Some of them aren’t all that good. But they’re making claims left right and center that they’re rollin’ in the dough.

A lot of the Marketers out there who run in the make money online niche don’t offer much in the way of advice - or I tried this and it didn’t work, might try this instead - you know, they’re not really in it to help - they’re in it for your clicks, your subscriptions, your interest in a product or two because they get a nice kickback. Hey, if it makes them money. We’re all in it to make money - I just wish that they’d give a little more in what they do rather than gloss over the basics.

I suppose though, that no one would ever give away all their secrets. Maybe the secret is that there isn’t one. It’s just a lot of hard work - and finding a system that works for you. You know the basics of creating a site and adding affiliate products on it. You know you need keywords, you need content, you need to promote the site. There are very basic steps that ANYONE could take - but for the majority of us (personal opinion here) that we fall short on some of those steps. Either there isn’t enough time, enthusiasm or we just plain don’t like doing it. Since this isn’t a “job” that we’re required to do - why bother doing it - move on, try something else - it’s the Internet. We want it easy.

I don’t think there’s any part of it that is “easy” when we start out. It’s a matter of busting our butts working on things - and realizing when to let things go when they’re not working too. That beautiful double-edged sword… it’s a bastard.

Anyway, I am going to start focusing on what I’m doing - what I use, what I plan on trying and write about it here. I’ve been spending too much time reading other blogs and feeling bad for myself. It shouldn’t be that way. I can only be as successful as I want to be. I’ve got my goals for January. The month is almost over - will I reach them??

So you see, you can almost drive yourself crazy with the self-doubt, the lack of real information, trying and trying and feeling like your just going over the same things on different websites. It’s time to get off the Crazy Train and start working towards my own goals. That’s where I’m going to base my success.

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It is amazing what tacking on an extra hour of sleep will do to someone.  Last night I rocked in with 6 1/2 hours!  Take that Mr. Insomnia and Mr. Too Much Damn Work.    Althought I’m not really any closer at getting some things done, there were 2 projects that I managed to get done, and I had some time to just listen to my iTunes.  I am now trying to give myself a little time after working to just unwind.  If I go to bed right after working… my brain is right there with me thinking of what I should do next on A, B or C - or as a treat all three at once.  You know how that goes I’m sure.

But anyway - I highly recommend getting an extra hour sleep!  LOL.

So with my new mindset, I’ve decided I’m going to have to become more of a hard-ass.  I was talking with a friend about a site I have and she offered some great advice.  I’ve recently had quite a bit of people stop by wanting the services offered on this site.  Now, normally I’d jump on these offers - because it’s money.  I really want their money.  But I am often blinded by that thought of “money, money,  money” that I don’t really think it through to the next step of “how much work is this going to be”.  I’m finding that I get a lot of project “creep” and I know I should just say enough is enough.  But that stupid little voice in my head is still chanting $$$ and I’m still working on those projects.  So what should just take will take a week ends up being 2 or 3.  Way too long.

Also, another little bug up my butt is that people want great things for less… or free.  I’m right there with them in that mindset, I mean if I could get a great product for next to nothing or free that would rock… but damn, when I’m now on the other side of the fence so to speak giving away the product doesn’t seem so appealing - especially after realizing that it takes a lot of work to get the products done.  So after talking to my friend about my situation I’m going take my next little break and work on modifying that site so that people don’t assume that these products are just going to be given away.  It has to happen or I’ll end up going crazy.

Just remember different streams of income kicks ass - but you don’t want that stream of income to kick your ass either!

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Last night I was flipping through my journal where I keep my ideas and lists for things to do online.  I ended up on the page I’d made about the goals I’d wanted to accomplish for the month of January.  I have to admit the list isn’t all that long and the general goals weren’t really that hard - it would take work that is for sure… but I thought at the time it was manageable.

What I didn’t realize was that some of the projects are taking a lot longer than I’d expected.  You know how that is - you do something that then requires 5 tweaks and you’re still not done 2 weeks later.  It’s a bit frustrating in terms of my timeline, but the jobs themselves aren’t terrible either.  But I have come to realize that I really do need to stick to a timeline.  I’m already into the middle of the month and about only 1/4 way through my list of things I wanted to do.  Honestly that’s being generous with the timeline.  I’m no where near where I should be.

So because I’ve kind of fallen behind and some aspects of my to-do list has taken on a much larger roll than I’d anticipated - I’ve been spending way to many a night up way to damn late and then I’m up again early, early to go to my day job.  Tired.  I hate that.  Everything seems so much more dramatic when you’re tired and over-reacting is what I seem to do best.  So today, because I’m tired… I’m taking it easy.   Tonight I’m working until 10:00 instead of 1:00am and getting up at 6:30am.  5 1/2 hours for this girl is just not enough.  UGH.  I’ve been pulling this schedule now for the past week and it’s totally wearing me down.    I’m hoping to have one project done tonight and another one for tomorrow.  That leaves me with one biggie project to do - and then it’s free sailing.  For a little while at least.

I’m enjoying everything, but the late nights are starting to wear me down a bit.

If you have a day job somewhere else - and you’ve got projects on the go in the evening… how do you cope?  Is it RedBull and shots of expresso?  Or have you learned to manage your time?

Popularity: 12% [?]