Next time you are about to stop working, and start watching TV, just remember:

There are people in life who are watching what others are doing, are you watching, or doing?

Image from flickr.

Happy New Year! Make Sure 2009 Is A Good One

A lot of people say New Years Resolutions don’t work. But I think they are good and worthwhile, but only for certain things.

Splitting New Years Resultions And Actual Targets For 2009

• You don’t need to write down new Years Resolutions, just begin them and try to stick to them
• You DO need to write down actual targets. Create a document on your PC with your targets and then you can refer to it when you need to
• New Years Resolutions should be things like “go for a jog once a week”
• Actual Targets should be things like “earn £75 in bank interest over the next year”
• New Years Resolutions are more about getting into habits and improving yourself
• Actual Targets are more about achieving things

It is good to mix business and pleasure in your hopes for next year. When you run your own business it is very much part of your whole life, unlike just going to work for someone else where your business and personal life can have a very definite separation.

Image: Naomi Ibuki

When you look back and think about something you’ve achieved it gives you a great feeling, even if it is only a small thing. As we come to the end of 2008 now is the time to reflect on the year, for business and personal. Where did you start it, what have you learnt, what have you achieved, where do you end it?

Myself; from a business point of view this year has surpassed my expectations and I have also learnt a hell of a lot. Even this blog is only a small side project and is doing really well. Lots of small things have meant a great year.

How about you? Take time to yourself somewhere comfortable and just think about the year, spend as long as you like.

Reflection is more powerful than you may think. Not only can it give a sense of pride and warmth of what you have, you can also learn from what you have done this year. Realising your progress and new knowledge means you can better yourself next year and excel your business even further.

To excel your business next year remember to sign-up for our free updates via email in 2009!

Image credit: a_of_doom

Don't Be Afraid To Move Your Targets

A year is a long time and a lot changes during a year, now is an ideal time to reflect and begin a final push through 2008. A good way to give yourself an instant boost is to review your targets and adjust as required!

Generally speaking it isn’t wise to be changing targets, especially when it comes to your business, otherwise you won’t have a true measure of growth between years. So leave those well alone. I’m talking more about your overall personal goals for the year. I’ll give you an example of one of my targets for a particular business and how I’ve changed it.

• At the start of the year the target was to have a balance sheet of £12,000 by the end of 2008. At the moment I value it conservatively at around £13,000, but would be confident of getting more if I did sell. So I’ve already beaten the target. But instead of just accepting that, I have changed the target so it is now £21,000, and I’m going to need to push to achieve that.

How To Record Target Changes
In the document that you wrote your targets down I would recommend you set up a new column which is parallel to your original targets and then put the new figures in their. This way at the end of the year you can see where you are at in comparison to your original targets and reviewed targets.

And always only set new targets for situations like this, don’t start messing with your business forecasts and other documents.

Conclusion – Ride Your Boost!
There are always some targets you set yourself that you will meet much earlier than you expected, as is the case in my situation. So reviewing and changing your targets gives you a new reason to push and definitely gives you a boost to work and achieve the set targets. Ride the boost for as long as you can and you may even beat your new targets before the year is out!

Before you close this window and go off somewhere else, make sure you review and change your targets for the year – Now is the time to act!

Spending Money On Your Personal Life Can Help Your Business. New DJ Equipment Is My Latest Investment :)

Is it possible to change your personal life and instantly improve your business?

Is A Holiday An Investment?
I recently went on holiday to Corfu for two weeks at a total cost of over £1,000. I wasn’t sure whether to go or not – after all that £1,000 could be invested in my business. Only when I was away did I appreciate how much I needed the holiday and how good it made me feel.

I am now more focused than ever and came up with loads of great ideas and plans whilst I was away (the blackberry saves the day again!). The money spent on the holiday feels like an investment, I am now more productive and my business will be stronger as a result of my new ideas. So I guess it really is an investment, except it is an invesment in myself as a whole rather than just the business. A ‘personal investment’.

Day-To-Day Changes Can Also Help Your Business
You can also spend money on day-to-day things that can help your business.

I’m getting Sky Plus soon, this will help me focus more on my business. I like to get up in the morning and watch certain programs (Baywatch – UKTV Gold 8-9am!) before then having breakfast, a shower, sorting myself out and getting down to work.

The problem is by that time it is normally close to 10am, and I want to start work earlier, but if I get up earlier I have less sleep which makes me less productive and I hate being tired. Sky Plus will enable me to record programs which I can’t help watching in the day, meaning I work more when I need to and can watch what I want later in the day! More time working and better focus will mean an improvement to my business.

Other Ways To Change Your Personal Life
There are lots of things like this which you can spend your money on. If you live on your own maybe a dog or cat would be good? I have some days where I struggle to really focus, and my house just feels silent and uninspiring, but if I have the TV on I do no work at all – I hate those days! In this situation a dog would be great, take it a walk to get me some fresh air and take my mind off work for a bit. One for the future maybe.

Indulging in your hobbies, as long as it doesn’t cost to much, is also a great way to keep you perky. A happy person is always more productive than an unhappy person. I love djing (only at home in spare time) and I’ve set a side a couple of hundred for a new CDJ (a turntable for cds) which I’m very excited about.

So, in response to my original question: Yes, it certainly is possible to change your personal life and instantly improve your business!

To Find The Key To Success You Have To Be Involved

Other people will say you have been lucky to have found a great online business opportunity and make money from it, but the people saying “you’re so lucky” probably do a normal 9-5 job working for someone else. They aren’t involved in the industry you have became successful in, so even though you are so lucky in their eyes compared to them, they could never have had the opportunity because they aren’t involved in running their own online business anyway!

Even if you aren’t earning the sort of money you want to at the moment from your business you should keep pushing on and keep your business ball rolling. Running your business is like rolling a ball, you need to build up momentum – the faster your ball rolls the more opportunity comes your way.

To open up as many opportunities as possible you need to network. Get involved in events related to the industry of the products you sell, be active on business forums. Collaborate with other businesses to build up contacts and develop your business.

Case Study
I’m going to an event this Friday because one of my websites is king of its niche, I’ve got ’special attendee’ free entry, guided tours of new features (by BP the oil company) and free lunch with Quentin Willson (former Top Gear presenter), the day won’t cost my business anything financially and will benefit me hugely with great new content for my website and new contacts. A few people have told me how lucky I am - the truth is I am involved with the industry and am able to take advantage!

Are you involved in your industry? If not – get busy!

What Are Your Expectations?

“Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one’s levels of aspiration and expectation.”

I read this quote whilst watching the golf yesterday afternoon and realised how true it is, and not just for golf but for everything.

So what are your current levels of expectation? What situation do you seriously aspire your business to be in in 1 years time?

Are your expectations higher than they were a year ago? If so you are making progress.

After yesterdays excitement on the markets I wanted to get back to what this blog is about - you developing your ecommerce business. I read an article in The Sunday Times at the weekend which was about finding out your personality type. This can help you structure your business by playing to your strengths. I’ve scanned the article so you can find out your personality type. The file is 2MB so will take a few seconds to open.

Click Here To Open The Article (new window)

My personality type is the ‘Implementer’, although I would also say I fit into the ‘Grafter’ category. What Personality Type Are You?