This is a real challenge for me, but no matter what I have done in business, it has been made either easier or harder by my organization and attention to detail.
I will speak more specifically of this later on in this chapter, but for now just trust me; from the very first e-mail account to the first user name and password….open up Excel or some type of spreadsheet that allows you to sort and manipulate data and enter this stuff down according to how YOUR MIND works.
People will give you advice about organizing and it will be valid. But think about your home or your desk…we all organize our thoughts and things differently. One that makes sense to you
So you need to develop your own system.
. There will be categories of information that cross over into each other and you may choose to reorganize later, but you can't reorganize something that isn't organized to begin with.
I personally think Excel spreadsheets are great because with a little bit of practice you can manipulate the data, change the format of things, alphabetize entries, and a bunch of other things that make storing and accessing things easy.
And when I started, I had very little experience with Excel….It's powerful!
I'll bet there isn't one successful Internet marketer out there that doesn't wish he had organized better and earlier at the beginning
Frankly you will reorganize later because when you start you won't even know what is important and what is not, what is related and what is not
Just capture it all in an ordered fashion and life will be MUCH EASIER as you move forward in your online business.Most of the content that you will produce, give away and sell later in running your business will be content from others that you "repurpose".
I keep everything and categorize it. Take screenshots of everything because you will "embed" them in your content later when you start to teach people. This may not make sense so go to Jing and go through the tutorials. Here is what a screenshot looks like: See the power in that!
Every time you see a quote on line that you like, copy and paste it into a spreadsheet called "Quotes" and capture the author's name so when you use it later, you can give proper credit.
Do the same thing with pictures, graphics and images. Just be sure you can use them by checking copyrights. You will want very large files of images and quotes for when you start producing content.
Videos will come in handy too, but I would capture the links to these because if you download them you will be chewing up space on your computer unnecessarily.
Each time you purchase and use a product or service and like it, go to the bottom of their home page and look for the link that says either "Affiliates" or "Partners". Sign up for their affiliate program and capture your affiliate link.
Save the link and affiliate page URL along with your user name and password and save it to your "Affliliate Links" spreadsheet. You may not use it right away, but you will want it later as you learn how valuable it is. There are many ways to use these to your advantage
Sign up for lists and then as soon as you find yourself no longer looking forward to that e-mail…UNSUBSCRIBE immediately.I consider this organization because this is where information overload can absolutely choke you and shut you down.
As good as some of these e-mail lists may be… if you can't open them in a timely fashion and digest the information in them because there are too many, then they are hurting you.
NO ONE's List is important enough to keep you from being able to execute your plan….THIS IS IMPORTANT.That same information that you are throwing away today will be available to you later if you still want it…trust me.
On top of that some information will make more sense to you later as
•you gain experience and perspective. Most of what you discard today
•will be in one of two categories:
You are still just too inexperienced to understand it.
One of my first bosses said to me something I will never forget. “If you look at something twice and still don’t DO something with it, throw it away”. This is the cold hard truth.