Time Management In Affiliate Marketing

Launch this, launch that, optimize this, optimize that – where the hell do you even start with affiliate marketing?  One thing that was suggested to Ruck and I following Grind Mastermind East was to begin talking more about effective time management.  I couldn’t agree more…  When coaching people in our private forum one of the biggest things I see is ineffective time management.

By nature people that garner the Entrepreneur mindset many times find themselves scatter brained.  Given we all have big plans to take over the world, we have to come to realization that there is only 365 days in a year and only 24 hours in a day.  That gives us exactly 8,760 hours a year to accomplish our master plan.  Now a lot of people just starting out in affiliate marketing have a secular job where they’re working at least 40 hours a week.  On average this is around 2,080 hours a year about a quarter of your time.  Obviously everyone has to get some sleep and spend some “down time” with family or doing some leisure activity.

With all the hours put on the table like that you should begin to think about how you utilize your time online.  Obviously you’re going to need to allow yourself some time to do market research, see what the competition looks like, then begin building out your campaign with hopes of it becoming profitable.  A minute here, a minute there wasted on refreshing your Facebook news feed or messaging your buddies on AIM can really add up over time.  When you’re online to work it should be just that. Much like when you were studying for the “big exam” in school you need to limit your distractions and make sure X is done before moving on to Y.

A ton of research has proven that your productivity begins to suffer after time.  Normally I’ll do two – three hours of work then take a 30-45 minute break and watch a movie or lift some weights in the gym.  Even a 15 minute break to grab a glass of water and a snack can breakup the monotony and help you stay focused.  This is how guys like Ruck and myself can work massively long days and get a pile of work done.  It’s nothing for us to setup a couple of campaigns, do some accounting, continue producing here on IM Grind, and book trips all in the course of one day.  We just make sure before we move onto the next thing we have the first thing completely finished.

I’ve been reading The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco.  If you haven’t read it, you’re doing yourself a major disservice by not.  Check out this quote:

The richest people in the world got rich by focusing on one core purpose, not by diverting focus.  Lebron James wouldn’t be any good at basketball if he spread his intersts around.  He focused on one thing and one thing only: basketball.  He ate, slept, and shit hoops.  Now, with his legendary status and millions in net worth, he can afford to be polygamous with his interests.

To his the top of your game, business or otherwise, you have to eat, live, and shit your thing.  If you’re dabbling in 10 different things, your results will be dabbling and unimpressive.  Focus on on eating and do it in the most excellent way.

Damn good stuff right?  Far to often I see guys dabble in a little of this and that and end up not getting anything done.  You have GOT to stick to one thing and get it working before you move onto the next thing.  Spending $10,000 buying media and not profitable is not at all a “technique.”  Most successful affiliate marketers I know found their first success after only spending $10 a day ($300 a month).  They didn’t “give up” or throw a million things at the wall and see what stuck.  They focused in on one thing and go it to work.  Once it began to work they scaled it up and then fired up more campaigns.

Get a notepad out and start documenting your hours spent online.  Examine how you’re managing your time daily and optimize that.  Turn off Facebook and the instant messenger; tell the kids to go play for an hour and put on a chick flick for the wifey.  Your hours online should be spent with things that are going to make you money and this doesn’t mean try to find every single site your competitor owns.