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I was going to start talking about advertising in this post but because of comments I have received I decided to talk some more about ants. In particular, I am going to talk about my ants and what I do to step over them and be productive instead of busy. Recognizing your ants and avoiding them will increase your internet income.

First, I would like to answer the question that I was ask because I believe it is very appropriate. I was asked, “How do you you eat an elephant?”

“One byte at a time.”

I know this is an old joke but it is very appropriate. This is how you have to attack Internet marketing - one byte at a time. But the bytes need to be productive and not just “busy work”. I was a big ant “stomper” until I realize how much time I was spending and not making money. I had to change the way I worked and be more productive. Here is a list of my ants and what I do to avoid them.

Checking email too much - I used to watch my email constantly because I knew that the ad I just submitted would get me 100’s of sign ups within minutes so I checked every new email. You know what, there weren’t very few that were new sign ups. I realized how much time I wasting doing this and changed how I worked.  When I start working for the day, I quickly scan my email, deleting items I won’t read. If I see an important email, I read it and act appropriately. Then, I close my email. I don’t look at it again until after the most important thing, advertising, is done. All those new sign ups will be there later.  They aren’t going anywhere.

Getting side tracked - What I mean by this is, I would see something that was interesting which would lead me to something else which would lead to something else which would … When I start doing this, I literally say, “STOP!”, to myself and usually out loud. I have not figured out an easy way, like closing my email, to totally eliminate this one. It just takes self-control. I have found that I am doing it less and less probably from stopping myself.  Not only does this waste time, it can be costly.  If you are doing your advertising first, this won’t be a problem.

Surfing too much - I don’t mean just random searching of the Internet. I am talking about surfing traffic exchanges to earn credits needed for advertising. This is something I do every day. The problem was that I did this first and frequently used up most or all of my available time. What did this mean? Not enough time for advertise! Do your advertising first to make more income.

Interruptions - Starting IM or phone conversations during your business hours is a time killer. It also divides your attention which can lead to mistakes. You can turn your IM off and not answer the phone. That definitely works, but I actually use it as an advertising opportunity. When a friend IMs or calls me during business hours, I quickly tell them, “I am working on my Internet business and I will get back to them in ?? minutes.” When you have done this a few times to the same person, they will ask you about what you are doing - a new lead.

Technical Perfection - I am sure this one is unique to me but it is the one I really haven’t solved. What I mean by “technical perfection” is the time I spend getting any technical thing I do for the Internet looking and working exactly how I want; e.g., web page design, html ads, website functionality, graphics, etc. I just can’t stop myself until it is perfect. I am sure the biggest reason for this is my 30 plus years in data processing. I still get stuck with this one, but I have made it better. I don’t do it first. I actually do it last. That is the only way I have found to keep it from eating up all my time. I tried using a timer but that didn’t work. I just turned it off an kept going.

Once I recognized my ants and learned to avoid them, it did not take long for my internet income to start increasing.  So after a year of failure, I learned

• I had to change my mindset - I wasn’t going to get rich overnight
• I had to treat my Internet business as a business not a hobby
• I had to focus on a program and not change every week
• I had to learn to be productive and not just busy

Once I made those changes, I started making money.  This really shouldn’t have surprised me.  So if you want to make more income, think about what you need to do differently to succeed.  Please share your ants in the poll or comments.

What are your Ants?

• Getting side tracked
• Reading emails
• Phone calls or IMs
• Not focusing on the Elephant
• Don't have/follow a time budget
• Other (please share your ants in a comment)

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