When Failure Is Not An Option
You’ll NEVER achieve success if you spend your time going off in all directions, chasing every single opportunity that comes your way.
On the other hand… if youset measurable goals with specific timelinesfor yourself –you’ll achieve success faster than you would have thought possible.
Here is my recipe for success, distilled into six simple steps. It’s theexactsame goal-setting system I’ve used to get where I am today.(And guess what: I went from a debt-ridden college grad with a computer programming certificate to CEO of a 100 person company in just 7 years. So this plan certainly worked for me!
Step #1: Set your "Ultimate 3-5 Year Goals"
Ask yourself this:In 3-5 years, what do you want your life to look like? What do you want your finances to look like? What do you want your business to look like?
Think big — but stay within reason! Rome wasn’t built in a day… or in five years, for that matter.
Your goals need to bemeasurable. Rather than setting a goal like, "I want to be rich!" — come up with an actualdollar value. How much money do you want your business to be making in 3-5 years’ time? THAT’S the goal you should be aiming for.
Step #2: Set "Annual Goals"
Ask yourself: "What do I need to accomplish in the next 365 days in order to achieve my ultimate 3-5 year goals?"
Write down as many goals as possible. Chances are, you’ll come up with a big list! But when you’re done, you need to pare it that list down to the top 5 "must-do" items.
What are the top 5 things you absolutely MUST do in order to achieve your ultimate goals? Once you’ve answered this question, you’ll have your top five goals for the year.
Step #3: Set your "Quarterly Goals"
Those yearly goals seem pretty big, don’t they? In order to achieve them, you’ve got to break them down into more realistic milestones: your quarterly goals.
This is something you should do every three months — so if you’re working on a regular calendar year, you should be setting new quarterly goals for yourself every January, April, July, and October.
At the beginning of each quarter, take a step back and look at how well you managed to reach yourlastquarterly goals. Based on that, decide what you need to do during thenextthree months to keep moving toward those annual goals.
Remember:Keep your goals specific and measurable!
Step #4 - Set your "Monthly Goals"
Are you starting to see a pattern yet? 
Now you need to determine the top 5 goals you have to achieve every month in order to hit your quarterly goals.
But do you stop here? Nope!
Step #5 - Set your "Weekly Goals"
Ask yourself: What are the top things that have to happen this week in order for you to hit those monthly goals?
Don’t limit yourself to five weekly goals. Sometimes you’ll have fewer than five — sometimes you’ll have more. When I set my own weekly goals, I find there are numerous small tasks that need to be accomplished — or just a couple of big ones. But at the start of each week, I always make sure I know what tasks are most important.
Wait — you’re still not done!
Step #6 - Set your "Daily Goals"
Each morning — before you even check your email — you need to create a list of things that have to happen before you go to sleep that night.
Once again, these tasks should be driving you toward your weekly goals.
It doesn’t matter if you have only an hour a day to spend on your business. By setting goals and focusing on the really important things you need to achieve, you’ll be shocked at how much you can get accomplished in a really short period of time.
But the fact remains:you still need to MAKE THE TIME.Even if you’re able to spend only two hours a week on building or growing your business, it ill make a huge difference!
Once you have all your goals down on paper, don’t file them away in your desk somewhere! Make sure you can see them in a number of different places.
Tack them to the wall of your office. Put them on your fridge… beside your TV… even beside your toilet!
You need that constant reminder.
Remember:the only person holding you accountable for hitting those goals is YOU.
So turn off your email, shut out all distraction, throw procrastination out the window, and start setting those goals NOW. If you follow this system, I guarantee that30 days from now you’ll surprise yourself at how much progress you’ve made!
Lose The FearFactor!
When you start an Internet business for the first time the fear of failure can hold you back.
I’ve talked to a lot of people who have found a promising niche market with a problem that needs solving. They’ve come up with a product or service that would solve that problem.
… But they’reparalyzedabout taking the next step. It LOOKS like it’s got moneymaking potential, but what if they put in the time and effort — and possibly money — and it flops?
The fear factor can stand between a good idea and a real, profitable business.
That’s whyvalidating your marketafter you’ve found a niche is a crucial step you cannot afford to skip.
Of course, there’s no way tocompletelyguarantee success… but ask yourself the four questions below. If you can check every box, you’ll know — as far as possible — that you’re onto a winner.
Once you’ve found a potential niche product or service, ask:
1.Is there a demand for your product or service?
You need to make sure there are enough potential customers out there to keep you in business.
Are people actually trying to solve this problem on the Internet and NOT finding a suitable solution? If you’ve done keyword research to find a niche market, you should have a good idea of this already.
Don’t overestimate the numbers. Just because you think that every cat owner in America needs to buy your revolutionary cat bed doesn’t mean they will. A good number to use is 2%:if 2% of the visitors to your website become customers, you’ll be doing well.
-
2.Is there any competition already supplying the market?Search for your top keywords and look at the rival sites that come up. What do they sell and how do they make money?
Most sites you find won’t be actual competition — they may just have some related content, or be luring traffic for the sake of advertising revenue.
When you findrealcompetitors offering something similar to what you want to sell, dig deeper into their businesses.
What can you do better than they do? Build a more professional, easier-to-use website? Write better pay-per-click ads for the same keywords? Put more keywords in your copy and code to attract the search engines?
These answers will put you ahead of the game and give your potential customers a unique reason to choose YOU over your rivals.
3.Will you get high-quality traffic?Are people looking for something free or will they actually buy from you?
Search for the terms (free) + (your keyword). Is there something competing with your product for free? If so, people won’t pay for your version.
It’s also a good idea to search Amazon and eBay for previously sold items to see whether people are willing to buy products similar to yours.
-
4.Does your Internet business have a high lifetime value?Lifetime value means the total value of each customer to your business as they buy from you again and again.
Can you turn one-time buyers into repeat customers? Are there "add on" products or services you could offer to develop lasting, valuable relationships with them?
If you have a single product or service, try to come up with more things your niche market would buy — because it’s way easier to sell to customers again than to develop new customers.
Once you’ve thoroughly — and honestly — assessed your Internet business idea by answering these four questions, you should feel much more confident about making it a reality.
So do your research and defeat the fear factor.
Your friends on the "inside"...
-Dave and Michelle Lovett
Top Earners
916 484-3711
