How to Be Productive and Manage Your Time Wisely

December 16th, 2008 by Alan Edmunds

by Alan Edmunds

I have heard people say that they want to start their own internet business so that they won’t have a boss that tells them what to do and when to do it. These people say that they don’t want to have to ‘punch’ a clock.

Because they won’t have a boss peering over their shoulder telling them what to do, they will be able to work when, and if, they want to.

How wrong they are! Well, if they intend to be successful they are wrong, otherwise they are destined to fail. The reality is that when you work for yourself YOU are the boss and you need to be a strict one.

You, the boss, must see to it that sufficient time is invested into the business every single day and that the time is used as productively as possible. You might no longer have working hours as required by others but you sure better have working hours.

Your old boss might have overlooked your being 10 minutes late getting back from lunch but you will need to be a lot tougher on yourself if you are to ever succeed at any internet business and you better forget about that old forty-hour week, too.

The internet marketing game is tough! Don’t you ever believe those advertisements that you see on TV that tell you that you can make thousands and thousands of dollars every month working on a part-time basis.

It is vitally important that you create a work timetable for yourself. You must be strict with yourself and remember that the time you finish is not determined by the clock but rather by when you complete whatever task you have set yourself.

Your time IS your own to manage. You must supply your own discipline. You are still accountable to someone. You are accountable to YOU!

The next point I would like to make is this: Guesswork and Becoming ‘Cheap’ is NOT Smart. Being wise with your pennies is a good thing but there is a world of difference between being thrifty and being cheap. The thing to remember in the online marketing game is not to hold on to the money you have, it is more a case of making more money than you spend.

Have you ever heard the adage, “You have to spend money to make money”? It is a true statement that has come about through the experience of those who have gone before you. You can’t be so afraid of spending a few dollars that you prevent yourself from making money.

There are some ridiculous statements that I’ve come across in my time and among them are those where a marketing course was refused because the person didn’t want to pay the price for it.

What they could have learned in that marketing course would make them many times over the cost of the marketing course. They ’saved’ a couple of hundred dollars and prevented themselves from making many thousands of dollars by being cheap. They were certainly ‘thrifty’!

Right up there with stupid things I have heard are those people that say they won’t buy a piece of software that will save them many hours of manual labor because they feel it cost too much and that maybe all the bugs aren’t worked out of it yet.

What kind of thinking is that?

Would you keep cutting grass with an old fashioned push mower rather than buying a power mower because it cost too much and it might have a problem?

Here is the thing that you need to remember: Being thrifty is not a crime.

Being dumb isn’t a crime either.

If you really want to be a successful internet marketer, you have to be willing to invest in your own knowledge and provide the tools for yourself that makes success possible.

About the Author:

Alan is a party wall surveyor with a firm of party wall surveyors. He is also responsible for the online marketing of his firm’s website.