This is a post my friend Sara put on her blog. It resonated with me and so I thought I would pass it on.

I found her advice to be very practical and helpful. So this is what she has to say.

But I Don’t Have Time!

Time

“I don’t make enough money online because I don’t have time.”
Sounds familiar?

When asked for their biggest challenge in Internet Marketing, my subscribers listed this as the number one challenge.

How about you?

Do you have time-constraints that are stopping you from making money online?

Actually, me too…
I also don’t have time to spare.

As a (very tired) mom of 6 kids, who is currently expecting another child, I’m also quite low on time.

Yet I have managed to find the time to make money online from my own affiliate sites (and free web 2.0 properties).

I also own an online course that I promote and for which I provide support (In fact, I just spent a lot of time updating my course so that the information is completely up to date).

And I’m now putting the finishing touches on a new program that will take people by the hand, coach them, and “force” them to succeed (I put a lot into this and am very proud of how it’s turning out).

I’m not telling you all this to brag. I just want it to be clear that I know what I’m talking about and am pretty qualified to give you advice on how to make money even if you have little time.

So – what’s the trick?

Well, the idea is to use whatever time you do have wisely and accomplish with a little bit of your time what others take longer to do.

Tip #1: Create a Plan for Success

If your goal is to make money as fast and as much as possible, ask yourself this question:

What is my surest, easiest, and fastest path to cash?

If you are like me, you can’t afford to spend time on things that don’t work, or that only work sometimes, or that would take too long to learn or implement.

You have to focus on a plan that works.

Don’t waste your time on things that just sound like they may work. You need to be convinced that your plan is most likely to get you there.

And as I’ve said in the past, there are different options you can take.

Pick one, and base your plan around it.

Now, let’s say you decide that creating affiliate niche sites would be a good choice for you. These are sites that are focused on a tight niche and rank well on Google.

So what you need to do is learn the minimum steps required to make money with niche sites and just go for it. You can always get more information on how to improve and do better later.

So if you’re going for affiliate niche sites, you need to focus on:

Learning how to pick products and keywords that sell
Learning how to create sites that sell
Creating sites based on those products and keywords
and getting traffic to those sites
That is it.

You don’t need to watch videos on copywriting.

You don’t need to learn how to create pretty graphics.

You don’t need to read dozens of emails on the latest guru launch.

Stay away from these things.

You just need to follow the plan you mapped out.

Too many times I see people who do not have a clear path in mind. They focus on the wrong things in their efforts, and are too scattered to succeed. Don’t be like them.

If you keep your goal in mind and a general path to get to that goal, you are much more likely to succeed even with very little time.

Tip #2: A Daily List
Now that you have a goal, and a way to reach your goal, you need to take it day by day.

Every day (or the night before) make a list of the most important things you need to do that day to reach your goal.

And when it’s time to work on your business start tackling your list.

Make your list very specific. And in order of priority.

For example:

Find 3 high-volume, low-competition keywords
Write an article for each of my keywords
Set up my blog
Then focus on the items on your list and cross them off one by one.

Do the most important task first, then the next, and then the next.

Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by anything else.

If you do this, you will get to your goal much faster than if you don’t.

Tip #3: Divide and Conquer

You don’t have to work full time on your business to succeed.

What you need to do is figure out how much time you have and what you can do with that time.

Even if you just have 1/2 hour to work at a time, cut your tasks up into small pieces and see what you can do in that 1/2 hour.

For example:

Research products on Amazon
Find a good keyword to target
Write an article (or perhaps just a draft)
Buy a domain and set up a blog
Then, every time you have a 1/2 hour, just pick one of the items on your list and do it.

You will see that these chunks of time add up and soon enough you will have income coming in.

Tip #4: Get Things Done
It’s very important to get things done, even if they are not done perfectly.

It’s ok if your site doesn’t look good. In fact, many of my ugly sites do very well.

It’s ok if your content is not perfect – you can always change it later.

It’s ok if one method of backlinking is not working well for you – you can always use others.

But it’s not ok to get stuck.

Just get things done and move on.

It’s those who get things done – even if not perfectly – who succeed in the end.

Getting things done is what counts. Remember that.

These things make a difference
One thing I always keep in mind when I design my training programs is this time issue.

That’s why I make sure they include a very focused plan, with clearly designed small steps that will ensure that you are sticking to the right path.

And best of all – feedback from me or my assistants to make sure that the work done will indeed bring results.

Another thing that really helps is that I allow my students access to my outsourcers so they don’t have to do certain time-consuming (and boring) tasks (if they are necessary).

Because making the most of your time is extremely important!

So – what do you think?
How do you handle this challenge of not having enough time?

Are you allowing it to stop you? Or do you have your own way of handling this problem?

Have any tips to share?

Please let me know by leaving a comment.