Most of you know that I have a day job that keeps me pretty busy. While I have secret dreams about being like Pat Flynn, sometimes it's really hard to stay focused on internet business with so much to do.
I've been traveling a lot lately. If you follow me on my facebook fan page, you can see a small sample of my latest journey to India. Keeps things interesting…that's for sure.
In my last podcast episode, I talked about several “tricks” that you can use to find time to work on your business. Admittedly, it can be hard to do, but it's also very important. You might think that continuous effort is the only way to move forward. That's only part of the story.
Actually, I find that continuous effort is required to keep from going backwards.
Left Alone, Stuff Will Die
Most things in nature require you to keep putting energy in for them to survive. You can't just ignore something and have it stay the same. If you ignore things, they die.
- People: Feed them or they will die
- Plants: Water them or they will die
- Relationships: Invest in them or they die
- Ice: Freeze it or it will melt
- Earth: Heat it with the sun or it will die
You get the idea.
The concept is actually well-known in science. It's called entropy. Systems that are left alone will tend to fall apart.
Set and Forget is Usually Not Real
I used to think that you could build a website, get rankings, make it profitable and essentially just leave it. But I've seen too many examples where I have build websites that needed that constant nudge to keep them going. If I failed to work on them (adding content, links, etc), the website would slip in ranking and revenue would decrease.
So, while it is true that you can build internet assets and dramatically reduce the amount of work that you do on them over time, you can't just ignore them. This is one of the many reasons that I think it is much better to build 3 sites with 10,000 visitors than 3000 sites with 10 visitors each. You can maintain 3 sites — but you cannot maintain 3000.
So, as you plan your internet empire, be realistic about the need for ongoing work on your sites. Choose things you are excited about to work on — because work on them you will (or they will die).
Hi Mark,
I think I agree with you.
I’ve listened to lots of podcasts where the guest interviewee has spoken about the fact that they have several internet sites that are all doing well and that they haven’t touched some of them for months and are still bringing in a nice income. However, how long can this passive income last? Surely even if you have a huge readership eventually things will dry up if you don’t refresh the site or add new content regularly.
I’m just starting out, juggling my internet business with work at the moment, and I’ve noticed that if I don’t do anything on my site for just one day my traffic numbers drop. You certainly have to have lots of self-discipline and motivation to keep going. I suppose you have to create a certain amount of momentum before you can sit back a little and reap the rewards (as Pat Flynn says). I don’t think I’ll reach that point for sometime yet but that’s okay because I’m really enjoying building my business and seeing my hard work pay off.
Thanks for the post, I’m really enjoying this series.
Jan
Hey Mark,
I feel your current struggle. I am a relatively new IMer and currently am focused on growing my main site devoted to mountain biking here in our home state of Texas. There is so much learning involved and so many things to do. I struggle daily to make progress on the site after I finish my day job. I wanted to let you know that I love your content when it comes across. I look at you and select others as my team of trusted advisors. You provide some great advice and it was your work that really got me started. Seeing someone succeed in their IM pursuits while maintaining a day job as well is encouraging to me. I know that if you can do it, then I can as well.Keep pushing through these busy and hard times Mark. I believe that one day you can reach @patflynn status.
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