Thanks for the kind words Kaus! If I only had your work ethic ;-) MJ you should read this book. Amazon.com: No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs (NO BS) (9781932156850): Dan Kennedy: Books (not an affiliate link) It will definitely give you a good insight on time management. You'll thank me later :-) As for working on one site, that's impossible. I personally would be bored to death if I only had one site to work on. The trick is putting enough effort into certain sites so that they grow before you lose all your motivation. If I put equal effort into all of my projects I would have zero free time, and they would all be mediocre at best. You've just gotta pick a few and really make it happen. I wouldn't sell all your other sites, just let them sit while you work on new stuff, and once the new stuff get's to a certain level of success you can allot more time to the older sites. The main way I stay motivated is to attend a lot of conferences both in the gambling industry and outside of gambling. There are just so many people KILLING IT in every different area of the internet it's insane. It makes me realize that every day I slack off is a complete waste. There are so many opportunities out there right now that may not exist in a year, now is the time to take advantage of it.
@MJ Shoot me a PM if you want to talk about PokerMathematics.com. I have a pretty solid idea for how you could get a site up and running with a 700-1.000$ budget for articles, and be turning a profit in 3-4 months. I'm not sure that I should be involved in running the site, since my whole idea revolves around teaching a semi-random writer some stuff and then have him write an article about it. We could probably split the initial investment, but I don't see any convincing arguments for why you would want to do that. ----- This thread has made me suspect that I have got ADD...
Awesome post and advice from Kaus, I certainly go through periods of time where I get a TON of stuff done in a couple hours. I should work hard on narrowing down what the factors are where I'm extremely productive versus the times I'm just zoning off.
Just something else for anyone who reads this. I dont care what you do, what your schedule is or what you think you need to do. If you have a site you really want to focus on the very first thing you should do when you start your day is spend at least 1 hour on that site. Write one page, fix whatever needs to be fixed...do something. Just make sure that site is the very first thing you work on. LOL so that means no chats, dont check your email, the forum, your stats...only your site and I guarantee you that first hour will be the most productive thing you could do the whole day. This goes for content providers. I do work for people here and I still make damn sure I have some time for my own stuff. If it means you get up at 6am vs 8am then get up earlier. Space your time based on how alert you are. I don't write at night. I find that's when I struggle the most. Any content that needs to be worked on is done first thing in the morning and if I do need to work at night it's other tasks that don't require as much from me. I know lots of people here spend like 18 hours a day on their stuff but honestly how many of those hours are wasted? How productive are you from 6pm till 3 in the morning? Could you increase the amount of real work you get done by sleeping more? I do. I know if I'm up till 2 my level of productivity goes way down because I'm tired. I end up with 6 different windows open and click, refresh, read, click, refresh, read. Its the most retarded, wasteful cycle ever and by 2 I've completed a task that should have taken me like an hour tops. So I dont bother anymore. Whatever I can do at 2 am can also be done at 6 when I wake up. Think of it like poker. Would you turn around and play on only 3 hours of sleep? Probably not. So why would you do that with your websites. Anyway didnt mean to ramble just a few things I do that help me a bit.
I'll write some stuff for you for links :)
Yep, figured that would be a starting point but I don't want to write it See how I got ADD in this thread? I'm already talking about a new project!!!
Just to get something up in the short term, stick some pot odds chart, article about pot odds, implied pot odds. Maybe get a [URL="http://www.mypokercorner.com/poker-odds-calculator/"]poker odds calculator[/URL] for the site too.
Glad to see I'm not the only one here with this problem, in fact I think this business itself attracts a certain type of mentality - in that we all have very active minds. Lots of discussion of partnership here, have to say it's a good idea for me to consider since I have 362 domains currently (last time I blogged it was 338). I've had nothing short of horrible experiences in the past with that, but I certainly should consider it. Off the top of my head, is there any math whizzes in the house? I have PokerMathematics.com that would be nice to start putting up, but I'm not so much a math guy either.
MJ, I'm a lot like you, except I don't have the domain buying addiction. Being organised is something I will never be. Let's just get that out. I have been disorganised since I was born, and I am not going to kid myself or anyone else in thinking that this is going to change. My desk at work looks like it was hit by a hurricane. My computer's desktop has at least 100 files/icons/shortcuts at all times. My bedroom floor has all the clothing I've worn within the last week and my wife will eventually pick it up. That's just how I am, and when it comes to affiliating, I am as dissorganised. And I can't speel. BUT! There is hope! Because I've lived in chaos all my life, I find myself to be very comfortable in the environement. I don't beleive in doing one thing at a time because if you're doing that one thing wrong, then you're wasting alot of time aren't you? I believe in multitasking, but without streching myself too thin. And it does happen. It's just a matter of reassessing priorities. Being disorganised doesn't mean youcan't have a plan. Be a man with a plan, outline objectives clearly and everything you do should support those objectives. If not, stop doing it. The bottom line is I want to work on more than one thing at a time and hope that one of those many things will yeld great results. Sometimes I am pleasantly suprised. Sometimes, unexpected things happen - good and bad, but the important thing is that I move forward in the process. I'm a better thinker than a doer. If only you could peer into my brain to see all the ideas floating around. Well... let's just say you'd go blind, with an errection.
Hmmm - it's sometimes strange how the same thing can hit you over the head multiplie times in a short space of time. Over the last week or two, I've found myself with the same problem of letting myself getting diverted by too many different projects, which has lead me to think about my work methods and how it might be good to partner up with someone else to (a)Force me to focus on one project and (b) because I think it would be interesting to hear about other people's processes. Since then I've seen a couple of blog posts from members here talking about working with partners, a forum post from Kaus and now your blog. Maybe someone's trying to tell me something ;) Anyway, I'll stop waffling. Good post and if you're looking to partner for a project, I'd definitely be interested in finding out a bit more!
I can definitely relate to trying to focus on one thing. I find it difficult to do because there are so many different tasks that still contribute to the overall goal. Sometimes I don't even know where to start, even using a white board- :( Anyway, if you are interested in a partner in the near future, hit me up. I would definitely be interested as Im sure we can both bring something different to the table - just need to get minor details sorted first. Let me know.
I might have to pick that book up, I know I clean up my desktop every few days but doesn't take long to have new ideas, new domains, and new note files on plans/lists/tasks/whatever. I do well at knocking things off my real whiteboard, but I still have a tendency to fix the few things on it and wipe it clean only to shift focus to a new network, new sites, whatever. Kaus, you sure are lucky to have a good partner, I tried it a couple times and they ended up flaking when they didn't get rich overnight.
I do a couple of things to keep focus - I still have more sites that I ought to have, but I'm much more focused today than I were 6 months ago. I have begun writing a journal for my business. It is just short entries about what I got done each day, but does help to keep me on track, since I don't want it to be a "[I]list of stuff that I did instead of what I were supposed to do[/I]". I also take a ton of notes - I get an idea I write it down. That way I find it easier to "let go" of them and keep working on my current projects, since I know that they won't be lost. Most the techniques I use to organize my work and keep focus comes from "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. I don't think that I do anything as he suggest it, but the general ideas from the book has really helped me a lot.
Thanks MJ for the compliment. Actually if I didn't have John on this one, the site wouldn't be where it is. Im sure he can vouch when I say I'm borderline obsessive with the site now (good or bad ...ha not sure:p) This job has so many benefits but it's biggest drawback by far is solitude. We work behind a screen every single day and for the most part may never meet the people we speak to on a daily basis. I think the benefit of having a partnership is you have someone with the exact same goals as yourself who you can bounce ideas off of. For the most part that person is just as excited as you when a new goal is reached. I think thats probably the biggest benefit of having a partner. You have someone else who relies on you to get your ass in gear and work on it. Am I saying run out and find yourself a partner? Nope. Sometimes its better not to . But I think you should associate yourself with people who have the same drive and commitment as you do. [QUOTE]but really what I know I need to do is focus on only ONE until it gets where I want it to be[/QUOTE] If you have problems focusing ...just work on one and figure out where you want it to be and the steps to get there. Even if it means breaking it down into smaller steps ie section by section but make sure its something you enjoy doing. I think for me thats the best part. I have to be totally interested in what I'm doing to continue to want to do it. Don't allow yourself to get bored with the project.
man i cant believe you've done that much in a little over a year.
"Partner" is one of those buzzwords that gets thrown around too much in this industry. ("Union" and "ethics" are two more, and there are tons of others.) But here's another perspective: you and the cardrooms AREN'T partners. You're a publisher; cardrooms are advertisers. That's a business relationship, surely, but it's not a "partnership" necessarily.
Do you have a blog (besides the one at PAL)?
Good post MJ. I feel exactly the same in a lot of ways. Especially about having "a domain buying addiction that really is comparable to chasing crack rocks". (Can you ship me a list btw?) lol I also agree about how "our "priorities" can change when we get excited about a new site, domain, or niche right?" This and the domain buying addiction go hand-in-hand obv. This has been my biggest struggle in this industry. Like you, I plan on cutting out a lot of the plans for mini-sites and focus more on large sites. I wish you the best with your new direction. (Seriously, send me a list of domains - I need a fix)
Thanks for the kind words dude! I'm obviously not a very good writer, but I always have opinions
Nice MJ. You inspired me to go searching and I found some awesome domains today. Cant believe they wernt taken.
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