Be Ready for 2009

I have heard several people in the industry recently talking about their plan for 2009.  I have seen many affiliate marketers "play it by ear" when it comes to what their plan for the next month, week, or even day in some cases.  While being flexible is great and allows you to adapt to changes in traffic or offers, it does keep you from going to the next step.  I guarantee you that the big players out there have a plan for how they are going to make their money, and you should to if you want to get to their level.

Am I talking about scheduling out your whole day?  No (although for some people this isn't a bad idea, as it can keep you focused), what I am talking about is knowing what your goals are and how to reach them for the year.  So how do you do this?

Step 1: Have a goal

This seems obvious but so few people do this.  You need to have a goal, and I don't mean "I want to make lots of money" or "I want to quit my job".  A goal is something specific, so you know where your headed and can plan to get there.  If you want to make lots of money, how much do you want to make?  $50k, $100k, $250k a year?  If you want to quit your day job, how much money do you need to make to do it?  It doesn't have to be a financial goal, although that is the easiest for most people to see. 

Also, it is important to have all your goals written down.  Keep track of them and look at them once a week.  If it isn't on the top of your mind you will forget what your goal was, much like those last new years resolutions you made.

Step 2:  Break your goal down

Know how your goals break down.  If you have a dollar amount figure how how much you need monthly or even weekly to meet that goal.  If your goal is a number of sites or time spent working on affiliate marketing, you still need to break down your goal into smaller ones.

These smaller goals will let you know how you are doing.  Are you beating your monthly goal, if so this doesn't mean you can slack off.  It shows that what you are doing is working, keep it up.  If your not then you know you need to step it up.  Try new campaigns, branch out into other areas or niches, whatever you can think of to get to that goal.

Step 3:  Start Working

Suprisingly, this is the step so many people miss.  Once you have your goals written down get to work.

Some things to remember.

 - Look at your goals, don't obsess about them.  If you spend all day looking at how you are doing towards your goal, you will never reach it.

- Never back down from your goal.  If you keep shaving your goal down to make it more reachable, you will be shocked at the end of the year by how far you missed the mark.

- At the same time, adjust your smaller goals to know what you need to do to get there.  Missed your monthley goal last month, well then you need to do even better next month.

Hope this gives everyone some things to think about.  Affiliate Marketing is a great business, and there is some real money to be made out there.  Hopefully by working together, we can all see that money.