Thursday, February 4, 2016

Huge IM Mistake Which Slowed Down My Business Growth - Avoid This Costly Mistake

My Big Mistake in IM Which Halted or Slowed Its Growth Considerably

Full Attention Wanted - what you are going to read is extremely important. So I advise you to read carefully. The mistake I discuss in this post can cost you thousands of dollars in lost income!  I am speaking from experience.

One of the biggest mistakes I made in my Internet marketing business, when I started out, was trying to do all things by myself. I tried to save as much money as I could and only outsourced stuff which I just couldn't do or when I was totally exhausted. Only then I would think of delegating the work to others even though there were many sources through which I could hire people to do the work for me quite cheaply.

There were freelance sites like Upwork & Fiverr, people at forums who were providing high quality services at quite reasonable rates and there were even people available offline who I could have hired and made them do the heavy stuff for me while I spent my time in planning how to further grow my business and take it dizzying new heights.

I could have got a lot more work done, much quicker, and at times, in a much better way than what I did. There were so many plans I had made, such a lot of stuff that I wanted do, so many more websites I had decided to make (and in some cases even purchased the domains), so much more content I had thought of publishing on my various websites and blogs. But I made the deadly mistake of trying to do as much by myself as I could. This miserly attitude of trying to save bucks actually cost me a lot in terms of how far and how quickly my business grew compared to what could have been possible had I foresight to see it at that time. Thankfully, after many years in IM industry I became a little wiser and smarter now.

The speed of growth of my IM business slowed down considerably as I foolishly tried to get involved in each and every aspect of it and struggled to finish things on time. My daily to-do lists would get bigger and bigger. At the end of each day, the things I had completed and struck off the list were very few while the unfinished ones were many. Still I didn't learn from my mistake. It has taken me a very very long time to realize my folly. How much time and struggle I could have saved myself had I realized I was doing this totally wrong! And how much more enjoyable and fun my business would have been if I had delegated more work and just enjoyed the fruits of it!

The icing on the cake was that I am a terrible procrastinator and a notoriously lazy person. Almost everyone among my near relatives know me to be extremely lazy and a big-time work-avoider.

As an example - whenever I started a new website or blog, I would involve myself in each stage from keyword research to domain name selection, setting up Wordpress, installing all the plugins and even writing the initial content on it. I would painstakingly perform each task when I could have easily outsourced all these things and started 10 websites in the same amount of time it took me to get 2 websites up and running by trying to do all by myself. In some cases when I did outsource, I would only outsource 25% of the total things I should actually have got done by others.

I was guilty of this mistake - actually crime might a more apt word for it, at a time when I was making very good amount of money through my online ventures. So I was not short of cash nor was I short of confidence about starting new ventures. In either of these cases, my foolishness could have been excused. If I was not making much money and lacked the cash to outsource I would have no other option but to do it all myself. And if I had not made any money online previously and lacked the confidence, in such a case too I would have an acceptable excuse.

So I advise you all folks - do not commit this same mistake. It took me a long time to realize my mistake but that should not be the case with you nowt since I am sharing my experience with you. Do your business a huge favor and outsource as much work as you can.

Of course some things have to be done by yourself. So choose wisely which tasks to delegate and which ones to give your personal time and attention to. Try to do those things which you are good at and which you enjoy. Rest of the stuff - outsource it if you can. For example, I am good at writing about stuff which I have some knowledge about. Writing is something of a passion for me. So I still produce content for a couple my main blogs, which are on topics of my interest and expertise.

However, for other blogs, some of which might be in niches in which I do not have the least bit of interest (mixers and grinders for example), it is better to outsource everything including the content writing part. If left to me, I will delay setting up such website, delay writing the content for it because I don't have the slightest interest and would have to force myself to all these tasks. So you see how much sense it makes if I get the work done by others.

 This is for Experienced Internet Marketers:
At the same time I would like to point out that this suggestion is mainly suited for experienced internet marketers. If you are just starting out, I would advice you to try to do many things yourself even if you have the cash to invest in outsourcing. This is in order to learn the ropes of the business and become good at online marketing.

When I started outsourcing, I was really good in hiring competent people and getting good quality of work done through them. I was good at this because I was experienced in various aspects of internet marketing and knew exactly what I wanted from the people I hired. I could give them precise instructions and monitor them properly so that the output I got was exactly as I wanted.

If you are new to internet marketing and don't exactly know what needs to be done, how are you going to give instructions to the people you hire? How are you going to get them do proper work? In my opinion, a little bit of personal knowledge and experience is necessary, which can only be acquired by learning and doing stuff yourself, at least for some time before you start to outsource.

But as soon as you are in a position to outsource and feel your time can be better utilized if you focus on a few important things, don't hesitate to start doing it. Initially it might seem that you are cutting down the amount of profit you are making since you are paying others to do things.

It is Not a Waste of Money to Outsource or Automate Smartly:
At times it might even feel you are washing money down the drain by hiring others when it could have been easily done by yourself. Do not be tempted by these thoughts to save a few bucks. Consider it as a worthy investment in the growth of your business. By outsourcing or automating many tasks, you free yourself up to focus on those areas of the business which are most important and which you are good at. This can result in accelerating the growth of your business beyond your expectations!

The good thing is that you don't need to hire full-time employees or set up an office. You can hire part-time workers, virtual assistants, or just hire people on project basis and pay them only when you have some work to be done. For example - you can hire someone to write 20 articles for you. You pay them only for that job and don't have to pay them on weekly or monthly basis. The next time you pay them is when you have another task for them. Alternatively, if you regularly need work done, you can hire writers or virtual assistants on weekly/monthly salary and get a lot of work done from them without having to pay separately for each task.

You don't need an office space, if you don't want, nor do you have to pay monthly rent. You can hire people from online freelance sites or forums, and manage it all online without the need for office. How much more convenient than this can it get?

Don't hesitate to spend money for the growth of your own business. You may be surprised by how fast it can grow and what giant leaps it can make if you just dare to shrug off the narrow mindset of saving bucks by doing all things by yourself! This could prove to be the single best thing you can do for your business acceleration.


Some of the things I like out outsource or automate include:
  • Setting up new affiliate websites - installing Wordpress, plugins, setting up About Us, Contact Us and other pages
  • Writing content for blogs which are in niches outside my interest
  • Making videos and publishing on Youtube (using people with good voice and accent)
  • SEO and linkbuilding activities (I use software tools as well as experienced service providers)
  • Emailing potential customers promoting my products or services
  • Forum marketing
  • Research 
  • Data entry

What Happened to My Business After I Corrected My Mistake
When I realized the importance of outsourcing and began doing it, my business started growing at a feverish pace. I started making lot more websites, could handle more customers. My site rankings improved considerably as  I started using different software tools and services.  I was paying monthly fees for many SEO related tools like 'Unique Article Wizard', 'Magic Article Submitter' etc which were very effective in their heydays before their effectiveness declined following Google updates.

 My affiliate commissions started reaching never-before-seen heights. And I could enjoy more free time with family and friends. After all what is the purpose of making lot of money if you don't have time to enjoy it as you are just sitting staring at the computer screen 14 or more hours a day?

New Opportunities Arise:
As I began working with different freelancers and service providers, my experience in outsourcing grew. I now not only outsourced things for my own business, but started providing service to others. What I started doing was offering website building, SEO and content writing services for others. When my clients placed orders with me, I would get the work done through my regular, trusted outsourcers and make a nice profit without having to do too much work myself.

My clients loved my services as I was able to provide them better quality output than if they had tried to get the work done elsewhere. And at cheaper prices too.  I still continue to offer various kinds of services, you can have a look here - My Services

Where to Outsource - Download Free Report of My Recommendations:
I am also compiling a report containing a list of places where you can get work related to internet marketing done at affordable rates. I am also trying to list specific service providers who are doing awesome work. This report is a work in progress as I, from time to time, try to keep adding more resources, or removing some names. You can download the current version of this free report here - Recommended IM Service Providers