Step 1 - Mindset, Goal Setting & Strategic Planning

Step 1 - Mindset, Goal Setting & Strategic Planning

by GinaGaudioGraves on June 16, 2008, 02:54:00 AM

Step 1 – Mindset, Goal Setting, and Strategic Planning

The 30-Day IM Challenge that I'm about to share with you can literally change the future of your business!

It can take you from making $0 today to making consistent cash quickly.

I say "quickly" because I don't know how fast you're going to work, or how much time you're willing to put in.

If you follow the lessons that I share with you over the next 30 days, you will see “results” in that time.

What do I mean by “Results”?

By “results” I mean that you can expect:

To have traffic coming to your blog each and every day,
That you will be developing a relationship with the people in your market every single day,
That those people will begin signing up to your list, and
That sales will start coming in.

You want to remember one thing as you take the 30-Day IM Challenge:

This is a PROCESS.

Every process takes time.

Your results will start out small, but over a period of about 90 days, they will continue to grow.

But ONLY if you consistently take action and follow the process!

This process is NOT rocket science, though.

We're talking about being able to use a few search engines, free tools like Quantcast.com, an autoresponder such as aweber or the AutomationStation system that's part of ThirdSphere hosting, being able to post to a blog (I'll even show you how to get one set up for next to nothing if you're not inclined to tackle that yourself), and a few others that I’ll be sharing with you along the way.

As much as possible, I’ll try to show you tools that are FREE or tools that I have negotiated discounts or trials on.

During these 30 days, you want to FOCUS on building your business and following the process laid out in the 30-Day Challenge. That means that during the next 30 days:

You do NOT want to be spending money on additional “How To” courses that are neither necessary nor helpful. If there is a course that will help you to implement a particular strategy or technique, I’ll tell you about it. (And I’ll try to arrange a discount if at all possible.)

You ONLY want to spend money on TOOLS that will help you to implement the strategies and techniques that you are following. Again, I’ll let you know what you need and where to find them.

At the end of each lesson in the 30-Day IM Challenge, you’ll find specific “Action Steps”. These are your “homework assignments”. They are the tasks which you must follow in order to get the results that you are looking for.

If you pick and choose which “Action Steps” you take, then you will NOT get the results that others will be getting!

In order to get those results, you MUST follow each and every step and take absolutely no shortcuts!

What kind of results can you expect?

Well, that’s a darned good question. It all depends upon how much action you take really.

We’re going to get started by working our way backwards. In other words, you’re first step is to ask yourself where you want to be in 3 to 5 years, being as specific as possible. Then we’ll look at each of those goals and ask “If you want to have that in 3 to 5 years, where would you need to be in 1 to 2 years?”

By working backwards, you end up creating a path that you follow one step at a time… a path that leads you right to your goal each and every time.

Want a good idea of the kinds of tasks you’ll need to take in order to achieve those goals?

Download my “Traffic Sources Worksheet” at:

http://askggg.com/trafficsources

This is an Excel Spreadsheet that will help you to plan your strategy for reaching your sales goal. In that worksheet, you’ll find 2 separate tabs. One is a simple flowchart and the other is the meat of the file.

On the second tab, at the top, I’ve identified traffic sources A through N. Each is a different type of traffic and each generates a different amount of visitors.

In the middle of the worksheet, you plugin the amount of money you want to make from a single promotion, the price of your product, and the conversions you expect (typical conversions are around 2% online).

The worksheet will then calculate how many units you need to sell and tell you how many visitors you need to get in order to achieve your sales goal.

Once you know how many visitors you need, then you merely put together a plan, telling the spreadsheet how many of each type of traffic you are willing to do. It keeps recalculating your figures to tell you how many more visitors you need. You keep adding tasks until you’ve got a plan that has you reaching your goal!

This is precisely what I mean by working your way BACKWARDS to build a strategic plan for your business.

Most entrepreneurs online start out with a product. They put a price on it. Then go out and get JV Partners to sell their product for them.

They don’t pay any attention whatsoever to what it takes to meet a goal.

I can’t tell you how often I get phone calls from people who say things like:

“I’m planning on selling 65,000 copies of my new ebook.”

“Well, we’ll be getting 100,000 members in our new membership site within the next 60 days.”

When I ask these people HOW they plan on getting those kinds of sales, or how much they plan on bringing in on a NET revenue basis, they respond with a “Huh?”

Trust me on this one … if you’ve never before released a product of your own, expecting 65,000 sales from a single ebook is NOT realistic! If you’ve never before released a product of your own, expecting 100,000 members in only 60 days is NOT realistic!

Just because MySpace has over 47,000,000 unique monthly visitors in the US alone does NOT mean that you will be getting even 1% of that number to your site. At least not when you first get started.

And most certainly NOT without a solid Strategic Plan for building your business and getting that kind of traffic.

So let me ask you …

Are you ready to take the next step to your successful future?

Ok, here we go! ...

STEP 1 – MINDSET

You've got to have the right Mindset in order to reach the success you want.

What is the right mindset? This means that you must:

a) KNOW that you will succeed, and

b) Be willing to do what is required to reach that success you are dreaming about, and

c) VISUALIZE your success. This last one is a little tricky so I'd better explain it a little.

You go through these same 3 steps for EVERYTHING you want to achieve both personally and in your business.

Ideally, you want to set forth an intention that combines all of your biggest goals, and then visualize what it will be like when you have all of them, being extremely detailed in that visualization.

To help you visualize your success, find pictures of those things that you want to have when you are successful.

A new house?
A new car?
A new watch?
Money in your bank account?

Whatever it is that you want, surf the 'net 'til you find a picture. Print out the picture and cut it off of the piece of paper.

Take all of your pictures and create a collage. You can do this with tape on a piece of paper. You can do this with thumbtacks on a corkboard that hangs on your wall.

Make sure that your collage is of a size that can sit next to you as you work each day.

Post your collage where you can see it easily.

Each day spend a minimum of 10 to 15 minutes (with your eyes shut) visualizing what it will be like to have each item on your new "Vision Board". Use all of your senses in doing this (if it's a new car, smell it in your mind).

Continue with this exercise EVERY day!

There are really 3 parts to what I refer to as “Visualization”. These 3 steps are the KEY to achieving your success.

This 3-step process is as follows:

1. Set forth your intention. Be as specific as possible. Visualize your end result.

2. Make yourself attractive to what it is that you desire.

For example, let’s say that you want a new Mercedes Benz. But, you happen to have long hair, you dress kind of grungy, you have oil and grease under your finger nails, etc.

As part of making yourself attractive, you decide to change your appearance a bit and clean up your act. You get your hair cut. You put on a clean pair of jeans and a nicer looking t-shirt. You get the grime out from under your nails.

You make yourself LOOK more like a Mercedes Benz owner. This is essential in achieving your goals.

3. TAKE ACTION!

Take one baby step in some direction toward your desired goal. There will be many different first steps that you can choose from. The one that you select will lead you down either a shorter, smoother journey, or will get you started on a longer, bumpier journey.

The action that you choose instinctively will be determined by the amount of passion you have for your desired goal. The more passionate you are, the more likely it is that the action you select will lead you down a shorter, smoother path.

This process is what people call “The Law of Attraction”. Notice that there is a difference in the process that I describe and the process that most people talk about as “The Law of Attraction”. Even the movie, “The Secret”, misses this one big point.

The difference is in Step #3 … TAKING ACTION!

Most people talking about “The Law of Attraction” make it sound like it’s all about the mindset alone and that if you merely wish for something, you can get it.

That is NOT true at all!

If you do NOT take action, you’ll get nowhere at all!

In order to see results using “The Law of Attraction”, you MUST take all 3 steps! Skipping any one will cause the system to not work for you.

SIDENOTE:

How I Used “The Law of Attraction” to Save My Life and Explode My Business In The Process …

Until a few years ago, I had really never paid any attention at all to “The Law of Attraction” as a concept. Sure, I’d heard people talking about it. But I always thought of it as some kind of a religion, not as a technique that would help me in any way.

At the time, I was in a wheelchair and hospital bed and had been there for almost 10 years. I had just recently learned that I had only 12 to 18 months to live.

A massage therapist told me that I would not die as soon as I thought if I could remove all negativity from my life. Of course, I told her that I had one of the most positive mental attitudes around so her idea wouldn’t help me at all.

She explained that I was missing the point. That she was talking about all the OTHER negativity that I experienced every day from things like watching the news (I left CNN playing 24/7 in the background … even while I was sleeping) to people in my life.

She told me that I needed to remove ALL of the negativity and she suggested that I seriously research “The Law of Attraction”.

Over the next 4 ½ months, I took her advice to heart and implemented every single technique that I could find.

I spent several hours each day “visualizing” myself as a healthy woman, walking down the street unassisted.

In those visualizations, I saw myself the way that I thought of myself – that happened to be around a size 12 to 14. In the mirror, though, I was really more like a size 20 or 22. (Yep, I was a porker by anyone’s definition!)

In those visualizations, I was dressed well. I had nice clothes, nice jewelry, etc.

I had a full head of hair (mine had bald spots all over from my illness and medication). I had long nails (mine were down to the nubs and wouldn’t grow no matter what I tried).

I took no medications whatsoever. (I had been on 42 pills per day and 4 continuous IV’s per day when I started the process.)

Over the next 4 ½ months, I became the woman in my visualizations.

I went from a wheelchair, to a walker, to a cane, to no assistance at all while walking … even though I had no feeling whatsoever in my legs and feet (and still have none today).

I was able to stop all of the medications.

I lost 68 pounds without ever going on a diet, changing my eating habits, or exercising.

My hair grew back in, leaving no bald spots at all.

My nails began to grow and strengthen.

And most importantly of all … by the end of that 4 months, not only was I no longer dying, I was completely, 100% well!

Interestingly, though, was one little piece of the puzzle that I had not planned on at all.

My “Intention” was that I would become healthy, no longer live in a wheelchair or hospital bed, and would live to a ripe old age.

My “visualization” was what I described above – a woman of about a size 12, who was healthy, vibrant, and able to walk unassisted, who had a smile on her face, and was able to do all of the “ordinary” things in life like go shopping, go to the movies, go out for dinner, play miniature golf, visit the beach, etc.

My “action” was to remove all negativity from my life. I stopped watching the news and reading the newspaper. I removed those people who were negative from my life almost completely and totally stopped associating with them at all.

And in the end, I “attracted” my exact intention … but with a slight twist.

The one thing that I had not at all set out consciously in my intention was what would happen with my business. At the time, I already had a business on the internet as a Joint Venture Broker. It was successful, but not wildly so.

It certainly brought in a full time living. In fact, it was supporting me and my husband and our lifestyle as full time RVers. But I certainly wasn’t making a 7 figure income either.

Well, if you remember, in my visions, I saw a very successful woman who wore nice clothes, and had nice jewelry. Those were things that would require money. Right?

Well, as this other physical transformation took place, a transformation also occurred in my business. In fact, I would say that it literally EXPLODED almost overnight, without me doing ANYTHING at all differently.

It was during that period that people began calling me “The JV Queen”. It was during that period that my income more than doubled.

Why did this happen?

Read on to learn more …

RESOURCE NOTE: In my multimedia course, the “Miracle Motivational Package”, I share with you the exact strategies that I used to create the mindset that allowed me to go from a wheelchair to a walker to walking unassisted for the first time in 10 years – and eventually overcome a death sentence imposed by my doctors in only 4 ½ months. This same strategy allowed my business to explode effortlessly!

You can use the same strategies to create your success mindset right now! You’ll find the course at:
http://www.AbundantPositivity.com

Part of the reason that the 3-part process that I’m sharing with you is so effective in allowing you to achieve success is because of the power of “visualization” and part of the reason is in living a lifestyle that I call “a life filled with Abundant Positivity”.

In other words, you want to live a life that has as little negativity as possible in it. You need to have a mindset that is extremely positive.

Through your language, through your actions, through your visualizations, and through your intentions … you must be as POSITIVE as possible and as SPECIFIC as possible if you are to get what you want for yourself personally or for your business.

This is EXACTLY what you must do in order to achieve the success that you are looking for and that you desire.

So here are your action steps for this lesson …

ACTION STEPS FOR STEP 1 – “MINDSET”

1. Sit down and make a list of anything in your life that is negative and find a way to remove them from your life. Things to consider are:

a. Your activities. Do you watch the news? Listen to talk shows? Read the newspaper? Are you into things that make you have a “glass half empty” attitude instead of a “glass half full attitude”? If so, they’ve got to go.

b. People you associate with. If they have a “glass half empty” attitude, then you need to stop having contact with them or minimize the contact as much as possible. Don’t try to change them! It won’t work! You can only control your own actions, not theirs.

2. Think about the language that you use. Change your language from Negative Words to Positive Words. If you usually see things as “Problems”, that is negative. You’ll want to view them as “Challenges” instead. Challenges are hurdles that are easily overcome while Problems are like road blocks that stop you dead in your tracks. Other words to avoid are things like:

a. Impossible – When you use the word impossible, you affirm negative thoughts in your mind.

b. It’s a lot of work – Again, this is a negative thought as well. Don’t say, “It is a lot of work”. Instead, use a Daily Time Log to get things done each day.

c. How can I do this? – Again, this is another negative phrase. Don’t ask “How can I do this?” Instead, say “I can do this when I know how to _____” and then seek out the answer to the blank. One of the best places to find that answer is in the Forum that I have set up for participants of the 30-Day IM Challenge. You’ll find it at:

http://www.TheIMUniversity.com/forum

3. Make a list of goals that you have for your business and for yourself personally. You’ll want to make 3 separate lists. The lists that you’ll need to create are as follows:

a. Your Long Term Goals. These are the goals that you want to achieve in 3 to 5 years. Be as specific as possible and as detailed as possible.

b. Your Mid-Range Goals. These are the goals that you want to achieve in 1 to 3 years time. Again, be as specific as possible and as detailed as possible. To create this list, first start by examining each of your long term goals. For each one, ask yourself “If I want to have that or be there in 3 to 5 years, where would I need to be in 1 to 3 years?” Once you have gone through all of your long term goals in this fashion, add any additional mid-range goals you may have.

c. Your Short Term Goals. These are the goals that you want to achieve in 1 day to 1 years time. Again, be as specific as possible and as detailed as possible. As with the mid-range goals, you create your short term goal list by examining each goal on your mid-range list and asking yourself “If I want to have this or be there in 1 to 3 years, where do I need to be and what do I need to have in 1 day to 1 year?”

This will create a plan that you will follow … one step at a time, to achieve ALL of your goals.

As you reach each goal, make sure that you put a big GOLD STAR next to the item on your list, pat yourself on the back, and give yourself some type of reward. The bigger the achievement, the bigger the reward should be.

A reward can be anything from a candy bar to a Mercedes Benz, depending upon the nature of achievement. Try to tie your reward to your achievement if at all possible.

We will be using this list of goals in the next lesson.

4. Join http://www.43things.com. To see the other 6,278 people on 43Things.com who are interested in starting their own business, check out:

http://www.43things.com/things/view/1952/start-my-own-business

a. Create a list of each of your short term goals on 43Things.com and set up a reminder for yourself at an appropriate time (i.e. 1 week, 1 day, etc.)

b. Create a list of your most important 3 long term goals on 43Things.com and set up a reminder for yourself for at an appropriate time

5. Set aside 15 minutes each morning before you get out of bed, and each night before you drift off to sleep, to use VISUALIZATION to achieve your intentions.

5. Create a Vision Board for your goals.

RESOURCES

"Miracle Motivational Package" - http://www.AbundantPositivity.com

Inside this package, you'll not only learn exactly what I did to overcome the death sentence my doctor's gave me and explode my business in the process ...

You'll also learn how to use Goal Setting to put together your Strategic Plan for your business.

AND, you'll even get immediate access to "The Master Key System", a strategy used by multi-millionaires like Bill Gates to achieve THEIR success.

The Goal Setting audios, report, and worksheets should be essentials for every entrepreneur!

PRICE: $27 (Challenge Member Special)

43Things.com - http://www.43Things.com

It is almost always helpful when you can get other people to cheer you on to achieving your goals. That's exactly what you get when you join 43Things.com. Best of all, it's FREE!

PRICE: Free

3. Traffic Sources Worksheet - http://askggg.com/trafficsources

This worksheet will help you to better plan your business. You'll use it to make sure that you are able to consistently meet your sales goals by driving enough traffic to your websites.

PRICE: Free

4. Prosperable – http://www.askggg.com/prosper

Over the last few years, I have not only studied, but also tested, the use of The Law of Attraction in my own life. One person who taught me a TON is my good friend, Antonio Thornton.

Antonio and I met a few years back at a seminar. He is a former student of, and now a partner of, internet marketing legend, Shawn Casey.

Antonio has tested the various elements of The Law of Attraction over the years. He's looked at the intention, he's tried various affirmations, he's perfected visualization.

From his testing, he's created a complete SYSTEM that allows you to get ANYTHING you want in your life. You'll find his system at:

---> http://www.askggg.com/prosper

There's something very different in that letter.

Antonio includes his own testimonial even though it's his product! He simply couldn't resist sharing the story of how the SYSTEM even allowed him to attract a Wife into his life. (In fact, they just got married in Costa Ricaa few weeks ago.)

I have watched Antonio COMMAND the Universe to bring him $10,000, only to see him instead bring him over $100,000 in only 5 days. Now that's what I call "The Law of Attraction"! You can use these SAME strategies to improve your results during the 30-Day Challenge and beyond!

---> http://www.askggg.com/prosper

PRICE: $7

A Look Ahead to "Step 2 - Finding Your Target Market"

1. Research your niche and Create Your Plan on PAPER (not in your head!). The tools you'll use for researching your niche are:

a. Quantcast – http://www.quantcast.com

b. Compete – http://www.compete.com

The tools you'll use to create your plan are:

c. Traffic Sources Worksheet – http://www.askggg.com/trafficsources

d. DIA Flowcharting Software (for Windows users only) – http://www.askggg.com/dia

2. Assemble all of your TOOLS for implementing your plan. Some of those tools include:

a. ThirdSphere’s Automation Station – with 1 free month - http://www.askggg.com/recommends/freehosting

b. aWeber - http://www.askggg.com/aweber

c. Direct Response Jobs – http://www.directresponsejobs.com

3. TAKE ACTION and start turning your plan into reality!

When you have everything in place, and you’re ready to show the world, make sure that you share your results in the 30-Day IM Challenge Forum at:

http://www.TheIMUniversity.com/forum

If you have questions, comments, etc. during the 30-Day IM Challenge, leave a comment or jump into the conversation on my blog at:

http://www.TheIMUniversity.com

Continue With Step 2 - Choosing Your Target Market

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