Managing one single project would not be so bad, but in my case i am not so fortunate – I am trying to manage multiple projects at once, 4 to be specific and although i know this is not a good thing to do as my focus really should be on one thing at a time to remain effective, i cannot stray from the other projects – all are important and essential.

What i would like to be able to do is have specific project records stored separately, but have my to do lists based on priority or by due date all run from the same location, but linked to the projects location to remain organized if this makes sense to anyone?

I thought i had this problem licked when i restructured last.

My idea was to create a single mind map which linked off to each project i was working on.

This main mind map would also have a to do listing where i could easily manage my priorities from, but this to do listing would also be somehow linked back to the projects mind map so everything was kept nice and tidy inside each and every project.

I am new to mind mapping so perhaps i have missed something along the way as i am really finding it difficult and much more timely that i had imagined.

If any of you would be so kind as to share any suggestions or tips on how you manage your workload(s), i would really appreciate it. Organization for me has always proved to be a big problem for me. I have never only worked with one thing at any given time and i know i really need a good system in place otherwise i will suffer through the same struggles that left me stressing out last year.

Again, any help on this would be greatly appreciated!

In my upcoming posts i will be posting about my traffic generation plan, minor tweaks that i am currently working on with my blog as well as a complete visual overhaul that should be visible here in the very near future.

Stay tuned…

This year has been full of ups and downs for me, and while i have learned quite a bit this year, i have learned one very big lesson throughout the course of this year as I’ve found myself engulfed and feeling forced to sacrifice any social time i may otherwise have.

Let me first share what i am talking about more in detail:

I am involved in a partnership with a friend and we run a membership site. Basically we offer paying customers the ability to build back links to their sites and pages from a network of sites we own.

We’ve done this to open the doors to better link building opportunities for ourselves first and foremost due to the model we’ve lined up, however the problem thus far has been handling a network that was continuing to grow each and every month.

What this means is that we built more sites every month.

While that task is really no problem at all, the problem lays in any change that needs to be made to sites within the network we own and there has been many throughout the course of the year.

What has to be done to one site in turn needs to be done to hundreds of others as well. For the most part I’ve spent the entire year maintaining the sites inside the network and it’s totally overwhelmed me and cut into any social time i used to have.

Could i have outsourced these tasks?

Ideally, yes. But my problem is trusting another person(s) enough to do these things for me and properly to boot. This is what i hope to change in the upcoming year though.

But back to the lesson I’ve learned here this year…

It’s better to ask for help and spend time working on things that will make money, rather than on tasks that run your business.

Does this make sense?

For example, look at it this way.

Working IN your business would include duties employees would otherwise do for you.

Working ON your business would include management, overseeing operations and just finding ways to grow your business.

After all, the whole reason why we do these things online is to open the doors to opportunity, not give us more work and responsibility right?

I hope that lesson can be a little time saver for those of you whom maybe have just started to get your feet wet.

Work ON your business… NOT IN your business!

Finally, to the real point of this small update.

I want to wish you all a happy and safe new year. With so much ahead of us, enjoy yourselves.

Prosperous times ahead for us all in 2009!
Colin

I would encourage those of you who may need help with setting up and configuring your Wordpress blog to give this a read.  I have tried to keep it strict by focusing on just the key areas that you’ll need to be attentive towards with Wordpress.

I’m not much of a writer, so i hope it’ll do it’s purpose just fine.

Appreciate any comments as always.

More to follow shortly…

Traffic is probably the biggest obstacle you’ll need to overcome before you are prepared for success and the best part about what is set to transpire here is that all traffic you’ll receive from this idea of Garry’s will be targeted – meaning those people who click on your link to visit your blog through his newsletter will be looking to find out what you are up to or what you may be offering on your blog. In addition to this, you’ll only need to do the work once and you are completely set up for as long as your links remain active in his edition.

It really does not get any easier than this – Virally generated traffic!

This is a great opportunity for students to get more exposure to their blogs through his newsletter – which mind you would be a great resource to personally have as well, so subscribe to his newsletter. The bottom line here is that i suggest you all head over to his blog and read more to get a better picture about this concept:

Get a slice of the 1 MILLION up for grabs

In a non-related update:

The Wordpress eBook i have been working on this past week has now is just about ready for it’s final touches and proofing. The draft has been completed to my satisfaction and it’s looking good. Should be ready real soon.

The only real obstacle i am facing so far should in turn be the easiest and is figuring out what exactly i want to name the damned thing! If any of you have any suggestions, fire’em over!

Although it’s not set in stone – at this stage the guide is focusing more on the following areas:

1. Installing your blog in 5minutes or less
2. Blog themes – what you should be looking for
3. Plugins that i use and what they are used for
4. Uploading your theme, activating and configuring theme options
5. Plugin activation and configuration
6. The WP Settings that i personally use
7. Other configuration suggestions
8. Final notes

At this stage I’ve created most of the rough draft and so far it’s weighing in at a nice hefty 27 pages!, but i do hope to cut this down dramatically and focus this guide towards more of a step by step blueprint with the least focus on filler content and fluff!.

The main goal after all is to give you a step by step guide that you’ll be able to use to setup and configure your blog like i would in less than 30 minutes.

I am really looking forward to completing this!

If you have any things you would like to see present in this guide, please leave a comment and i will consider.