Plan to Succeed

I haven't written much on this blog of late because I've been busy diversifying away from Squidoo.   Now I have to adjust my planning to get a better balance between the different online sites that I earn with .   I've been busy trying to think of what advice or tips I could give you in this post and as I'm looking at how I went last year and seeing where I need to focus this year it occurred to me that my most important piece of advice would be just one word - plan.

It sounds simple doesn't it?   It really is the key to succeeding at anything in life, not just Squidoo.

I can still remember the first month that my Squidoo pay was in 4 figures, it was the same month that I hit (what were at the time) record payments from a couple of my affiliates as well.   To say I was ecstatic would be putting it mildly.   The same month I lost a part-time position in the 'real world' which meant everything was coming together for me to work online full time.

What's the point of this story?   The month in question didn't just happen.   I had a lot happening in my life in the five months leading up to it so I planned far more than normal as I wanted to be prepared.   It paid off! 

When I've had disappointing periods since I can honestly say with my hand on my heart that it was due to my either not planning for something or else planning, but not following through with my plans.

Today I banked an Amazon check for my December earnings and this check's the biggest Amazon check I've ever received.   This months total earnings however are not my best months ever.

Why?   Some changes were made on another site that I earn on and although they gave me time to make and implement a plan to offset how my bottom line would be affected I failed to do so (I had lots of reasons at the time, but in retrospect they appear like excuses!).   The result is that my income from that source was a third of what it was this time last year.   So the moral of the story is -

FAILURE TO PLAN = NOT A HAPPY PAY DAY

whereas......

PLANNING LEADS TO $UCCE$$

This week (cue the mission impossible music) your mission should you choose to accept it is to ....

Take out your calender and mark important dates for the year ahead and make sure you plan for them.   Once your plan is in place make sure that you follow through with it as well.

This blog post will not self destruct in five seconds.

Meanwhile off topic for this blog I'm spending quite a lot of time on Zujava at the moment (I'm participating in a leaf making challenge for February) so if you'd like to check out what I'm up to here's my 'leafography' - Lou16 on Zujava.