Home

Work Backwards to Move Your Online Business Forward

This simple exercise helps you to overcome the paralysis that kills many new businesses and keeps it moving toward your goals

Ever work backwards? No, I don't mean "Have you done stupid things that set your business back?" We've all done things like that. I'm asking about working backwards in a way that really makes your business thrive.

All of us started our businesses with a dream of where we want it to take us. Unfortunately, we often let the details of how to get there sit on the back burner while we fumble with the learning curve of starting a business.

The best way to make your dreams reality, though, is to start with where you want to end up and work backwards from there.

Make your goals specific

Start with your goal and make it specific. You won't get anywhere by saying, "I want to make a whole lot of money." That's not a specific goal. Choose a specific number.

For example, let's say you chose to aim for $10,000 a month. Now figure out what you have to do to meet that goal. To make $10,000 a month you'd have to average $333 a day.

That's probably more than you expected. But it's reality. Simply dreaming of huge amounts of cash is pleasant. Looking at a specific number that you need to earn and figuring out how to achieve that feels like work. But it's necessary.

Setting a specific goal strips you of the dream that "all this will come together on its own." It forces you to figure out the actions that YOU need to take to achieve your goal.

Look at those figures. Determine what actions will lead you to your goal. Do you need to drive more traffic to your business? Do you need to put together a more appealing offer? Do you need to do a better job of guiding your visitor to take the action you want them to take? Learning to "work backwards" at making improvements that matter will get you a lot farther than doing meaningless tweaks just to feel like you're doing somethingl.

Make sure your goals are realistic

If you're in the early stages of your business, you're likely coming nowhere close to the $333 per day you'd need to earn $10,000 month. Don't let that intimidate you, though. Look at that number as a goal to work toward over time. For now, set a more attainable target for this month.

Let's say you're currently averaging $5 a day. Figure out how you can boost that to $10—or $15—or $25. Don't be so cautious that you aim for only $6. Set your goal as high as you think your efforts can take it this month. Then figure out how much you have to sell to reach your goal.

Plan how to make your goals reality

For example, let's say you average one sale that makes you $20 every four days. To average $10 a day, you have to sell one every two days instead. What changes would make this happen? Is there a specific way you could double your traffic? Is there a specific way you could bring in a more targeted source of traffic? Are there ways you can make your product or your offer more appealing so that more of your existing visitors buy it?

Look at everything. Brainstorm specific, tangible ways that you can change things for the better. Never trust to luck. Never delude yourself that simply buying some new tool will work miracles and do the trick. Success is never in something external, like a new tool or a little tweak. It's always in how you use the resources you have.

Look at your business through your visitors' eyes

Look at everything from your visitors' viewpoint. Look at it honestly. What questions will they have about your product and your offer? What do you need to do to answer those questions for them before they'll buy?

Figure out how they found your site. What needs do they have that led them to look for your product in the first place? The better you understand what drew them to you, the better you'll understand them. And the better you understand them, the better you'll be able to sell to them.

Challenge yourself to find specific changes you can make to your product, to your offer, or to your marketing that will help you meet your goal. Don't just hope that traffic will improve or that sales will get better. Look for ways that you can make them better.

Build on each month's efforts to achieve your goals

Once you meet a goal, set your goal higher. Build constantly toward the long-term goal you wanted initially. Each time, you'll get better at identifying what changes will produce results. As you see your changes bring increasing results, you'll gain both confidence and skill to move you toward your goal faster.

Stay focused

I have one warning for you, though, when you first try this.

Stay focused. Choose what you think will best make the improvements you seek and stick with it. Don't try to do a little bit of everything at once.

There are dozens of methods you can use to increase your sales. Don't think you have to do them all at once. Choose one that you feel gives you the best chance of success. Stick with it and do it to the best of your ability. Don't let any other ideas distract you until you've done it completely.

The biggest mistake you can make (other than sitting back and hoping that everything comes together on its own) is to toy around with this and that, starting a bunch of things but never carrying through on them completely.

Focus on improving one thing and only that one thing until you've done the best you can with it. Don't worry that something else you do might work better. You can always try other things when you're moving your goals up from $20 to $30, or $30 to $50.

The important thing is to meet your goal. Learn. Experiment. Keep moving toward your goal. You accomplish far more by doing one thing completely than by never completing ten things that you've started.

Final thoughts

Working backwards is a great way to start building the mindset you need to succeed. It puts you in the driver's seat. You control your growth. You learn to set realistic expectations. And, most important of all. You keep your business moving forward.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want more tips on how to run your business more effectively (and more profitably)? Check out my review of Jim and Dallas Edwards' Lazy Man's Guide to Online Business to see if their 15 tips on how to work less while accomplishing more can help you do exactly that.

Was what you found here helpful? Want more of this kind of business-building information? Let me send you more!   Get in-depth info on proven ways to build your profits. I later use much of what I give you in these updates in paid infoproducts. So you get what others later will pay for -- but you get it for FREE!   Sign up below. You'll get all this and more (and the "more" won't be spam -- it will be value-packed gifts).
Name:
Email:

We respect your privacy!

We will never sell or give away your
information. Read our Privacy Policy.

FREE Business-Starting Tips!

Get my business-building infoproducts FREE, in weekly installments, before they go on sale as paid infoproducts.

Please provide your name and email address below:

Name:
Email:

We respect your privacy!

We will never sell or give away your
information. Read our Privacy Policy.

An important notice about product recommendations on this site

LIKE THIS PAGE? ADD TO YOUR SOCIAL BOOKMARKS:
Blink Del.icio.us
Digg Furl Google Simpy
Spurl Technorati Y! MyWeb

Click here to follow me on Twitter!

Click the link above and get the brief tips, encouragement and resources I share on Twitter every day.

If you already have a Twitter account, you can sign in and add me to your friend list by clicking the Follow button.

If you don't have an account, signing up is simple.

1. Click the Join Now button.
2. Fill in your name, a user name, a password, and your email address.