Managing your day

[cinemaeye]

This is kind of a general question, but I'm really curious. I know a lot of board members run multiple sites. Right now I have two sites running , both are more or less updated daily. I also do a lot of client web design work and would like to launch at least two more sites by the end of the year.

So i'm just curious, how do you guys manage your time throughout the day? Do you have a regular schedule that you stick to, allocating a certain amount of time to do a certain thing per site? Any time-saving tricks you can pass on? I'm just curious.

Personally, I have no time-management skills at the moment. i just work all the time and the quality of my projects is suffering because of it.

[Kyle]

Do you work from home all day? Or do you have a job where you leave the house?

I work from home and at first it was hard to be disciplined. I decided to keep a 'normal' work schedule throughout the week, and use my weekends as rewards.

Wake up between 8-9AM, enjoy a small breakfast. Work hard until lunch... enjoy a long lunch... truly take a break. Then work until 5-6PM. I usually spend 12-14 hours a day on the computer, but only 6-8 of which is hard working time.

I think the best thing to do is keep a normal routine.

[Shawn]

I work from home and I just cannot discipline myself -- too much other stuff to do.

How do you do it?

[Kyle]

To be completelty honest, meditation. I constantly think about my previous job, and how when I worked there, how badly I wanted to be self-employeed. Gotta keep on reminding yourself about how "you finally made it!"... "You're on your own!".

Proper rest, eating healthy, take your vitamins!

lol

[flyingpylon]

Originally posted by icebane
Wake up between 8-9AM, enjoy a small breakfast. Work hard until lunch... enjoy a long lunch... truly take a break. Then work until 5-6PM.

Is that really what you call a "normal" work schedule? Damn, I'm obviously doing something wrong. But then I'm still dealing with the "day job"...

[Kyle]

Ok, when i say normal work schedule...
I mean your average 9AM to 5PM schedule (USA work schedule)

[cinemaeye]

Yeah, I work from home too. I make sure to be at my desk and ready to work by 9:00, I take a short lunch and plow through till 5:00. Then I take a few hours off and usually work from about 8 or 9:00 to midnight.

My problem is that the work day seems to get eaten up with phone calls, answering business related e-mails, sending files to clients or putting out fires that have to be taken care of right away. Then my own project get pushed back to the night shift when the phone isn't ringing.

I think it's maybe just a matter of prioritizing. i need to set aside some time to work on my existing sites as well as developing new sites and give it as much importance as client work.

[shim]

I do most of my work on the weekend because I have school, work, etc. during the week.

I wish I could do it everyday though.

[incka]

I find it hard to keep to doing what I should be, so I post in forums.

Now I'm working with a friend and I'm being alot more productive.

[Nick]

I have trouble managing my day. I'm a full time student, and I have a full time job. (thanks Circuit City!). I know that its completely possible for me to bring in $3k a month from sites, so that's my mission right now, but I'm having trouble just getting past $100 a month, to tell you the truth.

I have to get the ball rolling soon though. I'll be moving back to Japan in august to take up a full time english teaching position. It's a nice paying job, but Japan's an expensive country to live in. So I'm going to need some supplemental income if I want a car while I'm there.

[incka]

Good luck...

[s2kinteg916]

im a forumwhore... i tend to have more fun than work... thats probally why my revenue isnt nice yet......

just curious cinemaeye how much traffic are u getting to your cinemaeye site ?

[cinemaeye]

Our traffic is still pretty slow, but we have only been going for about 6 months. We average a little under 2,000 visitors a day with an average 5,000 daily page views. This spikes when there is something like Paris Hilton or Janet Jackson in the search engines.

But I have picked a really bad niche for a site. Movie sites are oversaturated to say the least, but it's what I am into and I enjoy doing it. So we'll see what happens.

[chromate]

This is a great thread. I have serious problems disciplining myself into doing work. I get up late and work late most days. But my day is riddled with slacking off and being lazy. Then if a deadline is approaching I will put in some work. It's an absolutely stupid way to go about things. If I worked "full time" I could be making so much more money and probably get a lot more satisfaction from my work.

[Mike]

Same here. I only work hard when I have to. Take now, I've got to get a site up by tonight. Really it was virtually impossible to do. But last night I put hours and hours of work in and all I've got to do is make one file and it's up :)

[Athorn4941]

Heres how I manage my day since I have to work full time to pay the bills.

wake up at 6:00. Work on what webpage I feel like at the moment. Usually I work on quick fixes or website promotion things.

go to work at 7:00 am
come home from ***** job at 5:00 pm

work on webpages from 5 pm to 9 pm. I usally work on things that take awhile like writing articles or managing my webpage finance.

9 pm take care of myself.

10 pm go to bed to start another day.

[ozgression]

6am to 9pm? That's a 15 hour day. :confused:
________
Familia (http://www.ford-wiki.com/wiki/Mazda_Familia)

[chromate]

It's not uncommon :)

[r2d2]

or healthy.

[chromate]

Unhealthy if it stresses you out. But if you enjoy your work, then I guess it would be ok.

[flyingpylon]

It's not uncommon at all. I get up at 6am, get to work at 8am, work until 5pm, eat dinner/do dishes/spend time with the family until 8pm, and then work on web stuff until 11pm.

What's unfortunate is that by 8pm when I get to work on my sites, I'm tired and sometimes my mind wanders and I waste time on stupid things rather than staying focused on accomplishing something. Recently I've started leaving the computer off in the evenings and just reading for a few nights a week... it's much more relaxing, even though progress on my sites has slowed, which I find highly frustrating.

[incka]

It depends on how motivated I am, at the moment I am quite motivated, so at weekends I'll spend 16 hours working, the reason you don't see results is I tend to work on different sites each day...

[thebillionaire]

My biggest problem would be to get started, which is a hard thing to do for a student. I go to school from 8:00 to 4:00 then every day I say that I am going to work on my site, but I just "can't" instead I start playing games until 6:00 then go back on the computer for another hour untill 7:00 then from 7:00-9:00 do homework and if the computer is free (no is on it) than I may go on it for an hour, by 10-11 I go to sleep.

So you see I dont use my time at all instead waste it all.

[thebillionaire]

I dont work untill im motivated which is hard, what help you guys get motivated?

[Athorn4941]

My motivation is some day I will be able to quit my job and the harder I work now hopefully the sooner I can quit working a simplot. 15 hours of working at work or on the web is no big deal(have no girlfreind or kids). And thats usually my easy day. sometimes I only have 4 hours a sleep a day.

[thebillionaire]

thats not gonna help me, I dont have a job.

[r2d2]

Losers waste time, winners get things done.

I am going to be successful.

[thebillionaire]

lol

[incka]

And you have 2 sites from how long here r2r2 :p

[r2d2]

Yeah sorry to be so blunt, was going to say that in the post, but I thought it would lose all the impact.

And thats only the kind of motivation I try to drive myself with - I'm not perfect.

I am going to be succesful, though sure its gonna take time - I have a full time job and a girlfriend etc, so only really get about 2 nights a week, and a few hours at the weekend.

Just look at all the successful people though - Chris being one, but I mean anyone successful not just web sites - they got there by doing things for themselves.

Last year I had a car accident where I nearly died, ever since then, I am becoming more and more driven towards personal success and making the most of my life.

Sure I only have a coupla sites, but I do have another one on the way (this one took a lot of PHP programming - lucky I program in C all day in my job). This one has the potential to be huge - I just gotta maximise its potential by making it everything people need.

I've also noticed Im much quicker to temper, and last night I was quite short tempered and feeling quite blunt - the reason for the blunt reply. So sorry it was harsh, but you gotta do things for yourself if you want to be successful - make the best use of your time you can.

[Kyle]

For the purpose of this thread, I will define success as monetary gain... And when looking at the signatures here in this thread, there aren't many GREAT sites that appear to have long term potential. Sure, you could generates some excellent income by creating MANY small sites (like AWS, and sites that focus on AdSense and other advertising profits).

In order to be successful you need to put your heart into a website and truly be dedicated to it. Sure, small sites are great for quick income and I'm not trying to diss them at all... but many people here know they want to some day manage a single site that brings in excellent profits, huge traffic, and great long-term potential.

Briefly... here is what I've seen that fit this category while participating in the forums.

www.movieforums.com - Huge community, this is here to say.
www.websitepublisher.net - No comments needed to explain the potential of this site.
www.cbswords.com - Ecommerce is the way to go

There was some guy who had a huge body building community and web business growing.

www.surviveoutdoors.com - This is my site. Generates around 5k unique visits a day now on average.

www.pstats.com - Free web counter service I co-run. Unique services are always good for a variety of purposes.

As far as managing your time... If you're only making a couple hundred dollars a month off your sites and you don't have a single website that you feel is long-term and stable, start brainstorming. If you want to _really_ succeed you have to be unique. You have to offer things that no one else has. Or at least try and be better than the rest on the topic you're focusing on.

It will probably take you years, but its about patience and dedication. I know that websitepublisher.net is here for the long-term, and imagine where this place will be in 2 years?

SurviveOutdoors.com has been around since 2000, and just in the past 9 months has it really started generating lots of income.

I hope this post helps motivate or open the eyes of webmasters here.

[chromate]

lol. Icebane, where did you buy your wisdom pill from? :) Seriously, you've made a couple of really good posts these last few days. I agree with everything you're saying. I've been trying to figure out a unique site that really captures people's imagination for ages now. As yet, no luck. I'm sure one day, I'll hit upon it though.

I actually believe that most content sites have longterm potential. It's just a matter of constantly adding fresh content. There will always be a thirst for information. If you can provide the information, and it's easily accessible, people will come.

That brings me to r2d2's post. Another great post! I spend way too much time just surfing about and "getting by" instead of really focusing on something.

Motivation? To be honest - money. At this stage in my life (23), I really need the money to buy a house / a plane (!) / and a little material stability. When I see people making $18k a month, I just think, that there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to do that! Get a move on! Focus! I'm sure I have the skills required and I have all the time in the world to put things into action. Now all I need are the ideas :) I have lost time to make up for...

[incka]

Wow, we are being very philisophical today, aren't we?

To tell you the truth I have developed a business plan, everything is in place, part of the plan is to buy a basic PR8 site and develop it into something great, then use the PR to direct to incka.com and set up my shopping site that will include the full amazon aws, and other datafeeds and well as buying guides and coupons. I also have in the plan space to develop little shop/adsense/content sites which I am doing a bit of now, as I recently purchased 6 great domains. One content site should be launched tonight.

I'm planning to fund the purchase of the PR8 site by making money off adwords, sadly the seem to be down at the moment, so I am consentrating on the content sites for the domains I purchased.

[Nick]

I'm shying away from content sites at the moment. I'm still deveoping them, but now I'm just paying others to write the content so that I can work on other stuff.

My opinion is that the most profitable sites are in the B2B category. Right now I'm developing a nice web-based service for companies in a certain industry and plan on leasing it to them for a monthly fee.

[incka]

I don't write things myself, I pay people or use wikipedia.

[r2d2]

Right now I'm working on a site to give a service to everyone in the UK for free, Im gonna run all the competition out of business cos they wont be able to pay wages. Then I'll be dominating the industry and be in an incredibly powerful position.

Thats the plan. Implementing it is 'work in progress'.

[Mike]

It's hard to create a long term site though icebane.

Out of the three sites you mentioned...Movieforums, a community, you can't just build one of these overnight.

Websitepublisher...it's successful because Chris knows what he is talking about, and the advantage for him is that a lot of members from sitepoint will know about him, so visit his site.

If you look at my sites, I don't think you could really say there are any long term ones. I don't really have much time to go full out and create a big long term site, but even if I did, I doubt I could find an idea.

What I'm trying to say is it's not that easy to a) think of a good long term idea and b) actually do it.

In my opinion there wont be many people now who will be successful off the web in a few years. Unless you find a really niche topic, there isn't that much point in trying. There is far too much competition.

[chromate]

Sounds good! Can't wait to see what it is you're up to :)

I've found a nice product to import from Japan. On initial calculations, charging the normal retail price means I'd make roughly £100 profit on each item sold (VAT, advertising etc taken into consideration). I plan to target the UK market. But the products are light and small, so shipping probably wouldn't be too much of a problem anyway to the US. Because I have no overheads (staff / buildings) I can undercut my competition EASILY.

I'm just trying to work out what the import duty would be as a final step. It's probably only going to cut into profits by about 8% or so.

And of course, I need to raise the funds (need about £5000) to import the initial stock.

But I WANT an ecommerce store of my own! :)

[flyingpylon]

Originally posted by Mike
In my opinion there wont be many people now who will be successful off the web in a few years. Unless you find a really niche topic, there isn't that much point in trying. There is far too much competition.

I think there will be many people who are successful, but that number will be a fraction of the people who have tried. Just like every other industry that's ever existed.

One thing's for sure though, if you don't try, you certainly won't be successful. And what's worse is that at the end of your life you'll look back and realize you never tried. I don't plan on doing that. Doesn't mean I'll be successful, but I don't want to be left with any regrets for not trying.

Also, don't forget that success can (and should) be measured many ways. Money is just one way.

[incka]

Chromate - I want a ecommerce site too... I want to sell Rickenbacker guitars... They are incredibly expensive, about $1000 each...

[r2d2]

'I haven't failed, I've found 10,000 ways that dont work' - a quote by a scientist I think

On the subject of having one huge site, this makes me think of a proverb about eggs and baskets. What happens if the search engines drop you? Sure one big site is great, but I think its worth having some other baskets.

[chromate]

Incka, my friend has a Rickenbacker. I don't fancy your chances getting a supplier. They're likely to be VERY choosy about who they supply to.

r2d2, I agree. Nothing wrong with smaller sites. They have their advantages in fact.

Mike, I actually think there will be MORE people having successful web businesses as the time goes on. The more interested people there are, the greater the number of ideas spawned. The more ideas that are put into practice, the more people will see potential. The more potential, the greater the investments. I see increases and a bright future. <puts crystal ball away>

[Kyle]

Mike- I do not agree with you on your competition statement. That is a shady area to try and predict the future in.

For example, lets look at chromate's aloeverahealing.com site. He is targetting just the phrase Aloe Vera on his front page. IS HE CRAZY! YOU KNOW HOW MUCH COMPETITION THERE IS FOR THAT!

There is lots of competition, but he's already ranking quite well with Google. You need to focus on organizing your content better than the competition.

According to wordtracker, "alove vera" has a 1348 count.. pretty high. But why target just aloe vera as your primary phrase? "aloe vera planet" scores a 215.. not bad also. So if you were to target Aloe Vera Planet on your front page, you would encompass "aloe vera" and "aloe vera planet".

Or.. you could make your front page called Aloe Vera Information and not go into detail about the plant. Just offer genera information about aloe vera. Then make a seperate page called "Aloe Vera Planet" that ONLY talks about the plant. Then you would now be targetting "aloe vera information" also which scores a 30 on wordtracker and of course 'aloe vera' still (1348).

In this example, chromate definitlyt has the potential of being in the top 3 for aloe vera in time. If you feel there's too much competition, expand your optimization. Target the lesser competitive variations and make more pages.

[incka]

Chromate - Know where I can get one cheap... I want to learn guitar (from one of our fellow member's learn-guitar.net), and I want a Rickenbacker because it's Peter Buck's favourite guitar.

Icebane - On targetting I agree. On my new ancient china site the homepage has Ancient China which has a good count, but also all the names of the dynasties, which have a few hundred searches each...

[Mike]

In a few years everything will be competitive though. The other terms will be as well, don't you think?

[incka]

Mike - Don't fear competition, thrive on it. And I doubt it will all be filled up. As far as I can tell theres no other commercial ancient china site, and look at the searches on all those dynasties... There's loads of topics with little competition and I've got no reason to feel that will change in the next few years.

[Kyle]

I think it's best to put 0% of your energy towards that thought.

From the moment you put a site online, you can start generating profits. Now we're off the topic of small vs. large websites, I'm just talking in general. Profits come in very fast, even if they're small.

[incka]

The bigger the profits the better, although if a site doesn't make much it can be used indirectly to make profits as a PR hub or for local rank.

Does anyone else share my ambition to be the Ruport Murdoch of website publishing?

[r2d2]

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

Another great quote I find motivating.

Edit: Was by Winston Churchill.

[incka]

I think my 'Don't fear competition, thrive on it.' was a quote, but I don't know who said it...

[thebillionaire]

Incka the best place for cheap guitars would be ebay.

[Nick]

The internet is only going to get bigger and bigger. More competition in every market imaginable is on the way. The internet is still in its infancy and we are the pioneers. Use that to your advantage.

[incka]

We are... You haven't seen all the plans I've drafted for the next time ICANN get round to new TLDs...

[chromate]

Icebane, you're right about the aloe vera keywords. I do tend to focus directly on the more competitive words to start with and then after that, I move on to expanding to encompass other keywords.

I have a page devoted to growing aloe vera, and you've prompted me to change the keywords on that page to something more effective :)

I never really paid much attention to that site. I suppose now it's getting some reasonable rankings, I should expand it a little. Busy with other stuff though.

I decided to just target "aloe vera" instead of "aloe vera information" or similar, because I knew that it's quite a competitive keyphrase. If I added in another word then I'd decrease the keyword density, which I didn't want to do for an extra 50 uniques a day and a harder ride to the top for "aloe vera".

[cameron]

I just briefly skimmed this thread because I was actually just about to start working on one of my sites.

I currently have no schedule. I just work on my sites whenever I feel like it, and that's not working out too well. My skateboarding site is going ok, but that's because it's been around for a long time and was built up back when I didn't care about making money off of it. I still hold the topic is high regard and I don't want to "sell out" on that site, so it's only running fastclick banners right now.

From now until September I have 4 months of free time. Once I get back home from college at the start of May I plan to get things organized and start working my websites like a job.

[thebillionaire]

Where do you get the pictures for your skateboarding site?

[incka]

Not another MSN emotions site...

[cameron]

I've taken some of the skateboarding pictures myself and the other ones are submitted by visitors. Same with the video clips.

Incka, yah... sorry. I'm drawing all the emoticons myself though. I just wanted to get a new site going where I could easily create some original content.