Enough!
Today is October 1st and I have decided to declare this a “Month of Moratoriums.”
You see, I’ve become a bit “addicted” to information products and other online learning opportunities in recent months. I absolutely love all things related to online marketing – and make a conscious effort to learn something new about this topic every single day.
The positive side of this is that it gives me a never-ending stream of ideas to share with you. However, this new-found knowledge has some drawbacks:
- My “to-do” list is out of control. I have 14 fairly major projects I want to incorporate into both this and my alternative finance site. They are all good ideas and each of them can work, but NOT if I get too scattered to complete any of them. I need to pick one or two to work on at a time – and keep reminding myself “this is a marathon, not a sprint.”
- Learning is NOT the same thing as doing. My head is EXPLODING right now with thoughts, ideas and plans of things to do and products to test and review. There is a fine line between keeping yourself up-to-date and getting off track with the latest new trend, however. The key is to put what you learn into ACTION to produce tangible results in your own business. Remember, if you aren’t producing a profit after a reasonable period of time – you have an expensive hobby, not a business!
- My hard drive needs a break. Right now, my computer hard drive is brimming with great concepts and ideas – not to mention PLR articles (and about a dozen of my own in various stages of completion) all waiting for my personal and undivided attention. Easier said than done, but I won’t earn a dime with any of them UNLESS they see the light of day. No sense adding more computer-clutter until I have maximized every existing opportunity.
- It gets expensive. Sure, $10 here and $20 there may not seem like a lot, but these little charges can add up quickly if you aren’t careful. As with every other business decision – it should come down to return on investment (ROI). If I spend $20 on a report, I want to know that I can apply what it says and make at least 2 or 3 times that amount back. Fortunately, most of the items I have invested in do offer at least that potential – but only IF I act upon the ideas and advice they contain.
So, today – October 1, 2009, I am declaring a moratorium on investing any more time or money on new online products or courses until I have completely cleaned out and utilized (or tossed out) what I already have on hand. I know I have an entire treasure trove of materials already waiting for me to breathe fresh life into…
How about you? Before you buy one more item online – are you really happy with the results you have achieved with every other dollar you’ve already invested?
If not, maybe now is a good time for you to declare a moratorium of your own! 
Til Next Time,
PS Yes! Today is October 1st – which also means that one full month of the 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge is complete! Check back tomorrow for the first monthly report on results. I have some good stuff to share with you – so be sure to check back then!
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Hi Trish,
Excellent idea and I am in!
It is so hard sometimes to just turn a blind eye to some of things being pitched online today. No matter how hard you try to ignore it, there is that little inner voice keeps saying, “I wonder if that would work for my business?”
But, like you said, sometimes you just got to take a break and work with what you have.
So I salute you and I join you in taking some time away from buying anything new online (IM related).
Keep us updated and let us know if you are holding out
Omar
Thanks Omar!
It’s amazing how much this “stuff” adds up within a very short period of time. I am going to do a series of posts next week on this topic to share how I organized the materials, used it to brainstorm new ideas, tied in affiliate marketing programs, etc… I’ve got the stuff stored all over the place right now and I believe that getting it all organized in one place will be really helpful in terms of knowing what I have – AND more importantly, taking action on it!
Trish
PS Now, before I head out to spend all that money I’ll be saving online… I’m going to head over to PossibilitiesAcademy.com for insight on why I should not do that!
Trish,
Last year I decided not to purchase any new reports, ebooks, etc. for business. ONE WHOLE YEAR! It was great and now I am only purchasing things that go with what my main focus is and right now that would be content creation, blogging and reviews. There is one mastermind group that I have my eyes on but cannot join until I start utilizing everything I currently have or am a member of….great reminder post to keep us all on track! Thanks
That’s great you went one entire year! I am starting small and shooting for one month – but it is a start!
There are a couple of programs I will buy after this month simply because I want to write Product Reviews on them – and need to own them and use them before I can do that.
Excellent advice! For me, it’s the free stuff. Someone promises to give me the super secret formula for doing just about anything, and I jump right in. A month later and the ebook is unread and taking up space on my hard drive, and my inbox is overflowing. Time to start saying NO.
I am right there with you, Cindy – I almost signed up for more ‘free stuff’ yesterday and decided I need to declare that off limits for now, too. It’s so tempting because really, who wants to miss out on the super special secret formula that is revolutionizing the way the entire online world works?
I certainly don’t – but maybe we already have it on our hard drives and are too busy with new materials to even notice?
Thanks for mentioning the overflowing inbox – I think I am also going to start cutting back in that department, too.