Dr. Hale’s Take on Internet Marketing Resolutions That Work

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Dr. Hale’s Take on Internet Marketing Resolutions That Work

Resolutions That Work

Resolutions That Don’t Work

Resolutions that work!  I can never tell if I love it or hate it when a blog post demands to be written.  This one bubbled up and insisted, so here it is.

Today I’m going to talk about Resolutions That Work.  I confess, I’ve been around the track a couple of times.  I’m always ready to learn something new, but I am loath to continue something that doesn’t work.  Actually I will amend that to “something that doesn’t work for me.”  Major resolutions  written for the New Year have never ben resolutions that work for me.   This year I’m looking for Internet Marketing resolution that work for me.  BTW,  a major part of overcoming Internet Marketing Overwhelm is eliminating things (like resolutions)  that stress you and don’t work for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Dr. Hale’s Personal Take on Internet Marketing New Year Resolutions That Work

Today I’m going to talk about Resolutions That Work.  I confess, I’ve been around the track a couple of times.  I’m always ready to learn something new, but I am loath to continue something that doesn’t work.  Actually I will amend that to “something that doesn’t work for me.”

We Are Wired Differently.

You see, I sincerely believe that humans are not all wired the same.  There are fundamental differences in the way we approach the world.  At the core this means that resolutions that work for you, may not work for me.

For example, the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory divides us in to 16 personality types.  There are four scales and everyone falls somewhere on each of these scales.  One example is Introvert (march to our own drum) and Extrovert (decide based on what you believe others believe.)    Another example is Thinker (processes data with logic, percentages and odds) versus Feeler (processes data based on “gut feelings.”)   None of these are better, they are just different. 

Let me give you one short story.  I watched an expert counselor (yes, I had permission) work with a family.  In the middle of the session, she turned to the husband and said: “You’re worried that you might be a homosexual aren’t you?”   The husband stammered out: “Yes.  How did you know?”   In the debrief, there were six of us, all professionals, asking: “How did you know?”  The counselor in question was a strong Feeler.  She couldn’t tell us how she knew, she just KNEW.  None of us ever figured out what clues she used to reach a conclusion that was strong enough to throw something that major on the table.  (We had a video tape and I used that tape in college classes I taught (again, yes I had SIGNED permission), so I watched the session – carefully – a dozen times.  You could call it a lucky guess, if it weren’t for the fact that this is one instance out of many.   My point?  That counselor was and is wired differently than I am.   She is not “better” than I am, she just processes things differently.  She will tell you emphatically that there are situations where my “logic” reaches correct answers that she just can’t “feel.” 

My Personal Process – Based on an IT Background

Sidebar:  For those of you in different fields, let me give you a clue, IT people and Marketing people are cordial in the break room.  That is the extent of their interaction!!  The two groups are wired differently.  I am moving from the IT field to the marketing field and I can tell you that there are workmen in my attic doing major re-wiring.

Being wired differently was some of the background.   Here is another important piece.   As best I can put it on paper, the following is a process that I use instinctively at this point.  (Like I said, I’ve been around the track more than once, most of it doing system analysis and developing IT projects .)

  1. I am project oriented.  I divide the elephant into manageable projects and nibble passionately on each project until the whole damn elephant is gone.  (Those who know me can hear one of my mantra’s : “Nibble, Nibble.  I can eat the whole damn elephant, if I just Nibble, Nibble.”  Please excuse the stronger than usual language.  This mantra just seems wrong without it.)
  2. I Start by Planning Strategically.   I can’t start a project until I have a good handle on the entire thing.  This does NOT mean I figure out every detail in advance.  For me what they call the waterfall method NEVER works.  When I get into a project and REALLY look at it I always find OBVIOUS things that we didn’t see in the planning stages.   I do however; need to have a pretty good idea of what I’m trying to build.  This step often involves a HUGE learning period if I am in a new field (can you say Internet Marketing?).
  3. Outline – I then divide my strategic plan in to tactical projects.  I also rigorously try to order the projects so that the foundation pieces are done first.
  4. Develop – I dive passionately into the first project (keeping a vague sense of the Strategic goal), but really focusing on the first project.  Once one project is done, I continue on to the next.
  5. I am flexible.  As the projects unfold, I am willing to go back and revisit the strategic level.   Fairly often when I am working at the grass roots level, projects grow in ways I never expected in the planning stages.  At that point I have to back up and and take stock: “Is this a good thing or a bad thing?”  I’ll give you an example of “Flexible.”  I attended an Ann Sieg Workshop and she offered us the chance to become “Ann Sieg Certified Coaches.”  To be sure, her offer cost money and it was certainly not in my strategic or tactical plans.   The question was “Will this advance my plan or hurt it.”  I signed up during the first hour.   In another example, I recently took a detour to complete in the Top 50 MLM Bloggers completion.  This “project” wasn’t in my plan, but it fit.  I came in #11 (good social proof) and developed a Testimonials page on my Blog with over 80 people confirming that I know what I am doing (also great social proof). 
  6. Build it solid – I never look for perfection, but “barely functional” is an anathema to me.  For example, I had a junior programmer say to me once “Hale there is more error trapping in your code than anything else.  Why is that?”   My answer was simple:  “It saves HUGE amounts of time on the back end.”  I’ve worked whole contracts where my company was paid over $100,000 dollars to correct bad data that could have been trapped out before it was ever entered.  I try very hard to avoid those errors of omission.   It does mean that I am a “slow starter.”
  7. Implement – Make it work for the client – modify as needs arise.

BTW:  I am a certified, card-carrying Night Owl.  I am not and do not want to be a “morning person.”   I know and love morning people, as long as they don’t try to convert me.   I had a roommate at a recent conference.  We should have known better.  We meet online sometimes at 4:30 AM.  He is just getting up and I am just getting ready for bed.  We got along very well; we just didn’t overlap at all outside of the workshop hours. J

Find What Works For You – It will help You Avoid Frustration and Overwhelm

I’m telling you that there are things that work perfectly for others that will fail for you.   Try different things, but be aware that some things that others believe passionately about won’t be true for you.

What Doesn’t Work for Me – Here is what does NOT work for me.   Large strategic level Resolutions.   I can write’m.  I can print’m and I am great at ingnor’n them. But they do bug me.  As I said earlier, once I’m in the project phases, I don’t think much about the strategic plans.   I consider, constantly, how my current project will fit into the strategic plan, but the list of goals that were written out at the strategic level never crosses my mind. Resolutions written at this level are part of what will never cross my mind.   I need resolutions that work for me and these aren’t them.  

Even if I put it on the board in front of my desk, I ignore it just like I do TV commercials.  It is wallpaper, and who ever reads wallpaper?

What Does Work For Me – I know, I know, you thought I’d never get here. 🙂  The project level  is all about daily action steps.   Change the steps and you change the process.   The Action Step level  is where I can make resolutions that make huge changes in my outcome.  This is where resolutions that work for me can apply.

My Internet Marketing Strategic Plan

I find that starting 2013, I am starting a new major project in my Internet Marketing Strategic Plan.  Let me give you an overview of my Strategic plan.  Partly I want to show you how my plan morphed over time.

Project 1 – Plan the Project and Learn the field.    I failed at this one.  That’s Okay.  I realized that “the field” was way too big for one person to learn.   I redefined that step after I had learned “a ton!”

Project 1a – Find a mentor to Help me Put What I Know Into A Workable Plan  – This one wasn’t in the original strategic plan.  I found that I know a whole lot about a number of different things, but I didn’t know enough about any one thing to really carry it out.  I’ve used the analogy that I had parts to a hundred different vehicles.  When I tried to put them together I ended up with a race car body with wings and tank treads.  Not a very functional vehicle to say the least.  I decided that I needed to find a mentor and an online Mastermind group.  Every professional I learned from talked about their mentor/coach.  (Ray Higdon talked last night about paying over $19,000 in 2013 for a new coach.  Ann Sieg talks about spending over $35,000 for a copywriting coach.)   I spent considerable effort on this project and found Ann Sieg.  My logic and my gut agreed emphatically – Ann as a person and Ann’s  Strategic Plan were exactly what I needed.    You can watch her video about her book which has sold over 400,000 copies: The Renegade Network Marketer.  You will see the real Ann Sieg in this video.  You can see the Daily Marketing Coach Mentoring System here.

Project 2 –Attract Leads – Originally my strategic plan called for “attracting leads online for my network marketing company.”

Project 2a – Build a Marketing Sales Funnel.  My original plan was also changed in fundamental ways as I learned more about marketing, I learned things like:

  • branding Dr. Hale,
  • finding a niche,
  • finding a USP,
  • building a strong home base (blog),
  • driving traffic to that blog.
  • autoresponders and email campaigns,
  • and more.

Which brings us to:

Project  3 – Implement – Revised Attract Leads and Convert Them   In retrospect I don’t have a clue why my original plan didn’t include a “build the system” project.   Every system I have ever built had  plan, build, and implement sub-projects. 

So at this point, 1) I know what I am doing (subject to massive improvement) and 2) I have built a solid base to launch my campaigns from. 

The major emphasis NOW is implementation.  This is where I usually turn the project over to the client, train them to use it, and modify it as unfulfilled needs arise.  Since I am the client, the training part is easy 🙂

Finally Resolutions That Work FOR ME – Daily Action Resolutions

Integrating daily and weekly steps into my action plan is where I create resolutions that work for me.  They are always “in my face” since they are part of the current “Project.”

Here is my first list (Oh Boy!  Subject to Change Without Notice 🙂 )

  1. Better Blogging Requires Consistent Bloggin

    Daily Action Resolutions

     Blog at least 5 times per week (every day for the month of January – part of a challenge).

  2. Advertise EVERY blog I write.
    1. Tweet it
    2. Put it into at least 5 FB Groups
    3. Put it into Google Plus
    4. Put it into LinkedIn
    5. I’ll be adding Pinterest to this list soon.
    6. Insert it into Pixlepipe
    7. Join At least Two Blog Comment Sharing Groups and be faithful.
    8. Spend 20 minutes a day on Warrior Forum – five days a week.
    9. Have at least 3 paid ads running at all times.
    10. Work toward having these ads pay for themselves by March 1st.
    11. (Outside the scope of this, but if I write it, I’m more likely to do it – exercise at least 30 minutes a day at least five days a week.)

There would be many theorists who would say “Those are not resolutions.  They are action steps for the implementation phase.”  I can’t argue with that, but understand, FOR ME they are resolutions that work.  I am a developer and teacher at my core.   I don’t usually “implement.”  I help others implement.  

I know from experience that these resolutions will work for me IF I keep them in front of me every day.  That makes sense at the project level.  They are not in the strategic plan which is up on the shelf, right over…… Well I know it’s up there somewhere. 

Those are Resolutions That Work for Me.   They also do not add frustrations and make me feel overwhelmed by the things “I should be doing.”

Now! What Are Resolutions that Work for YOU?

 

 

(Sidebar: for those who are interested, according to Mrs. Myers-Briggs I am an INTP – Introvert, Intuitive, Thinker, Perceptive.
From the Wikipedia –

  • I – Introversion preferred to extraversion: INTPs tend to be quiet and reserved. They generally prefer interacting with a few close friends rather than a wide circle of acquaintances, and they expend energy in social situations (whereas extroverts gain energy).
  • N – Intuition preferred to sensing: INTPs tend to be more abstract than concrete. They focus their attention on the big picture rather than the details, and on future possibilities rather than immediate realities.
  • T – Thinking preferred to feeling: INTPs tend to value objective criteria above personal preference. When making decisions, they generally give more weight to logic than to social considerations.
  • P – Perception preferred to judgment: INTPs tend to withhold judgment and delay important decisions, preferring to “keep their options open” should circumstances change.

I will note that some of my shadow functions are well developed – just not Sensing and Judging.  I can be a Situational Extrovert and I make some major decisions totally based on my gut.)

 

Until next time, you have a Great Day!

Dr Hale

 

 

↓ ↓ If this post gave you some ideas – Go ahead & comment below.  ↓ ↓

 

Hale Pringle

Hale Pringle Ed. D.

 

Hale Pringle – Hale Yes!

Skype hale.pringle

Email: HaleYes@HalePringle.com

For Free 1/2 hour coaching call: Work with Hale

Work with me now: Join the Daily Marketing Coach Mentoring Program

P.S. If you are working to move your business online and it all seems overwhelming, I can help!  Take a look at http://HalePringle.com, or sign up for the free coaching call. You can email me or give me a Skype call. I’ll give you the benefit of my years of experience and many thousands of dollars in training and searching the rabbit hole called Internet Marketing and Network Marketing. I can help you with Lead Generation, the feeling of overwhelm, blogging, and even career change. Add that to the finest mentoring on the Internet (Ann Sieg’s Team and Inner Circle) and you have a Winner!

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About Hale Pringle

Dr. Hale is an Internet Entrepreneur and Network
Marketing expert. His greatest pleasure is
helping people and he does just that, drawing
upon the immense resources that he has gathered
over the years in his unquenchable thirst for
knowledge.

Dr. Hale lives in beautiful, sunny Florida with
his wife, two dogs and a cat. His four children
are grown and are scattered around the state.

An eternal optimist you will hear him say
regularly: “Is this a Great Day?” The answer is
always, “Hale Yes!”

If you need help with your online marketing or a
network marketing opportunity Dr. Hale is the go
to man. “Hale Yes!”

Comments

  1. These resolutions you have shared here are very practical. What about including creating videos as part of your marketing strategy? Great post! Thank you for sharing.
    Tina Kyei recently posted..How Do You Measure Content MarketingMy Profile

    • You are absolutely right! I should have added them. I guess the reason I didn’t was I was holding it to daily stuff. I’ll add video to the next revision (and the one that DOES go up on my wall.)

      Thanks for the input.
      Hale

  2. Hale yes! I love that. What a great branding idea.
    I loved you that outlined you plan so clearly. I spent time yesterday creating checklists in each day of my diary of the marketing actions I will take.
    Best wishes for UBC!
    Caylie
    Caylie Price recently posted..4 Super Effective Ways To Increase Blog SubscribersMy Profile

    • Thank You Caylie.
      I do appreciate the feedback (especially when it is positive 🙂

      I’ll see you on the UBC site!
      Oh Hale Yes!

  3. Do you have suggestions for those INFPs among us who see big pictures and can’t figure out what part of the elephant to cut off first? (poor elephant!)

    As you can work with the big picture wording, but like to break things down, I can do a list of tasks, (thanks for that!), but coming up with the list is a difficult chore.
    Charlotte Henley Babb recently posted..Worthy & Whole-hearted VulnerabilityMy Profile

  4. I love that you work in “projects” this type of approach seems like it would work well with GTD. Breaking things up into projects doesn’t come natural to me, but it’s something I’m working on. Great post.

    It’s funny how you mention how people process things differently, I’m always saying exactly that to my husband “we process things differently and that’s ok”.
    Crystal Touchton recently posted..Facing Fears In Business And In LifeMy Profile

  5. This article blew me away Hale!
    There is nothing better than sharing your own story! That’s how most people learn..(works for me) I’m the type of person that “just knows” as you illustrated in your short story about the woman who just KNEW.
    I know that’s how I tick but it can be a problem when I am working on a project. I naturally get scattered. Because of this, I have to work hard to discipline myself to focus. I worked on that all last year with different modalities and self-hypnosis downloads. Now I can work on my project with a calm focus.
    I nibble at that elephant also. Overwhelm can make one walk away from their goals. I’ve learned to nibble and give myself the gift of time to accomplish a goal.
    I can resonate with the INTP because that is how I am wired. But people don’t really know that by my extrovert expression when I am teaching or counseling.
    OK I’ll stop the novella here…because I can go on and on with this exiting post.
    Many thanks for sharing who you are!
    Donna
    Donna Merrill recently posted..The Inner Marketer Day 2My Profile

  6. You are SO right Hale, everyone is different and one size doesn’t fit all. I wish more people would realize that coming into this.

    I don’t do resolutions but like you, I have goals and I write the action steps I need to take in order to achieve those goals. The other important thing is that we cannot do this alone. You need to be mentored or connected to someone who is already where you want to be because they know the right steps that will get you there instead of us just searching for information hoping that it’s the right stuff.

    I love your outline and what works for you. This is a great example of how to put this all into place and actually create actionable steps that will get you to the end result.

    Have a good weekend.

    ~Adrienne
    Adrienne recently posted..2013 Here I ComeMy Profile

    • Thanks Adrienne,

      I’m always glad to meet someone who realizes that we are different – not necessarily better, just different.

      I saw a lovely cartoon the other day about how men and women see colors. The guy saw red, blue, green, brown etc. The woman saw beige, chartreuse, burgundy and a hundred other shades. It made the point.

      Thanks Again,
      Dr. Hale

  7. Dr Hale, I love your Daily Action Resolutions. Way to go!
    Sigrid McNab recently posted..The Five Financial Goals-Saving MoneyMy Profile

    • Sigrid,

      Yup the normal New Years Resolutions went in a drawer and I didn’t remember again until I started on the next year’s and remembered that I had forgotten the last year’s. Not very productive.

      Regards,
      Dr. Hale

  8. Hale, thank you for the great tips on internet marketing resolutions that work. I especially like how you broke large projects down into smaller workable pieces. As an extroverted, intuitive, feeling, perceptive personality I tend to be all over the place, flying by the seat of my pants if I don’t have a plan in place. All I have to do is count all the projects I got going to know I needed your advice of sticking to one piece of the project and completing it before working on the next part.

    I have had the privilege of working with Hale on a project and he brings so much to the table. If anyone is looking for a mentor and guide he would be one of my top choices.
    Ruth Narveson recently posted..Comment on by RuthMy Profile

    • Thanks for the comment Ruth. BTW I suggest you go to http://Gravatar.com and register your email and image. Then when you comment on blogs we can see your smiling face 🙂

      I’d a sworn I replied to you Yesterday, but I’m not seeing it. I do appreciate your dropping by. 🙂

      Hale

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