Hello Flynn Wins readers,
I know that in the long run I can just change my post dates so no one will care, but I just wanted to let you know the reason I haven't posted much in the past week. This blog hasn't lost my attention; for the first time in a long time I enjoy writing something at every opportunity.
I was (and to some degree will always be) a compulsive note-taker. I have always been motivated to dissect successful money-making systems, especially those online. I used to figure that, if I filtered something successful into my own notes, all I had to do was take the time to come back to it and speed through it. There are a lot of similarities to being a kid in a candy store. A few pieces of applicable information bring bliss. A fistful (or short-term memoryful) makes me queasy. And trying to take the whole thing home?
Well, as a result, my Google Drive has been a complete mess, one or two folders max at that, each with barely relevant docs inside.
I thought having everything at top level would work, and it did for a while, but after a few years it turned into a hostile mess. By last week I only had one doc I was using regularly. I didn't bother creating new ones because there were many duplicates of what I wanted to create that I'd have to sift through. Some information was totally outdated. Others I had to Other docs had just a fraction of value and I'd have to create a document just to recap all valuable old info (which I had three of)!
There are side lessons that I pick up after extended amounts of time studying an expert in his or her field. One of these is that it becomes very easy to get lost in the multiple aspects of an endeavor, especially online. Blogging schedules. Online tool maintenance. Social media. Business regulations and compliance.
I have a new Google account with 6 docs, and I switch back and forth to my old one sometimes. Today I switched back, edited one of those docs, and looked at what a total crapfest my old Drive was, kind of like my old alter ego Grubbie was running the show.
I've cleaned stuff out before out of my inbox, and after a while I'd get lost in threads of correspondence, references to products requiring logins, you name it.
This time I came up with a better solution: a couple of folders whose names admitted I didn't have the focus, desire or time for a lot of junk. One was "Outdated", for projects I didn't do. Another was for files I could have used if I spent a lot of time getting familiar again and cobbling their info to my current plans. "Unused & Time Sinks". In this folder, I have another called "No _______ Clue".
This is where all my mysterious .txt files, spreadsheets and the like go. Maybe they're super important for something, but again, I don't have time.
This made a huge difference. Doing things this way prevented me from bogging down on each document's makeup. Are any of them worth checking out someday? Maybe, but not now.
Here's my new folder structure:
- Biz Rules & Regs
- Old Info To Cull (subfolders Unused & Time Sinks, No Clue)
- Personal
- Planner
- Site Overviews (subfolders Client Sites and My Sites)
- Templates/Drafts
- Web Technicals (subfolders Blogging, Coding, Custom Tools, Ecommerce, Email, Passwords, Podcasting, Social Media (sub-folders here for each platform), Strategy Notes (like on Pat Flynn's Smart Passive Income site).
- Writing (Call this Copy or delete it, up to you)
All my old documents are where they should be now (most of them in the trash and out of mind), and this will be a big help in the days to come sorting and storing information. I hope this helps you if you're struggling to keep it all together online!
The other big news is that I have two websites picked out to turn into my revenue sources. The first one will be for my WordPress design company, SeacoastWP.com, where I'll be offering WordPress services, personally written guides, and one-on-one training. The second will be my website BizDL.net, a ClickBank/Amazon site where select business leaders can promote their free ebooks and paid materials alongside occasional reviews by yours truly.
I hope this article helps. Please leave a comment or share if it did. Thanks and see you soon!
(which is a lot bolder and graphically creative than Watch_Dogs, so much so that I don't recommend Watch_Dogs until I can review both on my up-and-coming Off Topic page). The rest will require a little more research, so maybe I can just go with what I know and get a review site going to get some more immediate money in.