Unraveling Your Success Strings – By Dr. Jeanette Cates

August 25th, 2010

I’d like to introduce you to an Internet Marketing Superstar, Jeanette Cates. She is a teacher and leader that I look up to and have learned a great number of valuable online lessons from. One of her unique specialties is how organized she is and how great she is at putting together and following systems. If you are not already a fan of hers, you soon will be!

If you’ve ever been stuck on a problem in your online business and didn’t have a clue where to start, here’s a technique that may work for you. It’s called “unraveling the strings of success.” You’ll be able to visualize those strings as you see how it works.

1. Figure out what you want. It may be a new website, more subscribers, fewer support tickets. In online business terms, let’s say I want “more sales.”

2. Now take that goal and ask yourself “What do I need to get more sales?” Again, for the online business owners, it’s probably something like better website sales conversions, more traffic, better follow up.

3. Next take one of those topics and start unraveling it. “If I want more traffic, what do I need?” More links to my site, more affiliate referrals, more clicks from my ads.

4. Now take one of those topics and continue to unravel it. “If I need more links to my site, what do I need?” More links from articles, more directory links, more blog posts linking back to my site.

5. Now take one of those topics and keep repeating the process of unraveling it. “If I need more article links, what do I need?” Write more articles, hire others to write more, distribute them to a broader audience. Your answers can be broad or precise. The idea is to identify the factors that are stopping you.

You can see the pattern. I generally use a sheet of paper or a spreadsheet and keep writing the links from one item to the next – making the string longer as it unravels. Eventually you will reach the point where you say I don’t need anything else except Action. And that’s where you start.

The unraveling process is simple and often points out a flaw in your thinking or your business planning processes. For example, the longest strings are the parts of your business that you neglect. The shortest strings may give you the fastest results.

If the same item shows up in more than one string, it may mean you have a crossover in your processes. It may be a source of confusion for you and your staff. Or it may be a way to complete a single item and shorten two strings.

When using this unraveling process on your business, you are able to move to the Action phase of your planning sooner. Plus you’ll have a visual map of how your business works.

Dr. Jeanette Cates is an Internet strategist who works with new online business owners to create Online Success. She is the creator of Organize Your Online Business along with a great list of courses, products and resources. Jeanette is certainly someone you want to get to know better. On Twitter she is @Jeanettecates

Visit the link above and you’ll catch a cool new video from Jeanette as well as the opportunity to be invited to her next live class of ‘Organize Your Online Business’ happening on August 26, 2010