How many thousands of dollars have you spent on Internet marketing courses and software? If you are like most of us budding gurus you will have spent a small fortune.

But how much have you actually applied consistently from the courses and software that you’ve purchased? I’ve spent at least $20 thousand dollars and of the notable one’s - I’ve consistently used a bit out of John Reese’s Traffic Secrets regarding AdWords ad creation and nothing from Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula and Eben Pagan’s Altitude course.

Does this mean the courses and software were no good and a waste of time - absolutely not! The information in those courses was brilliant and I was 200% satisfied with my purchases. It’s just that putting it into practice was so hard.

I read all this great information until my head was swimming and couldn’t wait to apply it. The trouble was that I’d apply one technique or use one piece of software for a time but then my enthusiasm would wane as other priorities would arise, changing my focus. In other words I used a "piecemeal" approach to using the information and it tended to produce, well, "piecemeal" results!

Another barrier to extracting the full value from the courses and software was not capturing the information or methodology that was directly relevant to my business in a meaningful format. One that I could readily access and quickly consume just when I needed it. As Yaro Starak stated in his e-mail to me this morning "No methodology. No process." and without a clearly captured process that can be clearly communicated, the best Internet marketing courses and software simply can’t transfer there full value.

So I’ve got nine simple steps for you to follow to test how much more value you can extract from the wealth of information contained in many of your IM courses or software:

1. Devour it all - watch every DVD or CD, listen to all the audios, read every guide or manual
2. Prioritize the information, techniques, methodology, software etc that are relevant to your business
3. Review, learn, apply and test each starting with the top priority
4. Keep the info, techniques, methodology, software etc that produce positive results & discard the rest
5. Download a free trial copy of Camtasia Studio from Techsmith if you don’t already have it
6. Record and describe the "real time" process that you are using to achieve your positive results
7. File the video in your new "Process & Procedure Video Library" under the relevant functional area eg. marketing, finance, product development etc
8. Give the video(s) to an employee or outsourced worker so that they can produce consistent positive results for your business
9. As new methodologies, techniques, software come to your attention rinse and repeat

Let me know how you find it and best of luck with building a solid base of "best practice" processes and procedures for your business drawn from the very best Internet marketing information available!

Thanks for reading - Jason

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I watched a video by Eben Pagan the other day about keeping focused and working on one thing at a time systematically. What he said made a lot of sense as I use to find myself pulled in multiple directions whenever an e-mail appeared in my In box or the phone rang.

There is just so much information and distraction about in the average Internet business owner’s workplace that attention being paid to any single, valuable task is often just minutes rather than the hours needed. The reduction in productivity and increase in stress takes its toll on you and your family and sucks momentum from your business.

But how does it feel when you follow a defined process and achieve a defined outcome? For example, you create a Google Adwords ad that contains a question and capitalization of the first letter of each word along with an appealing URL. You may have found that this combination of elements consistently brings you better result. Of course, you will still test and track variations of the ad based on relevant new information to see if the ad can be improved upon but you want to start with "best practice" as your base line.

To have to work-out what "might" work for every process that is performed in your business is insanity as there are just so many variables in any single process or procedure. By defining the "dependent" variables or inputs in each process and procedure you are then able to produce consistent results or outputs in your business, and consequently, value for your customers.

Systems bring relief as your business no-longer needs to rely on you or a few key workers for knowledge on how to perform your business tasks and activities. They free-up time to spend on the important, more strategic issues facing your business that take time, careful consideration, and planning.

Jason

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