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Becoming an affiliate marketer, while rewarding, may not be easy to balance with other aspects of your life. There are always things that are demanding your time, and somehow you can’t factor everything in 24 hours and you wish for more hours in a day. There are a large and varied number of distractions, from social media, to family and friends, to meetings at that other job that you have, that you get exhausted and are about to go for a nap when you realize that you still have a blog to check, a post to write, research to do, and products to promote. You need more time!
Actually, you need to learn to manage the time you have; you don’t need more of it. You need to plan carefully to get the most done in the time available. Time is money, as some wise person said: so you need to know how to manage your time properly. It is possible for busy affiliate marketers to juggle all their duties like a pro and still get enough sleep and wake up refreshed every day without depending too much on caffeine and alcohol. These five time management tips are sure to help you stay focused, get work done, have fun with your family, and still be highly profitable in your affiliate marketing business.
Tip #1: Scheduling Matters
Schedule everything. Every activity, every little task, meals, meetings, games, naps, research, family time… everything should be scheduled. Ever wonder how government officials or company executives seem to be so busy, yet have time for a beer with friends or a weekend vacation with their families, or even an entire afternoon of golf? That’s right, they have schedules. Everything has its own time and place, and as a busy affiliate marketer, that is what you should do. Make schedules and try your best to stick to them. They will help you balance your work life and social life without unduly neglecting either.
Tip #2: Have a To-Do List, and Plan 90 Days Ahead
To-Do lists help us to stay on point and to stay focused. Make a list of all the things you need to do, and organise them according to when they need to be accomplished, and in order of priority. Write them down on paper, or use your handheld device: anything that works for you. As you create your to-do lists, also make a 90-day plan of what you want to achieve, or what target or goal you want to reach in those 90 days. This will be invaluable in keeping your eyes on the prize and will prevent you from falling off the track and start looking for easy ways out or ‘hacks’ to succeed quickly and with less work.
Hacks are not bad, generally speaking: it is just that some of them offer you the easiest way to great profit without detailing how much work, time and effort is actually needed. Ignore those hacks for now, and make a detailed 90-day plan to achieve the growth and success you want in your affiliate marketing business.
Tip #3: Set Specific Working Hours and Keep to Them
Brain work is very draining. It can physically exhaust you more than thirty minutes on a treadmill. Your brain needs to rest, and your brain also appreciates working in a much more organised manner. As such, you ought to set out specific working times and stick them, to give your brain the break it needs. Working odd hours also confuses it, throwing it off limbo, and this can also affect your physical body as well.
Let us say you work three hours a day, from 8 to 11 in the morning. Once 3 hours is up, stop working. Leave that computer and go throw a Frisbee, or go and do whatever is next on the to-do list. Train yourself to work within a certain timeframe, and watch your affiliate marketing business grow.
Tip #4: Be Flexible And Adaptable
There is such a thing as ‘unforeseen circumstances’. You should still expect these, and learn to adjust accordingly. Do not lose track of what you are supposed to be doing, but try to accommodate the new situation and work through it or around it in the best way possible. Situations like power outages can make you lose focus, but don’t let it. Try to make the most of your battery, and send out notices to the appropriate persons if your site may be down for a while, or you won’t be able to complete a certain task at the expected time. Be prepared for anything to happen, and adjust accordingly.
Tip #5: Minimise Distractions – Take Breaks
Social media, blogging, and emails can be a major distraction for affiliate marketers. The work you do is online, and all these things also happen to be online, making them just within reach and highly enticing. You may go on Facebook to post an update that is work-related, and then you end up checking newsfeeds on other topics and niches. You start checking your emails for something important, and 30 minutes later you are still looking at emails. The internet is very distracting, yet that is where your work is. Minimise distractions by logging out of all accounts (sometimes having to log in is a deterrent to opening the app); schedule times for checking emails and blogs; and, better still, delegate those tasks to someone else.
Sometimes, however, you really can’t concentrate on what you are doing, and so a distraction may be necessary. Take a brisk walk for 15 minutes, get a snack, or you could check your mail. Make sure you time it and don’t overdo it. By the time you get back to your computer, you are refreshed and raring to go. Breaks are necessary for you to be productive.
These time management techniques for busy affiliate marketers will help you be more focused, more productive, and more profitable. Time management is possible, and it is never too late to start.
Love this article, especially being flexible and adaptable. So important if working from home. I am glad that I came across your website and look forward to checking out other articles on affiliate marketing.