The other day I came home from work (the library) and I was feeling a little bit defeated. Like I hadn't gotten enough done in my business lately. Like there was too much to do, and not enough time or manpower to do it. Ever feel that way?

I was listening to a Ken McCarthy interview this morning. He was interviewing a businessman named John Rinaldi. Something they spoke about really hit a nerve with me, because I've seen it in action - and I often struggle with it.

I emptied my pockets of change into the bucket that sits inside the nightstand and noticed that it was overflowing with quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies...

Every day, I come home and without thinking, empty my change into this bucket. And over time, it really adds up. The last time I took that bucket to the grocery store and traded the silver for cash... I walked away with $100...

And my business is like that, too. When it started out, I lost money. But I did just one little thing to try and make it better. Usually this little thing was a tweak to my AdWords advertising or a split test for higher conversion on my website. NO ONE SINGLE THING that I did made any difference!

But a 10% decrease in ad cost here and 12% conversion increase over there - over a long period of time - really resulted in REAL gains in business profits.

The funny thing is that, looking back, I don't remember putting all THAT MUCH effort into it. It seemed like a bunch of "guesses" and busy-work. At the time, I was pretty sure I was doing something valuable, but I had no idea the value of what I was doing...

And, it's not like I was focused on doing one little thing every day. I'm not a "long term strategy" kind of guy by nature. I'm into swing trading, online business, dining out. I never started a 401K because I knew I didn't want to work for "the man" and build my wealth over time... Let's just say that in the past, I didn't do anything for the long term.

But now-a-days, my mantra is "move your business forward every day". No matter how small of a thing it is - move it forward.

You're just one person! You'll never be able to compete with the big guys in terms of raw output. But you don't have to. You just have to do one valuable thing, that piles on top of another valuable thing. And over time, you'll see the fruits of your labor.

If you can find the time in every day to do TWO valuable things, even better! Just think, in 2009 you could take 700 small steps toward your goal. It's not hard to take a step... it's just one little thing.

The secret is in the word "little"

A "project" is too big. You need to break it down into little pieces that you can handle in an hour.

A financial projection, report, sales letter, video, newsletter, business plan, and on and on --> all TOO BIG.

Break every project down into little pieces that you can handle in a half-day or less

Do each step as a separate task, which accomplishes a couple of important things:

1. You move something forward

2. You feel like you accomplished something (which is an important feeling to take home at the end of the day)

Here is an example:

Let's just say that I wanted to re-write and overhaul my book "The Definitive Guide to Incorporation and LLC". That's a big project - definitely NOT something that could be done in a day. So, how would I go about completing this task?

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A brief aside: Another motto of mine, which explains my approach below, is to:

"Do your worrying up front - once you have a plan, focus on execution (not worrying if your plan is right)"
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So, first I need to thoroughly understand all the different pieces of the project.

Break it down into every different category that you can think of.

Then break each category down into the understandable "to do's" that fit together to make the product.

Put all these categories and "to do's" into an excel spreadsheet, notepad, Word document - anything that will help you keep track of what has been done and what still needs to be done. The important thing is that it stays in front of you --> A constant reminder of what you can move forward, today, that will help you reach your goal.

Now you have your script. So let's make a movie!

A Hollywood movie is never filmed from start-to-finish. They skip around and film the pieces that make sense grouped together. Your project should be much the same.

Let's take that excel spreadsheet you put together and copy all the "to do's" to a new tab.

Now group all the items that are similar into sections. For example, in most of my projects, the major sections include:

* Creating Content
- the end product
- writing scripts for interviews and videos
- interviewing experts
* Writing Sales Copy
- the sales letter
- the follow-up emails
- the checkout pages
* Programming
* Advertising/Marketing

That's pretty much it.

Now let's execute the plan

First, get parallel resources started right away

(This assumes that you have the funding to pay somebody else to do part of your project. Or... that you can convince them to take part in the future profits of the project.)

Take anything that can be done in parallel by somebody else and get 'em started as soon as possible.

For example, I have an in-house programming team. So the sooner that I can get a project in front of them, the more time it gives them to fit the project into their schedule.

Often, I'll outsource part of the writing to somebody on Elance. I almost always have my virtual assistant make the initial contact with gurus for an interview. (It looks like I have a secretary... which appears more professional.)

In my experience, the more detail that you can provide to your outsourced partners, the better. It will save everybody time and headaches down the road. So, be sure to outline in great detail:

* Exactly what you need done, in great detail (This may feel like more work than you should be putting in up-front, because after all, you're hiring them to do it... But giving your provider great detail will always result in a better end product, which makes everybody happier.)
* When you need it done
* What format it should be in
* How it should look
* When to ask questions

Knock the pins down one-by-one

Now it's time to get started on your own areas of responsibility.

You've already broken everything down into bite-sized chunks - so now it's just a matter of "getting it done". This is, finally, where you can do one or two little things every single day to move your project forward.

Just take the pieces, one-by-one, and knock 'em down.

Other things will always come up - and your schedule will be pushed back - and you may have "shiny object syndrome" (like me), but keep pushing. Keep knocking the pins down.

As parallel resources finish up their projects, your time will be naturally scheduled for you. You'll need to review and provide feedback on a writing project. You'll have an allotted time to meet somebody. You must review the code and do bug testing for developers.

But it's ok - It all moves you forward.

As you complete your individual tasks, check 'em off the excel spreadsheet.

At this point, your brain is your enemy! Don't get bogged down with analysis or thought...

Like I said above - do your thinking up front. When the time comes for execution - JUST EXECUTE BABY!

Don't "do it tomorrow", "dilly dally", "shoot the breeze", "put it off", "think about it" --- just do it. You'll be happy you did.

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One way I've found to help me get things done that don't seem glamorous or fun is to imagine that it's already complete, and how it would make me feel to know that I did it - it is done - and I did a good job. That helps give me the motivation to do some things that... I really don't feel like doing.
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One by one, you knock down the pins.

Over a short period of time you see real gains.

When it's done, and you can piece all the parts together - take a step back and reward yourself. You have really accomplished something.

And that is how business is done.

Looking forward!

Travis

PS. I actually AM re-doing my book, The Definitive Guide to Incorporation and LLC. I am adding new expert interviews, a clearer step-by-step process to getting the business "structure" in place, a section on building your team, and more. Plus, it will no longer be in digital format - everything will be hard copy - DVD's, manuals, guides, transcripts - everything.

I'm still in the early phases, but anyone on the pre-notification list is going to have a chance to get it at a discount.

http://llc.smallbusinessvictory.com/ebook