Thread: I'm done planning!

I'm done planning folks!

Ok so I was planning to do some planning, but that actually turned me into thinking about what I've done until now.

I actually started online with no planning at all. I lost a lot of money because of not thinking about the costs, long-term stuff etc. But I earned a good amount of money daily.

Now I'm online, planning all the time. I'm planning to do this, to do that -- and I do none of them because the planning covered too many things why I shouldn't do it. I'm earning hardly no money at all anymore.

I'm going to stop planning now and just launch stuff, work my ass of to make sure everything gets done on time and hopefully it can turn out like before.


Do you always plan your steps, or do you prefer launching a bunch of different stuff and see what works, what doesn't and how you could improve it?

I think you started at one extreme of not planning at all, then moved to the next extreme of over planning. I think businesses have to start with a solid general plan, but things always change, of course. Find a balance.

I usually focus on one site or project at a time. I take each project one step a time. I do plan what I want to do, but I know that things can change as they go along, so I don't put too much time into thinking. However, if I went into starting a business or making a website without a solid game plan I wouldn't know where to begin. I also like to think tentatively about what my goals are for a project, both short term and long time.

There may have been times where I had small experimental side projects in addition to the large ones, but I didn't necessarily expect those to be successful.

For VectroProxy and Primus Proxy, the initial plan has always been to have a functional site that works before worrying about profit. It's good to start with a solid foundation. Next, I think about getting people to the site. Then, after I verify that people actually like it I start to think about monetizing.

The rest comes natural. For instance, as soon as I start making the site I automatically do the on-site SEO as I'm building it. You'll find that even with very light planning, your previous experiences will be a factor since you've worked on sites before and know what works and what doesn't.

Lastly, cut out what doesn't work and build up on the things that work. If one section of your site isn't very popular and doesn't earn much money but still requires work, scrap it and focus more on the part of the site that is popular. Time is money.

Also, you're pretty young if I remember, so you still have leeway to go through this phase

I think it was a fortune cookie, the original Ronald McDonald (before he quit) or maybe Ghandi who said "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail"..

Planning ahead is good but don't spend too long planning things and miss out on any opportunities. I tend to do that sometimes.

Good planning helps keep you on the right track so you don't get distracted, but you still have to follow through with the plan or it's just a waste of time. (Now I sound like one of the link spammers who give useless advice by stating the obvious)

I think what you are saying is that you planned some ideas rather than planning the implementation.

Planning the implementation of projects is the way to go I think, unless it's a no-brainer that you just need to knuckle down and churn out.

When I have planned projects well, they were completed on time since every task is written down against a time line and you are under pressure to get it done and know at each stage what you must be doing.

I slipped up with my latest project by not planning it, and this one is still going after a whole year. But, part of the problem was that I didn't know what to plan for in this case since it was new territory.

When you work on something where you have prior experience, it is a great idea to produce a project plan since it can help you avoid procrastination and give you a sense of satisfaction with getting it completed as you progress though the milestones.

For planning, I'm using the Google Docs spreadsheet since it's easy to use and share online.

p.s. I think that this is the peak time of year for producing our plans right?

Thanks both for the inspiring replies! That's why I prefer NetBuilders over all those other forums!

I see where you're heading towards and I see my mistake in planning. I also keep thinking about the monetization part (that's where most of my ideas come from, the more I could earn, the more I like the idea of building around it), but that wasn't the case earlier.

Every website can be monetized, so I'll just do some thinking on what and how, but with using different things than I used to do. First I'm going to clean up the mess and open up the office in the new part of the house, that might increase productivity.

Thanks guys! If someone has more & other tips, do share them!

I always keep a list of 20 to 30 things that I need to do. The problem with that is that I tend to do the things first that are easy to do or do not require much planning.

To be successful online, I think you need to prioritize the planning so that projects that are likely to yield good results and add to the revenues are done first. Keep an active list and always work from the top of the list based upon revenue potential.

Something needs to be done each and every day--even if it is a small thing--that will add more to the honeypot.

Indeed some good advice here.

I can also tell from experience that a lack of planning can lead to procrastination and even wasting time on target less browsing the net.

Some time ago, i started using longer term development plans on paper in a simple templated style (a row of horizontal cells) where i only have to mark boxes when the job was done.

In addition i'm using a standard size (A4) paper with 7 x 12 cells that can be written in individually. I just write any TO DO's and ideas that spring to mind in individual cells. The cells can be easily interlinked by just drawing arrows to/from them. And, since this week, I'm using a small magnetic whiteboard too for short term and urgent TO DO's.

Proper planning really works wonders.

Originally Posted by Loko

I just write any TO DO's and ideas that spring to mind..

That reminds me of a great little script I've been using to help keep track of various projects and plan new ones, it's a fun filled php powered TO DO list. A whiteboard is a great idea too.

- myTinyTodo - simple open source to-do list script written in PHP and jQuery
- myTinyTodo Demo