success

December 2017 Monthly Performance Report

January 3, 2018 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

The last month of the year is always a fast sprint to the finish line. No matter how productive I felt for the rest of the year, December is always a sprint…and I like it that way.

Before we go into this Performance Report, here are two cool facts about this Performance Report:

I wrote this report on New Year’s Eve. I did this on purpose so this is a true reflection of my year. Again, with the way I sprinted in December, there’s a lot I did during the final week.

I wrote this Performance Report as a teen entrepreneur. I published the Performance Report on my birthday. I’m 20. If that feels weird for anyone who’s known me as a teen entrepreneur, think of how weird it felt for me to write that while I was still 19 (and using the word was).

Without any further adieu, let’s jump into this month’s Performance Report.

My Content Calendar Is PACKED!

I’ve been promising more content for several months, and I’m finally living up to that promise in a big way. At the end of the year, I had daily blog posts scheduled up to January 20th. That number continues to grow since I’m committed to writing a blog post every day.

With that said, I am experimenting with having more contributors and even a ghostwriter. Right now, I am talking as a full-time entrepreneur, and I may need some additional help when I return to part-time.

Plus, I go into more detail with each of my blog posts. I include at least three pictures per blog post and do more research than usual. You’ll see more blog posts from me when I mention at least five other articles. I plan on telling everyone I mention that I mentioned them to boost social shares for my content.

And the podcast is even more packed. I have episodes done past February and enough interviews scheduled in advance to get me past mid-March. One of my assistants takes care of audio editing while another assistant writes show notes and schedules the episodes.

All I do for the post-production stage is send my audio files to my audio editor. He puts the finished episodes into a DropBox folder which my other assistant uses to write show notes. A Google Doc displays a show notes rubric and lists publication times and dates for each episode.

By the end of the first quarter, my blogging process will run as smoothly as that.

Content Marketing Plaza Gets Buffed

I’ve added dozens of new videos to the Content Marketing Plaza. I have more plans for 2018 as my students ask me more questions. I initially had an imaginary barrier that prevented me from doing videos.

It was much harder to start than it was to actually do the videos. Once I got more comfortable with starting, the video output flowed and expanded with ease. I now aim to do at least one video every day for the Plaza or one of my other training courses.

Building The Team

I am a big fan of delegation. It’s a topic that comes up in almost every Performance Report. Combine that with the fact I recently (finally) read The 4 Hour Workweek, and now I’m more supportive of delegation than ever.

I welcomed two new people to the team and am about to welcome a third member into the mix.

One of my assistants now contacts potential guests and books appointments. This takes off the responsibility of writing so many emails.

In last month’s Performance Report, I said I’d try to commit an hour a day to sending emails to build new relationships. I’m no longer about that life. I would rather have assistants help me with this task so I can focus on other areas in my business.

I Will Use Facebook Ads Very Soon

I might have used Facebook ads earlier, but my subscriber numbers were very sketchy towards the end of the year.

My landing pages didn’t work for at least a month (yes, you read that right), and several people told me about it. I can finally say with confidence that the problem is over.

Sometimes my landing pages would work for just one day and then not work for several days or even weeks. With that problem finally over, I can now pursue Facebook ads. My brother is an absolute wizard with Facebook ads, so we’ll have a quick meeting to set up the ad and roll it out.

Marketing Is At The Forefront

With all of the extra content I’m creating, marketing is still at the forefront of 2018. I’ve always seen marketing as critical, but most of my time goes towards content creation. I’ve successfully optimized and delegated some marketing platforms (i.e. Twitter) but need to expand.

This is one of the reasons I’m doing more research for each blog post and mentioning more people. I may even outsource more of my content creation so I can focus more of my time on marketing what I create.

I may start with one delegated blog post and one contributor every week to lighten the workload. This is especially important when school starts again and I don’t have as much time.

My blog and podcast showed more growth towards the end of the year. I will ride this positive trend into 2018 and beyond by placing marketing at the forefront of my business related actions.

I’m Organizing Meet-Ups

This is the most out-of-left-field goal of the year. During my interview with Austin Iuliano, we talked about finding, landing, and getting paid to speak. One of the tactics was to start Meet-Up Groups to get more speaking gigs.

Now I’m in the process of planning my first Meet-Up. I want 2018 to be a big year for the public speaking part of my business, and Meet-Ups will help me get there. They will also give me some practice if I decide to host and organize a large scale event later on.

If you want to listen to that episode, it will come out on February 19th at 9 am eastern. It’s Episode 97 of the Breakthrough Success Podcast.

Books I Read

I have to get better at tracking the books I read. I was really good at this in past Performance Reports, but I’ll commit to improving this part of the report in 2018. Now I go for about 10 books per month instead of getting as close to 30 as possible.

I studied for finals during this month so The 4-Hour Workweek is the only book I remember reading. I’ve read many Kindle books but it’s been harder for me to keep track of those.

Review Of December 2017 Goals

I did not do enough to land clients for my coaching program. I’ll put this on the back burner in January and get back to it in February.

Breakthrough Success is now a weekday podcast, and I am very proud of that. At the pace we’re going, Breakthrough Success may become a daily podcast soon (yay!)

I didn’t do anything this month to make CMSS evergreen. I do have a sequence in place for the Plaza which will allow me to capitalize on my profit maximizer.

January 2018 Goals

#1: Get Consistent CMP Sales: This goal seems more likely when I first stated it. I created a landing page and plan on changing old sequences to promote the Plaza.

#2: Plan A Meet-Up: The meet-up will focus on content marketing. I have a few locations in mind but no confirmed time and date yet.

#3: Schedule All Content Past March: For the podcast, this goal is honestly sitting on my lap. My assistants handle this part. I’ve have completed episodes past February, and by the end of the month, I would have completed episodes past mid-March. The blog is more of a challenge since I’d have to write an additional 60-70 blog posts. I want to get this goal accomplished in January so this isn’t an issue after the winter break.

In Conclusion

2017 had some ups and downs, but this was a strong end to the year. I sprint strong towards the finish line as I see it getting closer. I not one to procrastinate often, but when I look at my December sprint and the rest of my year, I wondered how I could extend that sprint.

With a new year in front of us, now is the perfect time to expand on that end-of-the-year sprint. Most people are great at extending that sprint for the first few weeks of the year.

Make sure you can extend that sprint for the long haul. 2018 and beyond.

What are your thoughts on this performance report? What were your key takeaways? Do you have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.

How To Break Down Any Business Problem

June 28, 2016 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

Struggling with a part of your business? We’ve all been there. I can’t count the number of problems I had with my business. Conquering each of those problems has made me into the entrepreneur I am today.

As I conquered more business problems, I paid more attention to the process.

How are problems solved as quickly as possible so they don’t hinder us too long? I tackle that topic within my latest video.

In less than three minutes, you’ll know all of the steps in the problem solving cycle.

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4 Methods To Boost Your Time Management

May 2, 2016 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Time management is an important skill for goal achievement and the work-life balance. The way we utilize the time we are given ultimately determines what we do within our lives and how we impact others.

In this video, I will share with you four methods you can use to get better time management while not becoming the victim of bad habits that put you back where you started.

If you like this video, then I would love it if you subscribed to my YouTube channel and spread the word.

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The Secret Sauce To Getting More Done

December 16, 2015 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

If you do something every day for about 66 days, it becomes a habit. Something that you couldn’t imagine doing at all suddenly becomes common in your life a little over two months later. When 2015 began, one of my family’s goals for the year was to sell the piano in our garage.

In mid-August we made a sale, but by a stroke of luck, it was that moment when I wanted to play the piano every day. I hadn’t even touched it for a few years. Now I wanted to play it every day. Sale canceled.

My decision shocked us all. I knew at that point I was automatically committed to playing the piano every day. However, I had to build the commitment. A few months later and now I’m playing the piano every day.

On some days, I am playing the piano for more time than I spend on my business. How did that happen? The first reason is because I quickly fell in love with it. The second reason is that I set forth a plan to get me from Day 0 to Day 66. I knew that once I was playing the piano on the 66th day, it would be effortless for me to play the piano every day.

As a productivity expert, I knew many tricks of the trade. The best way to perform a task every day is to give yourself a productivity spreadsheet. For the piano, I would identify what songs I had to play and what exercises I had to perform to allow my fingers to cover a greater range of the keyboard.

Before I turn this blog into a musical blog, I’ll shift back to business. You don’t have to play the piano to utilize this method. In fact, I use productivity spreadsheets do create videos for my training courses every day. Productivity spreadsheets are the main reason why I can create numerous videos every day but still have time for the piano.

Productivity spreadsheets work like this:

#1: Have A Physical Calendar

Yes, a physical one. I am what some people would call a digital native. Just as people describe this current generation as Generation Z, many people refer to the people in this generation as the digital natives.

However, this is something that you can’t do on a device. There is something about writing down your dreams and goals on a piece of paper that you don’t get by typing them on the screen.

I tend to take a piece of paper and fill in the boxes and form my calendar. All of the boxes and numbers are drawn on the paper with a marker. That’s how seriously I take the idea of having a physical, non-digital calendar. And I’m a digital native. Let that sink in.

#2: Apply The Seinfeld Method

The Seinfeld Method is one of the best ways known to mankind to stay accountable. You simply put an “X” on all of the days that you complete the task. Then, keep the streak of “X’s” going. I used to have a calendar of “X’s” for playing the piano every day. Each time I could write another “X” on the calendar, I felt more accomplished.

I no longer have a calendar for “X’s” for playing the piano because it’s habitual. I don’t even think about it. I just do it.

That’s all a productivity spreadsheet is (fine, you can call them calendars but I personally think spreadsheet sounds cooler). However, how do we fully utilize those productivity spreadsheets so they allow us to be more productive? These are two power tips:

#1: Identify What You Will Do The Night Before

The best time to plan your day is the night before. At nighttime, we aren’t in the rigorous workflow state of the mind. At night, we tend to be more creative since there are fewer boundaries. Think about what your schedule looks like at 1 pm. You could be doing so many different things at 1 pm.

So, as an extreme example, what are you doing at 1 am. Chances are you aren’t working. You are either sleeping or are absolutely fried.

The longer we stay up, the less productive we become. It is at this time, just before going to bed, when we need to identify what we will do on the following day. That way, we can wake up knowing what we must accomplish.

You don’t want to think about what your day will comprise of in the morning because at that point, you are losing too much valuable time. Your first hour dictates how the rest of your day goes. Have a productive first hour, and you will probably have a more productive day.

#2: Take The Path Of Least Resistance

Let’s say you want to create video every day and turn that into a habit. You have done some videos here and there but are still not super comfortable with the whole process. I give you two options:

You must complete at least one five-minute video per day
You must complete at least 10 five-minute videos per day

It would be more incredible to do the 10 videos. However, that’s not how we become productive. We are creatures of habit who hate dramatic changes. We can achieve dramatic changes by taking one step at a time.

Most people like to view dramatic change as a colossal leap. That colossal leap is simply the combined total of a series of smaller leaps taken in advance.

To turn a task into a habit, you must perform that task every day for 66 days. It is easier in the beginning to turn one video per day into a habit than it is to turn 10 videos per day into a habit. Focusing on completing a minimum of one video per day allows you to build a strong foundation. That strong foundation results in habit formation.

Finally, once you have the strong foundation, and you choose to strengthen it, you can eventually get to the point of completing at least 10 five-minute videos per day.

In the beginning, you aren’t going for workload. You are going for consecutive days of completion. Only pay attention to the workload after the 66th day.

In Conclusion

If you want to turn your newest tasks into effortless habits, then you need to create productivity spreadsheets for those tasks. The key to becoming productive is to do a little bit each day. Once you have a solid foundation, you can begin to expand upon that foundation.

What are your thoughts about the productivity spreadsheet method? Which of these methods did you like the most? What are your tips for boosting productivity? Sound off in the comments section below.

7 Ingredients To Online Success

October 7, 2015 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

If you are reading this blog post, you want to know how to make a full-time income by working online. Many people want to earn a full-time income from the web. The thought of working from home is a dream that many hold. Working at home eliminates the commute and makes a life balance easier to maintain.

It is possible to make a full-time income on the web. Many people post their income reports. And some of those income reports reach eight figures. It’s amazing what kind of opportunities the web has created. To get the best of those opportunities, we must utilize them.

So how does one go about building a large audience and making a full-time income? Here are the seven ingredients to success on the web:

#1: Large Audience

Building a large audience that constantly grows makes it possible for you to scale up with your business. Having 100,000 people in your audience creates a larger platform for your products than having 1,000 people in your audience.

However, it does not take long to realize that growing an audience is easier said than done.

I stumbled across this problem in the beginning of my journey. I had no idea how to grow an audience, but I knew social media was the next big thing.

So I gave it a try and decided to focus on Twitter.

My best advice for growing a social media audience is to focus on one social network in the beginning. Once you master a social network, it becomes easier for you to master all of the other social networks on the web. Social media is the best free tool for growing your audience. However, a social media audience is only part of the story.

You also need a large email list. I primarily use social media to engage, provide value, and build my email list. Having a large audience matters for social proof and success.

Now that you know a large social media audience and a massive email list are the two most critical types of audiences, it’s time to explore the other six ingredients to online success.

#2: A Product

If you want to establish yourself as an expert in your niche, then you must have a product. You can write Kindle books, create Udemy courses, or put up any type of product. But you need a product, and that product needs to be exceptional.

Most people with the six figure income reports make their money by creating and promoting their products. While affiliate marketing is a possibility, affiliate marketing is not as powerful as having your own product and promoting it to your audience.

The best part about creating your own product is that it is an asset. You can literally start making money in your sleep once you create your own product. Even if you only make $2 when you wake up, making any type of money in your sleep is an incredible feeling.

Products make that possible, and if you continue growing your audience and creating products, that $2 per night will scale up very quickly.

#3: Provide FREE Value

Many people are okay with providing value in their products. The customer pays money for the product, so it makes sense to give them a great experience. For some reason, the same logic does not apply to free value.

The free value you provide allows a relationship to build between you and the people within your audience. More importantly, the people in your audience begin to trust your value and expertise. That trust eventually leads to sales because of a common belief (this belief actually turns out to be true most of the time)

Paid value is better than the free value

If you over deliver in your free content, then imagine what impression that gives prospect customers. Providing free value also allows you to grow your audience. People who like your content will share it to their audiences. Your content will get more exposure, and as a result, your audience will grow.

#4: Relationship Building

When you grow an audience and take the time to engage with that audience, relationship building is one of the outcomes. Knowing the individuals within your audience allows you to serve them better.

That means you can write better content and create better products based on what your audience wants. Building enough relationships will potentially expose you to more opportunities such as podcast interviews, guest blogging opportunities, and speaking engagements.

Building relationships with the people within your audience is paramount to understanding your audience. But the people in your audience aren’t the only people you need to build relationships with.

You also want to build relationships with successful people within your niche.

Each time I began thriving in a particular area within my niche (i.e. Twitter and blogging), it was because I built relationships with people more successful than I was. I read the influencers’ blog posts, applied their methods, and actively engaged with them.

Right now, I have my eyes set on Udemy. I have created several courses on my own, but I also co-created some of my courses with other Udemy instructors. The Udemy instructors I create my courses with are more successful than me on that platform. And that’s by design.

There is a difference between running with people you see in the trail and running with an Olympian. There is a difference between having a consultation session with any business expert and having a consultation session with Bill Gates. There is a difference between hanging out with the ordinary and hanging out with the extraordinary.

If you associate with people who have a higher status than you, then you will have more motivation to thrive. You are surrounded by successful people cheering you on—whether through their content, through their videos, or via a 1-to-1 conversation—and that will motivate you to reach the next level of your success.

#5: Effectively Communicating Your Message

Clarity is what results in people coming back. If you are a returning visitor, you came back to this blog because you understood and appreciated the message and tidbits within the content. Then you wanted more. That’s why blogs get returning visitors.

Effectively communicating your message results in more people sticking around longer. It is important to practice with your blog posts.

Once it becomes second nature for you to effectively communicate your message, it will become easier for you to explain your products. Prospective customers don’t know what your product is until you explain it to them.

The better you do at explaining your product, the more people will buy it.

The way you effectively communicate your message depends on your niche and the message itself. However, copywriting will help you in this leg of the journey. There aren’t many blog posts on this blog that deal with copywriting, so I’ll end this portion of the blog post with two notes:

When it comes to copywriting, Ray Edwards is the man.
This blog post on CopyBlogger has awesome insights about copywriting.

#6: Seize The Game Changing Opportunities

When you see an opportunity that you believe has the potential to lead to rapid growth, jump on that opportunity. I first heard about Periscope on the day it came out. I saw the potential in the social network and decided to create an account.

I did some scopes and then largely went dormant on the social network. Now I’m back on it. The lesson from this story?

I did some scopes on the first day the social network came out. Three days after Periscope’s launch, I was already past 2,000 followers. I was only following 16 people. I stopped because at the time, I wasn’t fully aware of Periscope’s business potential.

In my defense, Periscope at the time was a social network where people broadcasted their puppies and there was always a “What’s in your refrigerator?” comment during the live stream.

Seizing the game changing opportunities when they are still new allows you to reap more of the rewards sooner. Then, once you master the new opportunity, you can move onto the next big opportunity when it comes up (or work on two big opportunities at the same time. It’s entirely up to you).

#7: Look At The Results To See What Works

Once you are utilizing the first six ingredients to success, you are bound to get results—good or bad. The only way you get better results is by analyzing your current results. Analyzing your current results lets you know where and how you can improve.

If that Facebook ad does well because you included/excluded certain countries, and you can see the difference in your results, then you know how to get better results from that Facebook ad. My blog gets a lot of traffic from Twitter. That’s why I spend so much time on Twitter.

My blog traffic from Facebook started picking up ever since I started advertising and posting more often. As a result, I am continuing those activities.

In Conclusion

Online success consists of many ingredients. Making all of these ingredients a part of your business creates the possibility of making a full-time income from your house. The biggest challenge is actually implementing all of these ingredients and making them a part of your business. However, it is a challenge that is worthwhile.

Right now, I want to hear from you. Which of these ingredients to online success do you think is the most important? Do you believe there are other important ingredients in the recipe? What are your thoughts about online success as a whole? Sound off in the comments section below.

How To Change Any Habit

April 15, 2015 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

Get Rid Of Bad Habits

Habits are a central part of our lives. They dictate what we do and how we do it. They are patterns in our lives that impact our overall performance. While some of these patterns get noticed by everyone, there are other behind the scenes patterns that go unnoticed. Some of these behind the scenes patterns are benefactors while others are malefactors.

The bad habits are the ones that we want to break such as unproductively or an addiction. Many people try to fight the habits they want to break. Most people just try to eliminate these habits all together, but these people are fighting themselves. You can’t expect to fight the established system, your particular habit, by trying to eliminate it all together. Regardless of whether the habit is good or bad, it is the established system.

If you are unproductive, you can’t fight it by declaring you will be productive. The declaration is a start, but it’s not good enough. Instead of trying to eliminate a habit all together, you need to modify it. Modifying a habit requires knowledge of how habits work.

Modifying a habit requires knowledge of how habits work.[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1H38H0L”]Modifying a habit requires knowledge of how habits work.[/tweetthis]

In The Power Of Habit, Charles Duhigg identifies a habit as a three step process. The first step is the cue. This cue triggers an action to occur. For people who surf their Facebook feeds, seeing the Facebook app or logo is the cue. The cue leads to the routine. The routine is what you do after the cue gets received. The routine in the Facebook app example is to click on the app to get on Facebook. The routine then leads to the reward. The reward in this scenario is surfing Facebook. You may view surfing Facebook as a waste of time, and you may think that reward is the wrong word to use. However, when you are in the moment, it feels like a reward. It feels like a way to kick back and relax. Maybe at the time, surfing Facebook is a way to get out of work or find cool stuff on the web. It may not feel as rewarding when you stop surfing Facebook, but at the moment, it feels rewarding.

These habits and similar ones are the habits that we all want to change. Now that we know how habits are formed, we can change any habit with these three methods:

Remove the cue. I used to have 10 cookies every day. I knew I would burn them all off after a nice run, but I also know those cookies made me slower. Removing the cookies from my house removed the cue.
Change the routine. Some cues are impossible to remove. You will still encounter them. Chances are you will still use Facebook and still see the Facebook app on your smartphone. Each time you see the app, and you know you shouldn’t surf Facebook, turn off your smartphone and flip it upside down. If you think of using your desktop to access Facebook, and you know you shouldn’t, remove your access to Facebook or the WiFi all together. Mindful Browsing is a website that allows you to block any website on Safari. After you get the cue of visiting Facebook, turn Mindful Browsing (or your browser’s equivalent) into the routine. The reward will be you not surfing Facebook and getting your work done instead.
Change the reward. Instead of surfing Facebook, use it to learn more about your niche. Look for niche-related articles on Facebook to get good blog post ideas. Moreover, if you suddenly see a reward as punishing in the moment, you may get lured away from the routine that makes the habit possible.

Many people insist on fighting habits and thinking of the whole process as a battle of epic proportions. However, most people fight habits without knowing how habits are formed. The cue, routine, and reward are the three steps that allow habits to occur. Interfering with any of these three parts of the habit allows you to interfere with the habit as a whole.

I am presenting you with the key to properly changing any habit you come across. You have the power to implement this knowledge into the habits you wish to change. Don’t think of habit changing as a fight of epic proportions. Think of it as a small change. Think of how easier it is to implement small change compared to engaging in a fight of epic proportions. The way we think of things determines how and if we get them accomplished. It takes about 66 days for a change to turn into an effortless habit. You may initially get tempted to return to old ways, but think of a 66 day countdown gradually getting closer to the 66th day. If you return to your old habit, the 66 day countdown resets itself. However, if you stay strong and don’t go back to old ways, you only have to keep it up for 66 days. Then, it will turn into a habit, and keeping it up at that point will become effortless. Changing the cue, routine, or reward to your favor will make the implementation process much easier.

What are your thoughts on changing habits? Have you recently changed one of your habits? Please share your thoughts and experiences below.