Spark An Idea: Finish That Project

Sparkplugging is starting a new tradition called ‘Spark an Idea Thursday’. Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog! If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

This week we’re Sparking an Idea to Finishing What You’ve Started

This is terrible. It seems like every Thursday, I’m airing more and more of my dirty laundry through Spark and Idea Thursday. I know you know I’m not perfect right so why pretend right?

I’m a great starter. Wonderful ideas, lots of energy… only in the beginning, which makes for an awful finisher. So how in the world do I even get anything done? Well, I’m still learning and putting the finishing touches to this scheme of forcing myself to finish a project. These have so far worked nicely for me.

Working with a mentor or coach

Sometimes, it’s not so easy for us to see where those open loops are. We may have thought we finished something only to find out that we haven’t. Depending on the coach you hire, with my mentor, I would pick a site then ask them for guidance what they thought of it, beginning with the sales page, then the mailing list etc. Not all coaches go into a deep level like that mind you.  And you certainly can do it with a staff member, VA or partner. But I’ve found getting my mentor’s opinion on projects is invaluable because she sees things I don’t. She’s also super marketing savvy and a brilliant entrepreneur.

Using checklists

This is a tactic I’ve learned from Jimmy D. Brown whom I greatly respect. He’s like the epitome of organization. This man has volumes of checklists how to do stuff from the simplest to the most complex. He runs his business on a proven system. Everything is a series of steps and lists – like well executed computer program. Sadly, I have yet to build a huge database of checklists like him but am definitely working on it. I’ve also released a checklist to my newsletter subscribers once, for setting up a email mailing list because I got tired of forgetting to prepare certain things and finding all kinds of unfinished tasks in my lists. If you’d like to have it, visit the following page to download the “Email List Setup Checklist”. I also build my checklists in the form of mind maps.

Outsourcing

Wow, I never imagined that delegating my work could also make me more accountable. It’s true. They keep me on the ball. Every time a contractor comes back with a task, I know I need to get on it or I would have spent that money in vain – talk about motivation. Like mentors, they also point out areas where a message doesn’t quite make sense or an email is not working right or places where I said I would give a subscriber something but didn’t.

Joint Ventures

This is my personal favorite, maybe because it’s because of joint ventures, I managed to turn my business around. Partners keep each other going. Partnership also has risks of course. Some don’t work out. But overall, I like joining forces with other marketers.

What I would like to do

Setup a set of tasks – some of them, an assistant can be responsible to carry out quarterly or bi-annually. These tasks would include things like, reviewing all e-courses for freshness, check links if they are still working, reviewing what new up sell or promos could go into the emails. Changing out signatures and P/S’s. Run through the site for forms that aren’t working or links to old or non-existent sites. I would probably put in place some script to help find 404 pages and links as well to quickly move the process along. Maybe throw in some tasks to check affiliate links for validity or which old programs are no longer active.

What are your ideas to help you finish what you started?