Creating Online Business Habits

They say that to create a new habit, it can take 30 days. And to change behavior, it takes creating a new routine. A new habit.

There’s whole apps built around this that you could put on your phone.

People who want to quit drinking, for instance, can use one of the many habit-tracking apps and they mark off each day that they don’t drink. The app is gamified, so it encourages you to keep up the streak. And gives you little rewards for doing so.

You’ve probably seen these things. For people who actually use them, they can be quite effective at creating new habits. And once something has become a habit, it becomes routine. Dare I say… easy.

(Note to self: Apply this to my exercise workout. )

How can we apply this to growing our businesses?

I’ll come back to the habit apps in a minute, cuz we need to talk about something we’ve all felt here…

You’ve probably felt it. You’ve felt the attention deficit. The “scatter brain”. The feeling that there are so many things to do that you can’t even decide which one to work on.

Sometimes, our “work” can become downright overwhelming. And we end up paralyzed in relative inaction. It results in a confusion and… nothing happening. Businesses don’t grow like that. They go absolutely nowhere. We just don’t accomplish anything.

Now, there’s a couple points I will make about this…

First off, a confusion is always just a bunch of “stuff” moving about all at once. In this case, that “stuff” is our own thoughts. We never made a decision on what to DO, so we get stuck in a “figure figure” mode.

So, the answer is to make it all sit still. Make a decision. Decide ONE thing to work on. Ignore the rest.

There’s a simplicity there is important to keep in mind. You make decisions. And you do ONE thing at a time. M’kay?

Second point…

Every thing we do in our business is supposed to be a system. A series of steps. And you do them… one by one. Until a certain result pops out the other end.

As business owners, our job is to concoct those systems. To work out the kinks. To optimize those systems so that what pops out the other end is what you want and is produced on time and efficiently.

Now, if you’ve never done this, I recommend it. This goes for me, too.

Sit down and think over your business. No matter how big or small. Even if it is just a blog and you feel like you’ve barely left the starting line. And… I want you to list out the various repeating actions that need to be done to operate that activity.

List them out. One by one.

For me, it would be a list that includes stuff like writing and sending THE EDGE, writing a blog post, recording a video, managing clients, doing strategy calls, etc.

You get the point. It is just a list of activities that must be done to operate.

It will include things you do now. It should include things you know need to be done, but aren’t right now or are being done poorly.

Now…

With each item, I want you to break it down into a series of steps. As best you can. Turn it into a system.

And now, back to those habit tracking apps…

Choose ONE thing – one system – that you know you should be doing to expand your business. Just one. It could be something you’re not doing and know you need to… or something you do periodically but know it needs to be a routine.

Set that up into a habit tracking app of your choice. Set up the schedule. And just… do it.

Every time you do it, check it off in your app.

30 days. You’re creating a new routine around doing a new successful action you know can help grow your business.

After that one, you can choose another one and do that. But, just one at a time! Don’t get overwhelmed by biting off more than you can chew. Set yourself up to win.

Building and running a business is a lot like building up muscle. You’ve gotta develop the muscle. In exercise, that takes a routine. And it works the same with your entrepreneurial muscles, too.

Tech Talk

Looks like there's been a huge issue with Siteground-hosted sites getting dropped out of Google, according to Search Engine Journal.Not good.After a lot of back-and-forth, the issue seems to have to do with Siteground's DNS. And after at first denying they had any issue, they later came back on Twitter and said they implemented a "fix" but didn't specify what it was.To be clear, I know having a website problem and feeling like you're waiting for the host to do something can be really frustrating. And, in the heat of the moment, people say stuff. And there was some anger at Siteground. I continue to hold that they're a good host, however. Every company has speed bumps that arise. That said...Those who were hurt by this were using Siteground DNS for their domain. These people had everything going through one host. And as far as I'm concerned, that's just not the ideal way to go.I have always said that I prefer to buy and manage my domains separately from my web host. Stuff like this is why. I also don't like to keep my email with my web host. I think it is too concentrated with one company.As you know, I use Cloudways for my hosting (read my review). I buy domains via Namecheap. I run my DNS either through Namecheap or Cloudflare. I run email through FastMail (because I specifically didn't want to use Google.)Use tools purpose-built for the job. It is better (at least in my opinion) than trying to have one company do it all.On another front...My friends at WP Manage Ninja (the people behind FluentCRM and Fluents Forms) are launching a brand new plugin this week.... Fluent Support.This is a full WordPress-based support ticket system. It already has features that will rival many of the support desk services. You can learn all about it here.The cool thing is that it will be fully integrated with their other tools, too. So, imagine running a membership site. And you're using FluentCRM and WooCommerce. And now, when people send in support tickets to you, you've got ALL their information right there on screen. No need to dance between different systems.It is a beautifully integrated tech stack for any business using WordPress. And I'm excited to dive in and do a full review of it for you.As they usually do when they launch a new product, there will be a lifetime deal available for a limited time. It will start tomorrow! And I'm telling you... even despite me not having personally reviewed Fluent Support yet, I already know this one will be worth getting. This team has been great to work with.