In early December, I developed a Q1 marketing plan in order to keep me on track to my goals. While I conduct a review of my goals almost daily, I decided to share where I’m at in terms of performing against this plan. First, for those who are not bloggers, I think this method can be applied to life in general. I would setup a quarterly plan for how to get to your life goals and review that plan as often as you can.

Focusing on High ROI activities:

I identified 3 activities that I felt gave me the highest ROI: guest posts, comments, and interviews.  I’ve followed through on 2-4 guest posts a week and even setup ongoing relationships to guest post at certain blogs. In January I wrote 8 guest posts. I’ve also started looking at traffic differently. The most important metric that I look at is time spent. I value quality over quantity. If see a certain blog is providing me visitors who spend alot of time on my blog, I’ve made a point to comment on that blog on a regular basis and as a result I’ve seen some great growth. The interview series has evolved into a life of its own and has been the driving force behind a new project called BlogcastFM.com. I’ll be telling you more about it on Wednesday of this week.

Achieve Substantial Growth:

Obviously high ROI activities are a catalyst for substantial growth. I set a goal of getting to 1000 RSS readers by the end of Q1. As of the end of January I broke the 500 reader mark. While the I haven’t exactly mapped out how to get to the next 500 readers, I plan on making adjustments to my strategy based on what’s working and what’s not. For example, the guys at under30CEO.com have been instrumental in driving my growth and it’s likely I“ll aim for contributing more articles to their site. The point here is that by setting a goal and aiming to get there, even if you fall slightly short if you will still make substantial progress.

Development of monetization methods:

Of the 3 monetization methods (consulting, product launches, and affiliate marketing), I’ve focused my efforts on consulting.  I think if you are a blogger with roughly 500 RSS readers and your traffic wavers between 150-200 visitors a day the other two monetization methods have a less likely change of getting you where you want to go. I recently wrote a post at Under30CEO about  How to monetize a blog without advertising, selling affiliate products, or any other products. The  focus of it was largely on how to find consulting opportunities on craigslist. To date, this method has resulted in a client that has me on retainer for 500 dollars a month, and some clients who I build blogs for. All in all it’s given me about an additional 600 dollars a month in income.

Overall I’m performing according to plan. But, looking at it I realize that I should aim to outperform this plan which would require stepping it up in a few areas and scaling back in others. As you make progress towards each goal, you really need to continually adjust in order to take the right action at the right time.  If you have any ideas on a marketing plan and growth, I’d love to hear them.

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When the wind dies down, the crowds disappear and you have this aquatic playground all to yourself, you know it’s going to be a good day. Every single wave is yours for the taking.  The waves aren’t perfect, but if they were there’s no way you’d be the only one out there. The mention of the fact that there was a shark earlier doesn’t even bother you.  “It was out 200 yards. F%$%$ it. I’m not going anywhere.”

There are moments that leave permanent imprints on your mind that are so vivid, so etched for eternity that you can literally close your eyes and  you can picture every detail and be back there anytime you want to get there (just few to share):

• The dark haired surfer girl smiling back at you as you come down the face of a wave with an ear to ear smile
• Your new found friend smiling from the beach at the fact that you just caught the ride of your life
• That first time I stood up on the board in Garopaba
• The most awesome wave of the day where I paddled back out to my friends only to learn that my board shorts had a giant rip down the back side (I thought they were smiling because it was such an awesome wave
• That long perfect ride in Sayulita where the water  was warm and it the waves seemed to just peel on forever

Certain days and certain waves are just special. These are just a few of the hundreds I have.  Like I said before they have a permanent imprint that you can’t ever forget. Forgetting these moments would be tragic.

Mother Nature’s Dance

Consider the waves your song and the ocean the girl you dance with. You find yourself constantly telling her one more dance, one more song. “One more good ride and I’ll get out.” Yet, for many, 20, 40, 50 years later that mantra are are the words surfers seem to live by. In certain moments, mother nature teases you. Right when you plan on getting out, a perfect set rolls in and you realize you can’t possibly leave in that moment. After all, those waves are way better than the one you just caught.  It’d be like walking away from a blackjack table on a hot streak. So you paddle back out, and the music stops. The dance stops and she has her laugh.  “Sure I’ll dance with you, just wait.” And you do, because that’s how much you’ve fallen for her.  The truth is you really never can get enough. It’s just that good.

On the drive home, everything seems to have a deeper meaning. Your awareness elevates and you realize that the The Cure is singing about orgasms in the first few lines of Just Like Heaven and the calm, the smile, and everything else together puts you in a state of ecstasy.   With that I’ve barely touched what it feels like to be stoked.  Happy Friday.

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