The Swan Story - Controlling The Chaos

This Online Marketing lifestyle thingy isn’t as laid back and carefree as some GooRoos (like kangaroos but less cute) would have you believe.

It’s a bit like a swan floating across a pond. Sure, I can sit back with a beer and write an email or a report on the beach and make money from it. That’s the easy bit, the bit of the swan that’s on top of the water. Below the waterline, out of sight, it’s a flurry of movement and chaos.

It’s incredibly easy to get burned out if you aren’t careful, you can see it all around you, the slow drop-off of content from people you follow, the sudden switch to all-out promotion, the slightly desperate email or article.

No one is immune, it happens to us all, and you need to do whatever you can to hold it at bay.

I was on vacation a few years ago and still dealing with hundreds of emails and support calls. One day I took my wife to a really cool restaurant on the beach for lunch. I checked my emails between courses, and there were over 60 emails. I’d only cleared it out 3 hours before.

Stupidly, I felt the need to clear all 60 in the time it took the next course to come, and decided there and then I was going to do something about it.

After I got back to the hotel, I spent time searching for a tool to manage my inbox I found Sanebox, It was a tool (no idea if it’s still available or if it’s done some AI malarky..too scared to look) that filters your emails so you only see the important ones in your inbox, the rest go to another folder where you can deal with them when you want. It also emailed you a summary of what’s in the “sanelater” box.

24 hours later. Freedom. 6 emails overnight, the rest filed away so I can read them at my leisure. My vacation (and my lifestyle) really only started when I set up Sanebox and got control of my biggest problem.

When I returned from holiday, I immediately emailed my list with details of Sanebox (not an affiliate link in sight). Most marketers wouldn’t tell you about it because they don’t want you to be able to avoid their spammy emails. Some of us who have been around for a while think differently, we know that if we continue to provide value, you’ll be happy to open our emails and read our articles… at least that’s the idea.

Once I got rid of the distraction that email had become and adopted an Email Zero approach (empty inbox twice a day and keep your email app closed in between those times), I found that my mojo returned, the thoughts and ideas began to flow and everything became much simpler and easier …just like the gurus tell us it would be!

The simple takeaway from this is to get control of the thing that is causing you the biggest issues so you can focus on what you enjoy.

If you want a simple system that will give you control of your business, read The System, it’s free

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