Re: The "Cost" of the matter

**D* G* <d*@kos.net>**

Jeff - funny you mention it but that's what I'm doing at the moment.   
I usually spend the last few days of the year and the first few days  
of the New Year sorting out where I've been and where I'm going.  It's  
usually extremely humbling to compare the data over the years.   But  
this is also quite rewarding when I see how very far I've come since  
those first few weeks when I returned to full time writing in Jan 05.   
 From 100K unique visitors in 05 to over a million three years later  
in 07.  Nice traffic growth - and still rising in 08 according to  
early indicators post-Christmas.

I use a very simple system as befits my basic ability to stick to any  
plan (short attention span alert!)   I set it all up on an excel  
spreadsheet.  Anything more complicated and I ignore it.

First column are my Key Income Silos.   Websites, Books, Magazines   
anywhere I might spend some time and make some money.  Experience  
shows me that 5 silos are just about the perfect number that I can  
handle properly.

Second column is the amount of money I want to make from each of these  
silos.  I put income numbers beside each of the silo areas because  
nothing focuses attention so much as having real number goals.  This  
column is set up to add those numbers so I can adjust up/down/sideways  
depending on time.    The bottom line had better be good enough to  
live on. :-)

Here's where it gets fun.   If I have 4 income silos and I want to  
make 100K this year, then I have to decide how much to earn in each  
silo.  That proportion equates directly to the time I allot to each  
area.  If one area is 50k and 50% of my income, it gets roughly 50% of  
my time.  I don't spend a lot of time on something that isn't going to  
make me money.    Developmental activities are considered a 5th silo  
and get one afternoon a week.  This isn't carved in stone but is a  
good guideline.

The third column sorts out the major activity areas I need to do in  
each area.  For example on a Website silo, you might have Content  
Creation, Traffic Generation, Preselling, Monetization as four  
activity areas.  Each of these is assigned specific tasks that will  
make the original number.   If I know that each page of a site makes  
$9.00/ then I know a 100 page site will make me $900.00 in a perfect  
world.  So if I want to make $9000, I have to have/write 1000 pages  
for my Content Creation activity.  That's 20 pages a week for a year  
and my time is set up to handle (or not) this level of activity.   If  
I have 2 ways of making money from each webpage, then each of those  
two methods (e,g. adsense and affiliate links) would have a number  
assigned to them to evaluate and work against.

Fourth column sorts out the real specifics of how/what/projects have  
to be done each week to make those numbers - e.g. 20 pages/week.

And -like yourself- I know what I can produce in any given week year  
in and year out - so I tend to focus on those activities that will pay  
the bills and return maximum amounts for each hours spent.

I'm in the middle of juggling all this to produce the maximum income  
and sort out exactly what I want to do next year, what activities and  
what level of technology is going to do what for me and my readers.   
And in a way that I can enjoy what I do - this is, after all, why I  
write for a living.    It's half fun, half numbers and half guesswork  
based on experience (I might have too many halves in there and this  
too is part of the adventure) :-)   In any case, it gives me a focus  
and a way to sort out what I want to do over the next 12 months.  Lots  
of notes and scull sweat trying to make everything work.

So at the end of next week (give or take) I should be able to tell you  
how many books I'm going to write, how many magazine queries I'll make  
each month, webpages I'll build etc to make my numbers and keep all my  
toys healthy.

But I wouldn't know any of this unless I had a basic plan to work from.

It takes a fair amount of work to do this but it clears the head and  
gives a focus for each week's work.  I translate each of these  
activity levels into concrete action plans for each week (so many  
magazine queries out there - so many web pages built this week etc)  
that I get to check off my to-do list that I make every Monday  
morning.  And yes, some weeks the plans never seem to work out as the  
alligators get my anatomy - but then there are those sweet weeks when  
the Net works and the words flow and life is good.

But yes, it all starts with that dreaded business plan, working from  
this, evaluating your numbers from it and working  the plan.  Love 'em  
or hate 'em - they work.  But you're right - no sense making a plan if  
you don't stick to it.

Doug

p.s.  I did pick garden writing, but I didn't chose poverty. :-)

Douglas Green
Online Garden Publishing
Blog:  http://blog.douggreensgarden.com
Home: http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com

On 1-Jan-08, at 8:43 PM, Jeff Ball wrote:

> DOUG,
> How many garden writers have a "BUSINESS PLAN?" You and maybe three
> others who worked in the real world before they chose poverty and
> garden writing.  There is no question a business plan helps to keep
> focused and not get off on side tracks that reduce potential
> earnings.  But I've never seen a framework for a very simple business
> plan that might work for a writer.  I've tried four or five in my 25
> years and none of them lasted more than three months.  My work was so
> unpredictable and I have no discipline.
> Good thread
> .
> Jeff Ball
_______________________________________________
gardenwriters mailing list
gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/gardenwriters

GWL has searchable archives at:
http://www.hort.net/lists/gardenwriters

Send photos for GWL to gwlphotos@hort.net to be posted
at: http://www.hort.net/lists/gwlphotos

Post gardening questions/threads to
&quot;Gardenwriters on Gardening&quot; &lt;gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org&gt;

For GWL website and Wiki, go to
http://www.ibiblio.org/gardenwriters