If you’ve ever been stuck on a problem in your online business and didn’t have a clue where to start, here’s a technique that may work for you. It’s called “unraveling the strings of success.” You’ll be able to visualize those strings as you see how it works.

1. Figure out what you want. It may be a new website, more subscribers, fewer support tickets. In online business terms, let’s say I want “more sales.”

2. Now take that goal and ask yourself “What do I need to get more sales?” Again, for the online business owners, it’s probably something like better website sales conversions, more traffic, better followup.

3. Next take one of those topics and start unraveling it. “If I want more traffic, what do I need?” More links to my site, more affiliate referrals, more clicks from my ads.

4. Now take one of those topics and continue to unravel it. “If I need more links to my site, what do I need?” More links from articles, more directory links, more blog posts linking back to my site.

5. Now take one of those topics and keep repeating the process of unraveling it. “If I need more article links, what do I need?” Write more articles, hire others to write more, distribute them to a broader audience. Your answers can be broad or precise. The idea is to identify the factors that are stopping you.

You can see the pattern. I generally use a sheet of paper or a spreadsheet and keep writing the links from one item to the next – making the string longer as it unravels. Eventually you will reach the point where you say I don’t need anything else except Action. And that’s where you start.

The unraveling process is simple and often points out a flaw in your thinking or your business planning processes. For example, the longest strings are the parts of your business that you neglect. The shortest strings may give you the fastest results.

If the same item shows up in more than one string, it may mean you have a crossover in your processes. It may be a source of confusion for you and your staff. Or it may be a way to complete a single item and shorten two strings.

When using this unraveling process on your business, you are able to move to the Action phase of your planning sooner. Plus you’ll have a visual map of how your business works.

Online business productivity is serious business. After all, anything that costs you time – also costs you money! That’s why we want to look at the two most common time drains in your online business.

A Time Drain is something that takes more time than it should. It’s often a task that started small, but continued to expand. Now you’ve just accepted it as part of your everyday routine.

If you’ve ever heard yourself say “it’s just too much!” then you understand the importance of identifying and eliminating time drains in your online business. There are two major categories that generally account for many of your time drains: sites and tools.

Time Drain #1 – Too Many Websites

It starts small. You buy a domain. You set up hosting for it. You add a blog. You add a few plugins. You add some content.

You buy another domain. You add hosting, a blog, a few plugins, some content.

You repeat this a few more times. Or a few hundred more times.

An update for WordPress comes out – and you have to update all of your blogs!

A plugin announces a “fix” with an update – and you have to update the plugin on all of your sites

Yes, Plugin Dashboard can help! But you still need to log in, run the update, then check to be sure everything is okay, then go to the next blog.

Meanwhile, there are comments to be approved or rejected and/or responded to. There are passwords to change.

Here’s Fix #1:

Using the process outlined in Online Asset Inventory, make a list of every domain. Next to it add the purpose for that domain. And in the next column the revenue generated from that domain.

If it’s not selling a product, building a list, or generating revenue – why do you have it?

If you’ve decided go get rid of it, remove it from your server now so that it saves the time and hassle of updates.

If you’re not sure you’re ready to get rid of it, at least go to your domain registrar and turn off automatic renewal. That way you will have another chance to look at it as renewal comes due.

Fix #2:

As you receive those renewal notices from your registrar, review each domain name. Are you using it? If not, get rid of it.

I know. It’s painful. Because it’s not just saying goodbye to the domain name, but it’s also saying goodbye to the “great idea” that was the reason you bought the domain.

But consider this – it’s costing you money to procrastinate. If you haven’t taken action on that idea until now, what are the chances you will take action in the coming year?

Time Drain #2 – Too Many Tools

In a related article you took inventory of your Online Assets – specifically your tools. Now that you’ve looked at them, you can probably see that you have too many.

For each tool you use you spend time learning it, figuring out how best to use it in your business, and keeping it updated. You’ve invested time and money in that tool.

Look for ways you can pare down the number of tools you use. Not only will you save the money buying the tools, but you’ll save time learning them and time staying up-to-date with the tools.

When you pay attention to these two major time drains and take the actions necessary to reduce them, you’ll find a corresponding amount of time and energy you can add to your online business. Reduce YOUR Time Drains today!

Online assets are an important but overlooked part of your online business. In traditional business terms an asset is anything you own. You can take it one step further and say that everything you own – all of your assets – are there for the purpose of generating a profit.

Online Assets are those tools and properties you own that help you run your business. They include websites, domain names, products, courses, and tools. They also include your “branding” and online reputation.

But to keep this illustration manageable, we are only going to deal with one type of Online Asset – your tools.

If you’ve been online for any time you have accumulated several tools. But if you’re like most people you don’t even know all of the things you own or how valuable they are!

1. So let’s take inventory of your online tools by listing each tool. These include

• software you’ve purchased
• WordPress plugins you use
• Checklists you’ve downloaded
• Websites you belong to, particularly tool sites
• Recurring membership sites where you download items

There are probably more types of tools, but that will get you started. I recommend you use a spreadsheet for this, as it will make some of the next steps easier.

2. Next to each of the tools you list, provide the purpose for the tool in general terms. For example,

Banner Creator is the software, graphics is the purpose
Marketing Graphics Toolkit is the member site, graphics is the purpose
DepositPhotos is the site, graphics
iStockPhoto is the site, graphics
Aweber is the online service, optin pages is the purpose
Podcast Course checklist, podcast is the purpose
Sales Letters Fast plugin, sales letters is the purpose
Sales Letters Fast plugin, optin pages is the purpose
(I listed this one twice because I use it for 2 different things. This will become obvious in the next step.)

3. Now sort the entire list by purpose. This will group tools used for similar purposes together.

This will probably be your first “ah-ha” moment. Two things become obvious:

• You have a lot of tools in some categories. For me, it’s graphics because they are a constant challenge for me, so I tend to buy everything that comes along in hopes of making it easier.
• You have a single tool in some categories. When you consider it, these may be the tools that you use most frequently. They are the bread and butter of your business.

4. You may want to refine your categories even further. For example, if you feel like you need all of those graphics tools, then add a sub-category column with descriptions such as

• Ready-to-use graphics
• Graphics creation
• Graphics editor

5. Keep this list up-to-date for decision making purposes. For example, before you buy another plugin or theme that helps you create sales letters, look at this list.

• Do you need a new tool?
• Are you already using the one you have?
• Do you need to discard the one you have and find a new one?
• Or do you just need to learn to use the one you already have?

As you can see, taking inventory of your online assets is both eye-opening and time-saving. It’s also diagnostic, illustrating the areas of your business where you feel the need for more tools – or better skills.

This same common sense approach is what you’ll find in my best-selling course on how to Organize Your Online Business. You’ll experience the same ah-ha moments and clarity as you go through each of the areas of your business highlighted in the Organization system.

Have you ever taken a cruise? If so, you recognize that feeling of a BIG ocean with a small ocean liner on it. Yes, that cruise ship sounded large when you booked your trip. But now that you’re on the open seas you recognize the immense space you’re a part of.

That same feeling of space applies to your time. Using the illustration of a cruise again, you may have had the sense that you had hours of free time. No appointments. No email. No phone calls. No deadlines.

It’s this sense of space, particularly of time space, that you need to cultivate in your business. Without it, your days are packed full of activities, leaving you with no time to do the long-term thinking you need to grow your business.

So how do you get this space in your schedule? Here are two methods that work.

1. Schedule it. Actually block out days on your calendar to “do nothing.” While this might initially seem counter-productive, you will find the insight you gain with that space is worth every penny of lost productivity.

You may find that you do best with taking a week at a time, every six to twelve months. Or you may do better with taking every Friday off. It depends on your preference.

2. Add it in. When traveling to a conference, build in an extra day before the conference to clear your mind of day-to-day concerns. You’ll get more out of attending the event.

In addition, add an extra day or two onto the end of your trip. You will have time to process your notes, revise your action plan based on the new information you just received, and generally have some time to think.

3. Repurpose your current time. Much has been said about the value of listening to audios as you commute or exercise. But what if you used that time to listen to your internal thoughts instead? You might be surprised at the results when you allow yourself that quiet, as you drive or walk.

Naturally you don’t need to do it every day. But try not listening to audio programs or the radio as you drive to work on Mondays. You will be surprised at the result!

Now that you have the time, how do you use it?

There are two major approaches that seem to work for most people. Try each and see what works best for you. For the first method, you can just “be”, letting the thoughts flow through your head randomly. If you are a creative thinker who grabs unrelated ideas out of thin air and combines them into new thoughts, this may be your best bet.

On the other hand, you may prefer “planned thinking.” With this method, you list the specific things you want to put your thoughts to, then focus on each item in turn. Some people find it helpful to write the thoughts down as they are coming to you – essentially creating an internal dialogue.

Regardless of the methods you choose or the time you take to do your thinking, it is invaluable to create that time space you need to let your mind wander – and your business grow.

If you’re ready to capture those ideas with your new “time space”, then you need to use the Idea Organization System at OrganizeYourIdeas.com

You already know that there is a difference between planning and actually implementing the plan. And the difference lies in your Planned priorities and your Action Priorities.

Planned priorities are those that we plan to take to help us reach our goal. So in the morning you may PLAN to write a report, set up an optin page, then generate some traffic from Facebook.

But then there are your Action priorities. These are the things that you end up actually DOING. Things like checking your email, responding to customer support tickets, answering a question, commenting on blog posts, preparing for your upcoming webinar.

Now while all of those actions were helpful – and maybe even necessary – they aren’t what you planned. And if you’re not doing what you planned, then you’re not going to reach the goals that you set.

So where’s the gap? Here is a simple process to narrow down WHY you are not making the progress in your business that you want.

1. List your PLANNED activities for this week. These are your Planned priorities to achieve your longer-term goals. So under ideal circumstances what would you like to get done this week to move your business forward?

2. List what you typically DO in a week. Write down EVERY thing you do. Those are your Action priorities. They may be  dictated by prior decisions or present circumstances. But regardless of the cause these are the Action you are taking.

3. Now compare your Action priorities to your PLANNED priorities.

What are you NOT doing?

What are you doing in addition to what you planned. Why?

4. Many small business owners focus on Reactive Actions – responding to one demand on their time after another. Ask yourself why? Why do you allow outside forces to determine how you spend your time?

5. Now it’s Decision time. You can continue to React and merely take Action. Or you can Plan your actions – in order to achieve your goals.

If you are not moving forward in your business, it’s probably because you’re not achieving your Planned actions. And where do you get those actions? From Planning Your Online Business, of course!