Your Online Assets Inventory

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.

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