My Egg Noodles

A few months back my partner (in a company I started at the beginning of the year) told me 2 words that have become the center stage in almost everything I do work wise: simplify and focus. If I said these words out loud every time I said them people would think I’m nuts. Yes, I say them a lot. Simplify and focus.

The reason being is that I’m a nightmare for coming up with new ideas for projects, starting them and leaving them to grow bacteria while I move onto the next idea. And I know I’m not alone. I have lot’s of friends who also work online that share the same problem. Let’s face it, the entry barrier to starting a new web project has never been easier or cheaper.

With lot’s of sites in different niches, projects that need lot’s of maintenance to projects that are a bit to ambitious due to limited resources, I needed to work out what sites were going to stay, and want sites could sit waiting for another day.

My aim was simple: to simplify things. I used a combination of visitor stats, revenue, potential level, data from Google Trends, keyword research and maintenance time. I then grouped the sites into niches and with the above data I worked out I would set up 3 holding companies – companies that will handle a bunch of sites in their own areas of niche.

I have ended up with 3 companies and I will limit each to manage 100 sites. Setting the sites up into holding companies makes it easier to focus. I’ll have the ability to build new sites – as long as it will compliment the others in that particular holding company.

Splitting them up into different companies also allows me to work with different people. I also want to build small teams (Taking advice from Richard Branson here on small teams work best). I’ll get to work with different partners and lastly, this should help prevent the urge to go of direction.

All 3 companies are in a mess at the moment (one hasn’t even been launched yet), but I will reveal the companies in all their mighty glory at the end of the year. This should put a bit of pressure on me to get the companies in perfect order.

Simplify and focus.

If you are like me and start projects and never complete them, I recommend simplifying and re-structuring the projects, which in turn will help with focusing. Build a list of the sites you have, break them down, create networks where the sites compliment each other (which is great for selling advertising down the road) and then create a solid road map.

I now have 3 folders and 3 Excel spread-sheets on my desktop, one for each company. Data and files are located in the folders while my to-do list, expenses, ideas etc. are listed in the spread-sheets. Nothing complicated. When I start work I open a spread-sheet and start grinding through the to-do list.

Since I have done this I have seen a huge improvement in my work ethic, decision making and general thinking. The benefits have even spread over into my personal life – I’m a lot more happier now knowing I have focus. It’s helped me a lot.

Simplify and focus.