You know how it goes.
An email pops into your inbox. It contains an interesting offer that might be useful for you later. You click on “buy” and get taken to the download page after jumping a couple of hoops.The info looks good so you download the product, grab the bonuses … and save it all to your ‘To Review’ folder.
Next thing you know you’re surfing the web and find a few good templates so you download those for later.
While you’re checking Facebook a sponsored post pops up offering a free report that’s very tempting … so you click over and download it to read in future. Then you notice a link in your newsfeed to a Udemy course that’s free for today only. You click through, register for the course and download the videos and resources.
Twitter alerts you to a great little digital book on Amazon that is free today only too so you grab that.
You sit back in your chair, stretch out your arms behind you, straighten out your back and notice your watch seems to have jumped ahead 3 hours! Whoa!
Starting out your day you’d scheduled to script out a video and record it, write the first part of a new report and publish a blog post. None of it happened and now you’re kicking yourself for getting sidetracked by all that temptation.
If that’s an occasional occurrence for you, then no real damage done. Everything you downloaded is in support of your business plan and you schedule when and how you’ll implement those items.
If that, however, is an habitual behavior patten then you’re stuck. You’re fulfilling a need and you’d best find out what that need is. Clarity? You can’t decide what you should be selling. Confidence? You know what you should be selling but you’re not sure you can do it to your own or others standards. Or something else?
Problem is, until you stop downloading more than you are uploading, you’ll struggle to make progress. You’ll always be busy but not profitable. Active but not productive.
The only way to make money in any business is to sell.
To sell online, you need buy buttons.
To have buy buttons you need a product or service to sell.
Unless you upload an offer for your service or a product, you will not make money.
So, are you uploading more than downloading? Or the reverse?
Consider this a reality check.
Act accordingly.
Great eye opener post here. I go through spurts of crazy download fever and productive upload sessions.
When funds to pay bills start to dwindle it is probably because I’m ‘downloading too much’.
I like your question – what is it you are really wanting? Confidence? etc… I wonder?
I actually rarely downloading or sign-up for anything unless I’m sure it’s useful. But thanks for the reminder, I’ll keep that in mind.
Good on you, Timothy! Sounds like you are in production and profit mode.
Ever since embracing the minimalistic lifestyle, I’ve been adopting its principles to the digital world and really holding myself back from downloading every ebook or digital item that needs downloading. Very timely information!
Wonderful! You’re aware and embracing the downloading for a current purpose principle. How’s the flip side going for you – producing and publishing? Appreciate you stopping by 🙂
I try my best NOT to download and I don’t think I do too much… However I do stream movies and YouTube A LOT!
Gigi, it’s great that you’re conscious of that. Question is whether that streaming is a distraction or for a useable purpose. Thanks for being here .
Oh, I’m so busted. I download stuff constantly. Just this morning I’ve already downloaded 3 free books on Kindle that ran past my Facebook feed. I do try and limit all that looking around temptation to no more than an hour per day. Once I get my day going I leave it all behind and focus on my own work. Good reality check though, thanks for sharing!
Downloading is not a bad thing if you have a clear purpose for it. The challenge is are you uploading equally or more to build your business? I know you blog regularly, Misty. Are you producing products as well?
Yes, yes, and yes! I download too much. I download ebooks that I never look at! I download free stuff all the time that I promptly forget. Also, I sign up for too many email lists. I have reached a tipping point, however. I used Unroll.me to delete hundreds of email subscriptions, and am in the process of cleaning up other things on my computer that I’ll never have the time to look at. All part of the wintertime de-cluttering, baby! Also, (ironically) I’m getting ready to release my own ebook, so figuring out that process is a priority. My release date is next week! Great post, thank you so much!
Aha, you’ve already converted yourself, Amy. Well done! I look forward to seeing that book hitting its straps 🙂 Thanks for coming by – it’s wonderful to welcome new commenters!
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