I was watching the TV show "The Profit" and heard about this guy who had created his entire life around selling something he didn't even like anymore! He just wanted to get away with all the money that came out of this venture. And because they were on such short notice, he had to come up with some kind of plan really fast. And so, he decided to sell his car for $1,000, which turned into a whole lot more than he expected.
He then started thinking about other things that could make him some quick cash. So, he went back to school and got himself a degree in business management. After two years of hard study, he became successful at running his new company while still living in his old house. In fact, he sold his house for over $2 million dollars (which doesn't include real estate commissions) after building his dream empire. How did he go about doing this without having any idea whatsoever of where to begin or what to do next?
Well, he simply chose one thing he liked best and kept repeating it until he succeeded. It's called "autopilot." This concept has been used in aviation since World War II. But now we've taken it to another level--we call it "mindset," as in, when someone starts their day off focusing only on one task. They don't necessarily know what that task will be yet, but they keep coming back to it every morning until eventually it becomes routine and automatic. That's exactly how I'm going to teach you how to build your own autopilot business.
If you think about your current state of mind right now, chances are pretty high that most of your thoughts aren't focused on much of anything specific. Instead, they seem to wander aimlessly through random topics, often getting lost along the way. You might wonder if these mental distractions lead you anywhere useful. Well, I'll tell you straight up -- they definitely don't help you achieve success in life.
But why should you care? Because the truth is, we spend 95% of our lives thinking and 5% actually taking action. By learning how to focus your attention on a single goal, you can significantly improve both your productivity and quality of results.
So let me ask you again: What sort of situations do you allow your brain to run on autopilot? Are you always thinking of the last time you ate? Or maybe you're constantly wondering what you're going to do later today? Maybe you're imagining how great it would feel to take a nap right now. Whatever it may be, consider whether you need to bring things back down to earth a bit.
And once you've identified those areas, try asking yourself what you'd love to accomplish instead. Then commit yourself to spending whatever amount of time necessary to create a daily practice that helps you stay laser-focused on achieving that outcome. When you keep at it consistently, you'll soon see a big difference in your ability to move forward toward your goals.
There are plenty of ways to become better at staying focused throughout your day. One example involves using small breaks between activities to clear your head and regain your energy. Another common technique is listening to music during certain times of the day. Some people swear by meditation, others use affirmations, and others prefer visualization exercises.
Whatever method works for you, remember that you never truly stop working. There's always something else to learn, something else to grow, and something else to fix. As long as you continue to challenge yourself, you'll never plateau -- and I promise you, that's worth celebrating!
What type of situation do you find yourself allowing your brain to work on autopilot?
Now that you know what an autopilot mindset looks like, here's one scenario to give you an example of what I'm talking about. Let's say you wake up each morning feeling tired and worn out. Your body feels heavy, your muscles ache, and your skin is dry. Since you haven't gotten enough sleep lately, you probably turn on the coffee machine before rolling out of bed. Once you're caffeinated, you grab your phone and check Facebook first thing, hoping to catch up on everyone's latest updates. Before you know it, you're sitting across from your computer with nothing left to do except waste the rest of the morning staring at the screen.
This isn't very productive at all. However, if you had committed yourself to waking up early and exercising three mornings per week, you wouldn't have wasted that precious hour scrolling through social media sites. Instead, you'd be able to enjoy a leisurely breakfast with your family, read a book or article on the internet, or talk to friends on Skype. All of these tasks would require less effort than checking your email or browsing Instagram.
Of course, none of us wakes up in perfect shape every day. We all have days when we can barely drag ourselves out of bed. But by committing yourself to creating habits that support healthy living, you set yourself up for success. Eventually, your physical health will follow suit.
While I'm mostly referring to the mind/brain aspect of becoming an effective entrepreneur here, I also believe that the same principles apply to businesses in general. Think about everything you currently do that requires little thought and minimal effort. These are the exact actions that you can automate in order to streamline your workflow and increase your efficiency.
For instance, suppose that you're currently hiring freelance writers to write articles based upon keywords you provide them. While this process takes place, you're free to perform other tasks without interruption. Meanwhile, you can easily monitor the progress of your team members via chat rooms, instant messaging apps, or emails.
In addition to automating repetitive processes, you can also delegate responsibilities to other workers. For example, if you hired an editor to proofread drafts prior to publication, you could assign her the task of managing the blog comments section. She would be responsible for monitoring incoming messages, responding to questions, and posting replies.
Once she mastered this role, you could shift her duties further onto other employees within your organization. Each person you delegate responsibility to will ultimately receive feedback about their performance, which means they can quickly identify strengths and weaknesses. Over time, they'll develop skills and knowledge that will enable them to take on additional roles.
Finally, you can hire virtual assistants to handle all the administrative aspects of your business. From booking travel arrangements to scheduling meetings, these professionals can save you tons of time and headaches. Even though they won't produce tangible products or services, they'll enhance your bottom line by saving you valuable hours of labor.
All of these steps represent simple opportunities for automation. Now imagine how much easier your job would be if you could eliminate unnecessary stress and worry by delegating responsibility to competent experts. Wouldn't you rather invest your energies into growing your business rather than handling mundane clerical tasks?
When you become skilled at identifying tasks that belong on autopilot, you open yourself up to a world filled with endless possibilities. Not only will you achieve greater freedom in your personal life, but you'll also experience far higher levels of satisfaction in the workplace.
Do you wish to start an autopilot business but don't know where to begin or even if it's the right thing for you? You may be wondering whether starting an autopilot business will help you achieve financial independence sooner than other paths could offer. But before you jump into any new venture, let me first explain what exactly "autopiloting" means.
If you've ever heard the term "automation," then that probably conjures up images of robots taking over the world. While automation has been around since ancient times (think about the automated looms), it wasn't until the Industrial Revolution that it really took off. In fact, modern manufacturing relies heavily on automation because of its efficiency and cost savings.
But when it comes to running a business, automating tasks isn't always the best option. It depends on who is doing them, why they need to be done, and whether those actions require human intervention. For example, someone might automate their emails with software to make sending and receiving more efficient. However, this doesn't mean someone else should be managing these email accounts. Instead, he or she would simply receive alerts whenever something needs attention.
So while automation is great for certain jobs, sometimes you still need people to run businesses like making food at restaurants, cleaning offices, selling products on Amazon, etc. These are all jobs requiring manual labor. And as humans, we tend to enjoy these types of activities. So instead of just giving up these jobs, the solution is to create systems that allow us to continue working without having to worry too much about details. This way, our brains stay focused on higher value work—not on mundane tasks that take up most of our time.
This concept applies well to running an online store such as ecommerce stores on Shopify and building a blog on WordPress. Both platforms give users tools to set up shop quickly without needing to learn advanced skills. Automation allows us to focus on creating content and growing relationships with customers rather than spending hours every week updating pages manually.
There are plenty of ways to build an autopilot business using these two platforms. Let's look at three common examples below.
Shopify is one of the top ecommerce platform on the market today. With a free account, anyone can open an online store within minutes. All you need is an email address and password, plus access to the internet. After that, you'll get full control over your storefront, including setting up payment processing, shipping methods, inventory management, customer service, and everything else.
The cool part is that once you sign up, Shopify automatically creates a landing page for you complete with a domain name. Then, you can use Shopify's templates to design your layout and add custom elements. From there, all you need to do is sit back and watch sales roll in!
You can also customize each element on your site through Shopify's themes. There are hundreds available for purchase, ranging anywhere between $0-$100 per theme. Once again, Shopify takes care of the tedious parts for you.
Automated Email Marketing - One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is failing to communicate with potential clients. Most entrepreneurs try to "wing it" by writing generic emails and hoping for the best. That approach rarely works out well. What you need to do instead is write personalized messages based on your buyer personas. This will keep you engaged with your audience and increase conversions.
Automated Social Media Management - Managing social media channels manually requires constant effort. To avoid burnout, you can hire someone to manage your profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+, Tumblr, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, Medium, Vimeo, Vine, Periscope, Twitch, SoundCloud, WhatsApp, Telegram, TikTok, Spotify, Flickr, and others.
Automated Content Creation - Writing articles is hard enough. Trying to juggle multiple publishing schedules, keeping track of SEO keywords, and getting traffic is even harder. Luckily, there are lots of services that handle these aspects for you. Some services include ghostwriters, article schedulers, video creation, infographic makers, and graphic designers.
These aren't the only things you can automate though. There are thousands of apps and programs that can make your life easier. As long as they solve problems you face regularly, it makes sense to invest in them. Here are five popular choices:
1) Evernote - An easy-to-use tool that helps you remember anything and organize information. By default, it syncs across desktop computers, phones, tablets, and notebooks, allowing you to view notes wherever you go. If you need more storage space, you can pay monthly for premium plans.
2) Trello - A project management tool that lets you prioritize projects, assign them to teammates, and schedule due dates. Its simple interface is very intuitive and it's perfect for teams of different sizes. Plus, it integrates seamlessly with Slack and Gmail.
3) Buffer - Another task manager that helps you plan daily posts to various social networks. When it comes down to it, posting consistently is key to success in digital marketing. Using Buffer gives you instant gratification. Whenever you publish a post, it goes live immediately. Your followers see it instantly, which increases engagement and leads to greater exposure.
4) Hootsuite - Similar to Buffer, Hootsuite offers scheduling functions to manage both personal and professional social media. Unlike Buffer, however, it focuses primarily on larger audiences. You can choose from dozens of lists to segment your contacts depending on job title, company size, industry, location, age group, gender, interests, etc.
5) Mailchimp - A powerful email marketing provider that allows you to send targeted newsletters directly to subscribers. You can easily import contact lists from Excel spreadsheets, CSV files, websites, and databases. You can also integrate autoresponders, analytics, tracking pixels, forms, polls, surveys, videos, and much more.
We spend countless hours researching topics, analyzing competitors' strategies, testing product launches, and trying to find answers to questions such as, "who am I targeting?" and "what do I say?". We research, analyze, test, tweak, repeat, rinse, and repeat. It seems endless.
And yet, despite all these efforts, nothing changes. No matter how much money we invest, no matter what we launch, no matter how big our list gets, the results never change. It feels like we're spinning our wheels, going nowhere fast.
In contrast, think about how a Formula 1 race car driver operates. They don't waste energy thinking about what to eat, how to sleep, or how to relax. Their main goal is to maximize speed and performance. They put themselves in a state of flow, doing little more than executing basic movements in order to hit targets. And they do it day after day.
It sounds crazy, but it's actually extremely effective. Studies show that high performers operate under a similar mindset. They constantly seek challenges and opportunities to learn new things. They practice mental exercises such as meditation and mindfulness to improve concentration. They read books and listen to podcasts related to productivity and self improvement. Even during free time, they're reading and learning so they can grow personally and professionally.
As mentioned earlier, there are numerous reasons you'd want to engage in autopilot behavior. Perhaps you already have a successful business and want to scale it further. Maybe you're tired of being broke and want to quit your 9-5 job. Or maybe you're sick of feeling overwhelmed by the stress of owning a traditional brick and mortar retail store. Whatever the case may be, you'll benefit greatly from adopting this mindset.
Here are four benefits you'll experience:
1) Less Work = More Time
When you're operating on autopilot, you won't feel compelled to check your inbox every hour. You won't be worried about deadlines or client expectations. You'll stop worrying about whether you did enough last night. And you'll finally have time to enjoy hobbies and pursue passions outside of work.
2) Higher Income = Lower Stress
One of the worst feelings in the world is knowing you spent six months putting together a killer presentation and got zero responses. Worse, you wasted valuable resources preparing it, only to fail to deliver it. Imagine how relieved you'd be if you had another copy lying around somewhere ready to ship out.
Automatic content generation removes the pressure of coming up with fresh material. You can literally crank out 100s of pieces of quality content every month without lifting a finger. And unlike other freelance writers, you don't have to deal with editors, formatting issues, or paying royalties.
3) Better Health & Wellness
If you've ever wished for more time or money for yourself, then this may be something that interests you. There's nothing wrong with wanting more out of life, especially when everyone else seems to be working their way towards it. It doesn't matter if it's through building up wealth or just taking better care of themselves.
One thing we all know is that starting any sort of business takes some work. No one wants to go into debt for a new venture, and that means you might need to invest a lot of your resources before seeing any significant returns. But what if you could find an easy way around that? What if you didn't actually have to make any effort whatsoever? That would certainly be nice.
So imagine if you had a system that helped you make money while doing absolutely nothing at all. You wouldn't even have to think about it - it would take care of itself! Sounds too good to be true right? Well it isn't exactly as simple as that, but it does offer an interesting alternative to traditional methods of making money (and most people will tell you they aren't interested in that).
Starting a business involves getting your head round certain aspects like branding and market research, but once you get those sorted you'll probably see why these systems can help you avoid having to worry about things like allocating funds, hiring staff or managing inventory. Instead, you focus on creating content, which is often much easier than you'd expect.
The term "autopilot" was coined by Ray Edwards in his book Automatic Income, published in 1974. He used the concept to describe the process of earning recurring revenue without needing to manage every detail of a company. A few years later he expanded on the idea in his best selling book How To Make Money Online Without Making Any Effort At All. In both books he explained how anyone who wanted to start an internet business could use the technique of "auto-piloting".
By using this method, you don't need to spend hours researching products, designing websites or writing sales copy. Your job is simply to create valuable content and let everything else happen automatically. This has become known as an "automated business", where you sell other peoples' services rather than your own.
There are plenty of examples of businesses that operate using the autosurf model, such as ClickBank and Warrior Forum. These sites provide automated tools that allow users to sign up for offers, read reviews and submit affiliate links. Other companies also offer similar services, including Wealthy Affiliate, which teaches its members how to build profitable websites.
In reality, there's far more to running an automated business than meets the eye, though. Here are five tips to consider:
1) Find a niche market
Your first step in setting up an automating business should involve finding a product or service you believe in strongly enough to promote. Start by reading blogs written by successful entrepreneurs and marketers within your chosen industry. Do a bit of keyword searching to see whether others are talking about your topic. Then look at the competition, because chances are someone else is offering the same type of advice. Once you have identified potential customers, it's important to understand their needs and motivations. Are they looking for information or solutions? Is it possible to solve a problem? And how big is the opportunity?
2) Develop a website
Once you decide upon a niche market, your next task is to develop a website. This should ideally contain two main components: text and images. Text provides useful information to readers, whilst images are essential for drawing visitors in. Most importantly, however, you must ensure that your site remains search engine friendly. Google loves fresh content, so the sooner you update your site the faster it will appear in relevant searches.
3) Use social media
Social networks have grown enormously popular over recent years, and now millions of people worldwide share daily updates and pictures via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. By posting regular updates, you can encourage interaction with followers. When done correctly, this strategy can boost traffic to your site, potentially increasing conversions and generating additional leads. However, keep in mind that automation is only effective if you choose high quality partners. Avoid spammy accounts and fake profiles, otherwise your efforts could backfire spectacularly.
4) Get affiliates involved
Affiliates are independent contractors who agree to promote particular brands in exchange for commission payments. They usually set up banner ads on their own sites, which link directly to the advertiser's website. Alternatively, they can write articles promoting the brand and place them on article directories. Getting affiliates involved allows you to tap into a huge network of potential clients, boosting exposure and improving conversion rates. Just remember to give affiliates clear instructions regarding how they should approach prospective buyers.
5) Keep track of results
It goes without saying that tracking statistics is crucial to success. Analyze data regularly to determine whether changes made to your advertising campaigns are producing positive results. Consider testing different adverts to identify the ones that generate more interest and convert better.
Although autospending sounds great, it's not really owned by anybody. Rather, it relies heavily on third party providers to deliver the goods. For example, Wealthy Affiliate uses WA Automation to power its autosphere, whereas ClickBank utilizes CB AutoPay to handle affiliate commissions.
As mentioned above, each solution operates differently, so you won't necessarily receive support from every provider. Nonetheless, if you run across a reliable partner, it's worth exploring their offerings further.
A common misconception associated with the word 'autosurfing', is that it refers to buying and reselling digital items. While this is technically correct, it's hardly indicative of the full scope of possibilities available to individuals operating under this method. Many experts recommend avoiding this route altogether, since it requires considerable capital upfront and leaves little room for error.
Instead, consider focusing on monetizing blog posts or videos instead. Writing original material is highly rewarding, and if you can prove your expertise within your field, you stand to gain significantly from doing so.
Whether you opt for an ecommerce store, a membership site or anything else, it's important to establish a solid foundation. Otherwise, you risk wasting time chasing after false prospects and losing momentum along the way.
Yes, although there are numerous programs designed specifically to automate tasks relating to blogging, web design and SEO. Most of these platforms include drag & drop templates, prewritten code snippets and readymade landing pages. Others offer training materials and guidance to teach you how to apply techniques effectively.
For instance, Wealthy Affiliate includes a free course called Learn Digital Marketing and Copywriting, which introduces users to the fundamentals of internet marketing. Although it focuses primarily on paid advertising, the lessons laid out throughout the guide are applicable to almost any kind of content creation project.
And finally, if you're struggling to come up with ideas for your own content, check out our list of awesome ideas for bloggers.
You don't need to buy expensive software or hire professional designers -- there are plenty of ways to produce stunning websites without breaking the bank. As long as you follow the steps outlined above, you shouldn't encounter major issues. If you prefer to rely on expert assistance, try out HubSpot's online toolkit. It lets you quickly create landing pages, squeeze pages, blog posts and email newsletters.
At the end of the day, it comes down to personal preference. Some people thrive off manual processes, while others appreciate a hands-off experience. Either way, the sky is the limit when it comes to automating your business activities.
Just follow our battle-tested guidelines and rake in the profits.