Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence and
So the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're going through

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't tell to them to grow up and out of it
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Where's your shame
You've left us up to our necks in it
Time may change me
But you can't trace time

I started this blog a year and a half ago - it was to chart my success (or so I hoped) in creating a full time income as a writer, and to share those experiences and new knowledge gained with as many people as possible. In time I planned (and succeeded in) bringing to market some products I could sell based on that learning.

In those early days, focus was easy. Recently, it has become impossible.

Like so many of you, I have created blogs in other niches, taken on some consultancy work, become part of some joint ventures and I've written a couple of books. I've taken on these other tasks to create more income streams, and that has been good. And as our (my wife is as much as part of this as I am) success has spread, so have the offers of more work piled up. Another JV here, some help with promotion there, contracts to train people in social media, a couple of charities that needed some help, and interviews with local radio and newspapers.

This time last year I was a blogger. Now I suddenly find myself as the CEO of one US company and one European company - those aren't cool titles dreamed up to look good on a business card either. Both are limited companies, and the job has the responsibilities that goes with it, in one case to three other shareholders, as well as to clients, the tax man and the banks.

I've found increasingly this year that I'm working too many hours, and that too many of those hours have been ineffective as I switch from doing one thing to the next.

In short, it was time to examine my work and work flow, and make some changes.

I started by taking a full day out and charting what I have actually been doing for the last four months. That was shocking in itself. Next, I tried to attach a return on investment to each of those tasks. That was easy for the stuff which earns money, but I didn't (and you shouldn't) limit it to that. I also considered the potential ROI of doing free or inexpensive work to get paid work and giving free content to help sell paid content. And I wanted to leave the charity stuff where it was.

It soon became apparent that too much time and effort was going into things where the ROI was low, or non existent, and not enough where the return was really worthwhile.

Pareto and his infamous principle were happily at work in my life and business.

Nothing was sacred - everything was open to question. Do I need it? Should I be doing that?

Even this blog, the very heart of everything that is my online business, came under that same, strict scrutiny. And, like so many other things, it did not emerge unscathed.

I have no intention of boring you with all of the gory details here, as much of it isn't even relevant to you. But to cut a very long story short, we examined everything we do where the ROI was poor, and we either killed it, or outsourced it. We then examined what was left and looked to see how we could become more effective in each of the key areas of the businesses.

And so we finally come to what the plan is here on Mike's Life. But before I expand on that, let's talk about Beyond Blogging. It started as a one off book project with Nathan.

It's now evolved into The Beyond Blogging Project, which will run every few months, our consultancy service for bloggers is in demand, we've committed to produce a new book every year, featuring a new set of super bloggers, and there's even a monthly DVD in the works. It's also opened the doors for us to speak at various events and to sit on some panels, and created some amazing networking opportunities amongst the top bloggers in the world. The point is this - everything we do with Beyond Blogging works. People love what we're doing to help them, and that in turn generates excellent income - several times now, we have generated five figure sales in a day. So instead of putting a part time effort into Beyond Blogging, it makes sense for it to be my full time job.

Here's what this means for Mike's Life. This blog has evolved over time as a resource for new and learning bloggers, a place to help people who want to create a long term sustainable income using a blog as the basis for doing so. In future, I will be putting those types of posts and that type of information onto the Beyond Blogging blog. So if that's your interest, please sign up for the RSS feed, or visit the site and join the email and newsletter list.

Mike's Life will revert to what it was meant to be at conception. A place for me to let you know what I'm doing, share some of my thoughts with you, to tell you what I've learned and to caution you against making the mistakes I inevitably will. The content will be much more diverse than you may have become used to in the last year, and I won't be holding back on anything.

But it will no longer be a blog about blogging.

And I won't be posting anything like as frequently here - I've averaged more than one post a day since we started. In future the posts will be longer and much less frequent.

Some of you will choose to stop reading this blog, and I understand that. But if you have benefitted from what you've been reading here, I can assure you that you will do so from reading the Beyond Blogging blog.

The archives will stay where they are, but you'll see some changes in design over the next few days, changes that will make it clear to new people why they might like to become part of the community here.

It's not often that you get a 1200 word post on Mike's Life. Now it's your turn. What are your thoughts? Is this something you should be doing in your business?