Idiots – you know – the sort of people who are going somewhere to do something but get distracted by something shiny on the floor.

I’m one.

I’m not distressed by being aware of my idiocy, nor am I proud of it. It’s just there, like my nose or the frog that’s currently hibernating under the barbecue in my garden (I think he’s an idiot too).

But in order to be successful at what you do – in my case Internet Marketing AND be an idiot, you have to come up with little ‘idiot aids’ to help you.

One of these is my ‘always to do’ file on my PC. Sometimes when I come to the end of a project I’m at a bit of a loose end. Once something is completed I struggle a bit deciding what to do next. The problem isn’t that I have nothing to do – it’s that I have a bloody great list of ideas, projects and businesses that all need work. The hard part is deciding what to do.

I know from experience that if I try to actually think about what to do next I end up staring into space, looking at websites I shouldn’t or emailing people who are higher up the idiot tree than me. None of these gets any work done. Not too bad if I had a real job where someone would pay me to stare at the wall, but because of what I do, if I don’t work I don’t eat.

So the folder on my PC is a bit of a lifesaver because it allows me to do small, relatively quick tasks that serve two purposes:

1. They bring in money

2. They allow my brain to decide ‘what comes next’ because it takes some time off from wall-staring doing something which doesn’t involve TOO much thought so it can plan for the future at the same time.

One of these ‘folder’ tasks is to create a small viral report then set if ‘free’ on the net.

Thus it wanders forth and periodically sends money back into my Paypal account. If you want to know how to create these have a look at http://www.viralsneakiness.com

The other things in my folder include stuff like adding autoresponder messages to my sequence, posting on my blogs and writing reports. All of which give the reader some kind of way of sending me money, which of course is what working online is about.

So I was thinking the other day about income streams and what percentage of my income arrives from where. And while the big launches, high profile JV’s and flashy sites obviously generate cash, a very healthy proportion – very healthy – comes from small repetitive tasks like viral reports, stocking up the autoresponders, OTO’s (one time offers) and giveaways with upsell.

It’s small stuff that drives the big bucks in IM.

And I’d be an idiot to forget that.

•