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There is a famous story in business articles and productivity books. It’s often attributed to different people and the exact dollar figure that the consultant was paid is always different.

But the story goes something like this: A man was concerned that he wasn’t being very productive. So he asked a consultant for a suggestion. That consultant made a profound suggestion that worked! He told the man to do the following: before leaving work at the end of the day, list the top three things he wanted to accomplish the following day. Then, when he got into work the next day, he should tackle them in order, not starting one until the one before it was complete. He was to keep working until he finished all three. Then he could be done for the day.

This story has taken on a life of its own and it is retold in every productivity book, but it never grows old. That’s because the truth of this tale, no matter how fictional the story itself is, is universal.

If you want to be successful in business - whether your business is online or offline - you need to know what you want to accomplish and prioritize it.

Now, the story itself was clearly written in an era when the owner of a business had a plush office and a company car and could come and go as he or she pleased. Nowadays, most online business owners work out of their homes (and sometimes have another job until their small business grows) so the story needs to be tweaked and updated for the modern entrepreneur.

The new moral of the story might be this: Prioritize everything! Rather than listing the top three items to be done, list everything and assign a number (from 1 to infinity… and for most entrepreneurs, the list seems that long!).

Then, get to work. Start at one and begin working down. Periodically you’ll have to re-prioritize as changes occur in your business. Task management programs such as Microsoft Outlook can help with prioritization. Even just a Microsoft Word document with an auto-numbering feature is better than nothing.

If you start working on the first one and keep going until you cannot work any more on it, then move to the next point on your list, you’ll see two things happen:

First, your productivity will increase dramatically because you’ll have started to hone in on doing what needs to be done.

And, second, you will work far more efficiently because you know the most important thing to do and you’re doing it first, before everything else.

Planning is essential to making the best use of our time. A tool that many of us use to try and maintain a sense of priorities is a to-do list. Have you ever used a to-do list? We decide to make a list, and then as we accomplish a task from the list we cross it off. What a feeling! And when we do something that wasn’t on the list, we add it to the list so that we can cross it off - another great feeling! We just love to cross things off the list. Why do we love it? It feels terrific and studies show that when we cross a task off our list our brain produces a rush of endorphins, causing us to feel good.

Of course we want to feel good, but this is a temporary high. Traditional to-do lists are just maintenance lists - it’s what needs to be done to keep our heads above water. We often reach the end of the day and realize we didn’t spend our time doing the things we most wanted to. That could be because the highest priorities in our lives rarely make it onto the to-do lists. Let’s change that.

Hyrum Smith, author of The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management, suggests renaming the list a “Prioritized Daily Task List.” The name’s a bit long, but it suggests that more important items are going to be on the list along with daily maintenance items. Smith indicates there are three steps to making a meaningful prioritized daily task list:

1. Make a list of everything you would like to accomplish today, including tasks that are not urgent. Jot down anything and everything.

2. Give a value to each item on the list. It’s called the ABC valuing system. Assign the letter A to anything that is vital and must absolutely be done today. The letter B goes next to tasks that are important and should be done. Last, letter C is given to anything that is relatively trivial and that could be done. If nothing else happens today, you will accomplish the A’s. If near the end of the day all of the A’s have been accomplished then you can do the B’s. If at the end of the day you have time left over, you can tackle the C’s.

3. Give a numerical value to each item on the list. Go through your list one more time and prioritize the A’s, B’s and C’s. That is, determine the relative importance of each task. For example, the most important A task would be labeled A-1, the second most important, A-2, etc. Do the same with the B’s and C’s.

So now you have a well-prioritized list. But it’s no good unless you use it properly. How good would you feel if at the end of the day all of the C’s have been done, but the two most important things, A-1 and A-2, remain untouched?

You’ve given the tasks their value; now proceed according to that ranking for a true feeling of accomplishment. The prioritized daily task list can be a powerful tool!

As an entrepreneur, you need to understand your market before starting your business or before proposing a new product or service. Internet Market Research is an appropriate tool for such a task. Using this tool can help you carry out your market research at a very reasonable cost.

The definition of a business’ marketing policy is essential for its development and success. The quality of such a definition depends on the quality of the target market research. In addition to providing a better understanding of the market, such research will also facilitate the development of a quality business plan and help you reach your business goals.

Until recently, most small businesses were unable to carry out market research, often because of the high cost. However, the emergence of new research techniques has made market research much more accessible and affordable.

Internet Market Research is such a technique. It has become much more reliable, in contrast to previous years. In fact, thanks to the large growth of the number of Internet surfers and advanced data collection techniques, market research companies now have more opportunities than ever to obtain representative samples for their target market. Research quality depends considerably on such samples. As of 2005, according to the “European Association of Marketing Study and Research” (ESOMAR), two-thirds of the quantitative research was carried out on the Internet.

The use of the Internet as a means of data collection simplifies the market researchers’ work. It allows for a considerable reduction in delays and costs, and makes such research financially affordable to small business and home business.

Example - Someone interesting in writing about business travel would need to study the market before starting to work. The writer would need to evaluate the market and discover exactly what audience and topics each magazine, e-zine, newspaper, etc. targets. The writer could then order a poll on the Internet - at a very reasonable price - that researches the needs and interests of business travelers, such as the destinations they visit and services they require. Having such market knowledge can greatly increase the writer’s chance of getting published.

Some of the key advantages of Internet Market Research are as follows:

- attract rare, high-demand markets with precision and accuracy

- transfer all types of documents (photos, pictures, sounds, etc.)

- tap into remote target markets (essential for an export business)

- tap into a wealth of private and business research panel information

The final evaluation of the information collected by your Internet Market Research should provide the following benefits:

- identify the needs and expectations of your current and potential customers

- understand the evolution of the customer’s purchasing habits

- discover your competition’s strong and weak points

The improved understanding of your market will enable you to refine your range of products and services, and improve the distribution and communication policies of your business. You will soon be attracting new customers, maintaining current customers, and reaching your business goals.