I think it is important to create a plan of action and set some basic guidelines for your work. This is essential for people like me who have very little free time to invest in their online business but I believe anyone would benefit from a little planning in which case we also recommend this post about the paystubs anatomy. One thing I have learned in this area is that you should set realistic goals, especially at first when you are all hyped up and excited. Intentionally hold yourself back a little.
Suppose writing articles is part of your passive income idea and you think you can easily publish five articles per week. You might want to consider reducing that number to two or so. Instead make sure they are super high quality. Once you’ve established this practice as a habit you can increase your output little by little. If you push yourself to the limit from the start you risk burning out, growing tired of your project and abandoning it. Don’t fall victim to the “three-day monk syndrome” as Leo from Zen habits calls it. It’s a marathon, not a sprint and you need a way tokeep your project on track.
Here are some of my personal guidelines.
- Write one article per week
This may not seem like a lot but as I said, my main concern at the moment is sustainability and quality. Right now I have a huge number of ideas that I want to write about but I hold myself back (I am always jotting down ideas as they come to me though).
- Work on one project at a time
Same thing here – I have a million business ideas (each worth at least a million dollars 
) and I am excited about all of them. However, I know I am not good at juggling several projects at the same time. To make progress, I need focus. This blog and the forum are the only exception to this rule and I shall try to update them regularly.
- Define my tools and avoid buying useless stuff!
This is important. For example, Jaana from stramcreator has announced she would be using Site Build It for her business. As I was reading her blog post I found myself wondering if I should go for it too. I then spent a good 30 minutes researching SBI, reading SBI “reviews” (of course, most of them are biased since SBI has a strong affiliate program). I not only risked making an impulsive purchase but also wasted valuable time that I could have spent working on my own projects. Buying stuff for your new business can be easy to justify: “Sure I can spend $100 on this piece of software – it will help me make millions.” 
From what I have learned so far though, all the essential tools you need for online business are available for free. Most of the paid tools simply collect the free information and organize it in some meaningful way, which could potentially save you time (market samurai is a good example of that). This is great if you have the resources. Here is a good rule of thumb to determine whether you can really, really afford something: ask yourself – “can I buy two of those without hurting my budget”? – if the answer is yes and the tool seems useful, go for it!
So, here are my tools(for a more detailed list visit the Resources area):
WordPress with some free plugins
Standard webhosting from Hostgator
Market Samurai for keyword research
Aweber(I’ve been using it to deliver an inspirational newsletter and might use for list building in the future)
That seems sufficient for now. If I ever want to buy something else, I must write a blog post about it, listing all the reasons why it would be a good purchase. That way I should avoid any impulsive decisions.
- No monetization attempts on this blog
If I try to, this blog would become another passive income project and that would violate my second rule. I want to keep this blog simple. Its purpose is to keep track of my progress, share my experience/challenges/success and connect with other people.
Additionally, I just wanted to share this with you: familiarize yourself with the GOOG intrinsic value if you’re looking for flexibility in your investing decisions.
