How to Create a Leverage Mindset

You might have heard many of the so-called Internet Marketing gurus talk about the benefits of a ‘leverage mindset.’ The question is, “what is leverage and how can it help my online business.”

Well in this post, we’re going to discuss the many aspects of leverage and how it can help you develop a six-figure online business.

A Quick Definition of Leverage

There are many ways people define leverage. I prefer a simple description. “Leverage is using whatever assets you posses to help achieve a goal in the most efficient manner.”

Okay, I know this is a little wordy. So an even quicker definition is using the resources you possess to maximize your results.

When I talk about leverage, I primarily mean you should concentrate on two things:

1. Focusing on the activities related to your core genius.
2. Creating systems that run on autopilot

Now to give a better understanding of leverage, here are a few different ways to develop this mindset…

#1- Leveraging Your Time

The only limited resource we have on this earth is our time. When you decide to spend time doing one activity, you’re sacrificing time that could be spent on another activity.

Every week, I’m very careful with how I spend my time. I’m a firm believer in the 80/20 principle and constantly strive to make sure I’m doing activities that bring the most results.

When it comes to time, you have to make sure that you’re doing things that are really impacting your business. Take a close look at what you do on a daily basis and decide if it’s really important. And even if a task is important, try to see if it’s something that can be outsourced or delegated to another person.

Always be vigilant about how you’re spending your time because it’s the resource that you possess.

#2- Leveraging Content You’ve Created

In a few guest posts at James’s site (Part 1 and Part 2), I discussed the value of leveraging your content. (I won’t rehash what’s written there, so I recommend that you take a look at each article.)

The main point behind leveraging your content is this. With Internet Marketing, you’re in the business of creating content. So why not find multiple uses for this content?

For instance, let’s say you created an article. You could easily turn this article into a podcast. Or a video. Or even add it to a special report that you offer your list subscribers.

Leveraging your content is one of the best ways to maximize the resources that you’ve created while saving you lots of time.

#3- Leveraging Your Systems

I’m a huge fan of “set it and forget it” solutions. When setting up any sort of online business, you want to start with your end-goal in mind. And that goal should be to not be a critical part of your Internet Marketing machine.

Obviously, you want to manage the entire process. But overall, an online business should run in a systems format where you’re not doing much to make sure it’s running smoothly.

To give you an example, here’s a quick video where I explain my affiliate marketing system.

Right now, I challenge you to sit down with a pen and paper and map out the system for your online business. If you can’t map it out in a simple diagram, then you probably don’t have a system that runs efficiently.

#4- Leveraging Existing Technology

The Internet has an abundance of technology that can turn your online business into a well-oiled machine. The one thing I consistently do is analyze my process and look for technology solutions to automate the actions that are important.

For instance, I use the Aweber Email Marketing service to handle my entire database of newsletter subscribers and customers. All I need to do is create content and this program handles everything else. I leverage this technology by making it part of my system and then letting Aweber do all the hard work.

Another example is I recently purchased a Twitter software program that “Follows” and “Unfollows” specific groups of people I’m targeting. I figured out how this software works, and then I turned it over to an outsourcer.

Now for the price of about $5, I automatically get an average of 300 followers each week. The best part is this technology has freed up my time to the things that I do best.

#5- Leveraging Human Resources

When running an online business, understand that most of what you do can easily be accomplished by somebody else. And in all likelihood, this person can probably do a better job than you can.

It simply amazes me to see somebody who makes large sums of money engaging in “grunt work” that could easily be hired to somebody else for a fraction of the cost. Don’t get caught in the mindset that you have to do everything yourself. The world is full of perfectly capable individuals who can take over many of your tasks and handle them in an incredibly efficient manner.

If we go back to my first point, it’s important to recognize that your time is absolutely precious. My advice is to figure out how much your time is worth on an hourly basis and then outsource any task that’s under this fixed amount.

Final Thoughts…

I know I just threw a lot of concepts at you. Here’s one ‘take-away’ I hope you get from this post…

Always monitor the time you’re spending on your online business.

When you consistently analyze the “work” you do on your business, you’ll notice areas that can be outsourced or made more efficient by technology. By implementing the leverage strategy, you’ll have more free time that can be spent on profit-producing activities or time that can be spent doing the things that you love.

Take Action. Get Results.