New Design at newInternetOrder.com!

nio-designIf you’re reading this through an RSS feed then hop over to newInternetOrder.com and check out my new design! If you’re already here then … well … hi!

Long story short, here’s the new design.

I wanted to change something for a long time now. These days, more and more blogs decide to go a more purpose-centered path, where the posts themselves are not all that matters, and the aim is to make the advice much more structured. This is also the path I’ve chosen for this site from now on.

There are a couple of important things to mention about this new look. So here we go:

The blog

As you can see, the blog (link) is no longer present on the homepage. Instead, it has its own dedicated section.

The 6 Pillars of Online Business

pillars-sBig sounding headline, isn’t it? Actually, I’m using it to convey the gravity of the topic, and emphasize that running an online business requires you to put some groundwork in place, hence the pillars.

Of course, this is just my take on the matter, and you’ll surely find other entrepreneurs and bloggers who will present a completely different approach. However, if you want to find a good starting point for your online business, I believe this is it.

The trick with online business is that it’s not the most intuitive line of career out there.

I mean, if you want to open a traditional brick-and-mortar café, for example, then even though the venture will still be challenging, you kind of know what you need to take care of in order to succeed … things like: good location, nice interior design, good deals with suppliers, professional team of employees, education and training programs for employees, advertising, good and unique offer, attractive prices, and so on. Listing all these things isn’t that difficult. But what about online business? Well, online business has its own pillars…

Are You Productive as an Online Business Owner?

workspaceThis question might seem like a fairly simple one to answer. At least that was my initial opinion… But as it turns out, there’s no sensible way of measuring our productivity levels.

I mean, even if we feel like fairly productive people, we can’t be sure what our true potential is. Who knows, maybe we could get twice as many tasks done every day…

So what to do to find out? I guess that the only possibility is to keep improving our productivity, day by day, no matter how good we think we are.

(Now, this is not going to be a purely speculative post talking about this or that, I actually have some advice I want to share that will help you achieve more during your workday.)

Day in the Life of an Online Business Designer

workSo I get up, do nothing, and go to sleep.

Okay, I don’t.

Anyway, here’s my (Karol’s) usual day. Whether you like it or not, I’m really about to write this post.

So here goes.

When to get up to be effective

I was always a late riser. For no particular reason actually, other than the fact that I simply couldn’t get up in the morning, so I was constantly getting up around 11AM, which isn’t even morning any more.

But as years went by I realized that for some strange reason I’m much more productive in the morning. Each time I got up early I was able to get done significantly more during the day. So in the end, I decided to make it a new habit.

Getting Things Done – Online Entrepreneur’s Secret to Success

gtd organizerGetting Thing Done has changed the lives of many people around the world. Maybe you’re a proud member of that group or maybe you’re not (yet). No matter what your situation is, getting to know this methodology is surely worth the time because it might be exactly what you need to improve your productivity.

(Just in case you don’t know what I’m talking about … Getting Things Done is a personal productivity methodology created by David Allen that’s taking world by storm.)

That being said, GTD is not something you’re not using one day, and then using to the max the next day. The process of getting into GTD needs to be planned, and requires a set of initial steps. One of which is getting familiar with the methodology itself – i.e. reading the book.

GTD is not just a set of loose tips and guidelines. It’s a complete system that has been developed over a number of years in many different environments, for many different people. And as a result, it can work for almost anybody, but it has a bit of a learning curve.