A Vacation from My Vacation
November 23rd, 2007
I’ve been back home for approximately three days now and I’m still recovering from my vacation; the day after I returned, I woke up with a nasty flu bug.
But, I’m not about to start complaining because the vacation was a much needed one. I traveled through parts of Europe with my sister, niece, and cousin. This trip afforded me some time to think about my personal life direction, the direction of my business, and how to achieve my personal goals.
Frankly, I believe that everyone should take some time out of everything to relax — even if it means you’ll just bunk out in a hotel one city away from your own.
However, before leaving for my vacation and even during my vacation, people still kept asking me whether or not I would complete the 20/20 Challenge or if I’d completely given up. Although I’ve made a few fleeting comments about it, I figure it could use a formal blog entry.
As you may have noticed, I’m only up to Day 6 and it seems I’ve stalled. Well, I have stalled a bit, but I haven’t completely abandoned the project. The reason for stalling is my prior obligations and my unwillingness to compromise my schedule.
I, however, have come far enough to issue a bit of advice for anyone who’s thinking about taking up this challenge: It’s difficult, it’s time consuming, and it can become a drag if you’re not a highly self-motivated individual. If you’re planning on investing the money in this course, be prepared to invest the time and energy as well.
Will I be requesting a refund? I’ve seriously thought about it. But, I’ve opted not to because I’m still pressing on and cannot make a final decision of whether the promise was delivered. Sure, I haven’t made $20,000 in 20 days from my date of purchase, but I also haven’t worked on the project every day consecutively for 20 days either and I take full responsibility for that.
When I do finish my challenge, I’ll look at it from the total number of days I invested in the project and my net income before making any final decisions.
So, just in case you missed it, I haven’t given up, quit, or thrown in the towel when it comes to completing the 20/20 Challenge project. It merely went on hiatus until I could get caught up with my prior obligations, but I fully hope to get the ball rolling again come the beginning of December and have it finished up by mid-December.
But, for the time being, I have an already established business to run, websites I must update for the holiday season, and Real Life™ obligations to get under control.
#1 Ian wrote…
November 24th, 2007 at 5:23 amHi Teli,
It has been great hearing your thoughts on “The Challenge”. Many thanks for recording them.
I am contemplating possibly doing “The Challenge”. I like the idea of a plan and task list to follow on a daily basis together with the idea of the support forum (although I’m not really sure how good that is). I would really appreciate hearing what it is that makes the challenge “difficult”. And, I guess, are there certain types of people or approaches that would change it from difficult to easy?
Also, (this is just a wild hope here!) have you come across other similar projects that you believe are worthy of consideration when looking at this one?
Many thanks!
Ian
#2 Teli wrote…
November 24th, 2007 at 10:39 pmHi Ian,
The level difficulty would certainly depend on perspective. What made it difficult for me personally was how some of the daily tasks were laid out.
It felt as though some task lists would most certainly require well over a day’s worth of work to complete (and he even mentions that you can split it into two or three days…but that kind of defeats the purpose of it being a “daily task”).
Because of some tasks requiring more of my time, it became difficult to find the additional necessary time to complete it when I already had a full time schedule.
The other reason I consider it difficult is the collection of potential JV partners. That entire section is sparse. Yes, he explains the basic formula he uses to find potential JV partners, but that’s it. He doesn’t take into account certain variables such as JV partners who already have a product they’re trying to sell or other methods for locating JV partners. That’s where your own creativity will need to come into the mix.
Finally, the product selection phase can be extraordinarily difficult if you’re not certain what to look for. You may end up investing money in a product to re-brand only to find out that it’s complete crap or there simply isn’t a market willing to pay for the information.
However, I should note at this point that you can visit the support forum and people would be willing to help you out if you get stuck in these areas. It’s just an added step in my opinion that could have been avoided.
Off the top of my head, The 30 Day Challenge by Frank Kern has been one I’ve heard about frequently when the 20/20 Challenge has been brought up. Although it’s slightly different in its methodology (I completed it a while back), the idea is still the same — to get you earning money online in a set time period using step by step methods and daily check lists.
I hope that helps and if you have any other questions, please ask.
~ Teli
#3 Ian wrote…
November 26th, 2007 at 1:29 amHi Teli,
Yes, that helps heaps! Thanks a lot! I shall investigate Frank’s offering and give it all very careful thought.
All the best!
Ian
#4 Teli wrote…
November 26th, 2007 at 4:51 amYou’re very welcome, Ian. Glad I could help.
Also forgot to mention that the 30 Day Challenge is free. And I believe that Ed Dale’s taken over (used to be both Frank Kern and Ed Dale who ran it).
~ Teli
#5 Veronica wrote…
November 26th, 2007 at 5:26 amHi Teli,
I want to thank you for all the time you are putting into this for us. It is really appreciated and it shows that you truly want to help your readers and you are not just in it for the quick buck.
Veronica
#6 Teli wrote…
November 26th, 2007 at 5:28 amYou’re welcome, Veronica; I’m glad to do it and you’re right that I can about my readers.
~ Teli
#7 Alan wrote…
November 26th, 2007 at 10:43 pmHi Teli,
Welcome back from vacation! Lets see some vacation pics.
Your post resonated big time with me! I’m also doing the 20/20 challenge and I’m about ready to launch my very first product. I found the 20/20 challenge a great way to get myself organized with a good blueprint to follow.
Am I on track to “get it done” in 20 days? Not even close!
I have also not worked on the plan every day straight for 20 days and just like you wrote, I can only blame myself.
But after 2 years of affiliate marketing I’ve been wanting to develop my own product and now the 2020 challenge has helped me a lot towards this goal. Yes I knew what I should do in regards to launching my own product but I never did.
Follow through and goal setting always did me in. Here is where Michael Green’s 2020 Challenge has been very helpful for me, with a daily plan to follow and the 20 day accountability hanging over me.
So even though I’m well over the 20 days and I haven’t made $0 so far, I don’t consider this a failure.
My website is done, my sales letter is ready, I’ve written my e-book and had it edited for grammar/flow, I’m now tweaking my manuscript and shooting my video tutorials for my product, plus done the other things needed per the manual (can’t give away too much info away lol).
For me it’s been a lot of help even though I didn’t make 20K in 20 days. It behooves newbie product creators like myself not to get hung up on the 20K and 20 days. Yes, that’s the marketing angle Michael Green is using but I’ll happy if I’m able to launch my first product, make some cash, but more importantly to me I now have a blueprint I can replicate over and over.
If I make 20K off my first product within the 58 day money back guarantee would be icing on the cake.
This is the most I’ve paid for a digital how-to product but so far I’m happy with the results and I have no plans in asking for a refund.
I’m looking forward to seeing your 2020 product in December!
–Alan
#8 Teli wrote…
November 27th, 2007 at 2:03 pmHi Alan,
Thank you for the warm welcome back. If you’re truly curious, you can see the vacation picks I uploaded to Flickr.
I’m glad to see that you’re also taking the challenge in stride; for the simple fact of your attitude, I’m sure you’ll be met with great success.
Be sure to let us know about your progress, too.
~ Teli