Raphael

Let's get practical #2: Deep Work & Organization

660 posts in this topic

08 December 2020

  • Wake Up Time: 06:35 AM (objective 5:30 AM - 6:00 AM)
  • In Bed Time: 10:10 PM (objective 9:00 PM - 9:30 PM)
  • ❌  45 minutes of Doing Nothing Before Going To Sleep

Deep Work Sessions:

  • 09:19 AM - 10:17 AM
    • I created a search page and did some design improvements
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 58 minutes
  • 10:43 AM - 12:45 AM
    • I continued the improvements on the website
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 2 minutes
  • 08:13 PM - 09:32 PM
    • I continued the work on the website
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 19 minutes

I had trouble to work because I didn't sleep properly. I went to bed at 09:30 PM yesterday and was still awake at 2 AM. I noticed that I had some digestion problems and I think I can improve my sleep by solving that.

  • Average Focus: 3.5 / 5 (objective at least 4 / 5)
  • Total Work Duration: 3 hours 19 minutes, including 3 hours 19 minutes of Deep Work (objective at least 6 hours)
  • Total Reading Time: 0 minutes (objective at least 30 minutes)
Edited by Raphael

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09 December 2020

  • Wake Up Time: 08:10 AM (objective 5:30 AM - 6:00 AM)
  • In Bed Time:  11:05 PM (objective 9:00 PM - 9:30 PM)
     
  • ✅ 45 minutes of Doing Nothing Before Going To Sleep

Work Sessions:

  • 07:48 PM - 09:02 PM
    • I finished the website design, did some research, added a social media management plugin, and wrote to a client
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 12 minutes

Deep Work Sessions:

  • 09:10 AM - 10:41 AM
    • I started to work back on the previous website
    • Focus: 3.75/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 31 minutes
  • 11:01 AM - 12:37 AM
    • I created a banner to link to another website. The website currently looks really great, I'm very satisfied of my work
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 36 minutes
  • 03:37 PM - 04:51 PM
    • I almost finished the website design
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 14 minutes

Couldn't sleep again, but got some shit done anyway.

  • Average Focus: 3.56 / 5 (objective at least 4 / 5)
  • Total Work Duration: 5 hours 33 minutes, including 4 hours 26 minutes of Deep Work (objective at least 6 hours)
  • Total Reading Time: 0 minutes (objective at least 30 minutes)
Edited by Raphael

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How's being an SEO consultant working out for you? 

Note: Fellow consultant. 

Anyway, great job so far!

Edited by Pudgey

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12 hours ago, Pudgey said:

How's being an SEO consultant working out for you? 

Note: Fellow consultant. 

Anyway, great job so far!

SEO is still new for me, so I'm still learning on the way. My expertise is mostly front-end development with some backend too. Overall, things have been tough since I started because of personal issues.

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10 December 2020

  • Wake Up Time: 07:30 AM (objective 5:30 AM - 6:00 AM)
  • In Bed Time:  09:25 PM (objective 9:00 PM - 9:30 PM)
     
  • ✅ 45 minutes of Doing Nothing Before Going To Sleep

Work Sessions:

  • 07:15 - 07:54 PM
    • I written some instructions for a client
    • Focus: 4/5
    • Duration: 39 minutes

Had another sleepless night and choose to almost not work.

  • Average Focus: 4 / 5 (objective at least 4 / 5)
  • Total Work Duration: 39 minutes, including 0 minutes of Deep Work (objective at least 6 hours)
  • Total Reading Time: 0 minutes (objective at least 30 minutes)
Edited by Raphael

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14 hours ago, Raphael said:

SEO is still new for me, so I'm still learning on the way. My expertise is mostly front-end development with some backend too. Overall, things have been tough since I started because of personal issues.

Yes, SEO is constantly changing, especially now with Google's December broad core update and not allowing webmasters to request indexing of their site and pages (it's been paused since October). But, what I can tell you is, SEO is very simple. I like to stick to the basics, such as ensuring each page has meta's, ALT text within images, proper internal linking and quality-backlinks. Once the basics are understood, you're basically intermediate once you get yourself or clients results. I've gotten clients six-figures in SEO results just by fixing their metas and ensuring they have great product descriptions (E-commerce niche). But, I just don't like SEO much anymore as a agency model, where you need clients.

Sorry for bombarding your thread. 

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8 hours ago, Pudgey said:

I've gotten clients six-figures in SEO results just by fixing their metas and ensuring they have great product descriptions (E-commerce niche).

Woah... that's impressive. How do you find these clients?

8 hours ago, Pudgey said:

Sorry for bombarding your thread. 

That's fine. Getting feedback is one of the reason I create these threads (even though the subject here is work ethic rather than some technical skills).

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11 December 2020

  • Wake Up Time: 06:10 AM (objective 5:30 AM - 6:00 AM)
  • In Bed Time:  09:33 PM (objective 9:00 PM - 9:30 PM)
     
  • ✅ 45 minutes of Doing Nothing Before Going To Sleep

Work Sessions:

  • 08:53 AM - 10:10 AM
    • I did some research, asked a question about charging clients on a forum, did some SEO checks, run some analysis, and distracted myself a little too much.
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 17 minutes
  • 10:31 AM - 12:04 AM
    • I wrote an SEO question and then searched for more projects
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 33 minutes
  • 01:27 PM - 02:55 PM
    • I searched for some jobs and sent proposals. I got an answer from a possible client.
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 28 minutes

 

  • Average Focus: 3.5 / 5 (objective at least 4 / 5)
  • Total Work Duration: 4 hours 18 minutes, including 0 minutes of Deep Work (objective at least 6 hours)
  • Total Reading Time: 36 minutes (objective at least 30 minutes)

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12 December 2020

  • Wake Up Time: 05:57 AM (objective 5:30 AM - 6:00 AM)
  • In Bed Time:  11:10 PM (objective 9:00 PM - 9:30 PM)
     
  • ❌ 45 minutes of Doing Nothing Before Going To Sleep

Work Sessions:

  • 09:25 AM - 10:44 AM
    • I responded to some people and did some updates to my website. I distracted myself a little
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 19 minutes
  • 11:02 AM - 12:27 AM
    • I created a banner and also search for some work online
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 25 minutes
  • 01:51 PM - 03:19 PM
    • I searched for more work. I also got a message from a client, I responded to him. He was unhappy with the design and implied that I did the minimum. It felt unfair to me because I actually put my heart and soul into to work and was personally very satisfied with the result.
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 28 minutes
  • 03:31 PM - 04:32 PM
    • I searched for more projects online, but wasn't satisfied with what I found
    • Focus: 3/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 1 minute
  • 07:41 PM - 09:34 PM
    • I had a pretty long call with a client. I didn't expect to work that late, but it was necessary and things are looking great with this client
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 53 minutes

 

  • Average Focus: 3.4 / 5 (objective at least 4 / 5)
  • Total Work Duration: 7 hours 6 minutes, including 7 hours 6 minutes of Deep Work (objective at least 6 hours)
  • Total Reading Time: 0 minutes (objective at least 30 minutes)
Edited by Raphael

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13 December 2020

  • Wake Up Time: 07:53 AM (objective 5:30 AM - 6:00 AM)
  • In Bed Time:  10:10 PM (objective 9:00 PM - 9:30 PM)
     
  • ✅ 45 minutes of Doing Nothing Before Going To Sleep

Work Sessions:

  • 10:54 AM - 11:29 AM
    • I wrote a document and responded to a client
    • Focus: 3.75/5
    • Duration: 35 minutes

 

  • Average Focus: 3.75 / 5 (objective at least 4 / 5)
  • Total Work Duration: 35 minutes, including 0 minutes of Deep Work (objective at least 6 hours)
  • Total Reading Time: 1 hour 18 minutes (objective at least 30 minutes)
Edited by Raphael

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Weekly Statistics (07 December 2020 - 13 December 2020)

 

Total Working Hours

24 hours 13 minutes

Average Focus

3.6 / 5

Edited by Raphael

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14 December 2020

  • Wake Up Time: 07:04 AM (objective 5:30 AM - 6:00 AM)
  • In Bed Time:  10:15 PM (objective 9:00 PM - 9:30 PM)
     
  • ✅ 45 minutes of Doing Nothing Before Going To Sleep

Work Sessions:

  • 09:20 AM - 09:45 AM
    • I responded to a few persons and also created a new contract
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 25 minutes
  • 10:12 AM -11:57 AM
    • I'm having some trouble with AWS and hosting
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 45
  • 12:57 AM - 02:08 PM
    • I searched for jobs online and saved a bunch of offers
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 11 minutes
  • 02:15 PM - 03:21 PM
    • I wrote two proposals
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 6 minutes
  • 03:28 PM - 04:28 PM
    • I sent a few proposals
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour

 

  • Average Focus: 3.5 / 5 (objective at least 4 / 5)
  • Total Work Duration: 5 hours 27 minutes, including 0 minutes of Deep Work (objective at least 6 hours)
  • Total Reading Time: 0 minutes (objective at least 30 minutes)

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15 December 2020

  • Wake Up Time: 06:20 AM (objective 5:30 AM - 6:00 AM)
  • In Bed Time:  10:50 PM (objective 9:00 PM - 9:30 PM)
     
  • ❌ 45 minutes of Doing Nothing Before Going To Sleep

Work Sessions:

  • 08:41 AM - 10:29 AM
    • I responded to a few persons. I also started to fix a social media issue, but run into a lot of troubles
    • Focus: 3/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 48 minutes
  • 10:47 AM - 12:25 AM
    • I fixed the previous issue and cleaned up my mess
    • Focus: 3/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 38 minutes
  • 01:27 PM - 03:31 PM
    • I searched for projects online, sent some proposals, and also responded to a client
    • Focus: 3/5
    • Duration: 2 hour 4 minutes
  • 03:45 PM - 04:34 PM
    • I searched for projects and sent a new proposal
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 49 minutes
  • 08:05 PM - 09:01 PM
    • I had a pretty long call with a guy I met on a forum. He was very genuine and gave me pretty good business advices. Don't believe what people says, it's possible to find genuine people that want to help.
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 56 minutes

@Raphael Awesome job bro :) 

  • Average Focus: 3.125 / 5 (objective at least 4 / 5)
  • Total Work Duration: 7 hours 15 minutes, including 0 minutes of Deep Work (objective at least 6 hours)
  • Total Reading Time: 55 minutes (objective at least 30 minutes)
Edited by Raphael

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@Raphael For some reason, I don't get your notification. I'll fix that. 

So, for getting clients, I did mass-emailing, which was a blackhat strategy. At the time, we were so hungry and determined for clients, that we went all out. I created a sales-funnel and sent emails to a bunch of e-commerce stores and we converted on 14 - 30-day free trials. Some closed, some didn't. The ones that closed, we made a bunch of money- but we also made a bunch of mistakes and eventually got banned from Mailchimp. We've sent over 1 million emails. This was a bad long-term marketing strategy, but it fucking worked in the short-term and allowed me to pay bills, etc..The worst thing we did was not reinvest the money. I thought I was going to get rich, but there were missed opportunities that we didn't leverage. 

If I had to go back, I'd reinvest into a real marketing funnel to create sustainable leads. 

The niche was Shopify stores. 

Edited by Pudgey

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@Pudgey

Damn... The mass-emailing strategy looks like some serious devilry (sorry if you don't like what I say).

Do you think it's better to contact people by email and cold calling? I had a discussion with someone recently and he told me that it generates much more money than using platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, PeoplePerHour etc. People who post projects on these platforms seems mostly to search for very low prices.

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16 December 2020

  • Wake Up Time: 07:16 AM (objective 5:30 AM - 6:00 AM)
  • In Bed Time:  09:45 PM (objective 9:00 PM - 9:30 PM)
     
  • ✅ 45 minutes of Doing Nothing Before Going To Sleep

Work Sessions:

  • 10:56 AM - 12:47 AM
    • I updated my website, installed the CDN, changed the fonts, and made a few design enhancements
    • Focus: 3/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 51 minutes

 

  • Average Focus: 3 / 5 (objective at least 4 / 5)
  • Total Work Duration: 1 hour 51 minutes, including 0 minutes of Deep Work (objective at least 6 hours)
  • Total Reading Time: 53 minutes (objective at least 30 minutes)
Edited by Raphael

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@Raphael Yes, it was Devilry and I'm not ashamed to admit it. It was a sales copy on steriods. During those days, I did whatever it took to succeed. But,  we did care about the clients and getting them results. Basically, what I did was cold emailing, but less-targeted and in mass. We did make them targeted with other strategies. That wasn't a sustainable strategy at all and at the time, I was immature in business. However, I've learned so much, that it cannot be taken away from me. 

But, yes, cold emailing can help you generate clients. You want to personalize the emails as much as possible. You can also do a free 5-minute video SEO audit with a simple script to help get initial clients. I don't recommend E-commerce as an ideal client starting off, without other strategies involved (instead of cold emailing). E-commerce is also very difficult to do SEO for and takes a lot of time explaining to owners about the benefit of SEO. 

Local businesses are the way to go and you can find who owns these businesses easier. I do predict that local businesses will be back looking for more growth as the economy gets back up and kicking once the pandemic settles. Otherwise, you can target other niches such as real estate agents, doctors, lawyers, etc.. Always personalize and potentially add some facts about their business. I wouldn't even pitch SEO, but a "lead generation system". 

SEO as a whole is a ruthless, cutthroat business. You'll probably be spending most of your time convincing other businesses why their current agency sucks and why they should go with you instead. There is almost no way to run a 100% ethical SEO Agency business unless you find a market and niche down as the "go-to" guy in the industry. Never be a general SEO specialist, always niche down. Even then, you'll be finding yourself competing with major agencies- who are just as ruthless (or far more ruthless) than you. 

Niching down will allow you to attract clients organically, without having to fight for them with other agencies. But that isn't 100% bulletproof. 

Right now, I'm doing a local-service business with independent contractors as a way out of the industry. Will use all my personal SEO strategies to grow my service-based business. This will allow me to give people value and be less of a devil :) 

Edited by Pudgey

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23 hours ago, Pudgey said:

But, yes, cold emailing can help you generate clients. You want to personalize the emails as much as possible. You can also do a free 5-minute video SEO audit with a simple script to help get initial clients. I don't recommend E-commerce as an ideal client starting off, without other strategies involved (instead of cold emailing). E-commerce is also very difficult to do SEO for and takes a lot of time explaining to owners about the benefit of SEO.

Thank for the advice!

23 hours ago, Pudgey said:

Local businesses are the way to go and you can find who owns these businesses easier. I do predict that local businesses will be back looking for more growth as the economy gets back up and kicking once the pandemic settles. Otherwise, you can target other niches such as real estate agents, doctors, lawyers, etc.. Always personalize and potentially add some facts about their business. I wouldn't even pitch SEO, but a "lead generation system".

The local market is a little limited for me because of where I live, so I mostly try to find clients abroad (in Europe by preference because the timezone difference with the American continent is too huge).

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17 December 2020

  • Wake Up Time: 07:08 AM (objective 5:30 AM - 6:00 AM)
  • In Bed Time:  10:05 PM (objective 9:00 PM - 9:30 PM)
     
  • ❌ 45 minutes of Doing Nothing Before Going To Sleep

Work Sessions:

  • 09:15 AM - 10:20 AM
    • I did a few checks and started to upload articles
    • Focus: 3/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 5 minutes
  • 10:38 AM - 12:41 AM
    • I finished uploaded the articles, did some fixes, and also started to write my monthly report
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 2 hours 3 minutes
  • 01:34 PM - 02:57 PM
    • I did one improvement on the website's structure
    • Focus: 3/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 23 minutes
  • 03:06 PM - 04:32 PM
    • I started a course on budgeting, but it looks a little too complicated for what I need
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 26 minutes
  • 07:46 PM - 08:42 PM
    • Many links have been broken on my client's website, so I fixed them. I also distracted myself because my energy is quite low
    • Focus: 3/5
    • Duration: 56 minutes

 

  • Average Focus: 3.2 / 5 (objective at least 4 / 5)
  • Total Work Duration: 7 hours 3 minutes, including 0 minutes of Deep Work (objective at least 6 hours)
  • Total Reading Time: 0 minutes (objective at least 30 minutes)
Edited by Raphael

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18 December 2020

  • Wake Up Time: 09:20 AM (objective 5:30 AM - 6:00 AM)
  • In Bed Time:  11:10 PM (objective 9:00 PM - 9:30 PM)
     
  • ✅ 45 minutes of Doing Nothing Before Going To Sleep

Work Sessions:

  • 11:19 AM - 01:23 PM
    • I did some fixes on a website and responded to a client
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 2 hour 4 minutes
  • 02:33 PM - 04:32 PM
    • I started to work on some budget planning
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 59 minutes
  • 08:06 PM - 09:52 PM
    • I worked on 2021 budget
    • Focus: 3.5/5
    • Duration: 1 hour 46 minutes

Fifth day without sleep, so I couldn't handle it this morning and stayed in bed.

  • Average Focus: 3.5 / 5 (objective at least 4 / 5)
  • Total Work Duration: 5 hours 51 minutes, including 0 minutes of Deep Work (objective at least 6 hours)
  • Total Reading Time: 0 minutes (objective at least 30 minutes)
Edited by Raphael

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