{"id":3986,"date":"2014-10-30T14:41:25","date_gmt":"2014-10-30T19:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/blog\/?p=3986"},"modified":"2014-10-30T18:52:14","modified_gmt":"2014-10-30T23:52:14","slug":"list-goal-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/?p=3986","title":{"rendered":"Workshop: Behind the scenes of List Goal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/listgoal-ui_key_1A02E51C.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"395\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/listgoal-ui_key_1A02E51C.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"395\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>[su_quote style=&#8221;modern-blue&#8221;]<strong>Note<\/strong>: This is the second post in the <em>Workshop<\/em> series (<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/blog\/have-more-fun\/\" target=\"_blank\">first post<\/a>)\u00a0where\u00a0you see behind the scenes of how I design, build and market a software project from scratch.[\/su_quote]<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s impossible to get what you want, if you don\u2019t know what you want.<\/p>\n<p>Early this year I polled 25 of the most respected marketers I know and asked them this question:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIf you could have 10 times more of one of the following, which would it be?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Facebook likes<\/li>\n<li>Twitter followers<\/li>\n<li>Email subscribers<\/li>\n<li>Traffic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here are the results\u2026<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/blog-graphs_key_1A0174AE.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"704\" height=\"530\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/blog-graphs_key_1A0174AE.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"704\" height=\"530\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>I learned a lesson a long time ago: if you want to be successful, find out what the most successful people are doing and focus on that.<\/p>\n<p>So it stands to reason that if you want to grow your online business and all of the successful people are focused on building an email list, then you should be focused on the same thing\u2026right?<\/p>\n<p>Right.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The problem is this:<\/strong> Focus is incredibly hard.<\/p>\n<p>One minute my Facebook timeline\u00a0is telling me to <a href=\"https:\/\/sethgodin.typepad.com\/seths_blog\/2006\/06\/why_i_dont_have.html\" target=\"_blank\">turn off the comments<\/a> on my blog, then my Twitter\u00a0feed tells me\u00a0to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.copyblogger.com\/bye-facebook\/\" target=\"_blank\">shut down my Facebook page<\/a>, and now you are\u00a0reading this which is telling you to ignore all of that and focus on email.<\/p>\n<p>Which do you chose?<\/p>\n<p>In May my friend Noah challenged me to focus on <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.kissmetrics.com\/how-dashboards-can-help\/\" target=\"_blank\">one single business goal<\/a>. Having just seen the results of this survey I knew what\u00a0all of the\u00a0smart people were focused on, so I decided to copy them.<\/p>\n<p>There are three criteria for picking your focus goal:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>It has to be a number.<\/li>\n<li>It has to surpass\u00a0your current trajectory.<\/li>\n<li>It has to be displayed in a place where you constantly see it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I picked the number 75. Then I wrote it on a Post-It note and stapled it to my forehead.<\/p>\n<p>Just kidding.<\/p>\n<p>I wrote the number 75 on the whiteboard in my office.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/Screenshot_10_29_14__2_25_PM_1A0176B6.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"443\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/Screenshot_10_29_14__2_25_PM_1A0176B6.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"443\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>75 was\u00a0the number of new email subscribers I wanted to get on a daily basis.<\/p>\n<p>That one number simplified my entire business. No longer did I have to wrestle with decisions. Any time an opportunity or tactic presented itself, I simply asked myself&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWill this help me hit 75?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If so, then I did it.<\/p>\n<p>If not, I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>For example, a month ago I came across this article: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smartpassiveincome.com\/what-i-learned-from-growing-my-email-list-3418-nearly-200k-in-just-11-days\/\" target=\"_blank\">What I Learned From Growing My Email List 3,418% (Nearly 200k) in Just 11 Days<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I read it and was BLOWN away. Dude collected 300,000+ subscribers from hosting a giveaway.<\/p>\n<p>So guess what I did?<\/p>\n<p>I stopped everything I was doing and set up a giveaway. I\u00a0went on to\u00a0collect more emails from that one giveaway\u00a0than I did in my entire\u00a0first 5 months of blogging.<\/p>\n<p><strong>[su_quote style=&#8221;modern-blue&#8221;]Note<\/strong>: Next week I\u2019m going to share how many new subscribers I got from the giveaway and then teach you exactly how to do the same thing.\u00a0It\u2019s an epic post I\u2019ve been working on for 3 weeks. Don\u2019t miss it![\/su_quote]<\/p>\n<p>The mental clarity that this one little number gave me was incredible.<\/p>\n<p>The best part? Six\u00a0weeks after setting\u00a0the <em>&#8220;75 new email subscribers per day&#8221;<\/em> goal, I hit it!<\/p>\n<p>Not because I&#8217;m smart.<\/p>\n<p>Not because I&#8217;m pretty.<\/p>\n<p>But because I focused on it and ruthlessly cut out everything else.<\/p>\n<p>I was averaging <strong>18 new subscribers<\/strong> per day, and 35 days after setting the goal I averaged <strong>75 subscribers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/blog-graphs_key_1A017955.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"693\" height=\"528\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/blog-graphs_key_1A017955.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"693\" height=\"528\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>Why am I telling you all of this?<\/p>\n<p>Because focus will make your business go BOOM.<\/p>\n<p>AND because I&#8217;m making a piece of software to help you focus on building your email list.<\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">How to Stay Focused Every Minute of the Day<\/h1>\n<p>Last Friday we talked about\u00a0building software together (and porn\u00a0and gambling).<\/p>\n<p>If you haven&#8217;t read that post, stop now and <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/blog\/have-more-fun\/\" target=\"_blank\">go read it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Today, I want to introduce you to the first project we&#8217;re going to make.<\/p>\n<p>Have you ever used the Chrome extension <a href=\"https:\/\/momentumdash.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Momentum<\/a>?<\/p>\n<p>It replaces your &#8220;new browser tab&#8221;: instead of a blank white screen, every time you open a new tab you get a cool-looking picture like this&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/Pasted_Image_10_30_14__2_28_PM_1A02C903.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"361\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/Pasted_Image_10_30_14__2_28_PM_1A02C903.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"361\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>I want to build off that concept and make something similar for marketers like you and me. Except instead of a pretty picture it will remind you of your most important\u00a0goal.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Building. Your. Email. List.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u00a0will\u00a0display how many subscribers you want on your list and your exact daily progress towards that goal.<\/p>\n<p>Here is\u00a0my vision of what it will look like:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/listgoal-ui_key_1A02CD5F.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1022\" height=\"707\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/listgoal-ui_key_1A02CD5F.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1022\" height=\"707\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>The app will integrate directly with your email service provider (MailChimp, AWeber etc.) and live update your progress throughout the day.<\/p>\n<p><strong>My theory:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If every time I open a new browser window I see my focus goal (how many subscribers I want) AND I see my daily progress towards that goal, then getting distracted on menial, less important tasks will be much harder.<\/p>\n<p>An old Auburn football coach, Jack Crowe, used to say&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Peak performance happens when the mind is uncluttered, the objectives are clear and the focus is consistent.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s the objective of List Goal.<\/p>\n<p>Stay focused.<\/p>\n<p>Stay clear.<\/p>\n<p>Make consistent daily progress.<\/p>\n<p>Every time you see List Goal, you&#8217;ll be forced to ask yourself, <em>&#8220;Is what I&#8217;m about to do working towards my #1\u00a0goal? If not, why am I doing it?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">How to Get a Copy of List Goal<\/h2>\n<p>I&#8217;m sure you have a bunch of questions about the development process. I want to answer them all, so leave your specific question in the comments below.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Over the next few\u00a0weeks I&#8217;m going to be showing you every part of the process of building this tool:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How I designed the user interface<\/li>\n<li>Who\u00a0I stole the idea from (kinda)<\/li>\n<li>How I hired a developer off of Elance<\/li>\n<li>How much I&#8217;m paying to develop it<\/li>\n<li>And any other question you ask in the comments<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>List Goal will be free, but it will be released in small batches to make sure it\u00a0goes live.<\/p>\n<p>I should have the first working prototype back tomorrow for testing. There is no ETA on releasing it yet, but I&#8217;ll keep you up to date.<\/p>\n<p>What do you think?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Would this tool help you grow your list? Let me know in the comment section.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[su_quote style=&#8221;modern-blue&#8221;]Note: This is the second post in the Workshop series (first post)\u00a0where\u00a0you see behind the scenes of how I&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3986\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}