08 — BUILD THE PLAN

A goal without a plan is just an intention.

By this point, you should have done something most people never do.

You’ve stopped and thought.

You’ve looked at who you are.

You’ve defined what you want.

You’ve examined your resources.

You’ve considered what drives you.

You’ve learned from your past.

You’ve started to understand how online business works.

You’ve chosen a direction.

And you’ve developed a strategy.

Now comes the part that matters most:

What are you actually going to do?

Because knowing what you want isn’t enough.

Having a strategy isn’t enough.

Reading another article isn’t enough.

Watching another training video isn’t enough.

At some point, thinking has to become doing.

That’s what this stage is about.

From Strategy to Action

A strategy tells you:

Where am I going?

A plan tells you:

What am I going to do?

The difference is important.

You might decide:

“I’m going to build an affiliate business using content marketing.”

That’s a direction.

You might then decide:

“I’ll focus on YouTube, target people looking for additional income, create educational videos and use email to follow up.”

That’s a strategy.

But you still need to answer:

“What am I doing on Monday morning?”

That’s your plan.

Start With 90 Days

Don’t try to plan the next ten years in detail.

You can’t predict everything.

Instead, create a 90-day plan.

Ninety days is long enough to make meaningful progress but short enough to remain focused.

Your 90-day plan should answer:

What am I trying to achieve?

What will I build?

What will I learn?

What will I do?

How will I measure progress?

Your 90-Day Objective

Choose one primary objective.

Not ten.

One.

For example:

Build the foundations of my online business and generate my first 10 qualified leads.

Or:

Publish 30 useful pieces of content and build my first 100 email subscribers.

Or:

Acquire my first five paying customers.

The exact objective depends on your business.

But it should be:

Specific

Measurable

Realistic

Relevant

Time-bound

Don’t Make Revenue Your Only Goal

Revenue matters.

Ultimately, a business has to generate money.

But especially when you’re starting, you don’t control revenue completely.

You do control many of the activities that can eventually produce revenue.

For example:

You can control:

• How much content you create
• How many people you contact
• How many follow-ups you make
• How much you learn
• How many offers you make
• How consistently you work

You can’t completely control:

• Who buys
• When they buy
• Algorithm changes
• Market conditions
• Other people’s decisions

So create both:

Outcome goals

What you want to achieve.

and

Activity goals

What you are going to do.

Example

Your outcome goal might be:

Generate 10 customers in 90 days.

Your activity goals might be:

• Publish 3 videos per week
• Send 2 emails per week
• Have 10 meaningful conversations per week
• Follow up with every qualified lead
• Spend 3 hours per week learning
• Review results every Sunday

Now you have something you can actually execute.

Break 90 Days Into Three Months

A 90-day plan becomes easier when divided into three stages.

Month 1 — Build

Focus on creating the foundations.

You might:

• Set up your website
• Create your social profiles
• Define your audience
• Develop your message
• Create your lead system
• Learn the basic tools
• Produce your first content
• Establish your routine

Don’t obsess about results yet.

You’re building the machine.

Month 2 — Test

Now start looking at what happens.

Ask:

• What content gets attention?
• What generates clicks?
• What generates leads?
• What creates conversations?
• What produces sales?
• What isn’t working?

You are collecting information.

Don’t assume failure because something didn’t work immediately.

You’re testing your strategy.

Month 3 — Improve

Now use what you’ve learned.

Do more of what works.

Improve what is close to working.

Stop wasting time on what clearly isn’t working.

You may discover:

• One topic performs better.
• One audience responds better.
• One platform is more effective.
• One offer converts better.
• One type of content generates more leads.

This is where your strategy becomes increasingly evidence-based.

Your Monthly Target

For each month, define three things:

What will I build?

What will I do?

What will I measure?

For example:

Month	Build	Do	Measure
Month 1	Website + lead system	Create content	Visitors + leads
Month 2	Content library	Publish consistently	Views + leads
Month 3	Conversion system	Follow up + optimise	Sales + conversion

Keep it simple.

A plan should make action easier — not create another administrative burden.

Now Go Smaller

Monthly planning is useful.

But weekly planning is where things start happening.

Ask:

What must happen this week to move me closer to my 90-day objective?

Choose between 3 and 5 important priorities.

For example:

This Week

1. Publish three videos.
2. Create one lead magnet.
3. Contact ten prospects.
4. Follow up with existing leads.
5. Review last week’s results.

That’s manageable.

Then Go Smaller Again

Now ask:

What am I doing tomorrow?

This is where plans often fall apart.

People create huge business plans.

They create spreadsheets.

They create vision boards.

They buy notebooks.

They watch training.

And then tomorrow arrives.

They don’t know what to do.

Don’t let that happen.

Your plan should tell you.

Your Tomorrow List

At the end of each day, write down the three most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow.

For example:

Tomorrow

1. Create one piece of useful content.

2. Follow up with five people.

3. Spend 30 minutes learning the skill I’m currently developing.

That’s enough.

You don’t need twenty tasks.

You need the right three.

The Daily Minimum

One of the best ways to build consistency is to establish a minimum commitment.

Ask:

What is the minimum amount of productive work I can realistically do even on a difficult day?

Perhaps it’s:

30 minutes.

Perhaps it’s:

One piece of content.

Perhaps it’s:

Five conversations.

Perhaps it’s:

One hour.

The exact number isn’t important.

The principle is.

You are creating a habit of showing up.

Don’t Confuse Activity With Progress

Being busy isn’t the same as building a business.

You could spend three hours:

• Changing your website colours
• Looking for new tools
• Watching motivational videos
• Researching new opportunities
• Rearranging your homepage
• Checking social media

and accomplish almost nothing commercially useful.

Instead ask:

Did this activity move the business forward?

A useful distinction is:

Maintenance

Necessary but doesn’t directly grow the business.

Learning

Develops your capability.

Growth

Creates attention, leads, conversations or sales.

You need all three.

But don’t spend all your time on maintenance and learning while avoiding growth activities.

Identify the Skills You Need

Your plan should include the skills you need to develop.

For example:

• Content creation
• Copywriting
• Video
• Sales
• Email marketing
• Lead generation
• SEO
• Social media
• Website building
• Advertising
• Analytics
• Customer service

Don’t try to master everything simultaneously.

Choose the next important skill.

Learn it.

Apply it.

Then move to the next one.

Learn While Doing

One of the biggest traps in online business is endless preparation.

You tell yourself:

“I need to learn more before I start.”

So you buy another course.

Then another.

Then another.

Eventually you know a lot about online business but haven’t built one.

A better cycle is:

Learn → Apply → Make mistakes → Measure → Improve → Learn again.

Experience teaches things that theory cannot.

Identify Your Resources

Your plan should also identify what you need.

For example:

Technology

• Computer
• Smartphone
• Website
• Email system
• Video tools

Financial

• Business subscriptions
• Advertising budget
• Training
• Software

Human

• Mentor
• Community
• Specialist help
• Accountability partner

Knowledge

• Marketing
• Sales
• Content
• Business fundamentals

Don’t buy everything immediately.

Ask:

What do I actually need at this stage?

Anticipate the Obstacles

A good plan doesn’t assume everything will go perfectly.

Ask:

What is likely to get in my way?

Perhaps:

• Lack of time
• Lack of confidence
• Distraction
• Family commitments
• Work
• Lack of technical knowledge
• Fear of selling
• Fear of rejection
• Losing motivation
• Spending too much money
• Constantly changing direction

Now create a response.

Obstacle:

“I don’t have much time.”

Response:

“Work for 45 minutes before work, five days a week.”

Obstacle:

“I keep getting distracted by new opportunities.”

Response:

“I will not evaluate a new opportunity until my 90-day plan is complete.”

Obstacle:

“I’m afraid of selling.”

Response:

“I will spend the first month learning how to have useful conversations rather than trying to become an expert salesperson overnight.”

Planning for obstacles makes them easier to handle.

Decide What You Will NOT Do

This is just as important.

Your plan should include a Not Now List.

For the next 90 days:

I will not:

• Change business model every few weeks.
• Join every new opportunity.
• Try every social platform.
• Buy unnecessary software.
• Chase every marketing trend.
• Start five unrelated projects.
• Constantly redesign my website.
• Spend money simply because someone says I need to.
• Abandon my strategy because of one bad week.

Focus creates momentum.

Track the Numbers

You don’t need a complicated dashboard.

Start with a few meaningful numbers.

Depending on your business, these might include:

Content published

Views

Website visitors

Leads

Conversations

Follow-ups

Sales

Revenue

Costs

Profit

The important thing is to understand the relationship between them.

For example:

1,000 visitors

↓

50 leads

↓

20 conversations

↓

5 customers

↓

£500 revenue

Now you have information.

You can begin asking:

How do I get more visitors?

How do I increase the percentage becoming leads?

How do I improve follow-up?

How do I increase sales?

That is how a business becomes measurable.

Create Your Weekly Scorecard

At the end of every week, record:

Metric	Target	Actual
Content published
Visitors/views
Leads
Conversations
Follow-ups
Sales
Revenue
Costs

Then ask three questions:

What worked?

What didn’t work?

What will I change next week?

That’s enough.

Your 90-Day Business Plan

Now it’s your turn.

My Objective

In the next 90 days, I want to:

My Audience

I am trying to help:

My Offer

I will ultimately offer:

My Primary Platform

I will concentrate primarily on:

My Content

I will create:

My Lead Strategy

I will generate leads through:

My Follow-Up

I will follow up through:

My Weekly Commitment

I will commit approximately:

________ hours per week

My Three Most Important Weekly Activities

1. ____________________________

2. ____________________________

3. ____________________________

My Key Metrics

1. ____________________________

2. ____________________________

3. ____________________________

4. ____________________________

5. ____________________________

My Biggest Obstacles

1. ____________________________

2. ____________________________

3. ____________________________

My Responses

If __________ happens, I will __________.

If __________ happens, I will __________.

If __________ happens, I will __________.

Now Answer the Most Important Question

Forget the 90-day plan for a moment.

Forget the spreadsheet.

Forget the strategy document.

Ask yourself:

What am I actually going to do tomorrow?

Write it down.

Not:

“Work on my business.”

That’s too vague.

Instead:

“Write the first section of my article.”

“Record my first video.”

“Contact five potential customers.”

“Create my landing page.”

“Publish one useful post.”

“Follow up with three leads.”

Make it specific enough that you know exactly when the task is finished.

The Mentor’s Rule

Here’s another principle I want you to remember:

Don’t build a plan that looks impressive. Build a plan you can actually execute.

A simple plan followed consistently is worth far more than a brilliant plan sitting in a notebook.

You don’t need a perfect plan.

You need a working plan.

And once you start executing it, you’ll learn things that will change the plan.

That’s normal.

Your plan isn’t a prison.

It’s a starting point.

The 90-Day Commitment

Before moving forward, make a commitment to yourself.

For the next 90 days:

I will follow my chosen direction.

I will concentrate my resources.

I will do the work I have committed to doing.

I will measure what happens.

I will learn from the results.

I will adapt when necessary.

I will not abandon the plan simply because results are slower than I hoped.

But there is an important qualification:

I will also remain willing to change direction when the evidence genuinely tells me I should.

That’s the balance.

Persistence without learning is stubbornness.

Change without persistence is distraction.

You need both commitment and adaptability.

From Here, Things Change

The first seven stages were largely about thinking.

Now we’re moving into execution.

You have:

Understood yourself.

Understood your resources.

Understood what drives you.

Learned from your past.

Understood the game.

Chosen your direction.

Developed your strategy.

Built your plan.

Now you have to do something with it.

Because ultimately:

Knowledge doesn’t create results. Applied knowledge does.

NEXT: 09 — EXECUTE, MEASURE & ADAPT

This is where the real learning begins.

You’ll put your plan into action.

You’ll discover what works.

You’ll discover what doesn’t.

You’ll make mistakes.

You’ll get results.

You’ll collect data.

And then you’ll make something even more important:

You’ll learn how to improve.

Because building a business isn’t:

Plan once → execute forever.

It’s:

Act → measure → learn → adapt → act again.

Execute, measure & adapt →

07 — DEVELOP YOUR STRATEGY

Don’t just work hard. Know where to put your effort.

You’ve chosen a direction.

Now comes one of the most important questions:

How are you actually going to approach it?

Because choosing a business model doesn’t automatically give you a strategy.

You could choose affiliate marketing and still have no idea:

• Who you’re trying to reach
• What you want to be known for
• What content to create
• Which platform to use
• How to generate leads
• How to follow up
• What to promote
• How much time to spend
• What to measure

You could work incredibly hard and still get nowhere.

Why?

Because effort without direction can be wasted effort.

This is where an old strategic principle becomes useful.

The Art of Strategy

Sun Tzu’s The Art of War is a military text, but many of its underlying strategic ideas are not really about warfare.

They’re about:

Understanding the situation.

Knowing your resources.

Choosing where to concentrate them.

Avoiding unnecessary battles.

Recognising strengths and weaknesses.

Adapting when circumstances change.

Those principles can be remarkably useful when thinking about business.

We’re not going to pretend that building an online business is a war.

It isn’t.

But the strategic lesson is valuable:

Don’t commit your resources until you understand where they are best used.

Your resources are limited.

Your time is limited.

Your money is limited.

Your attention is limited.

Your energy is limited.

Your knowledge is limited.

So strategy is about deciding:

Where should I put them?

1. Know Yourself

We’ve already started this work.

You know more about:

• Your goals
• Your ambitions
• Your strengths
• Your weaknesses
• Your resources
• Your motivation
• Your skills
• Your experience
• Your limitations

This matters because your strategy needs to fit the person executing it.

For example, imagine two people want to build an affiliate business.

Person A enjoys writing and research.

Person B loves talking to people and making videos.

They might promote the same product.

But their strategies could look completely different.

Person A might focus on:

SEO → articles → Google traffic → email

Person B might focus on:

Video → social media → conversations → follow-up

Neither strategy is automatically better.

The better strategy is the one that person can actually execute consistently.

2. Know Your Environment

You also need to understand the environment in which you’re operating.

Ask:

Who are you competing for attention with?

Because you aren’t operating in an empty space.

Every day people are competing for attention on:

• Google
• YouTube
• Facebook
• Instagram
• TikTok
• LinkedIn
• Email
• Websites
• Podcasts
• Advertising platforms

Your potential customer is surrounded by information.

Your challenge isn’t simply:

“How do I promote my product?”

It’s:

“Why should someone pay attention to me?”

That’s a strategic question.

Understand the Market

You also need to understand the market itself.

Ask:

Who has the problem I’m trying to solve?

How important is that problem?

Are people actively looking for solutions?

What solutions already exist?

What are competitors doing?

What are customers complaining about?

What do people like about existing solutions?

What do they dislike?

What could I do differently?

This isn’t about copying competitors.

It’s about understanding the environment before entering it.

3. Choose Your Battlefield

One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is trying to be everywhere.

They create:

• A Facebook page
• An Instagram account
• A TikTok account
• A YouTube channel
• A LinkedIn profile
• A blog
• An email list

Then they try to create content for all of them.

A few weeks later they’re exhausted.

Nothing is getting enough attention.

And they conclude:

“Social media doesn’t work.”

The problem may not have been social media.

The problem may have been strategy.

You Don’t Need Every Platform

You need to identify where your audience is and where you can realistically perform well.

For example:

If your audience searches Google for answers, SEO may make sense.

If they consume long-form educational content, YouTube may make sense.

If they spend their time on Facebook, Facebook may make sense.

If you are comfortable writing but hate video, don’t automatically build your strategy around video.

The question is:

Where can I reach the right people in a way I can sustain?

Choose One Primary Battlefield

For most beginners, I’d rather see:

one platform done consistently

than

five platforms done badly.

That doesn’t mean you can never expand.

It means you establish a base first.

For example:

Primary

YouTube

Supporting

Email

Later

Blog + other social platforms

Or:

Primary

Facebook

Supporting

Email

Later

YouTube

The exact combination depends on the person and the business.

But the principle remains:

Concentrate before you expand.

4. Choose Your Audience

A strategy becomes much easier when you know exactly who you’re trying to reach.

Instead of:

“I want to make money online.”

you might define:

“I want to help people in full-time employment who want to build an additional income before retirement.”

Now you have something to work with.

You can understand their:

• Problems
• Questions
• Fears
• Goals
• Objections
• Interests
• Language
• Behaviour

And you can create content specifically for them.

5. Choose Your Message

Once you know your audience, ask:

What do I want to become known for?

This is your positioning.

You might become known for:

• Helping beginners understand affiliate marketing
• Helping people build online income around a job
• Helping people avoid common network-marketing mistakes
• Helping people understand online business
• Helping people choose an online business model
• Helping people generate leads
• Helping small businesses get customers

You don’t need to be everything.

You need to be useful for something specific.

6. Choose Your Content Strategy

Now ask:

What information does my audience need?

Think about their journey.

They may start with a problem.

Then they have questions.

Then they research solutions.

Then they compare options.

Then they decide.

Your content should help them move through that journey.

For example:

Problem

“I need another source of income.”

Question

“Can I make money online while working full-time?”

Education

“How does affiliate marketing actually work?”

Comparison

“Affiliate marketing vs network marketing.”

Decision

“How to choose an affiliate programme.”

Action

“How to get started.”

That’s a content strategy.

You’re not randomly posting.

You’re helping someone move from problem → understanding → decision → action.

7. Choose Your Traffic Strategy

Once you know what content you want to create, decide how people will find it.

There are two broad approaches.

Organic

You earn attention through things such as:

• Search engines
• YouTube
• Social media
• Communities
• Referrals
• Consistent content

The advantage is that you’re building an asset over time.

The disadvantage is that it can take time.

Paid

You pay for attention through:

• Advertising
• Sponsored placements
• Lead generation
• Paid traffic

The advantage is speed and scale.

The disadvantage is cost.

And paid traffic can become expensive very quickly if your conversion system isn’t working.

Don’t Buy Traffic Before Understanding Conversion

This is a major strategic principle.

Suppose you pay for 1,000 visitors.

If your website converts poorly, you have simply paid to discover that your website converts poorly.

Before scaling traffic, understand:

Traffic → Lead → Conversation → Sale

Where is the problem?

If you have traffic but no leads:

Your lead-generation system may be the problem.

If you have leads but no conversations:

Your follow-up may be the problem.

If you have conversations but no sales:

Your offer, positioning, sales process or audience may be the problem.

Don’t automatically buy more traffic.

Diagnose first.

8. Build Your Conversion Path

You need to know what happens when someone becomes interested.

For example:

Content

↓

Website

↓

Lead magnet / registration

↓

Email follow-up

↓

Information

↓

Conversation

↓

Offer

↓

Customer

This doesn’t have to be complicated.

In fact, beginners often make things unnecessarily complicated.

Your objective is to create a simple path from:

attention

to

relationship

to

customer.

9. Decide How You Will Follow Up

You need a follow-up strategy.

That could include:

• Email
• Messages
• Content
• Webinars
• Calls
• Automated sequences
• Personal conversations

Ask:

How will someone who isn’t ready today continue hearing from me?

This is particularly important because most people won’t make a decision the first time they encounter you.

10. Decide What You Will Promote

This is where your strategy meets your chosen business model.

You might have:

• One primary product
• Several related products
• Multiple affiliate programmes
• Your own service
• Your own product
• A combination

But be careful.

More offers do not automatically mean more income.

Sometimes they simply create confusion.

If someone arrives at your website and sees twenty different things to buy, what should they do?

A better strategy might be:

One audience → one core problem → one primary solution.

Then expand once the foundation works.

11. Concentrate Your Resources

This is perhaps the most important strategic principle in this entire section.

You have limited resources.

So decide where they go.

For example, imagine you have ten hours available each week.

You could spend:

• 1 hour on Facebook
• 1 hour on Instagram
• 1 hour on TikTok
• 1 hour on LinkedIn
• 1 hour researching new opportunities
• 1 hour watching training
• 1 hour redesigning your website
• 1 hour creating content
• 1 hour following up
• 1 hour doing something else

You’ve been busy.

But have you built anything?

Instead, perhaps you spend:

4 hours creating useful content

2 hours engaging with your audience

2 hours following up

1 hour learning

1 hour measuring and improving

Now your effort is concentrated.

That’s strategy.

12. Don’t Fight Every Battle

Online business creates endless distractions.

A new platform appears.

A new AI tool appears.

A new advertising method appears.

A new opportunity appears.

Someone announces a new “secret strategy.”

Someone claims:

“This is the future.”

You don’t have to respond to everything.

Ask:

Does this help me achieve my current objective?

If the answer is no:

Not now.

That doesn’t mean never.

It means you’re protecting your focus.

13. Adapt

Having a strategy doesn’t mean refusing to change.

Quite the opposite.

A good strategy evolves.

You might discover:

• Your audience is different from what you expected.
• A particular platform doesn’t suit you.
• One type of content performs better.
• One offer converts better.
• Your customers have a different problem.
• Your assumptions were wrong.

That’s useful information.

Don’t become emotionally attached to your original plan.

Become attached to the objective.

The strategy can change.

Strategy Isn’t Guesswork

Your strategy should gradually become based on evidence.

Start with a hypothesis.

“I think this audience will respond to this message on this platform.”

Then test it.

Measure what happens.

Learn.

Adjust.

Test again.

This creates a cycle:

PLAN → ACT → MEASURE → LEARN → ADAPT → ACT

That’s how strategy improves.

Your Strategic Advantage

You don’t necessarily need more resources than everyone else.

You may simply need to use your resources better.

Imagine two people have:

• The same ten hours
• The same £100 budget
• The same platform
• The same product

One person spreads their effort across ten different activities.

The other concentrates on one audience, one message and one acquisition channel.

The second person may have a significant strategic advantage.

Not because they have more.

Because they are more focused.

Your YNMM Strategy Map

Now bring everything you’ve learned together.

Complete this:

My Goal

What am I trying to achieve?

My Audience

Who am I trying to help?

Their Problem

What problem am I helping them solve?

My Message

What do I want to become known for?

My Primary Platform

Where will I concentrate my attention?

My Content

What useful information will I consistently provide?

My Traffic Strategy

How will people discover me?

My Lead Strategy

How will I turn attention into leads?

My Follow-Up Strategy

How will I stay connected with interested people?

My Offer

What am I ultimately offering?

My Weekly Commitment

How much time will I realistically invest?

My Key Metrics

What numbers will tell me whether I’m progressing?

The “Not Now” List

This is a powerful exercise.

Write down the things you have decided not to focus on right now.

For example:

I’m not going to:

• Build five social-media accounts
• Promote ten different programmes
• Buy every new marketing tool
• Change business model every month
• Chase every new trend
• Spend hours redesigning my website
• Learn every advertising platform
• Join every opportunity I discover

Why?

Because saying no to distractions allows you to say yes to your strategy.

Your First Strategic Test

Before moving forward, explain your strategy in one paragraph.

You should be able to say something like:

“I want to help __________ who are struggling with __________. I’ll reach them primarily through __________. I’ll create content about __________ and use it to generate __________. I’ll build relationships through __________ and ultimately offer __________. I’ll dedicate approximately __________ hours each week and measure __________.”

If you can’t explain your strategy simply, it probably isn’t clear enough yet.

The Mentor’s Question

Imagine I asked you:

“What are you going to do next Monday?”

Not someday.

Not eventually.

Not when you’ve finished another course.

Next Monday.

Could you tell me?

Because strategy eventually has to become action.

A strategy that never gets executed is just an idea.

The Bigger Principle

Sun Tzu’s strategic thinking can be reduced to a few principles that are extremely useful in business:

Know yourself.

Understand your strengths, weaknesses, resources and limitations.

Know your environment.

Understand your audience, market and competition.

Choose your battlefield.

Don’t try to reach everyone everywhere.

Concentrate your resources.

Put meaningful effort behind a small number of priorities.

Don’t fight every battle.

Protect your time, money and attention.

Adapt.

Use evidence to improve your strategy.

And perhaps the most important:

Choose your battles before your battles choose you.

Your Strategy Is Now Taking Shape

You started this journey by asking:

“How can I make money online?”

That’s a very broad question.

You’ve now narrowed it down.

You understand yourself.

You understand your resources.

You understand what drives you.

You’ve learned from your past.

You understand the fundamentals of online business.

You’ve chosen a direction.

And now you’ve begun developing a strategy.

That’s a completely different starting point.

You’re no longer simply looking for an opportunity.

You’re building a plan.

NEXT: 08 — BUILD YOUR PLAN

A strategy tells you where you’re going and how you intend to get there.

A plan tells you:

What are you actually going to do?

We’ll turn your strategy into:

• A 90-day objective
• Monthly priorities
• Weekly actions
• Daily activities
• Skills to develop
• Resources required
• Metrics to track
• Milestones to achieve

Because eventually, thinking has to become doing.

Build your plan →

06 — CHOOSE YOUR DIRECTION

You don’t need every opportunity. You need the right direction.

You’ve done the groundwork.

You’ve looked at yourself.

You’ve examined your goals, ambitions, strengths and weaknesses.

You’ve taken stock of your time, money, skills, knowledge and experience.

You’ve thought about what drives you.

You’ve looked honestly at your past.

And you’ve started to understand how an online business actually works.

Now we can finally ask a much better question:

What actually fits me?

This is where we begin moving from self-understanding to decision-making.

And this is where many people go wrong.

They see an opportunity.

They get excited.

They join.

They start learning.

They take action.

Then, a few weeks or months later, they discover that the business doesn’t really suit them.

So they move on to the next opportunity.

And the cycle starts again.

New opportunity → excitement → action → frustration → abandonment → new opportunity.

The objective here is to break that cycle.

Stop Looking for “The Best Opportunity”

There is no universally best online business opportunity.

There is only:

the opportunity that may be a good fit for you

and

the opportunity that may not be.

Think about it.

Someone who loves creating videos may thrive with a content-driven business.

Someone who hates being on camera might struggle with exactly the same model.

Someone with very little spare time may need a completely different approach from someone who can commit 30 hours a week.

Someone with strong sales skills may choose differently from someone who is much stronger at writing, teaching, technology or relationship building.

That’s why the question isn’t:

“What’s the best opportunity?”

It’s:

“What’s the best fit for me?”

Start With Your Destination

Before choosing the vehicle, remind yourself where you’re trying to go.

What are you actually trying to achieve?

Perhaps you want:

• An extra £500 a month
• £1,000 a month
• A replacement income
• More financial security
• A business you can eventually leave your job for
• Greater control over your time
• A business you can build around family commitments
• Something you can eventually sell
• A long-term asset
• Simply the experience of becoming an entrepreneur

These are very different objectives.

If your goal is simply an additional £300–£500 a month, you may not need to build a huge organisation.

If your goal is to replace a full-time income, the strategy will probably need to be considerably more ambitious.

Your destination influences the vehicle you choose.

What Are You Actually Prepared to Do?

This is one of the most important questions in the entire YNMM journey.

Because every business model requires work.

There is no point choosing a model because it sounds attractive if you aren’t prepared to do what that model requires.

Ask yourself:

Am I prepared to create content?

Am I prepared to talk to people?

Am I prepared to follow up?

Am I prepared to learn sales?

Am I prepared to learn marketing?

Am I prepared to appear on camera?

Am I prepared to write?

Am I prepared to make phone calls?

Am I prepared to build relationships?

Am I prepared to learn technology?

Am I prepared to deal with rejection?

Am I prepared to keep working when results are slow?

You don’t need to enjoy every part of business.

But you need to be prepared to do the important parts.

Your Personality Matters

Different business models reward different behaviours.

For example, if you genuinely enjoy:

• Meeting people
• Talking
• Networking
• Teaching
• Encouraging others
• Building relationships

then a relationship-driven model may suit you.

If you prefer:

• Writing
• Research
• Creating videos
• SEO
• Building websites
• Working independently

then a content-driven model may suit you better.

If you enjoy:

• Designing
• Building
• Solving technical problems
• Creating products

you may prefer a product or service-based business.

None of these is inherently better.

They’re simply different.

Your Skills Matter

Don’t automatically assume you need to start from zero.

You already have skills.

Perhaps you can:

• Write
• Teach
• Sell
• Organise
• Lead
• Communicate
• Research
• Design
• Analyse
• Solve problems
• Build relationships
• Manage people
• Create videos
• Use technology

Your existing skills can give you a starting advantage.

But don’t make the opposite mistake either.

You don’t have to choose a business simply because you’re already good at something.

Sometimes the business you want requires you to develop completely new skills.

That’s fine.

The question is:

Am I willing to learn them?

Your Time Matters

A business model needs to fit into your real life.

Not your imaginary life.

If you have:

5 hours per week

you need a different plan from someone with:

30 hours per week.

If you’re working full-time, looking after children, caring for family or dealing with other commitments, your available time may fluctuate.

That’s not necessarily a problem.

But you need to be honest about it.

Ask:

How many hours can I realistically commit every week for the next 12 months?

Not:

“How many hours could I work if everything went perfectly?”

Your business needs to fit your actual life.

Your Financial Position Matters

Different models can require different levels of investment.

Some can be started with relatively little money.

Others require:

• Stock
• Equipment
• Advertising
• Software
• Training
• Websites
• Subscriptions
• Professional services

Don’t choose a model simply because someone tells you that you can “make money.”

Ask:

What will this actually cost me?

And more importantly:

Can I afford that cost without putting myself under financial pressure?

Never confuse available credit with available investment capital.

Understand How the Money Is Made

This is essential.

Before joining anything, you should be able to explain in simple language:

Where does the money come from?

For example:

Does the business make money from:

• Product sales?
• Services?
• Subscriptions?
• Advertising?
• Commissions?
• Licensing?
• Memberships?
• Customer referrals?
• Sales generated by a team?

And then:

How does my role generate income?

If you can’t explain the answer clearly, you don’t understand the business well enough yet.

That’s a reason to investigate further — not a reason to join immediately.

Don’t Confuse Marketing With a Business Model

This is another important distinction.

Facebook isn’t a business model.

TikTok isn’t a business model.

YouTube isn’t a business model.

Email isn’t a business model.

A website isn’t a business model.

They are channels and tools.

You can use them to build many different types of businesses.

For example, YouTube might generate:

• Affiliate sales
• Product sales
• Advertising revenue
• Leads for a service business
• Customers for a membership
• Customers for your own products

The same platform can support completely different businesses.

So don’t ask:

“Should I do YouTube?”

Ask:

“What business am I building, and would YouTube help me build it?”

Compare the Main Directions

At this stage, you don’t need to investigate hundreds of individual companies.

Start by understanding the broad directions available to you.

Affiliate Marketing

You promote another company’s products or services and receive commissions when your referrals generate qualifying sales or actions.

Potential advantages:

• No need to create the product
• Can be started relatively simply
• Many niches available
• Can work well with content marketing
• Can potentially build multiple income streams

Potential challenges:

• You need traffic or an audience
• You don’t control the underlying product
• Commission structures vary
• Competition can be significant
• Results can take time

Network Marketing

You promote products or services and may also build a sales organisation, depending on the company.

Potential advantages:

• Product and infrastructure are often already established
• Training and support may be available
• Can suit people who enjoy relationships and community
• Potential to build an organisation

Potential challenges:

• Requires selling and relationship building
• Recruiting alone isn’t enough
• Team development can be difficult
• Company and compensation plan matter enormously
• You need to understand the actual economics

Selling Your Own Services

You use your skills to solve problems for customers.

Examples:

• Consulting
• Coaching
• Design
• Writing
• Marketing
• Administration
• Technical services

Potential advantage:

You can often start with skills you already possess.

The challenge is that your income may initially be closely connected to your time.

Selling Your Own Products

You create or source products and sell them directly.

Potential advantages:

• Greater control
• You own the customer relationship
• Potential to build a valuable brand

Challenges can include:

• Product development
• Stock
• Fulfilment
• Customer service
• Marketing
• Cash flow

Digital Products

You create something that can be delivered digitally.

Examples:

• Courses
• E-books
• Templates
• Training
• Memberships
• Software

The attraction is obvious:

Create once, potentially sell many times.

But creating the product is only part of the job.

You still need:

Audience → attention → trust → sales.

Don’t Choose Based on Hype

You will encounter claims such as:

“This is the next big thing.”

“Everyone is making money with this.”

“Get in early.”

“You don’t want to miss this.”

“This is the future.”

Be careful.

Hype encourages you to make decisions based on emotion.

A mentor should encourage you to make decisions based on fit and evidence.

Ask:

Does this fit me?

Does it fit my goals?

Does it fit my resources?

Do I understand it?

Can I actually do the work?

Does the economics make sense?

Can I see myself doing this for several years?

Those questions are far more valuable than asking whether something is currently popular.

Your Direction Scorecard

Now let’s make this practical.

Take any business model or opportunity you’re considering and score it from 1–5.

Question	Score 1–5
Fits my financial goal
Fits my available time
Fits my personality
Fits my existing skills
Fits my interests
I understand how it makes money
I am prepared to do the required work
I can afford the investment
I can see myself doing it consistently
I believe there is a genuine market
I am comfortable with the level of risk
I can see a realistic path forward

Then add the scores.

But don’t simply choose the highest number.

The scorecard is there to make you think.

The Red Flag Test

Sometimes the answer becomes clearer by asking what would make you say no.

Walk away or investigate much more carefully if:

• You don’t understand how the company makes money.
• The opportunity depends primarily on recruiting rather than genuine customer demand.
• The costs aren’t clear.
• You’re being pressured to join immediately.
• You’re encouraged to borrow money to participate.
• The income claims seem unrealistic.
• The business model cannot be explained simply.
• You dislike the actual work involved.
• You’re relying on “someone else will do it for me.”
• You’re joining mainly because you are afraid of missing out.

A good opportunity doesn’t need you to abandon common sense.

The Mentor’s Rule

Here’s a principle I want you to remember:

Never choose a business because someone else says it is right for you.

Understand it.

Question it.

Compare it.

Then decide.

That’s especially important here at YNMM.

I’m not interested in telling everyone:

“This is the opportunity you should join.”

I’m interested in helping you understand why something might or might not fit you.

Your Direction Exercise

Choose three possible directions.

They might be:

1. Affiliate marketing
2. Network marketing
3. Selling a service

Or perhaps:

1. Digital products
2. Affiliate marketing
3. E-commerce

Now answer:

Direction 1

What attracts me to it?

What concerns me?

What would I need to learn?

What would I actually have to do every week?

Could I realistically do that?

Direction 2

What attracts me to it?

What concerns me?

What would I need to learn?

What would I actually have to do every week?

Could I realistically do that?

Direction 3

What attracts me to it?

What concerns me?

What would I need to learn?

What would I actually have to do every week?

Could I realistically do that?

Now Eliminate

Choosing isn’t always about finding the perfect answer.

Sometimes it’s about eliminating the wrong answers.

Ask:

Which direction clearly doesn’t fit my personality?

Which doesn’t fit my available time?

Which requires money I don’t have?

Which requires skills I’m unwilling to develop?

Which would require me to do things I know I won’t consistently do?

Which doesn’t give me a realistic path towards my financial goal?

Elimination can be incredibly powerful.

You don’t need to find the perfect answer immediately.

You just need to remove the wrong ones.

Your Shortlist

After completing the exercise, reduce your options to:

ONE PRIMARY DIRECTION

and, if necessary,

ONE BACKUP DIRECTION

That’s it.

Not ten.

Not twenty.

Not every opportunity you find on social media.

One direction.

Because concentration creates momentum.

But Don’t Rush Into an Opportunity

This is an important distinction.

Choosing a direction is not the same as choosing a company.

For example:

Affiliate marketing is a direction.

There are thousands of affiliate programmes.

Network marketing is a direction.

There are many companies operating different models.

Your next job is to investigate the options within your chosen direction.

That’s where we start looking at:

• The company
• The product
• The market
• The business model
• The compensation
• The costs
• The support
• The tools
• The training
• The customer demand
• The risks
• The opportunity itself

In other words:

First choose the battlefield.

Then choose where you want to fight.

The Sun Tzu Principle

One of the strategic ideas we’ll keep returning to throughout YNMM is simple:

Don’t fight every battle.

You have limited:

• Time
• Money
• Energy
• Attention
• Skills
• Resources

Trying to build five businesses simultaneously may feel ambitious.

It can actually dilute your effort.

Concentration gives you a better chance of becoming good at something.

You don’t need to be everywhere.

You don’t need every platform.

You don’t need every opportunity.

You need a strategy you can actually execute.

Mentor’s Question

Forget what is trending.

Forget what everyone on social media is talking about.

Forget what someone says is the “next big thing.”

Ask yourself:

“If I had to work on one business model consistently for the next three years, which one would I be most willing and able to build?”

That’s a much harder question.

But it’s also a much better one.

Your Decision

Complete these sentences:

My primary direction is:

I chose it because:

It fits my goals because:

It fits my personality because:

It fits my available time because:

The skills I already have are:

The skills I need to develop are:

The work I will need to do consistently is:

My biggest concern is:

The first thing I need to investigate is:

One Final Thought

You have spent the first five stages of this journey looking inward.

Now you’re beginning to look outward.

But don’t lose the principle that has guided everything so far.

The opportunity comes after the person.

Not before.

You are not trying to find something that sounds exciting.

You are trying to find something that fits the person you have discovered through this process.

Because ultimately:

The business has to fit your life.

You have to fit the business.

And you have to be prepared to do the work.

That’s when an opportunity becomes more than just an opportunity.

It becomes a possible vehicle for achieving your goals.

NEXT: 07 — DEVELOP YOUR STRATEGY

Choosing a direction is only the beginning.

Now we need to decide how you are going to compete.

Where will you focus?

Who will you serve?

What will you offer?

How will you get attention?

How will you generate leads?

What will make you different?

And, perhaps most importantly:

What battles are you going to fight — and which ones are you going to ignore?

Develop your strategy →