Thinking Your Way To Profits
January 28, 2009
Since my son was born, I've had a lot less time in front of the computer. That was how I planned it. I wanted to take as much time as possible to be with my son and watch him grow.
That does not mean, however, that I was not working. When I was walking him to sleep (which requires quiet), or running an errand by myself, or doing some chore, I often took that time to think my way through what I was going to do when I did get back in front of the PC.
This proved to be incredibly effective, since I wasn't wasting time when I sat down at my desk. I had a well-thought out plan each time I got behind the keyboard, and that made my time, limited as it was, much more productive.
In fact, that "thinking time" is where my latest projects (WebComp Analyst and Web Data Parser) were born. Just having the time to think through ideas that I'd had previously sparked other ideas, which lead to a plan to test a theory, which resulted in new software applications.
You see, sometimes we can get so caught up in the working part of our business that we forget about the thinking and planning parts — and it's the thinking and planning that guide us to long term goal achievement. You probably know the adage, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." It's so true!
Besides, just stepping away from a problem can often spark a solution in our minds. I read a book a few years ago that dealt with modern research into how memory works, and it made the point that our subconscious mind is often more effective at solving problems than our conscious mind is.
Have you ever tried really hard to remember something, and had it on the tip of your tongue, but it just never came to you? But a few hours later, when you'd forgotten all about it, that "thing" popped into your head? That's your subconscious at work, and it can work on problems you're trying to solve, too. I'm astounded at how many solutions pop into my head when I'm not even thinking about the problem. So sometimes it pays to just step back and do something else.
The proof of what I'm saying, as I said, is in my latest software applications — which were coded in record time (for me anyway). I got the software coded faster because when I sat down to write it I already knew exactly how I wanted all of the components to work! That's the power of a plan.
It isn't stopping with those two applications, though. My latest creation is also the product of time spent musing about a "how to" question: How can I create a software application that will answer any question you throw at it? Wow, I thought, wouldn't it be fantastic to have a piece of software that could do that? Talk about a tool for rapid content creation!
Well it's out of my head and on my desktop now. It's called Answer Analyst, and you really want to take 8 minutes of your time to watch the preview video I put together this morning:
Click here to watch the preview video.
Let me know what you think in a comment below.
Comments
75 Responses to “Thinking Your Way To Profits”
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Jonathan Leger has been earning his living online full-time since the fall of 2004. He regularly posts advice about search engine optimization (his current passion), AdSense and Internet Marketing. He is the creator of a suite of popular software tools, including: Jonathan L Leger 
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I agree. Finding time to think can make life much easier. In several of his books and audio series, Earl Nightingale suggests sitting down with a pad of paper every morning and just think. Write down 20 or 40 thoughts to improve what you're doing or explore new idea.
It gets too easy to be caught up in life. Everybody should think more often.
First, congratulations on your new son. Like arrows…
I agree one hundred percent. I have a list of projects I want to work on, and I sometimes have domains that sit for 8 months before I take action.
I guess you could say I'm letting them age.
I have to agree. Sometimes work can get in the way of thoughts and ideas that can actually make you money. As your little one gets older you will find they have plans that can keep you from being very productive as well. Especially if you work from your home.
Looks like very useful software. Whn can we get our hands on it?
Ok ok, I'll watch. Not sure how I got on your list, but that's ok. You write well, and clearly. Big plusses. Gonna watch now.
Answer Analyst looks like a great tool especially for helping to develop well researched articles. Another winner Jonathan
Another great tool Jonathon!
But, this is what we have come to expect from you. Nothing but the best!
This tool answers one of my greatest dilema's. How do I decide what to write about when it is a subject that I don't even know anything about?
I love the ability of the software to actually get the questions for you.
Can't wait until it is ready to be released.
Thanks again!
Brett McEllhiney
Jonathan.
Great content, especially considering it's still a new year and resolutions are still fresh and top of mind…just wait till March when they all fizzle!
As for thinking time, I believe in automating much of the mundane stuff, even up to the point of hiring through elance etc… gives new meaning to working on a budget!
I've been meaning to ask…seeing you've developed Bookmarking Demon, ever thought of coining up a Wordpress plugin capable of posting to more than 50 sites?
The current staff on the market…only 2 I must say, are outdated, no updates, no customer support, and it sucks…big time…
Thanks for the post once again.
Phil Good.
Quite interesting tool Jon? You're definitely thinking outside of the box, as usual! I can see how I can use this tool {snip: no links in the comment please} as well as for blogging in my seo guaranteed services I offer! Look forward to seeing a price tag on it?
So true, this happens to me all the time. My only problem is that when i start thinking about other things when working, i all to often get side tracked and before i know it i've been effetely day dreaming for 30mins or so without actually doing any work and with out even realizing i've been doing it.
Being clearly an imaginative person yourself, have you ever really had this problem?
Thanks
Jayen
subconscious: right. When walking is activating better for me.
Time manadgment.
values>rules>goals>plans> weekly elastic
2008 I was offline. And developped & tested some kind of tool helping to synchronise process of materialisation what U want. Its about recognition and verification of goals, talents, priority manadgment & much more.
even feng-shui pluggin. But it`s not finished.
(now used "temp. software" to run this processs)
Now need to translate it in english & develop
That is exactly why I always keep a journal by my bed. The best ideas come when I'm relaxing and not trying to think of anything in particular.
Also I could imagine that your effectiveness must have soared when you now have a lot of time that you can't/won't spend in front of the computer. To get the things done you want will require for you to be more effective with the time that you have.
Hy
Thank you for your mail. The tool is really great.
Cya
Roli
Very good.
Please don't make it a subscription. to use it.
Jo
At present, no computer is more powerful or productive than the human brain.
My "thinking time" comes at about 5:30 A.M. before anyone else in the house is awake and lasts until around 6:30. During this time, my projects seem to assemble themselves right on the table top while I just sit and sip coffee.
Now, if the rest of life could be that easy…
Great news on the birth of your son, Jon… it's that new life that makes it all worthwhile :o)
Re your new answer tool - excellent job!
…one simple question - so when's it available?
Best wishes, Steve (in the UK)
I totally agree that time with the baby is quality thinking time! My Wife and I had triplets last year, so you can imagine what that did to actual 'work' time.
I now carry a digital voice recorder when walking them and as an idea pops into my head, I say it into the recorder so my work time is utilised better when I do get time to work.
I also carry a notebook for those quick sketches although it's difficult pushing a triple pram and sketching!
Really think that this is neat. Where were you when I did my research papers before I retired? Had I been a drinker, it would have allowed me to have a beer and relax a litte. I hope that this is not a subscription progran and I hope you will let us know when it is ready for use. Just want to get my hands on it and give it a try. Biggest problem will be trying to pull myself away from working on it. I think search programs will be at the top of the heap in value real soon, if not already. Please let me know when it is ready.
Many Thanks for letting us have a look-see.
Jay
I am into radio. As a kid in the 40's & I was confined to the house due to my illness and spent hours and hours listening to it. Inner-Sanctum scared me out of my wits. Couldn't sleep for weeks. It was imagination driven by the radio. Loved the Shadow and Sky King. Didn't understand Jack Benny or Amos & Andy until I listened to reruns years later. Some funny stuff. Thanks again.
Jonathan,
How do you see this product in relation to the Instant Article Wizard products? Is this their replacement?
I'm pretty much at a place where I'd love to get started with this type of research tool - as a matter of fact, it's an imperative for me right now. But hearing of this new effort of yours, I find myself thinking I'm going to have to pause. Do you have a release date in mind?
In the mean time, do you need a beta tester???
(I'm already a WCA, WDP, and SST user, if that tells you anything, lol
Would agree with a previous comment and prefer not to see this type of application on a subscription basis, though.
Regards,
Tom.
Wisconsin, USA
Thanks for this Jon - it's a great idea.
Just wondered whether it can be linked in with the Instant Article Pro as there seem to be elements of overlap and commonality?
Also, I wonder whether there's an option to search specific databases Eg can you add a database to it if you're a member of say a university? Or does it cover Google only?
And is there a max length for the research or can it be used to roughout say a 30 page ebook?
Looks like another winner for you!
Congrats on your son! Enjoy! And get used to a LOT less sleep!
All the best!
Susan
Hi Johnathan,,
I can see a multitude of applications for your "Answer Analyst" software.
- school prodjects
- blogging
- web site development
- general knowledge
I can see this being quite the time saver, especially for those with little to no experience with conducting this sort of research via standard search engin results.
Awesome tool.
I appreciate you,
Bill Tessore
Jonathan:
I see your Answer Analyst 1.0 as a great companion to your Instant Article Wizard 2.0. It is an interesting spin using an Ask Jeeves style format to be able to retrieve and parse data from the internet. I like, and think it will be great. Good input on the "thinking" part of the business as well, sometimes we really need to back and think about our ideas, processes etc. in order to take our businesses to the next level.
Keep up the great work!
Wow Jon!
What an awesome tool!
One quick suggestion… for projects with multiple questions, it may be more user-friendly to have each question-and-answer section in its own tab below the question entry field.
If I think of anything else I'll let you know
Paula.
This seems a far more user friendly and results oriented tool than Instant Article Wizard Pro. Developing articles and website content for SME companies that are in the B-B space is not easy and this maybe the tool that will provide , thoughts and ideas as input to compelling content. Currently IAWPro gives a few ideas, but it needs to be substantiated with other research. The video for this new product indicates that there is more depth to it.
All the best
Hello Jonathan
When I first heard about this tool I thought before the I watched the video it ould just grab the content from Yahoo Q and A however I was so wrong, a nice, infact great tool!!
Thanks Mally
You had a lot of time to think thanks to your son…..I had a lot of time to think thanks to my daughters (twins)….when they left for college this fall.
God did it feel great to have time to think about my business. The result was some of the best ideas I have had in years.
I have to have the answer analyst! You think up stuff that we webmasters all need, but just don't know it yet:)
please let me know as soon as I can get a copy of this new software.
cheers
Hi Jon,
Thanks for the interesting article.
But, oh my gosh! A tool that'll answer any question I throw at it! I think I'll write the next best seller for the golfing niche, "How to Score A Hole In One, Blindfolded!" :))
Ha ha, sorry, I just had to be the comedian….
I'll be looking forward to its release!
All the best,
Laurie
I remembered when I was a student I would prefer to sleep over some extremely difficult maths problems if I had already spent some time on them. Without fail, viola!, I would have the solution by the next morning. Sometime I would wake up middle of the night with the solutions still fresh from my dream! I believe in the power of sub-conscious mind. It's just that sometime we are too caught up with problems or whatever are in front of us that we fail to retreat. Your sharing is timely, yea you are absolutely right about thinking and planning. Thank you for sharing.
Cheers
Looks great! But how much is this going to cost? I use IAWP and managed to get your fire sale so I don't have to pay monthly for it. Would you have a similiar deal? Anyways always like your products keep up the great work!
Jon,
Once again, another great idea which looks like it could be really useful.
I would echo the sentiment of somebody else who would prefer this to be a one-time purchase, and not subscription software.
Any ideas on an ETA?
Thanks again,
Mark
Looks great Jon.
It should already be a part of Instant Article Wizard which I find come up with less and less answers all the time. Mostly the only thing that works, when it works, is Google searches. Therefore I tend to simply hit Ctrl twice, bring up the Google box and ask away. :O/
Great article as always. Some days that is all I do when I am at my J.O.B. is think about what I will do the next time I get in front of my pc.
Yeah I already have IAW Pro and 2.0 I'll more than likely get this too
You come up with some interesting stuff Jon
Cool man
PS Do they still say "cool" nowadays? Maybe your tool can answer it?
Congratulations on the added joy at home. It's true that sometimes we all get caught up with getting things done and don't afford time to think strategically. Great news that you've been able to launch a couple of new products while 'baby sitting'! I use WebComp Analyst, it's a nice efficient tool. Your abilility to scrape the web for information is turning into a huge money making gem. All the best to AnswerAnalyst.
Congrats on the new addition to your family!! Yes, the mind can be an amazing machine. Postive thought, focus, etc it all adds up to success!
Congrats on the arrival of your new "boss". The man who will have you and your wife running around in every direction for the next few years. It's all worth it though.
The new tool looks fantastic.
At the risk of repeating what everyone else is saying, all I can say is:
When?
How customizable is Answer Analyst? Given ownership, could I add additional question stems to the SW's database, for example?
Could I tell it, something like: Don't bring anything back that greater than 3 months old. Would it be able to handle such a request?
I have other such questions in mind I could ask, but I think you get the gist of what I'm after here: viz., I'm specifically interested in learning how flexible the software is; how much I can bend it to my personal mode of thinking/researching.
I'd really be interested in receiving an answer to these questions! Thanks.
Peace and Love,
DeeJay
Hi Jon,
You really do inspire me. The software you make is great. It solves so many time consuming tasks, and when I look at most of your software, I scratch my head and say, "man, why did I think of that".
I feel like I am blessed to be on your list. You deliver serious value to your customers and always come up with something new, at affordable prices. Thanks for everything mate!
Dallas
Yess, 100% agree
and i think 80% of success is on the thinking your way to profits…do you agree ?
Hi Jon,
What you've said is perfectly true. Just yesterday there was a problem in our area and I couldn't work on the computer for three hours. I was just pacing back and forth thinking about new strategies for my business. I was doing exactly what you'd described in your post. Within those three hours, an idea for a new product was born and I am really working on it right now. Great post!
Congratulations on your new son. May you be endowed with divine wisdom to raise him for His glory.
Very very impressive for me to go ahead in the life.
Hi readers posters blogging fans far n wide … WoW Jonathan talk about when the student is ready the master appears … in this case when your niche research is ready the software will appear … What a great idea looking forwards to "Answer Analyst Launch" and of course how your going to price it?
Regards
Phillip Skinner
Great-looking tool, Jon. You always have a new surprise up your sleeve! Thanks.
Great tool, I hope it will be useful for me to create content for my websites. Does it work also for non english keywords? I hope the price will be affordable, because I need it! (forgive my english)
You seem to have a knack of creating great software that is useful and usually works pretty well. I am just wondering if your other software like instant article wizard pro could provide the same information, other than providing the extra questions, of course.
Thanks for another good post.
Kind regards,
Barry
Looks to be a very useful research tool Jon.
I think "Add to current results" needs to have its output sent to tabbed pages - scrolling down a long page of data, looking for a specific detail, is always a problem. Then offer functions to "Save Tab As" or "Combine Tabs".
I echo the earlier sentiments too, in hoping it won't be a subscription-based model.
Amazing tool … I'm a writer; this is perfect for doing fiction research.
What search engines are used? Can you add search engines?
And I agree with the rest. Writers would buy something one time to own (and you'll have people swarming this if it works as good as that video) but probably not 'rent'.
Hi Jonathan,
Thanks a lot for that software, i ll wait for the release. For sure i ll get my hand on it
Take care
Another nice bit of work Jon.
New Product Idea:
While you are thinking, could you come up with a way to download videos better? With everyone creating these, about half the time I cannot get the entire video to load.
It becomes very frustrating reloading a page multiple times trying to see the whole thing.
Jon
Congratulations on your new son.
I agree with you on that one. I have a list of projects I need to work on, and really need just to sit down and plan things out. I didn't on 2 websites and as it turns out i wasted my time.
Hi
The new tool looks cool.
When will be official launch?
Have a new feature suggestion. After the collection of answers, is it possible to have an option to convert all these answers to pdf format? Just in case, you need to work on an ebook project. Can save some time here to transfer the answers and convert them.
Congrats on your new born, really the present day is all about time management. I have to do all the online stuffs simultaneously with my college studies and other works
Looks like a great tool for creating your own information product, $7 Secrets-style. I love the ability to find questions based on keywords; this will help users identify blind spots in their product development.
(Thinking outside the box: here's a great way to get questions you'll need to interview experts in areas you're not an expert in — use the interviews for podcasts, audio and video products, etc.)
Being able to reorder the questions (and thus the results) would be a nice feature. So would a single-line view for results, which would show the excerpt in a preview pane when clicked upon.
Looking forward to more!
Will, Iam interested about thought but I would like to view things to me well.
Great post! Very useful for me, thanks for the good post!
Looks like it will be great hit. When will this be out?
Madhan.
This looks like another time saver for research.
Smiles
I like the new tool and look forward to the launch next week.
What is the source of the answers to the questions? Is there a possibility of copyright infringement? Also what are the chances of duplicate content occuring if the info is drawn from other sites on the web?
Thanks
Tony
When I was studying programming in college we had a structured programming class that was 2 hours a day 5 days a week.
I'd go home at night and work on a problem, then go to bed and sometimes solve the problem in a dream! That's not unusual, because several classmates did the same.
Gotta step off sometimes and it comes to you.
That is so true!
Planning ahead is the big thing in my mind to be able to live stress free. As a mommy to 3 boys I have plenty of "challenges" to try to find solutions to. Having the time to analyze and talk out what the best solutions are to problems is also essential to achieving our goals. Taking a step back and leaving our routine helps spark new ideas and things we simply would not have thought of had we been in front of the computer.
Great article!
Blessings,
Eren Mckay
You are right on the money taking time to think will ensure that whatever task you do is done in the most efficient manner hence you less time .
work smarter not harder
well if you do both you are bound to suceed
There's a problem with thinking your way to profits… over-thinking! As I go along and do my stuff, there are times when I just have so much going on in my mind that when I sit down to type - I'm like… okay, which one first?
So I guess it takes planning first of all!
Using the subconscious to work is a powerful tool to use and everyone should use it - since we each have a brain, heh.
Asher
I believe Abe Lincoln said, if he were to spend an hour to cut down a tree he would take 45 minutes to sharpen the ax. To your other point, I've definitely noticed this as well. When I can't figure out the answer to something, if I step away from it for awhile it often times comes to me. Great post.
I do usually plan things out when I am idle, but not to the extent you have. I suppose thinking a little more in depth would be beneficial, and it doesn't seem so hard an action to execute.
I'm guilty of not always practicing good planning for many of my endeavors in life. But sometimes, being spontaneous really pays off.
i agree… although sometimes i tend to over-think instead of actually "doing"
i always think about new ideas when iam idle or get bored by const. surfing.
My story is similar and I admire those who strive for greatness and I hope you keep it going.
thank you
Derrick
Just watched the video. The software looks like a great tool for creating content quickly.
Andrew
I didn't realize that most of the web 2 sites do not get their results into the search engines. It does make sense, I have looked at Yahoo answers a lot and there are a lot of people that answer questions that do not have a clue.
thanks for the post
Jon good luck on your journey with children. My youngest is just graduating from college. All three of my children were able to accomplish that which I was unable.
I am on the other end of the time thing. I now have a lot more time to research and write and comment.
Rick
looks like a great piece of software I will have to take a look
I would like to congratulate you to have a very cute son. You can sit before a computer for few minutes and can continue blogging to share the experiences.
I've had the same experience when I was writing an ebook, whenever I got stuck I would just go and do the dishes or clean my apartment and an answer would come to me.
You must please the dish-washing gods!