Running an online business can be challenging, especially in the beginning when you are trying to find your bearings as to where to go and what to do next.

Probably among the biggest mistakes that online marketers make is allowing too many non-productive tasks into their working schedule.

Here are 5 things that you should unload right now so that you can get on track to making that serious bank and growing a healthy online business.

Forums – Forums are a great place to interact with others in your market, form joint ventures, pick up valuable advice (sometimes), and to gain exposure in your market as an authority.

So why are Forums at the top of this list? Because during your working hours, you need to stay the bleep out of the forums and concentrate on the tasks at hand.

Don’t allow yourself into the forums during your working time! Unless there’s a specific purpose, surfing the forums must always be reserved for being outside of your working schedule.

How many times did you decide that today you were going to do a big push on driving traffic, creating a report, etc, only to end up checking in on the forums (“real quick”) to see what’s new?

Let’s be honest with ourselves, because we’ve all done it… before you know it, the day is half shot and now the momentum is losing steam on all those great accomplishments that were going to get done today.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day… or is it?

TV – Television is one of the greatest killers of dreams out there, especially when you are starting your new venture and developing your self-discipline.

This mindless programming does nothing but instill in you a loser mindset. TV exists as an advertising and propaganda medium to keep the sheeple in check and obedient to various agendas across the spectrum.

Don’t allow this electronic vampire to suck your precious life experiences out of you. You’ve been robbed long enough… and you’ll never get that time back again. Don’t watch life, live it!

Skip the TV for a week and see just how creative your mind starts to get. Your business (and bank account) will love you for it.

Email – Huh? But you NEED email to run your business, answer support inquires, etc. Yeah, that’s generally true, but there’s a time and a place.

Many will use “checking the email” every 5 minutes as a desperate attempt to escape the possibility of failure by floundering away their time, which ironically enough guarantees failure!

Maybe there will be a cool new opportunity… “inside info” on how some guy named Frankie made it big in MLM.

By investigating this, you’ll still be “busy” because you’re pursuing something… right?

Telephone – During our working times, we need to eliminate as many distractions as possible. The telephone can totally screw up your game when you’re trying to focus on something important, especially things like making videos, writing articles or sales copy, etc.

During these times, I turn off the ringer until I’m ready to accept calls again. If someone has anything important to say, they’ll leave a message.

Aunt Martha – If you’ve reached the point where you have left your J.O.B., or you are working on your internet business in your spare time, you may find that one of your biggest challenges is how to stave off the time vampires.

It’s great to have friends and family, and by all means, we need to spend time with them and appreciate having them in our lives. However, during our critical working hours, they must respect that you need this time to yourself so that you can realize your dreams of a better life for you and those you care about.

Let people know that during the hours of * and * on x days of the week you are not available for anything because you are working. Even though you are home, it is still your place of business.

There are more things I could rattle on about, but these 5 I especially wanted to touch upon.

The main point of ridding yourself of these distractions during your working time comes down to one thing… managing your time effectively.

Think of it this way, when you run a Pay Per Click campaign, you track what keywords convert and which ones don’t. You then eliminate the dud’s and ramp up on the profitable ones.

It works exactly the same way with your time. Track all the different things that you do during your working hours and see which activities are actually building your business and which activities amounted to nothing, costing you potential revenue.

Now cut out those dead weight activities and ramp up the ones that are really productive and actually build your internet business.

You’ll be absolutely stunned at how quickly your business turns around when you start feeding it a nice healthy diet of productive activities. 🙂