It's hard to write a title like the one you see above. Massively sobering.
But hey, whatever, it is what it is.
It was literally August 2008 when I decided to pursue Internet Marketing (could we make this a cooler acronym, like InMa or something? I'm going to lobby hard for this one) as a source of full time income and I have "stuck with it" since then.
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| Duh, WINNING! |
Although I'd have to say, when you "stick with" something, it usually means you have had some measure of success. In all matters of the sense, I have had none. ZIP. So yeah, pretty sobering.
On the surface, that statement can say a lot of things about me and about Internet Marketing. You could say that InMa is a fraud, that it's a scam that proves you should never get into this. Or that I am a lazy bastard who needs to pull myself up by my bootstraps, be disciplined and work harder. Or I'm delusional (ala Charlie Sheen).
But the fact is all of that is all wrong.
These factors have all contributed to my lack of success:
Taking a 6 month break
Buying too many products with no action
Not following the 80/20 principle (eloquently explained
here)
Thinking that long hours of work is better then less but more focused hours of work.
Not being proactive enough when it comes to pursuing different InMa strategies. (The only thing I did was article marketing with an affiliate landing page. I tried email marketing for a smidge, but didn't really do much else)
Didn't focus on having a life outside InMa. No balance.
Never taking the courage to make my own product.
Spending way too much time on trivial things. (For example I spent a week figuring out how to get a PO Box and registering for a business tax id. Why this took a week I have no clue, but they are both completely trivial.)
Checking Clickbank 5+ times/day
Checking Google Analytics 5+ times/day
Spending more time reading through forums than time spend putting advice into action (a very common problem as you may know)
Watching too much porn (Haha just kidding. Pat yourself on the back for paying attention thus far.)
Having no system for organization whatsoever. Files littered my desktop in a flurry of documents.
Signing up for 20 mailing lists.
And probably eighteen trillion other things I am forgetting or can't name.
And all these factors are easily avoidable.
You can argue that some of these are completely unimportant or whatever, but the fact is I have had zero sales (ZERO SALES, seriously), so something I am doing is not working.
Also, I can't tell you how to avoid these factors as you have your own life with your own set of challenges, and I don't believe some wishy washy motivation alquote like "If you believe in it, you'll achieve it!" will make you achieve your InMa goals any better. But seeing some of my issues can hopefully help you realize where you may be going wrong.
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| Me, ZERO SALES Guy |
And more importantly, who am I (zero sales guy) to tell anybody anything about successful internet marketing strategies?
Actually, that's a great question, who am I really to say that?
But the fact is I have the feather in my cap that I have stuck with it longer than anybody else would. I may have made a trillion mistakes when it comes to my work habits and strategies, but I'm still here and I am more encouraged then ever.
I tend to stay away from the overly serious diatribes on my blog here but this one is really a passionate cry to not worry about success over the process.
I love the process these days and all the success will coming rolling in.
Come join me, won't you?
-Andy
...Chuck Norris tells you that you are a pussy for being weak. Then he roundhouse kicks you in the face.
