If I Had To Start Over. . .

[ScottTousignant]

Wow... as I was writing my post... more incredible comments came in. You all ROCK! Wow... what a great conversation.

I think I may have surprised Lynn when I interviewed her nearly a year ago and told her that it took me 18 months to earn my first dollar online. I believe her words were something along the line, "If you were my husband I would have kicked you to the curb" I'm paraphrasing

I'm seriously lucky to have an understanding and supportive wife, although there were certainly times where she questioned me and asked the all so important question, "What's your breaking point". Basically she told me to set a date and if I didn't reach a certain financial goal I should pack it in. Boy do I ever love her for saying that.

This was all after I had claimed bankruptcy from a failed health club.

I was however busting my butt during the day with my personal training business while learning Internet Marketing at night after the kids were in bed. So at least I was bringing in some good money in the process, but I sure wish I would have started earning money online much sooner than I had.

Looking back at my journey, I feel that it was lack of focus in the beginning that held me back. I had no direction. I was buying ebooks with big claims and promises but little applicable knowledge.

I swore that I would never buy another ebook again because they just seemed to tease you and try to get you to go into their home study courses.

But just recently I purchased 3 ebooks that cost less than $20 and they are having a great impact on my business.

It wasn't until I hired mentors that I gained that focus.

I always acknowledge my mentors as the biggest reason for my success. But they always reply directly back and say, "Scott, it's not our mentoring that made you a success, it's that you took what we taught you and you actually applied it."

Mentors have many students, yet many of them don't apply the advice so all the guidance is useless.

[StephenT]

Thanks everyone for your responses. It was about as I expected it would be. There is a lot of wisdom in it all.

My summary;

It is up to each of us to do or not do.

Stop whining and do something.

There is no one way, except to find "your/my" way.

[carlos123]

Imagine for a moment that you had nothing but an old computer and an internet connection. That you'd already sold all of your clothes and furniture, save the clothes on your back and the computer in the floor. Imagine that you have 4 children, and you also sold their clothes and toys. You have enough food to last your family maybe a week if you're conservative, and no idea how you're going to pay the next rent or mortgage payment. What would you do?

Hmmm....forgive me if I interject a non internet marketing suggestion into this discussion Lynn.

If I was in that boat...

I would open my bible, come before God in all honesty and ask Him what to do! Followed by calling local churches to see if anyone might be willing to let me clean their toilets or in some other way make enough to feed my children. I would go down to the local hamburger joint and try and get some job...any job and if need be fast until my regular paychecks came in.

God is a real being not some make believe grandpa that resides in the words of church goers and it has been my experience in life that he helps those who call on Him in sincerity and truth.

I certainly for sure would NEVER recommend that anyone start in on internet marketing as a way to make a living in that situation. I would first focus on stabilizing my situation somewhat before plunging into internet marketing of any type.

Internet marketing is not the end all and be all to life. It takes time and patience and as you righly point out it takes someone who will take the bull by the horn and hang on no matter who or what gets in their way.

But it is not a way to make money quickly. At least not realistically for most.

As always there are exceptions but those exceptions do not negate the reality of internet marketing for most who have a much harder time at it.

I myself might end up seeing some great success but behind every internet marketing success there are plenty of times when one was not succeeding so well but just kept going. People don't see that and most gurus don't get down to being real about the ways they struggled (unlike yourself Lynn which is refreshing to hear from you) which inevitably leads others following in their tracks to believe that there is no struggle. That money on the Internet grows on computer screens and that if they just follow behind this or that guru that everything is going to work out just fine.

Unlike you Lynn I believe there is somewhat of a blueprint to follow. Starting with the basics. One step at a time. That first step has to do with keyword research. Picking winners. I am on that journey of a thousand steps and guru or no guru I will make my own success, God willing. By focusing on the basics and doing those basics real well.

Carlos

[ArikaL]

Honestly, the bottom line is...

If you want (or need) anything bad enough you WILL make it happen.

Granted for some the learning curve is a bit longer, but until you buckle down and do the things necessary to reach your own success (again, your success is not the same as anyone else's success) it just isn't going to come.

[jkgourmet]

Lynn, a potential viral ebook in the making, hitting three red hot markets all at the same time: "let a WAHM teach you how to make money in Internet marketing a lose 27 pounds in Only 6 Weeks!!!". Free bonus of "quick and cheap meals your kids will love.

seriously, I love this thread. To use an overused and abused word, its empowering. I worked hard for that weekly unemplyment check, a little money in the bank and the incredible luxury of no debt -- but that same stuff is allowing me to feel complacent and spin my wheels on research, reading, and, yes, posting on forums like this. Tine to go and do something directly to earn some money!!

Thanks to all for the virtual kick in the arse.

Jeanette

[carlos123]

Your sharing some wonderful life insight Jan. Success or no success in internet marketing. Thanks for sharing.

I have a tendency to be down on gurus. I need to watch that. What I am down on is that type of guru who hypes hope trying to pull money out of every Tom, Dick, and Hary (or Sally LOL).

Lots of folks hype hope to those that need hope. And in selling them hope they plunge them into near despair. That's what I am against!

Many gurus are no different than MLM huksters. Promising everyone and their next door neighbor that they will find success if they attach themselves to their rising star. When the fact is that not everyone will succeed. They can but they won't.

There are as you rightly point out many, many variables involved. We can try our best and still fail. Life is that way.

I do believe that internet marketing holds out great promise for many but there are some people that are just not cut out for the patient and persistence plugging along that it takes. One has to be willing to sit in front of a computer screen almost constantly at first. One has to be able to pull time away from other things to focus on internet marketing. It's tough for folks with lots of kids, married folks, and those who have more than full time jobs. It's doable but where will they find time.

A few years ago when I first tried my hand at internet success and failed my wife (with whom I am seperated at this point...not legally but in practice) could not for the life of her see the benefit to spending countless hours in front of my computer screen. It caused a strain in our relationship. I think I was a fool for having plunged ahead anyway without taking into account our relationship more.

As I said....internet marketing is not the end all and be all to life. It is simply a tool. It might work for some. Perhaps for many. But for others it's just not the right time or the best time to try and make a living from the Internet. If it ever will be.

That's just reality. That's just the way life is. Not everything is for everybody short of toilet paper

Just as a real business is. Not everyone should drop what they are doing and start a real life brick and mortar business and put their house up for security in the real world to start a business. For many it would be utterly foolish to do that.

As I see it an internet marketing business is no different. It's a business and should be treated as such. It will take everything you have to give to it at first with the rewards coming later. If you can't give it what it needs you shouldn't be involved in doing it until you can.

Carlos

[carlos123]

Technically, anyone could achieve great things on the internet, but it's a sad fact that most won't because they simply lack the ability to do so, regardless of the amount of opportunities open to them.

I disagree Rich. It's the old North American viewpoint that anyone who is poor is to blame for their poverty which is completely false.

Yes there are undoubtedly some that lack the ability as you say. But it is also possible to have ability and opportunity and not become a raging success on the internet.

Life sometimes doesn't cooperate through no fault of our own. I think we need to leave some room in our discussion for the possibility that some simply won't succeed because circumstances in their life simply don't let them.

I am not speaking of myself though I have failed in the past. I don't think I will be one of those failures at internet success. Indeed I have already succeeded though in a very small way. My internet success has come from starting a web development business.

I am speaking about some that may read this thread who will think themselves personal failures when in fact it may not be anything personal at all. It may be that life has simply intruded and made things near impossible with respect to being able to meet one's needs at any given point in time through internet marketing.

It is the wise person who may come to recognize that and might appropriately put internet marketing on the back burner for a while until a more opportune time.

Not everyone who is poor is a sluggard, lazy, or lacking in ambition. And not everyone who has not succeeded in internet marketing is likewise lacking in ambition, capacity to succeed, or is having trouble coping because they were dropped on their head by their mother as a little child.

There is truth in what some of you are saying. For sure. That some have simply not worked smart, have lacked ambition, whatever...but I believe it is also likewise true that others have had all it takes but for one reason or another beyond their control were not yet able to make it to internet success. Reasons that do not always have to do with anything in themselves but rather in the circumstances that life throws at them.

Carlos

[jkgourmet]

I have a tendency to be down on gurus. I need to watch that. What I am down on is that type of guru who hypes hope trying to pull money out of every Tom, Dick, and Hary (or Sally LOL).

Lots of folks hype hope to those that need hope. And in selling them hope they plunge them into near despair. That's what I am against!

Many gurus are no different than MLM huksters. Promising everyone and their next door neighbor that they will find success if they attach themselves to their rising star. When the fact is that not everyone will succeed. They can but they won't.

not to be combative, but doesn't this sort of contradict what you are doing with the 20+ adsense sites you are spending all that time and energy on?

You KNOW how to make money in IM - you've already done it. That puts you a few miles ahead of some of us. If I were in your position, I'd be pitting my time and energy into something that I already KNOW will make money AND have long term value and growth.

While I don't disagree that adsense sites can be an alternate income stream, I can't help but feel that your time would be better spent working on your core business rather than testing a guru's theory that will produce, at best, a temporary return ROI - the I is your valuable time

[carlos123]

You KNOW how to make money in IM - you've already done it. That puts you a few miles ahead of some of us. If I were in your position, I'd be pitting my time and energy into something that I already KNOW will make money AND have long term value and growth.

While I don't disagree that adsense sites can be an alternate income stream, I can't help but feel that your time would be better spent working on your core business rather than testing a guru's theory that will produce, at best, a temporary return ROI - the I is your valuable time

A valid point and one I have considered. It's possible my Adsense stuff will come to nothing though I doubt it.

But...my web development work is not consistent and even if it was it is unlikely that I could do it very successfully from South America as easily as I could do Adsense.

My goal is to be able to make enough to live in South America and live well there. In such a way that I can leave the computer screen behind and get involved in many other things.

Web development work won't do that for me. That is why I have entered into Adsense.

Secondly...I am walking in the footsteps of some of the best Adsense folks around bar none. I mean bar none. They know what they are doing. I believe I can imitate what they have done. My skills are way beyond even theirs on the technical side and I can most definitely do what they do on the non-technical side. I see their success as my success. It is within reach. Not a pie in the sky hope but a real success based on hard work and focus.

That is what I am aiming at.

Lastly and just as importantly my Adsense entry has enabled me to forge deals with those around me that are meeting my real needs for a place to live and food to eat. At least for the first 15 web sites. Oh...in addition to allowing for the registration and hosting costs of these first 15 domains.

I can't discount that. Even IF my Adsense endeavours come to nothing, which again is unlikely, it is providing a very real and right now benefit to me and my client partner both. We are both learning together and I am passing on to him what I know in a way that has him learning things 30 times faster than he could do on his own.

Learning all kinds of things about FTPing changes to a web site, about keyword phrase research, building web sites, you name it. All stuff that is valuable for him to learn even if our Adsense adventure comes to nothing.

Carlos

[Julie Anna]

I was however busting my butt during the day with my personal training business while learning Internet Marketing at night after the kids were in bed.

That's where the rubber meets the road. It's the common thread that runs amongst all the folks who are successful online. They busted their butts.

Butt busting =
No sleep
No extra time
No extra money
No peace of mind because of the intensity of having to make it work
No hand holding and having to do all the brain and physical work alone
No understanding from offline friends
No one telling you what to do with external motivation so you get it done on time

The success comes with a hefty price tag. Some folks busted their rumps because they had to make it work like a few here who have noted so, and some because any other way just wouldn't do in their drive to be entrepreneurs, and some because they knew they had it in them.

Regardless though, they were willing to pay a price and did. What I like most about the desperation model (not that I recommend ever going there - watching people you love suffer has got to be the utmost of painful) but the logic is that you have nothing more to lose and you must make it work. That is some serious motivation. This is why I do feel fearful telling others to do what we did but sometimes taking the risk and adopting the mantra Just Do It does motivate you to make it work. What worked for us was quitting the plush corporate job and having a mortgage to pay in CA with eleven children to feed. (Yep this was br = before recession with forced lay offs and we were just plain crazy!). No truly, we wanted to be home with our kids before we hit age 70. This was a burning desire so real we were willing to make it happen. It has and I am thankful yet remember well the hard work behind it all.

So here's to more butt busting!

From butt busting to computer butt losing ...

JA