Everyone on the Internet is looking for the ultimate
get-rich-quick scheme. At least that is what the people
selling the ultimate get-rich-quick scheme would like you
to believe.
Which one is the 'ultimate'? Well, if you hear them tell
it, theirs is, of course.
"Turn $5 into $50,000,000,000 in 30 days with no effort!"
Did Bill Gates figure out how to condense his lifetime
into 30 days? I doubt that he would say he got where he
is today with no effort.
Are you listening to these guys, or do you REALLY want
to make money on the Internet? Becoming instantly rich
on the Net is about the same as sitting around waiting
for your lottery numbers to hit.
I like to believe that we're smarter than that. We realize
that the only way to truly become successful at anything
requires a lot of hard work, motivation, persistence,
and luck.
Now let me explain each of these points.
Hard work -
This is a no-brainer. You ARE NOT going to be able to turn
on your computer, walk away from it, and expect to end up
with a successful business.
You have to work at it. The more productive work you put
into your website and your marketing efforts, the greater
the rewards.
Notice that I said 'productive' work.
It is easy to spend 20 hours a day on the web and not do
anything constructive for your business. You have to focus
your efforts to make the above statement true.
To put it a different way, if you spend 20 hours a
day adding content to your site, refining the design,
promoting it, testing and retesting to learn what works
and what doesn't, you WILL see the results.
Many websites fail not because the owner didn't work hard
enough, but because he didn't work smart enough.
Motivation -
How do you stay motivated to enable you to survive
the months and months of extremely long days and
nights glued to your monitor?
Is it the lure of having a successful web business
someday?
The idea of eventually being able to quit that job
that you hate?
Believe me you will hit low points, you will get
frustrated, and probably even utter the words "at
this rate I'm never going to make it".
So how do you stay motivated? The above questions can
help, but I think the absolute most important motivator
is to pick a topic that you love. When you are working
on a subject that you totally enjoy the low points will
be far less frequent, and have far less impact on you.
Your mind will be in the places it is supposed to be
instead of constantly watching the bottom line. If you
are trying to create a successful business with something
you have absolutely no interest in...you are setting
yourself up for failure before you even get started.
Think about this idea for a moment. Let it sink in as
to what I'm telling you here. What is your favorite
pass-time? What is your hobby?
Do you get burnt out when you are spending time on
your hobbies?
Does an auto enthusiast watch the clock at a Saturday
afternoon drag race?
Does a knick-knack fanatic get bored at the world's
largest flea market?
Do sports fans wish football season was much shorter?
If you develop your business around a topic that you love,
that you enjoy spending time on, that you can't wait to get
home and fire up the computer to work on...
motivation becomes a non-issue.
Besides...isn't enjoying what you do one of the key factors
to success? I hate to be the one to break it to you, but
true happiness isn't all about money.
Persistence -
You have to stick with it. You can't quit. Don't lose faith.
There will be bad times, but you have to keep going. You
won't make as much money as you wanted to one month. You
won't get quite as many subscribers or visitors out of
that advertising campaign. The 'killer ad' that you just
knew was going to pull like crazy...won't.
These setbacks are a fact of life. Accept them and deal with
them accordingly. Learn from your mistakes and move on.
If you keep the right attitude during the bad times, the
good times will be that much sweeter.
Luck -
Yep, its going to take a little luck as well. But if you
follow the above guidelines, you can make your own good
luck.
Luck is being in the right place at the right time. Luck
is making the right decision at that crucial moment. Luck
is buying low and selling high. Luck is realizing that you
made a mistake and correcting it right before everything
crashes.
The more knowledgeable you are about your subject matter,
the more time you spend educating yourself about it, the
more you work at becoming an expert in your field, the
more luck you will have!
When you know the ins-and-outs of your industry, you WILL
be in the right place at the right time. You WILL know when
to buy and when to sell. You WILL know what decisions to
make, and when to make them.
Correcting a mistake? This is nothing more than testing
an idea and dumping the ones that didn't work.
Don't sit back and leave it to fate...
make your own good luck!
So, whenever I'm asked how can you become successful on
the Net, I tell them to work hard, pick a subject that
they totally enjoy, learn everything they can about that
subject, stay strong during the bad timesFind Article, and stick
with it! your brand.
