Everyone who has ever journeyed into the unknown in a quest to achieve something is going to encounter many obstacles along the way. That’s just a fact of life. Without these obstacles, there would be no learning experiences to evolve from. That would be a pretty boring way to live life when you think about it.
I remember when I was getting started in internet business, my personal brick wall was analysis paralysis. I was so overwhelmed with information from trying to absorb it all at once, that I would just find myself endlessly looping through the forums, checking out software and pretty much accomplishing nothing for hours & days on end.
I knew that I needed to start somewhere, but by reading the posts by pseudo experts in the forums, surfing from site to site, looking at other products, etc I was really a busy guy. So busy, in fact that I almost had myself convinced that I was actually accomplishing something.
In reality, what I was really accomplishing was nothing. I could justify my use of time because I was “busy”. The bottom line however, was that my bank account was still an internet virgin. Other than picking up nuggets of info here and there, I completely wasted nearly 6 months of my life circling around in a sort of holding pattern.
I had finally reached the point where I was getting disgusted with myself and decided to take stock of myself. What were my real goals? Ultimately, it was freedom that I was after, but what was stopping me from getting started? Was it the fear of failure because of the humoring chuckles I would get when telling someone that I was going to make money online?
Maybe it’s just because I needed to keep looking until I figured out what the magic secret to online succes was. Surely succeding online only belongs to the enlightened few that have stumbled across this “secret”, right? Nah, the so-called ‘gurus’ didn’t know squat about this stuff when starting out either. So what was it. What was different about them?
Well, after stepping back and reflecting a little something hit me like a wet towel across the face.
These guys just took action, grabbed their online business by the seat of the pants and went for it. This wasn’t simply a hobby for them, it was a business! I suddenly realized that the real reason I was spinning my wheels was simply a lack of focus!
I had to decide on ONE thing to do, and then FOCUS on it and nothing else. This is the single most important step to getting started. Whether affiliate marketing is your thing, or creating an info product about something, or whatever. Don’t get caught in the opportunity chasing trap. Decide what you want and stick with it until you make money.
In my case, I decided to make guitar tutorials as my first endeavor. Every evening after work I dedicated my time to creating a series of videos and eventually completed them. I kept my focus, and followed through to completion.
That was around January, 2006. I had worked a couple months on that first tutorial, partially because of inexperience, & partially because it was a software application with embedded video & guitar tablature.
I am still making a passive income off of those tutorials to this day. Work once, get paid forever. It’s a great concept. If you keep repeating this concept, you can easily visualize how this will lead to freedom.
So what’s your brick wall? If you take a little time to sit back and confront your wall, you are likely to discover that your brick wall is not a brick wall at all. Instead, it’s simply a door waiting for you to take the action to open it.
Hey Jack, Great insightful post. I’ve done a little research on you the past week and did in fact find your guitar solo tutorials that you mentioned in this article. Van Halen was and still is one of my favorite bands and I was impressed by your Eddie Van Halen Solo rendition of Eruption–Awesome!! I’ve actually got the other two alternate recordings of Eruptuion somewhere in storage on cassette tape. I bought your amazing cloaker software over a year ago and hope to get your Xingla software soon to do exactly what you described in this post — get movin and take action. Regards, mitch
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Great advice. I have two motivational sayings on my whiteboard at the moment.
1. I will focus my attention on one task at a time.
2. I am willing to commit the time required to do it.
Geoff
Hi Mitch, Thanks for the nice feedback on Eruption. 🙂 Eddie Van Halen was always one of my favorites & I never get tired of playing his stuff.
I had a lot of fun making those tutorials… I think that’s probably why I chose that for my first product.
I’m glad to see you are using AmazingCloaker. Affiliate marketing is also a great way to discover profitable markets for creating your own products down the line.
@Geoff – Great sayings, I should have those written with perma-markers on my own whiteboard. 😛
Well, Jack, What can I say…
Once again, you’re right on the money!
Have I experienced what you’re talking about? Absolutely!
Thanks once again for a very introspective post.
Best, George Lutz
I can definitely relate to the overload of information when I first jumped on board the Internet marketin train…
I couldn’t agree more about staying focused, I often (daily it seems) have so much on my plate that I lose my focus on what’s most important. Which in my case, is cold-calling and generating sales.
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Nice post! People can learn loads from this post. Most of us do go through the same situations, unless we are very lucky. Thanks for the post. Something which newbies can read and learn from.
Cheers, Phillip.
I think you are right about just diving in and treating it as a business as opposed to a hobby.
This can be something that is hard to do, for me anyway, but it really is how most of the big money makers do it.
I might have to adopt Geoff’s Sayings, because they really are spot on and something I need to remind myself of. I have trouble with #1, because I can be easily sidetracked.
Hi George, There’s no doubt that you are the man with experience. 🙂 With your background, you know first hand what it takes.
Sometimes we all have to step back once in a while & remember the basics of simple focus. This is why I like procedures. They keep you focused.
@Lari – I agree, Geoff’s sayings are on the money. Such a simple mantra yet soooo difficult for people to stick too.
Thanks, Jack,
In keeping with your post, I just want to share a great resource for focusing with your readers. The software program is called “Achieve Planner” and the link is – http://www.effexis.com/achieve/planner.htm
This is NOT an affiliate link and the credit for my discovery of it goes to Paul Smithson, founder of Xsitepro.
Best regards, George
Hello again, Jack,
It just occurred to me after my last comment that the title of your very valuable article could easily be as well, “What’s the Writing on Your Walls (referring to the beliefs written on the walls of our subconscious minds).
Best regards, George
@George – That sound’s like a great subject for a post! What experiences we have and how we act on them will write the story of who we are. We can choose to author our subconscious wall with the most elegant of writings, or simply plaster it with graffiti.
BTW – thanks for the tip on the time management software. Looks much better than using a spread sheet any day. I’ll check this out. 🙂
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Hi Jack, you couldn’t be more right about thinking you are busy but actually achieving nothing. I have done that for the last 3 months and only in the last couple of weeks have I started focussing on one thing at a time. Good post, it is enlightening to know other people have the same issues when they start out with internet businesses.
Hi Jonathan,
I think that many people would be surprised how many people are experiencing the very same challenges as they are.
We all seem to think that somehow our obstacles are unique, because generally people never talk about their flops. Naturally most of us prefer displaying our successes only, and tucking those nasty little failures under the carpet.
Those failures aren’t getting due credit though, because they are the very stepping stones that get you to success. Those are the true golden nuggets to learn from.
-Jack
Thanks for writing this. I’ll be sure to take it into consideration.