Thanks to everybody who commented on the posts below. I really appreciate you taking the time, and ultimately we’ll hopefully all benefit.
There were two main questions posed:
What do you find most difficult?
What do you think would help you most in moving forward?
The answers and feedback were pretty unanimous, and very revealing as well.
What people are finding most difficult are:
- Lack of focus
- Information overload
- Generating traffic
- Finding a good niche
- Not knowing where to start
- Believing that “this” can work (“This” being making money online)
- Technical challenges
What people think will help them most is:
- Coaching/mentoring
- Step-by-step systems
Before we look at solutions, let’s try and understand reality…
The unfortunate reality is, that people buy what they “want” and not what they “need”.
As marketers (of whatever level) we learn to find out what people “want” and then sell it to them.
Now, trying to find our way in this crazy world we call the Internet, we are faced every day with offers and launches which tap in to what we “want”, and this is for one simple reason:
it works…
People buy this stuff, so marketers in the IM niche keep putting what we “want” in front of our eyes, and people keep on buying it.
Now don’t get me wrong, I truly believe that there is some excellent stuff out there, both in terms of products, and genuine people who are trying to help others.
The IM market, however, can basically be broken down in to 2 main sorts of people: business owners and opportunity seekers.
Somebody building a business will usually buy something which is pertinent to what they are doing. i.e., if you are building a membership site for gardening enthusiasts, then you might buy membership site software, content management systems, video software etc. all with the aim of facilitating what you are doing.
An opportunity seeker on the other hand, might buy exactly the same products as the business owner, but it is usually with a view to “what the product/software/information will do for them” (as promised on the sales page).
So what’s the solution?
The people who make money on the internet are those who set out to build a business.
They are those people who know that their actions produce results, and they will do whatever it takes to make it happen.
If you build a business, you need to understand that things don’t happen over night, and in fact, you may not see results for weeks or even months.
Unfortunately, this is what causes the lack of focus and information overload in so many people.
Results don’t come quickly enough, it wasn’t as easy as you thought it would be, you start to lose enthusiasm, and then, another shiny object appears.
Imagine this: you start rolling a snow ball. It’s going quite well and you’re enjoying it.
After half an hour, you’re beginning to get slightly boared, and rolling that snow ball is tiring.
That snow ball also isn’t as big as you thought it would be after half an hour, so you take a break.
The next day, you come back, and start rolling a new snow ball, and the same thing happens.
After 10 days, you’ve expended a huge amount of time and energy, and all you’ve got are 10 slightly pathetic snow balls.
Now picture this:
Before you start rolling your snow ball, you’ve got a vision in your mind of how it’s going to look when you’ve finished.
It’s a 10 foot high snowball, and it’s so big, that it takes 5 people to roll it.
Every time it rolls however, that snow ball grows significantly and exponentially.
But wait a second, you haven’t even started yet…
So, on day 1, you start from scratch, rolling your snow ball.
After half an hour you’re beginning to feel less enthusiastic than you did at the beginning. You’re also pretty tired, and to be honest, you’re not really seeing any results.
You take a step back however, and picture in your mind the 10 foot high snow ball with 5 people pushing it.
You’re enthusiasm returns, and you carry on pushing that same snow ball.
You come back on day 2 and cary on where you left off….
On day 6, the snow ball is so big that you need to get somebody to help you push it. It’s already 5 feet high, and coming along quite nicely.
Now, you get the idea of what I’m saying.
In the next post, we’re going to talk about what it really takes to build a business on the Internet.
If you take in nothing else from this post, please hear this:
Without exception, the people I know who are successful in life (in whatever they do) have 1 thing in common:
They have the right Mindset.
Of all the comments on the posts below, only 1 person said they needed help with mindset…
Guys, it’s eeeeeeeverything!
Unfortunately, it requires effort and it doesn’t sell very well.
It is however, what you absolutely “need”, and if you’ll put the effort into this, it will give you what you “Want”.
As ever, your comments are valued and welcomed.
Keep moving forward,
-Matt
© 2010, Matt Wadsworth. All rights reserved.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Great Post Matt,
For a long time online I thought getting traffic to a site was some mystery, and I was getting nowhere fast.
I think I had about 100 daily snowballs in my back yard. It was not until I started to read people lie Kim Roach that I started to believe I could get somewhere.
Now my traffic is growing weekly and I am very pleased with the progress.
I am glad I found your blog (Kim) and will be back to learn more from you.
Bruce
Bruce Cagle´s last blog ..MLM 1776 Fantastic Updates – Hot News 4 You
Awesome snowball picture, Matt – many thanks.
During August 2009 I had a very strong picture in my mind of the very same things..ie a snowball being pushed down a hill, and gaining momentum as I kept pushing it.
I knew I would face obstacles aling the way down, BUT, even more clearly, I knew that the more consistently I pushed the snowball, the bigger it would get & the more unstoppable it would be.
So here we are, nearly 10 months later. My snowball is big, but I know I need to keep it moving.
Your insights about not trying to create & push too many snowballs is very, very pertinent to me (and I’m sure to many others out there who get so easily distracted by “Shiny Object Syndrome” (aka S.O.S.!!).
What you have written in this post very strongly resonates with me and it was very encouraging to read it.
Thanks for sharing, and all the best in your growing business.
Best regards,
Dez Futak.
(Fellow internet marketers and recovering SOS addict
Any ’system’ will work if you work it long enough. It’s just a question of picking one and sticking with it. It’s just so tempting to think that some new shiny system will be quicker or easier.
It doesn’t help that we keep getting emails asking, “Is ….. dead”? The answer is usually no, it still works just like it always did.
One of your most valuable IM tools is the unsubscribe link. Use it and get back to doing the stuff that matters. (says he, while commenting on a blog instead of writing an article)
Rich
Rich Russell´s last blog ..Mike Dooley – Playing The Matrix
Hi Matt,
Great post on mindset! Just what the IM industry needs – though as you said, not necessarily what it wants. Personally, my whole perspective changed when I realized that I already knew enough and that “knowing” wasn’t worth anything until I built something that used that knowledge. Since then, profits have grown steadily.
Something I would find very helpful to learn from you is how you
systematize your business and find reliable people to outsource it to so that it becomes automated – especially being blind. I am at that stage in my business where I need to outsource to reliable help and someone who can offer tips that has “gone before” like yourself would be very appreciated.
I’ve gotten started by hiring some workers but find I am the
roadblock now because I have not clearly defined my system. (I kept waiting to hire until I’d defined it but that kept getting pushed off so I finally decided to force myself into the position of having to.) Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Zeke
I don’t think that there is any one thing that determines our success or not. However mindset, emotions, etc. can have a strong influence on our success. Each person has to find that combination of “things” that leads them to success. Some fall into success with no effort, while others have to work very hard to achieve it. We each have to follow a different path to our goals.
David Enders, D.C.´s last blog ..Ten Myths and Realities of Goal Setting For Baby Boomers
Matt,
I appreciate what you are saying about mindset. I think most of us avoid it because it’s the one thing that is the most difficult to understand or change. We wouldn’t know if we had the right mindset or not. We assume we have the right mind set because we want to make money on the internet. I’ve come to learn ‘wanting’ is not enough, but I don’t know how to transition into the right mindset. How do we get there?
Great comments as ever guys.
For what it’s worth, here are some of my own thoughts and answers.
@Tanks: sounds like an excellent plan.
Sticking to “one” path for 3 months will get you a surprisingly long way.
It might not feel like it at the time, but when you look back, you’ll realise you’re waaay further on.
@Andrew: Don’t worry about standing out from the noise. Just be yourself, provide value and be straight with people.
That’s enough to make you stand out a mile
and people will thank you for it.
@Nikhil , Thanks for sharing this and for being so open.
I don’t at all think mindset is about changing our character from those early years. On the contrary, it’s about getting back in touch with how we were in that early part of our lives.
I.E. not being quite so afraid, and having the courage and self belief to push forward, even when things are tough.
Have you ever noticed how kids often pick things up so instinctively. They seem to miss out the “how” bit, and just go from idea to implementation.
Personally, that’s the approach I try and take. Just “go for it”. If you fall down, get back up and carry on until you can do it.
@Patrick
, totally agree about taking responsibility.
When you take responsibility for your own success (whatever you define as success) you’re already 50% closer. The next stage is taking the necessary steps to turn your dream into a reality.
before you take action. When we “need” to find a solution, we’re capable of amazing things.
@Mark, spot on dude. The internet is one of the cheepest places to fail, and if you fall down, it’s generally not that painful.
@Robert, have a read of Chris’s excellent comment again.
“I would say that setting out to build a business – not “follow a program” or look for the ultimate “step by step” – is a crucial element in the process.”
What kind of business do you want to build?
How would you see your life in 1, 2,5 years time?
Try and start from the end and work backwards.
-Matt
Hi Matt,
As my favourite sales trainer has often said, “The only time success comes before work is in the dictionary” Or if you want a slightly different approach – “Success always comes after effort”.
I’m putting my hand up and owning up to the fact that I always get distracted by the latest fancy bauble that comes along. I have been getting information, not actually advice from 40 people and not implementing any of it so starting the first of March I am following one person’s methodology solidly- and implementing it solidly for three months.
I’m going to follow it at the idiot level without any fancy innovations and interruptions.
At that time I am going to review my snowball and see what has happened.
To date I have been farting about in the internet for close on three years – spend a lot and not earned a penny. It is going to change by simple application.
I will be posting my daily progress to a blog so every one can review my success or failure… Nothing like a little public commitment and the fear of embracement to ensure application.
Ok for those of you interested in my progress or lack there of my blog is at: Tanks Progress
At the moment its empty but the first posting will be on the 1st March… Promise
Tank Johnson
tanksalot´s last blog ..Contact Us
Hi Matt,
I really enjoyed your latest audio interviews. I didn’t respond to your survey since I don’t think anything is holding me back right now. What I did was to JV with a partner that has complementary skills to mine like he is good at marketing and I am good at coding.
Before this, I had an endless stream of half baked projects. Now I have the motivation to complete the current project, since I know I have the guy with the contacts and list eager to promote it.
One current problem I see is standing out from the noise. So I guess this is where the JVing comes into play?
Andrew´s last blog ..Extreme SEO #3
Hello Matt,
I think that reading your blog post above might give me a new direction in my life. Not in the way you intended perhaps. But I would like your comments on my opinions below (if it is possible).
You said that the most important factor in our success is our mindset. Now a person’s mindset is not something that you can change as easily as you switch on the TV.
A person’s character (including his mindset) is shaped in the first 7 years of his life. Freud proved this conclusively many decades ago in the early part of the 20th century and his findings have not been refuted. In the Islamic religion also the Muslim clerics ask for the custody of young Muslim infants to be given to them for the first 7 years of the child’s life. Then the clerics give the child back to the parents. The saying among the clerics is – give me your child to me for the first 7 years of his life and then you can have him back. But after spending those years with me the child will belong to me forever.
So a person’s character (including his mindset) is shaped in the first 7 years of his life. And it is almost impossible to change it. The habits of thoughts. the way we feel on a moment to moment basis as we go through life, the way we respond or react to situations is almost impossible to change.
The impossible can still be done if you are young and have enormous drive and determination.
I started a project to change myself as a person many years ago and I succeeded. What I found useful was reading books to locate a good role model. Once I got my role model I re=read the same books over and over to imbibe and absorb and expose myself repeatedly to the way my role models thought and felt and responded to life.
Another thing which I did and which is also essential was to free yourself from my past conditioning. For this I found Buddhist meditation and awareness techniques to be very useful. Through these various meditation exercises I was able to free myself of my past conditioning. And then I found myself responding to life in the same way that my role models, whom I had exposed myself to, did.
But this was an enormously long and difficult exercise and I started when I was young. Now I am no longer young and do not wish to take the pains to change my mindset again a second time round.
So as far as mindset is concerned – either you have it or you don’t. And if you don’t have it you would be better off working at a job.
I would like to have your comments on my post above. My opinions attack the self help industry and all the people selling mindset products. But it is not intended in a malicious way.
I am looking for some direction for my future and this is the reason I am posting this and would appreciate your feedback.
Thanks in advance and I again hope that I have not hurt your interests in any way.
regards
Nikhil
When we understand what makes ourselves tick, we can overcome a lot of hurdles in life and business. Two resources that I have found helpful recently and you may find them in your local library, a book titled Taking Responsibility by Nathaniel Branden and The Now Habit by Neil Fiore.
Both of these books will help overcome the symptoms of procrastination, fear of failure and help with the development of mental focus.
In my opinion most problems we have discussed stem from a lack of personal development
Thank you Matt for the inspiration.
Matt,
Perspective determines what we actually envision as our business model and you certainly “see” things more clearly than most. Our fears can stop us dead in our tracks but the fear of failing is nothing more than an inability to see that failure as part of a learning curve. In a brick and mortar world, those mistakes can be too costly. In a “virtual” business, however, we should consider those as educational investments.
Keep up the inspirational work.
Best Regards,
Mark
Indeed a mindset, the mindset can change after so long of no successes too so the endurance factor is one of the biggest parts of the mindset.
In reference to what Chris mentioned, having an actual build plan can be difficult when you don’t have enough knowledge on what to build from the ground up, I tend to get sidetracked or at times do things out of order, that’s where experienced marketers can help guide us. Having a template or blueprint of what fundamentals to cover in the beginning would probably help that snowball gain momentum.
Persoanlly, I’m looking forward to the snow melting for good. Calgary is due for a chinook! Stimkin ice…I keep wiping out on it.
Awesome analogy with the snowball Matt…
I would say that setting out to build a business – not “follow a program” or look for the ultimate “step by step” – is a crucial element in the process.
I realize a lot of people have come into the affiliate industry because their desire is simply that they want to make some extra money online – and that’s totally fine.
But there’s going to be a big difference between the following two types of people:
1) Those looking for an opportunity to make money – and they’re trying to find out “how” – or…
2) Those who want to use AM as a part of a business plan.
The main difference is that the business-builder knows what they want to BUILD, and their plan is to monetize that with affiliate programs…
…whereas the opp-seeker simply knows that they want “money”, but beyond that – the allegedly complex process eludes them.
This is because the person looking to build a web presence (business) has a desire to make an IMPACT in their niche. They have grand plans for a site that makes a difference, or at the very least becomes a “player”.
And it means that subconsciously, they’re expecting that doing so is going to require a lot of content, promotion and dedication.
It is a mindset.
Now – what about things like the conduit method, mini-sites, etc?
The whole point of doing that is to reverse the process of finding an effective market. It can take NUMEROUS conduit sites, mini-sites and so on before you find your “winner”.
And when you do (find a winner) – then you have to switch over to the mindset of a “business builder” and scale up.
It can be daunting, but always remember that all you REALLY have to do is basically just copy your competitors processes. The kind of content they put up, what they promote, how they build their lists, etc.
It’s all, as they say – right in front of you – when your desire is to build a WEB PRESENCE.
And not just “make money”.
Just some thoughts.
-Chris
Matt,
I second your thoughts. As someone who’s spent too much time chasing the next shiny object, I finally came to the place where it is ONLY about building a business. Still, the old habits can be hard to break.
Great reminder!
Bruce
Hi Matt,
I finally managed to hear your interview with Chris Rempel after much frustration trying to access it. It was well worth the wait and I will refer to it often, as it is so inspiring.
I agree totally with what you said in this post, and have shifted my focus away from the learning and more on buying the tools and services I need to build a business.
I think everyone goes through this phase of info overload and many give up, but it one sticks at it the path to success will start to become more clearer. It takes a while for some of us but it will happen if you want it bad enough. Success is all in the mind.
Terence´s last blog ..Clickbank Stealth Review