I started this blog almost a year ago to chronicle my attempt to create an online income. And for me it has been a struggle. I thought by now I’d have a steady income and be living the dream. The reason, I think is my mindset and my thoughts about success and my ability to achieve my goals and in order to achieve any success I need to go back and work on me.
So far my income has been zero, due to two things - inaction and inappropriate action on my part. To sum it up, I have allowed my fear of doing anything remotely different to stop me from taking the steps required to achieve any level of success.
I don’t know if there are any statistics but I guess there are far more internet failures than successes and I’m sure this is true in all walks of life. I have no doubt that there is money to be made online. What I haven’t figured out yet is what singles out the successful from the rest and how to get myself from wannabe to super-success.
I have read many excellent self help books that promise to teach you how to be happy or rich or whatever it is success means to you. I have surrounded myself with them and been intimidated by them and eventually put them away (and continue to buy more) but I read them like novels never taking the time to actually do what they recommend and complete the exercises. I don’t think it matters which book you pick up, you will learn something from each of them, but you have to put into practice what they tell you to do.
Like self-help books, even the best internet business products need to be used and followed as directed. If not, then you might as well leave your credit card in your wallet. And while I have not spent a lot of money, I have spent a lot of time looking at these business products and have not been catapulted into action. Why because I have either not taken action or taken the incorrect action.
I guess I am not alone in this. Many people buy online products in the hope of being the next overnight internet sensation, buy into the hype and are disappointed that it is not that easy. Or perhaps they are a bit more sceptical, unsure of themselves and believe that while it may work for someone else, it won’t work for them. This is the broad category I fall into.
As a result, my website is started but not finished, I am still struggling to find a job in the real world and am undecided about a potential opportunity to earn money in direct sales because it is something I have never done before.
I would now consider myself a bit of an expert on self-help theory but a novice in self-help practice. So, in order to get over my fears and doubts about internet marketing and a myriad of other terrifying things I am going to use this blog to chronicle the personal development aspect of my journey using what I know about personal development and the Law of Attraction in the hope that within the next three months I will be well on my way to achieving my goals both on- and offline, so that by May, there will be fitter, healthier, happier and whole lot wealthier me.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Monday, October 12, 2009
Beginners Guide to Internet Marketing
As with starting anything new, setting up an online business has its pitfalls. There are many guides available. The Newbie Startup Guide is one of the best guides I have seen. This report gives you all the information you need to start creating your own income generating websites. It gives easy step by step instructions and images on setting up your online business, including the following topics
- Finding your niche
- Getting your domain name and creating your web site
- Creating a landing page
- Setting up your autoresponer
- Creating a blog
It is like having the author there helping you each step of the way, explaining each step and giving advice based on his own personal experience.
This has been the most valuable resource I have found in my first steps in creating an online income and I am sure will be of great benefit to you starting out. Reasonably priced given the content and is backed by a 100% money back guarantee. Visit the Newbie Startup Guide, you won’t be disappointed.
Online business - mindset change required
A few months ago I attended a three day seminar on internet marketing and wealth creating. I came away from this seminar with lots of information but without a clear idea of where I could or should start. The message was this stuff is easy so just do it. However for someone new to this game, it was too much information on too wide an array of topics
And so I returned home full of enthusiasm visualising instant success and cash dropping into my bank account as I slept. I sat at my computer and did more research using the information I had collected and the result was too much information.
The internet is an amazing resource but you need to carefully pick and choose the information you take in. The brain can only absorb so much information and that information must first pass through your belief systems. Some of that information will feel right (that is it doesn’t challenge our belief systems) some will challenge but still feel possible and some will feel downright unbelievable (for example if you have never made any money online, it is going to be a massive stretch for your mind/imagination to believe you can make one million).
It is so much better to start small and build up your confidence and expand your online money making comfort zone at a rate that best matches your ability to change. Because that is what this is – we have to change our ideas money, making money and how we make money.
Change is a habit. We get stuck in situations – jobs, relationships, etc. – that we do not like but are unwilling to make the necessary changes to move on from that situation. We want change to be instantaneous but it is a process and we have to take consistent and persistent steps to get the desired results. Creating an online business is a big change for most people irrespective of their technical knowledge.
Last weekend I attended another internet conference. This time I was only able to attend one day. I adopted a pick and choose approach, attending only those sessions that made sense to me. I still came away with a lot of relevant information but not so much that I felt overwhelmed. Sometimes change is forced upon us. But when we want to make changes in our own lives small incremental changes with realisable goals are usually best.
And so I returned home full of enthusiasm visualising instant success and cash dropping into my bank account as I slept. I sat at my computer and did more research using the information I had collected and the result was too much information.
The internet is an amazing resource but you need to carefully pick and choose the information you take in. The brain can only absorb so much information and that information must first pass through your belief systems. Some of that information will feel right (that is it doesn’t challenge our belief systems) some will challenge but still feel possible and some will feel downright unbelievable (for example if you have never made any money online, it is going to be a massive stretch for your mind/imagination to believe you can make one million).
It is so much better to start small and build up your confidence and expand your online money making comfort zone at a rate that best matches your ability to change. Because that is what this is – we have to change our ideas money, making money and how we make money.
Change is a habit. We get stuck in situations – jobs, relationships, etc. – that we do not like but are unwilling to make the necessary changes to move on from that situation. We want change to be instantaneous but it is a process and we have to take consistent and persistent steps to get the desired results. Creating an online business is a big change for most people irrespective of their technical knowledge.
Last weekend I attended another internet conference. This time I was only able to attend one day. I adopted a pick and choose approach, attending only those sessions that made sense to me. I still came away with a lot of relevant information but not so much that I felt overwhelmed. Sometimes change is forced upon us. But when we want to make changes in our own lives small incremental changes with realisable goals are usually best.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Why I am putting my self-help books away....
Recently I have found myself asking if self-help books really work. First let me say, I am a big fan of self-help books. I must be I have so many. I believe that each contains valuable information but is not working for me. It is almost like there is something missing, if I can just bridge that gap then everything will be should be. And I believe I am not alone.
If it worked for everyone then there would be no need for the vast array of books on the subject and the number of programs available online. I am finding it increasingly difficult to read these books even ones I enjoyed and found helpful before.
Over the last number of years I have bought and read tonnes of self-help books, in the hope that this one will supply that missing piece. You name the book, I’ve probably got it. It is an addiction, albeit a somewhat healthy one. But even healthy obsessions can be bad if taken to extremes.
Despite all the books I have read I have never figured out what my passions and my true goals in life were. I have struggled to write lists of personal goals that never quite seemed to fit. They look like someone else’s goals or the goals I should want, which is why I have failed to achieve them. I am not saying this is the books fault, because it is not. I firmly believe that this stuff works if applied correctly.
But the time has now come for me to put them away and move on.
The very fact of owning these books is putting me under pressure to be someone I am not right now and may never be. It is as if they are taunting me for not being who they say I can and should be. If I can do it then so can you... they tell you. And that is true, but everyone’s journey is different and what is right for one person is not right for all. Everyone has their time to shine but you cannot force it. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy but it feels right, if it is hard and every day is a struggle then something is wrong and needs to change.
The self-help industry is for people who feel they are somehow broken and can be fixed by a few well chosen words. We choose books because books cannot hurt you, even if they make you a little uncomfortable or think about things for a little while. They are impersonal even though the author is talking directly to you. They can chastise and cajole you but they cannot make you take action, inspired or otherwise. Let’s be honest, most of the information in these books is very similar. Just follow these (pick a number) simple steps and you will have the life you desire. And that, I believe, is part of the problem. We are constantly striving for something we don’t have while failing to appreciate what we do have.
We each instinctively know what is right for us at a given point in time. If the advice in these books does not sit well or the whole process is a struggle and causing you stress then you need to listen and back off. You cannot force yourself to be someone you are not or do something that goes against your personal values. Putting these books away right now instinctively feels like the right thing to do.
I am currently in the process of gathering up my collection of self-help books that are scattered throughout my house. I am not going to get rid of them. The information in them is just too valuable to give away.
I firmly believe that the knowledge I have gained from these books will never be wasted. My books will be boxed and stored safely until the time comes. I have learned a lot from them but in the meantime I am going to relax and appreciate what I do have rather than stressing about what I don’t. I am going to listen to my intuition rather than someone else.
If it worked for everyone then there would be no need for the vast array of books on the subject and the number of programs available online. I am finding it increasingly difficult to read these books even ones I enjoyed and found helpful before.
Over the last number of years I have bought and read tonnes of self-help books, in the hope that this one will supply that missing piece. You name the book, I’ve probably got it. It is an addiction, albeit a somewhat healthy one. But even healthy obsessions can be bad if taken to extremes.
Despite all the books I have read I have never figured out what my passions and my true goals in life were. I have struggled to write lists of personal goals that never quite seemed to fit. They look like someone else’s goals or the goals I should want, which is why I have failed to achieve them. I am not saying this is the books fault, because it is not. I firmly believe that this stuff works if applied correctly.
But the time has now come for me to put them away and move on.
The very fact of owning these books is putting me under pressure to be someone I am not right now and may never be. It is as if they are taunting me for not being who they say I can and should be. If I can do it then so can you... they tell you. And that is true, but everyone’s journey is different and what is right for one person is not right for all. Everyone has their time to shine but you cannot force it. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy but it feels right, if it is hard and every day is a struggle then something is wrong and needs to change.
The self-help industry is for people who feel they are somehow broken and can be fixed by a few well chosen words. We choose books because books cannot hurt you, even if they make you a little uncomfortable or think about things for a little while. They are impersonal even though the author is talking directly to you. They can chastise and cajole you but they cannot make you take action, inspired or otherwise. Let’s be honest, most of the information in these books is very similar. Just follow these (pick a number) simple steps and you will have the life you desire. And that, I believe, is part of the problem. We are constantly striving for something we don’t have while failing to appreciate what we do have.
We each instinctively know what is right for us at a given point in time. If the advice in these books does not sit well or the whole process is a struggle and causing you stress then you need to listen and back off. You cannot force yourself to be someone you are not or do something that goes against your personal values. Putting these books away right now instinctively feels like the right thing to do.
I am currently in the process of gathering up my collection of self-help books that are scattered throughout my house. I am not going to get rid of them. The information in them is just too valuable to give away.
I firmly believe that the knowledge I have gained from these books will never be wasted. My books will be boxed and stored safely until the time comes. I have learned a lot from them but in the meantime I am going to relax and appreciate what I do have rather than stressing about what I don’t. I am going to listen to my intuition rather than someone else.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Setting Goals – Part 1
The first key to setting goals is to create goals that will challenge you and drag you kicking and screaming far enough out of your comfort zone to make reverting to old habits impossible, while at the same time being realistic enough so that it feels possible for you right now.
If the goal is too big and too daunting then it just leads to a feelings of overwhelm. The feeling over being overwhelmed is what stops us doing most things in life. It causes stress. It leads to failure and we begin to despair of ever achieving our goals.
In order to succeed we need to make our goals manageable. Few people would endeavour to run a marathon without first putting in a lot of hard training. If we are smart we find a good training program either online or in a book and start out walking and running until at last we can run one mile. Ever notice some days you can run farther and faster than others and some days you cannot run at all. The trick is to persevere – it gets easier.
Once we have run one mile we go onto two miles, then three until eventually we are ready to stand on the starting line with hundreds, perhaps thousands of others as we set out to complete the twenty-six mile journey. It might feel daunting and a little bit scary but if we have put in the training we know the goal is manageable and achievable.
If we haven’t done any training then we are likely to feel very overwhelmed and failure is almost guaranteed. Likewise, it is going to be very difficult to create a massive goal, unless we have succeeded in creating and achieving smaller goals.
What happens when we try to achieve a big goal?
Our conscious mind, whose main aim is to protect us and which is programmed by past experience, goes back over our experiences and brings up all the times we failed in achieving any sized goals and concludes that we probably won’t succeed this time either. The conscious mind knows no better. So we will either start and fail, or we don’t start at all because our conscious mind keeps telling us we are likely to fail this time too, so why bother.
If we don’t succeed with smaller goals then the bigger goals really are just going to overwhelm us. So if you are struggling with your big goals, look to your smaller goals. Achieve success there first. Your conscious mind will soon learn to associate goals with success. Achieving your goals will give your confidence a well needed boost. Then start tackling progressively larger goals.
Or try to break your large goals down into smaller pieces if you can. If you are finding this difficult you just need to put a bit more thought into it. Get out a large sheet of paper and write down everything you know about that goal. Some steps may become obvious. If not, it doesn’t mean you will never achieve this goal. It might just means that the time isn’t quite right for you now.
Write down a list of all your goals and store in a loose leaf binder. Then on separate sheets write one goal with everything you now know about that goal. Prioritise them in a way that makes sense for you, you can always reprioritise later or even lose a few. Review them regularly, giving your most important goals the most time, adding ideas or any additional information you have learned and steps you need to take or may already have taken.
Work on the ones that come easiest for now, get a habit of success and achievement. Know what achieving your goals feels like.
By focussing on goals even when you are not working on them you will find a wealth of ideas and resources become available to you. But be sure to write down any ideas when they come to you, don’t assume you will remember them as ideas can disappear as quickly as they appear.
As time passes you will find that you have achieved at least some of them without even realising it.
Most of us forget that goal achieving is a journey not a destination and that destination may change over time.
Determine you success by how far you have come rather than how close you are to where you want to be.
If the goal is too big and too daunting then it just leads to a feelings of overwhelm. The feeling over being overwhelmed is what stops us doing most things in life. It causes stress. It leads to failure and we begin to despair of ever achieving our goals.
In order to succeed we need to make our goals manageable. Few people would endeavour to run a marathon without first putting in a lot of hard training. If we are smart we find a good training program either online or in a book and start out walking and running until at last we can run one mile. Ever notice some days you can run farther and faster than others and some days you cannot run at all. The trick is to persevere – it gets easier.
Once we have run one mile we go onto two miles, then three until eventually we are ready to stand on the starting line with hundreds, perhaps thousands of others as we set out to complete the twenty-six mile journey. It might feel daunting and a little bit scary but if we have put in the training we know the goal is manageable and achievable.
If we haven’t done any training then we are likely to feel very overwhelmed and failure is almost guaranteed. Likewise, it is going to be very difficult to create a massive goal, unless we have succeeded in creating and achieving smaller goals.
What happens when we try to achieve a big goal?
Our conscious mind, whose main aim is to protect us and which is programmed by past experience, goes back over our experiences and brings up all the times we failed in achieving any sized goals and concludes that we probably won’t succeed this time either. The conscious mind knows no better. So we will either start and fail, or we don’t start at all because our conscious mind keeps telling us we are likely to fail this time too, so why bother.
If we don’t succeed with smaller goals then the bigger goals really are just going to overwhelm us. So if you are struggling with your big goals, look to your smaller goals. Achieve success there first. Your conscious mind will soon learn to associate goals with success. Achieving your goals will give your confidence a well needed boost. Then start tackling progressively larger goals.
Or try to break your large goals down into smaller pieces if you can. If you are finding this difficult you just need to put a bit more thought into it. Get out a large sheet of paper and write down everything you know about that goal. Some steps may become obvious. If not, it doesn’t mean you will never achieve this goal. It might just means that the time isn’t quite right for you now.
Write down a list of all your goals and store in a loose leaf binder. Then on separate sheets write one goal with everything you now know about that goal. Prioritise them in a way that makes sense for you, you can always reprioritise later or even lose a few. Review them regularly, giving your most important goals the most time, adding ideas or any additional information you have learned and steps you need to take or may already have taken.
Work on the ones that come easiest for now, get a habit of success and achievement. Know what achieving your goals feels like.
By focussing on goals even when you are not working on them you will find a wealth of ideas and resources become available to you. But be sure to write down any ideas when they come to you, don’t assume you will remember them as ideas can disappear as quickly as they appear.
As time passes you will find that you have achieved at least some of them without even realising it.
Most of us forget that goal achieving is a journey not a destination and that destination may change over time.
Determine you success by how far you have come rather than how close you are to where you want to be.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Great Start, lousy follow through
It has been many months since I started this blog and many months since my last post. The reason is that I really haven't progressed from where I was in terms of setting up an online business.
I came down with a crippling case of information overload. The more information I got the more confused I became. Given the amount of information out there I believe there are many would-be internet entrepeneurs out there who are feeling the same.
When I wrote my first post, I was all fired up, I had thought about what I wanted to achieve and had taken what I considered inspired action (others may not agree). And so I posted my second article and then, nothing, no more inspiration. A few weeks later the idea had gone right out of my head as life moved on.
So it is with a lot of things in life. We decide we want something, often without putting much thought into it. This becomes our goal. We get excited, telling only our closest friends and confidantes or keeping it quietly to ourselves.
We start out gung-ho, carried along on a wave of enthusiasm. Beginnings are exciting, following through when the going gets a little bit tougher is hard.
More often than not, the goals we set are not the things that we truly want, but what we believe we should have or what others want for us. They are not in alignment with our beliefs and values and they are not in alignment with our true purpose in life.
We may work at it for a while, but that is exactly what it is … work, struggle! Time passes, it doesn’t materialize and we get disheartened. We begin to doubt, this was not meant to be, who are we to have such high notions?
In short, we aim to fail. And failure has its payoffs. Success takes hard work, failure takes very little. Most of us don’t like hard work. Because hard work without a plan is often wasted effort. Hard work on a goal you don’t really truly want, that is even worse.
In my next post I am going to write about goal setting. We all need ‘em!
I came down with a crippling case of information overload. The more information I got the more confused I became. Given the amount of information out there I believe there are many would-be internet entrepeneurs out there who are feeling the same.
When I wrote my first post, I was all fired up, I had thought about what I wanted to achieve and had taken what I considered inspired action (others may not agree). And so I posted my second article and then, nothing, no more inspiration. A few weeks later the idea had gone right out of my head as life moved on.
So it is with a lot of things in life. We decide we want something, often without putting much thought into it. This becomes our goal. We get excited, telling only our closest friends and confidantes or keeping it quietly to ourselves.
We start out gung-ho, carried along on a wave of enthusiasm. Beginnings are exciting, following through when the going gets a little bit tougher is hard.
More often than not, the goals we set are not the things that we truly want, but what we believe we should have or what others want for us. They are not in alignment with our beliefs and values and they are not in alignment with our true purpose in life.
We may work at it for a while, but that is exactly what it is … work, struggle! Time passes, it doesn’t materialize and we get disheartened. We begin to doubt, this was not meant to be, who are we to have such high notions?
In short, we aim to fail. And failure has its payoffs. Success takes hard work, failure takes very little. Most of us don’t like hard work. Because hard work without a plan is often wasted effort. Hard work on a goal you don’t really truly want, that is even worse.
In my next post I am going to write about goal setting. We all need ‘em!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Looking for Focus, finding Information Overload
In the week since my first post, I have continued to research potential online business opportunities. The problem with researching online is the amount of information that is available ... google Affiliate Marketing and get 20 million results plus paid ads. Being naturally cautious and a bit sceptical I have to google the results – is this a scam or a potential winner. This all takes valuable time, isn't the whole point of an online business to give you more time to do things you enjoy. The result of cyber time-wasting is that I don’t get time to read any of the websites or blogs I have subscribed to or any of the free ebooks I have downloaded.
The main problem at this point is a lack of focus and a clear direction. Right now I don’t have a clearly defined goal or set of goals rather a general direction in which I am heading even if I am taking the long way round. The more I read, the less clear I become.
Ever have this problem, I’d love to hear.
The main problem at this point is a lack of focus and a clear direction. Right now I don’t have a clearly defined goal or set of goals rather a general direction in which I am heading even if I am taking the long way round. The more I read, the less clear I become.
Ever have this problem, I’d love to hear.
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