Too often we over simplify complex processes. Equally often we make some things more complex than they are.
We avoid that clash of concepts by knowing what’s complex naturally and what’s not. Think of how easy our life is when we take a moment to read a manual before using the gizmo we bought to make life easier.
Yep. I’m a ‘real man’ and I read manuals!
We venture into the unknown when starting something new to us. Our chance of success is greater when we learn how to take first steps before we run.
Doesn’t that make sense?
Fear of failure often keeps us from taking a first step to success.
I remember a track and field coach replying to the question, “How do you teach young athletes to high jump over a bar higher than their head?”
His reply was, “I tell them to throw their heart over the bar and the body will follow.”
Sure, there’s more to it than that. You have to know the proper approach to the take off point.
The high jumper has many exercises to strengthen his body. There are also mental exercises to block out everything but the task.
There’s more to it than ‘throwing the heart over the bar’. There is much more to know.
But without the belief – tossing hearts over bars – we’re mechanical, not fully mentally and emotionally invested.
My checkered past includes managing customer support for a small technology company. I won’t bore you with tales of inept customers, but I will say we solved many of the “it doesn’t work” issues by asking if the unit in question was plugged into an electrical outlet.
A favorite saying of mine is, “What you know gets you started. What you do not know puts you out of business.”
With that in mind here is the first of my 3 words determining online business success. As you read you’ll quickly understand they are easily applied to most things in life.
Word #1
Learn
No matter what your business experience, or Internet acumen – you are starting something new. And it helps to learn which side of the horse is best for climbing into the saddle.
What is it exactly you intend doing online? Are you going to be a blogger, affiliate marketer, trainer and coach, a seller on Amazon or eBay?
Just because you are familiar with doing some stuff online, you most likely don’t know enough to avoid the traps many Internet business newbies encounter.
Learn
When advising people over the years who want to start their first business I suggest buying an hour of time with a good business attorney. Spending a few hundred dollars to learn what a brick and mortar business needs to do to be legal often save thousands of dollars and hours of grief along the way.
My next brick and mortar business startup advice is buying an hour or two of a good CPA’s time. Go in with your business plan and pro forma financials. Let the pro tell you if what you intend is actually viable financially.
My advice to people wanting to start an online business is to take time to learn the various methods allowing that. Pick one and find the most successful people doing it.
Reach out to them. If they have a training program, buy it. If they offer information by email or RSS – sign up. If they host webinars – attend.
Simply, learn what you do not know before walking into the minefield where 97% of people failing online blow up.
Word #2
Patience
A human failure is expecting too much too soon.
Those who’ve read Malcolm Gladwell understand the 10,000 hour theory. Gladwell believes, as do I, that it takes 10,000 hours of experience to make someone more than competent at their craft.
He cites The Beatles and the time they spent in small Hamburg, Germany clubs honing their craft. John, Paul, George, and Ringo performed hour after hour in the worst conditions before redefining popular music in the 1960’s.
You’ve read of Edison’s 10,000 failures before success inventing the light bulb. He had 10,000 reasons to quit. But he is quoted as saying, “I learned 10,000 ways how not to invent a light bulb.”
Don’t be like the new farmer who pulls up the carrots to see how they are growing.
A word of advice for a ‘Newbie’ is
Patience
Only the earth turns from dark to light in 12 hours or less. Building an online business is a delicate process. Your ledger will not go from red to black in a day.
It may take months to get your first sale or client. Some opportunities deliver results faster than others. The goal is to build a sustainable business creating customers and income for the long haul.
But all beginnings are fraught with pitfalls and you have to trust your guide.
The point is: do not give up. Be patient.
Choose a good niche. Get solid training. Implement the recommended steps on the recommended schedule.
Rinse & repeat – success will come.
Word #3
Focus
Do not lose sight of your goals. I sign off emails with: ‘Goals are dreams with deadlines.’
That’s a quote from Jim Rohn, an entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker. Sadly Rohn died a few years ago. Recordings of his speeches and motivational programs are available on Amazon.
Too many people cheer for your failure. Some are jealous, others are just mean.
Ignore them. Write your plan on a pad. Do not use the computer.
I believe nothing is real unless it is in writing. For me writing something by hand is more affirmative than keying it into a computer program.
Make your goals part of your DNA. Never lose focus of your plan, what you desire most, and how you intend achieving success.
Don’t be distracted by glitter. A lesson I offer people using video to promote their business is to register their primary URL as dot TV, like this: MyUniqueAndWonderfulBusiness.TV
Then they post their business boosting videos on that site. Viewers see them on a clean site with no right column distractions like you find on YouTube.
We’re easily distracted. Like other animals humans look around. With eyes positioned to see forward we turn our heads toward sounds we hear or a flash in our peripheral vision.
But we’re hunters by nature and our forward field of sight allows us to focus on the prey. Train yourself to mentally stay focused on the next step toward your goal.
Your business prey is the goal – the sale – the next step in your funnel. Be like a stalking beast in nature films… do not take your eyes off the prize.
Bonus Word
Associate
It’s proven that successful people associate with successful people. It’s a fact that you become what you think of most.
Hang out with people who’ve attained the success you seek. Learn from them. Learn to think like them.
Successful athletes develop muscle memory. Your job is to develop cognitive associative memory. Develop the mental means to automatically stay on course.
Ever hear the saying, “You are what you think?” Yes, and you are what you eat. Only you are responsible for the person you are.
And do not confuse success with merely how much you have compared to the other guy.
Success is how far you progress from where you started.
Some believe you embed in your subconscious your last thoughts before going to sleep. Over time those thoughts dominate your subconscious.
Teach yourself to focus on your goal as you fall asleep. Associate that goal with what you enjoy most.
Find a suitable Meetup or other method of associating with successful people. Talk to them. Get to know them. Listen to them. Learn what they do when they’re not working.
Model your life after lives of successful people.
Read books about successful people.
Study them.
Build your desire to be successful – in your chosen niche and manner.
People wanting success in Donald Trump’s business area need to learn from him and follow his success factor.
Who’s the Donald Trump in your niche? Find that person. Reach out to that person. Associate with that person and their ideas.
Conclusion
Learn, patience, focus and associate are my success words.
I learned to sail a boat before first setting out.
I became patient after rushing things and failed.
My nature is to focus on tasks at hand.
My Dad taught me to hang out with people already where I wanted to be.
If you want online business success remember my success words.
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