Beginners Almost Always Underestimate What "Massive Action" Means

[steveweber]

Someone just wrote with a story I hear over and over. They have been in Internet marketing for about 6 months and still have little income to show for it. I asked what and how they were marketing.

First, their “niche” was WAY too big…but OK, they seemed dedicated; they were still trying anyway.

Next, she said she was “marketing” with YouTube, EzineArticles, twitter, FaceBook, and the social bookmarking sites.

I asked for more details.
In 6 months she had a total of 5 YouTube Videos, had written 10 articles for Ezinearticles, had about 400 followers on twitter and didn’t update very often. She did have about 30 pages on her site however….but still, for a big area like she was in, what she had done in 6 months would need done every week for success…at least.

Beginners too often underestimate what “massive action” means.

[Steven Wagenheim]

People used to say I was crazy for how much work I put into my business
and how many hours I put in, writing articles, making videos, creating
products, non stop day after day.

Today, I spend most of my time in the recording studio writing songs or on
my spare PC blowing up enemy tanks.

Point made, I think.

[steveweber]

hehe...love it! "Blowing up enemy tanks" sure beats the RatRace!

[javanz07]

Yup, you're right. I estimated big time too when I was a newbie. It is always a case of underestimating the work required and overestimating the rewards possible. I have long since learnt that it is a matter of small consistent action. Well one can make the action big if one can make it consistent... but that is very rare. Small consistent action is much much better than big sporadic action.

But hey, that's just me.

[runfast]

Steve,

This is a great observation. A combination of massive action and focus goes a long ways. One may take massive action but gets out of focus.
IM is so diverse that I recommend taking massive action and try different avenues. Once you find something that works then take more massive action and focus building on what you know.

Mike M. -RunFast-

[Dan C. Rinnert]

So, what you're saying is, I should put up a second YouTube video for marketing my niche?

[hipnol]

Crazy stats indeed

In 6 months she had a total of 5 YouTube Videos, had written 10 articles for Ezinearticles, had about 400 followers on twitter and didn’t update very often. She did have about 30 pages on her site

[BradCarroll]

I think a good rule of thumb is that if you can still think of things you need to do to market, you haven't done enough yet!

Which may just be a messed-up way of thinking, as almost every time I put in some "massive action", I think of at least one or two other things I could do to put myself out there. So it really is kind of never-ending...

[Scott Ames]

Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert

So, what you're saying is, I should put up a second YouTube video for marketing my niche?

LOL!!!! That was hilarious!

[discrat]

Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim

People used to say I was crazy for how much work I put into my business
and how many hours I put in, writing articles, making videos, creating
products, non stop day after day.

Today, I spend most of my time in the recording studio writing songs or on
my spare PC blowing up enemy tanks.

Point made, I think.

You mean I pay for one of your Services and I find out all your doing now is playing video games on the Computer !!

Seriously, I agree. It takes some effort. You can have it one of two ways. Either put in the massive action right here and right now or put in a moderate amount of CONSISTENT action with a much longer time period involved. I am on the 5 year Plan to reach my goals so I am not taking the quick massive action right now. More of the slow but steady approach. My stay at home dad efforts will just not allow me otherwise.

[steveweber]

Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert

So, what you're saying is, I should put up a second YouTube video for marketing my niche?

hehe....There has to be a joker in every group!...thanks for the laugh

Originally Posted by AGiebel

Anyway, from my point of view, that's how I see it, since I spend probably a good 2-3 hours on my computer a day. You would think by now I would have made some sales and have some money coming in. But since I spend all that time on forums, doing more research instead of taking action, it's not happening...

The sad thing is I know this is the fact, and I'm still having trouble putting in the time HAHA

Ok, I can tell you EXACTLY what is really wrong and how to fix it. You obviously know a lot about Internet marketing since you spend so much time "studying" it.

What you don't have is a written plan of action. You need to write down on paper where you want to be with our business a year from now. Yes, you have to write it down. Then you outline the broad steps of how to get there. Then under the broad steps you describe how each will be accomplished.

Then you take this plan and write monthly, weekly, and daily "to do" lists. These of course can and will be tweaked on a regular basis. But the important thing is that you have a written plan...and follow it daily.

P.S. Correct, never base niche and keyword selection only on the keyword tools.

[ChrisBa]

Originally Posted by steveweber

Someone just wrote with a story I hear over and over. They have been in Internet marketing for about 6 months and still have little income to show for it. I asked what and how they were marketing.

First, their “niche” was WAY too big…but OK, they seemed dedicated; they were still trying anyway.

Next, she said she was “marketing” with YouTube, EzineArticles, twitter, FaceBook, and the social bookmarking sites.

I asked for more details.
In 6 months she had a total of 5 YouTube Videos, had written 10 articles for Ezinearticles, had about 400 followers on twitter and didn’t update very often. She did have about 30 pages on her site however….but still, for a big area like she was in, what she had done in 6 months would need done every week for success…at least.

Beginners too often underestimate what “massive action” means.

you mean I can't just launch 1 campaign and expect it to be successful? jk..

I know what you mean, I work with many people new to this industry - it's often very hard to drill into there heads to build a campaign, once done, wash, rinse and repeat and keep going and going

[steveweber]

I wonder what began the idea that Internet marketing is quick and easy money? Is is just result of all the scams promising as much?

I can't help but think there must be something more to it...which also helps the scam sites as they remind people how easy it is.

[dhiggins]

Hello Everyone,

My name is Dan Higgins and I am glad to be here. I been a warrior member since May of 2007 but have not been active. Shame on me!

I have a confession that must admit: I have been both a professional procrastinator and product purchaser for the past eight years. It is my own fault for not making one dime online during that period of time.

Instead of taking action like so many of my mentors advised me to do, I felt I had to wait until I had the perfect site built, or that I had to have the next latest and greatest gizmo that had just launched.

Over the past eight years I estimate that I have spent close to sixty or seventy thousand dollars on seminars, coaching programs, airfare, hotels, software and thousands of resell and private label products thus, fooling myself into thinking that I was making progress and building a business.

I was in the auto industry, as a finance director, for almost twenty years and made very good money, so I could afford it. But, just like the grasshopper in the fable, I had not saved or prepared like the hard working industrious ant did. Now that the car industry has been turned upside down and I have since lost my job, I find that I really haven't done anything except spend a lot of money and waste a lot of precious time.

I have seen over this period of time many people enter the marketplace and become very successful and very wealthy. And what have I done?... Nothing!

All that I had done for eight years was give myself information overload and lip service to every one I knew, including my family and the people that I had paid (a lot of $$$$) to mentor and teach me. When I say lip service I mean, telling everyone what my plans were or what my next big idea was. Sure I would start on a project, but I would never finish any of them, something new and better would come along and I just had to jump on it!

For that, I would like to apologize to my mentors (I hope they read this) for not taking advantage of their advice and instruction and most importantly, wasting their time. Because I never took action!

Yes, I had paid for their time, but I realize that I took that time away from somebody else. Someone that could have used it more than myself and maybe it would have made a difference in their life, were they given the opportunity.

I hope that who ever reads this doesn't follow the same path that I did, because it leads to nowhere. What ever you decide to do make sure you take action and don't be afraid to fail, because you will; that is how we learn.

For so long, I was in such fear of failing that I did nothing...I still failed, how ironic.

With that being said, it gives me great pleasure to announce today that no longer am I going to live in the fear of failure! I am taking the leap and taking action, because if I don't do it now, then I never will and I might as well resolve to get a conventional job, work for someone else and let them be in control the rest of my life.

If I fail, so what at least I will be able to look at my wife now and say that I tried. I'll just have to try again until I succeed.

I have decided to start with CPA instead of trying to create my own product, even though I have thousands of them that I could sell.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to a fool ramble on.

[misterwrecker]

Originally Posted by steveweber

I wonder what began the idea that Internet marketing is quick and easy money? Is is just result of all the scams promising as much?

I can't help but think there must be something more to it...which also helps the scam sites as they remind people how easy it is.

I agree Steve, All those scams out there and blatant lies are what makes people believe that IM is easy and fast money. This has been going on for years with direct mail, magazines, classifieds, infomercials, etc... When I was a kid, I was mesmorized by those chain letters, classified ads, and small business opportunity magazines. I realized at an early age that the people that were selling those products were the ones making the money not the ones buying them.

[steveweber]

Hi Dan,

Wow, sorry to hear how it's gone so far. But hey, I bet you know a lot about the theory of Internet marketing. That makes taking action a lot easier for sure.

Also, your story is another lesson in "Good is good enough"...just get something/anything going and tweak, test and adjust from there.

I think I was lucky in this area. I began with much lower expectations. All I really wanted in the beginning was to make enough to make a car payment. Once there, I thought, "why not add the house payment too"...and so on...

[dhiggins]

Thank you for the kind words Steve. Yes, I think I have the theory part down. The hard part was to decide where to begin.

I just hope that anyone starting out, in what can be a fantastic career, dosen't do what I did.

There is, in my opinion, no need for anyone to go out and buy a bunch of newbie "get rich quick" courses (just like misterwrecker said above) and get their head all screwed up not knowing which way to go.

I should know, I think I purchased them all and that is one thing that really messed me up.

Just pick a direction, ask for help and run with it.

Thanks again, now off to work!

[JamesFraze]

I tell most customers that a website is like a brick and mortar business. If you can't invest the equivalent of a few thousand dollars and 500 hours - just get the $300 brochure site so you can say "yah, me too - I have a website".

If you factor in ALL of the components, learning, testing outsources, mistakes, testing, link building, profile creation, content creation, follow up, etc - you'll easily hit 500 hours to any type of real income.

[Paul McQuillan]

I agree action is the only way to a result, however in this business
I feel terms like "massive action" are kinda liquid.

We as Internet Marketers (or any entrepreneur) run our businesses
in a non-policed fashion. We need to kick our own ass.

In this monster niche known as IM, information overload is no doubt the
biggest cause for procrastination. Massive action to me suggests doing
more, but I don't necessarily agree that is a good thing.

If we are always doing, doing, doing, we may end up doing a lot of
crap for nothing. Massive action does not mean great results.

If I create 5 YouTube videos, 10 articles and added pages to my website
every week would be worthless if it sucks or there is no market.

A bunch of bad results can lead to far worse internal communications.

I believe there needs to be a balance of thinking, researching and planning
to execute the best actions we can.

These days we run around like our ass is on fire and someone's trying to
put it out with a gallon of unleaded. There is so much crap out there
from people just doing whatever.

I think massive thinking would be bad also as we would over-think everything.

I like the term 'informed actions' better

The only massive thing I want is a bank balance

[la dominatrix]

Sadly I think newbies will always under estimate how hard they have to work in the short term to make a business, or how consistently they have to work if they want to take it slower. Part of the reason for that is the huge launches that you seem to read about everwhere I made $3,123456768 on two hours a week.

Everywhere newbies are promised a fortune with no work and it does depend on their background I have spent thirty five years of my working life running very successful businesses that I own. I now that I have been extremely successful but I know thecsacrafices that I have to make to achieve that. When I moved over to the Internet world to do business I knew that I had to build a solid business to survive.

Many people who work for soemone else do not appreciate how much extra work the self employed person has to work to get the exponential rewards. One of the downsides of the Internet we know live i na world where we want everythng now, instant gratification appears to be the ideal. Which is why the vast vast majority of new businesses do not make most people give up. I now from personal experience that the biggest successes I have both times in my life came after the biggest failure.

C

[The Expert]

To be honest, I don't know how anyone could do this part time and expect to see "huge success". Period.

I'm at this all day now. 7:30 in the morning till 6:30 at night. Most days except for Saturday. Then I go in to a night job for 2-3 hours to boot.

Time seems to melt away before me like a snowman in the middle of the Sahara. I come into the office and I blink and it's 5 o'clock.

If I was trying to get a foothold in on this part-time in the evenings after a real job...I know for a FACT that "life" would take over and nothing would get done.

[kbrms]

I definitely understand Massive Action. I started a few months ago and could not get started, but I realized that I had to make a living and just jumped right in. I hope all the newbies will read and just get going and not over analyze things.

[Kay King]

I cannot build a website until I have written enough articles and content to the web page...

OK - so instead of messing around 2-3 hrs a day - make your first goal to write 10 articles in the next 24 hrs and launch your site online. Don't give yourself "until" - set a deadline and get to work on meeting it.

Many people who work for soemone else do not appreciate how much extra work the self employed person has to work to get the exponential rewards.

I think that is so true - you have to be boss, worker and middle management rolled into one and have to be good at all three jobs.

It's easy to buy into the crapola about "working in your underwear" and "doing what you want with your time", blah blah. Reality is you will work better if you prepare for work (even if it only means clean underwear), and you can do what you want as long as working smart and hard is what you want.

The biggest mistake is wanting to know it all - you only need to know enough to do what needs to be done TODAY. You can learn more tomorrow.

kay

[David_Thompson]

Massive action means making a decision and following through on them.

Which is a very big problem for most newbies because they really don't have
a clue of what to do where to go. This is where a mentor comes into place
and can help in the process, where they guide and help keep you from making
bad decision which can keep you at the starting blocks.

Starting a business and running a business are TWO different beast and just
like of making the right decisions for your business.

it's like playing sports you train everyday and the more you train and know
how to play the game the better you get at making fast, better decisions.

--David

[Marian Berghes]

Actually that crapola is real...yeah it does fool some people into thinking you don't have to work alot and stuff...but there are people that do just that.

To me the most important thing you need to learn in order to work only a couple of hours per day, and take 4-5 vacations per year is: outsourcing.

NOTE: Ofc, if you want to make $3 mil or more per year, 4-5 vacations ain't gonna happen. But i've seen people making 6 figures and low 7 figures that can easily go away for 1 week 3-4 times a year and stuff stays the same in his biz.

If you can hire enough people to do alot of your tasks, then your all set to go.

And personally to me, escaping the 9-5 and making your own business and working 8-8+ isn't really freedom, thats why I've set a goal ever since I started to always have "automatization" in my mind with every project that I get into.

[steveweber]

Originally Posted by AGiebel

P.S. I laughed out loud when you said that you think I know a lot about internet marketing I think I know enough to "get by" making some extra cash but I'm sure there is much to learn!!!!!

Andy

Thanks man!

You are welcome Andy! Anyone with a sense of humor has a huge head start!

Originally Posted by JamesFraze

If you factor in ALL of the components, learning, testing outsources, mistakes, testing, link building, profile creation, content creation, follow up, etc - you'll easily hit 500 hours to any type of real income.

Yes, Perry Marshall often talks about investing 1000 hours to become an expert in an area.

Originally Posted by Onslaught

I agree action is the only way to a result, however in this business
I feel terms like "massive action" are kinda liquid.

I like the term 'informed actions' better

The only massive thing I want is a bank balance

I completely agree. A person can "work" until they are blue in the face, but if they are on the wrong path, it ain't going to work.

Originally Posted by The Expert

I'm at this all day now. 7:30 in the morning till 6:30 at night. Most days except for Saturday. Then I go in to a night job for 2-3 hours to boot.

I hear you there! When I had a full time job I worked almost every night and every weekend at it. It took me 2 years to build up to the point where my wife could quit...then another year of hard work to replace my job too. It was tough I have to say.

[DarioMontesdeOca]

I believe when the time is right for a person to make a change in their life it will happen.

It could be in a day or it can be years down the line.

I have heard from massively successful people how many times they had "given up" but seem to jump right back in the game with a new idea or strategy that made the difference.

It really depends on the individual and the inner drive that they may or may not possess.

Thanks for posting.

[melanied]

Let's not go overboard :P

Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert

So, what you're saying is, I should put up a second YouTube video for marketing my niche?

[steveweber]

Originally Posted by melanied

Let's not go overboard :P

Who says Internet marketers are geeks with no sense of humor

Oh, really like your domain name Melanie... NicheChick.com Very catchy! It sure made me check it out!

[heatwave13]

hey Steve,
Good to see you here! I think there are probably plenty of folks who, like me, are new to all this and are willing to work efficiently and diligently and just need the "how" part of all this to be settled. Newbies like me need to turn down all the noise, listen to more experienced IM'ers like Steve, focus on what we need to learn in order to get from where ever we're at in our learning process to the place we want to end up, and just do it.
I'm preaching t myself here.

[melanied]

Right on! Thanks!

Originally Posted by steveweber

Who says Internet marketers are geeks with no sense of humor

Oh, really like your domain name Melanie... NicheChick.com Very catchy! It sure made me check it out!

[Kevin AKA Hubcap]

Originally Posted by Kay King

The biggest mistake is wanting to know it all - you only need to know enough to do what needs to be done TODAY. You can learn more tomorrow.

kay

Right On Kay

Speaking from personal experience, the desire to know everything about a particular subject will turn into a gigantic time waster.

You only need to know what you need to know. If you only need ABC to accomplish a goal there's no practical reason to continue to LMN.