To Anyone Reading...Please Don't Do What I Have Done

13 replies
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.
#readingplease
  • Profile picture of the author dsmpublishing
    Hi dan

    i must admit your story reminds me of many that i read on here and its always about the taking action that counts. with my website for example it looked pretty bad when i first created it but now i have worked on improving it over time rather than right at the beginning i have been able to work from day one. So start something small and build from it rather than going for the whole pie at once.

    Promote things on twitter start a blog create a product that kind of thing so that you are gradually adding to your portfolio bit by bit.

    hope it goes well for you.

    kind regards


    sam
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  • Profile picture of the author dhiggins
    Thanks Sam,
    Yeah, for the longest time I was bull headed and was trying to push an elephant through the eye of a needle by having the perfect site up first, instead of simply taking the first step and then the second.
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    • Profile picture of the author WritingMadwoman
      Dan wow - your story is actually kind of inspiring to me because all of the knowledge you have absorbed during the past 8 years is now going to be used big time!

      I do know what you mean about always waiting for everything to be "perfect" before you take action, I did that for a long time too.

      I would never wish a job loss on anyone, but sometimes it ends up being the BEST thing that could have happened to you. I lost my last formal job in 2003 and I think it was necessary to push me past my comfort zone. I knew it was sink or swim time! I've actually tried a few different things since then but have been devoting more and more time to internet marketing (my own products) and affiliate marketing. There is no greater feeling than to see those payment notifications come in.

      Best of luck to you - whatever direction you move in from here be sure you stay focused, don't slip back into the habit of buying everything and not following through! You've got the rest of your life to try new methods, but focus on ONE until it's earning you good money, then start branching out.

      Wendy
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  • Profile picture of the author Markus Nimocks
    Hey Dan,

    Don't beat yourself up too bad ...

    1) Almost everyone on here can identify with exactly what you are describing (I know I can!) and

    2) You see the truth now, and I have no doubt things are getting better as a result.

    Remember - Ready, Fire, Aim! (I didn't think that up and don't recall who did, but I have it printed out and stuck to my monitor as a reminder...)

    Cheers,

    Rich
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  • Profile picture of the author gcjmarkets
    I can relate with your story as I am sure many warriors can, I also think it is great that you took the time to write down what you haven't done and what you want to do because when you get it out of your head and on paper or computer it makes it real. I didn't make a dime online until I sat down and wrote out a business plan and marketing strategy.

    I didn't write a book I just made a plan of action that was on paper so I would know what I needed to do each day to push me closer to my goal.

    Thanks for sharing good luck
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  • Profile picture of the author robinincarolina
    I procrastinated too until I was laid off. Best of luck to you, sounds like you have a lot of knowledge which should be to your advantage. When I was laid off, I just jumped in, blogs and squidoo. Now when I do actually start to build that perfect site which I purchased from SBI by the way, I will already have tons of content from my lens, blogs and articles. And when I decide to write my own book, I will have tons of content for it as well. Its like a puzzle that just starts fitting together one piece at a time. So just jump in, it works, the water is fine.
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  • Profile picture of the author JVManna
    Great story, Dan. I empathize with you, as I personally have not exercised my entrepreneur muscle to be comfortable enough to do my own gig.

    As they all say, "If not now, when?" That can apply to new businesses and gigs... just do it already. I've taken some of this advice and am in the process of going after my dreams.

    Glad to see you're taking action, looking forward to see the results.
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  • Profile picture of the author dhiggins
    Thank You: Rich Pryor, WritingMadwoman, gcjmarkets, lewibnb, robincarolina, JVManna
    for your thoughts.
    I'm glad to see that I am not the only one who has stumbled and bumbled there way through.

    I look forward to making the best of my opportunity.
    Thanks
    Dan
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    • Profile picture of the author Stephen Crooks
      Dan, you have taken the important step of recognising your failings and the second important step of knowing how simple it is to cure by just taking action. It is time to leave the forum alone for a while and get down to work and build your online business, good luck!

      Originally Posted by dhiggins View Post

      Thank You: Rich Pryor, WritingMadwoman, gcjmarkets, lewibnb, robincarolina, JVManna
      for your thoughts.
      I'm glad to see that I am not the only one who has stumbled and bumbled there way through.

      I look forward to making the best of my opportunity.
      Thanks
      Dan
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  • Profile picture of the author bobsedge
    Dan, it's better to see the light later than never. Congratulations on reaching this point because so many people never do.

    The lesson should be that nothing replaces massive action. Sure, you may make mistakes, but you may just trip onto something special along the way.

    Good luck
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  • Profile picture of the author DarioMontesdeOca
    Sixty to seventy GRAND?? Nice.

    With the info you have there you probably have enough knowledge waiting to build an empire!

    And Rich said it all: Almost everyone on here can identify with exactly what you are describing...

    I think everyone can relate simply because everyone struggles in the beginning.

    Thanks for your post Dan.
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    • Profile picture of the author Lisa Gergets
      Well Dan, the next time you feel like slacking off...send me $10,000 and I'll fly to Texas and kick your butt into gear. LOL

      Okay just kidding, but fear of failure is paralyzing, isn't it? It's so much easier to read and read and read and tell yourself that you are doing something than it is to really, seriously take action.

      But then you get that momentum of a few dollars in Adsense, or an affiliate sale and wheeee! That's pretty much all you need to keep going!

      Congrats to you for finally taking action!
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  • Profile picture of the author John Willer
    you'd be surprised how many are in your boat!
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