How long did it take you to succeed with IM?

I had my first Major success in 2004, I think, It was Motorola V3 Razors Mostly that did this so whenever they came out. I had a small domain and a BIG product list from a drop ship supplier.

Within 2 Months we took in $110,000. I was like the most spun out person in the room I can tell you.
It happened so fast because V3 razors where Massive, you couldn't get one anywhere and people where getting ripped on ebay like there was NO tommorrow.

I spent some time looking and found a supply. I then paid a small amount for an ad on a popular electronics site and it went ape within a few days.

Now about $12,000 of that was actual profit.

At the end of the second month I got a visit to my house by a customs agent, It turns out the way we where doing business was not correct and there was the little issue of a tax bill and fine totalling $15,000.

I had done little research I just found a market and plugged it.

I had to take the down the website, refund $3,000 in orders and Pay the bill.

All up It cost me all the profit plus about $4,000 of my own Out of the money I had from selling my Bakery a few months earlier.


RESEARCH is what I am getting at here , look into what your doing and make sure you are being ethical and legal. Sometime with the best intentions you set yourself up for a fall. I went off the internet for 3 years after that. It wasn't the money I was absolutely heart broken my dream had come true and died in such a short time.

Now I look into everything, I declare my income, i pay my tax and I follow the rules. Now when I earn a dollar I know I am going t keep it.

Hope that Makes Sense,

ODA

P.S Now I make a LOT less but it keeps me home with the kids. I feel Like I am a success and have regained my goal of working at home. So I guess "don't give up" is appropriate too.

That is some great advice and a story I have not heard before keep it comin guys..

It all depends on what you mean by success. It took me about 3 months to replace my salary as a university professor, but now I would never settle for so little money. I have been in this game full time for just over a year now and my upcoming launch should make me more money in one day than I did in the previous two years.

It all depends on how you decide to monetize. I started off taking offline clients and doing video marketing and seo projects. It's a quick and easy way to make at least a few K a month but it's like having a regular job and it's harder to scale than you realize. So you can't grow as fast as you can with information products. I recommend it as great way to start. If you build your business in a decent fashion you can even sell if off to fund moving to the next level.

I had my first success back in 2004 while I was still in high school. Back then, all I knew how to do was buy stuff from an auction site in New Zealand called "TradeMe".

The first sale I ever did was for some baby drawing board for $2.50!

Hahahha... anyway, I eventually started looking into higher profit margins, and enevitably electronic goods were HOT at the time. That's when I started looking into Ebay and importing goods to NZ, then selling them for 10-20% profits (the odd product could get much higher than that).

Soon after, I discovered the "internet marketing" community where I learned tons of different, conflicting info and finally just gave up. Information overload would be an understatement.

I was under pressure from family and friends to "fit in" and get myself a job like everyone else. It felt pretty bad working on a business that was so uncertain and everyone is just waiting for you to fail... but I caved in.

Knowing myself, I just wouldn't enjoy working for anybody else. I wanted to be "The Man" of my own life... and lost my job which I had since '08 at a well known electronics chain in Australia due to the recession.

I came back to the community in 2009 and much better prepared. I still had some skills and knowledge from my online efforts previously, which helped me filter out the garbage when I came back...

Since then, I've been working on blogs, affiliate sites, my own products, and a host of other skills that I can market, use for myself, and pretty much "open up shop" anywhere in the world when I want (which is why I PREACH and BEG newbies to take time and learn the skills necessary, and stop looking for quick fixes).

All in all, it's been bumpy, helllish at times, and took me about 2 years to get here... not having to worry too much about losing my job, begging for a pay rise, or showing up at work at the same time day after day.

Have a nice day!

- Dean

Is all depending what, and how much,

I did for more than 4 years I didn't success yet, my target $ 3000 Month

Look far but always believe hope , this year....

It's a great question but I guess it all depends on how you define succeeding. Especially for newbies who seem to think when they first start out that succeeding is making money. I beg to differ! You see making money is the long term goal but there are so many other goals that need to be achieved on your journey to reaching the long term goal. As you achieve each of these short term goals then these can then be considered a success.

Here are a few ways to succeed for a newbie:

1.Writing an optimized article is a success
2.Creating a website is a success
3.Finding a great keyword is a success
4.Getting your first bit of traffic is a success

In internet marketing, this list could go on and on. It is when you start linking all of these short term goals together when you have made a success of them that you start to make money online.

There are people that get into IM thinking that it is easy but you really do have to work hard at it. You have to concentrate on making one project a success at a time. Those who jump from one project to another, never really get to enjoy real success as they are unable to give each project the commitment it deserves.

When I started out in IM I spent 8 months just messing around and trying different things. I then decided to promote something I believed in and stuck with it. 6 months later I started making money. What I realized was that believing in what your promoting is important. This is especially true if you're article marketing. Those who write with passion, attract interested readers.

Persistence is also key. You have to keep trying different things. Just because you try out something and it fails miserably, it doesn't mean that every thing you do in IM will fail. When you try something and it work well then simply "rinse and repeat".

Cheers

Craig

It took me about 3 years to get it right. Most of that time was building sites, doing split tests, doing research and making mistakes. But now, the machine is cranking along and the monthly income is increasing steadily as time moves on. My major lessons for success were research, automation, and outsourcing.

yes you can. you know you always inspire me. thanks MIKE

I cant say that I have really started yet...so no success at it yet...Most of these methods are proven though, it just takes determination to get at them.

I have been 'failing' at internet marketing ever since I built my first real estate blog about 10 years ago.

I kept failing and failing. I failed so much that I was able to quit my day job to work on this and an offline business while spending my days with my wife and my kids.

My point is the success came, but my best asset is getting up when I fall down. This is the only way I learn and hopefully when new folks find something isn't working for them they refine their model and make it better and better until it works.

Internet marketing and making money online will never go away and I along with a bunch of others in this thread are proof that it can be done.

It took me nearly 110 days before I began finding enough success online to call it quits to the "old career". It may seem like a short period of time for some, but for those here who have found that success know that it was some seriously hard work...

David-

Depends on your appoach I know people who have made millions of dollars in a very short space if time on the internet by keeping things very real and taking the I'm going to build a internet company appoach.

I also know people who are like drift wood on the ocean who just bob around the internet with no clear direction or strategy on anything and ultimately still can't work out why five years later they've made nothing.

The whole "Oh I'm going to sell bannana on the internet and hope for the best", isn't a strategy.

Also depends on what succeeding means, If you're making $1,000 a day online and $5,000 with the offline devision of your business then in a business owners eyes he may only see that as some mild success.

It is relative because it depends on your dedication on a certain topic or niche. Now, I concentrate on building a blog and then sell it for a quick profit a.k.a website flipping.

For me, it takes me two years to make my first dollar.

But it is not fair to say it is two years.

As I did not work all the time on IM, I give up and come back again.

I wasted a lot of time due to frustration, distraction, anger and doubt.

Now, my everyday is focus on achieving my daily business outcome and I am making money easily.

I agree to this. This is also the reason I made my $100k last year. Hardwork and patience are the key.

I took two years due to information overload and getting into the bad habit of looking outside for answers when they were already inside this crazy head of mine.

I was making $800+ per month since the first month, but in the year or so I managed to do $6,000 - $10,000 due to focusing on my strengths and outsourcing my weaknesses.

Yea that is a good point Paulie and also I will add that even real jobs are no longer secure!