What REALLY Holds People Back From Making Money Online?

[Kevin Alexander]

Is it finding a niche and a product (or creating one) within that niche? Is it the technical stuff (building sites, blogs, landing pages, etc.) Is it building a list? Is is TRAFFIC? Is it information overload? Is it self doubt? Is it the fear of failing?

Warriors, thoughts on the subject?

[ScottTrimble]

e) all of the above.
I've struggled with all of these along the way and I imagine I'm not alone. But, with each hurdle I've cleared, the path gets both easier and pays better .

[Tom Brite]

To be honest i think it all revolves back to the fear of rejection and failing.

Its a natural human instinct that failure is imminent and going to happen. But you should take it as if you don't try and try 110% then you have already failed.

Without even giving it your all you will always fail.

This fear is what still holds me back sometimes. Until i approach and think of it from this new angle of im already failing.

Tom Brite

[Razvan Rovinaru]

The truth is, IM can be confusing and overwhelming at first, and many people get scared, or can't properly motivate themselves to continue studying it. Another reason can be the fact that there are a lot of distractions in IM.

This has happened to me in my first year online and it stopped me then from generating anything close to the income I hoped for. There are a lot of ways to make money, a lot of guides, techniques, tricks, affiliate marketing, CPA, PPC, list building, forum marketing, video marketing, social marketing etc., and many try to do them all.

They start with an affiliate review page, promote that for two weeks, and then read something great about CPA. They buy a domain, promote some CPA offers, and after one week, they find a great thread on the WF about product creation .... and so on.

It's very important to concentrate on what you are doing, to have a good plan and to follow that plan until you reach the desired results. There is no shortcut, and you definitely won't earn a lot of money online if you try something different each week.

[Kevin Alexander]

Great answers so far!

[AlexKaplo]

Originally Posted by Razvan Rovinaru

The truth is, IM can be confusing and overwhelming at first, and many people get scared, or can't properly motivate themselves to continue studying it. Another reason can be the fact that there are a lot of distractions in IM.

This has happened to me in my first year online and it stopped me then from generating anything close to the income I hoped for. There are a lot of ways to make money, a lot of guides, techniques, tricks, affiliate marketing, CPA, PPC, list building, forum marketing, video marketing, social marketing etc., and many try to do them all.

They start with an affiliate review page, promote that for two weeks, and then read something great about CPA. They buy a domain, promote some CPA offers, and after one week, they find a great thread on the WF about product creation .... and so on.

It's very important to concentrate on what you are doing, to have a good plan and to follow that plan until you reach the desired results. There is no shortcut, and you definitely won't earn a lot of money online if you try something different each week.

Touche! Wow, seriously well said Razvan!

There are so many ways to make money online, and most beginners simply bunny hop through them all, I know I did! Not to mention all the hyped distractions! I personally know for a fact that if most people start in anything, whether it be CPA, Affiliate Marketing, Product Creation, JV Brokering, etc. They can succeed if they work only on that single task!

Alex

[Ross Dalangin]

Most that I've known is the fear of losing their monthly income from a job. It's the mentality and believe in themselves. What I know is if you don't know about something, you need the word "OUTSOURCE".

Ross

[dndoseller]

Lately I've realized its because I was mistakenly thinking that "Internet Marketing" was "Internet Business".

Now I use IM to market my business. I don't try to "make money online with IM"... I use IM to get the word out about my products and services.

[Clark]

This question reminds me of the Family Feud game show for some reason.

"100 people surveyed… top 16 answers on the board... Here's the question:

What REALLY Holds People Back From Making Money Online?

Show me..."

Credit card debt.
Lack of time management skills.
No formal business outline/plan/schedule.
Fear of loss/failure.
Lack of tenacity to see a project through.
Inability to understand/recognize the factors which relate to success.
Family doesn't believe in what they are trying to do (I.e. pull money out of thin air)
No entrepreneurial spirit.
Too comfortable in day job.
Inability to manage projects.
Unrealistic goals.
No technical aptitude.
No marketing aptitude.
No passion for the project/niche.
Lack of critical thinking ability (problem solve)
Over analysis/lack of focus.
.

Instability in personal life (health / wealth / relationships) IMO is the biggest factor.

[cashcow]

I think a lot of us might actually be sabotaging ourselves subconsciously and not even realize it.

How many times have you heard things like "you'll never make a lot of money online", "you have to have a good job at a company to get ahead", "there's no security in working for yourself", etc... When you hear things like that enough times it gets ingrained in your subconscious.

Most of us are programmed from birth to get a job, be a good worker, and retire with barely enough money to buy groceries sometimes shortly before we die.

I know that I was discouraged my whole life from every trying to have my own business (something I always wanted). I just recently realized that my own "self talk" in my head was holding me back.

I think that is one of the reasons that I would jump from one thing to another - it wasn't that the thing I was doing didn't work, it was once it started working, the little voice inside my head would start to say things like "OK, well, that site will never make more money than this" "or, this method doesn't work because xxxx" Or "yeah, this works good but what if xxxx". Then I would move on to something else and repeat the process.

I always wondered if this is one of the reasons why younger people seem to be able to blast in and make a ton of money right off - they don't have all the self doubt ingrained in them.

Lee

[virginiad]

For me, the main problem is a lack of Focus. Constantly being bombarded with the latest and greatest ideas, all of which sound great. Now I am trying to focus on one project until it becomes profitable.

[dndoseller]

Originally Posted by dbbrock1

I think it has to do with the delayed payout of this business.

There is a great new book by Seth Godin called "The Dip" that addresses exactly this point.

The basic concept is that most people quit in "The Dip" - before the curve starts heading back up

Some businesses have dips and then massive upcurves. But some careers and markets he says, are just dead ends.

The idea is to recognzie you are in a dip, and stick through it no matter what. Or, recognize that you are in a dead end, and then quit asap...to get into a field with a Dip.

Some might see Internet Marketing (IM) as being a Dip business with massive upside if you are persistent. But I think it is a dead end job, if you don't build a real business, underneath the IM. That goes to show by many posts I have been reading about people doing article marketing for 3 or more years and who are still stuggling.

I have found for me that IM is not a business, but it is an incredible way to promote a business. That might be obvious, but I think many beginners, like myself, think that you can "make money with IM". I just recently came out of that fog and began to define what my real services and products are and will be.

Since reading that book I think that Internet Marketing is a way for me to get through the Dip of my Internet music Business faster and more effectively than other "unknown" musicians do.

I love Seth Godin, he is so good that he has me contributing to his massive upcurve, by writing this, while he has long since made it through "The Dip".

[brams]

well said Tom Brite and Razvan , need more than motivation to take a plunge into this arena

[Diane S]

I strongly believe, from experience, that it is important to get profitable in one business model before moving to a second. Don't quit your day job until you are making profit from one business plan. Choose a business model that fits your budget, teach yourself everything you need to know to implement the plan, and work on it in your spare time six days a week. Don't tell family or friends about it. Just do it. Need to talk about it with someone? Find somebody here at WF doing same or similar and trade pm's.

Here's an example of what I would do if I were a newbie right now.

1. Take your favorite hobby and go to eBay and make a list of all the products and accessories that are sold on eBay or Amazon for that hobby. Choose three or four word product names to use as post titles. For example, you make the best cookies on the block and you have chosen plastic cookie cutters as your niche. You decide to focus on plastic gingerbread cookie cutters, farm animal plastic cookie cutters, patriotic plastic cookie cutters, and wild animal plastic cookie cutters. This is just an example, I have no idea if these things are being sold on eBay or Amazon...not one of my niches.
2. Create a free blog at blogspot.com with original posts. It's your hobby and you know all about it. Make one post about each type of accessory for the hobby. Keep the site small and focused. Include three to five product posts, and you will also want to include a privacy statement and contact information. In this example you will write at least 300 word posts, one on each of the type of plastic cookie cutters.
3. Apply to the eBay Partner Network and Amazon Associates and submit that site as the site you will use to promote eBay or Amazon products.
4. Once accepted by these programs, add the products in two ways. For Amazon I recommend a long left sidebar widget and for eBay I recommend a sniplet inside each post. You create the Amazon widget at the Amazon Associates page and you create the eBay sniplet at the ebay partner network page.
5. Okay, that's the easy part. Now the rest of your time you just leave that site alone. Don't add to it, don't try to make it pretty. Leave the theme alone. Just let it be. The rest of your time will be spent learning how to promote your site. So far your expenses are zero. All you need is one sale to turn a profit, right? Your blog is going to get indexed very quickly as it is a blogger blog, owned by Google. So don't worry about getting indexed. Start getting links of every type and in every free way you can teach yourself about. That is covered in many many threads here at WF and all over the internet. Get good at search here and in Google. Any anchored backlink is good, regardless of the PR of the site where you get it, regardless if it is do follow or no follow. Just get the links. Make a linking schedule and follow it religiously. You will want to go get links for hours every day. It is boring. Making sites is more fun. But go get links for your site. Treat each post in your blogger blog as a different url that needs its own links. Use article marketing, bookmarking, directory submissions, forum signatures, guest book signatures, blog commenting and whatever else you read about. Try it all. Do it all by hand and really get to know how it is done. About once a week, go to yahoo site explorer and check to see how your linking is doing. You should see the number of links rising, slowly but surely. These links take some time to show up.

The money will come. I remember the day the first pennies showed up in my EPN dashboard. I went jumping for joy around the house over those twelve cents. For me, the twelve cents showed up 45 days after my site went live. It was a long 45 days. I thought I had been lied to, that I would never make money online. Now my sites make me money everyday. Once they are created I leave them alone and just get links.

Whew! That turned into an online book! But, that's my advice to all newbies. Start off with a free site and do your linking by hand. Later you can automate some of your linking and can create a website that needs a domain and hosting paid for by you. But I advise starting off free and staying focused on one business model. Everything you learn with your free website will be needed by you when you move to self-hosted sites later, if at all.

[jasondinner]

What really holds people back?

Fear of the unknown

Fear of failure

Fear of success

[Diane S]

Originally Posted by dbbrock1

Diane, I disagree about the part about not telling your friends or family.

Reason why is, once you tell them, they will immediately try and fill your head with doubts and will say like - 'you will never be able to make money off something like that' or 'you are just wasting your time' blah blah blah.

At first, these words can be pretty hurtful in a way, but if you learn to channel your anger towards these comments and use them as motivation to prove people wrong, you can be really successful.

Congratulations on your financial success! That is fantastic news. Not everyone has the same reaction to being doubted and verbally thwarted by family or friends. You and I happen to be similar in that regard, and that has worked in our benefit.

In some cases being doubted by family members or friends is enough to make some people who might be successful later just give up at the early stages. Had they just kept their online enterprise to themselves at the early stages, they would avoid the doubters and keep working toward their goal. Not everyone has the same inner wiring to react to doubters with increased vitality and tenacity. If so, there would be a lot more people succeeding with online marketing.

[Jason Hunt]

Analysis paralysis is my biggest nemesis. My analytical abilities are fantastic for my full time job. I over analyze here too much!

[Estelle T. Dunomes]

There's a lot of excellent information in this thread. The thing that has held me back from making income replacement money online is that there are so many ways to make money and so many people who will tell you what to do but not how to do it.

Then, there's the circumstance of whom to believe when it comes to purchasing a product that will tell you how to do it. Not only that, but then you have to ferret out from the BOATLOADS of information the appropriate plan to get your work done.

Of course, not knowing exactly what I'm doing in the first place puts me in the vein of going on a journey to the North Pole without the correct compass, updated maps, etc.

So, I've floundered while looking for the correct information on just how I'm to achieve my goals. Needless to say, I've also had to navigate the many, many offers that are available and on and on and on....

Need I say more? Well, add to that my own feelings of inadequacy, ineptness, ignorance, lack of skill, and plain shell shock at the gargantuan volumes of information. Is it any wonder that that I felt overwhelmed at the prospect of actually having to "take action." What action? Which one?

What do I do then? Well, I came to Warrior Forum and asked a question (one I might add that had been asked and answered at least a gazillion times by many someone elses) and got smacked because I didn't think to "search" for the answer in the forum. Tsk, tsk, tsk!!! I shouldn't have done that!!!

What was I to do when I didn't know exactly what to do? Since this forum is a rich goldmine of information and so many are willing to share, the best advice someone offered (that I took by the way) is to lurk, read, lurk, read, read, read, read, search, search, read, look for the seasoned Warriors who are willing to share, read their posts, lurk, read, read, read, search, search, and search some more.

Did I say use the SEARCH function. I can't encourage anyone enough to search, search, search, read, read, read, and then search some more.

After I got over feeling hurt at the audacity of someone telling me that I should use the "SEARCH" function to find the answers to my questions, I found information that led me to taking the appropriate action that helped me begin making money. I still have far, far more to do but I can see that the information I received helped me choose a path that I'm comfortable with following. Now, I just have to do more of it.

The successful men and women internet marketers in this forum are sometimes hard but they have to be. They knew where I was; they've been there and knew that I could succeed too. I just had to listen, make and follow a plan, take action and keep on taking action.

Is it easy? No, at least not yet. I haven't garnered the success I'd like but I'm still pushing and know that I will succeed. I'm looking forward to that and am celebrating all the way.

So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Thanks Warriors for your help. I truly appreciate it.

Estelle

[CanadianChickXO]

They do not take action. Plain and simple. forums a bad for wasting time reading. Learn so much but forget to implement.

[MarkWrites]

There are some great posts here and it is obvious that there are numerous reasons holding numerous people back from making money online.

Another option is that there are people who have found a way to eek out a living online that is somewhat labor intensive. They don't have a reservoir of funds so cannot take the next step that may vault them into seriously good money, because that next step would mean either completely abandoning their source of income now, or at least cutting back on the amount of time that they put into it, and they cannot afford to do so.

One of the things that holds me back from doing better is reading all the great threads here on WF... well, back to work.

[Rod Cortez]

It depends on the individual. Generally speaking and based on experience from coaching people in 3 niches, I've found it to be the person's mindset that usually holds them back.

[JAIDEEP2959]

The answer is simple :

1)Patience and
2)Willpower.

[The Villa]

My husband says that what's really holding me back is my lack of guts/ confidence. I've been attending some seminars and talks with experts who have been willing to mentor me and so far, I seem to already know a lot about what they've been talking about. That means I may be the only stumbling block to my success. I am so afraid of failing.

[tommygadget]

Originally Posted by alexanderkr1

Is it finding a niche and a product (or creating one) within that niche? Is it the technical stuff (building sites, blogs, landing pages, etc.) Is it building a list? Is is TRAFFIC? Is it information overload? Is it self doubt? Is it the fear of failing?

Warriors, thoughts on the subject?

All of the above. Plus, even the best of us gets tangled up in one housekeeping issue or another and grinds progress to a halt. Oh, you also forgot about time. Most people are trying to do IM AND full time jobs and not doing either the best that they can.

TomG.

[epik-marketing]

I Think 1st is fear then second easily become info junkies
and not action takers.....

The read and buy and buy and dream but never take that action
or they take some action to test the waters and it does not go as planned and they just give up...

Never give up, Never Back Down,Never loose Faith!

[jasoncercone]

Many people fall victim to treating their business like a hobby and expect full-time results from part-time effort. They refuse to develop the mindset required to be successful in this industry, and thus either quit altogether, or jump from one opportunity to the next, hoping to strike gold in "the next big thing."

As the statistics show, IM is not the easiest business in the world, but it doesn't have to be the hardest either. People over-complicate things by trying to focus their attention on EVERY marketing technique available, instead of simplifying the process and mastering a couple techniques until they see results. Once they see results, they can use their knowledge to educate others, thus adding value to themselves. And while they do that, they can begin mastering another technique and adding it to their repetoire over time. Most people try a technique once or twice, and when they don't see immediate results, they try something else. Not a good practice...

[JohnB23]

-Lack of a solid foundation.

It depends on the type of business, but you should probably spend at least $300-1,000 getting yourself educated. There are books that are cheaper....but the big gurus....D Kennedy, J Abraham, etc their courses and books all sell for a lot of money (rightly so IMO).

-The intangibles aren't easy to see (for newcomers, or experts!)

The difference between what Jeff Bezos does every day running amazon, and you running xyz IM website, I would bet that 99% of people aren't really clear on the differences. What makes Bezos a billionaire and what makes you and a million other people earning nothing...that difference isnt easy to see.

People see these business gurus...gates, bezos, or IM gurus, but its hard to see the intangibles that got them to where they are...persistence, focus, discipline, education, market savvy.

-Too much hype and gimmicks that wont lead you anywhere.

-Working on the business instead of in it.

-Lack of focus.

-Lack of discipline.

I knew an offline business owner that use to say...he wouldn't even argue with an employee for 15 minutes, it was a waste of time. That type of discipline is hard to see online.

I dont think its human nature to fail or be scared all the time. The outside world couldn't function if that were true. If you were locked in a room with a big IM guru all weekend (and you couldn't leave), you almost couldnt fail coming out of that room monday morning. Its a lack of knowing what to do, when to do it, and what the payout is (or the potential).

[Kevin Riley]

In most cases I've seen it is lack of focus and the inability to follow through, usually due to the distraction of another new method, technique, etc.

Pick your business model and stick with it. Make a plan and let nothing detour you from it.

[ericjohnson1981]

I find the most important thing people lack is KNOWLEDGE. People go half hearted into projects without know the key parts. Yes traffic is important, but anyone can teach you how to get traffic to anywhere. You need to really know about the niche and all its secrets to be successful.

[tommygadget]

Originally Posted by Kevin Riley

In most cases I've seen it is lack of focus and the inability to follow through, usually due to the distraction of another new method, technique, etc.

Pick your business model and stick with it. Make a plan and let nothing detour you from it.

Yes, pick something and do it right and don't stop until you succeed.

TomG.

[CanadianChickXO]

You have to want to be successful. I know a guy who tried to learn IM with my BF and I. There was no was he could make money. He just knew it wouldn't work before he even tried it. Conditioned to work the 9-5. haahaa poor guy.

Originally Posted by The Villa

My husband says that what's really holding me back is my lack of guts/ confidence. I've been attending some seminars and talks with experts who have been willing to mentor me and so far, I seem to already know a lot about what they've been talking about. That means I may be the only stumbling block to my success. I am so afraid of failing.

[mekap04]

Well in my opinion, I think the following hold people back in no particular order.

1. Laziness- Don't want to put in hard work
2. Competition- Afraid to go against the big dawgs
3. Not making money fast enough- Back out after not making a sale in 2 weeks
4. Life- Well many people got jobs, kids, spouses......a life

Sometimes making money online is a long hard road especially for the payoff. I myself know that being lazy or not wanting to put the effort into a project holds me from making money online. I used to have that attitude. I hated that I had to write dozens of articles or do boring link building to build traffic but that is a process I and others have to take. There are short cuts but the point is if you just sit around and don't do anything, you won't make anything. Motivation comes in to play. I could write more but this post would be long..lol

[Terry Hatfield]

What really holds people back?

Yourself.

It's all in the head!!!

[braintjy]

Too many choices in life makes one distracted to concentrate and work solely on one thing. Imagine if you come to a day where you have no money, no roof over your head and I offer you the necessary equipment to set a store on the Internet to earn your sole living, will you quit?

Most likely not. You will work your ass off trying to make it work. It's a survive or die scenario. If you put your mind into such a scenario, I think one's success rate will be much higher.

[Pat Ordenes]

personally, what help me back at the beginning, was fear of failure...
As in putting something out there that wasn't 100%
It's not only after you start looking around and see, how people monetize basic sites, basic sales letters, even basic/rough products that you realize 'hey, I can do better!', and that element of fear subsides...

[SmartTeenager]

Combination of lack of focus, laziness, a sense of entitlement, and probably being impatient.

[rondo]

"Pick your business model and stick with it." Exactly Kevin.

Most people seem come into IM without an idea or a plan for a business. All they want to do is 'make money online'.

The people who have some kind of business idea, concept or strategy first have an advantage because they are less likely to be distracted by the 100's of tactics that don't apply to their strategy.

So if you don't have any kind of plan or idea, take some time to get inspiration, observe and research what others are doing, and then try to vsualise what your own website/business will become so you can 'start with the end in mind'.


Andrew

[Waldo Claassen]

What did hold my back before was the fear of failing and I just did not know where to start with my marketing.
I guess I had a case of information overload and also the fear of not making a success of my online marketing.
What I have learned is that starting is important and failure is just part of how we all learn.
You know the saying - You can never fail if you never give up.

Waldo

[bigbearmarketer]

What REALLY Holds People Back From Making Money Online?

See that is tuff question to answer cause what holds one back the other person could excell in that problem, not everyone faces the same problems.

Most do face the alike problems but each person situation is unique. Lets take my situation for example, I've been so busy and overloaded by learning that I never took the time to put what I've learned into action.

Now another big problem most people have and could very well be number one is lack of traffic and targeted to be more exact. Beacause with out traffic you are never going to do a thing online period.

Targeted traffic this is a whole other topic it comes down to what works best for you and what do you enjoy doing the most. Once you figure out what is working for you the best you want to devote most your attention to this method.

So I guess what I'm saying is you don't want to be a jack of all trades and a master of none. You at least need to be a master of one, so my advice is pick three methods you enjoy doing the most and only focus on those three and you will get results.

And remember action=results and here is my other saying "Knowledge is not power unless it is applied"

[Habbit]

IMHO information overload especially if you venture over to the WSO forum where every post is designed to get the dollars, lack of positive sustainable taking action and the all important targeted TRAFFIC.

[mscopeland]

What REALLY Holds People Back From Making Money Online?

Overwhelm trying to learn EVERYTHING before launching.

They don't look at it like a business, it's just something to do on the side. (That's not how you run a business!)

Direction: They have an overload of information and no they don't know what to do next.

This is the same thing that happened to me. I was overwhelmed and didn't know which way to go. When I started treating this like a business, things started falling into place. Direction and focus naturally came into play and I kept moving forward and haven't stopped since.

That is one of the major reasons why I came up with Internet Marketer Magazine, to help people who are overwhelmed and give them direction. The first issue is "Back to Basics" and is designed to lay the foundation to help end the overload and give you direction for your business. It was something I saw that is needed in this industry. An unbiased source of information for people marketing online. The tagline says it all, "for internet marketers, by internet marketers". It's because we've all been there, held back for some reason or the other and know how to get out of it.

[Don Wright]

Definitely a combination of information overload, analysis paralysis and fear of failure. The mind is a powerful thing and if it's not in the right place, nothing will be accomplished.

Don

[devynspirit]

I think it is the overwhelming amount of information available. It is easy to continue to learn the "latest and best" techniques without ever taking action.

[Treby]

Just remember what ever blog you build or product you sell -would you read it and would you buy that product? put yourself in the other viewers eyes-and as i have said on many posts-just be honest and give great content for free-Take care.
PS turn the computer off for at least a day and go hug a tree!My madness-lol

[Skribblez]

Originally Posted by Razvan Rovinaru

The truth is, IM can be confusing and overwhelming at first, and many people get scared, or can't properly motivate themselves to continue studying it. Another reason can be the fact that there are a lot of distractions in IM.

This has happened to me in my first year online and it stopped me then from generating anything close to the income I hoped for. There are a lot of ways to make money, a lot of guides, techniques, tricks, affiliate marketing, CPA, PPC, list building, forum marketing, video marketing, social marketing etc., and many try to do them all.

They start with an affiliate review page, promote that for two weeks, and then read something great about CPA. They buy a domain, promote some CPA offers, and after one week, they find a great thread on the WF about product creation .... and so on.

It's very important to concentrate on what you are doing, to have a good plan and to follow that plan until you reach the desired results. There is no shortcut, and you definitely won't earn a lot of money online if you try something different each week.

That's pretty much my problem right there. It sucks.

[blillard]

Yeah My main problem is lack of focus. I read hard at what Im learning but when it come time to implement it seemed like I could never get things done. I was spending a butt ton of money too.

[Kevin_Hutto]

Laziness, lack of consistency, lack of self discipline, lack of persistence.

[ryanvroman]

The biggest challenge for most is finding a product or service (niche) that they believe they can make money with. If you 100% believe in what you are selling, getting a site built all of a sudden doesn't seem so hard anymore.

I've been doing this for 13 years and it took me a long time to get it right. I now help out friends getting started so it's interesting to see the "crash courses" when folks try and learn it all in 1 week. It's just not that simple. Be persistent, and continue to learn.

[Victoralexon]

There are many reasons I think.

A big one is lack of work ethic.

[Michael Atma]

In this market it's all about who you choose to use as your mentors. Find someone that is successful in an area you are interested in succeeding online and then become their best apprentice. You can't fail if you choose the right people and stay the distance (i.e. replaced your income or whatever the goal is).