"What Was the Hardest Thing To Accept About I.M?"

Well said it takes work, but it is so worth it If your lazy your in the wrong business.

Good point, but in all fairness I would wager most people got into IM because they thought it was less work. I'll admit I did.

In other words that's what first got my attention. I've been doing this for over 30 years and I've yet to see an ad or sales letter explaining how hard you'll have to work ... or how long it may take to succeed.

If they did the market would probably be half the size it is now. But yes, your point is spot on.

This was the thing for me as well.

I never expected the money to come "instantly" when I got started back in 2008, but I was hoping it would come to me a little bit faster than trying to pour molasses on a cold January morning

Absolutely. When you are trying to build a great product, you want to do the best for your customers, so you try to give them what they need. But as you said they will hock their souls for what they want. The skill for IM is giving them what they need disguised as what they want !

I actually don't think there is anything to accept. There are no absolutes in this business because each business model is different. What's true for one person won't be true for another. I guess the hardest thing for me to "accept", though I always knew it was possible, was that failure can come after success. Look how many times Donald Trump lost his fortune.

I'm currently rebuilding. And while I'm confident that I'll eventually be back to where I was, there is no guarantee that I'll stay there. Markets change. Technology changes. Did anybody have personal computers in their homes 40 years ago? What I've had to "accept" these past 11 years may not even exist 11 years from now.

I take it one day at a time. I accept that I can only control the things that are within my control. The rest, I can simply react to and do my best to deal with.

My time online has taught me a lot. Most of all it taught me that old cliche is true.

There is nothing certain except death and taxes.

You know, I've been doing a little more thinking of this question and I did realize that there is something that most people have a problem with and it applies to any business regardless of what it is.

A story will best relate what I'm going to say.

Many years ago, I went to a songwriters convention because I wanted to be a big time songwriter. That was my dream. Well, after the convention, I signed up for the group. We would brainstorm ideas, play our songs for each other and hopefully come up with something good enough for the guys running the group to pitch to publishers.

Now these weren't just some jerks off the street. These were industry professionals, one of them being the guy who happened to discover Bon Jovi. He spotted what they had right away and the rest was history. So he knows what sells.

Anyway, we're all playing our songs for the group thinking this is the best stuff since The Beatles. I honestly thought my music was great.

Well, I could see him shaking his head after hearing all these songs, mine included, and he finally said to us these words and I will never forget them.

"It's very difficult to admit that your child has cancer. After all, it's YOUR child and it can't possibly be sick. Well, your songs are no different. It's hard to admit they have cancer, but they do. They're sick and they need medical attention."

I got what he was trying to say.

It is so difficult to look at what you're doing and see the flaws in it. I have a terrible problem with this. I think most people do. Even worse, I think most people have trouble evaluating just how good they are at something, good or bad. How many talented people walk around thinking they're not good enough? Conversely, how many people with absolutely no talent think they're the greatest thing since sliced bread?

I have been told by a few people that I'm a good writer. But I've also been told by others that I'm a hack. Honestly, I don't know where I fit between those two extremes. I do know after 35 years I haven't had one song recorded by a major artist. My articles made me some money for a little while so I guess I can't be all bad.

But honestly, I can't even begin to evaluate my skill level versus other peoples and what it needs to be in order to achieve "success." Mostly, I feel like I'm stuck in no man's land. I feel like I could do better in everything I do and at the same time, I feel that what I'm doing is "good enough."

Sound familiar?

Well, the question is, IS it good enough?

Right now, the way things have been going, it would be hard to answer that in the affirmative. I mean it's not like I'm taking the world by storm these days.

Looking in the mirror and honestly telling yourself how good or bad you are at something has to be one of the hardest things in the world to do on 2 levels.

1) Pride almost always gets in the way.

2) How many of us are actually skilled at self evaluation? I know I'm sure as hell not.

Have you noticed that the most successful people in the world, for the most part, don't brag? I certainly can't say that about myself when I was going well. I was totally full of myself. Kind of funny when I think about it now. Because today, there are people who have been in business less than 6 months making more money than I make.

So I don't know about the rest of you, but I need to get better at self evaluation. That way, when I recognize the areas where I'm weak, I can then seek out the help that I need from the people who AREN'T weak in those areas.

That's why for my next product, no way in hell I write my own sales copy. I'm going to leave that in the hands of a professional if I can find one that I can afford. And I think I've got one picked out.

Anyway, I think that's probably the hardest thing for anybody to do, accurately evaluate their own skills.

This goes back to the age old phrase: No pain, no gain. This is why many fail unfortunately. Many are not willing to endure the upfront pain, before they see the gain. Business opportunity gurus feed this attitude by pitching push button riches.

What you said is so true!

I think the hardest thing for me to accept is that people look down on you like a bum who likes staying home and doing nothing (that's what they think).

Get the message out there and ask for feedback of what is right and what is not.
Again good feedback is essential to grow a business.

And if you believe the late night infomercials and big pharma ads, they've got death on the run...

and then 2 months later they are begging for handouts...|Seen it many times. it's a joke

Video doesn't load ;_;

But the comment brings memories back, haha! Been on both sides way too often - the side of the blank stare or the side of the wild hand gestures and foreign sounding vocabulary...
Heck, it's mind-blowing how much terminology and references any field has. It's easy to forget what's common sense and what's specialised information. That's why you need some friends with different interests.
How many people would know what a backlink is? I didn't before I came here...

Good point. But along with consistency and trying again and again ... make sure you're not repeating the same mistakes over and over. That's what I did for a time and thought it was persistence.

What expectations exactly?

Excellent points to consider.

Keep in mind most people who come into I.M first came from company and government employee jobs. You know where the boss, company regulations and policies fueled your dedication, discipline and desire for you.

I personally discovered, it takes more internal fortitude, b*lls if you will - to do important things in IM (especially the non-sexy, routine things).

Now you don't have a boss yelling, threatening or holding a stick over your head to perform. Now the dedication, discipline and desire must come from within. Not so easy if you're not used to exercising it.

That's my theory anyway,