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Success Takes Time....Persist until You Succeed

by Sean A McAlister
19 replies
Hey Warriors,
Wanted to share a few thoughts and look forward to your feedback!

I've had the opportunity to FAIL a LOT over the last 2 decades. I've wasted time, money and energy experimenting with all kinds of things. This isn't just with IM related things...you name it, I've probably given it a go....

However, I've also been blessed to SUCCEED.

The key...I've always been a student. Not only a student of new opportunities but a student of my own failures. I never give up. I'm always studying, refining and taking action.

You've heard it before and I firmly believe it to be a true statement.

You will more than likely fail (to some degree..and that's a matter of perspective) before you have massive success. The difference between those who stay in a rut of failure and those who climb out and forge ahead is a combination of a couple of things.
1) Your Mindset and Commitment
2) Being a student first
3) Understanding that FAILURE is not an option
4) Shear Desire
Back when I was 18, I started reading every Entrepreneurial publication I could...this eventually led to my first real estate purchase which was a small trailer park this led to my next purchase 982 acres of timberland, which then led to my next 500 acres, housing developments ....on and on....

I did 90% of it with little to no money down and it was thanks to Carlton Sheets real estate course.

Here's the deal there... I invested in something (the course), I focused on it and I TOOK ACTION...IT WAS HARD, it was time consuming, IT TOOK TIME but it paid off

Through those years I never stopped honing my marketing skills, sales skills, mindset, personal growth...I was reading books like nothing else (you know ...the real ones you buy at a store...lol... Amazon was just getting started back then)

One book in particular, The Great Trilogy by Og Mandido really struck a cord with me and I came across a quote that I engrained in my head at the age of 18

"Failure will never overcome you as long as your determination to succeed is strong enough"

No joke, It's like that term is branded into the inner core of my brain.

When the internet started to grow, I became a student of everything online....

Back in 2000, 2001, 2002, I thought I had enough knowledge to give it a go and dove straight in ...starting with PPC. I read some stuff online, bought a few garbage e-books and I thought I was now the KING!!

BIG MISTAKE....there went an easy $4k straight from my pocket to Google....and a big LEARNING experience for me....

Failure #1 in my online quest.

So I forged ahead...continuing with my real estate business and even though I had a nasty taste in my mouth about online marketing, I knew it was my own fault. I became a student of my own failure....

Bottom line....I THOUGHT I knew what I needed to do, I got blinded by "Easy Money" online, I thought.... This stuff is "Easy"... spend a few grand and blow it up into tens of thousands.

WRONG!

AS with any form of "Business Development" it takes time...whether that time is "Learning", "Building Sites", "Setting Up Campaigns", "SEO"....bottom line...nothing is Quick, Nothing is easy...if you're just getting started.

So I re-evaluated...I continued to study, I continued to learn....everything from how to set up a website, to effectively marketing online.

For the moment, I put "Making Money Online" on hold and focused on how to utilize Marketing Online to make more money with my real estate business. I learned how to put together free blogs at Blogger, how to write basic html, SEO, optins, email marketing...etc.

I "Stayed Focused" on my primary business and dabbled with the whole "Internet Marketing" gig on the side...like many of us do getting started.

>>>>Persist Until You Succeed!!!

In fact, I studied for 7 years and didn't really go full force online until early 2007.

As time goes on, you refine how you search for information, you start to develop a keen sense as to what is "Good Information" and what is "Bad Information"

Having a very bad taste in my mouth from the $4K I threw away in 24 hours (Literally) I decided to "Grind" it out getting started. You know...roll up my sleeves, get down and dirty....WORK FOR IT.

I had taken everything I had learned and started my first niche site, started applying SEO techniques I learned as well as applying some real world business sense...lol

I approached my online endeavor from "Growing a business" perspective vs a "Make Money" online perspective.....fast forward 7 years and I'm proud to say that I'm making Awesome money online and have scaled back my real estate investments so that I can spend more time with my family

The internet life truly does provide the freedom we're all looking for but it takes time, commitment, willingness to learn, fail and "Grind" it out until you find that one thing that works.

It's EXTREMELY EASY to get sucked into the Online Vortex of shiny objects, Overnight Rags to Riches success stories & Information overload.

The key thing to remember is this.

EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE who is successful in any business ....has started from nothing (unless they were born into money), they have inevitably failed to some degree, they've "spent /lost money" but "Grinded" it out.

They have Commitment, shear desire and are students of their own failures....determined to never give up.

Now let's look at that terms "Failure" and "Wasted Money" for a quick moment...

This ties into the "Mindset" that successful entrepreneurs have. I can really only speak about myself....but I don't view things that didn't go as expected as "Failures" I view them as an "Educational Experience"

I also don't view money I've spent as "Wasted". I view it as an investment into myself. And when I've "Lost" money, I chalk it up as an even more valuable "Educational Experience". You have to spend money to make money the difference is being wise with your expenditures.

Spending 4k on PPC wasn't very wise but that's the cash I had set aside to give it go.

Looking back, I consider it as an overall investment into my online business growth. That $4k was actually the catalyst that made me more determined than ever to become successful online.

The whole moral of this story is....if you're new remember that...
Rome wasn't built in a day.... YOU CAN DO IT

Focus. Pick one thing and stick with it.

Be a Doer, grind through it and you can define your financial future.

And Most importantly.... it doesn't happen overnight.
For those of us that gave this IM thing a whirl stuck with it and became successful....keep on keepin on ...and "Stack The Value" for others because we all started at the same place...relying on quality information to help us grow online....

We are all in charge of our own destiny.

To your success
Sean
#failure #gotta #grrrind #success #successyou
  • Profile picture of the author rmolina88
    Great post Sean. Failure and learning from it is definitely one of the most important keys to success because if you never fail, you'll never learn how to pick yourself back up.

    Taking action and persistence leads to success. I'm glad I'm as stubborn as a mule. :p
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  • Profile picture of the author conanedo
    Great post.. thanks i always have doubt to success in IM world every time things not go like what i had plan.. But i think i must more patient and keep learning, thank you.. be hungry stay foolish
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  • Profile picture of the author LastingLifeSuccess
    That $4,000 PPC Google mistake was costly alright. What a tough lesson to learn. But it is clear you were going to make it no matter what.

    With the kind of determination you have demonstrated I can see why success was not so easy to slip away from you. Good job and thanks for a helpful post.

    LLS
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  • Profile picture of the author jocke1099
    Great post!
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  • Profile picture of the author amcg
    Sone inspirational thoughts. My one take away so far in business ventures I've done is that you need to learn to let go i.e when something's not working, move on. I think the faster you learn to fail, the faster you'll learn to succeed.
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  • Profile picture of the author joaquin112
    2007 was an amazing year to do IM. It was a joke ranking #1 for anything you wanted. Now it's a lot tougher and we have to improve our strategies, but I agree that there is nothing like persistance.

    I'm kind of glad of all the failures that I've had throughout my life. There wouldn't be any challenge if my first couple of projects had succeeded.
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  • Profile picture of the author rbates
    There is no success without failure. Being successful in a learning process.
    Work hard, dedicate yourself, and persist in spite of adversity.
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    >>> Perform and stay focused! - Make cents with your business. <<<
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    • Profile picture of the author phmoisan
      You said it took you 7 years before really going for it. I'm really happy to read that, because I got active in IM 3 years ago, I did many little things here and there, made some little money, got some sign ups to a few programs, but for the past 6 months, I have been stuck asking myself what should I do.

      I don't intend to wait another 4 years, I do hope I find the answer before that.

      Awesome post, thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author happydancer
    Persistence is a double edged sword. Be careful that your persistence is not actually foolhardiness as the trouble with both success and failure is that you only know afterwards. I have seen people with a fundamentally flawed business model/plan who believe that persistence is their winning card. Having said that, you can give a winning business formula to two groups of people, one will fail and the other will, perhaps through persistence and hard work, win through and be successful. I am reminded of the shoe salespeople story, 2 salespeople get sent to the south sea islands to sell the company's shoes. Upon landing at the airport of one island one salesperson phones the company back and tells the company boss to book him/her the first plane back home, market research was crap, no one wears shoes on the island so there will be no buyers for shoes! The second salesman phones the company and says he is staying for at least the next 12 months, to send another container load of shoes as fast as possible, there will be untold demand because nobody on the island wears shoes! Of course we have all heard this story from our sales manger at some point in our careers and it is usually told in a pep talk about attitude. However, the story is incomplete, was the second salesman successful or merely foolhardy?

    When persistence leads to success you were right to be persistent. When persistence has not yet brought success is success still 'just around the corner' or are you simply being foolhardy and it is time to cut your losses?
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    • Profile picture of the author Sean A McAlister
      Originally Posted by happydancer View Post

      Persistence is a double edged sword. Be careful that your persistence is not actually foolhardiness as the trouble with both success and failure is that you only know afterwards. I have seen people with a fundamentally flawed business model/plan who believe that persistence is their winning card. Having said that, you can give a winning business formula to two groups of people, one will fail and the other will, perhaps through persistence and hard work, win through and be successful. I am reminded of the shoe salespeople story, 2 salespeople get sent to the south sea islands to sell the company's shoes. Upon landing at the airport of one island one salesperson phones the company back and tells the company boss to book him/her the first plane back home, market research was crap, no one wears shoes on the island so there will be no buyers for shoes! The second salesman phones the company and says he is staying for at least the next 12 months, to send another container load of shoes as fast as possible, there will be untold demand because nobody on the island wears shoes! Of course we have all heard this story from our sales manger at some point in our careers and it is usually told in a pep talk about attitude. However, the story is incomplete, was the second salesman successful or merely foolhardy?

      When persistence leads to success you were right to be persistent. When persistence has not yet brought success is success still 'just around the corner' or are you simply being foolhardy and it is time to cut your losses?
      Excellent.... I think the key is to always be a student of yourself.

      If you keep going with out seeing success then its time to re-evalute. This is the area where I see most people fall short and fail. Discouragement sets in, self inadequacy, possibly financial trouble from poor decisions / investments.

      But this is in essence the whole point. Failure makes us better thus we must persist through that failure and reevaluate.

      In the shoe sales story (which is a great teaching).... did the guy who sold all the shoes have more experience? Had he already gone through his "Learning Curve"? Or was he just more creative? Perhaps he was just "Cut" for the job / to be a salesman...where as the other gentleman may have been better off being a stock broker, or a chef, doctor...

      You hit it on the head "Cut Your Losses". Life experiences bring wisdom and its important that we are always in tune with ourselves to ensure we're headed on the right path.

      But I'm also a firm believer that passion is the seed that sparks our financial growth. If J. K. Rowling had cut her losses where would she be now? She refined, persisted and followed her passion. We must learn who we are!

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  • Profile picture of the author talfighel
    Sean,

    I have not read your whole thread but did read the few sentences.

    I like when you say that it is important to persist if you want to succeed but when you have a lot of challenges and setbacks, you need to learn something from each and then make adjustments to your strategies.

    Too many people persist but they keep taking the same actions. This gets them to the same place as before.

    For most people, the "persistence" is the easy part. Finding what works and what doesn't is very hard for most of them. They just feel that it will take a lot out of them to try different things that may or may not work.
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  • Profile picture of the author attan
    Great post and thanks for sharing your inspiring story!
    Persistence pays off for sure .
    When i started and built my business a decade ago it took me 2 years before i saw any income at all.
    Most people give up way to soon.
    It all comes down to the right mindset and persistence.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bhekizwe
    Thanks for sharing.what a great way to use failure as a motivator to succeed
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  • Profile picture of the author Sean A McAlister
    Originally Posted by mikedcarroll View Post

    The big thing is learning to differentiate between an opportunity and a lost cause. For me, making iOS/Mac apps are a lost cause due to a variety of different things (like tools not working correctly, obscure Apple requirements, etc). Sometimes one needs to work a different angle to get something to work.
    Well, playing on the student concept / persistence...I can say that they can work. In fact, I started both app development and Kindle publishing at the same time to see which would yield the best results.

    I spent 6 months studying the app market, marketing, pricing IAP structures etc before I had my first one developed. 5 Apps later (1 dud) they've paid for themselves and getting around 5,00 downloads per day generating some good cash daily.

    No doubt Apple is tough but I respect it (actually welcome it) because it keeps everything growing. Had my first 2 Apps been duds, I may have considered that different angle but I always allow one screw up in most everything I try to allow for the learning curve. We've got 3 more in development now with one due to release in the next 2 weeks.

    It's one thing to study to be a doctor for 8 years (or however) it's a whole different ball game once you use the scalpel for the first time.

    One thing I can say that I've not had a lot of success with despite everyone else's success stories is Amazon publishing. I've got several books out under Pen names all bringing in some sales but at this point it's something that I've put on the back burner (primarily because I'm outsourcing everything, don't want to write them so my ROI is much more extended than I'd like it to be)...so I've switched the angle and stuck with apps....but I'm also more passionate about them which is also key in my opinion.

    To Your Success
    Sean
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  • Profile picture of the author jay walters
    Awesome Post. Thank you for sharing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Ten
    Yes. For real. Never give up.
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  • Profile picture of the author YHmuWong
    Isn't it pretty hard to learn about internet marketing if you don't know what is a scam in the first place???? I can't seem to see the backlight of the whole system since i never spent a penny.Isn't the educational experience important.If you didn't fail,wouldn't you not succeed?
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  • Profile picture of the author links123
    If you do not fail you will never learn, how to come up in life. I think this loss will not take you away and will guide you a lesson to be learnt in life.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gary Boardman
    Thanks Sean,
    Persistance beats resistance everytime. We just need to pick ourselves up, avoid those obstacles next time and get back on it.
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