Anyone Else Losing Interest In IM?

I agree with just about everything in this post.

I make a living from my IM business, and so do many others. Am I rich? No. Do I make $1000 a day like the "rock star" IMers? No. Am I comfortable and happy with my income? YES! The reason is because I LOVE what I do. There are very few aspects of IM that I don't fully enjoy doing.

I get emails from people all the time telling me how bad they need money, and how fast they need to make it. They ask me things like "How can I make $1000 to fix my car in a week?" I always answer them truthfully and tell them that is very unlikely to happen if they have little or no IM experience. I've had many people write back and tell me that I'm wrong because they saw somewhere that they can make $2000 in the next 24 hours or some other BS they saw online somewhere. I've even had people write back and call me nasty names because I told them something they didn't want to hear!

The reason I bring this up is because I think a lot of people get the wrong idea and think that starting an online business is an easy thing to do and something which allows people to make exorbitant amounts of money very quickly. This has some truth to it, for those who have worked incredibly hard and have built up the resources which allows them to make a lot of money in a short period of time.

For instance, someone who has worked hard and spent years building a huge, responsive, targeted list can make a ton of money at the "push of a button." I just think that many marketers take too much liberty with the whole "money at the push of a button" thing.

People that have not put in the work are not going to be able to do this, and that is where I think most of the confusion lies. It's not always the newbies fault, either. I blame a lot of the hyped up sales pages and products out there for this.

The bottom line is that I started my online business in May of 2008, and it took me a little over 3 years before I had acquired the knowledge and resources I needed and put in the work necessary to make the business produce an income that I felt I could support myself fully with. It may not take everyone that long, or it may take some longer. Everyone learns and works at different speeds, so it's impossible to predict how much money one can make in a certain amount of time.

Believe me, I tried and failed at many things along the way. In fact, I have probably failed twice as much as I have succeeded. The point is that if you get knocked off your horse you don't just lay there in the dirt. You get back on and keep on riding!

If you want to see success with IM, you have to put in lots of long hours, both researching and then taking action on what you have learned. You have to LOVE doing it, also. If you hate most of the aspects of what you are doing with your online business, you will most certainly fail at it.

Based on what I've read, I think the OP has what it takes to be very successful online, if he finds a niche he is truly passionate about, creates a realistic business plan, is willing to work VERY hard, and is truly dedicated and determined not to fail.

Also, it won't come crashing down if you set up multiple income streams, make backups of everything important, and always have a "plan B" if and when something goes wrong.

This is exactly right -- and this is true whether your business is both online and offline like stoltingmediagroup's or purely online like mine is.

Internet marketing isn't a business in itself, it's a business activity. True, it's a key tool that can be used in support of important business goals, goals like finding customers, putting your products in front of them and getting some sales. But it's still only part of the picture and if you don't have the other parts of the picture in place -- whether it's product development, customer service, finance, technology or developing your business strategy -- you're going to fail.

Though it might seem counter-intuitive to all the wannabe IM gurus out there, it's no accident that in most (though certainly not all) companies marketing is only a VP-level position and not a C-level position like a CEO, COO, CFO, or CTO/CIO. Marketing is essential, but in the grand scheme of things, it's still less important that many other business activities.

That's pretty insulting dude

where in my post did I ever hint that I need a job and someone telling me what to do?

I merely wanted to know if I was on my own in my IM experiences or if I am part of the majority of people training a wild beast that may not be worth it in the end.

I would also like to pose that there are WAY easier ways to make money such as what I now do. More money, less work, more time with family. That's the equation I was looking for with IM but didn't obtain. Now that I've obtained this lifestyle, I have no need to keep updating websites, doing keyword research and optimization, writing follow up emails, blogging, adwords, and all that other IM J.O.B crap that I got sucked into years ago.

I'm seriously glad if some of you actually earn money at this. It's just I don't think you are the majority and I don't think it was what most of us signed up for. If I'm wrong I'll eat my shoe.

By reading some of the comments in this thread it sounds like by and large IM is an endeavor you need to slag through and you MAY get compensated in the long run as long as you keep at it, become and expert, and work a LOT.

I just wonder if that is the message we should be sharing with our newbies rather than rich beyond measure in less than 30 days.

Anyway, now that I've ranted, I'm not so insulted by your comment any more - the healing properties of the written word I guess

I just hate the idea that you think I've given up just because I got knocked off the horse. Well, the story I gave initially was a simplified version of what happened. I got knocked off of MANY horses only to get up again and get knocked off again. I had many failures and then some successes but in the end I had to question my direction. and question, "Is there an easier way?"

Luckily I DID question otherwise I wouldn't be where I am now! doing the things I am doing now.

IM is like hiking uphill, sludging through sticky mud, for countless miles, to get the apple which may or may not still be ripe by the time you get there.

lol

ok - I admit to being a tad dramatic but that's honestly how I feel about my experiences.

Tell me I'm wrong!

I knooow. I lost interest when Penguin came, I lost interest when Panda came... and know I have a pretty good system in place that have been working for a while... althoug sometimes there are "those" days when I can lose interest as well (a pain in the but client, just a bad day, etc).

IM has a lot of ways outside of G though.

There is a lot of people killing it with Facebook, Amazon, Youtube, PPV, creating software, Selling stuff here that works, you may even go and get a job at an agency or something.

Loosing interest or feeling down could be normal when you don't have the results you want, endurance and surrounding yourself with the right people (aka people that is doing what you would like to do) is key IMO.

Anyhow, I hope you find your way to where you want to be!

What is more easier than Marketing to people on the internet

or INTERNET MARKETING???

anything online that gains profits is Internet Marketing.

What part of IM are you losing interest?