Why You Shouldn't Quit (And Why I'm Glad I Didn't)

Everyone,

About a couple or more times a month you see a post made by someone who's been at this IM thing for a few months, a year, or several years and they're ready to quit. Of course, some of these aren't real cries for help and come with an ulterior motive. But some of them are genuine posts of frustration.

I've reached out to some of these Warriors over the years, college students, single parents, grand parents......people from all walks of life. And most of them shared some very common traits. But before I get to that I just wanted to say quitting is easy. It's easy to quit when things get tough, especially if you've tried a lot of different things, bought some courses and discovered some of them were just a pile of crap. Some left out critical pieces to the puzzle, while others couldn't be bothered when you asked them a simple question (speaking from extensive experience here).

There are several things that the Warriors I've talked to share in common:

1.)) They jump around from one thing to the other too soon and/or too often. Everyone talks about staying focused and for good reason, being unfocused is one of the biggest reasons why people don't make it in this business.

2.)) No matter how you slice it, they are not treating this like a business. The focus on little or big money makers is VERY appealing. I know that I can hire someone to set up a few blogs for me, install some autoblogging plug-in, throw on some adsense, do some very basic keyword research, and over time I could pull in some decent dollars, but that's a money-maker, not a business.

People who treat this like a business are going to have websites that will pull in money for decades instead of becoming obsolete after a few months or a couple of years.

3.)) They want it now. In other words, they don't give any single project the attention it really deserves. (Edit: of course there are times when you do have to let a project go, but the majority of folks let the project go too early).

4.)) They're not ready to make money. I know that sounds crazy, but some of the people I talked with either needed to grow up some or they needed to invest in some more education. For example, there are still people that jump into SEO, PPC, CPV, etc., try it, fail at it, then swear up and down that it doesn't "work". Usually it's because they didn't know what they were doing. (Edit: can you believe there are still people setting up PPC campaigns without tracking their keywords?).

There's also something to be said about personal development (which could easily be it's own monster thread). Edit: I think it's critical for success......real success where it transcends dollars.

I'm here to advise many of you that it's a new year and that you shouldn't quit. Here's one reason why and I hope it inspires some of you. I've got a short story about myself that I'd like to share.

The year was 2000 and I had been at this IM thing for about 12 months. I taught myself HTML and basic web design because I thought that's what one had to do, I bought courses on how to build a website, how to market it, how to attract affiliates, and how to make the SEs happy. Yet I kept falling on my face (for the same reasons I just listed above).

"I'm a friggen professional", I thought to myself, as I sat in my office in Long Beach, CA. "It shouldn't be this hard."

At the time I had my own office as a financial planner. I thought because of my background that I would have an easy grasp of this new online endeavor. I was dead wrong. I treated it like a hobby.....if that. I worked a lot of hours and saw very little income (less than $100 a month).

I was ready to quit.

I was so frustrated with the countless hours I had spent writing, reading, uploading, and then doing it all over again.

Then I decided to take a break.

I took a vacation, away from it all, took a notebook with me (no computer), stayed in a decent hotel in Mexico, and thought seriously what I should do next.

Then it dawned on me. Quitting was easy. Most people quit and I did not want to be "most people". Then another thing dawned on me: I knew other people were making money, I just needed to find out what they were doing that I wasn't.

To make a really long, long story short, I'm glad I chose not to quit. I realized that I was jumping around way too much, I wasn't following the advice of my mentors, and above all else I was not spending enough time on activities that would make me money.

In all the years that I've been here I've seen a lot of people quit, but I've also seen a lot of people grab the bull by the horns, focus, and made the decision to not let anything stand in their way.

Sometimes taking a break, writing things down, and coming back with a fresh perspective is all you need.

I sincerely hope this post keeps just one of you from quitting. I'm glad I didn't because it allowed me to leave my "j-o-b" in 2001 and I've never looked back. Anyone with the right desire, mindset, and action-orientation can do this. You really can. You've just got to be willing to pay the price.

Happy New Year,

Rod Cortez