How to Fail Your Way to Success!

I've spent a good amount of time on these boards reading a wealth of information for my own study. I have to say there really is some good stuff here. One particular thread that I read yesterday really had me amazed. If you get a chance you should definitely take a look. Search: "235+ websites making $4-$50 per day. This is how I do it. Ultimate Virtual Real Estate."For those that haven't already read that thread, consider it my gift to you.

Seriously, if you are truly looking to learn there is no need to purchase anything (unless that money is LITERALLY burning a whole in your pocket, otherwise no need to part with it).

One thing I have found a bit disheartening however (on both ends) is the relationship between the "haves" and "have nots." As in, those who have made money in IM and those who have not.


A typical thread will go something like this...

Have Not: "Can anyone show me how to make $100 a day?"

Have: "Just like a newbie to want a man to fish for 'em."

Have Not: "Well, actually, I've tried to do it on my own. I tried this, and I've tried that... I've even purchased a few WSOs. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. HELP!"

Have: "Well you need to stop jumping from one thing to the next. Pick something and stay there. If you keep at it you'll get where you're trying to go."

Okay. So the conversation above is totally made up but looks very similar to what I see many times as I read through the threads. I say it's disheartening because both are totally missing the mark with each other. To those that have found success in IM it gets really old really quick when people continually make posts asking them to divulge secrets that they've spent blood, sweat and tears to come by. But from the vantage point of a person who has yet to earn a dime in this business everything is so close yet elusive. They expect it to be easy. It seems so easy, BUT...

I could go into all the reasons why some newbie would expect this business to provide them with the quick buck but I won't; mainly because while some of the reasons are truly no fault but their own, IMers really are the ones who put that idea out there first (and packaged, sold and got rich off it... and still do). The reason I decided to write this post is to beg thoughtful consideration of this idea:

Most people run from from failure when they should be chasing it!

So many times people will tell a newbie, "work hard," "be consistent." All true, but honestly, that's not enough. If you're not expecting to fail - and even better, chasing it - then you'll probably end up a victim of it. I know this sounds a little backwards at first, but if you can get excited about failure - I mean really have a shift of mind... If you can anticipate, get excited and chase failure, I think the chances of success jump exponentially in your favor.

Think about it. Fear of failure is a mountainous roadblock for many. To those that manage to get past that initial barrier, when evidence of failure presents itself most of them fall by the waist side. But... what if there was a different approach? Whether you look at failure as a teacher (which it is) or a LITTLE bully looking to get smacked (which it is), neither of these perspectives seem so scary. In either scenario you should be moving towards it, not away - either to learn from or to commence to "POW, POW, POW!" (Sorry, I had to go there. Ha! Back on script) For those who have a good relationship with failure, it really becomes their secret weapon.

An example: You want to create a sales page for a product you'd like to sell. You write what you believe to be great sales copy. Now, you could make your page live and pray that it converts as you hoped. Of course, honestly, you'd probably be setting yourself up at this point. The better approach is to assume that your copy has failed a little to a lot in getting your message across. Your thoughts should be investigative. Where did my copy fail? How did my copy fail? One great way to get your answers would be to split test. When your page goes live and as your page gets traffic, you will surely begin to see where and how your copy has failed. More importantly, the fact that you chased your failure instead of being it's victim will ensure your success.

I could go on and on on with examples on how this works in life and more specifically within the business of IM but sake of brevity (think I missed the mark on that one already, though) I won't. I just want people to understand how important your mindset is to your success. Really. It's way more important than knowledge. You need both but if I had to choose I'd say mindset is WAY more important than knowledge because the proper mindset will in fact lead you to the knowledge it takes to get the job done. You can have all the knowledge in the world and without the right mindset you will FAIL, FAIL, FAIL!

In the words of some of my favorite rap stars, "get your mind right." ;-)


Cat Brown