How long did it take you to start seeing measuarable success in IM?

Almost four years to start seeing results the first three years I jumped from course to course never really giving any program a chance.

I just started IM about two months ago. I'm working on my first affiliate website in a desperate buyer market. I hope to rinse and repeat when I finally become a successful affiliate and find a really fun niche to build a list and start my own product creation.

I also will be starting an offline business where I will provide lead valves to local businesses through SEO and other forms of web 2.0 properties.

All the best to your success.

So what was the format that worked for you? Mind sharing?

What areas in IM do you see success in? BUM Marketing works and
will always work using one of the long-term systems I'm using. This
is actually my least profitable method compared to everything else
I do...but is fun to do, and generates residual income --

I'm also in the process of doing my first major Facebook Advertising campaign that'll generate thousands per month on auto-pilot.

From both those online systems I turn around and fuel my offline
Direct Mail business -- and will buy my first income property on a
"Rent-To-Own" program.

Both my Mail Order business and Real Estate have nothing to do with
online marketing, and that's for a damn good reason. Because for me
Offline marketing suits my personality, style, and desire for long-term
stability and income-- where the internet simply "does not".

what was your path to that? An unbelievable amount of trial and
error. Mistakes. And goof-ups...as well as major successes that
breed more success naturally. As well as taking massive action in
spite of fear of doing so...that's always fun, stressful, and exciting
at the same time.

Also, patience. Persistence. Did I mention A-C-T-I-O-N?

How long did it take you along the way to reach the point where
you are comfortable you can make money online when you start
a project?

3 - 4 years of mental hell.

It's a combination of getting the mindset in check to accept the
businesses you start will BE successful, and the skills you need to
execute it.

It's a tough balance. If you can imagine a fat kid, and a skinny kid
on a see-saw...you have to train that fat kid to lose weight with
out throwing tantrums to balance the see-saw...and you have to
train the skinny kid to gain weight to meet the now average sized
kid in the middle.

One kid is the mental part of yourself that DOUBTS.

That QUESTIONS.

That feels UNCERTAIN.

That feels FEAR.

And the other kid are your SKILLS that are unpolished, where no
matter how strong your mental ability is, if you don't have the
skills of marketing and sales...no matter how POSITIVE and sure
of yourself...it won't work.

It's like being SURE you know how to drive a car at the age of 16
...although you've NEVER been behind the wheel. And what happens
when that kid does? He might kill himself, or worse kill someone else.

We call this ARROGANCE or OVER-CONFIDENCE.

Those 3-4 years was my personal battle, and I'm still dealing with
it everyday...just no where near as tormenting as it was when I
started...everyone has their own timetable, and that was mines.

It took me slightly under a year to build some momentum, and then it petered out for a couple of months before I realized that I needed to take the bull by the horns and really approach IM as a business. Things have been (relatively) smooth sailing after that.