Beginners Beware!

Thanks so much Frank, Eric, paowiee1 and Web for taking the time to join the conversation. I hope others can share more for the guidance of beginners to this business.

Jose

Isn't that the million dollar question Jose!

I think you're dead on with the "in the middle" part. My personal thought is this:

It's a hard or as easy as you want it to be.

Personally, I think getting up every morning at some ridiculous hour, fighting through hellish traffic to sit behind some desk or drive all over town to please an idiot boss for pennies is hard.

Lifting 70-200 pound boxes all day in a 100 degree or freezing warehouse is hard.

And have you ever watch the show where they show the crappiest jobs?

That's hard. (think working in a sewage plant... yuck )

Sitting at home reading some books, learning how to make a fortune and having fun while you're doing it doesn't really qualify as "hard" to me. Solving problems for other folks and improving their quality of life is not very hard.

But is darn sure ain't easy.

I struggled frustrated the first six months I started back in 2006. Since then I've learned a few things that have made it 1000 times easier.

I hope sharing them helps...

1. Get a mentor IMMEDIATELY after you make the decision to start.

It will cut your learning curve immensely and you can avoid a bunch of headaches and frustrations and money. Paying someone $2000 to learn how to make $2000 or more a month just makes sense. But, be very careful in which one you choose. Think that goes without saying. Hmm, then why did I say it?

2. Outsourcing is your friend.

I was blown away at how cheap you can get 90% of anything you do done by someone else. Even though I knew how to do most of the stuff myself, my profits grew in leaps and bounds when I started outsourcing most of my work. It allowed me to focus on building my business instead of doing grunt work. As much as I love building web sites and creating graphics, I'm wasn't making real money doing that.

And you can start making money right away. So the excuse "I don't know how to do that" is no longer valid. You might not, but there are a thousand or so folks that do.

I don't know how to rebuild an engine, but it's never stopped me from buying a car.

3. Internet marketing is 90% learning how to market, not learning about the Internet.

I think the term "Internet Marketing" should be outlawed. It gives a false impression that the Internet makes you money. It's not the Internet making the money - it's good marketing and good sales techniques that make the money. The Internet is just an avenue to do it faster, easier and to a whole lot more folks.

So tell your newbies to become 100% consumed by learning marketing and sales. Eat marketing, sleep marketing, dream marketing, drink marketing and spend as much of their waking moments learning anything and everything about marketing.

Tell them to marry marketing and make little marketing babies.

(OK, maybe that one was overkill ...)

4. The mindset is everything. I created a training product once for the MLM/Network marketing industry that talked about how important your mindset is when you're getting into any business venture. >> Ooh - note to self: repurpose the same product for the IM industry<<

We've all heard and watched The Secret and the hundred and fifty thousand knockoff books and trainings that came out of it. But, it's remarkable how true it is. Sometimes even scary.

Now everyone together: We become what we think about most.

5. And this one probably should have been first but I'm too tired (my way of saying lazy) to cut/paste and renumber my list.

TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT YOU THINK YOU'RE READY YET.

"The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure".
~Sven Goran Eriksson

"Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently."
~Henry Ford

Too many "newbies" (my former self included) become professional students instead of becoming professional action takers. Reading 400 ebooks and buying 150 home courses ain't gonna make no cash (my English teacher is probably turning in her grave right now...).

Take one day each week to read/learn something new, then 4 more days DOING IT and perfecting it.

And it's perfectly OK that you're not making money on the first few projects or attempts. Document everything so you can go back and learn what you did wrong. Heck, even make a product out of it to sell to others! I wouldn't mind paying $30 or so to learn from your $2000 mistakes.


Hope it helps.

The Crazy Internet Dude

Thanks so much Marian, Stephen, P. Cerrito, freudianslip 27, Ross, and crazyinternedude for sharing your experiences and wisdom. I surely have to re-read them as I can't digest all of them in one sitting

Hope other beginners will benefit from your marvelous contributions!

Jose