Anybody feel like giving up...

This is an awesome sentence right here. I was about a year and a half into my business and was averaging right around $300 per month. I basically thought that was as good as it was going to get. then I took the plunge and got into list building. That was a little more than a year ago. This month I am going to have my best month and I am at a clip to make about $5200! Granted, it's still not where I want to be, but when I look back at where I was, I feel pretty good.

Bottom line - Never give up, and never stop learning and researching news ways to make money. If you aren't building a list, start building one. Once you get going, you'll find that it's really not that hard after all.

All of the traditional things that are supposed to make you a lot of money like blogging and article marketing, social media, etc, did nothing for me. It wasn't until I strated buying and selling solos and doing list & download page swaps that I really started to make money.

You have to find yourself a profitable niche and stick to it. For me, it was niche blogs & websites. Not building them and running them, but selling themes, templates, and plugins.

Come up with a follwo up sttartegy for your chosen niche, and market those products to your list. For example, I give away a blogging tutorial and some WP blog themes in exchange for subscribers. Then, I can market products like PLR niche blogs, plugins, and other blogging tutorials to them.

There are literally hundreds of great niches like that. IM is a good niche, and there's alot of money in it, but it's very competitive. I tried that, and it was only by chance that I came across the blogging niche.

I'm sure if you continue to try and don't give up, you are going to achieve success.

Come on aldentan,
Human has been given the potential which no other creature has. Just keep trying , keep learning and you will be ok soon. Never ever let your feelings control you. Control your feelings :-).

Cheers man ,

100 sites could be the reason for your account getting banned. 100 sites to me would suggest MFA. Google only wants quality sites these days.

Interesting post; l have a successful product that took me about 4 years of hitting a brick wall to get together amongst several dead ends, etc.

The interesting thing is a recent video showed what l suspected about free traffic and paid. In that free traffic from developing a website or blogs, etc is that only about 7 to 12% of people who try it succeed, (make a profit from adsence, etc) and the vast majority hit their heads against a brick wall.

Paid traffic has similar results, as it takes time to figure out how to create a clickbank type campaign, sales video, etc. I created the best product l could come up with after thorough research, and campaign that rivals the best Clickbank campaigns out there, (excluding lofty sales stats, because l am still trying to sort out the best traffic source) to create a successful product!


So the point l am trying to make is creating a website, and working hard to get limited results, and reading multiple posts on forums of the successful 10%, tends to play on your mind?

You understandably start to think, that everything is against you, but it is just that the 90% that cant get it to work, Yet, couldn't be bothered putting up a post, since most posts seem to be positive!

The 20 year old making massive sums of cash online is almost becoming a cliche, but if it was the norm, generation Y, would all be internet millionaires?

As others have said, internet marketing is hard, but doable. And the Google-Witch-hunt doesn't help. And average individuals do get there.


Most of the time it is one step forward and two back.


So my best advise from someone who is on the tipping point, between making it online, is don't believe all the SEO free traffic tactics out there. It may work out well for about 10%, but taking luck out of the equation, and Google it could take weeks, months or years to bring in worthwhile results.

Paid traffic to your product, (as l have found) does give you more options, and a greater chance of success. If your first product doesn't convert use it as a bonus for the one that does or give it away with several affiliate links in it.

And it doesn't have to be a Clickbank high quality campaign, a simple site with a graphic or two, and text is enough to convert.


I tend to go overboard with my campaigns, but you don't have to.

So it may take you longer to make it, and many others may fly past you or make it look easy, but dogged-determination, flexibility, ability to think creatively when things look bleak, and refusing to give up, even if you are concerned about your mental health, should get you through the mental barrier or achieve the holy grail, in the end!

Shane

P.S. l heard from a reputable marketer today that most forms of advertising won't be as effective as they usually are at present, and may take until mid January 2012 to come good, because of Christmas and the holidays. So if something doesn't seem to be working at the moment that could be the reason?

^^ This.

Alden, read the above post again. "Douchebag" and "self improvement" are incongruent. And I think it's probably hurting your business.

I kind of have the feeling that you tried to do the "Rich Jerk" thing. The Rich Jerk works because a lot of people secretly believe that rich people ARE jerks. Now think about the way you're branding yourself. Not so congruent, right?

You say you're a douchebag who writes about self development. That's like saying "I'm a deer hunter that writes about veganism." Or, "I'm a pedophile who writes about raising children." Or "I'm a pastor who writes about gambling in Vegas."

Incongruent. Off putting.

Just something to consider if you're struggling.

Becky

Pay attention to whatever he's said.

"Most people quit just a yard shy of success", or so the saying goes. The market it seems you're working in (personal development) is very competitive and it's extremely tough to get any traction.

Having said that, it's not impossible. You need to rethink your positioning and perhaps come up with another angle. I went through some of your content; your site and the marketing angle can definitely do with an overhaul. Take a look at some of the leading blogs in the same market and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Taking a few days off can help too. Stay away from all this for, say, a week or so and when you come back, you'll have a better view of things and what you may need to change. I make it a point to take regular breaks. That gives me more insights into how I can improve whatever I'm doing.

Every single successful person in ANY industry has a story of a struggle long before they reached success.

For me personally... I HAD to hit rock bottom BEFORE I finally truly had the motivation to PLOW through the many problem I faced when trying to become successful at building a profitable business online.

It is totally natural to have the feeling of WANTING to give up, but if you give into that want and actually give up for good you will just become aother statistic of this industry.

They say 97% of people fail at business online... That should MOTIVATE you to be in the top 3%. If that statistic is depressing to you and makes you have doubts that you can succeed... you may be in trouble.

This industry will TEST you and teach you a lot about who you really are and what you are willing to endure in order to reach your goals.

On the bright side... if you can hang in there and get through the many learning curves, this can be THE BEST industry in the world.

Of course this happens to most of us, key is continous work on mindset, I find reading/listening to personal development reignites my passion, in fact, I was reading Think & Grow Rich today, and I found myself reading a page I have read before, and today that's when it kinda sink in.

What it is with accumalation of success, according to Napoleon Hill (the author) "The accumulation of great fortunes calls for power and power is acquired through highly organized and inteligently directed specialised knowledge, but that knowledge does not, necessarily, have to be in the possession of the man who accumulates the fortune!"

This made me think? I think if you ponder on those words you will find some clues that lie in there.

Really, giving up shouldn't be an option, no way! You see, these businesses that stand today, they wouldn't have been, if some men and women behind them chose to give up! However they didn't give up, and they are mere people just like you and me, if they made it, why can't I and YOU?

Success is a result of repeated failures, no business was birthed and all of a sudden florished and became a success. I think it's a qiestion of retracing and refocusing, and organizing and inteligently direct the specialised knowledge that you have acuumulated! All that is on your hard drive and what you can now do.

In the same book, there is a story about a man who gave up digging a mine when he was only 30 feet away from striking quality gold, what did he do, I can't quite remember if he sold or just gave it away to someone, and this someone had specialised knowledge, and with not much effort, the person struck the gold, boy how would you feel??

So, I think you got the message already from the so many positive posts, DON'T GIVE UP, winners never quit and quiter never win!

Warrior is a great source of encouragement!

I think the problem is we're aimong at a moving target all the time. Google keeps moving the goal posts, but we can't see where.
Yes I have felt like giving up, mainly because there is an unethical search engine running my life.

Good luck to all
Wendy

Only people who give up give up.

Stick with it. You can't ever succeed if you give up.

Press on, stay confident and try to maintain your enthusiasm by being inspired by those who are getting the job done.

Hey Alden,

I have a recipe for you; if you feel like giving up, then move away from the Internet for about 1 week. Don't even touch your mouse. I'm sure you'll get the energy back.

You do realize the last response to this thread was over a year ago? Why on earth did you feel the need to respond to this?

Thanks for the recommendation, it's much appreciated!