What was the biggest hurdle you encountered when starting IM

The hardest thing for me was transforming it from a hobby to a business. It happened when I`ve started to see real money coming back to me

Like you have said, my main problem is also information overload. I believe this happens to every internet marketer in the beginning, even the highly successful ones. But after a while, I know how to differentiate between good and not so good info and focus on one method or two and the results start to show. But like all things, the best idea is worthless if without implementation. Many people are too caught up with ideas...they shunned the work which is action.

Info overload is a common problem I guess, but in my case the bigger problem was sticking to my methods not knowing whether or not I'd succeed. But, perseverance did pay off finally.

Changing my mindset from the IM/MMO/Weight loss/etc niches were the most likely niches to make money online.

My biggest hurdle was to spend money (I was always a saver, not a spender) on domains, hosting, ads, products, etc.

I was nervous to spend $10 here, $60 there, etc. But, it's all paying off now.

It was a huge mindset change for me. Keep living my crappy "no spend" David life and save save save, or take risks and go after the big wins. Win or lose.

That was my biggest hurdle.

Just like you I really struggled with info overload and shiny objects in the beginning, but more importantly fear of failing was a HUGE obstacle as well.

Very interesting as I'm right there, at the start, right now. My main problem has been focussing on one method. I bought 3 programmes, all of which are well-rated but I've only recently got round to working through one of them at a time. My plan is to 'finish' that one - it's a video course - implement it as I go along and rinse and repeat where I find success. The other 2 methods will be experimented with in the same way, but only once I've finished and implemented the first. Otherwise I'll just be buying shiny new offers 'til the end of my days with naff all to show for it....

I've been online for years and based upon my knowledge... EVERYONE struggles.

You might be *shocked* to learn that many of the "Big name gurus" still struggle.

But here's the thing...

Business isn't a game. And if you want to make money?

You have to treat it like a business.

Know your numbers. And have a plan. Always be working on your plan. Otherwise, you're just wasting time. (If your plan works? Great. Improve it. If your plan DOES NOT WORK, abandon it).

Just my two cents. Maybe the gurus could correct anything I've said?

Making that first dollar... It took me a few years, but when I made my first dollar online, it was almost like hitting the lotto. Once you make your first dollar, you overcome one of the biggest hurdles

My biggest hurdle was trying to do everything myself. I had storms of ideas, but very poor follow-through on those ideas because I would allow myself to get bogged down in the menial tasks you can pay another person $5-$25 to do.

Procrastination! That was the biggest hurdle for me. I did realize very late that you really need to take an action to expect the result. Once I did realize that things started moving.

Best
Mitali

Has to be information overload and investing all my savings! It is well worth it though!!!

Probably the biggest issue I had was confidence in my skills.

They say the biggest enemy is yourself. They're right.

Confusing information. Because sometimes someone will advice you this, then someone will not agree.
But my biggest hurdle is writing. But each day I improved.

Have to agree with you Jedhadlin to many ways to make money online that look simple to implement and too much jumping around looking at different products. Best to find one and stick with it then just find out how to work it all out. Over time you will find out the skills and knowledge that you need to learn. Your income should then increase and you will be able to see ahead of where you are going. So follow a good system/plan and take action and no jumping around to any new shiny object!

Getting started I made it seem more complicated than it actually is. Taking the first step is always the hardest step.

The biggest hurdle in starting IM was fear. I had so many doubts in the beginning and it made me 2nd guess a lot of the things I did.

Indecision. I was motivated enough to venture into IM, but getting things moving took quite some time. Dealing with that has taught me a lot in life. To move on, you have to take that bold step, o'wise you'll stick in the same position you are at, and that's what they call mediocrity!

My biggest hurdle was keeping focus, taking action and following through to the end. For me, I bought any courses. I would start off with much enthusiasm, but I did not continue to the end. Everytime I see a new course, I would check it out (a.k.a buy it) and then forgot about the current one that I am taking.

Sticking to one thing and just getting started. You cant be scared to lose money, just be educated in what your doing and you should be better off.

Wow I am loving all the quotes in this section. Info overload, Shiny Objects, and fear of failure are all big struggles in the industry. One that I feel was a big one and will be for a lot of people is

"Who Can You Trust?

That is something that I truly struggled with for a long time. I hated the fact that I was not making money but I also got burned early on to where it was hard for me to trust the next marketer that came along promising me that their program would solve all my problems.

So bottom line Trust was probably my biggest hurdle.

So what anyone reading this should take away from it is that the only person you can truly trust to get you to the level where you want to be is.....

Yourself

Also always do your research on companies.

Probably...

1. Not having a proper plan. Most people think that the latest report / eBook / course is a plan. It's not! If you're starting an online business you need a proper plan of action. (and I don't mean a traditional "business plan" that your bank would like to see for a loan!)

2. Definitely lack of follow through with my ideas.

3. Wasting time, energy, and skills following pointless "tactics" when I should've been concentrating on my strategy! (Back to the plan again - and sticking to it!)

4. Expecting to do great things with a poor skill level and only a little knowledge. When I attended to my education - and by this I don't mean reading more pointless ebooks and reports - my productivity and profitability increased significantly.

5. Thinking I could do it all with free tools and services. Investing in your business is a must.

6. Embarrassed to say, expecting to copy a "guru" and get the same results - how naive can you get! You need your own voice and your own personality for your own business.

Overload, when I first got the bug I couldnt keep up with the information flying around, although I tried. Once you get caught up in the information vortex it's hard to get out.

I would say it's my mindset. Things like "waiting for my 1st dollar to come", "not enough traffic", "poor conversion", "don't know what to promote" etc are parts and parcels in this journey. There're so many solutions to the problems. The only thing that stops me was my mindset to move on. hence like what many have shared in this thread, having a mentor to guide you is very important=)

I'm a little shame to admit, but to me it was self-motivation. I started it while being employed and I looked at it as to something I just wanted to try. Since it wasn't for a client, but for myself, I didn't feel the pressure to work hard on it every day. Whenever I felt tired or just bored, I was thinking I can do it tomorrow.
When I got a new, crazy boss that made me want to leave my job, I suddenly got very motivated to push hard every day. And when money started to come in, I became unstoppable

Too many choices. It was only once I settled on one idea that I started to make serious money. I not only wrote down what I was to focus on, but also kept a journal that I would contribute to every single day (I still use it years later).

If you have a strong work ethic, and most internet marketers do, I would advise you to simply focus on one clear plan of action, which is hopefully based on the successes of others. You don't have to innovate, just do what works and stick to it. The chances of failing are pretty low if you stick to the basics and just work at it.

Staying consistent was the biggest thing for me because I was going from one project to another without finishing the previous one. I also tried a lot and even grey and blackhat stuff before I realized that if I wanna have a real business I have to take it to a proven real way.

For me it was information overload - definitifely. On top of that, i was running away from success - not putting enough effort into a thing and just buying the next shiny object...
Now i am healed :-) I am still to have my big breagthrough, but finally i started being consistent and taking responsibility for my life!
All the best

Yes, in the beginning there was definitely a feeling of being overwhelmed. It took a while to narrow down the niche that I wanted to be in and which types of promotion that I wanted to learn first. Then it was a matter of learning how to keep focused long enough to make money with one before learning the next.

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The hardest thing for me was transforming it from a hobby to a business. It happened when I`ve started to see real money coming back to me .
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Going from product to product to product. Once I disciplined myself and stopped buying all the shiny objects, I began to make some progress in my business, and I began making money.

Definitely creating and tracking my own links and getting good quality traffic for my products.

The biggest mistake i made was doing too many niches at one time instead of concentrating on
a single one at a time. As a result it took me a while to start making money. I then changed my strategy and concentrated on 2 niches then try to master them and then i began to try out other niches.

Save yourself the time and effort . Find yourself a mentor .

Focus on one skill, get results and teach others.

I was told that i could sell a $397 product using PPC (overture back then), and i invested thousands on traffic straight to the sales letter page. No sales. Tried again with an email list... no sales. I couldn't sell the $397 product, so i thought it was impossible to sell anything online! Then i quit, then tried again, then quit, and etc.

And now i listen to myself. Been quite profitable since *I* took over.

my biggest hurdle was not listening to other people and starting a list....i should have started a list a long time ago

There's been a few big hurdles for me, but it's hard to point out which was the toughest, as they were all hard to deal with in different ways. I'll just make a list of the things I found to be the hardest.

1. My family thinking I was insane. What I saw as an opportunity to make our lives and our futures better, they all saw as an incredible pipe dream I was chasing. To them, I was spending my money like a gambler, and since it didn't pay off immediately, it sounded scammy to them. I finally stopped bringing it up until I started seeing the returns.

2. Discovering my strengths and weaknesses. A lot of people will insist that half of the products out there on IM are pure garbage. I concur that some them are awful products, such as a costly report that purports to teach you something amazing and new only to discover that it's actually a compilation of free information on the Internet and you got suckered into buying it.

However, I think the problem is that we get taken in by a sales page that offers a good product, but once we buy it, it turns out that the skill set needed to put it into action is something we aren't confident in. Discovering what I can do and what I suck at was a huge obstacle for me. Overcoming it made me more confident all around, however.

My biggest hurdle was lack of funds. A few years ago, I was crying poor mouth. Then, I started offering writing services here and elsewhere. In the process, I learned how Internet marketing works and how to market my services effectively. Now, with my income, I'm able to set aside some amount to fund my Internet marketing ventures.

Knowing what to do.. and who to listen to.

Being taken advantage of.

Learning to FOCUS (Follow One Course Until Successful!) on just on thing, or one technique and not trying to do everything at once!

My biggest hurdle was when my Adwords Account was suspended. I've just started to earn over £10K a month profits and my account was suspended. In the next few months I was trying so many things to get back, but without any success. However finally I was able to have my name whitelisted and was allowed to use Adwords again, which continues to be my main traffic source till date.

The hardest thing I have simply has been focus. I have found two things to assist in this.

1. Write a short list of what I want to accomplish in next few hours. Keep list simple and short. If the list gets too long you will lose focus

2. Dragon naturally speaking software. Yes really. I close my eyes, take a deep breath and talk about what I want to right. Know basic commands, don't get too involved with minutiae of software. Just talk and let it record your words. Then go back and edit.

This has made big difference for me.