You think you've got problems? - Try this!

We've all had it hammered into us that mindset matters in the Internet marketing game. You've gotta believe you can achieve that rush of leads, a rush of sales. The 3% who succeed in this game understand this in their bones.

I've worked online for many years as a journalist but am now building a profile as a web entrepreneur - and the core effort at the moment is making money online to back up my web creativity endeavors and a news service I am planning.

But what I was not planning in the thick of my promotional activities to make money online was to be stricken down with a serious back problem - one that made it really painful to sit down at my computer for more than an hour.

When I work, I put in 110% and work long hours, but this ailment - that arrived one night three months ago - has made me bedridden and knocked me off my game.

It's at times like these that you understand what the gurus mean by mindset. It is enough of a challenge getting into the right frame of mind to make your online business work - the hours, the failures, the programs that don't work, the relief when a program does work. But when you are knocked down like I have been - up until recently I could hardly stand up for more than five minutes - you have to dig deep for that extra resolve.

What was it a millionaire mindset guru said you are supposed to do? Relax? Was that one of the keys?

So at a time when I ought to be giving my 110%, I'm only able to put in 25% of the time I'm used to.

Deep down, though, I realize that mindset really matters. Just like I have to believe I can get my health back - it's happening! - so I have to believe that I'll get more leads, increase the size of my list, build sales and make more money. Wallow is self pity and I'm done.

It's at times like this that the great Internet marketers and the motivational gurus can be inspirational. Many of them started out in the dumps - in debt, living in basements, struggling against the wall of "advice" from family at friends that - this Internet thing won't work.

We know better. It does work if you make the right moves and take action. Having the right mindset it crucial to this equation.

So if at any point you are grumbling about your lot - come and swop places with me! You are lucky that you can fire on all cylinders. I'm trying to get from 25% to 50% or more right now ...

But in the depth of my mind is the certainty - the mindset - that this works.

(It also helps that I have a webmaster I can outsource some of the grind to ... but that is another story ...)

So what challenges have you faced? Or what problems are holding you back right now?

Julian Gearing