It's ok to give up ... as long as you keep on walking!

Here's a little something I felt like sharing today.

Give up if you must - there is no shame to it. Sometimes you need to cut a few threads to move closer to your goal.

But never forget your vision, and never stop dreaming.

You see, I started this whole internet marketing thing a few years ago when I was still in college - which I hated by the way.

Since I quickly started making more money than my teachers did, I simply gave it up and moved on with being a full-time internet marketer.

For a while, things were good. I had a couple successful websites and ventures, I was making good money, had a great lifestyle. So one day I packed my things and moved to the Philippines - the ultimate mobile lifestyle... or so I thought.

The problem was that I had built everything around myself. I wasn't working on a business, I was working on quick-money schemes. I was earning more than anyone I knew working less than 30 hours per month. Yes, I was good at what I did. Very good. And I enjoyed it, for a while.

Until **** hit the fan - Illness, personal problems within the family, economic loss, relationship issues, you name it, I've probably been through it.

For the next months everything came crashing and I had to keep making myself believe everything would be fine, if only ... if I could just ... you know the drill. I didn't want to give up, too much time invested in all this, too much pride.

The problem is through all this, I also affected other people around me. Business partners, clients, and everyone else I had to keep making apologies to, while promising to deliver as soon as possible... but simply couldn't as my head was still underwater.

Eventually I had no choice to give up everything, forced by a personal bankruptcy, losing my internet connection, laptop computer, hard-drive and all files on it.

Today I realize that much of this trouble could have been avoided if I had just gave up when it all started - recouped then, and got back on the saddle. Instead, I let events drag for months.

I'm back with a vengeance now, I learned from my mistakes, developed stronger foundations, but I had to break a lot of promises and let down many great people.

So I guess the point of this message is first of all, to apologize sincerely to everyone who suffered any loss over their dealings with me - Please know it was never my intention to deceive anyone. I was just in way over my head, and refused to admit it to myself.

And to everyone else out there.. I wish to stress the importance of building a business. If you don't have systems in place that someone can run as well if not better than you - I suggest you get a pad of paper and get to it right now.

About outsourcing and building a team... make sure you have people lined up and ready to go BEFORE you need them. Yes, it will probably be a stretch from your comfort zone, and can be a scary commitment to make at first, but trust me, you don't want to have to go through this process when your business starts growing and you get buried under workload that's piling up.

You have the possibility of building a business that will sustain any kind of lifestyle you can dream of - and build it on almost nothing. All you have to do is treat it like it is. It's too easy to get stuck in the quick-money trap, especially for us teenagers and young adults.

Wishing you all the best.
Alex.