10 things that will stop you making money online

These are all based on my personal experience… so I hope this can help you avoid some of the pitfalls I fell into…

Shiny Object Syndrome.    Don’t jump from one thing to another, learning is good, but don’t jump from following one guru to following another.  Find a method that you believe in and stick with it.

Believing the Hype. Making money online is not as quick as everybody makes out (after all you probably wouldn’t buy their products if they said…. it will take years to build up a business).  Believing the get rich quick merchants will only lead to disappointment.  Once despondent with one guaranteed instant riches scheme, you will move on to the next and the next, until total disillusionment sets in, and you give up!  Great things are possible with the internet – but they are not instant, and it will take effort.

“If you hype something and it succeeds, you’re a genius – it wasn’t a hype. If you hype it and it fails, then it was just a hype.” – Neil Bogart

Trying to do everything for Free.  Yes it is true that great amounts of money can be made for “free”, but there is always a cost, and that is usually “time”.  So if you have oodles of spare time, then working the free tools and traffic can be a good way to get started.  But, don’t get stuck there!  As soon as you start making some money, reinvest that in better tools and paid traffic.  You generally get what you pay for, so pay the money and get good stuff; tools, training, traffic and your business will take-off.

Being influenced by doubters. Don’t let those around you that have no faith and who think that every internet marketer is an online scammer talk you out of continuing on your quest, or even from getting started.  Where would we be if folk like “Columbus” and “Cook” listened to the naysayers?  You become who you spend time with.  Find successful folk who will support you and help you along.

Not networking and meeting other people who are doing the same thing as you.  Once you get out there and get some real advice from some fellow practitioners, you will progress much more rapidly.  I started out in a computer cupboard under the stairs and spent most of my time watching 5 minute YouTube clips.  You learn ten times as much from a chat over a meal at a networking meeting.  Get out there!  Meet some people!

Suffering from Perfectionism.  Now this is a killer.  You can easily spend all you time making sure something is just right before it “goes live”.  In some cases I have hear about people developing websites for years without ever making them live.  What a waste.  In online marketing “perfect” is the enemy of “progress” and initially or “profit”.  Don’t get me wrong – I am not saying through up any old website and gash together your products.  No.  Ensure the content quality is high, but don’t make every piece your life’s work.  Good enough is good enough.

Overwhelm.  Ever felt overwhelmed by the amount on information available on the web?  I would suggest that if the answer is no, then you haven’t yet tried to implement something new and complicated.  Or if you have, and you haven’t felt overwhelm, then you need to make a product about that!  For most people, there is too much choice, on everything.  Too much information and it is easy to get stuck in a rut and get bogged down.  I have repeatedly heard, “it doesn’t matter – just get started”.  This is my new motto.  I have spent so much time trying to make sure I set off on the right foot, that I never set off.  Don’t be a victim of information overload.  Find someone you trust, go with their recommendations – you’ll progress much quicker, and when you are hugely successful, then change the systems if you need to.

Not treating it like a business. No matter what line of online business you are in, it is still a business.  And businesses revolve around numbers.  Not knowing your numbers is another key reason that people fail online, because they don’t treat it like a real business.  Know your costs, revenues and profits.  How much does it cost to acquire a new prospect, a new customer? How much profit do you make per lead, per customer?  Which is your most effective marketing channel?  How are your sales funnels converting?  Which is the weakest link?  What would happen if you strengthened it?  There is a saying “what isn’t measured can not be managed” and it is so true!

You wouldn’t see an Olympic athlete training without being timed would you?

Trying to do everything you self.  This will hold you back.  I struggled with this for a long time.  Yes it is nice to get to know every aspect of your business and you should – up to a point.  Do you think that the Managing Director of every company knows how to do the accounts?  No of course not, and this is how you should think about your business.  You are the leader, the manager, the mover and the shaker.  Outsource the things you don’t like doing or that you cannot do.  I know that this is tough when you don’t have the money coming in to just “pay” someone else to do it, but it is a smart business strategy to ramp up your outsourcing as soon as you can.

Ok – last one.  Not sticking with it.  This is slightly linked to the first “shiny object syndrome”, in that if you jump around you’ll never get to the detail you need to succeed.  But this is more than that.  When you decide what it is that you are going to do, you need to stick at it.  The margins between success and failure are often very thin… so for example, if you decide that article marketing is the way to go, you need to hammer it until you feel that you have made it work, or exhausted all possibilities.  For example you might try 10 ezine article submission website.  You might try 60, 70, or even 100 different categories to see which is most successful.  You could monitor the best keywords for driving traffic, or you could identify the best type of article – is it a “how to” or a “surprise” article, or is it a “social, fun” type that drives most traffic for you.  Plus, you can only get these results if you monitor everything that you are doing – “know your numbers”.  It might drive you nutty – hardly the internet lifestyle at the start is it?  But if you stick at it you will be successful and when you are, then the internet lifestyle follows.

Bonus item.  Not having a mentor.  Most people find it difficult to see the way forward when they are stuck working out the day to day stuff.  It is much easier to see what needs to be done when looking from the outside! Getting a mentor and work with them to define a solid path through the prickly thorns of the daily grind.

“Without a mentor your very best thinking has got you exactly where you are today” – Raymond Aaron.