Hi there,

It is not as if making a success of online marketing isn’t tough enough to start with.

Why then do I, and I suspect many, many others, give ourselves such a tough time?

We wouldn’t be like that with those close to us would we?

Comparing myself to other marketers doesn’t help. It just gives a boost to the self doubt I already have deep down.

Constantly doing this can only be detrimental to my present and future successes. I may not be at the same experience level of those I am comparing myself to and another person’s success may not be the magical transformation I perceive it to be.

Self doubt can arise from the comparisons I make between myself and the guys I receive emails from dripping with success and talk of the kind of lifestyle I aspire too. Some just seem to have the Midas touch with whatever project they talk about – but I have no idea as to what they went through before the huge successes.

Those entrepreneurs who are successful have likely spent an enormous amount of time, money and effort on their ventures. It may look easy, but chances are they had many self doubts about their own potential for success before it happened.

I am in no way unique in feeling like this. Comparison to others and the self doubt that follows goes on in every business – but it seems to be more prevalent in Internet marketing because you’re always putting yourself out there, presenting yourself and your ideas to others.

Here are some thoughts I have picked up which I mean to develop into my own mindset to help me move forward.

If the many failures that are sure to happen were figured into the mix, another person’s success may look entirely different to mine. Huge and consistent successes of others can make you feel like such a loser – because someone is always making more money than you or seems to be successful with every launch of a product.

Comparisons like that are dangerous to your own self confidence and can defeat what you’re trying to accomplish. You may not be aware of their many failures in the past or of how many hours and dollars they’ve spent getting to this point.

One way to look at comparisons differently is to view them as challenges. “If she can do it, I know I can!” may be exactly the boost of adrenalin you need to take action and make your own success come true.

Many people who have reached a certain level of success use comparisons to others as a tool to strategize their future business moves. It provides quick insight to trends and what’s working for others so you can incorporate many of the same ideas for yourself.

Competition is fierce among many types of businesses – especially Internet marketing. Looking into strategies of other marketers can be a good thing if you use them as models rather than comparing yourself to them in a negative way.

Self doubt can become the nemesis of your future. Guard against comparing yourself to others in a negative light and focus on your present and future goals to lead you to the success you desire.

I hope you find these thoughts useful, if you find yourself struggling yourself in the big, scary world of internet marketing.

Until the next time,

All the best,

Gordon

Hi there,

I have reached that all too familiar place again. Asking myself the age old question.

When will I have learned enough knowledge to begin putting it into action?

I know that I should make a start and see how far I get with the knowledge I already have but the temptation to just have a look at that next bit of training or check out that next video showing me how to do something else is almost overwhelming. Thing is that deep down, I know I already have enough knowledge about this to get going and see where it takes me.

I am sat here with my bullet point list of actions to take to set up my list building process. All I have to do is get moving on the first item on the list. That is when I find myself thinking, do I really know enough to get this done?

Yes I do so why haven’t I made a start?

This has been my stumbling block so many times in the past.

Not this time!!

I am going to begin at bullet point 1 and steadily work through until I have either hit a roadblock or created a process that is both workable and acceptable, not perfect! Only if I hit a roadblock will I need to search out further training as far as building this process is concerned.

Most importantly I will be firm with myself without giving myself a hard time when I get stuck. I know that producing the end product will be worthwhile and a huge boost to my self confidence.

Until next time.

Gordon

Hi,

With the Christmas break almost over and the New Year fast approaching what have you done to make sure you are ready for your most successful year ever?

Have you made a plan of action to follow?

Do you even know what you want to achieve? How to go about achieving it?

Now is not the time for vague hopes and wishes, where has that got any of us in the past?

Unless you want to be in exactly the same position you are right now in 12 months time the time to make plans is upon us.

It does not matter how you intend to earn your success if you do not know what success is to you or why you even want it. Ask yourself questions based around exactly what it is that you want. Why you want it. What are the benefits you wish to gain. What will you have to sacrifice to get them.

These questions form the very basic foundation stones of your future success. Without a clear mindset of what you want, and why, you will find it very hard to ever make any progress.

If you have any aspirations to leave the rat race and start taking control of your own destiny then you must ask yourself, and have clear answers, to all of these questions.

Only then can you begin to create a step by step action plan which will set you on your way.

Your successful future begins today, if you choose to make it so.

Gordon

Hi,

One consistent feature of almost every attempt I have made to make money on-line is that they have been one off shots at glory. Such has been the state of my available finances that if I didn’t have any success straight out of the box then it was back to square one and time to save up cash for another attempt.

Sound familiar?

Link up this cash shortage and a fear of failure which grows larger with every failed attempt and it is no surprise that I have spent so many years in the internet marketing wilderness.

A mindset like that is always going to lead to frustration and disillusionment.

Unless you are extremely lucky and hit the jackpot straight away, pretty unlikely, then you have to take a long term view and not launch any type of project unless you have the reserves of time or resources for the long term.

Last chance saloon or last roll of the dice, whatever you like to call it, it is a mindset that will kill you off before you even get started.

Now that I have finally realised that this is my problem I have begun to investigate ways to take a longer term view to my on-line success and develop a strategy which I can start small and scale up over time.

Overnight success is not likely to happen and accepting that albeit rather late in the day will remove a lot of the fear of failure from my efforts and leave me with a much clearer mind to focus on the task in front of me.

I am about to venture into the, currently to me unknown, world of Solo Ads.

I will let you know how I get on.

Until then, take care,

Gordon

Hi There,

Another few months have passed since my last post and many times this thought has crossed my mind. I have lost count of the number of different schemes, projects and ideas I have tried over he last 10 years all with no success.

My latest project took up six months of my life in creation, partly down to my lack of confidence and search for perfection it must be said, and, because I was hospitalised days before the launch without access to my laptop was not ready when the product launched while I was in there. As they say you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

Another disastrous failure to notch up on my list.

So why not just throw in the towel? Surely after this amount of time I am wasting my time trying to make it online.

Because as long as that fire still burns in my belly and the belief that I will make it a success in the end I will keep on keeping on.

Today I start my first campaign with Solo Ads.

Let’s see how this one goes.

Will update you all soon.

Take care,

Gordon

Hello, welcome back to my adventure.

In a previous life I had to undertake way too many Management training courses and a regular outcome thrown my way was that I was not a completer/finisher. In other words I began most tasks loaded with enthusiasm but found it hard to maintain it through to the end of the task. I always argued against this suggestion. After all, wasn’t I the top performing Manager in the business? Didn’t others come to me for advice on a regular basis? Yes they did.

I was confident and could not agree with this as I was firmly in my comfort zone. But now?

Taken out of my comfort zone into this new Internet Marketing adventure and I am struggling at times. Maybe they were onto something after all.

I have completed the bulk of my free gift report and very pleased with it I am too. So why can’t I just finish those annoying last few bits and pieces. Sort out the chapter headings and menu. Tidy up the headlines. I wish I knew.

What am I scared of? If it is not good enough I will soon find out. Once again I have no reference point. I have never completed a project that has followed on to be a success so how do I know it will happen this time?

Only one way to find out! I have set that as my task to complete this evening, once I have finished typing this latest post.

Wish me luck. I will update you at the end of the week.

Until then, take care,

Gordon

Hello again,

One of my passions, outside of Internet Marketing, is running. Here in UK we are just coming to the end of the Cross Country season, in other words lots of rain, mud, wind and freeezing pools of water.

What does this have to do with IM I hope you are asking. Let me explain.

I ran my last ” competitive ” race of the season last weekend. Even though I am always near the back of the field I keep plodding on until I reach the finish line and get that great feeling of accomplishment at getting there. Along the way I meet many obstacles, streams to jump, hills to climb, slippery descents to negotiate and ankle deep mud to plough through.

All of these could have caused me to stop or even give up altogether but they didn’t. Due to my previous experience I knew that if I just kept putting one foot in front of the other for long enough I would reach the end and accomplish the goal I set out to achieve.

In my IM path so far I have also met many obstacles but, unlike with my running, these have caused me to stop sometimes briefly, other times completely.

Why the difference?

Along my very long IM path I have never met with success consistently, sure some things have gone well but they have never been sustainable. In other words I do not know what it is like to reach the finish line. I have no reference point to cling to when the going gets tough. My mindset has been fixed to failure and disappointment so expects that to happen.

Of course I had that with my first ever race. Did I have enough skill, energy and stamina to make it? I didn’t know but what I did have was a lot of other people around me striving to achieve the same goal to differing degrees. I could see first hand that people were finishing, not falling by the wayside or giving up in frustration. I was being shown that it was possible.

IM can be a very lonely place at times. We are not surrounded by others while we work away at our projects. You have to have faith that those you learn from and see living the life you wish to lead have actually done it, you didn’t see it happen right in front of you.

It is all about the famous Comfort Zone.

To succeed in this adventure I will have to extend mine and so will you. Step by step, obstacle by obstacle I will have to have faith that I will reach the end. Once I have that proof, I will know I can do it and my Comfort Zone will have expanded slightly. Keep at it and things will become second nature to me and I may look back in the future and wonder what the fuss was all about.

I hope so anyway! By creating this blog I have made a public commitment to seeing it through.

How do I expand my Comfort Zone and improve as a runner? That is a whole new story for another day.

Hope you have found some of this useful or interesting.

Back soon with updates on how I am progressing with my new training.

Until then, take care,

Gordon