I'm fed up. I've really had enough. I've just seen it too many times.
Again and again, I meet people who wonder why they aren't Internet millionaires yet.
When I ask them how long they've been online, they say "Three months, and it's just not working!"
It takes about ten minutes to buy a computer and another two minutes to turn it on.
Opening a free blog account with Blogger takes about thirty seconds, and while you'll have to wait a day or so for AdSense to approve you, you can start playing around with the ads right away.
By the end of the week, you could have half a dozen great pieces of content and be serving targeted ads to any user who comes across your new blog.
But you know what? It takes me about half an hour to drive to my local hardware store and buy a wrench.
That doesn't make me a plumber.
It just makes me a guy with a wrench.
Internet business opportunities are open to anyone who wants to make the most of them. But owning a computer and even owning a website aren't enough to call yourself an Internet entrepreneur.
Just as I'd need to know what to do with the wrench before I could call myself a plumber so to become a successful Internet entrepreneur, you need knowledge too.
There are no training schools for Internet entrepreneurs like there are for plumbers and mechanics. You can't head down to your local community college and sign up for a two-year course in Practical Online Million-Dollar Business-Building. But what you can do -- and should do -- is sign up for conferences and seminars.
Talk to people who are creating online enterprises and learn from their experiences and mistakes (yes, we all make them!).
Decide which products and guides will give you the knowledge you need to succeed, and grab them.
And above all, use them. Even the best guide to online marketing won't help you if you don't take it out of the box.
How much you need to know and what you need to know will depend on what you want to do with your Internet business. But we all have a lot to learn about online marketing and those lessons never end.
The sooner they start though, the sooner you'll be taking real steps towards your first online million. At the very least, you'll realize that it really does work.
It's Del.icio.us!
Furl It!
December 1, 2008 08:18 AM
Great advice, Joel!
I'm constantly reminding people that they will not experience any sort of success until they begin to apply what they've learned. Sometimes even I get so knowledge laden I stop doing. It takes a consistent discipline.
Good kick in the pants! ;)
December 1, 2008 09:47 AM
Hi Joel,
Great post as always. I agree that it takes education and applying your new knowledge to make it in any business. I'm guilty of buying ebooks and programs that promise overnight success but quickly learned that there is no magic bullet. Take out those ebooks and programs and make a plan to implement what you learn. It takes time and consistency to make money online.
It's very easy to get information overload to the point where you want to quit. My advice is learn as much as you can but don't over do it. Find a program that you like and take action instead of looking for the next best thing.
December 1, 2008 10:17 AM
You can't imagine who much this post mean to me
Thank you a lot joel
Hessein
December 1, 2008 11:21 AM
Joel,
Thanks for the great reinforcing. I started working the internet in June 2008. I now have 12 blogs and 3 websites. I get frustrated with the 20 cents a day. I know like any business it takes time. Articles like your keep me realistic and make me continue to push. I continue to test different markets but I am worried I am getting to scattered. Should I stay focused in one niche or continue to test other niches?
Steve
December 1, 2008 11:31 AM
Hi Joel,
Way to kick butt! I know how you feel.
I get so frustrated with people who want a magic pill, don't want to do any work and want to have instant success right now.
I'm reconfiguring my programs to weed out people who aren't serious about doing what it takes because I too am fed up!
I'll let you know how that works.
December 1, 2008 11:33 AM
Another great post, Joel.
I always enjoy it when someone says "I've been online X months or years and am not making Y amount of money" - as if the passage of time is what creates income.
Ditto for "I bought her course or went to his seminar and still am not making money." (OK, I didn't go through the whole course or take notes at the seminar, but I spent money, so isn't that enough?)
Or "Joe Newguru just started a year ago. Why is he successful and I'm not?" (Of course, Joe really started 3 years ago and did lots of work before anyone ever heard of him.) I'm sure there are people who think Joel started online when his first Adsense book came out and don't realize how long he had been around before that.
This must be one of the few industries where people expect income so fast regardless of the action they take.
December 1, 2008 11:47 AM
I make about $500,000 a year on my network of sites. It took me 10 years to get to this point. Patience is key. Thanks, Joel for reiterating this point.
December 1, 2008 12:54 PM
Well said, again, Joel!
I had about 25 domains back in February of 2007. In fact, I even owned some of them for ten-plus years already!
Now, I have over 1300. But, it wasn't until I attended my first conference back in June (Ken McArthur's JV Alert Live(!) that I started take action.
By me owning domains just meant that. I have a small parcel of virtual real estate. But now that we created our first, original site and working on a second and third now, I was just twisting in the wind. In fact, by me taking action on our site, our Alexa ranking now stands at about 1.2896 million and we've only been up for eight weeks!
So take Joel's advice. Attend conferences & seminars. Meet speakers, guests, and attendees so you can learn all you can.
Best!
-K
http://www.for-the-troops.com/?page_id=136
December 4, 2008 02:45 AM
Joel, you are right on the money again. People just see the end result, they didin't see how hard you worked or when you where about to give up on all your dreams...
December 26, 2008 12:12 PM
It's so true. Many internet millionaires started with something in common: $0! But they persisted, they learned, they borrowed so that they could go to conferences and seminars, they applied what they learned. And that is the difference between them and many of those of us who stopped digging for diamonds when we hit our first lump of coal.