In order to be truly successful in any business it is important to develop three key ingredients in order to maintain a healthy, profitable and worthwhile enterprise. These basic principals are the cornerstones to success in business and in life.
1) Mindset
Many people become confused when they are advised they need to adopt the right "mindset". They seem uncertain what that means. Adopting the right mindset means to have the right mental attitude about what you are doing and about who you are. This attitude will affect your behavior, your actions, your reactions, and your success. You have probably heard it said that "if you think you will fail - you will". That is a fundamental truth in life.
If you feel you can't do something, you likely will never try and you will never win in any arena. If people tell you that you can't do something, and you believe them, you will find you can`t do it. If people tell you that you should not be doing something (like trying to make money online) and they create doubt in your mind, this doubt will severely hinder your success, sometimes even end it. But if you believe you can do it, that you should do it, and have no doubt about doing it - you will succeed.
Of course, you have to be realistic. If you're a little person with a handicap you probably should not believe that you can make it in the NBA. Believing in yourself must always focus on the possible not the impossible. No matter how hard you believe, you can't turn sand into diamonds. But believing in yourself can overcome many hurdles - economic, educational, intellectual and even sometimes medical.
Back in the late 1940s a little black girl from Tennessee developed a severe form of polio (infantile paralysis) and was told that she likely would soon not be able to walk and would never walk again. Her doctors were trying to prepare her for a difficult future and told her what they felt she should know. Her family comforted her and told her that they would always be there to support her and that she did not need to worry about anything. This little girl felt and believed a different scenario. She was determined that she would walk. She did many exercises and worked on her physical condition for hours at a time. By the time she was 12 years old she had developed and defeated scarlet fever, whooping cough, chicken pox and measles. Guess what? She got better, to everyone's surprise.
To make a long story short, this little girl was Wilma Rudolph who went on to set a world record for women in track for the 100 metres and become the first women to win 3 gold medals in the 1960 Rome Olympics. She went from a women destined to never be able to walk to the fastest women in the world. She became an Olympic and World Champion largely based on her simply believing she could do it.
Your mindset is so vital to your success, that if it is not properly focused you chances at a successful venture are severely limited.
So, how do you develop the right mindset, the right attitude? Change your thinking. Change how you think about things, about yourself, about life and about others. Think positive - in all things. Do it now and do it forever. Life will be so much better and you're business success so much easier. If you want to be successful as an internet marketer, then think and believe that you are already a successful internet marketer. You may not be making a lot of money (maybe you're even broke and/or in debt) but that's just a stage you're going through. You are a successful internet marketer - that's it! Now don't lie. Don't go about telling people you are making a lot of money if you are not. Don't act rich if your not.
But,but,but...have the attitude that you will be making money and go ahead believe you will be rich if you really want that to be true. Let your behaviour indicate to others and to yourself that you are a successful internet marketer. Try and do the things other successful internet marketers do. Join them - after all, you are one of them.
2) Marketing
If there is one area that people drag their feet on and fail to do properly, it is marketing their business. Just advertising a website or sending out emails to a list is not all there is to marketing. Marketing involves a plan. A well thought out marketing plan is needed to ensure that your product is properly introduced to prospects and also to make certain you are not throwing money away on promotions that don't work or offer little return on investment.
A marketing plan is not difficult and it need not be overly complicated. This is what you need to do for an effective plan:
- Research your product or service for its potential sales volume and the level of interest out there;
- Find out who your competition is and what they are doing;
- Decide how you are going to promote your product. Research options and programs (eg. Google Adwords, Ezine advertising, Print copy, etc.)
- Look for any joint venture opportunities related to your product. You may even start your own joint venture program;
- Determine what you need to "outsource". Are you going to write all your own articles? What about graphic design?
- Look for programs online that may be able to offer you better value for the dollar;
- Prepare and follow a monthly budget AND TRACK IT;
- Write everything down and keep records.
2) Mission
This is a very important key to success. Decide what your primary mission is for being an internet marketer. To say it is to make a lot of money, isn't good enough. Why do you want to make a lot of money? What are you going to do with it?
Money is a vehicle. It is to be used to accomplish something. It doesn't do you much good to get a brand new car if you don't know how to drive, or worse, you don't know where to go! You need a goal or reason for making a lot of money. It could be so you can travel more, or support a particular cause or charity, or any of a number of reasons. The choice is yours, just be sure to have a clear understanding of what your mission is.
It is widely believed that a mission that improves the lives of other people is the best mission to have and produces the greatest results. There is a lot of data to support that concept. But the final decision is yours.
