Mindset – How To Start & Have a Successful Business

This post is meant to be a bit of a pep talk, especially if you feel like you’ve been struggling so keep that in mind as you read it.

I always encourage emails from my subscribers.  It helps me understand what kind of guidance they require so that I can help point them in the right direction.  These emails include asking me for suggestions and ideas.  Some tell me that they have bought something and hope that something they plan to do will work.  I’ve also had others tell me how little money they have, but they are trying to build their businesses.  Others have told me that they don’t want to create funnels, because they see funnels as a way to squeeze every last penny from customers whose wallets are already open.

A recent email got me thinking back to when I started working online. I do understand all of these concerns.  However, I’m going to be brutally honest.  If you are just hoping that something will work, that’s what I call stinkin’ thinkin’.  It is so much easier to be pessimistic than to be optimistic.  I used to be very pessimistic.  I tease my mom about how she taught me to be like that when I was growing up, because she tends to see the negative in things before she sees the positive in things – you know, the glass half empty scenario.

The first thing is to recognize the negativity.  Most people – that could be you – don’t realize that they are negative or that their negative chatterbox always talks them out of things and tells them that they will never be able to succeed in life.  Just think – When someone asks you, “how are you today?”  How do you answer most times?  That can be a good indicator of how you think.  If you do tend to be negative, you need to learn how to change that line of thinking.  For me, I read a lot of books that taught me this concept!

Another thing that you need to know is that it is not enough just to hope!  Hoping for something may make you feel optimistic (at least for a short time), but without action, hope won’t get you very far.  After all, you can talk all you want, but words without action, will not result in getting things done.  You have to take the bull by the horns and do things.  Perhaps you are thinking, “But I’ve done just that!  I have tried things.  And it’s still not working for me!  I am not making money.  I can’t make my business work!”

When I first started working online, I didn’t know which online marketers to trust.  I wasted money on products bought from people who just wanted to make a quick buck, and aren’t around anymore.  And because I was new, I didn’t know what I wanted to do yet.  So I spent some more money on courses trying to figure out what was a good fit for me.  So in the beginning, I definitely spent more money than I made.  I am not advocating that, but if you have done the same thing, don’t despair.  Look at it as a learning opportunity.

Here’s an example.  I have a child that is in university, and we have spent around $5500 alone on tuition (that doesn’t include textbooks) this year.  She has now decided that she probably wants to pursue a different career path.  Not all of the courses that she has taken this year can be applied to the new degree, but what she has learned by taking those other courses, has been invaluable.  It would be easy, especially when it involves that kind of money, to be depressed and tell her to stop now before she wastes more of our money.  But instead it’s better to look at it from the positive side of things.  She has learned a lot in the last year – she has learned what she likes, what she doesn’t like, how to meet deadlines, how to use her time effectively, and so much more!  Maybe you also changed directions when you were in university or college?

1.  We do not have belief in ourselves.

2.  It is much easier not to put into action a $47 online course.  After all it is only $47, not $5500!  If it is only $47, it can’t be of much value, can it?  (Wrong! Think of how much time you save by not having to scour the internet for the information!)

3.  There is no fire under our butts.  I mean that there is no real fire.  You tell yourself that you are comfortable.  After all, you are able to pay the bills every month, and even though there is not much left to travel or do some other things that you would like, you justify it by telling yourself that there are others much worse off than you.  In all honesty, this has been my biggest challenge over the years.  I have a high-paying part-time job that I like.  It’s taken me many years to come to terms that I want to do this part-time as I have no plans of leaving a healthcare career that I chose and love, despite the extra stress at times.  That career has taught me a lot in life, and has led me to where I am today, not only financially, but in life learning such as knowing how to work with different personalities of people.  My business, however, allows me to enjoy the best of both worlds without getting bored (again, that’s my personality.  I can’t do just one thing.  I get bored too quickly).

4.  You feel like a con.  You believe that people who market products online are just out for their next quick buck, or that they want to suck your wallet dry.  That is especially true of people who create funnels.  Those are just the worst, right?  (Wrong again).

First of all, you need to realize that not everyone online is out to suck all the money out of your wallet.  You need to find online business owners who have a good track record, and whom you can TRUST.  This does not happen overnight.  It is something that can take months or even years to develop.

If you are new, this can be difficult to know, but the way I did it was to sign up for various lists and receive their emails.  I knew that by being on their list, they would be promoting products to me, but it didn’t mean that I had to buy every one of them (or any of them if I wanted).  I learned who they promoted (and just as importantly, who they didn’t).  That helped grow my list of people that I could trust.

I know that when I open up my emails from fellow marketers, that there is bound to be a new product that I’m going to learn about.  It is amazing to me when I hear about marketers receiving a nasty email from a subscriber who is annoyed at being marketed to via email.  Listen, if you are signed up for a list, you are going to be informed about products that are for sale.  If I wasn’t signed up to lists, I would not be where I am today.

Every time a trusted marketer (trusted is the key word here) sends me an email, I know that he/she is telling me about a new product because he/she feels like it’s something that could benefit me.  And yes, he/she makes money for telling me about it if I buy it.  That seems fair.  He/she helps me.  He/she gets paid.   Just think – would you go to your job if you knew that you would not get paid?  I don’t know a single person that would (unless perhaps their job has no level of stress AND they are already independently wealthy).  So doesn’t it seem fair that if my trusted marketer friend tells me about a product that I can use, that he/she gets paid for taking the time to tell me about it?  Of course it does!

As we are online business owners, we will promote products that we feel like our audience will be interested in.  Funnels are sometimes part of the process.  After all, if you have another product that people could benefit from, why would you deprive them of knowing about it?  They have the option of saying, “no” if they don’t want it.  No one is forcing them to buy.  Let them decide what is right for them.

You aren’t the only one who has done this.  I have too, as have most people at one time or another.  I also now recognize that it’s part of my personality.  I’m an action taker, and tend to dive in head first and then realize that it’s not for me.  So take your personality into consideration. It’s not much better if you have an analytical personality where you analyze every little detail that it causes you to become paralyzed or to talk yourself out of something.  I’ve seen many people do that too.

I have become 99% better at not buying every shiny object now, as I now know what my plans are and what I need to learn or buy to allow me to meet my next goal.  So I don’t scoff at something that may cost me $297, for example, as long as I know that I am going to use it and it is going to make me money.  I also consider how much time buying a particular course or software is going to save.  If it will do that, then I’m in.  That is how you have to start judging what you spend your money on – ask yourself – will this speed up my journey to get where I want to be?  The other option is you can save your money by trying to figure everything out yourself.  But here’s the million-dollar question – how has that been working for you so far?

There is not one business that I know of that you can have that doesn’t involve spending at least some money to get started.  You can buy a McDonald’s franchise for one million dollars, if you have the money.  Fortunately, we don’t have to spend a million dollars to get started.  If you are online, you don’t have all the overhead start-up costs of a brick and mortar store, such as expensive rent, utilities, inventory, and so forth.  This is one of the reasons that brick and mortar stores fail within their first five years.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not an advocate of going out and spending a ton of money on courses that you don’t know if you can use.  But you don’t have to spend $5500 on one year of tuition either (unless you want to go to university or college).

And I will never advocate that you buy a course or spend money if you are using up your last $20 that should be going to food or a medical prescription for yourself or your child.

But if you do not have any immediate cost concerns, ask yourself, “If I don’t do something different, what is going to change?”  I love the quote: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

So how can you make changes – do you need to spend less time watching TV, could you put away a bit of money each month, or do you temporarily need to do some odd jobs to raise some extra cash?

That is why you need to make a decision first as to what you want to do.  Then only buy courses or products that you can use that can make you achieve your goal, AND that are recommended by people that you trust or that you have bought from before.  Even if you do decide to switch paths a bit later, make sure that you put everything to good use now as you will be learning as you go.  Nothing happens unless you take action.

You will notice, if you have been following me for some time, that I don’t recommend garbage products to people.  This means that although there are a lot of new PLR providers or other product creators popping up all the time (many with bad quality content), I don’t promote the majority of them, because I want you to trust me.  So even if their product is only $7, but it is written so poorly, that you are going to have to spend hours trying to rewrite or decipher it, I will not promote it to you.  I personally would be annoyed if I bought something like that.  However, if the next offer is $27, but I know that you will not need to do much of anything to put it to use immediately, I will promote that and I hope you respect me for that.  I need you to trust me, if I want to be in this for the long-term.

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I will actually be updating these soon, as I have some more great additions and changes to make. I’ll keep you updated.