I spend a lot of time thinking about how to help more people become successful online. You see, my background is as an Instructional Designer. In that profession, we interview experts to determine how they think and how they do what they are an expert on. Then we take what we learn and turn it into good instructional materials – to teach other people to do what the experts do.
That’s why I love helping people get started online – because I’m helping them recreate what the experts (aka the Internet millionaires) do.
So you can imagine the amount of time I spend on this question:
Why do some people come online and make money – and other people spend years and thousands of dollars NOT making enough money to cover their costs?
Obviously I have some ideas of my own, but let me ask YOU – why do people NOT make money online? What holds them back?
Please share your ideas and comments below
This is definitely a loaded question, but I believe it is due in part to whether someone is willing to fail. Being an entrepreneur requires some risk-taking, and you are sure to fail before you succeed. I think of this as being willing to ‘skin your knees’ while you are exploring what will work best for you.
I love this perspective, Connie! I might have thought of “technology” or other more surface ideas, but this willingness to make a mistake where others can see it is a good one. Thanks so much for your insight!
I think a large part of it comes down to fear. We intellectually may know the steps we need to take to get there but just can’t implement them. Success and the human need to want for something can be opposing thoughts and emotions for some and that can create a fear of success. Connie’s comment addresses the fear of failure which is difficult for some to overcome. Some fear one or the other and some fear both.
Wow! Good ideas, Debby. So you’re saying we can’t implement them not because of lack of information, but rather because of fear? We just can’t bring ourselves to take the right actions – the things we KNOW we should do – but are afraid to do. Thanks for that!
Jeanette, I am GLAD you are asking this question! It deals with exactly the questions I put to many of my clients in every success journey, and at the end of the day – the answer really lies within the “inner game.” It is the congruency of when the heart and the mind work together to overcome self-sabatoge, limiting beliefs and conflicting intentions that all the blocks and fears are uncovered and we can “Get out of our own way!” Will love to see the results of your interviews, etc. If I can help in any way, give me a shout for that support. MUCH happiness in your day – a great endeavor here! A
Hmmm, three out of three – a trend is starting. It appears that it’s really more of an inner game than the actual courses or the technology. It’s almost as if no matter which course you take, YOU are the determining factor as to whether or not it works. Thanks, Anna, for your perspective. I’m anxious to see how others weigh in and whether or not they will agree it’s really within you instead of an outside force. Keep those ideas coming!
I think it is because there is too much information. We go from one “system” to another, always chasing the next best thing that we think will work for us. We need to focus.
Also, I have a question: A college girl called me yesterday with a question (she was one of my interns a year ago). She is graduating now in December, has about 50 resumes out, but no job in sight – her major is marketing. She just got the idea she wanted to make some money online. What would you tell young people about the best ways to make money on the internet? She is very good at computer work. Would love to hear your comment.
I still have good thoughts of your wonderful webinars on blogging. Mine is still going after 3 (?) years http://www.CookingAndKids.com. Sending warm wishes for the holidays!
So great to hear from you, Lee! And great news that you’ve stuck with your blog. Good for you!
I would agree – FOCUS is something many people lack. Part of it is too much information. But I think part is discipline and part is our television age – where we are constantly barraged by the next big thing. It gets us into the habit of looking for the next thing instead of focusing on what we’re doing.
As for your Marketing graduate. Unfortunately I find very little relationship between what students learn in marketing programs and actually making a living online. I would encourage her to read my http://InternetMarketingQuickstart.com as a way of seeing what the online world is about. Then she can decide what to do next.
Thanks for your contributions to this discussion!
I think people who are entering the internet marketing arena are given a list of ideas that will pull visitors to their website that will help them convert to sales. Unfortunately there is no prioritization applied to the list. For example, I heard years ago that you should write articles. Many of my articles have been republished in magazines but my list grew very slowly. Then the next advice was to purchase adwords. For people who have an expensive ad word, you can go broke really quickly if you do not know what you are doing. So, there are alot of great ideas out there but, in my view, much of it is useless for the person who does not have a marketing degree or a marketing manager on their team to launch the project, monitor it and run multiple tests.
I’m not sure I’ve ever looked at it from that perspective, Dianne. Thank you for sharing that. I agree – there are a LOT of tactics and strategies that seem to be presented one after another with no rhyme or reason. Back in 2000 I actually created the Online Success System, which categorized each strategy into high or low impact, high or low cost, based on your online goals. But I stopped updating that when a lot of my successful online friends told me it was taking too much time and not making any money. 🙂 I had to agree, so don’t keep it up to date. But I still often think in those terms – what’s the biggest bang for my buck? And does it fit my business model? But the typical business owner has a hard time taking the time to do all of that. So how to simplify…
Yes, Dianne has described a major issue–too much information but not enough understanding to know which comes first, second and third. Another issue I am seeing in my business: young entrepreneurs who believe the hype about making hundreds of thousands of $$$ the first month. When it doesn’t happen, they get seriously discouraged.
For me, fear of failure, fear of competition, and the thought that there is so much free info on the web, why would anyone want to pay for anything I might offer, are the thoughts that hold me back. Add to that a need for perfection….:).
I am one of those people who have bought numerous IM-related products, courses, and memberships, yet have never taken action steps beyond researching a few keywords.
While tech overwhelm is a small part of my hesitancy, it is definitely the inner game stuff that limits me.
I can honestly say that I have never failed online because I have never attempted anything online. The thought of “skinning my knees” as Connie puts it, is just chilling. This idea of “fail early” is like a foreign language….how can failure be a good thing? (Inner dialogue here.)
Thanks for the question, the place to respond, and to others who have weighed in!
I believe it is a combination of many things. First and foremost, you have to have an entrepreneur mindset. Otherwise, every failure is defeat instead of just one more thing that you now know doesn’t work on your journey to success.
I agree about the massive amount of information overload. It’s hard to know what to spend your money on and even harder to stop the overload and start implementing. (that’s my mantra for 2011- implement…implement…implement)
I met your bud Connie Green this year. What a blessing she is! Most of the info out there just skims the surface. She really gets into the nuts and bolts and has shown me how it all fits together.
Celene Harrelson
Jeanette,
My three step-sons are a prime example of this whole subject. They say they “desperately” need/want more money, yet seem paralysed and unable to actually “do” anything.
I bought a resource for beginner internet marketers – and sent them a copy. I totally expected them to be thrilled at such a great resource to get them started. After waiting for a response (and getting none to even confirm receipt of the email!) I eventually asked if they received it and how they liked it. Their response blew me away … it’s over 200 pages, do you really expect me to go through all that? When I replied yes – they laughed!
I think that the “kids” of today and I am including ages up to my 34 year old – look on the internet as a fun, playtime machine to chat on facebook, watch YouTube and send emails. They do not think of it as a business, money making machine.
The current generation is very much the “instant gratification” one, and who look for an instant fix, and do not seem able to figure out what “the long haul” is.
Looking forward to seeing your solution to this problem, Jeanette, because if you can get my kids going – you will be an absolute miracle worker!! and raised to the status of sainthood!!
Lauren
For me it is all of the above. Fear of failing but also fear of success. What if I succeed and can’t come up with new products or ideas. What if no one wants what I have to offer. There is also so much information out there and I do read the 200 page books and have spent much on tools but I am still missing a piece. What is my niche? My passions may not support products that would sell, how do I combine the two? Thanks for all your help. Looking forward to finding my missing piece.
Jeanette,
This is a very important question – I’m so glad you started this conversation.
It’s due to all of the reasons stated above. But there’s a big one that most people overlook. And it’s the foundation of your success, online or off…
And that is identifying your core expertise and experience and factoring that in to your business model.
Every day I see people coming on to the internet “looking for a way to make money”.
But instead of saying “What experience/knowledge/skills/knack do I have that I can market online or USE to market something online.” they pick a “model” because they’ve heard that people make money with it.
The problem is that they never take the next step to see if the model matches their skills/experience/interests/passions.
Now this is NOT about “do what you love and the money will follow”.
It’s about matching your EXISTING skills/expertise to a market, a model and monetization.
In the offline world, if you had no background, skills, or interest in running a restaurant, then you wouldn’t open a restaurant.
If you had no interest or talent in interior design, you wouldn’t open a business as an interior designer.
But after coaching online entrepreneurs for the past 8 years, I can tell you without fail that those who are struggling to the point of failure are doing so because there is a fundamental mismatch between the business they are trying to build and their skills/interests/experience.
Once they are in the right business model, it all starts to flow.
They get excited. The have ideas. They feel confident. They start taking action.
They succeed.
Now this doesn’t mean that they don’t have the fear of failure, information overwhelm, underestimate the work it will take to build the business, fear of success, need to work on mindset i.e. “what’s between the ears.”
We ALL deal with those issues. Even Donald Trump says HE deals with those issues.
But if you are pursuing a fundamentally incompatible business model with your skills/experience/interest to begin with. It’s like wearing a pair of shoes that don’t fit – you can make it work, but it will never feel good.
People need to really look inside of themselves or work with a good coach to make sure that their business idea is right for them.
Once that question is answered, then you can work on all the other issues – because they are part of growing a business! They aren’t show stoppers, they are part of the entrepreneurial landscape.
In fact I talk a lot about this in my Mindset Entrepreneur class http://mindsetentrepreneur.com
PS: This is also the #1 cause of “bright shiny object syndrome”. People are searching, searching, searching because they haven’t found the model that fits.
Take an objective look at yourself first and inventory your skills/interests/experience/expertise and then consider the different online business models.
Lisa
Lisa,
This is absolutely brilliant! I have never seen this point made before. Usually marketing coaches say, “Fix your website” or talk about tactics. But if your core biz doesn’t fit your expertise *and* interest *and* passion, it won’t work.
Do you have a program or product for this?
I finally realized I’ve started lots more projects than I’ve finished…either by hitting a “I have no idea how to do this next step” and then not getting help from someone who knows or getting excited about what else could be/should be added and ending up never getting to the point of thinking it was “enough”
Thanks for the opportunity to think about it…and embarrassed that it still comes down to internal rather than external.
I agree with a number of the previous comments regarding the “inner game” or “mindset.” Many persons who desire to make money online attempt to do so with an employee mindset and this will not go very far in running a business online. We have to develop a CEO mindset and recognize that while we cannot guarantee the outcome, we are responsible for the growth of our business. It takes work on a regular, consistent basis.
It was not difficult for me to cultivate this mindset as I’d worked my own business for years while working for corporate America BUT I wasted time and lots of money when I started online on what I call The Shiny Objects Syndrome. I was easily distracted and a lot of that came from not really knowing which direction I should go. I tried to incorporate what I’d done offline but there was no cohesion.
Unfortunately, that’s the case with a lot of people, and sometimes it takes a long time until we finally find the right Mentors who will guide us so we can narrow our focus and make money. Thankfully I found her!
It may also be necessary to hear the same things several times to get a clear understanding of what is required to succeed because the rules ARE different online and one has to be prepared to let the Ego go and be prepared to fail forward and keep growing.
Great topic. I thought about this all day long. I bet I have spent $6-8000 on IM classes, memberships and products like shopping cart and instant teleseminars over the last 3 years. I have made a grand total of $17. I sold one eBook. Not a great ROI is it. So what is holding me back?
1. FEAR. It is nameless but seems to cut me off at the knees. It includes fear of failing and succeeding. When tasks are not chunked down small do-able bites, the fear is worse. Frankly I get paralized. That means I can’t move forward.
2. My spouse is very non-supportive. He doesn’t think anybody can make money on the internet, so I can’t. And he doesn’t think I can make money in my teaching and private practice. His support is very spotty. So I don’t feel like I have the freedom to explore IM.
3. I am feeling a lot of pressure to make this work… which it hasn’t up to now. This self induced “pressure” makes me immobile.
4. Too much information. Try this, No this one works, Over here! etc. There probably is a great deal of great information out there. It just isn’t usable particularly by newbie’s
5. Time. This is a two parter. Many of the classes seem to require you to just jump in 23 hours out of every day for 2 months and launch your product. It is hype, fast and furious. There are folks that can do that, but I am not willing to work at that pace. Then I feel “not up to par” with the rest of the class. that is a show stopper for me.
Time part 2: I have a job that pays the bills. This consumes a great deal of my time. Currently I am a hospice nurse. My 8 hrs days are often 10-12hrs. I can be hard to carve out all the time required to get a business up and running.
6. Money. There is a certain amount of expense in getting an online business up and running. Coming up with an extra $100-500/month to pay for the shopping cart, teleseminars, classes, web page help, outsourcing etc is a challenge for me and I assume others.
7. Organization: life and the business. I am very ADD. The “thing” that is in front of me feels to me to be the most important and urgent “thing”. That gets in the way of my progress.
8. Topic: I have a very hard time choosing a topic. What seems to be easy and popular isn’t my niche. I have gone off on tangents to get thru a class. I think that I would be better served to work on my main topic of energy healing. It will probably be slower but much better in the long run.
I have to say, Jeanette, your class was the best that I have ever taken. You created bite size pieces in an organized fashion for an end result. I wish we could get the group together and do it again and again.
With all this said, I do believe that you (and I) can make money on the internet. I believe that even with all this seeming failure and lack of movement that I have learned a great deal. Someday soon it will come all together for me and I will soar with IM as part of my business model.
This has been rather enlightening. Thank you Jeanette!
Blessings, Mary Pat
Here are a few things I have come to see as important for folks who are marketing online:
1. Engaging in consistent activities that leverage your core gifts and passions in how you market
2. Consistent listbuilding activities and creatively re-engaging your list
3. no matter what you do, seeing yourself as a marketing company
4. not putting all of your eggs in one basket and dismissing non-internet marketing strategies
5. appealing to a variety of communication preferences – written, audio, visual, tactile, etc…
As I was writing a reply in another thread another idea occurred to me – fear of “missing something” – I tend to open a lot of emails that distract me from what I need to be working on because I don’t want to take a chance that there are things happening out there that I don’t know about.
Again, I think this is related to our media age and the constant emphasis on need to know. Plus left-over high school days when you didn’t want to be left out of anything. 🙂
But I wanted to add that to the list, in case it triggers other ideas or a confirmation from someone.
Hi Jeanette, What a great and important discussion! Thank you so much for starting this.
I’d like to add my two cents from helping people with successful goal setting, if I may.
1) Our definition of success is usually influenced by authority figures in our lives: Parents, siblings, gurus, role models and anti role models (those that we never want to be like).
By the time we come to doing our own soul searching about our future, in business as well as in private, we have already considered subconsciously so much of other people’s opinions, experiences and limiting beliefs, that it is very difficult to remain focused and neutral.
When we look at a new goal, we automatically ask ourselves what we already know about this goal. This is part of our natural decision process. But when all we know is that other people told us that it is impossible, we will begin to believe that we will fail and subconsciously hinder ourselves from going down this path.
To give an example:
When we grow up with the belief that in order to be successful, we have to work very very hard, and can’t take care of our children properly ( because that’s how we were raised), then we will do whatever we can to not be in that situation again.
2) As a new internet marketer, I believe it is important to see the internet as a tool, not as a solution.
Spending too much time online can actually be devastating to an online business, as it bears a great risk of sidetracking us from our own goals. This was my own pitfall for a long time. Seriously: As a beginner in internet marketing, how much time do you really need to spend online? The most important thing in the beginning is, as Lisa and others stated so beautifully, to have an authentic goal. How can you be authentic when you are constantly triggered to copy other people’s success?
After reading Connie’s excellent book, it became clear to be that she had a burning desire to be an internet marketer, no matter what it takes. So developing her business in the successful way that she has was a no brainer. But what if you have a burning desire to help others? To sell flowers? To be an artist? There are no real flowers online, there are no real people online (instead there is how you communicate with them). It is so easy to get lost in the “shoulds” of other people’s success and lose sight of what makes us feel passionate.
I therefore believe that to be successful online it is crucial to spend time offline every day. Time to think, to set goals and to write with a real pen on a real piece of paper. This way we remain connected to who we want to be in our lives, and can work on this goal, instead of getting sidetracked by a never ending flow of great information. So I strongly recommend to have an offline plan for our business, make plans how to take it online on a piece of paper, while talking a walk or connecting with a real person. For many people who are just getting started, I believe that the internet should only be a tool, not a goal within itself.
3) Confusion about what we actually need to be successful online.
A bargain is only a bargain if you can use the item. There is such an overflow of great information (or not so great information) out there, that we can spend our loves learning and analyzing what other people did and how they did it.
When we believe that we have to stock up on paid programs and memberships before we can get started with our success, we might spend our lives learning how other people became successful, instead of how to apply their teachings and tools to our own business and focusing on our own success. A good way to get started was to ask first: Which problem do I actually have to solve right now? Then we can go out and find the right software, the right group that provides the answer. If we don’t have a huge and flourishing online business, we might not have to invest on the software that allows us to handle thousands of sales per day yet. If we do video only on occasion, we might not need the most top of the line editing software that allows us to create professional grate video. If we only have 10 customers, we might not need the elaborate autoresponder program that costs hundreds of dollars per year.
If something provides more of a problem than a solution, if it doesn’t make us feel more confident and connected with our success, we might want to reconsider using or purchasing it at this time.
I have a whole “products to buy later” list on my computer that I refer to whenever I see a problem coming up that I can’t solve or solve quickly enough with the stuff that I have.
4) There are such wonderful and successful marketers as role models available now. However, I find it more important (and I was delighted to hear you confirm this the other day) to listen honestly to who resonates with me. If a person doesn’t lift me up but instead makes me feel small, why should I work with him or her? If I feel that a mentor gives me room to grow and has the answers I need (and sometimes, this is just a confirming “you are doing well – keep going…) that is when I find my strength and feel confident to connect and grow with the uniqueness of my business. You, Connie and Lisa have been such an amazing gift in my life for this reason, and I can’t thank you enough for all that you have shared and supported me with.
5) Passion is the root of success. I am always more fascinated by people who follow their path with passion than those who thrive on a business on a plan and knowledge alone. I personally believe that I will learn more from a passionate entrepreneur who does something very different from me, than from someone in my field who does not have the inner connection too what he/she is doing.
In the end, my business and my success are unique anyway. But what I have been learning from passionate, authentic people has taught me to translate the wisdom out there into my own reality and life.
It has been a very fun ride so far.
Thank you soo much for all you have been doing!
P.S. Sorry, I guess my two cents turned into a dime…got carried away with passion… 🙂
Happy Holidays!
I want to make money online and haven’t/aren’t doing so because I still don’t know where to start!
I have too many ideas in my head now. I can sell cds, books, courses, newsletters, coaching. I can become an affiliate for courses, other sites like Amazon, and e-bay, I can make my own product, I can interview experts and make cds for free. I can market through PPC, I can write on other people’s blogs, I can take out ads on buses or make flyers or sponsor a sporting event. Help!
OK, so now I know too much, and too little. I am on 4 lists of info re internet marketing. I was on more but have cancelled the others because it was too much info. Oh yes, I’ve been on courses too.
Yes, it’s easy to make money online, I’m sure. But I’m paralyzed from starting. Maybe cos I’m 62 and this is not my culture or my generation. Give me a good old fashioned shop and I could do it, but internet entrepreneur? I’m willing, but still confused.
cheers
kleverklikk
Jeanette,
The reason that people do not make money online is that (1)they do not make the commitment that it takes to “market” and develop a “presence” on the Internet. (2) They do not seek the help and advice from coaches and mentors. It takes a major time commitment and you need direction so that you do not make time consuming mistakes.
David Duane Wilson
Give It A Thought
Certainly, alot of the tools suggested here and in other spots online are both useful & necessary to on-line success. But don’t ignore the key component of self-development as well. You really have to have your own house in order before you can legitimately help others achieve on-line success. If You Build It, They Will Come
http://www.energyshotsample.com/search?updated-max=2011-01-20T12%3A20%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=4