DISQUS

KarenKramer · 7 months ago

Ok Ed... I'm with you.

I'm hoping this will help those of us who are limping along in Internet Marketing... You know, the ones who are making enough to do it full-time but not enough to have ...more than enough.

Of course all of this is starting to sound like it's going to take a bit more work and determination.

Leslie M-B · 7 months ago

Ed, you're right. Everybody loves a train wreck. (There's a niche. . .)

Facing failure is a huge part of learning. That's why I tell my undergraduate and graduate students to write multiple drafts of their papers and theses. It's also why I have too many blog posts in draft mode. The difficulty I face is in (a) being interested in too many things and (b) being a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to content. I want to offer the very best because, hey, I'm pretty upset when I purchase something disappointing.

Really, it's silly. I mean, I have a Ph.D., and if I could write a dissertation while caring for a newborn, certainly I can create e-books and reports, construct niche sites, and build lists, yes? But you've hit the nail on the head--I have a mental block--and I look forward to some more butt-kicking 30DC action this year to inspire me to take further action.

Thanks again!

Chris · 7 months ago

Leslie,
That's funny. Have you thought of writing comedy - seriously. They say that gambling and sex represent 70% of the Internet, but I believe that people liked to be / need to be cheered up. You could mix your specialty with some humour - now that'd be a niche! ;-)

Sean B. · 7 months ago

Yep it is my fault..... I don't put in the time? No I listen to the "you have got to do this or your business fails"..... writing this I am answering my own questions..... funny. Oh ED don't worry about your English... if you try it will get better.... if you want it to. I work with a lot of Filipinos. Their English is just god awful.... yours has style.... no worries here (I adopted that after visiting Australia) cuz I love it!

garydotgray · 7 months ago

Hi Ed

OK so is there a point to your rambling or are you just rambling? There has to be a point right? especially if you initiated a two minute standing ovation at Frank's Mass something or other conference recently. If your point is that the skills that are needed to be successful online are learned skills and that most anyone can learn them well duh! <light bulb over the head moment lol.

Did we learn to walk, talk, read, write, drive, work? You bet we did! We can also unlearn things like how not to smoke, take drugs, abusive behavior, change from dominate side to not dominate side etc. We can actually train our brain...There is lots of documented accounts of all of these things.

There are proven methods of teaching for all of the above. So why should learning to run a successful online business be any different. I for one don't think that it is any different. the skills to be successful online are learned skills just like the others that we have worked on and mastered during our lives.

If I want to learn to drive on the internet then I find an internet driving school and learn the skill. Mostly schools charge tuition fees to registrar for their courses. If you saw that the school was free you might be cautious about registering because you might doubt the quality of the education. You might squander the value of the training because it didn't cost anything. You might question the qualifications of the staff because they all work on a volunteer basis and don't get paid any real money. You may just be wasting time because the classes give you something to idle away your time at no cost.. There may be a million other reasons why you are sitting in o these classes.

That being the case the success to student ratio might not be as high as a more traditional school. (where you pay to play)

Bottom line! Does this really have anything to do with the fact that the skill can be learned and that if the environment and staff are of the same quality as paid schools then the outcome really is determined upon the attitude, learning style and ability of the student.

conclusion: A free school COULD provide better training than a paid school and produce higher quality results in it's students and the results achieved from their online activities.

Since we want to learn to work online and the online world continues to evolve and change we may never graduate from this school but rather continue as a lifelong learner applying what we learn to achieve the personal goals that each of us have set for ourselves. If we can achieve our dreams in this way then just maybe we as individuates and the ones that are teaching us can both claim the elusive prize of success at a much higher level than that gauged by the more traditional methods.

Smiles :o)

Gary

eddale · 7 months ago

All good points Gary

There is a point, a big one.

But it's not head games. That for me is the number one issue. There is
precious little I can do about it.

I can do a lot about the second biggest issue. Which is the point of
all of this. Great comments again Gary

Ed

John Serra · 7 months ago

Hi Ed.. Hi Gary,

There are plenty of people who go through driving school, learn how to drive, and get their driver's license... Only to get defeated by the anxiety of going out in traffic, so they end up preferring not to drive ever... Is this success? I think not.... As someone who was there in the rows listening to Dan and Ed last September, seems like a century agoooo.., I think Ed hit it right on the head. I returned home concentrating only on one thing. Acquiring the discipline of creating content, and getting comfortable with it. Just like going out for a run, or getting on the treadmill every morning, it must become a habit... A habit that is a comfortable part of you :-)

Also, I believe it is true that you are touching the third rail Ed, I haven't purchased a single IM product since. I have produced more content than I had produced in the previous two years though.... Thanks Ed! The rest of last September's content was all bonus :-)

Art · 7 months ago

*Sigh* I'm a failure and I suck air.... ='(
What can I do about it?

eddale · 7 months ago

1. Don't have a Pity party

2. Stay Tuned.

Ugis · 7 months ago

"These people do everything RIGHT, they work hard, they do everything as is described. They break through walls, they reach out, they network…they get everything spot on eventually…BUT…
IT DOES’NT WORK."... - let me supplement here - IT DOESN'T WORK FOR US (your students) UNTIL IT WILL WORK BY THE RESULT OF TAKING PAINS (implement received information step by step, concentrate on accomplishment of these steps while you have no results, file every negligible result - this will help to keep concentration, the time will do the rest).
If we talk about offline business there is the same picture - who get results? Only pachydermatous doers:-)

Another side of the problem (tragicomic one) - language skills (I know this from my experience). I don't know how big but I allow there is a part of your students who read and implement what you provide very hard but only so that they understand and how they understand it.

Ed, I think you must keep your concentration on what you provide like your students (we) must concentrate on implementing it. You are a good example so, go on and we will do.

Do not burn yourself out, we will need you, Ed.
Best regards!

p.s. About English - you don't know what failed English is;-)

Dorothee · 7 months ago

"To Be Continued" When, where, the suspence is killing me..... I need to know.... please,
By the way even when your down when writing, your still very very good to read, Ed!
Gretings from the other side of the world,
Dorothee (NL)

eddale · 7 months ago

Thanks Dorothee!

Coronado Cookie · 7 months ago

Of course anyone who knows you nd has been paying attention for the past 6+ months should have seen this coming. Wish you could teach mind set, it would truly make a difference. You have and continue to teach amazing things and inspire hundreds, thousands...

I am committed to this crazy, wonderful business for the long run. And that includes continuing with you as my mentor :-)

eddale · 7 months ago

Drats! I was hoping to get Rid of you!!!! :-)

Kidding - thanks Cookie!

Brother Beno · 7 months ago

Is there a list of things you could have in pre season to get into the proper mind set? Or even a thought, meditation, or so for say, each day to work on along with the daily task or tool?

Bette · 7 months ago

Thanks for this. I won't feel like such a failure if I don't meet the challenge. So far articles submitted: 0. I will get started soon. I couldn't see where to tweet you.

CashCrawler · 7 months ago

My take on this, which TOTALLY blows me away everytime I explain it to myself!! ( Seriously, but that's all that really matters, right?) I think you are totally correct Ed, my prime suggestion is .....the "WHY?" Why does this happen to even the best and the brightest. I am writing a book in my head and the title is "Trashing The Temple; Why Bad Things Happen To Good People." I strongly believe that it is in our conditioning. I feel that we are primed with a purpose and all the abilities to reach that end from the day we are born. It is what happens on the way from the cradle to the grave that ultimately ends up revealing our outcomes. We live with "TWO" selves. The "I" and the "ME" or the "Myself" (If "I" ever get "MYSELF" out of this mess). How many times have you had a crystal clear vision of something AMAZING that you wanted to acheive, thought you could acheive, daydreamed about. This is your purpose. The trouble comes down when the planning sets in and the "ME" starts to tell the "MYSELF" all the past failures we have seen, all the mistakes we have made. Not to mentionn the less than encouraging voices of those who could never live with our success, as that would mean our company would have to seperate itself from their misery, and we can't have that. The core issue, is Fear. Sometimes fear of failure and even fear of SUCESS, is what truly holds us back from what our pure purposes would be. At that point, sadly, EVERYTHING else is a "Plan B". Rising above all those fears and insecurities takes intense courage for many of us, and for most of us that is hard to find and almost impossiible to implement. When you look that fear in the face, even the greatest plans and the most determined spirits, always find "Plan B" as an "Acceptablle Alternative." Don't Accept Plan B. Don't Trash YOUR temple.

Haitham Al humsi · 7 months ago

(my post below talks about this)

One thing for anyone reading this... successful people never say if... they say when...

When I get out of this mess I am going on vacation. This means I truly believe it will happen. When I say if, I have already (internally) decided to fail....

example

when my online business income replaces my current income, i am quitting my job... this means that it's a reachable goal that takes time and work... the opposite would be saying if my online business income replaces my current income, i'm quitting my job, this means that you've set an ultimatem and are operating in skepticism and a deadline, so you will only do as much work as it takes to get to the deadline, but are not prepared to go all out, and thus, you will never show THE FACTOR...

Emma · 7 months ago

Wow, that is exactly how I feel. Problem is when I get to planning, I also get to doing, but then something happens that is truly beyond my control (and I am not making excuses they really are beyond my control), I even try to get over the obstacles that are beyond my control by coming up with alternate solutions to keep moving forward but then it gets to the point that others that have the last say stop me from being able to move forward anymore.

An example, a couple of months ago I decided I wanted to use my internet marketing skills in political campaigns, and to eventually move into becoming a Campaign Manager. My plan was to work for a campaign for free. I found someone that was a friend of the family who was running for mayor in another state across the country from me. He liked what I had to say and didn't even have a campaign manager, so I offered to do it all for him for free and I would even live with my relative. I mean this politician had it made. All he had to pay was my plane tickets. So, I was flown over there. Everyday, I would wait for him to make the meeting for me to catch up with everyone, and three days later he tells me that there may be some things in my family's past. Long story short, he wanted me to work on the campaign but didn't want me living with the relative because she was arrested 20 years ago (mind you no problems ever again after that - she even became a Christian and worked for a company helping the homeless). He wanted me to find another place to live but he would pay for it. I couldn't afford to be away from my family in the first place, then to have to pay for a hotel for several months, I couldn't do it. So he said that I couldn't work for him, because I could not live with the relative and he would not pay for me to have a place to stay. To make things worse, his staff and family who knew nothing of the situation then told him that he shouldn't pay for my ticket back home because they got nothing out of me.

I went above and beyond to make my plan work out but other things that were out of my control got the best of me. Since, then I still have been trying to find other politicians but this time locally that I can work with. Problem is there isn't any elections for another two years, so the candidates have not made their petitions yet.

I really haven't given up yet, but what do you do when there are situations beyond your control that set you behind a couple years towards your goal!

Sharon · 7 months ago

You're certainly right about the "brick wall" and the challenges. I think it's human nature to take the path of least resistance and the ones who are willing to "do whatever it takes" to succeed are the rare ones. I'm not sure there's a whole lot you can do about that except to keep dangling the carrot in front of all of our noses. I know you have personally inspired, challenged and taught me and incredible amount and I am actually earning money now in one of my niches - not a lot yet, but it's coming. One thing the 30DC did for me was help me focus. Before that there was just too much random information flying around out there and I couldn't figure out how to put it into some semblance of order. The 30DC did that for me and I am eternally grateful!

Walmart Shopping Spree · 7 months ago

Ed, Do you think this new site is on the mark or does it look s-p-a-m-m-y.
http://www.walmartfreeshopping.com/

Is the lady jumping up and down just over the top or what?

eddale · 7 months ago

Could be

Need to check the stats - love the rachel ray site

Ed

aquariancore · 7 months ago

"The number one failure reason in the Thirty Day Challenge is what goes on between your two ears and their is nothing that I can do about it." While as a several year "failure" in the 30 Day Challenge I identify with that. Your environment is also a contributing factor. As I writer starting out many many years ago, people constantly responded "Oh you are a writer you know you have to have a real job in order to survive." I can tell you IM gets the same constant response with the respect. Recently, I created not found my path to IM success. Just the same as Ed created his own path to achieve his desire become teacher he was put down for stating was his desire and main goal in life. I'd say Ed serves as the example of the opportunity to achieve your desire on your own terms. Which ironically is what led to my personal breakthrough. As Ed states, it all falls on us.

Haitham Al humsi · 7 months ago

Ed my man, let me tell you something ... actually let me throw in some dry statistics...

more than 70% of new businesses fail within the first 5 years and it typically takes a normal entreuerueureurpaneuerur (i've never been able to spell that word), at least 3 tries (Statistically) to get a winner idea... this means that for every person that makes it on the first go, there is a person that has gone at it 6 times and failed... now weather that person went at it a 7th time (where he could've succeeded or not is yet to be seen). This also means that if you have a similar failure rate of 70% or so that you are inline with brick and mortar businesses and that totally legitimizes the 30DC for anyone that still has ANY doubts about 'this is not a real challenge, this is not a real business'

Here's another statistic... if you take the 100+ years of stock cycles and historical stock price data you see that stocks take 3 years to go up, then crash for 2 years... the bull and bear market they call it... it takes longer to go up than it does to crash because people are typically (in a mass number of people and when statistics are involved) are skeptical of positive results... and they are also 'herdish' with negative outcomes... so that market success is not self driving .. but rather it is successful IN SPITE of people's confidence, whereas market failure is a self fulfilling prophecy of inconfidance, depression, and pessimism.

That's how most people 'work' ...between their ears.

You already know this... but what you're saying is that you CAN'T fix that.
I think you can help people fix that. Because I have done it to myself, and it was an active decision (like your Factor) , it was something that I decided to do and that I truly and honestly did by myself (with some e-guidance)....

There are steps to do it... and it's a two part equation...

1- part is internal, which has to do with knowing who you really are, finding the 20% of your life that causes you agony and cutting it out, and finding that 20% of your life that brings you joy and expanding it out....

There are NLP type solutions that will fix this part of you starting at 40 days.... I sat in introspection for 3 months, before i decided that I was bigger than my job, and quit, and started my path to my new life... and this was BEFORE i found the 30DC ... but I knew in me , even before I had an exact plan of how i would do things, I knew that I would in fact be doing new things, and things have panned out well... call it karma, call it law of attraction, call it universal gravitism, call it self confidence, call it NLP, call it Tawfiq... whatever you call it... it's true, that you make life, life does not make you... and we CAN teach this... and i'm thinking i might as part of a possible niche... that i'm seriously considering of taking into 30DC 2009 ... because i and a few others i know have been there, and we've done this ACTIVELY... I;ve been reading self help books for 4-5 years, but when i sat down and decided to change my life, my life actually changed... opposed to sitting there and wishing it to be different...

2- the other part , honestly, comes from your support network....

let me ask you this ed... how many people when you first started up used to think that you were just playing on your computer, that this isn't business that you're doing and that frankly you're a bit 'off' to believe in this stuff ?

When i get these kinds of doubts, I go online and watch videos by you , by the tech-crunch team, by startup school, by bill gates, by warren buffet, by other people that live life outside of what people consider to be 'normal'.

No matter how strong you are internally, if everyone around you looks down on your 'dreams and delusions' of internet marketing, e-commerce or e-business you may get a serious chip in your armor... what's the solution ? a good inspirational hour of TED or some other web2.0 , innovations, business, startup conference on you tube and you're back to normal...

I'll tell you one thing i discovered recently ed... if you try to go out , break formation, and also start to show signs of success people will get jealous really fast... why are YOU entitled to succeed outside of the rat race but not me ? people will try to bring you down morally...

I have one thread in 30DC forums where i come in everyday and tell people how things are going (Good and bad) and somehow just in that 'you are not alone' context people are clinging to my posts (and i am obligated to continue to post) not because the content is revolutionary, but rather because it is down right INSPIRING to think that an 'average joe' is doing 30DC , and its working... then me (the observer) am NOT crazy to be doing this, and maybe i too will find my niche and get my break...

both of those things are not hard to help people with ed... and here's how we can do it in 30DC 2009 ... we are talking about keeping people inspired, motivated, and dedicated for 30 days right ?

We do this with 60 videos ...

NLP and other sciences talk about starting your day off on the right foot.... so we have a morning video that we can pick off of you tube or an inspirational quote , or a life changing confession ... something uplifting and inspiring that we deliver to the challengers at the morning of every day... to this day, i still remember the impression you left in me when you said 'failure is not a judge of character' ... but you said that on day 18... what i propose is we say it from day one...

JUST THE FACT THAT YOU ARE IN THE 30DC means that you are actively taking a step forwards towards improving your life, and that leaves you in the top 1% of the population! i think it's funny, you are trying to teach leadership within a group of people who already have initiative , the other 400billion people are somewhere else busy wash/rince/and repeating their normal life which they most likely aren't too happy with...

So that's the morning booster... you get off on the right foot, that and morning planning are the two best things you can do in life, and this (confidence and early day planning) are a theme that you will find in any self help or business success book... the tools for planning and the tools for motivation differ... but the goals is always the same...

Now you're boosted in the morning and you have a great plan... you spend time at work, work throws you some curve balls, coworkers back stab you, the meetings don't go as plan, you get some last minute assignments and your morning boost starts to dwindle, you go home to get started on the 30DC and you're already weak on armor, maybe you even took a hit at work talking to a coworker about the challenge and getting the typical 'dude, get out of dreamlandia and get back to work or you're getting fired' speach...

This is when you need video # 2... which is not about confidence, it's not theoretical, video # 2 has to be a real world example of someone whos been through and made it, zuckerburg, linkedin, jeff bozos, steve jobs... again 30 videos of these for 30 days...

Believe me ed... just 60 videos and I guarantee you the challengers will shift what's between their ears....

I did this myself subconsiously then consiously... and it works wonders...

sorry for the long post but i just didn't want to let this 'slide' since i know (from experience) how hard it can be to go through this process...

eddale · 7 months ago

There are many solutions for the "in-between-the ears" stuff - I'm
just not qualified to teach them :-)

NLP fascinates me, I know Gurubob has extensive training and I have
read a lot on the subject - interestingly - reading stuff alone does
not get you very far!!! :-)

Ed

DrScot · 7 months ago

Once again, Ed -- I cannot BELIEVE you are doing this blog in REVERSED type!

Maybe only for the impact of being "different"....

Really bad. After reading a few of the text... I am BLIND! From the reversed type and the Blue....

Please... Write something with the STANDARD black text on white background.

-- DrScot, Pres. of 4th Gear Marketing Group, Knoxville, TN

Tank Johnson · 7 months ago

Hi Ed,
I have to quote Tommy Hopkins at you again..... There is no such thing as failure it is only part of a learning experience. The analogy he draws is with a guided torpedo. If it didn’t see the target immediately and turned around and went home it wouldn’t be a very satisfactory experience for the launch crew. But the torpedo first seeks left and then right, up then down each rejection providing information. After a whole series of rejections it finds the target.....

In my opinion TV and film has lead people to assume success will happen overnight, ther is no stick_at_it_ness.

Regards


Nick

eddale · 7 months ago

Thats another great article topic right there!! Thanks for the quote!!

Ed

baldjake · 7 months ago

I knew Seth Godin had to have something to do with all this. I just sat in Barnes and Noble and read Tribes in about an hour. Truly, TRULY mind-blowing stuff. It surely gives me hope. I await your new awesomeness....

eddale · 7 months ago

THAT IS HUSTLE - RIGHT THERE LADIES AND GENTLEMAN

Two points for Bald Jake!

Ed

Raza Imam · 7 months ago

Ed,

Let me tell you something. I have failed at most business ventures I've started. I tried multi-level marketing, investing in real estate, and briefly dabbled in internet marketing. The one thing I've learned is that you have to be willing to fail. You have to embrace it and keep learning from it. You have to take everything light heartedly and know that if you don't succeed, it's not the end of the world. This will give you the motivation to keep going. I think you explain that very well in one of your 30DC 2008 videos where you say that failure isn't a character flaw (or something like that)

I started the 30DC 2 months ago and chose a niche (the new Palm Pre cell phone... which is touted to kill your beloved Apple iPhone) I followed your advice, did research, built links, etc. and ended up on the second page of Google for the term "palm pre review(s)" Then, Google dropped me... for like 2 weeks. What's worse is that while promoting my blog, I left signatures with a direct link to my blog on Palm Pre blogs and forums. I learned that it was bad manners and I learned to be more subtle. I knew when I started this particular blog (www.PalmPreReviewer.com) it was just to learn SEO and internet marketing, and that if I could get the steps down, I could do them for the other niches I had in mind. So I used the time that my blog as "sandboxed" to start another blog. At the time of this writing, my Palm Pre blog is back on page 2 of Google and the new blog I started is on page 1 of Google for my keyword phrase (14000 monthly searches) and on page 3 for my secondary keyword phrase (74000 monthly searches)! This all happened in less than 2 weeks and with less than a handful of backlinks!

In martial arts they say, "it's not how many years you've studied, it's how many hours you've put into your years" Internet marketing is hard work, but if you dedicate yourself to learning it properly, it can be quite successful.

Failure and mistakes are a a part of the process. You just have to keep on moving and look at everything as a game. It's more fun that way.

Thanks for everything Ed.

Raza

eddale · 7 months ago

That is so smart!!!!

I really do hope the Pre does well - competition provokes innovation!

Ed