Most newcomers to internet marketing come online in search of easy, fast money. Not all of them expect to find kingly riches, mind you, many are just looking to quickly supplement (or replace) their offline income.
These new, digital income streams can sometimes start quickly. But the “easy” part rarely happens. Cashing in online calls for some of the same attributes demanded of brick-and-morter entrepreneurs: natural aptitude, focus, persistence, and resiliency.
Aptitude-to-Platform Match
When a sales letter promises long-term earnings from blogging, keep in mind the emphasis on written content creation that blogging entails. If you’re a natural artist with lousy grammatical skills, blogging won’t be a happy journey for you. Likewise, if you’re a naturally introverted wordsmith who’s never been tech savvy, then a successfully monetized YouTube channel may not be possible for you, and won’t be enjoyable in any case. Whichever platform(s) you use, make them the ones that let you express your gifts!
Focus
Each money-making model requires that you focus on the details. And you can eventually use more than one. But if you try to work too many models at once, you’ll spread yourself too thin, and this is where many newbies go astray. “Shiny object syndrome” (also known as SOS) is the tendency to jump try one money-making method after another, or worse yet, buying information about different methods but not even trying each one before latching on to the next.
In some cases, this SOS method-hopping is much the same as any “shoppers high.” For them, it’s not about really trying out the methods described in the training materials. Rather, it’s about a “shopper’s high.” For a few brief moments during each purchase, the newbie feels the excitement of believing “this is it–I can do this–I’ll make some good money.”
Persistence
Some entrepreneurs have adequate focus, but they aren’t willing to focus for long enough. Persistence isn’t their strong point, and the tendency to look for really quick earnings blinds them to the need for sustained effort. They’re like gardeners who till the soil, plant seeds, water the garden, and feel disappointed when their crop doesn’t appear by the next morning.
Resiliency
Still others are willing to put in the long-term effort required by many business models–they have the persistence. But when something goes wrong (for example, when a drop shipper’s product source dries up), they lack the problem-solving ability and emotional strength to make it through the troubles. The just don’t have the resiliency.
In other articles, I’ll discuss the definitions, pros, and cons of various business models. But whichever method(s) interest you, keep in mind these critical attributes: natural aptitude, focus, persistence, and resiliency.
These are a few key success attributes to bear in mind. For an excellent presentation of key attributes of elite warriors that we can apply in our lives and businesses, I highly recommend Rich Diviney’s The Attributes: 25 Hidden Drivers of Optimal Performance. Diviney, as trainer of US Navy Seals, discovered these to be the attributes required not so much for transitory “peak” performance, but rather for sustained, high-level, optimal performance. A great read (or listen–I favor Audible.com), with many aha moments.
