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Look out for the new shiny object

Written by: Jim Donovan

Article Overview: As entrepreneurs, we sometimes are too quick to follow the new shiny object.

Look out for the new shiny object

Several years ago I was listening to Google Adsense Guru, Joel Comm at one of Ken McArthur’s, JV Alert Live Events in Philadelphia.

By the way, If you don’t know about JV Alert Live, check it out. It’s the premium event for anyone interested in internet marketing and making money online. Ken brings together the best of the best and you have the opportunity to get to know these experts up close and personal. It’s a great networking event and, as a matter of fact, I’ll be at the next one June 6th - 8th in Philadelphia, so if you can make it, be sure to stop by and say “Hello!”

Anyway, I was listening to Joel when he remarked how, as entrepreneurs, we tend to get distracted and “follow the new shiny object.”

I can hear some of you chuckling, as I did, because we know he’s right.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with this, and it’s quite natural for a creative person to want to explore new ideas, it can delay your success by distracting you from your primary purpose.

After listening to Joel talk about how you can make more money with Adsense for two hours, I found myself thinking “Great! I’ll put up a blog with ads and add it to my web pages. This way, I can start making money displaying ads from Google's Adsense program.” After all, this is a valid business model which has worked for lots of people.

According to a recent article in Entrepreneur magazine, blogger John Chow www.johnchow.com earns in excess of $30,000 a month from his blog - no that’s not a typo!

So there I was following yet another new shiny object until fortunately, I caught myself and asked myself a powerful question:

“Will this action take me towards or away from my major goals?”

The answer was obvious. For me to run off chasing Adsense dollars would take me away from my mission: "To create and communicate information which will have a massive positive effect on people's lives, empowering them to reach their full potential as human beings."

This, by the way, is the purpose statement I created almost 20 years ago, a time when I was not doing the work I am now doing. As I've said before, it all starts with the vision of what you want.

I did however, find a reasonable compromise. After learning the basics from Joel’s book “The Adsense Code”, I added Google Adsense to my article pages and blog, as well as, our Himalayan cat website, which was just sitting there. Am I getting rich from it?

No. But I receive unexpected amounts of money regularly, which I totally enjoy spending:-)

On the other hand, if you’re newly in business or looking for an online business model to use, by all means, investigate Adsense, Kontera, and other pay-per-click (PPC) programs as a part of your business plan.

If you have my new book, Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck, beginning on page 68 you can learn more about how to get started with this. If you don't already have a copy, get one now and start learning how you can increase your income immediately.

However, if you already know your primary mission, are running your own business, moving toward your goals, beware of the shiny new objects.

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Article Tags: business model, creative person, entrepreneur magazine, google, guru, human beings, internet marketing, joel comm, john chow, jv, matter of fact, mcarthur, networking event, philadelphia, purp, recent article, shiny object, typo, valid business, web pages



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If I could change one thing - Hi Chris, Great question. If I had the opportunity to change one thing about my business I would have started out by being more focused. As an entrepreneur we are always being distracted by new ideas, opportunities, and "shiny diamonds". I would have sat down at the beginning and really figured out what my end objectives were and set up a game plan to achieve those goals. I would have then only focused on the tasks that would get me to the goals I had set out. I say that now, but unfortunately a lot of the time I am still attracted to those "shiny diamonds" so it is a constant effort to stay focused. At least I am aware of it and spend more time working on the initial strategy. Maja
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Re: POLL: What one thing... - [quote="GT Bulmer":2ciff47t] We often get asked, "If time and money were no object, what direction would your business take right now?" [/quote:2ciff47t] GT, you brought up a very good point, but if money and time were no object, will you even think about starting your own business? Many affiliates join affiliate programs just because they want to work from home and make quick money, and when they realize they actually have to work to earn money, they give up, so their answer to you would probably be "who needs a business":) My answer to you is: my business will be climbing higher and higher, and I will make more money to add to the money i already have. You may say that we are our biggest obstacle but with a little work on yourself you can overcome it, and learn to make the right decisions. I say each decision is right, you will learn from all.
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