Internet School Of Hard Knocks

Does this sound like you?

“You know, it seems to me there ought to be a way to make some money online. It sure seems reasonable to me when I think about it. Even back in the late 90s with all those big dotcom’s it seemed like the sky was the limit. Gee-whiz I know the bubble burst but still I only want to make a couple hundred dollars a week or even the couple hundred dollars a month. There should be some sort of online business that will allow me to do this sort of thing. Ya know I always hear about somebody posting their hobby online and the next thing you know they live in the big house got a nice car, like it was no sweat; does that stuff really happen?  There must be something to it.

Let me see, here I’ll go online and Google a couple queries. Let's see here…. how about “work from home”? Eck! Holy smokes, 294 million results! I seemingly need to be more specific. Let's try this “work at home for moms”…41 million results……wow ok…wait what’s this?  “Mom Stops Commuting/Drive A Phat Car/Learn French/Make Money While Losing Weight!” Oh my god! I can do all that from home? That would be perfect for me!”

I confess, that's me, I mean, I'm not a mom I'm a dad, but I keep saying to myself there’s got to be a way to make money online. If I could only figure out how to do it there must be some trick to it; some insider dirty little secret that these guru’s hold onto and if I could figure out their master plan I'd be just as rich as they are.

I'll confess a second time. I am a business opportunity junkie. I always think there's a bigger better deal around the corner. I'm like a moth to flame I can't help myself. I hear about one great idea then another; I'm so excited about it and then 20 minutes later I'm off to the other new great idea. This has become a very serious flaw in my efforts to make money online. Seriously, I'm considering starting a 12 step program. Hey wait a minute that's a great idea! Get this! It could be a membership site and I could charge like $15 a month and people would join and talk about how awful it is to be an “online wisher type person” who's trying to make money so that they can stop working and stuff like that. ARRRRRGH!

Of course I wouldn't be writing this at all if I hadn't already figured out what the secret is. You see I've paid the full tuition at the Internet School Of Hard Knocks. Maybe you can identify. I have bought so many e-books so many programs and spent so much money. I well could have had a traditional education by now. I do say that with some exaggeration, but believe me I've experienced my own pain.

This is what I've learned see if you agree:

Succeeding online is hard work. That is not necessarily a bad thing it's just something you have to face up to and get over it. Learning how to succeed online takes time. There's a whole lot to it. It requires a lot of action. There are lots of different disciplines and there are a lot of paths you can take. Realize you're going to take more than one or two turns onto rough road.

If you want to follow this pursuit realize it’s a process, but it's a process that can be just as much fun as it is challenging. And no less so interesting and quite frankly, it could become a full-blown career. It can be just as satisfying, even more so than a traditional path of business ownership or employment. It's mostly about helping others succeed and learning things that are new enough to bend your brain out of shape. If you get rich quick it's probably because you just got lucky and you probably won't even understand why it worked. Most people don't see how much went into the years prior for some of the successful people online.

Here’s the secret; find a mentor that you can model and has been where you want to go. Find a mentor that already has a system that will allow you to leap frog over many of the open man-hole covers you’d drop right through without him. Be wary of the unbelievable but recognize you may be capable of much more than you can wrap your head around from where you sit at this moment. Don’t be afraid to dream big. You can be vulnerable without being foolish. Two words: Due Diligence. You're going to make mistakes, some of them may cost you money, and some will just make you mad. Once you've done that keep going, keep learning and stay persistent.

Lastly, because you’ll always be learning, you should never want to graduate from the Internet School Of Hard Knocks.