Lots of Business Savvy and Plenty of Cash Dooms Entrepreneur
I have to admit, once I sold my internet business back in 2009, I haven't stuck with anything. My interests have been all over the place. I've literally wasted tens of thousands of dollars going from idea to idea. I've had a total lack of commitment and persistence with any of my internet projects.
Immediately after selling the business, I spent about 6 months doing nothing. Believe me, it was a long deserved rest!
After that, I decided I was going to start a publishing business. I started hiring writers and creating content sites. The problem was I wasn't creating sites or content around anything that I was passionate about. I didn't create one site about a subject that interested me.
One of the sites that came from this project was HowToSaveElectricity.net. The site had a custom theme, some great content, and some decent earnings. I had internet pages that made PR5 within 6 months of the site launching. Even still, it just didn't keep my interest. As soon as Google made the Panda update and my rankings fell, I never looked back.
Then I partnered with a friend who is an excellent programmer. We decided to try our hand at affiliate marketing. When it didn't take off immediately, I didn't bother to stick around and find out why. I just moved on.
I made my bread and butter selling physical products on the internet. I've literally sold over 10 million dollars of physical products before selling my business. I started feeling like this is what I needed to go back to. I created a site called My Wallet Depot. I built this site believing that I was going to grow it into a common household name. Anyone that was looking for a wallet was going to at least consider my site. After hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars invested, I let a few snags sour my vision and I shifted my focus.
Since selling my business, I've had some success, but it's not been in the internet arena. I've made bank selling put options on stocks that I want to own. I'm also picking up my 5th duplex later this month and am about to finish my 4th flip house. All of these ventures have been successful. But why can't I make anything happen in the internet arena? This is where I cut my teeth and made that capital that I'm now investing in real estate.
Has the game changed? Is there too much competition? Is it no longer possible for the average Joe to make bank with an internet business?
Sure the game has changed, but the opportunity is still abundant. I believe the problem is I have changed!
When I first started my internet business in early 1999, I had NO MONEY. If I spent $50 on advertising, it was a big deal. I worried and fretted about it. I wanted to get every bit of momentum out of every dollar I spent.
Over a decade later, armed with exponentially more business knowledge and cash than I started with, nothing seems to work. I'm no longer hungry. I'm not making every decision and spending every dollar with the concern that comes from the knowledge that this could be the thing that makes or breaks me. Losing that hunger has led to a total lack of persistence and determination on my part for anything internet related.
A few years ago, I gave an interview to a MBA student that was writing a paper on what quality business owners most attributed to their success. I hadn't really thought about it until that point. After a few minutes reflecting on the trials and tribulations of building a successful business, it was clear that quality for me was persistence.
When I first started building my physical product business, the disappointments were more plentiful than the successes. I went years before I made any real money. In spite of it all, I never gave up and kept pushing forward. I kept looking for a way to make it work when reality kept telling me it wasn't possible.
Years into this venture, I vividly remember thinking, "Could I ever sell $10K worth of goods a month? If I could, I could net $1,500 - $2,000 a month." At the time, it didn't even seem like that was possible. But I managed to stick it out because I knew my family's future was on the line.
I had no clue that within a couple of years it wouldn't be unusual for me to sell $10K in a single day. My best day was over $100K and my best month was over $300K.
Where would I be now had I stuck with the other internet ventures I mentioned above? Would How To Save Electricty be a major hub for people interested in green energy or would My Wallet Depot be another million dollar physical product business. It's hard to say.
Where does this realization take me?
I'm not really sure. This is knowledge of myself that I've realized over the last few months. It certainly makes me think differently about projects and ideas I'm considering. Unless I'm 100% committed to seeing it through, why bother starting anything? Now that I know what the problem is, the question is how to fix it?
Here's a great quote by Ross Perot on never giving up!
Tags: internet marketing, success
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