Earlier this week I went white water rafting in Washington State. There were 5 people in the raft with a guide/instructor. We were asked if we wanted to go over a 14′ waterfall, told the pros and cons and given about a minute to makeup our minds…
We didn’t have time to think about all the things that could go wrong. We basically had to grab our fear by the throat, trust our guide and the info he had given us and go for it! That was the point! We did not have time to worry about all that might go wrong.
This scenario isn’t very different from what happens with new internet marketers, unfortunately most new internet marketers spend way too much time thinking about what to do, what could go wrong, how they could fail, don’t set any goals and don’t have a trusted mentor/instructor to follow.
At some point, after getting a base of knowledge and/or finding a good mentor, you just have to go for it. Yes, you might fail and flip your raft over, but you learn from your mistakes and move forward. Failing is not easy, but just like the other 5 people in my raft, you are not alone. Even your mentor will fail, they just know how to recover quicker and make adjustments.
Here is a key point. Get good at one thing before you jump to the next thing.
Most out there never really get any good at one specific thing. They distract themselves over and over again. They continue to be only 10% good at a ton of things, but never 90% good at one, very specific, thing…10% good is not good enough. Eric Louviere
Your 90% good can be in PPC, website design, copywriting, driving free traffic, whatever you choose. The key here is once you are 90% good at it, there are a bunch of people out there that are 10% good at it and would love to partner with you or pay for your skill.
We went over that waterfall, scared but excited. One man fell out, but we all agree it was the ride of our lives…. Climb in your raft, find a mentor to help you paddle and TAKE ACTION! Give yourself permission to fail because you will. Look at it like discovering the things that don’t work, so you are that much closer to success.
I challenge you to find within the next two weeks the one thing you are going to be 90% good at and stick with it until you are successful. Leave me comments on what you have picked and your progress.
I really appreciate that you keep coming back to my site, it's loyal people like you that make what I do worth it. If you have any questions feel free to email me. Oh and since you obviously like our site it'd be great if you could share it with a friend... They'll love you for it!
{ 11 comments }
Hey Leslie,
This an amazing parallel between white water rafting and internet marketing. I have to agree 100%. Sometimes you have to just go for it and not worry about the bad things that could happen. Focus on the end result and all of the good that most likely will come out of it.
I guess my one thing that I am good at is blogging. I know wordpress, html, php, css, plugins, etc. I can build blogs and I can teach people how to build blogs. That’s my thing and that’s what I’m focusing on.
Matt Wolfe´s last blog ..Sneaky Marketing Tricks
Good to hear from you again Matt. And your blog shows that you are indeed good at blogging. You provide some great content.
Leslie,
I totally agree with your post. I live it every day! I recently found a group to help mentor me and I am learning one part of Internet Marketing, becoming an affiliate marketer. I am now 1 week in and cruising along.
Pam´s last blog ..Affiliate Marketing. What is it anyway?
Good luck with your new mentorship. I know you will be successful. Good luck
Excellent post! I agree – it’s easy to get distracted and let fear keep you from taking action, but truth is: without action, you’re never going to get anywhere.
With that, I’m off to paddle.
Leslie, such great advice! The jack of all trades, master of none syndrome isn’t as powerful as focusing in on one specific thing and becoming a powerhouse at it, and ‘focus’ is key.
Just like your rafting example, going through the fear and the struggles is what builds character and makes you stronger, falling out of a raft is tough, failing is tough but look what you learn from that!
Ms. Liz, character building can be rough but everyone goes through it in one thing or another. The rush of success, even small victories, is worth it. And when you keep at it, the small victories increase in size.
Traci, you are right, as long as you are paddling, you’re making progress towards your goals.
Great advice!
I completely agree that jumping around without specializing in anything doesn’t amount to anything!
Take Care
Love and Light
Maggie´s last blog ..Why I Love Affiliate Marketing – Part 2
Unfortunately, a lot of people do jump around at first looking for the silver bullet to make them instant cash…which they never find. Hopefully this article will get them focused quicker.
Hei from Norway Leslie,
Having been born and raised in WA state I was right with you sharing that raft journey. Great weaving of your experience with the internet marketing world, a compelling read as the wonderful comments highlight.
“List Building” will our primary focus and focus of conversation at our blog, will anyone here float that one with us?
T. Owen with Internet Marketing Success´s last blog ..Who is Alex Jefferys?
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