I receive a lot of feedback from people who have read my books and used my information products. Much of that feedback is positive. There\’s nothing better than reading an email from someone who\’s doubled their AdSense income after reading my book or picked up more clients after using Twitter. It lets me feel like I\’m really making a difference.
But I also receive a fair amount of comments from people who have read my books and are still struggling. Their online revenues might have risen but not as much as they wanted them to. They tweet every day but no one seems to be listening. Their merchant sites sell a few products here and there but not enough to generate meaningful profits.
It\’s a difference that always gets me thinking. Why do some online entrepreneurs succeed while others complain that they\’re running uphill?
I think that expectation has a lot to do with it. So many marketers have said that the Internet is a place to make easy money that some people have come to believe it. They expect to put in a weekend or two\’s work, then resign from their 9-5 at the end of the month. When that doesn\’t happen, when they discover that the Internet is an open opportunity not an open bag of gold, that they\’re going to have to start at the bottom, put up with low income initially, and work hard to push those revenues up, they become disillusioned.
There\’s nothing I can do about that.
If success was easy, everyone would have it.
Internet opportunity is available to anyone who wants to make use of it. But it\’s not fast and it\’s not effort-free. There may be months — or even longer — when the return on the hours you put in is lower than the amounts you usually earn in a similar amount of time.
That should change eventually. Keep going and there should come a time when the site has enough momentum for new revenues to add to current income.
In the meantime though, you have to put up with lower incomes in the same way that an entry-level employee has to endure low pay while he or she learns the ropes.
That\’s why it\’s important to choose a topic you enjoy writing about. You can do it in your spare time without feeling that you\’re making a sacrifice, and you\’ll be more likely to keep going through those initial hard months. Then I\’ll really look forward to your feedback.