Archive for the ‘Success Mindset’ Category

So I’m smack dab in the middle of a massive project – not to mention the other smaller plates I have spinning in the air, when someone emails me asking if I want to partner up and relaunch one of my sites. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for awhile now (more videos, member area, etc.), but haven’t done. This would allow me to have someone else do much of the part I was missing.

I agree to move forward into the discovery phase to see what we plan to do and domains are being bought left and right (by the other person). Graphics start popping up for me to see (and they weren’t the caliber I was used to).

Suddenly I wake up at 3 AM one night hearing screeching brakes (in my head). What was I doing?????

I know how to achieve these tasks myself. I know how to do a membership area using amember. I know how to do videos, albeit maybe not as fancy as others. I was about to shut down my domain that I’d worked hard to elevate for a couple of years and brand and start from scratch!? Plus lose 50% of my business because I couldn’t make time to take care of what needed to be done.

I emailed saying I wanted to go slower and think this through. You HAVE to listen to your gut and not rush things just because they sound good or in this case, easier. I didn’t know this person at all, and he’s probably a really nice guy. And I was about to fork over my business that had increased my salary by $20k or more each more per year due to time management issues and the fact that sales have slowed down.

I know WHY they’ve slowed – my offering lacks video tutorials, which my competitors have. But my product is the best (IMO) and kept up to date. All I have to do is carve out time to make it all inclusive. And I will.

Listen to your gut. Don’t rush or try taking the easy way out.
Tiff

Groan! I screwed up big time. I bought a product and was so excited about what it was about that I started working immediately – after only reading through the introductory PDF and watching the first video (out of many).

So where did this enthusiasm land me?

In the land of wasted time. I realized when I finally sat down to watch more that I didn’t know what I was doing – I hadn’t bothered to learn the step by step – just the overall broad idea – and everything I did was wrong.

Many people suffer from a lack of action taking. Not me! I’m in all directions, doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that. That’s just as bad, trust me. I still got nowhere.

Lesson to learn:

When you buy a product, take time to thoroughly go through it. Don’t be a smarty pants like me and think you’ll know what you’re doing – you bought it for a reason! Someone else was doing something better than you do it. Learn from them.

Tiff

Very few people aren’t plagued by procrastination. They’re the few blessed people who don’t let time drag on until it’s too late to get back. Not me. I’m a procrastinator and I’m not proud of it.

Do you ever intend to complete a task but it gets put off until tomorrow and then tomorrow turns into a week later? I hate it when that happens. Procrastination can disguise itself as rationalization.

You can rationalize that there were reasons why you couldn’t complete a task, like you didn’t have the time, the money, or the knowledge. The kids were sick, the dog ran off, or your hard drive had a melt down.

It’s okay if this is an occasional occurrence, but don’t let it become a habit. You don’t want procrastination to become a permanent fixture in your life. You know you’re a procrastinator if you would rather check email every five minutes than get to work, if you’d rather see what Perez Hilton is saying than work on your article marketing, or if you’d prefer to play Tetris online than update your sale copy.

If you have to, give yourself a cookie once you complete a task. Doesn’t have to be a cookie – it can be a reward of a non-food nature, but you get the point. Bribe yourself – it may help you get over the bad habit that procrastination brings on.

If you procrastinate because you lack direction in your online business, then get organized first and create a to-do list that reads from most important to least important.

If you procrastinate because something seems overwhelming, then turn it into bite-sized pieces. For example, I’m working on a mammoth 300-page book right now. I created my Table of Contents, but now I’m working on each chapter as if it’s an individual eBook. Makes it easier that way.

Are you afraid of failure? Most people say no, but I know that’s not true. If you try an online business and fail, it’s going to be hurtful. You may have to crawl back to a corporate gig and tell your spouse or in-laws that you couldn’t succeed. Yikes!

Still, it’s no reason to procrastinate because if you do, you’ll SURELY fail.

Tiff

P.S. I myself love to check in at PerezHilton.com throughout the day – but I make myself take a 15-minute break for it so I don’t find myself giggling too long at all of his white-marker scribbles.

I get so many emails from people.

Some need help building lenses on Squidoo. Others want to know how to make their own eBook. Some just want guidance on how to “be an Internet marketer.”

And sometimes people share so much in their emails. Their struggles, their hopes, their dreams. I take time to read the emails. I reply to them myself.

And I get choked up. I understand the worry about money, the self doubt and fear that threatens to cripple you, and the worthlessness you sometimes feel while you’re still trying to make it online.

Please know that if you’re sititng there in your home staring at the computer screen reading all these tales of untold wealth, that everyone had times of struggle before they made it. You’re not alone. But don’t let the anxiety poison your passion and enthusiasm and DREAMS to make this real.

Remember, 8 years ago I was sitting here holding an infant in my arms who had RSV (a respiratory illness) and I was wondering how we would pay the bills because I was NOT going back to work. I was going to be a work at home mom.

Now I’m watching my healthy, happy kids play in the backyard and we’re planning what to do on our vacation this summer, not how we’re going to juggle bill collectors.

Dream it.

Then do it.

I’m here for you if you need to vent.

Tiff