Worsening Cases of Information Overload
November 8th, 2009 | 
Author: Information overload for budding online entrepreneurs was always bad but lately it’s gotten worse. I know the reason, too. It’s the recession. Successful marketers – everyone took a hit. But it also opened the doors for a new desperate group of individuals who had been laid off, etc., who needed to buy products to find a way to make money at home.
Now there’s nothing wrong with teaching people this – I encourage people to learn it myself – because it helps take the edge off when you work for yourself and have a nice residual income going (like I showed you on my 30 day off journey) and don’t have to rely on a boss to keep you on staff.
But here’s what’s happening:
Your email inbox is probably flooded with offers for “recession proof” business opportunities. If you’re desperate, it makes you feel more panicked – like you need every single one of those guides so you don’t drown, when that’s actually what’s happening to you all along.
I was emailing back and forth with one woman about her situation and what I discovered is that we spend a lot of time talking about plans for her. What she needs to do. What she’s going to do. What will be done in the future. It sounded like she was depressed. She had so much to do that she didn’t know how to get going. I told her to give her mind and body some time to rest and get ready to gear up for some WORK.
Here’s some more of what I told her:
“Re: emails – why not unsubscribe from everyone? Just SEEING it can get depressing, seriously. It makes you feel like everyone’s hustling and you’re a snail – even if you’re not. There’s NO need to be subscribed. If you want, bookmark their blogs and check in on YOUR timeline to see what’s going on. Trust me, you have enough info to succeed. You know what it reminds me of? When Lucy and Ethel are working in the candy line and the candy keeps coming faster and faster and faster – they can’t handle it.”
(She was also feeling overwhelmed because she’d signed up to PayDotCom and saw a ton of OTOs and felt panicked that she didn’t take them). So I said:
“I never do the OTOs myself. I figure I’ll use the product first and if I really need it, I’ll get it later and Filsaime hits hard with emails (and phone calls UGH). But I put up with it to use PDC.
Now I want to put my hands on your shoulders (virtually of course) and shake something into you. You think too much.
Yes I said it. LOL
You’re too contemplative – trying to make sure you’re doing the right thing and not doing the wrong thing and making sure you have the RIGHT knowledge. If I were you, I wouldn’t attend one more teleseminar, webinar, book signing or anything until I got ass in gear and got a WHOLE checklist of tasks done.
Make a task list. Spend up to 1 week on it. Tasks that you need to do to make money – ie:
1.) Get new price structure in place
2.) Get 14 blog posts queued up to my blog
3.) Create a Squidoo lens for your product – whatever
4.) Write 5 articles for EzineArticles.com
Get the task list FIRST. Then take a day off to do NOTHING. Not even think.
Then work on task 1. Task 2 Task 3 etc.
Your REWARD for getting so much productivity done is to be able to attend a webinar or whatever you want (buy a product etc) to take you to the NEXT level.
You’ll feel MUCH better about everything once you’re VERY productive and seeing results.
Just tackle this thing as if it was a fulltime job. Would your boss let you surf around looking for stuff to buy/think about/play with? No. He’d want concrete results – “What did you do today?”
You’re your own boss – make yourself answer to her.
tiff 
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Posted in Internet Marketing
Tiff
Great advice. I did the same thing so many times. Some of the things were absolutely great information and tools. But it takes a lot of time to try this, read that, create and test this. You spend so much time trying these thing that you find at the end you have accomplished nothing.
I agree with Tiff, we need to delete it or move it to a document file away from my desktop and go back to what I started to do.
Thanks Tiff
Rich M
Great post Tiff. This speaks directly to me and, I suspect, a lot of other women. I don’t know why we are so hard on ourselves. Your line “you think too much” was written directly for me! Much needed kick! Thanks for the tough love.
Susan
Tiff great post. You learn so much by doing. It wasn’t until I stopped learning and started doing that I really started making money online.
I know for me one thing that kept me back was the fear of success…I would think, what if this really works? then what? sounds weird but true.
Nothing happens until you get out of your comfort zone. When you are uncomfortable that’s when things happen! Trust me.
Tiffany,
Yes I have noticed this myself. Also is the number of first time “payment plans” for the high priced courses.
In the past I have experienced that regret or whatever the feeling is, as though missing out on something if didn’t take advantage of the OTO’s but I got over it.
What I found that helped me was to educate myself on our human behavior. I read Robert Cialdini’s book, ‘The Psychology of Persuasion’ this helped me and made me realize what was going on and gave added power to resist the temptation.
I would recommend to anyone in any type of sales or marketing to read Cialdini’s book or any books by Kevin Hogan. In cases like this knowledge is power.
My name is Darwin and that’s my theory.
I absolutely agree with you Tiff. In fact, each evening before quitting for the day, I write down all the tasks I want to do the next day. And then I do it!
And if I’m too busy, I will only read my emails 3Xs a day. That cuts down my distractions and keeps me focused on my tasks.
Matt
Great article its so true!!!
Uh-huh.
Distractions can be fatal to you business health.
Nice post, Tiffany.
Tiffany,
Great post! Also, I find a lot of Marketers have a difficult time making the move from a “Wage Earner” to simple method of just working on growing their business.
Internet Marketing is a simple business, but not easy. Building a squeeze page and drive traffic to it is much too simple for a college graduate to swallow.
Jimmy Clark
ZMG group
Hi Tiff -
Boy did you hit the nail on the head! Even though I have (finally) figured out what is going on it is still sometimes hard to resist some of those “must have” offers and get going with what I already have. I have started unsubscribing to many of the never ending sales pitches but I always open your emails. I know that when you do recommend something I can trust that it is a quality product, as are all of your own products, several of which I have purchased and have found very useful and well written.
My 2010 resolution is to finally get my online business going using my current resources.
Thanks for all your help!
It’s not just hard for a new business person. A seasoned entreprenuer can also fall victim to this. Trust me, I’ve been there, done that.
There is always something more to learn
What has helped me get over this is the saying…”the job will always expand to the time alloted.”
Each day, I schedule 2 hours of productive time. And productive time is only that part of your business which will produce income.
So if it doesn’t produce income, it doesn’t get done in that 2 hours.
Newbie or olbie (hey I coined a new term) should always be asking themselves…”is what I’m doing now going to produce income.”
If not, postpone the task. Bet you’ll find out you don’t need to do it.
Judith
P.S. If after awhile you increase your productive time, guess what will happen to your income.
Hey, Tiff,
You NAILED it with this post!.
The human brain gets hit with 4 billion bits of information every day. Then, it has to sort through all that and identify just what–exactly–is relevant.
It’s tough. No wonder good people stall out.
It’s almost impossible to go through one’s inbox without adding a ton of even more info to that already 4 bil bits.
As well, doing simple research sometimes can be a chore…just so much to sort out.
Your advice is awesome!
Ive been through ebook empire several times. I have my ebook written and 3 bonus books.
Lewis smile has been paid to do a blog for me, and minisitesbee has been paid to build my mini site. I have 3 domain names and host gator hosting.
I see it as, NO RISK NO REWARD.
I’m just not sure how to link both together, set it up with click bank and have the thank you page, and product link made.
Which of your books do you recommend I read as a followup to e book empire to get me to the next level?
I unsubscribed to all the mind clutter offers a week ago.
I need to learn Squidoo, I tried building 2 lenses with not knowing what I was doing and they both were locked the same day, why I don’t know, so I just deleted them and canceled the account.
I started watching potpie girl, but her price was too steep, im not gambler on people I don’t know.
So until I can get trough all of your books , i dont need to take on any other peoples things to read.
I have started writing file full of articles, for blog posts and ezine when the time comes.
I had to come to NC form Ohio In Nov, to help my mam in the hosp, and when i got back to Ohio i was fired. So i live in NC and looking for a job, and i see this a perfect time to finish what i started in ohio.
So anyone got any advice for a beginner to get the ball rolling
Thanks Tim
Hey Tim – I’m gonna email you. The linking and ClickBank stuff is in the eBook – maybe you have an outdated version? I’ll email you in a sec.
LOL — I did just what you said. I unsubscribed from almost all my subscriptions. Of course i haven’t unsubscribed from yours…. yet
Buck
lol Hope I’m not next Buck
Sometimes I read your blog to seriously maintain my ‘sanity’! Thank you and keep well!
Love from Giselle
Excellent. One problem: if I unsubscribe to EVERYTHING, I’d have missed this post.
The answer, for me, is unsub to all those who can’t seem to deliver anything to my mailbox but more sales pitches.
Hi, Tiffany,
I think I need to print this post and plaster it to the wall next to my monitor! I keep getting off track. On a good note, I got my first Amazon.com payment ever in December! It was only $11, but the amount isn’t as important as the fact that I got it. I know that what I am doing is working, I just need to ramp it up and increase my traffic to get there. Thank you to you and to BTF for this small success. Without you both, I would not have made it this far. Still have a long way to go, though. I’ll be following your blog to help me keep perspective on what needs to be done to get there. Thanks again!
Kinda off the subjec:
What is “Launch Jacking”?
Thanks
Bob
Hi Tiff,
I agree completely. About a year ago I had that realization too. It was hard to do (kinda like breaking an addiction), but one morning I just came to my computer and unsubscribed from everything I could find. And daily as stuff came in, I kept unsubscribing.
At first it felt like I was “free falling”. It was scary. But at a certain point it started to be fun and feel good.
The next morning I booted up my computer and there was nothing in my inbox. Everything was sooooo “quiet”. Something felt so odd to me.
Then I realized that by unsubscribing it was totally quiet, and instead of having ‘not enough time’ — I suddenly had tons of time on my hands. I had a huge void of time to actually do the actions in my business that needed to be done.
It’s hard to imagine how much time and thought all those emails take up until they are not there.
I have one qualifier here. Before I started unsubscribing I decided “who” I was going to follow. I picked my mentor, so to speak. I “choose” who I wanted to get email from, so I could focus on just that “one” source of communication when I needed help. But everyone else temporarily got the boot.
I have made more progress in my business since then than ever before. It was so refreshing and put me back in control.
Debbie McNeely
We do a lot of talking about how important taking action is, and for the most part I agree.
However … taking the RIGHT action, or I should say the action that is right for YOU and YOUR needs/wants/desires, is far more important.
The mail order “how to make money” niche has been active since the printing press was invented, I believe. I have a book by a gentleman who, during the great depression, sold reports he called treatises. As I read it, I realized that the only thing that has changed, really, is that now we call a treatise an ebook and we sell it online. It’s still information marketing.
The thing to remember is this: there is a legitimate reason why 90% or so won’t implement what’s in an ebook, and most of those reasons are good ones involving recognition of one’s abilities, desires, and resources. (Not the woman in your story, Tiff, I agree that she needed to focus on some action steps and do things. I’m speaking more generally.)
If people would just stop responding to advertisements that start out with how much money you can make instead of what you’ll be doing or what skills and investments are required, they might have a chance of finding those tools and resources that would actually help them accomplish what they are wanting to accomplish. Sadly, however, I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.
My opinion here; your collective mileage may vary of course. Thanks for reading.
Awesome advice. I unsubscribed from just about everyone a few weeks ago (well, except here of course!). The inbox looks cleaner, and it’s much easier to manage without temptation to waste money on something that will tell me something I already know!
Gotta love that ‘unsubscribe’ button! You are so right – if you don’t know what’s new on then you don’t get panicked into buying it!
I’m going to clean out my email box right now. I’ve known I had to do this for a long while, but that Lucy and Ethel image just drove it home for me. I was actually depressed this weekend thinking about how to organize all the stuff I’ve bought or downloaded or subscribed to recently.
I’m inundated with information that I can’t do anything with because I’m too busy spinning my wheels. Time to slow down the conveyor belt!
Tiffany-
Although your post was first published back in 2009, it is still very valuable, timely and pertinent information. I recently unsubscribed from several lists. When they asked for a reason I just said I was “Spring cleaning”. Enough said.
You have one of the few lists I wish to remain on. I recently picked up your PLR-ATM course, and that is where my concentration will be. It may take me awhile to get up and running due to some financial constraints at the moment, but I will get there!
I’m tired of my brain flip flopping all over the internet marketing world. No wonder I’m so darned tired all the time!
Take care!
Cindi
Tiff – THANK YOU! I love learning, really love it, and I love trying new things.
Right now I have your PLR ATM course, I have a few adsense sites (just got my first $100 check!), a few affiliate sites starting to generate some sales, and I subscribed to Peter Spaepen’s new NanoBiz membership. (He’s a good marketer, like you, and I know I’ll learn a lot.)
But – I have so many projects in play that I’m not doing any of them really well. You seem to do so much in the course of a day and take care of your family — how do you do it? I would LOVE to spend a day with you, understanding how you navigate through everything that a day encompasses.
I just snagged “Action Enforcer” for under $30. I’m going to start by creating tasks (income producing first) w/time blocks and try to kick some productive mo jo into gear.
Thanks for this post – I needed it!
~Kate
Kate I like to build on my projects. I try to showcase my day to show people how I do a bit of everything each day (normally).
This does happen to everyone – myself included. It is like a new drug – you want to do it everyday, but of the rush (or promises), you can’t say no – until you realize it is causing more harm than good. So, you try to quit cold turkey. There will be relapses, but eventually you know to just say no!
The first thing she needs to do is get a plan. Period. What does she want to do? Then, only involve herself in things that will help facilitate her plan. She will still have failures and even take a couple steps back.
What I think helps me more than anything is something so simple. I write own in a daily planner my daily tasks. Not just have a plan, but WRITE it down. Amazing how that little tip keeps me on track. I wish her the best of luck. It was great that you could advise her.
Hi Tiffany, I think most of us learn the hard way, and to be honest a lot of newbies don’t realize the hard work involved.
I’m over the moon today as one of my websites hit first page on google, without any quick fixes or magic potions. I simply did the legwork but it took 12 months. To all aspiring IMs out there,DON’T GIVE UP you will make it, Just do the work thanks tiffany
You are right on the money Tiff. Seasoned players (aka gurus) are literally giving away their old products for free, enticing new recruits to their membership programs with $1 trial offers, etc, etc. It’s a nightmare or a flood.
Quick Tip: If using gmail then the “create filter” option can be a time saver. When the first email arrives from each marketer (sender) create a filter to automatically send their mail to a named folder. Now instead of checking emails every day you can do this once a week or so and skim through all their mail in one sitting. Now decide if they are worth keeping or not.
Within a short time you should find 3-5 experienced marketers closely aligned to the particular business model you’ve chosen to follow from whom you can get the help/mentoring you need in your first year.