A member asked me an interesting question the other day.
He asked, “why don’t you just retire?”
My immediate response was this …
I’m not going to retire until I have helped ALL the people I can possibly help!
And yes, that means I don’t plan to retire, ever.
In fact, I can say with Zig Ziglar that I won’t retire but I will RE-FIRE!
You see, I’m fired up about my business. Always have been.
Don’t get me wrong, there have been days when I’d have sold the entire thing for a really good glass of sweet tea!
But those days are far and few between.
If your online business is getting you down, here are five ways you can turn that frown upside down almost immediately.
1 – Drink the Kool-Aid
Sounds funny, right?
That phrase has been distorted by a cynical generation to mean a bad thing.
I think it means something good.
It means you believe, truly believe, in what you are doing.
And with that belief can come one of the main attributes you need to succeed … the ability to press on even when things are not going well yet.
Notice the yet, because it makes all the difference.
While anyone can quit, it is an exceptional person who recognizes that every success has been built on many failures.
No airplane reaches its destination without many course corrections.
But does the pilot go back to the airport every time the plane slips off course?
No!
He or she corrects course and keeps moving forward!
This is how we must think to succeed online.
2 – Focus on customer success
Even if you are an affiliate marketer, you need to focus on customer success.
Ziglar was right – you can get everything you want by helping others get what they want.
The secret to this is simply to be available to your customer.
- Stay in touch after the sale.
- Offer helpful suggestions.
- Where appropriate, help them accomplish their goals.
While you are not responsible for their success, you are responsible for fulfilling what you promised.
Do that consistently, even if you don’t do it perfectly, and your customers will love you.
3 – Use what you promote
I can’t stress the importance of this enough.
Find a product you use, and one you love, and promote that product as soon as you can.
The reason this works so well is simple – you come from a place of authenticity when you promote this way.
When you promote things you use and love, you can share stories of how the product made your life better or tips to use the product, and more.
Promoting products you know and love gives your marketing the power of the advocate.
And there is almost no stronger power than that.
Steve Jobs knew this.
He pretty much invented the idea of having “brand evangelists”, going so far as to hire them to do nothing but make Apple look good.
4 – Set written goals
Yes, written goals. It has been proven many times that written goals are accomplished more often than other goals.
Your online business is a business.
- It’s not a hobby.
- It’s not a dream.
- It’s not a fantasy.
- It’s a business.
You run your online business just like you would a furniture store or a car dealership or an ice cream shop. (Now I want ice cream!)
You don’t need an MBA to succeed wildly with an online business. But you do need a plan of action.
Click here to get my plan of action.
Having your own plan, and having that plan be in writing, will give you the motivation you need to truly succeed online.
As you begin checking off tasks and seeing results, your enthusiasm will swell to new heights.
And soon you will be mentoring others, which is the greatest privilege.
5 – Stop trying
Now that just sounds wrong! Stop trying indeed!
Here’s what I mean …
Stop giving things a try to “see how it will work out”.
Yoda said it best … “Do. Or do not. There is no try.”
It’s a silly quote from a sci-fi movie that carries amazing truth.
- The people who succeed online are committed,
- They are determined,
- They persevere until they succeed.
- They improvise, adapt and overcome.
If you are thinking that you don’t have those attributes, think again.
- If you can drive a car, you have what it takes.
- If you ever taught a child to tie a shoe, you have what it takes
. If you have ever succeeded at anything, you have what it takes.
I say that because each of those things took learning, adapting, failing, and then ultimately succeeding. That’s the process of life and of business.
Consider these five ways carefully.
For in them you will find the seeds of success that, when planted in the good soil of your mind, will lead to a harvest that is bigger than you can now imagine.
Thanks for reading.
