One of the great sales pitches used online is the ability to “make money while you sleep.”  There is some truth in that statement because of the nature of the industry. You can make while you sleep, but only if you spend your waking hours setting up the systems that will enable you to do this.

What I have observed is that most people with money make their money while other people sleep. That is to say that they work for it. The people with money are taking action while many of sleep – or watch TV, or are involved in other forms of recreation.

One of things that never ceases to amaze me is the mental aptitude (or lack of it) with a lot of successful people. They were not the smartest kids in school, in fact many of them dropped out of school at an early age. They may have successful businesses, even serial successful business, and yet talking to them you might wonder how they did it.

They all have one thing in common. They took action.

While others discussed the pros and cons, or thought someone should do it, these are the people who went out and did it. They learned as they went, they failed, they got back up and tried again. Eventually, it paid off for them. Yes, I know that some people took a different route and got University degrees, corporate jobs, and eventually bought a company or started their own, but they seem to be the minority.

People who are successful in this life tend to be action takers. All the knowledge in the world will do you no good unless you take action. You can attend as many courses, seminars, programs as you can afford and it will do you no good at all unless you go out and take action on the information you learn.

Another interesting thing about these successful people is that they don’t wait until they know everything there is to know about something before they take action. Yes it pays to some due diligence before launching into a venture, but there is nothing like on-the-job training to accelerate the learning process. The key is to be able to learn from your mistakes, and learn quickly. Don’t keep repeating the same mistake hoping for a different outcome. Find a way to fix it.

Don’t fear mistakes. Many people are afraid to do something in case they fail. Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb, is credited with this quote when questioned about his failures “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”  He did not invent the theory behind the lightbulb, but he set about creating a system that could be reproduced  where electricity generated light. He did not look at the early attempts as failures, rather as narrowing the options. When he exhausted all the methods that wouldn’t work he knew he would be left with the way that would!

Another quote attributed to Edison is “everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.” Or put another way “Great ideas originate in the muscles.” Edison knew well that success required action. People who took massive action were the only ones reaping massive rewards.

The world has changed since the days of Edison, but the principles of success have not. If you want to be more successful than those around you, you have to take more action than they do. Make money while others sleep.

A Business Plan In Time Will Save You Nine (Thousand Dollars Or More).

The following forum post is all too common with people starting out online.

I know where the poster is coming from – I have been there too.

What I wish someone had told me before I was in that position:

Making money online is no different to making money offline. You have to develop a business plan. Take your time and get this part of the process right or you will waste a lot of money.

Once you know what your goal is, and you have a plan to get to that goal, then you can start investing in programs and tools to expedite your journey. Do not buy anything (no matter how good or how much hype surrounds it) unless you understand exactly how it will fit into your business plan. Do not change your business plan to accommodate such purchases as this will cause you to deviate from your goal.

The gentleman in the above post had all the right motives for taking the action he did, but he didn’t have a plan in place to begin with. He is now in the position of having no disposable income to promote the business that he has just bought into. If he had a plan in place he may have chosen a slightly different route. After all, there is a lot a person can do with the $10,000 to $25,000 that he has most likely invested in the tools mentioned (depending at which level he bought into the programs).

It doesn’t matter how good the program/tool is, if it isn’t the right fit for your talents and expertise it will not benefit you at all. Just because your neighbor achieved success with it does not guarantee you will. Fully investigate how these things work before you buy in. If they will not explain the mechanics of the system upfront then keep shopping, there are many systems and business opportunities to choose from.

It is better to have “missed out” on a great deal (as the marketing will tell you) than to have spent all your money on a great deal that will give you a zero return on your investment. I have seen many cases where people have been encouraged to buy into programs using Other People’s Money as a “leveraging tool” only to find themselves paying off a huge credit card debt with no extra money coming in. It can literally take years to recover from these situations (or worse still, it can bankrupt a person).

Unfortunately, there are all too many predators out there wanting to relieve you of your money. Not all of these people are sharks who enjoying preying on the weak and gullible, many are those who were taken in and have no other way out but to recruit others and collect a commission.

If you are reading this before you have made these mistakes, remember:

• Set your goal.
• Create a business plan (get help with this if you have not done it before).
• Stick to the plan – do not get side tracked even if it means missing out on a once in a life time opportunity.
• Only buy tools/programs if you know exactly how they will benefit your plan (and you have the skills to apply them).

Please don’t let me see you making forum posts like the one above!

Modern Day Gold Rush

As an excellent example of the fact that we learn nothing from history is the Make Money Online exploitation that occurs on the internet.

Thousands of people sign up to the many courses being launched every month.  Some of the courses costing hundreds of dollars and some even costing thousands of dollars.

But just as in days gone by when people rushed to the gold fields it is not the miners that get rich but the store keepers and publicans.  One or two miners strike it rich by fluke just to keep the frenzy building.

Online it is no different. Every now and then someone breaks through and makes thousands of dollars “while they sleep.”  However, for everyone that succeeds there are thousands who fail miserably.  One thing is for sure, those “store keepers” and “publicans” of the Internet Marketing world are getting rich.

It is a sad sight to behold these people flocking to their slaughter. Investing money they don’t have to buy a product that will underwhelm them by its results.  Yet they will not be deterred. They have read the advertising that clearly states they will get rich quick if they own that course.

Please, do yourself a favour and stop chasing the gold at the end of the internet rainbow.  Most people will never recover the cost of their latest course, much less make money online.

“Don’t raise your eyebrow at me”

Said a previous boss to me one day after he had explained our project for the day.

I didn’t realize it was that obvious at that time. But since then I pay more attention to my subconscious displays of disbelief.

What sparked this comment?

Glad you asked.

I got a “Dear Dean McNamara” email from Squidoo HQ today. It wasn’t sent to just anyone.  No, it was sent to the select top 3% of squidoo lens masters.

The intent of the email was suggest that if I wasn’t happy with my Squidoo income I should have a look at the linked lens of tips.

Why should that raise my eyebrow?

Well given that I make approximately $1.50 from lenses each month, sometime is a little more, sometimes a little less, and because I got the email, I must be in the “top 3%” this holds out little hope that the other 97% of Squidoo lensmasters are making much money.

I figured out very early in the game that the effort required to make a living from Squidoo would be far better invested in my own sites – after all, why split the revenue with Squidoo? So I am not too concerned if I make money or not from my lenses – they are there for other purposes.

However, there are a lot of people joining up to Squidoo on an ongoing basis thinking they are going to make money online and be able to achieve this or that. The fact is, I am supposedly in the top 3% and I make $1.50 a month.

So don’t hold your breath is all I am saying …

Alternatively, I might not be as “select” as they suggested. In which case I am thinking that tactic has the potential to backfire. After all, if the majority of people are making similar wages as I am (and I suspect they are, judging by my lens rankings) then they will now think that there is no money to be made from Squidoo and will likely give up.

I wonder which scenario is true …