When I started my online business, there were plenty of times that I wanted to quit. I actually remember uttering those words on a mastermind call, but it is just not in my character to quit. Despite what you seem to hear everywhere, there is not an EASY button. However, before you realize the truth, you kick yourself for not “getting it”. Today, I ran across two postings in forums that I frequent on this subject, so I thought I would share the dialog and perhaps it will help you.
Thinking of Throwing in the Towel…
The first posting was from a gal who had been in the forum over 2 years:
I’m seriously thinking about throwing in the towel guys. I’m so frustrated it’s not even funny. I have no idea what to do anymore. Maybe I’m in the wrong niche… I don’t know. What do I like, what are my interests, what are my hobbies? These are things I’ve thought about for years. I don’t have that many. I have a teen website and I enjoy talking to them and giving them advice. I love dolphins and I love being on the Internet. That’s about it. I’m not complex and very few things interest me. I’ve thought about quitting before, but I’ve never gone through with it. Something won’t let me. However, I’m definitely thinking about it now. I need a kick in the butt I suppose. What do you suggest?
Here was my answer to her:
Hey [named removed] — You know that you are free to quit at any moment on any day…. So why do it today? Postpone the decision until another day and then on that day ask yourself, “Why do it today?”
What did you do this weekend that was fun– that you got up excited to be doing it? Or maybe you did something that wasn’t planned but you thought you would definitely do that again. Even if it was a quiet lazy weekend, you chose to spend your time doing something versus something else.
That introspective look is filled with possibilities.
Maybe you are not a self-starter or you don’t like working alone or blank pages are your nemesis. How about finding a joint venture partner where you both get to do what you do best and enjoy doing not to mention great accountability. It doesn’t have to be anything big at first.
As for the teen site, I don’t think you have to have teens of your own to be successful, however you absolutely need to understand them just like you had them. You need to understand why they would listen to (or read) your advice versus someone else. Where are they getting their advice now? Who has their attention now? If you have a passion for this niche, it certainly could be a great challenge as a new wave of teenagers come along every year with the same problems but wrapped in a new language, buzz words and hot points.
3 Mega Niche Areas — 3 Too Many?
The next guy had a story very similar to mine in that he retired three years ago thinking that he could make a living on the Internet and over the last three years created sites in three different niches, promoted big launches, and hired coaches without much success. Part of his post was:
Finally, after going through my 3rd mentor & some personal coaching to no avail, I decided Self-Development with The Ongoing Mind was the 3rd niche area that was one too many.
I threw in the towel, or so I thought, and so I told my coach – that was in January of 2012. But by April, I was totally lost without my blogs! I simply did not know what else to do.
All 3 are back… sort of… plus a 4th, and another I’m a mentor for.
I’m hooked, but I’m also not succeeding. True, I am past the 7 cents per hour income mark that I used to joke about as I’m now at 10 cents per hour (no joke…).
So, thanks to [a NAMS instructor], I’m looking to MyNAMS to finally break me free of my restrictions. I learned a lot from the other programs, but the last 2 concentrated on offline marketing despite promises of affiliate marketing training. NAMS, as I understand it, will be the 1st one I’ve entered that is targeting Affiliate Marketing.
Let’s see if that is true. Get me on the right niche (old or new). I’m tired of failure!
You may be able to relate to this guy and so did I, so I answered…
I feel your pain! Seems that we retired about the same time but fortunately I found NAMS a few months later. Here’s the thing… you cannot abandon all your lifetime of experience and things that led to your success pre-retirement. Despite what everyone and their sister says, there is no EASY button. It’s just business. It may not require a huge investment like some businesses, but the road to success requires basic business and marketing principles along with technical know-how.
Here are just a few things that have helped me:
- Be valuable to a group of like-minded people also known as your target audience. We naturally did this in our offline business, but for some reason, we toss this aside when starting online.
- Don’t promote info products that you haven’t reviewed (or personally know the creator) and you think they are really good.
- Don’t try to sell what people need but rather sell them want they want and then include what they need (thank you Nicole). And just because YOU want it, doesn’t necessarily mean that enough other people want it (still working on this one)
- Identify your weaknesses early on and either joint venture or outsource those
- Attend live conferences to make valuable business connections
You say you were “lost” without your blogs. What is it about that you really missed? Was it the writing? the technology? Your true passion may be found in that answer. That’s how I found my path. Every time I took a course, I created a new site for it. It finally dawned on me that it was the web development/technology that got me jazzed. That revelation has led to a lot of different business areas for me.
Are you going to NAMS8 in Atlanta? I think you will really enjoy and get tremendous value from it.
If you are struggling with creating an online business and are frustrated and thinking of quitting, I hope you can get some inspiration from these posts. If you successfully got over the hump, I’d love to hear your suggestions to these two budding entrepreneurs.
