It’s Thanksgiving Day as I am writing this. I woke up earlier than usual and decided to look at my emails on my phone. It’s rare that I do this, but as it’s a holiday in the States I knew that there could be something interesting for me to read.
There were two emails from people I mentor, and I answered them back right away. Then there were a few marketing emails that I either saved or deleted. As I scrolled down further, I saw emails from people I hadn’t heard from in many months, and in one case, for over a year.
These email messages all have something in common: they are from people I either worked with in the past or had some connection with as an affiliate or in one of my courses. These are the people who were capable of great success as an online entrepreneur who successfully sabotaged their efforts.
This is the story of greatness and potential not fulfilled, and I do not want this to happen to you. What do these people all have in common? They are smart and creative and desirous of the lifestyle and income that is possible with an online business. They all had a dream to achieve great things in the niche they were drawn to initially, but who did not follow through with what it takes to be successful in any area of life.
I came online in 2006, after working as a classroom teacher in the inner city of Los Angeles for twenty years. I’d had injury and illness during the last few years and decided it was time for a change in my life experience. I also worked in real estate as a broker and residential appraiser during these years, as that was the work I had been doing before I returned to college to earn my teaching credential and I realized I would need that income as well.
The online world was very different from what I had imagined. I had begun joining people’s email list and purchasing some products and courses while I was still teaching full-time and working in real estate on a part-time basis, but once I left that life behind in an attempt to build and grow a business exclusively online, the shoe was on the other foot. This wasn’t going to be an easy as I had imagined.
But I was committed to making this new business work, so I dove into the deep end of the entrepreneurial pool and began swimming with all of my might.
Everything took longer than I had thought it would. The technology was very different from what I had done in the classroom, where I had been considered “the computer person” and I’m not sure why this surprised me. And the writing… that was going to be my biggest challenge of all.
As Dorothy told Toto in The Wizard of Oz, I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. This was the real world and I had lots of catching up to do if I were to achieve my goals and the dreams that went along with them.
I was focused every day for several hours. The learning curve was a steep one for me, but spending time writing each day – I challenged myself to write one hundred articles in one hundred days, and did this in just 78 days! – improved what I could write and how it was written in a satisfying way. I recommended the people, products, and programs I was purchasing and benefiting from and began earning income as an affiliate marketer.
It took me eighteen months to replace the income I had been earning in real estate and an a classroom teacher, which was approximately $125 – $150 thousand a year. Soon after, I began mentoring people who wished to follow in my footsteps. The ones who took action on what I was teaching them saw results and others who decided this lifestyle wasn’t for them stepped away.
In 2009 I published my first book about my experiences with earning huge profits from my tiny email list of just a few hundred people. I also won the “Better Your Best” contest for improving my business and the Grand Prize was $25,000 in cash.
More people came in to my mentoring program as a result and as my experience increased, so did my ability to help people succeed. This is when I began to understand why many people succeeded while others did not.
Those who were willing to delay their gratification for a year in order to set up their business in a way that would allow them to build and grow over the next several years did very well. Those who insisted on continuing the schedule they had before coming online struggled and finally gave up. Allow me to explain what I mean here in greater detail…
I recommended that if someone had even one child under age eighteen in their care, they wait to jump in full-time with their online business, or else to begin on a part-time basis.
I also recommended regular family meetings with the people in their household and other family members they interacted with on a regular basis. It is very important to share what you’re doing online with those close to you so they have a better understanding of what is required in terms of time, effort, learning, and taking action if you are to succeed.
At one of my early family meetings, one person said they were glad I wouldn’t have to miss any family events any longer. I quickly corrected her and said that I would still miss most of the things I had been unable to participate in while I was teaching and working part-time in real estate for the first year of getting my business off the ground. Everyone told me they understood and we continued to have these family meetings during that year.
This enabled them to understand not only what I was working on each day, but also to see the work that was involved. When they saw me in front of my computer they knew that I wasn’t surfing the internet but was most likely writing to my email list, blogging, creating products and courses, and connecting with people in my courses, my mentees, and my colleagues.
Herein lies the dilemma of many people who come online: they believe they can continue to work at a job, be fully involved with friends and family events, and still be successful as an entrepreneur. Their online work comes last and typically they are too tired to do their best.
If they had skipped the picnic on Saturday that went on for four hours, or only stayed at the barbecue for a friend’s birthday for one hour instead of all day, or asked another family member to do something that would take several hours after work, the time they would have invested in their business that week would have significantly made a difference.
As I read through even more email messages I saw one from a creative and talented woman whom I helped to start a printables business several years ago. Today she was promoting one of the three products she has created over the years, instead of having an entire online store filled with her gorgeous designs if she had followed my once a month or even a once every six weeks schedule we planned together.
And there was another one from a man who wanted to create digital courses teaching various aspects of technology and artificial intelligence based on his experience and expertise, but today he recommending a $10 package of private label (PLR) rights content instead of anything of his own. The last email I received from him was five months ago.
I’m hoping some of what I am sharing with you here today will resonate with you. You can achieve any goals you set for yourself with income and time freedom, as long as you’re willing to give yourself the gift of time to get everything set up during your early months online.
And your family members may even surprise you by being even more supportive than you had hoped for with your new endeavor. And my wish for them is to follow in your footsteps, as many of my family members have with their own online businesses.
I’m bestselling USA Today and Wall Street Journal author Connie Ragen Green. My goal is to help at least a thousand people to reach six-figures and beyond with an online business. Come along with me, if you will and let us discover how we may further connect to achieve all of your dreams and goals. Asking your family members to support you as you get your business off the ground and up and running profitably will make a difference.
Leave a Reply