Do you remember when you first made the decision to become an internet marketer? Many of you will have felt the heady rush of quitting your boring 9-to-5 job in favor of starting afresh where the success or failure of your business rests squarely on your shoulders and yours alone; you are in control of your own destiny now! And you look at the financial gains which are virtually unlimited and the possibilities seem endless. It’s an exciting moment, to be sure… but are you still excited?
The problem is that far too many marketers end up treading down a road of frustration and drudgery; what happened to the path that was laid in gold?!? This causes them to burn out. They get discouraged as they hit an obstacle, or perhaps they get bored and lose interest; this is a problem with the instant gratification culture we live in today. Whatever the reason, it’s important to know how to get yourself back on track if you see yourself floundering or lacking motivation.
Many of your biggest obstacles will be mental: While you want to be constantly learning and getting smarter from your experiences, you don’t want to lose sight of your original vision and mindset. And don’t learn for learning’s sake; you should be implementing what you learn and not just keep learning more. Learn from your experiences whether they be success or failure and don’t let them make you overly cynical or worse, discourage you. Remember the excitement you felt about being your own boss. And remember how excited you felt about bringing your business/product/vision to the market and having a positive influence in peoples lives. Feel that way again and become that idealistic, go-getter again.
Never underestimate the power of routines to help nurture such mindsets. One of the biggest struggles with working for yourself is actually motivating yourself to do the work as there are so many distractions at home. Having a strict daily schedule in place can help you stay focused on the task at hand. Many productive people use their first few actions of the day as a psychological trigger to set them up for the rest of the day. For example, you might begin each day by walking your dog (or going for a stroll by yourself if you don’t have a pet), then brew your morning cup of tea/coffee before sitting down at your desk and writing your first 500 words of the day. Repeating your process each day can get you in the mood to work and it becomes a habit.
Don’t be afraid to expand or outsource tasks. This may be difficult at first if you have little spare capital but think of it as an investment; if yo. can get someone to do the tasks you hate then you can focus on those you enjoy and bring money into the business. Not long ago, article/content marketing was huge. But do you think that the people making serious money from it were spending every waking hour glued to the keyboard? No, these people quickly hired writers to allow them to capitalize on the opportunity and grow (and profit) quickly. Alternatively they may have started a large writing outfit to cater to the marketers working with content volume. Whatever they were doing, they were running a business and not a self-employment hobby. Remember that a business makes you money whilst a hobby costs you money.
Look at your business and identify which tasks can be quickly outssourced to freelancers to help give you more time to work on your business, not in it. For most entrepreneurs the first task to outsource is content creation as it is cheap and easy to get done and gives you content or products that you can quickly bring to market. For others, it may be SEO tactics to increase the ranking of their website. Outsource the tasks you hate as soon as financially possible and you will be a much happier marketer.
Finally, you need to be able to adapt You may have started your marketing journey two years ago, and a lot can change in two years, especially in the online marketing world. Keep learning, researching, and ensuring that your own methods are still considered best practice today; never mistake comfort with effectiveness. But be careful to implement what you learn or you will be left behind.
The key to making your vision a reality is to set goals – both long and short term – and start working on your highest value tasks first thing in the morning, everyday.