Sometimes all you need is a little motivation to get you up and focusing on your online business. We know this first hand as back when we weren’t making much money online all it took was for a sale to come through and we would be back on track. Motivation or more specifically ‘a lack of motivation’ is what usually kills most people trying to make money online. While they are motivated things happen – as soon as the motivation disappears everything falls into a heap and they start making comments like “internet marketing is a scam and nobody really makes money online”.
We’ve been in this business a long time now and we have a pretty good idea of what it really takes to make it online. We have studied other people trying to make it and we can generally get an inkling about who is going to make it and who isn’t.
So first of all if you want to make it in this business you have to make an agreement - right here, right now - that it is possible to make a good living from working online. In fact, you have to change your mindset and get it into your head that you – yes you - can make a fantastic living online.
I remember an email I received from someone who purchased our Amazonian Profit Plan ebook who just couldn’t get it in his head that it was possible to average 10k a month from promoting Amazon products. He was quite sarcastic about it all and even went so far as to say that we should be on Oprah or something as no one could possibly do that. We had a bit of a chuckle at that but we also felt kind of sad for him because we knew that if he couldn’t believe that someone can make that sort of money online then he will never actually do it himself. He really needs to change his mindset.
You have to believe it first before you have any chance of making it a reality for you.
So if you’ve been around a while now but still aren’t making much money or none at all then this is for you. We know exactly what you are going through because we’ve been there too. In fact, we were there for quite a long time – around 5 years to be exact. Sure we made a little bit of money here and there and we made it to around a thousand a month but it was nowhere near what we needed to give up our day jobs. You see we were really just playing – we both wanted to give up work and become full-time internet marketers but because we didn’t see instant success we didn’t really maintain a consistent approach to it all. So in between it all, we started an online wholesale jewellery business, a Sunday art and craft market and an eBay business. We did all this whilst we were working full-time mind you, so no wonder we never really made it online.
We had a lot of excuses as well – among our favorites was “the only people who make money online are those that teach others how to make money online”.
It wasn’t until 2008 that we decided to start taking it a little more seriously. We signed up to the James Martell Affiliate Marketers SUPER BootCamp - which at the time was an 8 week online course in which James took us through step-by-step on how to build and make money from a website. We actually knew most of what he was teaching at that point because we had purchased his handbook a few years earlier but we really needed the reinforcement that James provided and it did the trick. From that point on we knew that this was what we wanted to do and we stuck at it until late in 2009 when everything started to fall into place. We refined what we did until it worked for us and bang, suddenly the money started to pour in.
While we were doing the James Martell Bootcamp we listened to a ‘Coffee Talk’ by Bronwyn Bamber, a lady who at the time was making $30,000 a month online. We listened to Bronwyn’s coffee talk whenever we started to flag in our efforts and needed to get back on track. Talk about motivational. So we set this as one of our goals – to make $30,000 in a month. That was many years ago and guess what?…we finally exceeded that this month with our Amazon commissions. We are actually in a state of euphoria at the moment, who wouldn’t be. Our goal now is to firstly maintain this level and then work towards doubling it.
By the way, you can listen to our ‘Coffee Talk’ and Affiliate Buzz interviews that we recently had with James. You might also want to listen to a talk by another student of James, Dan Maynard, who is also starting to see the real benefit of using Amazon as a merchant. He went from $500 a month to around $4000 a month simply by changing his affiliate links to Amazon links. Each of these talks is worth listening to whenever you need a bit of motivation.
Why we’re telling you all this is because we want you to know that we understand exactly what you are going through if you are not making your desired income. It’s painful, and family are not always supportive of your efforts, especially when they can’t see the fruits of your labor.
And although many guru’s will tell you that you can make vast sums of money overnight, this is a pipe dream for the majority. Internet marketing takes time, dedication and focus. And by finding something that works for you and sticking to it, you too will have the success you desire and deserve. We found it with our own plan, and we have never looked back since implementing it.
Tagged with: 2011 • Amazon • bootcamp affiliate buzz • Bronwyn Bamber • james martell • motivation
Filed under: Amazon • Self Improvement
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Wanda & Paula - 2 friends who successfully operate a number of online internet businesses. In fact we have over 20 blogs and websites making money. We have learnt a lot over the years particularly in the area of natural search, SEO
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Hi Wanda and Paula,
This is one of the best motivational posts that I have ever read about online marketing! So many people spend 90% of their time questioning themselves and their abilities! How do they expect to make lots of money online when the majority of their time wondering if their work will ever pay off? You are so right – you first have to believe that you can accomplish something before you can achieve anything substantial!
Thanks for sharing your December Amazon statistics- $30K is a wonderful goal to have met! Wishing you continued success!
Ellen
Ellen’s last post…Eleven Weeks to a sale!
I think most people underestimate their abilities and also underestimate what they can potentially make from this business. There’s no law that says you can only make a certain amount of money on the internet – it’s not like being in a regular job where your income is limited no matter how hard to work. This is why this business is so amazing – you can be sleeping and still make money.
Keeping the enthusiasm up is difficult when you don’t see things happening. It’s a bit of a cycle – poor sales = less motivation, less action = even fewer sales. The only way to break the cycle is to keep taking action!
Kelly’s last post…Raw Food Diet PLR
That’s exactly it Kelly. The ones that eventually make it are the ones that keep going despite the disappointments because they see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Paula and Wanda,
You are so right on the motivation thing. I made over $100 on Amazon this month for the first time. I know it was Christmas but still it showed me what could be done. The site I made it from is a piece of $#%&$ site so I know now what can happen with a good review site.
It was very motivating to break this barrier. I also have resolved that whenever google does it’s dance on my rankings to just write more content and it will come back. Thanks for your motivation,
Jerry
Jerry Patterson’s last post…My Review of the Audiovox VE927
Excellent Jerry! You’ve got a taste of things to come – just imagine next year…it could be $10,000 in December.
And that is the best philosophy you can have when Google does it’s dance – just keep going and write more content, get more backlinks and don’t look back.
A sale or two is #1 of course, but that can be short lived motivation.
Believe it or not, an awesome motivator, and one that can last considerably longer, is taking a break.
Stop. sit back. Re-evaluate. Refocus. Get it all down on paper, so to speak, and come out stronger then ever.
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing’s last post…Blog Subscription Process Clarification
Taking a break is a must-do in my opinion. When people start their own business they tend to work themselves into the ground and the same applies with online marketing. Taking a break can really clear the cobwebs and get things moving again.
Yep. It’s easy to stay motivated while making sales, the trick is the rest of the time…which for most is the majority of time.
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing’s last post…Do You Write a Newsletter or Two
WOW!! Congrats on the awesome record breaking month! Um, so when are you ladies going to be doing some private coaching/consulting?? LOL! I am implementing the tips from you books and only focusing on 5 review pages at a time. My goal is to do nothing but rank those 5 pages number 1 and then assess and move on from there. My biggest problem is motivation and focus. I’m like how you were those days when you started up all those other businesses and didn’t really focus on your affiliate sites. But I do believe it’s possible FOR ME so I HAVE to stay focused! Off to listen to the interviews…
Lisa’s last post…20 Healthy Weight Loss PLR Articles
We probably won’t be offering any sort of coaching. We could easily set up a membership site but the whole point of being in this business is we want the freedom it gives us. If we set up a membership site or offered private coaching then it would end up being the same as being in a regular full-time job. As it is, we only really work a few hours a day now and we like that. So even though we could probably make a killing from coaching, at this stage we prefer less money and more freedom.
The best way to stay focused is to set yourself up with a little plan. It doesn’t have to be complicated but what you need to tell yourself is that you are going to work on those 5 pages for at least 6 months before even thinking of giving up. If you set yourself a timeframe then you are more likely to stick to it.
Yes, I can totally see how adding coaching would take up time and kill the freedom aspect! Would either one of you be open to a product review critique?
I needed to hear that about the 5 pages because I already want to do more, but I know I MUST focus on backlinks. I do actually have quite a few reviews up so I really need to get a good backlink plan.
Lisa’s last post…20 Healthy Weight Loss PLR Articles
It’s okay to add more content to your site. It helps to build up your site and it also stops the boredom of only working on backlinking.
However, most people spend more time on the content and tweaking their sites than on the backlinking. Just try and stick to those 5 pages and spend the majority of your time on backlinking. When you get bored write up an article or a review but then get straight back into backlinking those first 5 pages.
Lisa, I want to chime in and tell you a little trick I made myself: I am not allowed to eat lunch until I write 2 articles! Hunger is a great motivation, and at the end of the year I’ll have at least 730 quality articles on my site or other sites pointing to mine!
OK, so that’s 2 articles every Christmas morning then, and new year’s day, Easter day, your birthday and the morning after. Only joking, it’s a great idea, just maybe some days you will need to do three. I also like to speed write the articles in say 10 minutes, don’t check the grammar or spelling, just brain dump to the keyboard. Then next day come back and tidy it up. If you keep stopping during typing an article to tidy things up, the flow of ideas gets interrupted.
Phil’s last post…Vax H90-GA-B Gator Handheld Vacuum Cleaner
My initial response was “Wow, what a great way to lose weight!”
But seriously, each of us know ourselves best and so little tricks to motivate us to action is great advice.
Hi Paula and Wanda
Thanks for the motivational post and congratulations on the latest and great numbers-that’s fantastic!
I did listen to your latest interview with James a week or so ago. I also listened to Bronwyn Bamber some time ago but plan to listen to her again. It’s good to hear that Dan is doing well with Amazon too.
These are really motivational interviews and well worth listening to.
I’m still waiting to see results for my efforts and hope to experience this in the coming year so that I can post my success before the end of 2011.
Happy New Year To All.
Shirley’s last post…Getting Over Divorce and Moving On
I know you’ve been doing this for a while Shirley so you are obviously not giving up on this…excellent! You’ve just got to know that if you keep working on backlinks and keep focusing on just a few pages at a time you will make it.
Do you have our ebook Shirley?
That was very motivational. I am new to amazon affiliates and I know that as long as I continue to work hard at a consistent level, I will achieve my goals of replacing my income one day. I read a couple of your posts at the Warrior Forum today and I was so inspired that I had to come to your blog. What a bonus I found in this article. Thanks again, I’ll be back to read more in the future.
Nice to have you on board Mike. Always keep in mind that its not only about working hard, its also about working smarter. No one wants to replace their regular paid job with another job. We worked hard and for long hours in the beginning and there were times when I wondered if it was all worth it.
Since developing a formula that requires less work, not only have we found success with our income, but we have a lot of free time to do the things we love.
First I’d like to say Congratulations on achieving your goal! That’s awesome and you’re very pleased I bet
I’d also like to thank you for writing such a motivating post. A big part of having stick-ability, can be knowing that you’re not the only one.
I’ve been to lots of seminars over the last couple of years and listened to many successful people – including some of Australia’s (and USA’s) most successful Internet Marketers, and the stories are all pretty much the same.
Perseverance, persistence, bloody minded determination, dreaming, goal setting and never, ever giving up will get us there in the end.
I’ve been at it a couple of years, was learning from Stephen Pierce for a while, and I have read and listened to so many marketers I’ve lost track.
One thing that I’ve learned is to admit where your weaknesses lie. Those things that may be stopping your progress and that’s something I’ve just done. I’ve outsourced my SEO on one site and what a difference after only 4 weeks. Creating backlinks is my weak point – I just procrastinate and don’t do it, so now I have someone else doing it and they’ve paid for themselves already in the first month (a pleasant surprise). Now I can get on with the stuff I do enjoy and I feel I have a very clear path in front of me for the first time.
Thanks Paula and Wanda – your help in the form of your story and your Amazonian Profit Plan has paved part of that path for me.
Sue
Sue @ Vita mix blender’s last post…Grounding Yourself to the Earth Helps Heal Your Body
I had a chuckle when I read your comment – procrastination is my middle name.
Over the past year we have been listening to people such as Tony Robbins, Harv Eker, Paul Sheely, Chunyi Lin and Eckhart Tolle. We have learned so much from them by attending their seminars and listening to their speeches. All of these people have helped us to get our thinking into the right place.
And we have also realized that we can’t do it all, and so we have outsourced a lot of the backlinking and other tiresome tasks that are so necessary for success. As you have found, it makes life so much more enjoyable to be able to concentrate on doing the things you love.
All the very best for your future success.
Thanks for keeping our spirits up. I personally started out in the IM world by becoming an Amazon Associate in mid July of this year and went full time after my real estate investing and the real estate market (selling properties) pretty much went silent. I watched day after day of $0 finally trickle into a sale every few days. I had a $50 month, then a $60 month, a $120 month, $140 month and December is just over $200 right now. Most of this was done with simple 2-5 page sites.
I was tempted and bought ebook after ebook until a partner showed me the Amazonian Profit Plan. I am now writing a content driven website with reviews and have more traffic coming to this one site than any of my other quickie websites.
Pauly’s latest blog… Magnetic Trainer | Get In Shape With An Indoor Bicycle Trainer
You’ve done really well to be making money so soon after starting internet marketing. It can take some people a long time to build up to that sort of income…so congrats!
Paula, thanks. I appreciate that. I chalk it up to dumb luck and the fact that I’m on the computer about 12 hours a day while I’ve been unemployed.
That’s really great, Paul. It gives me inspiration because I’ve just started in all of this and my first month I made around $50 myself. Congrats to you!
Jennifer’s last post…Mr Beer Deluxe Edition Beer Kits
Motivation is my biggest problem. So it is great to read a post like this. I’m going to need as much help keeping my motivation because I plan on going fulltime with my blogging next year.
Dean Saliba’s last post…BlogPressSEO Plugin Is Merely Spam &38 Malware!
Nice one Dean. Going full-time is a great feeling. But yes, motivation is important because you’ve got no one to blame but yourself when you are your own boss.
This is so true, but like someone told me the other day “my mindset rocks!” HAHA
But that is because I KNOW it’s just a matter of time before I have a breakthrough. As I mentioned on the WF, I said I feel like I’m blindfolded and I’m swinging at a pinata and sometimes I get a little hit and sometimes I swing and miss, but I think in 2011 and beyond I’m gonna bust that thing wide open!
Great blog ladies, thanks!
Jennifer’s last post…Mr Beer Deluxe Edition Beer Kits
Excellent Jennifer – you DO have a great mindset and you will make it because of that. Although we had doubts along the way somehow we always knew that we would make it in the end. I think that is a necessary requirement – you have to know that it will work.
Ladies,
Congratulations on reaching your $30,000 goal this month! Hearing that someone has earned $30,000 in one month is both staggering and inspiring. Consistency is definitely the key and I’ve been outlining the plan I hope to follow in 2011.
Best of luck to you both in the coming year.
And good luck to you too Anthony. You can do this too. Just stay focused on your plan and give it a chance to work.
Dear Wanda & Paula,
Fransiscus here I’m very newbie in IM, I just wanna say BIG Thanks for both of you because with the APP (Amazonian Profit Plan) that I implemented 2 months ago could bring me a very first $1K earning with Amazon on December itself; must be the Christmas shopping effect
Personally, I just made one site around 4 months age old that have 10 product reviews plus 20 informational articles (as the internal backlink) on it. Plus the backlink…backlink…backlink… makes most of the article reviews popped out around the #3-#10 position on Google.
Suddenly yesterday, I found that all of my keywords has dropped in SERP to the #600+ something, lol.. Did you have a similar experienced with me? Is it Google dance or Sandbox? Because I had a ‘little aggresive’ on my inbound link a few days ago. If it’s sandbox must I build a new one website or continuing to add content and backlinks to my recent site?
I plan to build all of the product reviews with just my only one recent site. Do you think is it good to implemented it? Because I remember you said it’s only how we just make only one page to the page one of SERP. Or must I build another site to another 5 product reviews? My reason is simple – I just want to enjoy freedom like you do now, lol. So I just want to make one huge website if its possible.
Thank you for a great motivation, really happy to subscribe this blog. One of my resolutions on 2011 is I will reach $10,000 on the next Christmas Shopping
If you could reached it I’m sure I can too, lol
Happy new year!
The change in rankings happens to just about everyone. It usually occurs for new sites. Just continue on with your backlinking. Your rankings should settle again in a few weeks.
Try not to start building more sites or creating more product reviews just yet. You are doing extremely well so far so don’t spoil it by building too quickly. One site is all you need at this stage. The only time to build another site is when the first site is making you a consistent full-time income and you want to diversify to cover you in case something happens with the first site.
Hello Wanda and Paula,
Happy New Year and thank you for helping us all achieve our goals last year. We are very excited about 2011 and you have been very inspirational to us.
We have a question concerning taxes and therefore maybe you can create a separate blog post about this.
How do you handle your income that you receive from Amazon, Clickbank and other revenue streams? For example, Clickbank and many other affiliate programs require that you include your Social Security number so that the income you make will be reported to the IRS.
Do you recommend creating a business entity and then allow your affiliate income to flow into your business account? Any help or advise will be appreciated.
Thank you very much.
We live in Australia so our tax situation is completely different to most of our audience so we wouldn’t be the right people to give advice about it.
Basically our business is set up as a partnership and we have a business account that all our income goes in to. And we report all our income to the Australian Tax Office.
Also, because we are from Australia, we don’t need to provide a Social Security number to Amazon, Clickbank etc. The majority of Affiliate programs are set up to allow for international affilitates and they realise that we don’t have this detail to provide.
Thank you Paula and Wanda for your reply. Yes…we live here in the US and our tax base is definitely different than in Australia.
I think we are going to take your advise and create a business account and let all of our affiliate revenue flow into it instead of our personal account.
For us advance marketers, I would definitely be willing to pay for a course that would show us how to structure our affiliate earnings and how to invest this money into other revenue streams such as stock, mutual funds, real estate, buying websites, buying domains, etc. etc.
Thank you again for your assistance.
Tony and Claudia
Dallas, TX
i love this sentence “It’s painful, and family are not always supportive of your efforts, especially when they can’t see the fruits of your labor.”
thanks for making this post !, i think the other breakdown for internet marketer is they are lack of social interaction, like i do, how do you handle this kind of problem? do you work at the office or at your home?
i love your blog!
Hug from Jakarta
Firman’s last post…Learn How to Ignite Your Economy
We work at home. I normally drive up to Wanda’s place each morning and spend the day there working. So we are lucky in that sense as we have each other to interact with and bounce ideas off. Most people who work from home don’t have this and it can be difficult because sometimes you would just like someone to talk to.
I would suggest having another activity of some sort other than just your internet business. So join a gym or a club of some sort that completely gets you away from your business.
Also, attending internet marketing conferences is a great way to meet up with like minded people and make friends that you can Skype or message when you get back to your home office.