Hi All, I just did a LONG heart-felt blog with lots of resources and ideas that might help. Motivation Gone Wild - Internet Marketing Success Starts Within! "One of my goals when I started this blog was to offer motivational and success-conditioning resources to my readers. It never happened. I got caught up in all the affiliate, SEO, ad blocking, cooking eating, parasite issues that affect our industry. However, affiliates, SEO's and many work at home affiliate managers face isolation, even frustration at times and realize how hard it can be to stay self-motivated and on-track. If you want to stay on top of your game, associate with positive, like minded people - even on the forums. Hang out in upbeat forums with people who are focused on solutions - not problems. Forum negativity can really drag you down. Also be sure to tune in to some positive motivational tapes. Below are some free audio online resources you can listen to in the background while you build more pages and tweak your sites." It's a long, resource filled blog: http://affiliate-blogs.5staraffiliateprograms.com/2005/06/06/internet-marketing-success-motivation/ Sincerely hope everyone finds at least one gem that is helpful. After you read the blog, come back to share some tips or ideas that help you stay positive and motivated.
I stay motivated by seeing that the minumim wage here is $140 a month for an 8-hour shift, while I'm earning 35 times more with my sites.
I stay motivated by money, since it is really the only guage that matters in affiliate marketing. The more money I make, the more I want to have- its a fun addiction.
The money and having time for my kids. When I found out my son was going to need surgery, I was very grateful to be working at home. As he is going to be continuing to have appointments for the next three month at least, twice weekly at first, then once a week, I find myself even more grateful. Can you imagine trying to cope with that many appointments with a job? It would take a very patient and flexible manager. Thanks to affiliate marketing, I don't need one!
It is dificult. The hardest part is just getting started... and once you are started you have to stay focused. One of the biggest things for me is to read my goals. I try to read them everyday in the morning. It definitely helps keep me going in the right direction...
Results = money = motivation No one's in affiliate marketing 'for the fun of it'. Maybe we all threw together a site to find out what the whole affiliate marketing thing is all about, but once we got the first check it wasn't a hobby any more; it became a vocation. The more I make, the more I want to make, at least until I make enough, consostently enough, and for long enough to feel secure leaving my full time job.
I agree that money is the prime motivator and the more success you have the higher you set you targets. My Pharmacy web sites are starting to produce and grow very nicely. I monitor then closely several times a day. I'm constantly making small changes and adding backlinks. I have an Excel spread sheet that projects my growth based on monthly revenue. I can never wait until the end of the month. I'm always taking the data to date, dividing by the day of the month and then multiply by 30 or 31 as the case may be so that I can drop it into my chart and get a new projection. If I get any more motivated I'll be so damn busy I won't have time to spend the money.
For me, it is the money & the ability to work at home or anywhere with a high-speed internet connection. I don't quite make as much as I need to work from home yet but I am on way way due to everyone's knowledge and help on this forum. Like compar, I closely monitor my sites and always making small adjustments. I find that I never have enough time in the day to do all of the things that I want with my sites so I am finally outsourcing a bit. This has helped my productivity but I quickly fill it up with other things to do with my sites. Nothing is cooler to see a site grow from -0- to $$$$$!
Cash Moeny I want to buy new boat and eventually a house in Key West with cash, their is no way I could ever afford that with a regular job.
I agree that forums benefit from positive content and that the internet is successful and helps people to remain happy and occupied.
For me the biggest motivator is personal achievement. I find the largest hurdle was making that first large step and creating that first site that was a real good earner. Once you create that first site, you never look back, cause you have created a model that works which you can just replicate over and over. It's the period before you make that real good earner which can be tough times cause you question your abilities and begin to wonder if its all really worth it. Hanging around other like minded people and hearing success stories definately helps aswell.
Watching the bank account get bombed with direct deposits is a great way to stay motivated, not to mention this is much easior and funer than having a so called 'real' job, not having to get up at 7:00 AM, and you can listen to music or watch DVDs while doing this stuff. (If you can't watch movies on your computer, upgrade to the Macintosh!!)
Surprisingly money isn't a motivator to me unless I have a specific thing in mind that I want to do (usually travelling as I'm not much of a shopper). I've always been passionate about the Internet and developing websites...even when I was broke and the 'light at the end of the tunnel' was nonexistant. I just liked the feeling of creating something and I started consulting because I liked the feeling of helping people. Of course I've always been motivated to work for myself....in my entire life I don't think I've spent more than a couple years working 9to5 full-time as an employee. I was always able to find ways to freelance. It's a bonus that I can do it now AND make a good living.
I've gone thru every Brian Tracy, and Anthony Robbins tape I could find. I've tried Affirmations, Anchors, visualization, and most of it just didn't work for me. I think I was just missing a distinction. Any way what has worked for me are the gratification exercises on the Robbins Tape's in terms of performance and I try to keep that gratitude the entire day. However, with these motivational tapes these people pretty much promise abundance so I will see If I ever get that from any of them. I feel like I will get there pretty soon but that could just be brainwashing. Also a good Cocoa Bean Coffee really helped alot. It got me to start my site atleast when I had no real experience and every excuse just to not even try. The site has come along way since April.