One of my favorite old time marketers is Marlon Sanders.
Without a doubt, Marlon understands marketing in lots of different niches. To get started you need to have the correct mindset. That really is the first step. I wanted to share the following article from Marlon about how you can overcome the one obvious thing that is holding you back…you.
How to Overcome the Mental Doubts
That Hold You Back From Success
Subtitle: Is a Thief Inside Your Head Stealing
Your Money?
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I have another niche market I participate in and hope to sell
products in.
This niche market involves a sizable learning curve. I see people
come and go in it all the time.
And from my own experiences and those I observe, there is ONE
THING that keeps people from making progress. And that thing is
self doubt.
1. You may doubt you have the ability to succeed in this business
You know, we all have self doubts. In learning the new skills I’m
tell you about, I know I personally have had self doubt. “Is this
something I can do? Is this a skill I can master? Am I TOO
OLD?”
Yet, the conclusion I come back to over and over is that success
in ANY endeavor is the result of behaviors. Change the behaviors
and get the result.
Wherever you are, I’ve been there. I know what it is to doubt
yourself or your ability. To not be sure if you have what it
takes. To try and have your successes far outweighed by things
that didn’t work.
It’s easy to get discouraged. To stop. To quit. To think that
this is the end of the road for you. In this new arena and skill
set area I’m working in, I’ve experienced all those feelings and
emotions and more.
2. You may doubt your progress
It’s so easy to look at a few successes against more failures and
think, “I’m not making progress.”
I think this is the hardest thing. You have to tie a knot on your
mental rope and hang on. Because the truth is, things almost
always don’t work before they DO work.
You have to really tune up your focus on any successes you DO
have. And notice the small successes. So maybe you don’t have a
ton of sales yet. But you DO have people subscribing. Or you DO
have some sales coming in regularly.
Or you DO have your blog up and you ARE getting visitors now from
Google.
You have to exaggerate mentally the successes you DO have because
those are what show you that you ARE making progress and ARE on
the right track.
3. Others will rain on your parade
So you finally get to the point where things ARE starting to work.
All of a sudden in a forum or someplace, someone RAINS on your
parade. They criticize your model, your idea or your efforts.
Maybe they tell you you are pipe dreaming. Or chasing rainbows.
And you let it get to you mentally, spiritually or psychically.
I don’t know why this happens. Some people just aren’t very tuned
in. You have to believe in yourself and what you’re doing more
than anyone else. I don’t know why it’s that way. But it is.
4. You may have a set back
Man, this one is a challenge. You’re going along. You’re making
progress. You’ve got some traffic. You’re getting subscribers.
Sales are coming in.
Then you have a set back.
Something happens in your life, your family, or some area that
holds you back or slows you down.
For me last year it was a quadruple hernia. Not exactly what I had
in mind for my year.
But you move forward. That’s all you can do.
5. You may think or feel that finally you’ve reached a point
where “it isn’t working.”
Anytime you’re acquiring a complex set of skills, that can happen.
It’s a signal to do some things different. To up your Game. To
tweak what you’re doing and how.
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Solutions for You
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Alright, let’s talk about solutions:
1. Operate from a basic checklist
Do you have your autoresponders set up? Do new customers go onto
your email list? Are you sending out emails? Do you have a plan
or system for getting traffic that has a realistic chance of
working? Are you creating and promoting new products? Do you
know HOW to do screen capture video and post it? Do you have a
blog that looks good?
These are all basics. I’m covering most of them in the
Quick Start call and PDF I’m doing for my Writer’s Secret
folks.
But you don’t have to buy from me to do these things. I
make things easier so you have to figure less out. But the
important thing is you have a basic checklist.
2. Give yourself credit for SMALL improvements
Rome wasn’t built overnight. At first, your victories will
be much smaller than your defeats. That’s how it is in a
learning curve.
3. Tweak but don’t junk
Tweak your game plan but don’t throw the baby out with the
bath water. You’ve got to believe in your basic game plan.
4. Know who to IGNORE
Just because someone sounds like they know what they’re
talking about and they criticize you does NOT mean you
should listen to them.
Everyone has a point of view and belief system. Maybe
THEIRS is the one jacked up. Not everyone wants to build
the same type of business or has the same vision.
5. Do the fundamentals first
If you can’t write a headline, can’t put up a squeeze
page, can’t write a guarantee, can’t write and send an
email, can’t set up an affiliate program, can’t compile a
PDF, can’t make a Camtasia video that’s decent — if you
can’t do those things, go back to the fundamentals.
It’s so easy to get distracted by bright and shiny
objects.
But what I’ve found is that success is the cumulative
result of layering basic upon basic and skill upon skill.
You know, it’s a cumulative result. That does NOT mean it
has to take forever or a long time.
My great pal, friend and inspiration, Jason Fladlien,
mastered huge chunks of this business very quickly. It CAN
be done. Still, he started with the fundamentals like
copywriting and mastered the basics.
You gotta be able to write headlines, bullet points,
offers and guarantees.
You gotta have your affiliate program. And so forth.
6. Realize that EVERYONE has self doubt
I think one of the biggest obstacles to succeeding is
doubting your smart enough, good enough and so forth.
At the same time, smart or good alone doesn’t do it. You
have to put into effect the right chunks of the business.
You gotta get the pieces in place. The foundations.
7. Value doing things
The single most important thing you can DO is something.
Just DO things and watch the results. Then tweak and try
again.
You’ll never succeed without DOING.
So get curious what would happen if you DO this? Or DO
that?
Find some way, some how that you can enjoy the DOING. The
BEST way I know of to do that is to get curious. And think
about it….if you found yourself getting really curious
about the results of DOING things, how would that change
the quality and quantity of activity you take now and in
the future?
And if you found yourself getting really curious about
THAT, what might that look like? How would things change?
Enjoy the process.
Fear of making mistakes holds people back. Curiosity about
what would happen if you take action makes things happen.
It’s easier to tweak a process in motion than it is to get
in motion.
Get in motion.
It’s half of success. Just getting in motion.
1. You gotta see opportunity
Where are your underserved people or topics?
2. You gotta get in motion
Take some action to exploit the opportunity
3. You gotta produce and promote
It may not be pretty at first. It may not make a fortune.
But if you find yourself getting really curious about what
would happen once you became a producer and a promoter,
then you’re almost there.
A week or two ago I showed you a new blog I put up. I’m
still working on getting my ducks in a row. But it has
ALREADY opened doors and I’ve met people who can help
parts of it happen.
And all I did was put up a blog. There isn’t even a video
on it. There’s just a basic graphic and a blog template.
Success favors those who take action and do things just
out of the curiosity to know what MIGHT or COULD happen.
Marlon Sanders
The King of Step-By-Step Internet Marketing and
“The Ambassador of Old School Marketing”
Marlon’s Blog
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Marlon Sanders helps people with hopes and dreams figure
out how to turn those into reality by selling stuff on
the Internet.
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