I think most people come to their computer to make money because they have a dream. A dream to live the “internet lifestyle”. This is a lifestyle filled with freedom, ease, and lots of money. While this lifestyle is real, and is possible it also takes some work.

Every day I receive emails that tout the “internet lifestyle” whether it’s get this great new product and make money overnight, or a real example of someone who has a system and has paid their dues and is now living it.

Often times the emails make it sound like it is easy, and it will happen overnight, and if you just spend 97 dollars you will have the answers. It doesn’t take many spends of 97 dollars and nothing to show of it to get discouraged.

Even if you aren’t spending any money, if you are “doing it for free” online, it’s still pretty easy to give up. You have nothing invested, so it’s just easy to quit and say ~ “hey, making money from the internet is just a hoax, it doesn’t really work” and go back to whatever you were doing before you decided to make money online.

If you have the drive, and the ambition, and the fortitude you may last longer than others. If you don’t have a clear goal and a clear plan you will still probably give up because you just can’t see that you are making progress. If you can’t see forward movement it is easy to just call it quits.

Here’s an amazing video I found in one of my emails today ~ thanks Travis. What an inspiration. After you watch the video I’ll give you a few hints to making it online.

Here are some ways you can increase your odds of being a success story and find yourself in the end zone of Internet Marketing.

1. Have a reason. A real, concrete, non negotiable reason for doing this. Something that when you think of not being able to do it, it makes you MAD, it makes you cry, it stirs you, and drives you forward.

For me it is being able to stay home with my daughter, and not having to put her in daycare. We have had exactly ONE conversation in this house about me going back to “work”. I got seriously MAD, sad, overwhelmed etc, at that conversation, but my income has more than doubled since I had it with my husband.

2. Create a plan of action. If you have no idea what you are doing, that’s ok. Look around, read blogs ~ medium level blogs like mine or PotPieGirl, we are real people and we are here not only to make money ourselves, but to help others do it too.

When you find a blog you connect with follow what that person is doing! Email the writer, or post comments on the blog to get more clarity on the points you don’t understand.

Join the mailing list. Good bloggers will provide you with quality information on their list. Others will just send you email after email recommending products to you. Join the list for whatever it is you are going to get for free. If after that time you do not continue to get useful information ~ get off the list. You won’t be missing anything, in fact, you’ll probably be keeping a lot of money.

3. Have a clear and focused goal. You can set your goals around your plan. For example, this month I set goals to get everything complete to get my mailing list up next month, complete enough great lenses to become a giant squid over at Squidoo and a few other things. Next month I have some goals around getting clients, and growing my list of subscribers.

What your goals are is completely up to you. I suggest you create SMART goals. Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Realistic. Timely. Setting your goals with these factors in mind will keep you moving forward, and will also allow you to achieve ongoing success and momentum.

Here’s an example of a SMART goal.

By May 30th I will have built at least 2 Squidoo Lenses for new clients.

See how it is specific an measurable ~ two lenses for NEW clients ~ I will know if I have accomplished this by the end of May, yes? I know I have to complete it by the end of May, and it is a completely realistic and achievable goal. If I had set the goal for 25 lenses in a month ~ that would be setting myself up for failure, at least right now, it would not be very realistic in the first month of building lenses for others ~ you see? However, a few months down the road that may be a very reasonable goal. You don’t want to sell yourself short, but you don’t want to go too high. I’d rather error on the side of less, than more, because at least you can celebrate accomplishing the goal. If you go over, you now have an idea for an even BETTER goal for next month.

Having set this goal, I know I will need to focus on activities that will help me acquire new clients. This will keep me on track.

Setting goals and having a plan can really get you on the right track. With internet marketing and all the free information available online it is so easy to find yourself running around in circles, and not getting anywhere. Believe me, I know, I did it for at least a year.

You can overcome this by deciding exactly what you want to do to make money online, create a plan, set some goals and then GIVE IT YOUR ALL! Don’t give up. Because failure can NOT be an option.

Online success is possible for everyone, you just can’t quit. Here’s something that happened to me recently.

I realized I had jumped around got off track. When I got back on track I looked around and wondered, where would I be today if I hadn’t gotten sidetracked? I probably would have been a lot further than I was, however, I did gain some learning and that counts for something. I was still in the game.

When you quit, one day you are going to look around and wonder ~ what would have happened if I had just kept going? You will never know.

If you are thinking about quitting why not contact your favorite blogger, or jump on a good forum, stop by The Internet Marketing strategy group over at Ning, ask for help, get some guidance, find someone to help you set up these steps you need to create your success. There’s always someone out there willing to help. Myself included. Besides my daughter, helping other moms stay home with their kids is my other “why”. Drop me a line, give me a shout. I’m here for ya.

Now, go back and watch the video again!

[tags]motivation, online marketing, creating a plan, 3 steps to internet marketing success, internet marketing strategy[/tags]

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