Don’t Have Support System? Create One Yourself!
Jan 28
Sometimes… some days you just need a little extra support. You need someone to talk to when everyone else you know is giving you grief over this whole make money online thing, or when you’re trying to get this site up but you’re suddenly getting some crazy error message, or when you are doubting whether the internet marketing strategy you’ve chosen is going to work… you get the point. There are many times and many days when you could use some support in this business.
How much support do you have?
Many times family members are not supportive. I know there’s not one person locally who would know what I was talking about if I said my maxblogpress optin adder plugin is giving me an error at the database, or even if I said I couldn’t find the address to use FTP.
How about you?
It’s hard to be out there in front of your computer, by yourself day after day, finding the strength to keep going and the determination to stick with it when you don’t get a little positive feedback, a little encouragement, a place to get the answers to the nit picky little things that can grind a thus far productive day to a perfect standstill.
Where do you find support?
Forums.
Plain and simple it’s always been the place I’ve been able to meet and connect with like minded people and find support. When I look for a “forum” I really am looking for a community. A community of like minded individuals who are friendly and welcoming and don’t get exasperated by “newbie” questions ~ no matter what the topic.
When I first started out online the first community I found was TheGreatestNetworker.com. It was owned by John Milton Fogg ~ it was a fantastic community. At the time I was doing network marketing and there were a lot of network marketers there. What I really loved about that community was it wasn’t really about the work ~ it was about law of attraction, personal development, making myself a better person, and the people. That’s where I met my dearest online friend Mary K. We’ve known one another going on 8 or 9 years now, we’ve met in person and talk daily. I don’t even have “real life” friends like that!
That community led me to Powerful Intentions where I continued to grow and learn and build all the pieces in me that needed building. It’s also where I met some other fantastic people that I still call my friends ~ you can meet a lot of them if you run through my friends list over at Facebook!
Who cares?
I get it … what the heck does this have to do with building sites, and internet marketing? Let me tell you.
Those communities and the people I’ve met within them have helped me create my business, my way. If I hadn’t had the support from the people there, I would have quit many times I’m quite sure. They help me look at what’s working in my business instead of letting me wallow in “oh man this is never gonna work”, they give me a good kick in the pants when necessary and help me get back on the right track.
While I don’t spend much time in those forums anymore the relationships I created there have come with me. I have since started spending more time in forums that will help me directly with my business. That’s right internet marketing forums.
I tell you it’s really HARD to find a place that feels like a community out there in the internet marketing world. I have spent time in the Warrior forum, but it’s pretty intimidating ~ you can get your head chewed off and handed to you on a platter if you’re not careful there. There is also so much misinformation that I just never knew what to believe and if someone knew something worked or they had heard it from a blog who heard it from another forum that they thought it might work. Believe me, the WF is somewhere I really wish I could spend more time ~ it would probably be great for my traffic numbers if I could get in there and duke it out ~ I mean that place is HUGE! It’s just not something I can do though.
I’ve spent time over at Wealthy Affiliate too. The forum over there is pretty big and active and I found myself getting lost in all of it. Spending hours and hours searching and conversing without really getting any work done. I don’t know, that was a couple years ago so maybe I am in a different mental state now ~ and it could work for me, but information overload is still something I struggle with.
There are many other forums and I’ve been to most of them I tell you. I opted in to the Problogger.com forum. YIKES. I was expecting a pretty friendly community but that is not what I found. I paid for a month but only stayed around a day.
So where do I hang out to get support and information for internet marketing? Only one place these days.
Lynn Terry’s Self Starter’s Weekly Tips forum.
I found it a few months ago and started hanging out there off and on. I found some really friendly people there. People who were supportive and friendly and willing to help out.
Lynn offers many cool things within the forum. Here’s just a few things:
Weekly brainstorming webinars ~ brainstorm with some very successful marketers each Tuesday at noon.
Freelance job board ~ whether you’re looking to work or to hire someone
An active and helpful forum ~ whether you have a quick question or need support you’ll find it in the SSWT forum.
That all comes for free!
The other thing that Lynn offers is the Elite Membership. This membership allows you to enter the private forum area where there is some really great brainstorming going on. There are case studies people are working on, people asking questions about just about every part of internet marketing ~ and getting real help and feedback.
Lynn also gives Elite members a monthly “challenge” which has ALREADY helped me move my business forward and tackle some of the goals I had for this year.
I love being able to be open about my business ~ which is more difficult on other forums. I like to be able to ask specific questions about what I’m doing, and how I could do it better. I love being able to partner with people ~ whether it’s for guest posts or product launches ~ I find all of that in the Elite forum.
The Elite Forum is a monthly fee of $27. It has paid for itself already time and time again for me. But it’s an add on ~ if you don’t want to do the elite forum, don’t worry ~ you’ll find TONS and TONS of helpful stuff in the free forum.
Lynn is there quite often and takes an active roll in answering people’s questions as well as the other members of the forum are there to help as well.
That’s one other thing I particularly like about this forum as apposed to some others is this:
It’s run by Lynn Terry. I like her. I trust her. I know she walks the walk, and doesn’t just talk the talk. She monitors the forum, so you know the people and information are going to be up to Lynn Terry standards, and that means something to me.
I hope you stop by and say hi ~ feel free to ask questions and participate in the conversation. (Don’t forget to add a signature to your profile so people can take a look at your site! I get quite a bit of good traffic this way ~ but make sure you are contributing to the conversation!)
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Hi,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It is true that we need co-operation from family members in the long run.
Jackie, this is off topic, but I went to one of your Lenses. and noticed you have a nice little bio on your page. I can not find out where to do that on my lenses. can you help.
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Hey Arlene,
It’s super simple. Go to the edit area of your lens and then click the bio arrow in the sidebar. You can add/change the bio there. http://screencast.com/t/YzdiMGQ1OT
The default bio you find there will be from your profile area. If you want to change that you can go to your dashboard and next to your picture click edit my bio. You can add your story there. It takes html so you can add links etc and I encourage you to do that. links from an authority site are GOOD.
http://screencast.com/t/ODM2ZjllMD
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
Lynn is definitely a Class Act, and I imagine her forum exudes the same grace and intelligence found in everything to which I’ve seen her name attached. I actually signed up to the free portion a few months back and poked around a bit (it was mentioned by a copywriter whose work I also respect), but there just aren’t enough hours in the day to participate in *everything* I’d like to. Thanks very much for the reminder, though, and I’ll definitely check it out further if/when I feel it’s the best use of my time.
I totally get there aren’t enough hours in the day ~ just keep it in mind as a resource if you need a boost or have a question you like some opinions on.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
Hi Jackie!
It was a forum (Chris Malta’s Private Ebiz Forum) that got me started in all of this IM stuff… I was looking for some way to make money online and I ran across Chris’ site and on it he had an email address and said ask me anything. So, I did ask. I wasn’t really expecting a reply, but lo and behold, he DID reply! And he kept on replying to ALL of my questions! (And you know I asked a lot of questions! LOL) Anyway, I was a member of that forum until Chris decided to open it up (he sent out an email to his WorldWide Brands list) and he really opened it up! At that point, it got too big for me to follow along because there were just too many posts, so I quit his forum. I really miss the intimacy of that forum, but I did make some great friends while I was there!
I will check out Lynn’s forum now because I never realized how much I missed the forum until I read this today!
Thanks!
Cindy
Follow me @casurette on Twitter!
You’ll probably like the size of Lynn’s forum.There’s enough activity and people to keep it interesting, but it’s still small enough to get individual responses and know people there.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
I agree you do have your down days, wondering why your rankings are not moving or your conversions are low. Having a mentor or support group is vital even the most motivated person lose their drive now and again.
I have 2 SBI sites and they have a fantastic forum. My husband has mellowed about this “online nonsense” but he still doesn’t understand any of it. I try to talk about something and his eyes glaze over!
The SBI forum is very helpful and friendly but I suspect you can only access it if you have a site with them. I would have been lost without them.
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Yeah, Dawn, I can relate!!! (online nonsense) LOL
Cindy
Follow me @casurette on Twitter!
I think it’s not only important to have support, but it has to be support that you can trust. Sometimes this can be difficult to achieve when you’re communicating though a computer.
Sam it is a good idea to find support you can trust. Part of that is getting to know the people you associate with ~ you can tell if you take the time to look around just who a person is. You can tell this by what they do, what they publish, how transparent they are in their business, if they do what they talk about. It can be a little scary creating relationships online, but if you go in with your eyes open you’ll be ok.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
I agree about the WA. I would read and read and ask questions and one might get answered, by the end of the day I was brain drained with nothing done to show for it. But if it was not for being a member at WA then I would never have came across Jackie! So thankful for that. It’s nice to know we have all been through the same stages in IM and can share that.
The Olympic torch is coming through my town today so I must go get a glimpse:)
Thanks for the support post.
Tammy
This week is NAMS ~ the niche affiliate marketing conference so there are a lot of people from the forum (including Lynn) that are there ~ it may be a little slower than usual, but it will pick up when people get back.
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Boy Jackie! You hit the nail on the head today. I’ve been reading Terry’s blog, but haven’t made it to her forum yet.
Thanks again!
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In this business you really need some support. There are too many turns and directions going everywhere and sometimes it is hard to get a spot to focus on. Wealthy Affiliate had some helpful people because that is where I saw pot pie girl and then Jackie. The forum was time comsuming.
If you are looking for help from the main guys Kyle and Carson, expect an auto responder with a message. They don’t have the time to deal with newbies. I’m looking forward to seeing what Lynn has this coming week during the webinar. The main word of advise I would be able to give is that forums have a purpose. Ask your question and get out. Hanging around will not help you with taking action. You don’t make money if all you do is read.
Hi Jackie,
Your right about needing support, I feel I’am stuck in a rut with IM but I don’t want to give up, there is so much out there, get rich schemes not that I want any of these, you don’t get something for nothing in this world, unless you are very lucky. All you want now and again is to be able talk to someone to get advice and encouragement. thanks for caring
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Hi Jackie,
It is a pleasure to meet you even if only “virtually”. I currently do not have a real-life support system as I do not have any friends or family in IM. But I gain wisdom and inspiration from wonderful people like yourself!
I also have a cat that provides some much needed “acupuncture” after a long day online. She’s also gives me the evil eye when she feels I’m spending too much time online.
Thanks for being such a kind and sharing person. Have a wonderful day!
Thank you for the heart felt post. I checked out Powerful Intentions and loved your blog!
I agree it’s very important to find like mind people when pursuing any goal. There have been so many times I was absolutely stuck and popped into my favorite forum to ask for guidance. I have been very fortunate to find supportive individuals who shared their knowledge and experience with the sole purpose of helping me succeed.
Thank you again for an informative blog. Excellent post as always.
Hi Jackie,
Thanks for the tip to Lynn Terry’s site. I agree with you about Powerful Intentions it has been a great place for me to get inspiration and also a little boost to keep going. Great bunch of people there. And, I agree with you on Wealthy Affiliate. I joined when I first started learning about IM and it was a good place to start because I knew absolutely NOTHING, worse than NOTHING. So it got me jump started, which was good. It was overwhelming though with too much information and I thought I would get some help from some of the seasoned members but only got help from people struggling like me. Not to say it wouldn’t be great for someone else.
Anyway thanks again for Terry’s site. We do need places to go to hang out with like minded people!!!! Well, I do anyway. LOL
Michele
Follow me @Lovebostons on Twitter!
Oh Jackie….your post almost made me cry!! I was just thinking about how lonely IM can be as I was unloading my dishwasher this morning (I’m a stay-at-home Mom too … can’t ‘ya tell!)
It is so hard when you have no one to share your small successes with or vent to when things go south. But blogs like yours are a great source of inspiration and encouragement and I feel very much at home here.
I will be sure to check out Lynn Terry’s forum very soon. Thanks for all of your great work!
I am fortunate, my other half fully supports what I am doing. I found Wealthy Affiliate to be to complicated to. I will check out Lynns forum.
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