Unrealistic Expectations ~ How to Break Them and Move Your Business Forward!

This is a post I published back on December 31, 2009.  I had just conducted a survey to try to better understand what it is I can do for you to help you succeed in internet marketing. I was surprised (I’m not sure why) by the results I got and felt it was time someone stood up and said out loud what I’ve been talking about with my close internet marketing friends.

In the last week I’ve seen so many of these unrealistic expectations show up around me that I decided to write a post about it. Then I remembered that I had already done it. When I read this post I thought “Geez, that’s exactly what I was going to say today”. So here you have it, a post pulled from the archives because it’s just as relevant today as it was almost a year ago when I wrote it.

So without further ado… here’s the post.

I just opened an email from Brian Johnson. He’s the creator of Commission Ritual. I don’t remember what the email was about, I didn’t click a link and I didn’t buy anything. However… he said something at the bottom of the email that REALLY got me thinking. Here’s what he said:

People DO NOT fail at internet marketing, they simply GIVE UP before the magic happens.

This hit me like a ton of bricks, because it’s TRUE.  I started thinking about why this is true, and realized it’s got a lot to do with the topic of the blog post I’m writing today. How nice.

Today I want to talk about expectations.  There are a lot of different expectations people have when they start an internet marketing career, and it’s these expectations that many times set people up for failure.  I suppose you could also call them internet marketing myths.

Here are just a few…

1. It’s gonna be easy
2. I can make a full time income working a couple hours a week
3. I can go from having no sales to making 10K  a month in a year
4. If I build it they will come
5. I can try a little of everything and make lots of money

Those are some of the expectations people come in with, now let’s look at how those expectations can positively or negatively impact your internet marketing business.

Unrealistic expectation:  It’s gonna be easy.

NO. It’s not gonna be easy. Yes, the tasks you have to complete are relatively simple once you learn how, but it’s not easy. It takes consistency, persistence, time, effort. To be quite frank, most people aren’t willing to put in the time, effort and work it takes to become successful. Coming into the arena with the expectation it’s going to be easy leaves them ready to run as soon as something gets hard. It makes it very hard to stay with this when things aren’t going as you planned/hoped.

More realistic expectation: This expectation is one that will allow you to navigate the inevitable bumps and lumps is to expect it’s going to take work, and like anything in life there will be ups and downs. If you can stick with it, you WILL succeed.

Unrealistic Expectation: I can make a full time income working a couple hours a week.

Yes, you can ~ but probably not this year. You go to your job and spend 40 hours a week there. Are you making 10K a month yet? How can you expect to come online, where there’s a huge learning curve, and spend a couple hours a week and think you’re going to kick it to 10K a month in the next 12 months. I hate to be a buzz kill (really I do) but chances are much greater that will NOT happen than they are that it will.

More Realistic expectation: The time I spend on my online business is directly related to the level of income I can hope to achieve.  If you spend a couple hours a week you can expect some income. If you spend 2 hours a day, you can expect a little MORE income. If you spend 8 hours a day, you can expect even more income. However, a little time spent is better than no time spent and all the hours whether they’re in 2 hours a week increments add up! So yes, you can succeed on two hours a week, but it’s not going to happen overnight.

Unrealistic expectation: I can go from making no sales to 10K a month in the next 12 months.

Doubtful, unless you’re willing to spend a bunch of money and have a BUNCH of time. Whether you are online or in a brick and mortar business, business is business. If you don’t have the skills to make 1 sale today it is doubtful that you will be making 10K a month consistently 12 months from now. It’s just basic business ~ most brick and mortar businesses don’t even expect to be in the black for the first few years, much less making 10K a month. Because the internet is easily accessible and it is POSSIBLE to make 10K a month I think creates this unrealistic expectation.

More realistic expectation: This one is really the dream killer I think. People come in thinking they’re going to be making 10K a month in a year, they have minimal time to spend. The time they do spend on their business is actually more like a hobby. After a couple months of seeing no results they get pissed, believe this whole IM thing is a scam and quit. I’m not saying 10K  a month is unrealistic ~ I’m saying going from 0 to 10K in 12 months probably is. Why not set a more “realistic” goal. 2k a month? It gives you a more realistic starting place, and then when you reach it you will have even more “proof” that this whole IM thing DOES work and you will continue to stay motivated to move forward.

Unrealistic Expectation: If I build it they will come.

Not so much. Whether you’re building a squidoo lens, or a niche site this is where I see people get the most frustrated and ready to just throw in the towel. There is WAY more to getting traffic than just building a site. Building a good site is definitely the first step but even the BEST site on the internet doesn’t get traffic without promotion. Yes, the promotion part can be very dull, even mindnumbing, but without it ~ nada.

More realistic Expectation: If I pick a few solid traffic driving strategies and take action on them regularly and consistently I will get traffic to my site. period.

Unrealistic Expectation: I can do a little of everything and make lots of money.

The answer to this question on the survey really surprised me (I don’t know why). I asked what is your goal in 2010, and provided 5 different options. I can’t tell you the number of people who clicked ALL 5. Yowza. What really got me was how many times this was combined with I don’t have much time to work this, and I’ve never made a sale but I wanna make 10K a month by the end of the year.

Talk about some unrealistic expectations.  When you’re starting out it can be so overwhelming. There are so many options, so many shiny things. It’s hard to know where to start because you don’t even know what you don’t know. You feel like you have to try everything to see what you like, and what’s a good fit for you. Yeah, I get that. I did it too, for a year or two. I don’t really see anything wrong with that ~ other than you also want to spend a couple hours a week, and want to make 10K a month by the end of the year. You can’t put out scattered, inconsistent effort and expect to create solid consistent results. It just doesn’t work that way.

More Realistic expectation: This can go one of two ways.

You can decide to work one thing and work your ASS off toward 10K a month. or

You can check out a bunch of different things, figure out what you love and what’s gonna work for you and expect to make no money the first year.

Either one is fine, one is not better than the other, but both are much more realistic.

If you take a good look at how you’re feeling about internet marketing at this point in time you may be able to tie your feelings (whether good or bad ~ gung ho or ready to quit) to some of the expectations you have about how this is going to work. It’s so easy to fall into these myths and expectations and then come up feeling cheated because it didn’t go the way you thought it should.

Bottom line: this is a business. It will only succeed if you treat it as such.  It’s the day before a new year. We’ve probably all set our “goals” and expectations for the new year. I encourage you to take a look at the goals you’ve set for yourself.  It’s great to have goals, don’t get me wrong, and goals should “stretch” us, absolutley. However, if you’ve set your goals at a point that is too high that they aren’t even attainable you’ll find it much easier to get frustrated and quit.

You might want to think about setting some goals that aren’t about money ~ money comes from action in this business. (You know I’m big on taking action) Why not create some goals that are easily measured and accomplished by the actions YOU take, and are not necessarily dependent on someone else doing something to make them happen (buying products)?

I had set a bunch of goals, of course based on the money I want to earn.  I was all excited about them. I picked up a copy of Lynn Terry’s free report about boosting your blog and setting goals for the next year and ended up changing all my goals. While it’s about boosting your blog in the new year it’s a great read and makes you really think about what  you want your goals to be.

Now instead of monetary goals I’ve set growth goals for my blog. I’ve got goals to grow the level of community here, grow traffic, grow subscribers, do podcasts, and more. The thing is if I implement and strive for these goals the money will BE there. Those are the actions I have to take to increase my income. So now… instead of scratching my head 6 months from now wondering why I don’t have an extra 5K in my bank account every month I can look and see if my traffic has grown? Has my subscriber base grown? Have I done any podcasts? If the answer to those questions is NO, then not only do I have a reason why the cash is not in the bank, I have a place to start to put it there.

soooo…. here’s my challenge, and I know we’ve done this one before, but life changes, and once we look at our expectations our goals can change. I want to know what you are going to DO this year. What are your growth goals going to be?? Please, share them with us in the comments section! I can’t wait to hear, and remember ~ the magic WILL happen as long as you don’t quit!

Happy New Year ~ I can’t wait to watch you achieve your goals!

So there you have it… what do you think? I’d love to hear your comments and thoughts.  I have figured out a couple things in the time since I wrote this post. One of which is this, I truly believe the best way to overcome these expectations ~ and they come and go in waves in our business ~ I get them sometimes too, even still, is to have a good community around you. A place you can talk about what’s going on in your head. A place where people can lovingly tell you “You’re thinking crazy. That’s unrealistic!” That’s what I’m creating with the KISS Club, and I’m pretty sure the members are feeling the same thing.  We’d love to have you.