Random Thoughts by Steve Weber on Life, Dreams,
and Internet Marketing

Monday Mornings

I spent a lot of years getting up and going off to work on Monday mornings. I often wonder if I will someday stop thinking about that and just take for granted I don’t have to do that now. I hope not.
For a long time I simply thought that was my destiny. After all, the world needs people to do daily jobs. Just imagine what would happen if everyone stayed home and worked from their computers.

But like many of you, I always had a restless feeling inside me that what I was doing was not my real purpose. I had numerous jobs, but I always had that same feeling with each of them.

Sure, I tried various things to get away from those jobs. Nothing ever worked out; I always found myself getting up every Monday morning and heading off to work. I never lost the dream however of doing something on my own. The idea of working hard for me and not someone else always seemed like a better idea.

I think maybe those people who had and lost that dream may actually be made to get up and go to work for someone else. However, for those of you who have the dream right now, I want you to know that dreaming and truly believing you can live the life you want is 90% of the battle.

Allow yourself to dream deeper. Imagine what it will feel like when you too can get up on Monday mornings and get right to work on your own projects. When you get so close to that feeling you can taste it, all that is required to achieve your dreams is action.

What Is Holding You Back?

At one time or another all of us have wished for different lives. I know I spent many years in jobs I simply was not happy with. Why do we continue doing things when we don’t really like them?
The answer is fear.

Fear of what might happen, fear of what won’t happen, fear of not making any money, fear of not making enough money, fear about getting insurance, fear about losing a retirement plan, …the list goes on.
Imagine if we lived with our hearts instead of allowing fear to guide us.

I know fear well; it is a dead end road. Fear kept me stressed and tired for years in the high speed rat race. Many of us think we are for some reason supposed to “not like” our jobs (I did for a while). We often think it is normal. Maybe it is. Maybe most people fall into the trap and remain stuck in a life they are miserable in for decades if not most of their lives.

How sad.

Life is short. It is too easy to allow the years and decades to slip by while simply saying, “Maybe next year.”
There are no guarantees (that is what has you worried), but once you free yourself of a daily grind you hate, your creative side will emerge in full force and assure your success. I was amazing to me how much I had to offer myself once I got rid of all the stress involved in the daily grind of going to work.

You simply must believe and trust in yourself 100%. If you trusting you 100% is a problem, start right there. Correct that way of thinking! Each of us has 10 times the potential on our own than when stuck working in a Dilbert cube. What exactly is fueling that belief about yourself? You must find out.

If you are worth someone else paying you to help them make money, why are you not worth just as much (and more) applying that work for yourself?

Focus on your dreams, take action, and then go live those dreams!

Finding Your “Groove”

Do not beat yourself up if you have a full time job and are having trouble getting things going. That is one tough road.

Somehow, someway you have to find time to free up space for your creative side. In Internet marketing, as in most ventures, no amount of work can make up for lack of creative time.

When you feel like all you are doing is beating your head against a rock wall, it is time to step back and take a breath. Feeling “under the gun” and in dire straights to perform simply perpetuates the problem.
Instead of spending every possible minute at the keyboard, take your mind outside for a quiet walk and enjoy nature.

Relax, breath and just be.

Success cannot be forced. It will come only as you grow from the inside. You have heard the saying, “Money cannot buy happiness”. The same is true in that hard work alone cannot produce success.
In truth, when you really hit your groove, it won’t seem like hard work at all.

Finding Your Groove Part II

As most of you already know, I specialize in helping not only absolute pure beginners get started with Internet marketing, I also help those struggling in that huge area of “almost” success.

You may know that feeling. Success is there close – you can feel it – you can almost taste it – things really are finally starting to work. It’s just over that brick wall, yet all you feel you are working with is a small screwdriver…trying to chisel your way through – it can be frustrating; the Karma just isn’t right!

If you find yourself constantly feeling like you are trying to move mountains to make this stuff work, more than likely you are going against your grain. What I mean by this is that Internet marketing is about taking basic skills (which I try to teach) and combining them with your own personality. It’s impossible to succeed without doing this properly.

When you make that fit correctly, things tend to flow much more easily…versus the feeling like it is CONSTANTLY an uphill battle.

Think about it. You can feel it inside if what you are doing is a fit for “you”. Many people have a good idea…a good plan…plenty of knowledge…but their chosen method simply does not sync up with their real self. When you are synced up well with what you are doing, things become MUCH easier! Now you have a jackhammer to break down that brick wall with!

Take a moment and consider how “you” fit in with your marketing methods. Don’t be looking at and trying to mimic how I or anyone else does it. You could duplicate a successful marketer’s steps EXACTLY and they would not work for you as well as they did for the marketer…if at all.

I know this part is scary, but you really are the only one who can find that exact connection you need with your marketing in order to become successful.

My Idea Of “Job Security”

My wife and I enjoy a Chinese restaurant in a small city about an hour from our home. The restaurant is quite popular. However, a brand new Chinese restaurant is being built RIGHT NEXT DOOR! Could there be any better reason for the owners of the current restaurant to be suffering with sleepless nights?

While eating there today it occurred to me how much safer it is to be skilled in Internet marketing than owning a small, family restaurant is. Actually, now that I think about it, there are few skills I would feel more secure with than knowing how to get traffic to my websites.

What if the Chinese restaurant owner has to close and re-tool his life? What will be the cost and risk involved? I would not want to be in his shoes…not at all.

On the other hand, what if one of my sites for some reason simply goes down the tube. Maybe Google mistakenly bans my domain…doesn’t get much worse than that! Not a huge deal; I’ll just ramp up my other sites or start fresh with another. Anyone who possesses even moderate Internet marketing skills not only sleeps well at night, waking up each morning to a new day of opportunities is always an exciting time!

Leaving The Rat Race

What a great morning! We are having a rare July rain this morning. I’m watching it out the window and can almost here all the plants and trees say, “aahhh!”

I am glad I get to stay home and enjoy it! I spent countless morning getting up and going off to work all day. Each of those mornings I wished I could stay home and simply work here.

And here I am! I always knew these days would come. My Mother always told me that I could have anything I wanted if I dreamed enough for it and worked hard. She was right.

I didn’t even realize during all those years of “going to work” just how stressful the rat race was on every aspect of my life. It wasn’t just during work I felt the stress, it was every evening too; knowing I had to get up and go was a stress. Weekends were the same. I loved weekends, but then Sunday nights would come.
Now days, I am very aware in my every day life how much stress has been lifted from me. It feels good.

I am a hard worker in everything I do. But I have learned something. I have realized that the long, hard, stressful hours I used to put in working for someone else were over-kill with respect for providing a good life. Life simply does not have to be that hard.

What I have found is that by focusing a much smaller amount of time and hard work on my own projects, we can enjoy an even better life than we had when I was working 40 to 50 hours a week for someone else!

THAT is the coolest part of our life online!

A Day In An Internet Marketer’s Life

It is about 8PM as I write this on a Wednesday night in Southard. I was thinking back on the day and it dawned on me how different today was compared to how it would have been back when I was stuck in my full-time job.

Here’s how my day went:
I got up at about 7:00 this morning and began working on AdWords. I created a new campaign with a squeeze page for a new product. It took about 3 hours.

I took a break about 10:00 and went to our “studio”….a converted garage… and worked on some clay pots I made the day before.

About 10:30 I was back working on the computer until noon. I randomly tweet while I’m on the computer usually.  My wife and I ate some sandwiches and then went outside with the dogs…Spring is here! It was a really nice day.

About 1:00 I had an appointment to get my hair cut in town. I took the day’s shipping to the post office then too.

I got back about home about 2:00 and caught up with my forum and emails. I also checked to see if my new AdWords campaign stats were showing up yet…just a few were by then.

About 3:00 I felt guilty when I saw my wife out raking leaves. We have MASSIVE amounts of leaves to rake in the spring! I went to help her. While I was out there I fired up our “new” raku kiln for the first time. It’s a modified electric kiln and I discovered some more mods I will have to it.

We came in at 6:00 and heated up some leftovers for supper. I then caught up my computer (forums and email). By 7:00 we were watching American Idol. We Tivoed it from the night before; I had my Tuesday night teleconference last night.

Just before dark we went outside with the dogs and hunted squirrels….we watch as they hunt and chase!
We came back in and are just sitting in our recliners now. I have some writing to do so I will probably stay up for a while and write. Sometimes I really get on a role and feel the groove until 11 or 12…but most times I am in bed by 10:30 or so.

It was a pretty typical day. Sometimes I just like to remember how much easier this is then when I was going like a crazy man ALL DAY LONG and then coming home and trying to squeeze building a business and taking care of home stuff all in the evenings (and every weekend).

All the sweat and exhaustion paid off! My wife and I really are living our dream here on our 20 acres.

Better Late Than Never To Begin Living Your Dream!

It’s Sunday afternoon here in our Oklahoma woods. I know many of you enjoy watching football games (The Cowboys are on as I write!) while trying not to think about getting up for work Monday morning.
If you dread Mondays, keep reading.

One year of hard work and two years of very hard work is what got me out of the grind. Looking back, I didn’t realize just how high of price I was paying to have that guaranteed monthly check. The “grind” was a killer with respect to my creativity. Now days, I feel like a bird out of cage! There is no better feeling than knowing I have complete control of my destiny.

Whether my wife and I live month to month with our finances, are well off, or very wealthy is completely in my control. I don’t have to worry about being laid off, getting promotions or raises or changing jobs for more money. I have complete control over my future.

Yes, the thought of losing that monthly security blanket was scary as heck! The first month without it was the toughest; by the second month I could feel a new energy building inside me. By the third month, I was rolling along with energy and focus I had know idea existed!

I know it sounds a little korny, but allowing me to find my full potential was the best thing I ever did for myself. My only regret is that I did not get on track sooner.

Believe in yourself, get a plan, and practice Relentless Focused Action! That’s about all it takes to REALLY enjoy those Sunday afternoons!

Your Dream: Will It Be Coffee Or A Website?

Someone told me today they could not afford to do Internet marketing. $3.95 a month for hosting and $9.95 a year for a domain name was simply too much money for them.
I understand things can be tight. However, I’d bet that most of us easily spend that much (or more) in a week on our favorite vice!

Those soft drinks or coffees could more than pay for starting a new career to leave the rat race with!
I am reminded just how great Internet marketing is in that respect.

There is almost no risk, almost no investment is required, and the potential is nearly unlimited. No other business can compare with the possible return on investment Internet marketing offers!
Break that caffeine habit and get yourself a website!

Give Your Dream Time

Most beginning Internet marketers have a common problem; they simply do not have enough patience. Joe Newbie has an idea he thinks will make him a million. (It actually is a pretty good idea!) He plans it all out, works feverishly for a month implementing his idea, then checks his PayPal account. Nothing. Not one sale. Not the next day either…not even the next week.

Joe is getting discouraged. He waits. Two more weeks. Still zero sales.
Here’s how it could have worked.
Joe had a good idea. He put a month’s worth of work into it. However, the idea actually required three months of work to get traction. Joe would never know though. He got frustrated and quit.

I am not saying that every idea requires three months. But the lesson here is if an idea does not produce results, it either needs more work put into it or it was a bad idea.
It is up to you to know the difference.

Here again, experience and trial and error will be your guide. Either continue working an idea or drop it and go to the next. One of those routes will lead to success.
You of course know where the third option leads.
Quitters never win.

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