Highly caffeinated and rarin’ to go, I ran across the following great quote:
“Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally.” -David Frost
(Note to slackers: That is not the magic potion. Keep reading.)
In today’s marketing frame of mind, this really hit home as I’d just gotten off a 50-minute conversation with a colleague where we confirmed to each other that success (with online marketing, and with anything else) is…
…not really about finding THE magic potion.
At least this psychosis is temporary. It’s just that we — humans, entrepreneurs — always end up fooling ourselves into believing that it is.
How many times per year … or per few months … do YOU hop from one marketing strategy or tactic to another, thinking that “THIS time, THIS one… this is going to be it. The big one! And then, I can finally relax!”…?
Negative, compadre.
There IS no “one magic thing” that will allow you to live off millions forever and rest your rump permanently on an island in the tropics. It Just Doesn’t Work That Way.
During that convo with my colleague, I made the point that people approach marketing as do artists, musicians, singers… who expect to be “discovered” at any given moment.
“If I just put myself in the right grocery store, or on the right corner … or in the right church, or beach, or amusement park … and freakin’ CROON at the top of my lungs, then by the end of the month, someone will discover how amazing I am and offer me a deal!”
Really? So why hasn’t that worked for you yet?
No, dearest — success takes dedication. And while there is the percentage of business owners — as with artists — that have had the good fortune to experience wild success from the very first thing they ever touched, or the very first marketing strategy they tried (and with little work), THAT IS NOT THE NORM.
That percentage is small.
Minute.
Extremely.
This is something you’ve heard before, and I’VE heard before, (and I’ve *said* before — for years, in fact) but there is no such thing as hearing this too much:
- If it were truly that easy… EVERYBODY and their mama would be successful.
- If it were truly that easy, you’d have found “the magic potion” by now.
- If it were really that simple, YOU WOULDN’T STILL BE SEARCHING.
Do you see…?
When I further checked out The Random Person Who Finds Good Quotes (I love quotes!), I came upon this:
“One is not born into the world to do everything, but to do something.” -Henry David Thoreau
Ahhh. And NOW, we see.
Based on the frame of mind I was in, of course, my brain instantly made yet another marketing connection:
Do not practice “buckshot” marketing.
What do I mean by that?
It’s simple:
“A little of this, and a little of that, a little of this over here, and a kinda moderate amount of that” might comprise the beginnings of some “bomb” jambalaya (thanks, mom) , but it for sure is not the makings of Internet marketing success.
Not even close.
And just why not?
Again, simple:
- Find some stuff that looks interesting to you, and that seems like it will work (or that works for others).
- Try that stuff.
- Test that stuff.
- Track that stuff.
- Evaluate that stuff.
THEN, throw out all the stuff that isn’t working…
And focus solely on the stuff that is.
The more time you waste trying to find “The ONE magic ingredient,” the more time you LOSE chasing your tail and feeling disheartened.
That one “magic” ingredient is C-O-M-M-I-T-M-E-N-T, ladies and gents.
We as online marketers need to stop being commitment-phobes, really dig in, and just GET ‘ER DONE.
So, your step 1:
The next time you see an article like this with a similar title, just skip it…? DO something. Do what you know and have learned works already. Get yourself one step closer to that goal.
Quit reading about it and do it already. You have your answer now anyway. ;)
[…] In my most vulnerable and least self-assured moments, I sometimes feel that we business owners have less confidence than others, and it’s that the propensity itself to second-guess ourselves that pushes us toward a perfectionistic ideal, which, in turn, pushes us further toward success. But whatever. What I do know for certain, though, is that one of the surest ways we all can fail at something is by having a lack of determination to succeed. […]
[…] In my most vulnerable and least self-assured moments, I sometimes feel that we business owners have less confidence than others, and it’s that the propensity itself to second-guess ourselves that pushes us toward a perfectionistic ideal, which, in turn, pushes us further toward success. But whatever. What I do know for certain, though, is that one of the surest ways we all can fail at something is by having a lack of determination to succeed. […]
[…] In my most vulnerable and least self-assured moments, I sometimes feel that we business owners have less confidence than others, and it’s that the propensity itself to second-guess ourselves that pushes us toward a perfectionistic ideal, which, in turn, pushes us further toward success. But whatever. What I do know for certain, though, is that one of the surest ways we all can fail at something is by having a lack of determination to succeed. […]
[…] In my most vulnerable and least self-assured moments, I sometimes feel that we business owners have less confidence than others, and it’s that the propensity itself to second-guess ourselves that pushes us toward a perfectionistic ideal, which, in turn, pushes us further toward success. But whatever. What I do know for certain, though, is that one of the surest ways we all can fail at something is by having a lack of determination to succeed. […]
[…] In my most vulnerable and least self-assured moments, I sometimes feel that we business owners have less confidence than others, and it’s that the propensity itself to second-guess ourselves that pushes us toward a perfectionistic ideal, which, in turn, pushes us further toward success. But whatever. What I do know for certain, though, is that one of the surest ways we all can fail at something is by having a lack of determination to succeed. […]