Jude Dodd’s Place on the ‘Net

So many people out there seem to feel that the worst thing anyone can mention is the eleven letter word that strikes fear and shame in them: Competition. But I beg to ask, WHY?!

Let me explain…

Most of us have probably taken the economics course during Middle School to High School - learning that there is supply and demand, which determines how much product to make, how much will sell, and what price point it will sell at the best, as well as the worst. We know that to have fair pricing, we must have competition in the marketplace, which in turn led us to coin the phrase: Competitive Pricing…

But what exactly is competition?

According to the dictionary, competition is: the rivalry of two or more parties over something. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which coexist in the same environment. For example, animals compete over water supplies, food, and mates. In addition, humans compete for attention, wealth, prestige, and fame.

A better definition might be: Competition in economics is a term that encompasses the notion of individuals and firms striving for a greater share of a market to sell or buy goods and services.

So, overall the fear of competition boils down to the belief that there is a highly limited supply of products, market share, money to be made, people to subscribe to your list, people who can become your joint-venture partners, long-tail keywords to go after, etc, etc, etc…

Or, put very simply and to the point, THE FEAR OF SCARCITY -or- NOT ENOUGH TO GO AROUND

And to this notion, I say Bah Humbug!

There is a saying that I love that comes from the epic poem, Bagavad Gita, which states:

“Out of abundance, came forth abundance, and yet abundance remained.”

Through my own experience and studies, competition is more a belief system than true scientific fact. You see, many people will see that someone else has already made a product like the one they wanted to, or perhaps the product merely is inside their niche topic(s) — and they abruptly stop what they’re doing and give up before they finish the creation process.

This is a HUGE mistake!

So many marketers get so very close to the prize (myself included) and give up - right when they were about to strike it BIG!

Please, don’t make this mistake. Instead, when you start doing your research, do something that is most likely totally against what you have been taught in the past: Eagerly look for niche topics that have a little bit of competition already established in it. That’s right - LOOK for Competition! Let me explain why:

If you find yourself a niche that has zero, zip, nada, NO competition - well, getting started in that niche and making it big is not very likely. Now please note I am not saying that it is fully impossible - I have seen and history has witnessed quite a few people who have made it big with something so brand new, no-one has ever considered it before. BUT, these people had a TON of resources and money to pour into it - LOTS MORE than you probably want to use to bet on an unknown outcome…

So instead you want to look for something that has been established in your marketplace. Now, if you find something that has millions of pages - try and narrow it down till you have tens of thousands if you can. Focusing is a very good habit to get into — just don’t focus so much that you go into the hundreds of pages category.

Once you find that the niche is established, look for any Ad-Word ads. If you see them, you can bet people are making money here. Next, look at the top 10 to 20 websites and see what they are selling, giving away, etc. Now, in school this was called, ’studying the competition” - but here you are doing this for three reasons:

1. Looking to see what products and/or services already exist
2. Any ways you can improve or add value to them, and
3. Seeing who could become a joint-venture partner of yours in the near future.

Finally, sign up on to any of these sites that offer an email newsletter subscription. This way you can know what is going on in your niche and keep on top of it all, as well as get to know your new-found partners and friends.

So, wrapping this up, here is the main point I am trying to make:

In business, as long as you are truly opperating your business with the intent to help your customers out, much more than merely fleece them for money - then competition does not truly exist - instead, the creatived process rules supreme in this Online realm.

So - go out there, find your competitors, and CREATE!

–Jude

A few days ago, we talked about  working at home, and how many believe the whole thing to be a scam. Today, were going to look at how several people who could really benefit from owning their own business sabotage themselves with the fears of the entire thing becoming a waking nightmare.

Let me explain this point of view: There is a group of naysayers out there who love to think about owning their own business, setting their own hours and being their own boss. The idea of firing their current boss and driving away a free person is overwhelming - but not enough to take proper action. However, this is not merely because the majority of these people are procrastinators - no. More to the point they find the negative in everything, thus talking themselves out of the very thing they are striving after.

They say to themselves, and quite often spread rumors to others, saying, “Oh, I would love to lay on the beach, drinking a Piña Colada and not having a care in the world - but you know how it is! There’s all the extra work that you have to do, which isn’t freedom but becoming a slave to your work. I don’t know about you, but being a work-a-holic is not the life for me…” -or- “It is so easy to get sued by so-called customers anymore - and then to have some crazy subscriber turn you in for SPAM emails - heck, do you know how much in fines one has to pay, even if you did nothing wrong, just because some creep turned you in for sport?!” -or even- “The Internet is swamped with other marketers in every conceivable niche available. And you know what? I know for a fact that every keyword is taken, you have to pay $10 per click with AdWords - the competition is just absolutely ridiculous! There is absolutely no way to make much money online anymore - at least, not enough to survive on…”

As you can see, these people I refer to as the Chicken Littles of the Internet, shouting at the top of their lungs how the virtual sky is falling. The question is: Is it?

Let us go over each concern, making sure each is addressed.

To begin with, for those people who feel that owning your own business is all work and no play - you’re half right. But before you start nodding you heards and saying aloud, “I told you so,” allow me to expand on this.

For anyone who is truly serious about making their own businesses become huge successes, they put in 10, 12, or even more hour days - some every day of the week, and others all but one or two. However, they are so passionate about their work that it isn’t work anymore, but fun, play, and a joy to complete. Now I know that this may seem far-fetched, but ask any successful Internet marketer out their if their business feels like hard, tedious work, and I guarantee they will say no (well, that or only in short spurts, but never all the time).

But for those of you who are truly scared of doing all the work yourselves, from creating the product, writing the sales letter, creating a newsletter, learning HTML, creating graphics, marketing your product, etc… Don’t Panic! The truth is ALL successful Internet marketers delegate at least a few of their unwanted tasks to others for a small, reasonable fee. [NOTE: I will be covering this aspect of business, called Outsourcing in another post soon. But if you would like to start learning right away, I recommend The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss.] This also becomes the ultimate answer to those scared of becoming work-a-holics.

Moving on to our next fear-based reasoning, we have those who are frightened to take any action for the small chance they could go through litigation, become sued, slammed with ungodly fines, and in the end have to declare bankruptcy just days from the official launch of their online enterprise.

Alright - let’s stop this before we have another War of the Worlds incident…

Let me say, very firmly, that even though my country, the great U.S. of A, has become a largely litigious society, the truth is that it is so easy to stay within the laws that I have yet to hear of one case against an Internet marketer. I mean, when you use a company such as aWeber, Get Response, or other highly trusted auto-response emailers, they take the sting away from those seeking to hurt you. Every email sent out has a way to unsubscribe from your list - and before they sign up, they must first confirm it by clicking the provided link. This in turn proves they gave their permission to recieve you mailings.

Also, make sure you have a disclaimer page on your website (salespage) and in your product. This does not have to be hard and tedious work - and you don’t have to hire a lawyer for thousands of dollars. There are plenty of places that either give this information free for you to use, or sell a copy for pennies on the dollar.

Truly, as far as being legal and ethical in your online business, nothing could be easier.

Finally, we come to the one word that has been known to make cowards out of strong businessmen: COMPETITION

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Because competition is such a huge topic to so many people, I feel it deserves it’s own post. Tune in just days from now to see for yourselves how I tackle this tricky and to many frightening subject!
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–Jude

Many people have come to me, both online and off, asking we what the title suggests.

What I mean is, some come asking if the ‘Internet Lifestyle’ is really just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo BS that always results in people being taken advantage of. Some ask if it really does give the freedom that so many Gurus claim that it brings. And yet others ask if pursuing a dream of owning and running a business isn’t the dumbest and hardest thing someone should ever attempt to do…

I will answer each part from my own personal experiences, and let you, the reader, decide in the end what you believe in regards to online entrepreneurship.

To begin, so many believe the old adage that, “If it’s too good to be true, then it most likely isn’t…” Now, in most cases, that is true - however… I myself have seen some miraculous sales happen — but the better adage to use here is, “An overnight success took five to seven years to occur.”

Now stop panicing from what I am saying - there are many success stories that took one year, one month - heck, even a select few that took a week or even days! BUT these people were passionate, determined, and so focused nothing stood in their way. They acheived amazing results because, let’s face it, they are extraordinary people (and thus we have the obligatory disclaimer, ‘Results Are Not Typical, and thus are NOT a guarantee of your own success.)

But, due to people out there believing the ‘Get Rich Quick’ claims, or those who hold strong to the belief that little work and little time invested equals the BIG BUCKS… Once they have their huge failures (is there really any little failures out there?!), they proclaim to the world that the whole Internet Marketing thing is a scam, that no-one ever makes the big bucks besides the self-proclaimed Gurus, and that any normal person is destined to fail.

Sorry, I have to call major Bull Sh*t on this one!

Yep, I just cussed…

If I offended you, I truly apologize - but the fact of the matter is that most Internet Marketers are NOT scam artists - in fact, most want to genuinely help out their fellow entrepreneurs succeed as they have, if not do even better than they have. Yet the very few that have honestly lied, stretched the truth, and all-together scammed people through bad and untimely information have in the long run wrecked havoc for the rest of us honest and helpful marketers.

So, wrapping up my first point here, from my own experiences and the successes I have had through the many years I have been online, I will say without a doubt that for 98% of the cases out there, they are in fact not a scam but a genuine product created with the hopes to help others leave the rat race of life and join the author(s) into the Internet Lifestyle and the freedom that it provides.

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In the next few days, I will continue this discussion, picking up with the claim that working at home is a nightmare, and then finishing a few days later with an interesting take on whether or not it is, or even can be, a dream come true. Stay tuned, bookmark this post, and feel free to comment!
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–Jude

To finish up our three part discussion, today I would like to discuss the last of the top three reasons people have problems with making money online: Those who have their head in the clouds, and those who have their feet planted firmly on the ground. Put another way: Day-Dreamers Vs. Realists

Let us begin by defining both stances.

Day-dreamers are typically the kind that love to talk about their eventual ‘big score’ that is always coming shortly. You probably know this type: the “I’m going to be rich in weeks/days from now, and never have a worry again!” Now, I am not against shooting for the moon or dreaming big. On the contrary - when performed properly, these can be huge pieces to your success. But for the people living in a fantasy land, their big dreams never have a chance to become true.

Realists, on the other hand, feel they have everything under control, and that they too may achieve riches - but as long as they can live comfortably in the near future, that’s alright with them. You can identify these people by listening to the phrases they use: “I don’t like taking too big of risks.” “I am investing for the long term.” “Short, slow, incremental growth of a business is the only way to lasting success.” Realists are a bit better off than the Day-Dreamer due to the simple fact they do take action - however, the actions are small-scaled and often take a long time to see results with.

Now, let me first state that if you have found yourself to be one of these two types, do not fret. You are not going to be called a bad person, nor am I going to criticize you harshly. The truth is I myself have been found to be in both camps, sometimes dreaming about $1,000 paydays, and other times hoping to make $20 in a week to go out to eat with my family after church services. To be in either of these camps is not something to cause you shame - instead, realize that the best path is to have a little of both! Allow me to explain…

The positives of being a believer of fantasy are as follows:

• Dreamers are willing to believe that they can, and often will, get the big prize in the end
• Dreamers don’t sacrifice their beliefs to satisfy someone else’s limitations
• Dreamers are encourager’s, always willing to lift someone up and lend a helping hand
• Dreamers always keep positive, no matter what their circumstances may be at the time
• Dreamers are willing to use their imaginations to create a better world
• Dreamers know there is a solution to every problem put forth to them
• Dreamers love to use their strengths to their advantage

On the flip side,the positives of being a down to earth realist are:

• Realists take the time to map out and plan their strategies
• Realists will take constant, step by step action, no matter how long it takes
• Realists are willing to face the facts, no matter how harsh or negative they may appear
• Realists always follow through until the job is done
• Realists use their logic to make things happen
• Realists know what their weaknesses are, and how to best utilize this knowledge
• Realists always get the result they expected to hit

As you can see, both groups have a great deal of positive things to say about them - but for those who have figured out how to allow themselves to be BOTH of these, balanced in a fantastic reality - their lives truly sparkle and their pocketbooks are always filled.

A great example of a man who has been able to become balanced in these two parties is that of Jim Henson.

Jim Henson, the man famous for giving us the creation of the muppets, Sesame Street and The Dark Crystal movie was definitely a man with his head in the clouds, yet also having two feet solidly planted on the ground.

Whatever the project was at hand, Jim’s mind could create the most fantastical things we have ever imagined - yet he always knew ways to cut costs, recycle materials and ‘be real’ about whether or not his imagined masterpiece could be created or not.

What was Jim’s secret, and how can you use it? Simple: GOALS

Jim always allowed himself and his crew to dream big dreams - dreams that took them all on the long, amazing journey that a puppeteer company had never dared dream before. However, once the dream was named and put on paper, Jim would ask, “How do we make this happen?” From there, everyone worked backwards, figuring out what materials would be needed, how much it would cost, how they could raise the money, where they could pitch the project, whether they needed to hire outside help…

Ever big item was made into a goal. Then, the goal was turned into steps. If any steps appeared too huge, it was then broken into tasks.

Finally, the entire process would be mapped out, and the plan would be put into action.

So, let’s review.

Step 1: Figure out what your end-goal, shooting for the moon dream is. Ask yourself, “What do I truly want to be/do/have? ”

Step 2: After writing this desire at the top of a sheet of paper (yes, write it down - or at the very least type it into a document editing program, such as Microsoft Word or Open Office), ask yourself, “What must I do to get here? ” Take some time to brainstorm and work backwards, figuring out what major goals you must set to achieve this outcome.

Step 3: After having the major steps listed, go through each goal and make up a list of steps on how to make the goal happen. Once you’ve figured them out, write them down under the goal.

Step 4: Finally, go through the steps and see if any need to be broken down any further into smaller tasks. The reason for doing this is so that you will not get overwhelmed through your journey to this worthy desire.

Step 5: Walk away from this list for a day. Do not think of it or worry about it. Relax and have some fun.

Step 6: After at least 24 hours, review the list and see if there was anything you forgot and might have left out. if there is, add those goals, steps and/or tasks as needed.

Step 7: Take Action!

That’s it! There is nothing more to it. I guarantee that if you follow these seven easy steps, you will most definitely achieve any and every dream, desire and wish you put forth for yourselves. Well - that, or something better!

So go on out there and show this World Wide Web what you’re made of!

–Jude

No, it’s definitely not Easter - and no, I haven’t gone out of my mind (yet!).

As promised, I am posting about the next reason people do not make much money online, and that is what I like to refer to as ‘the bunny hop.’

Why on earth such a funny sounding title? Easy, actually. But first, let me share with you a story that may strike a chord with many of my readers…

Sally was a nice young lady, always offering a smile and a kind word to anyone who came upon her. She was quite lovely, both inside and out, and many thought she could do no wrong. Unfortunately, Sally knew the painful truth: there was something wrong in her life, yet no-one seemed to notice.

Sally had this habit, you see, of finding something that interested her, starting the project with all her might, and taking constant action - that is, at least for a time. But something always came up and Sally never seemed to have the time to return to her projects and finish them.

Sally had half-sewn quilts strewn all around her home, among the baskets of yarn and mostly-knitted sweaters and socks. In her bedroom, Sally had most of it clean, yet there was this one area where clothes, dust and other junk always seemed to pile up.

For Sally, everything in her life that she did personally never became complete - and Sally had an excuse for every single thing that was left undone. Sometimes she ‘lost interest’ in the project, and hoped to one day regain it. Yet at other times she really did want to finish it, but there never seemed to be enough time - or she may even be without proper energy to concentrate and get things done…

Then one day, the worst thing that could happen to Sally did - she was laid off from work.

Now, Sally was a smart woman and she knew that back home she had a computer, an Internet connection, and even some cash saved up in her savings account. Surely with all the hype and promises made out there on the World Wide Web, someone had the answer to her needs…

So Sally began purchasing eBooks, reports, mp3 audios, and even video series - all of which was to teach Sally what it was that she needed to do in order to be successful as an online entrepreneur. Sally studied, and read, and learned - and she even began to apply what she learned (getting past her own Analysis Paralysis). She purchased an autoresponder, got herself a domain name and some hosting - heck, she even hired someone on eLance to make the site look great. She even followed through and used the free methods she learned about to drive traffic to her site.

Everything was looking good, except that Sally hadn’t made much money in the two weeks she had worked so hard and diligently for - so she decided that perhaps being an info-marketer wasn’t really the path for her. So, she stopped what she was doing and decided to try owning a review site for affiliate products instead.

Sally followed the instructions to the letter, getting a blog, a new domain and hosting, rehiring the nice guy in Singapore to make her site look good… She kept this up a little longer than for her last site, yet after three weeks of low sales made with Clickbank Sally decided once again that maybe she should try something else…

Sally had heard that Joel Comm, as well as a few other people, had some amazing results with Google Adsense Revenue. So, once again she bought all she could, learned everything as much as possible and ‘took a stab at it.’ She also decided that she would stick with it for thirty days, and that if she did not get amazing results, she would try yet another solution - all the way until she found something that actually worked. Well, unlucky for Sally, she made only $10 in her first month, and she knew that this Adsense thing wasn’t as hot as she had first thought, and so she is now trying out eBay…

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Sally seems a bit silly, doesn’t she? But the sad thing is that there are hundreds (if not thousands) of online entrepreneurs who do this exact thing, over and over again, never accomplishing what they set out to do in the first place.

Sally’s case is not all that special, either. She is afflicted with The Bunny Hop disorder.

What is the Bunny Hop? Put simply, this is the act of jumping from one thing to the next, never taking the time to see to it that the item(s) in question get completed. Instead, the person hops to the next great thing that beckons due to the fear caused by impatience and negative feelings. This is similar to a rabbit hopping away from something they think is a predator, when in fact it is a harmless log covering a stash of carrots.

How many out there, reading this post, know what I am talking about? You start out with the best of intentions, wanting to succeed and have all the glory that comes with it - yet no matter what you start, you can’t find yourself finishing it due to the new and exciting thing that comes your way. Somehow this new project lures us like a Siren’s call - beckoning us from completing the first project…

I suffered from this problem myself for several years, unable to escape it’s clasp. I would struggle to get things done, having craft projects sitting there, begging me to complete them… I wanted to make it so, yet I too always had some sort of excuse as to why I wasn’t following through.

And then online, I became a Sally - I jumped from system to system - and almost always when if I would have instead stayed the course and saw the system to the end, I would never have been where I currently am, working as a Manager of five apartment buildings while also striving to be a huge Internet marketer…

Don’t be a Sally, ladies and gentlemen. Don’t allow yourselves to hop from one project to the next. Instead, choose a system that you want to pursue. Then, read through it once, without action, to make sure you understand all that is required. Finally, take the first step, then the next, and the next - all the way to the ’so-called’ final steps where you will see the victory you have been seeking for so long!

Trust me - this is what I do now, and I am better for it!

–Jude

As mentioned yesterday, the first and number one reason that people don’t make much money online (if any at all) is due to ‘analysis paralysis.’ Let’s begin by examining what AP really is, how it affects fellow entrepreneurs, and finally how to cure ourselves from this problem for good.

According to Wiktionary: Analysis Paralysis is “the condition of being unable to make a decision due to the availability of too much information which must be processed in order for the decision to be made.”

Put more simply, Analysis Paralysis is the disease people suffer with due to Information Overload. Or as some of our teenagers say, “TMI!” (Too Much Information!)

So many people, especially those new to Internet Marketing, acquire this disease by trying to look at the ‘big picture’ of the business and plan for every minute detail - they come to the Warrior Forum, read the several emails they receive from the lists they subscribed to, and they absorb as much of this information as they can - often to overflowing capacity.

They learn that to be successful online, they need:

• A squeeze-page to get subscribers
• A blog to allow visitors and subscribers to interact with them
• A Squidoo lens to take advantage of the Web 2.0 craze
• A twitter program to keep abreast of Internet marketing news, as well as send out their own
• A domain name
• A web host for their webpage
• An autoresponder account, whereby they can get those subscribers
• A Clickbank ID, so they may offer affiliate products
• Google Adsense ID, so they may get money for clicks on ads
• Open Office - A program to make their own PDF reports, eBooks, and freebies
• Photoshop, the GIMP, or another graphic program to make web graphics
• A Flip-Cam to make YouTube videos - a way to get more traffic
• A Facebook, Myspace, and other social website accounts
• Making posts often in the Warrior Forum so that one day they can offer their own Warrior Special Offer
• (The list goes on, and on, and on…)

Trust me, the list above barely skims the surface of every possibility out there - there are literally tons more things to do, learn, and apply - which leads us to why this disease is becoming an epidemic…

You see, so many of us take in as much information as we can, afraid that if we don’t know something, we will be considered stupid or retarded, and that in the end we will somehow mess things up and thus have a failing business instead of a success. THIS IS A LIE.

The truth is harder to face: That by always learning and studying we don’t have to face the reality of actually DOING something. That’s right - Analysis Paralysis is no more than a cover for our fears of success, failure and criticism. Let’s quickly go over these three fears:

The Fear of Success may sound silly to you, but what is behind it is quite powerful. For those who have this fear, what they really are scared of is change. –Once they become successful, their lives will change. Yes, in most cases their personal lives will change for the better - but the irrational fear is that if they succeed, someone else has to fail or lose out. This type of thinking is often called scarcity mentality - whereby a person feels there is not enough to go around.

However, this too is a lie. Plain and simple, there is MORE THAN ENOUGH to go around. And besides - it is perfectly alright and accepted to be paid for your hard work and dedication. Which leads to the flip-side of this fear: the irrational fear that with success they will no longer be liked or accepted.

Newsflash: This fear does have a basis in truth - but that does not mean you don’t go out and conquer it! Let me explain: all of us have friends and family members which have and live with a poor mentality - they never have enough, hate to save money and would rather blow it on something temporary - the proverbial ‘money burning a hole in their pocket.’ Sure, they may look like they are doing well - they have nice clothes, a nice house; everything looks quite nice and pleasant - but you take away their primary (and most likely only) source of income, and the mirage breaks into tiny shards. The nightmare takes over instead, and the truth rears its ugly head.

These people may look happy, but due to that knowledge that they keep inside, when they see you start to succeed they will try to tear you down. As the saying goes, ‘misery loves company,’ and their fear is if you get successful you will leave them behind. In the end, they are most likely right - take it from me: I have made many new friends who encourage me and help me make more money than my so-called friends who always demanded money from me and ‘favors’ to borrow some, ‘invest’ some, etc…

The facts of the matter is this: There is more than enough money and better friends out there, waiting for you to gladly accept them. All you have to do is conquer your fear and take action - which we will discuss at the end of this post.
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The next fear is the Fear of Failure - whereby a person is scared that nothing they will do will gain positive results. This fear paralyzes many people into inaction and instead to live in a fantasy-world where they daydream of owning that successful business, but that’s as far as they go.

Through my studies, I have become aware that for several people this fear comes from our school systems, with the exception of parents or those in authority over us as well. In school we are taught repeatedly that making a mistake is bad, and the punishment severe. Quickly we learn that we must be perfect and strive for perfection, which we are never told is an impossible goal - NO ONE IS PERFECT 100% OF THE TIME!

But this leads into what we discussed earlier - this is where the need for knowing everything and scared to try because we may make a mistake comes from. The truth of the matter, though, is that unless we are willing to make a mistake, we will never take a chance and through it all make it like many of the Gurus online. Here is the God-honest fact: The try, make mistakes, correct them, and try again - this is the true path to learning and becoming a huge success.

Every person out there who has the big successes have followed this path. Bill Gates of Microsoft made several mistakes (and currently has one called VISTA - but that’s for another discussion), yet he learned, corrected, and made billions of dollars. Going to the Internet Marketing arena, Joe Vitale was completely homeless, trying several things until his book(s) took off — now he is a huge publisher of hypnotic information products and quite the success. However, here’s something you didn’t know: Joe Vitale still makes mistakes and learns from them. No, its completely true! Ask him sometime - he will tell you (just as any successful person will) that he is not infallable and is prone to make the same mistakes all the rest of us do as well…

One of my most favorite example for someone who conquered this fear in a huge way is Thomas Edison. Edison ‘failed’ over 900 times trying to create an electric lightbulb. Did he cry over his failures? Maybe. Who truly knows? But, did he give up? NEVER - he kept at it until he got the result he was looking for.

By taking constant action, one step at a time, you too can conquer this fear - but before we get into that, let’s discuss the final fear…
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The Fear of Criticism isn’t discussed as mach as the first two, but for me this one was hell to conquer. Overall, this is the fear that whether we win or lose, suceed or fail - no matter what we do, someone out there will not like it and harshly criticise our work. Many people say they don’t care what others think of them, even quoting the child’s song, ‘Sticks and Stones may Break my Bone, but Word will Never Hurt Me.’

But words do hurt, a lot - for many of us who have been criticised by those in authority, those we look up to, or those we feel know more than we do (and thus we should listen to them) - it crushes our soul and feels like salt being poured on a deep wound. Now, I am not meaning constructive criticism, whereby the person is working to build ourselves and our work up (like a proof-reader, or a true friend). No, I am talking about those people who do nothing but tear us down.

Many of us have felt this type of criticism throughout our lives. We don’t do something exactly right in class and are called stupid by the teacher in front of the class. We stray from the lines while coloring, and are told we are bad for doing so. We create something to sell, and are told it will never sell due to a barrage of negative reasons. We write an eBook, ask for reviews, and are told the book stinks and our grammer is that of a three year old (this one happened to me)…

The thing is this, though: There will always be critics out there, working hard to destroy a person’s confidence, belief in themselves, and their credibility. These people only exist to make others miserable because deep down inside, they too are hurting and miserable.

One person who conquered the fear of criticism is that of Colonel Sanders, the man responsible for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Colonel Sanders was an older man, somewhere in his late 60’s or early 70’s, when due to a new highway construction lost his restaurant. He decided that his chicken recipe was the best one out there, and he became determined to prove it by selling it for a large sum to a restaurant owner who could continue on the legacy of his recipe.

Now here’s the interesting part of the story: Sanders lived in his car, constantly criticised and being told by every restauranteur that his recipe stank - that it wasn’t all that special - and that it would not bring the crowds or sell. It took months and several hundred NOs, but eventually through his perseverence he proved them all wrong and became the ‘chicken king.’

Another famous person I look up to who conquered this fear is J. K. Rowling. Ms. Rowling as most probably know wrote the Harry Potter series of books, and is now richer than the Queen of England. (Yes, it is true!) But what you may not know is that similar to Joe Vitale’s story, Rowling was trying to make ends meat and just survive daily, when she had this idea to write a story about a boy wizard, his friends, and their many adventures together.

She followed through on this inspired idea, and wrote until the first book was complete. Here’s another little-known fact: Once she completed it, Rowling herself didn’t feel the book may do all that well, and had to be convinced by friends to even try to send it to publishers. Now, think about this: Several publishers sent the manuscript back, saying it wouldn’t sell, it didn’t match up with their line of books, that it was a silly idea, or even that she was an untalented writer who needed more schooling! Luckily for all of us, Rowling kept going, and today she is known throughout the world and will never have to scrounge for food and shelter ever again.
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So, what did those people who conquered these fears do in common? That’s correct - they took action, one step at a time, correcting their mistakes, ignoring the critics, and knew in their hearts they deserved the reward(s) that would come at the end of the journey.

You, too, can do this and conquer Analysis Paraysis for good, starting immediately.

First, believe in yourself and know that you are worthy of praise, worthy to receive money for filling a need, and worthy of success. Make this a strong belief so that your faith cannot waiver.

Second, choose the path you want to take (Making eBooks, being an Affiliate marketer, etc) and then TAKE THE FIRST STEP. Do not concern yourself with mapping out the course and trying to know every bump and valley you might come across - just take the first step. Once that is 100% complete, take the next one. You will find, as I did, the path becomes illuminated and all you need to know becomes clear for you - but only when you take constant, constructive action.

Finally, keep a journal (or even a blog, like this one) telling of what you did, what worked, and what didn’t. This way, you are always learning from your mistakes, you can celebrate all your wins (both small and large), and in the end prove every critic wrong!

Go get ‘em, tiger!

–Jude

There are many people that have over time told me that no matter what they do, they pathetically struggle online, barely making any money at all.

When I take the time to truly dig into the true reason(s) behind their problems, it always boils down to three distinct things:

1. Analysis Paralysis
2. The Bunny Hop
3. Head In The Clouds, Feet On The Ground

Please return later this week to find out what each of these problems are, and exactly what you can do to avoid and/or conquer them.

–Jude

I was given some great advice recently:

“Always keep a notebook handy - you never know when your next million-dollar idea will strike!”

This has been oh so true for me in the past, where I did not have said pad of paper, and forgot the great idea hours later.

However, there is something to be said about having too many ideas to ever get all of them done in one lifetime…

For example, I have business ideas for the following niches: Internet marketing, crafts, handyman advice, art, food & drink, goal setting, story telling, plays & movies, novel writing, musicals, stage magic & illusion - the list just continues on and on!

And those are only the MAIN niches - this is not to list the sub-niches in each category. For instance, let us take the niche of crafts. Under this niche, I have ideas for crochet, knitting, cross stitch, sewing, weaving, wood-burning, wood-working & carving, airbrushing…. And we can get even more specific! Let us take sewing - under this heading I have ideas such as: quilting for men, my own line of men’s clothing patterns, beginner sewing video series…

Heck, if one was to take a look at the several note-books of mine that are filled with ideas, they would instantly see my frustrations at trying to accomplish all of them in this lifetime. But that isn’t the biggest problem…

Oftentimes the biggest problem for me - and one that may be facing you, too - is choosing which idea to work on now, which ones to do next - and which ones can be left alone for now (and maybe forever).

So, let me share with you how I tackle this problem.

One idea that was given to me by a good friend who was really into his role-playing games was to pick my top twenty ideas. From that list, roll a twenty-sided die, and whichever number came on top, that was the idea to do next. Although this method is fun, it isn’t the most effective.

Instead what I do is choose the top ten projects that I know I can keep very passionate about and (here’s the biggie) those which I can hold myself accountable to see all the way through to completion. (Please note: if there is someone you truly trust, who will not judge you as having a ‘crazy’ or ’stupid’ idea, share it with them so you may have them as an accountability partner. This makes things a lot easier.)

From this chosen list of top ten projects, I sit down and narrow it down to the top three that makes me excited to get going - the three projects that would get me out of bed to get them done. If I feel even the slightest bit hesitant on a project, it doesn’t make it to the top three.

Finally, after I choose my top three, I walk away. That’s right - I leave it alone for a short time. Why? This is so I can calm down and refocus my energies on which project truly should be the one that gets done first. Let me explain:

When I am all excited about these top three projects, if I was to choose which to tackle first right away, my decision would be purely based on emotional responses. I could choose a project because I feel it would make me the most money in the shortest amount of time, or I could even choose it because it sounds like so much fun - these are based on emotions, not pure logic.

So, when I return to my list of three items, I ask myself three questions:

1. Is there a hungry market for this idea?
This may seem self-explanatory to most of you, but it is easily missed. When we have a new, exciting idea that just sets us on fire, we can often trick ourselves into thinking we can skip the step of market research by going to forums, looking up the popularity of keywords, and just believe that this item is just so awesome that people will have no other choice then to buy — and then the product bombs terribly…

2. What’s in it for the customer? What ROI will they receive?
For those who do not know, ROI = Return On Investment. Now yes, we’ve all heard the phrase, “We all tune in to radio station WIIFM - What’s In It For Me?” - However, this again is a question that many of us like to skip out on, thinking that customers will really have a burning desire for the product, but in reality we are fooling ourselves because it is really only US who might want this product. Please, take the time to truly define what benefits the customer will receive by purchasing and using your product. If you cannot easily define them - move on!

3. What is the cost to me, and to the customer?
I am not speaking in terms only of price - I am speaking of the deeper meaning: Cost so far as your time to make the product, including research, compiling, writing the sales letter, traffic generation… Also, cost to the customer such as: Will they need to learn something completely new? Will this be a fast remedy to their problem, or one that costs their time, patience and energy to complete? How about how it will cost them through the change the product will bring?

If you can answer these three questions honestly and completely, and they have positive answers - go with the top product you feel (using these new-found evidence) will benefit the customer the most. By doing so, the money and other concerns/desires will all fall into place.

–Jude