Recently I was reading Escape 101, an ebook about location independent living and how to take a sabbatical. The first half of the book is dedicated to getting in the right state of mind and there are 4 steps to achieving this.
It struck me that these 4 steps could serve us well in our affiliate marketing efforts and as entrepreneurs, often working alone. Here they are, set in our context.
- Desire. Identify your real reason for starting an internet marketing business. Is it to become a millionaire? Is it to replace your income? Or is it simply a challenge that you want to prove you can do? For me, I have a deep desire to stop working in my current job (sorry if you’re my boss).
This is based on a lifelong allergy to being told what to do coupled with the fact that time is flying by pretty quickly and I’m not nearly making the most of it. Writing code and fixing databases just isn’t doing it for me anymore. Hence my desire to replace my income and free up my time. Make sure your desire evokes strong emotions in you. Our actions stem from our emotions so the stronger they are, the more action we will take.
- Belief. This one is key for us in affiliate marketing. Do you sometimes find it hard to believe that this stuff is actually going to work? I know I do. That’s because I’ve never done it before and my subconscious is crying out “this will never work” Couple this with the usual negativity from friends and family and it’s easy not to believe.
But if you don’t believe, you won’t take action and you will have no success. A self fulfilling prophecy.
Tony Robbins explains this by encouraging us to create massive belief as a starting point. Massive belief –> Massive action –> Massive results –> Even bigger belief –> Even bigger action etc. etc.
- Vision. You’ve probably heard this before and probably because it works. I prefer to call it “Imagine”. Imagine waking up and logging in to your Clickbank account to see you’ve made $200 of sales last night. Then imagine the day when you quit your job.
Close your eyes and let yourself drift into the feelings of success. Often I find it is even more effective to visualise the tasks that I’m going to do today to get closer to my desire. For example, instead of visualising the big house you will buy, instead visualise yourself completing all the tasks on today’s todo list and experiencing that feeling of achievement and progress.
It results in more action which will lead to better results and more belief.
- Determination. It was only recently that I really understood what this word means. It’s based on the verb “to determine”. You determine an outcome by making sure it happens. That’s all determination is.
It’s not a magical attribute that only certain people have. When people say “you have to be determined” what they should be saying is “you have to make sure you determine the outcome that you want”. It’s not something you “are” it’s something you “do”. And you can decide to do it or not. We’re not born with it, or without it.
Use these 4 key thoughts to get yourself motivated to do the crappy and frustrating little tasks that we all need to do to get our affiliate businesses up and running.
I think you’ll end up enjoying those crappy little tasks after all.