Hard-hitting lessons I’ve learnt thus far

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Ever since I took the plunge into the Internet Marketing world, when I took my maiden step to register this domain name back in late December last year, my online journey so far has been an educational and eye opening one.

It is definitely also a very hectic, busy and tiring experience.

I have to say without a shadow of a doubt that the lessons I’ve gleaned with regards to business and marketing are really much more than what I could ever learn in school. Well actually I never did learn business and marketing in school anyway, since I was science student!

Anyway those  were some hard hitting lessons that really got me thinking and questioning my planning process - real HARD!

What lessons am I referring to anyway?

#1 Assumptions are the mother of all screw-ups!

Okay before I go on, I know statisticians will disagree with me here since assumptions are everything for them.

Anyway, I’ve been guilty of assuming to my detriment.

For example, there were certain niches that I thought were downright boring, and I assumed that there were no way in hell that anyone could ever be interested in them.

Ok maybe I am exaggerated here, but I thought that the demand was hardly going to be earth shattering, to say the least.

Well this assumption was made before I even did a keyword research on them. The results that came back really astounds me. There is a potential goldmine out there!

This brings to mind another assumption I’ve made - just because I don’t like something doesn’t mean others will not like it as well!

In the business world, who cares about what you like? Our job is to find what people out there like and cater to their wants and needs!

So there you go. Assumptions without proper research and due diligence, coupled with personal bias can cost anyone big time, which in my case is the opportunity.

#2 Test, test and test somemore!

Coming from a science background, I must have done countless testing during my undergraduate and college years. The thought of bringing testing over to marketing never really strikes me as very important until I had a discussion with some members in a private marketing forum.

I was really amazed at the diligence and seriousness shown by some of the most successful marketers out there, towards testing.

I read in awe on how they test literally everything, from the frequency they send out mails to their list, to the choice of keywords in adwords, to adsense placement, to copywriting to even  whether to go for a single or double opt-in for their list. 

It is no wonder that they are the creme de la creme of net marketers. They are different. They are great in what they do as they dare to challenge the conventional norms, and tweak where necessary to give them the best result.

Nothing is for certain or created equal, and the only way is to test to see if it really works. If it doesn’t, they discard it, and test over and over again till an optimized setting is reached. They do it to the point of being fanatical, but that is what separates them, the best, from the purely average.

It looks like I’ve got plenty to learn….and test!

#3 Quality takes precedence over quantity

Personally I like to do things fast, and sometimes that results in a pile of shoddy and sub-standard junk.

Yes quantity may have been achieved but the quality is sorely lacking and that is frankly unacceptable. Things like this really make me cringe when I think back about it.

Again, the reason the best marketers are able to differentiate themselves from the crowd of wannabes is because they are not only able to produce quality, but also with quantity as a whole package - on a consistent basis!

This is how things ought to be, and I’m gonna kick myself in the arse daily to knock this fact into my head!

#4 Learning to say NO to everything except the most important ones!

In the Internet Marketing battlefield, there are tonnes of products and services pitched to me at every bloody turn. Information and resources? Let’s not even go there! There are an insane amount of those out there.

In the beginning, I tried to be a HERO, and grab everything there is to be learnt. Even when there was no time, I would still grab it. Why? For fear of losing out! That dreaded emotion!

Very silly indeed! Feeling more like a ZERO instead!

I get too busy chasing the never ending vicious cycle of trying to get my hands on anything and everything, that I lose sight of my goals and tasks, which should be my main priority!

From now onwards, I will say HELL NO to anything that comes my way unless it is absolutely essential to my goals. Time and money saved!

#5 The old-fashioned virtue of working hard still very much apply today

We always have people saying that we should work smart and not hard. Sounds easy?

Not quite. 

Yes even with all the programs and tricks that the gurus teach you which promise instant riches. I’m not saying these are totally useless, but there are really a fair bit of garbage out there.

If someone can tell you that it is easy to make money, he is spouting BS! Probably a scam artist I reckon!

Just doing the backend behind-the-scenes tweaking of this blog takes up a lot of my effort, which eats away precious time for me to do more important stuffs like content creation and marketing.

Who ever says that Internet Marketing is gonna be a walk in the park?

Loads of effort is definitely required! Working smart is important. That I cannot deny. However we simply cannot escape the fact that we do have to put in a whole lot of sweat and effort to make things work and tick!

Once a solid foundation has been built and established, then can we take the foot off the gas a little bit, and maybe allow ourselves a well deserved short break. Then it is back to plugging and grafting away.

Just to clarify, I’m not saying that we must work hard and slog like a dog all the time. Things will get easier after a solid footing has been established. Automation is something that attracts me to Internet Marketing, because it is possible to put things on auto-pilot mode and yet rake in the money.

My whole point is that before we can enjoy such benefits, we need to put in a hell lot of work into building this base, which is the hardest and most tedious stage.

Okay, time to get the hands dirty!

#6 Last and most important point - Focus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know I’ve said this a million times, but I will still say it again (and probably in future as well)!

With all the interactions I had with marketers whom I met offline and online, the biggest challenge for them is always to keep the focus!

The need to filter the noise and keep my eye on the goal, never allowing myself to be distracted are some things I try to abide by everyday!

So much so that if you notice the sidebar on my blog, you will see a ‘rules’ section which details a summary of all that I’ve talked about so far.

Allow me to give you my success equation:

Focusing + Taking action + Quality + Quantity + Consistency (+ some beer won’t hurt but optional though) = Blinding Success!

That’s one heck of a tedious equation!

Sorry for what may seem to you like a rant.

Just want to let off some steam. Ok I feel all fired up now!

Watch me go!

[...] I thought was very true and echoes some of the views I hold and talked about in the post about hard-hitting lessons I’ve [...]