A Successful Online Business Starts With the Right Mindset.
I’m sure all online entrepreneurs can agree, and I’m sure it is the deciding factor on how far you will go.
When anyone asks me how I found success within the online space, my answer never changes.
Your mentality needs to be in the right order or you will fail before you even get started.
The problem with something so simple is that most of you won’t even understand it until you actually do it.
Then there are posts like the one I’m doing right now that will show you exactly how to think.
Yeah, there are many moving parts, formulas, tactics, and strategies that will help, but your mentality is what will get you to ultimate success.
If you are struggling with getting your head around this whole online business deal, let me show you why you probably failed before you even started.
1. Money Can’t Be Made Online
You’re wasting your time behind that computer.
That’s exactly what my mom told me.
Along with “a 9-5 is a real job” and “everything online is a scam”.
And the biggest one that I will never forget…
“You will never make a penny online.”
That has stuck with me, and it was the biggest motivation I had to make this whole online thing work.
It’s the same reason I never quit, and it’s the same reason Broke Veteran even exists.
Just because I heard that does not mean it’s true.
And just because I didn’t make any money for months does not mean anything either.
You see, guys, there is a problem with us being this thing called humans.
We can and won’t believe anything unless we actually see someone doing it.
That’s how it was when I first tried to make money online, and it was even like that after I made my first $1.
No one understood what I was doing until they saw the lifestyle I was living.
Only then did it get anyone’s attention.
So when you think that an income can’t be generated from the internet, think about what I just said.
2. It Pays the Bills Mentality
I can not stand hearing this.
“Hey, it pays the bills”
I’m sure that every single person you are associated with thinks the same way.
There’s nothing wrong with that unless you plan on doing bigger and better things.
If you’re cool with living paycheck to paycheck, your nice little J-O-B is fine.
Now if you are looking to change all of that, you need to erase that from your mind.
If that is something you can’t do, I can promise you that you will not make a single penny online.
Unless you take some surveys with Swagbucks or something, but don’t expect to make an actual income online.
3. I’m Fine Where I’m at
Comfort is the biggest reason why someone will never try to do anything different.
They like the structure that their life is built around and they probably can’t even accept having to move houses.
That’s how I was until I started living the laptop lifestyle.
Not only was I able to fire my boss without thinking, but I moved at least every two years.
I like changes, and I love having the luxury of changing houses whenever I please.
Forget about loans and forget about buying a house like everyone makes you think you have to do.
Rent, build your portfolio, and then maybe think about buying.
The same thing goes with your job.
Don’t ever be afraid to quit, as I believe it is almost necessary to succeed online.
But don’t take that advice because that’s only for crazy entrepreneurs like myself.
4. I Need to Work Towards Retirement
That is what was drilled into my head when I first started working for the government.
Not so much when I was in the military because everything was so automated but more on when I worked for the retirement fund.
401Ks were a part of my language, along with the terms moderate and aggressive.
All of that knowledge and building of my retirement went out the window.
You wouldn’t believe what I did either.
I pulled out my retirement and threw it into a bar that would change my life forever.
Not in a good way, though, as it failed miserably and left me thousands of dollars in debt.
Retirement drained, and a bunch of I owe you’s to the bank.
To most, withdrawing my retirement and putting it into a failed bar was just irresponsible.
To me and every other entrepreneur, that was just one of the many lessons learned.
Instead of looking at it as a failure like everyone sees it, I see it as nothing but an awesome experience.
And if I didn’t do that, I would’ve never figured out that money can be made from the internet.
5. I Need a Promotion
In the military, you study for boards, and you try to move up in rank so that you can make more money.
In the civilian world, you simply ask for it.
However, whatever it takes to make more money, most of you will get it done.
Your family needs you, and a nice promotion could help with those unwanted bills.
Or you can get it so that you can get that brand-new Toyota Corolla.
That’s exactly how you need to think if you want to get a car that can get you around.
Think like an entrepreneur if you want to even just win at this thing called life.
Promotions are for workers and are the perfect way for any employer to keep its employees.
If you want something different, you need to forget the promotions and do something that can get you paid.
6. There’s No Way I’ll Ever Quit My Job
The thought of losing your job is a nightmare.
The thought of losing or quitting my job never crossed my mind.
That all changed when I saw how much more money everyone else was making than me.
I did some simple math, and I realized that even after working 20 + years, I wouldn’t even make anything close to what my coworkers were making.
I literally sat there and asked myself what in the world I was doing.
After about 10 minutes of thinking and evaluating my situation, I went straight to my boss’s office.
I told her I was going to quit, and she immediately thought something was wrong.
“Did someone piss you off?”
“How about we give you a promotion?”
I gave her my math, and she couldn’t even argue my points.
Her $120K salary was a whole $100,000 more than what I was making, and you really think I was cool with that?
If you can’t even think about quitting your job, there is no way you’ll succeed online.
7. I Think College is Necessary
College is great.
If you plan on working for someone else.
Some of you might think you need college to succeed in life, but I think otherwise.
I see college as nothing but a business and a way to get you to work for other people.
Without such structure, where would our teachers, police officers, and doctors come from?
There is nothing wrong with college and jobs, but it is not for people like you and me who know there’s a lot more to life than working on someone else’s dreams.
If you feel that college is going to help with your affiliate marketing business, you might just want to stop trying because your chances of online success are really slim.
8. There’s No Way I’ll Abandon My Friends
Friendship is a very complicated topic that most will never understand.
What you will see are those that come into your life and eventually lose touch thanks to this thing called life.
Friends make you feel all kinds of emotions, and that is why they play a huge part in your online success.
Friends are needy, and friends need just as much attention as your dog gets.
They will be one of the key factors in whether or not you succeed or fail online.
Just because they support you 100% does not mean that they will help you either.
You have to think about the time that they will take you away from your business as well as the type of lifestyle they will provide.
Drinking was a big problem when I started online, and it was something that I needed to cut out from my life.
What went from drinking every single day turned into once a week to now just a couple of times a month.
And guess what?
I am completely fine with that as I would not be where I am today.
The time I spent at other businesses could have been put into my own online business.
That money that went into other people’s businesses could have gone into mine instead.
Friends will not understand what needs to be done to make it in business, and that is something you need to accept.
Now if you feel that there is no way you can drop your friends like the bad habit that they most likely are, good luck in trying to succeed online.
Think about the time you spend, the amount of money you spend, and the amount of energy needed to do everything that is not business-related, and you will see what needs to be done.
9. I Care What Everyone Else Thinks
This is one thing that is almost impossible to beat, but this short explanation will help you understand it better.
There are two words that make you think the way you do, and it is why you think you need a new car every damn 2 years.
Do you know what those words are?
It’s called social, freaking, media.
Minus the freaking, of course.
Social media is a huge killer in terms of mentality, and it is responsible for a lot of decisions that are against the success of online marketers.
10. I Can’t Fail
Failing.
It happens to the best of us, and it most especially happens to us online entrepreneurs.
As long as you know it is going to happen regardless of what you do, you should be able to brush it off like it never happened.
Look at failure as a lesson and use it to fuel your next idea.
There’s a difference between failing and quitting, with the latter being the one you don’t want to ever do.
Business is not smoking.
It is not a habit that you need to quit, and it is not something that will help you.
There’s no need to “take a break” so that you have some excuse as to why you’re not a successful online businessman.
You failed at something, who freakin cares.
Get it together and focus on moving forward.
Forget about what anyone thinks and understand that you are doing this for you and maybe your family if you have one.
Those who care too much about your failed attempt at business will not believe in you until you succeed, so don’t pay attention to what they say when you fail.
They’re going to tell you they told you so, and they will try to act like they know it all.
They don’t, and you will learn that once you figure out that there is a real way to make money online.
11. I’m Not Smart Enough
This is just another excuse for why someone is lazy.
Let me just say that I am nowhere near being smart, and don’t tell anyone, but I actually did an extra year in high school.
Did that stop me from trying to do something better with myself?
Nope.
If anything, I blame my poor high school decisions on the same people that most of you can’t abandon.
My friends.
As long as you have the passion and desire to make the internet work, there is no reason why you can’t be another online success story.
I don’t care if you think that you’re not good enough or that you don’t know how to work a computer.
Quit making excuses and do what everyone else is not doing.
Making money from the internet.
Conclusion
Excuses are like assholes.
Everyone has one.
Thanks, Jelly, for introducing me to that quote, but I will give credit where credit is due.
Life is an amazing ride, and you can literally do whatever you want.
Just because mommy and daddy think you should get that nice little college degree does not mean you need to.
I do think you should get it to make them buy a little sticker saying, “My princess graduated from college,” but chase what YOU want in life.
Not many will understand how important your mentality is, but I do hope that this post gives you a much better understanding of how much of an impact it has in your overall life.
Until next time, get out there and make something happen.
Do it for the mice in your basement, and never look back.
Cheers!