How do you stay motivated when you aren't making any money?

If you’re working very long without getting a return, check your systems. Make helping others your goal. The income will follow if the systems are set up to facilitate that.

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Kristin VanTilburg

Who cares if your business is a failure? You will have learnt a lot about yourself. Providing you do not die of starvation or exposure whether you make or lose money does not matter.

Take the pressure to succeed off yourself. Anyway only you can know if you have failed or not because you are the one who set the expectation of what success looked like.

Susan

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Mark Rhodes, Kristin VanTilburg

Don’t know about you, but I do it because I enjoy it.

Yes. I want to be paid well for what I do, but I have a day job that pays the bills.

Sometimes, I think you have to be a bit philosophical about it.

It takes a lot more time than most people realize to build a business.

You can take a lot of pressure off yourself by doing your best, and not worrying about when it will pay.

As Sean has said, you have to have everything in place; but you also have to be doing many of the right things in the right way.

I’m not a gambler, but I’ve seen fruit machines in movies and stores.

What does it take to win big?

Everything has to be lined up just right first.

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Kristin VanTilburg

Sean’s call the other day really crystallized this – if you take action and you fail, you’ve learned what didn’t work. But if don’t take action, you’re guaranteed to fail. It was a message I needed to hear because I am one of those perfectionist types, and can be very “green” in personality. Because of this I have gotten stuck a lot of times, even when I have had great ideas.

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Kristin VanTilburg

Perfectionism, Suzanne, is the first ingredient in the recipe for a nervous breakdown.

Judging from your picture, I’d say that you’re probably too young to remember the Total Quality Movement that became popular 20-30 years ago.

Everything was quality.

The goal was perfection.

I think that Six Sigma came out of that. (Sigma is the greek letter for one standard deviation, and six is an alliterative expression of near perfection.)

Quality is important, but no one cares if it’s perfect.

All people really want is to solve their problem.

And those of us who tend towards perfectionism have to remember that.

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Kristin VanTilburg

Not making money makes me a bit nervous and motivates me to keep working. Making money is what is dangerous for me.

I associate activity with making money and quitting as a way to ensure you will fail.

Napoleon Hill said one of the greatest qualities for success was the trait of turning on more determination when you were not getting results instead of quitting. He noticed it first in Edison, then other successful people.

Yes, I am a Napoleon Hill fan. Pay more attention to what he said than his life.

Do as I say, not as I do…

Scott Hogue CChH

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Kristin VanTilburg

Hi Claire,

I must admit I find it difficult to stay motivated. But the decline of my used bookselling business on Amazon ( I remained blinkered for years, telling myself thins would pick up. And more recently the running out of any savings I had have forced me to get serious about earning money online by other means.

My wife now pays for virtually everything, rent, utility bills food etc etc. And things are very tight financially. So as a matter of personal pride and for the sake of my own self worth, along with a craving to give something back to my long suffering partner, are now my chief motivators.

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Kristin VanTilburg

Good question. If you aren’t making any money, there has to be a reason. For me, the motivation would be to figure out why the heck I’m not making any money.

But here’s the thing. Lots of people associate money with success. Is making money your end game? I understand that money is needed for the necessities of life. But even if you’re not “cash rich,” are you helping people? To me, that’s a form of payment, and in that respect, you are successful.

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Mark Rhodes, Kristin VanTilburg

Clair,
If you’re not making any money, something is not set up right or is not set up at all. Figuring out what is wrong and adjusting (or adding) it to your business model will start bringing money in and once that starts, THAT will motivate you.
So…first step is to look at what you have that CAN bring money in and fix what is broken or missing.

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Kristin VanTilburg

Scott, something to bear in mind about Napoleon Hill.

For him, thoughts were things.

We have to be careful that things don’t become our thoughts.

Wow, It is very hard for me to stay interested in any project that does not produce any income.

The time it takes to make money is one of many factors that I use when I consider going into a niche or product.

If I pass the time frame that I set for myself I reevaluate the product or niche and determine whether I should continue or scrap the project.

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Kristin VanTilburg

I think it depends at what stage you are at if you are just setting up you understand that’s part of the process, but if over time you are not making money if can be hard to stay motivated. This is when you have to do two things reassess what you have to see why you are not making money and see if honestly its your end goal ie if you just love giving out information on something then maybe your goal is not to make an income at the moment.

I have a friend who has being doing something for 5 years now and made hardly any money, but her end goal was to become a TV celebrity and all she as doing was getting herself out there as a brand and she knew the money would come then and it has happened she is now part of a new TV channel being launch next year, not only will she have a program on the station she is also part of the board overseeing the whole concept… her end goal.

Whereas if you need the money to keep going be brutally honest with yourself or find someone you can mastermind with and make it happen 🙂

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Mark Rhodes, Kristin VanTilburg

Hi Claire,

First I want to say you are not alone in this. In fact, not charging enough or charging at all is very common.
If it weren’t, there wouldn’t be 100’s of programs out there to help you change your “money mindset”.

I think entrepreneurship is a lifelong journey of self-development.
So one mindset training is not going to change your life forever. If money is an issue for you, you’ll probably need to confront it over and over again.

What I mean is that there is never going to be a free ride to confidence, money and success that you can hop on and go along for the ride.
As much as we’d like it to be that way it happens the other way around.

It’s not until you take action in the face of fear that you get courage. If the fear is around money than that fear will NEVER go away (no matter how much mindset work you do) until you set a price and sell something.

But then, once you take the action it becomes that much easier and then even easier the next.

So you might want to start with a low ticket offer and sell multiple at that low price.
I would bet it won’t take long to start feeling like you should get paid more for what you’re offering.

Who knows… after a little bit, you might even want to raise prices.

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Mark Rhodes, Bruce Hoag, Kristin VanTilburg, Norma Allen

Hi Claire,

First of all… that’s a wonderful question.

I cannot talk for people who have no other job and try to focus on internet marketing to make money online.

I have a full-time job that pays me well. However, I will build my internet marketing business to such an extent that it makes me more money than my job in a year. Then, I will quit my job and focus on internet marketing.

I have been on this field for 7 years, on and off, a little success, some failures and a lot learnt. But what kept me going is the passion and the belief that I will make it big sometime in the future. I guess, without the passion, the understanding that ‘Rome was not built in a day’ and the perseverance, no one can survive in this field.

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Kristin VanTilburg, Sean Mize, Bruce Hoag

Claire

If you are only doing it for the money, then you have to be doing something that makes money . . .

A business is a business . . a coffeeshop sells coffee

an oil change shops sells oil changes

a coach sells coaching

So one thing you need is to package what you do into something folks can BUY then focus on getting folks to the buyer page and go from there . . .

if you are doing things that DON’T lead to your goal . . . anything that doesn’t lead to it . . anything outside of:

create squeeze page
create products
write a daily email
tell everyone possible about your squeeze page

If you are doing things outside of that and hoping they’ll give you the same results . . . they won’t!

the whole idea here is to encourage you and encourage others and for others to encourage each other – to do THOSE steps and share your work to help you stay motivated to stay on track and do those 4 steps!

Sean

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Jennifer Eick-Jakiela, Mark Rhodes, Kristin VanTilburg, Bruce Hoag, Norma Allen

Claire,
I guess I must have high self-efficacy, because I never think in terms of “What if I fail?”
I always think I’ve got a good idea, even when it turns out to be lousy! LOL
Sometimes I’ll think, “If this project doesn’t work out, on to the next!”
What motivates me? The urge to be creative. And, if I’m honest, the urge to be really, really well-off financially.
My day job (where I barely break even financially) is actually a great motivator. I am convinced I wasn’t meant to live like that forever!
Making a comfortable living by others paying me for my thoughts & ideas – that’s what I would call living the dream!

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Mark Rhodes, Kristin VanTilburg, Norma Allen

If I give up, then I’ll never succeed.

And so I have to keep going.

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Kristin VanTilburg, Norma Allen

I am such a procrastinator, I keep putting off quitting…

In the food service company my wife and I quit.

Many times.

Just never at the same time.

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Kristin VanTilburg

One thing that motivates me when I am discouraged and think about quitting is remembering the Friday afternoon staff meetings with the woman I used to work for. I would do almost anything to never have to do that again. That painful memory is quite motivating.

I am grateful you are here, asking this question, and for all the people who have taken time to answer. I found the whole page quite uplifting.

I go back to my “reason why”

Why I do what I do . . how I can impact people, how I have a change to share things, to say things, to teach things, that change lives.

Why I do what I do . . I couldn’t have the lifestyle freedom I do without it.

It doesn’t mean I don’t always work 40 hours but I don’t have to do them 9-5, sometimes after 9 at night, sometimes before 5 in the AM )

time freedom is huge for me

And when I get discouraged, I can look at my reason why . .

I can look here and see people who are meeting each other . . .

I can look through my file with emails I’ve put in when someone tells me I helped them . .

Sean

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Mark Rhodes, Bruce Hoag

One more thought here . .

it’s not all about the money

when we change lives FIRST – then do the right money things, the money will follow.

What would happen if each day you asked yourself, what can I do today to change one person’s life?

And if you touched one person per day, would that be motivating?

Sean

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Bruce Hoag

Hi again Claire,

There is an oft quoted saying that is hardly ever challenged… and that is “Money is the root of all evil”

But the correct version of that quote should be, if it isn’t already: “The Misuse of money is the root of all evil”

Money is simply a tool, but a tool which can be as slippery as an eel, when you are bereft of it, and becoming quite desperate (such as myself).

We just have to try our best to remain calm.. take it step by step, and hope that by helping others, in a structured, but unique way, we can be rewarded with access to that tool in sufficient quantities to sustain us, and allow us to lead a life of non dependency upon that elusive “money tool”.

What would you do if it did fail, Claire?

Would you give up? Or would you start again?

This is interesting . . .

what is failure?

is it that our squeeze page didn’t convert like we wanted it to . . .

or when folks read the giveaway it didn’t make a difference?

Are we defining failure as trying something that doesn’t quite work . . and that is failure?

To me, failure is not taking the action of CREATING the squeeze page and then telling as many people as possible . .

and this is just one example of hundreds . . .

can you folks think of more examples of what failure really is . . . rather than how we perceive it when a marketing piece doesn’t work just right?

Sean

For me, failure is a noun that describes an outcome that’s less than what I was working towards.

I know that I have to reframe it to mean something else, but a lifetime of thinking doesn’t go away overnight.

Perhaps you, Sean, or others in the forum have some ideas about what worked for you.

Sometimes I think the expectation that “I can do this” even after years of trying and it not happening is in one’s DNA. Decades ago, back when freelancing to magazines was a lot different, it still took the average writer, with no publishing contacts, a long, long while to “make it.” And there might be periods during those dry spells when a time-out had to be called for real money to be made, but somehow the feeling that “I can do this” would return when another issue of Writer’s Digest arrived. And eventually the magic was found. Perhaps today the speed of internet information has caused us to expect success to happen quicker, and when it doesn’t, it’s harder to believe it can be done.

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Norma Allen, Jennifer Eick-Jakiela, Bruce Hoag

I think “failure” is the failure to implement.

Now, “what” to implement is the big question.

Answer that + implement = success.

Regardless of results.

To me, failure is giving up.
You should always be reaching for goals.
Now, the goal may CHANGE – which is OK. You learn by doing, and so you may have to tweak, improve, and change things around a bit.
As the Marines say: “Identify – Adapt – Overcome!”
It requires internal resiliency to keep at it, even when it may get exhausting.
But when you throw your hands up and say you’re not going to try anymore, and don’t…That, to me, is the point of failure.

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Mark Rhodes

Some of you may have seen this article on the Warrior Forum. I found it helpful.

https://www.warriorforum.com/main-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/1318129-when-you-feel-like-quitting-know.html?utm_source=vero&utm_medium=email&utm_content=control&utm_campaign=%5BCLONE%5D%20Weekly%20Top%20Discussions&utm_term=Newsletter&vero_id=paypal@drmarkrhodes.com&vero_conv=jQpmr6sflHze4oWtBySJyYbKOlhcGapqRf-WCSOaigZST5WCuwh9qumuMM5c-u_PbvOQxDy25ZUS8g67bwoBpZvgsMCTHbX0

The title was “When you feel like quitting, know this,” and it includes a graphic that tried to capture the dip we might feel after some of the original excitement has worn off. Knowing the dip exists can help keep us from giving up.

Mark

Quitting is not a success strategy. I wish I could take credit for saying that, but I heard it first from an old boss of mine.

How are you “wired” up?

speaking in general here

Do you expect something for nothing?

Do you think life gives attendance awards for just showing up?

Do you think the world is a hard place to survive and thrive?

When you aren’t seeing success do you have a tendency to fade out and quit or roar on and overcome?

Do you question yourself and your life with endless loop questions that have no answer, like “Why me?”

When your funds are low do you put your energy into worry and dread or into solving the problem?

I don’t think anyone arrives here in the world with a success mindset, we pick up our mindset mostly from the people around us and society.

On the other hand there are countless true stories of people that changed their outlook and changed their life.

I like the saying, “You don’t attract what you want, you attract what you are.”

If you are a person that complains, well, misery loves company. You will find yourself in a world of complainers.

If you are a happy person trying to succeed, then don’t be surprised if happy people that are succeeding show up for lunch.

I think a good outlook is to believe that you will meet with some difficulty at times as you go through life, but you will work your way through your problems and overcome them.

To believe the end is worth the work and to make the journey as rewarding as possible.

If you are doing the thing you were put on earth to do, then how can you fail?

The bible says make your calling and election sure.

Be sure you are on the right track and then go forward!

best,