Tricks are What Prostitutes Do for Money + What’s Coming (or Not)

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The Problem With “Tricks”

You can’t build a long-term internet business on quick and dirty internet marketing “tricks.”  Or loopholes. Or B.S. “secrets.”  (Of course, if you’re unscrupulous and lack moral fiber, you can make a fortune by telling other people that these tricks exist and then selling them . . . but that’s not what I’m talking about).

Anyway, so many aspiring entrepreneurs are never able to leave their day jobs because they treat online business like a glorified hobby: it’s become a video game and they’re looking for the cheat codes (and that’s unfortunate).  They want to “talk shop,” hear “war stories,” and engage in bullshit debates about the finer points of SEO or social media or whatever new and shiny thing is currently being launched.

They want the tricks and get distracted when it comes to substantial (but less “shiny”) business strategies that have worked for decades.

But the people I know who have quit their day jobs aren’t fucking around.  And if you really want freedom, you shouldn’t be fucking around either.

All of this brings me to . . .

The Mindset You Need to Win

Here’s an absurdly simplified overview of steps I’ve found helpful for starting any business venture.

1. Find a market – that you can be passionate about – with low competition and high demand.
2. Figure out exactly what you have to do to dominate that market, and decide whether or not you think it’s worth it
3. Work your ass off until you become profitable.

The problem is that most people don’t know how to do items #1 and #2, and that’s why they never ever follow through with item #3.

Put another way, most people never put in the hard work necessary to do well with their online business ventures because they never know two things: (a) what the return is likely to be, and (b) what they’ll need to do to beat the competition.

Most aspiring internet entrepreneurs are running a race with an unknown finish line and without knowing how fast they have to run to beat their competitors. So they don’t run very fast at all, or (most likely) they quit the race altogether.

The mindset one needs to win in business is one of focused determination. The problem is that most people don’t know how determined they should be, and what they should focus on.

What I Do to Motivate Myself

When I need motivation (and just can’t work anymore) I don’t listen to peppy songs, I don’t visualize myself driving a fancy car, and I don’t look at what competitors are doing and get angry.

What I do is simply look at my market research, get reacquainted with just how big of an opportunity I’m faced with, and get back to work.

Fortunately, I can’t build my motivation on blind faith: I need cold, hard data.

To me, solid data about market opportunities – and about what I’ll need to do to become profitable – is the most motivating thing of all.

But if you don’t know how to build a roadmap to your desired outcome, then it’s hard to get motivated.

Where This Blog Might be Heading

So as you might have guessed, I’m working on something.  At least I was working on something (even though it’s not a product in the traditional sense).

This thing (that I stopped working on) was about how to (1) find a market with low competition and high demand that you’re passionate about and (2) figure out exactly what you have to do to dominate that market, and and (3) test that market to do as much as you can to test profitability before you risk time and money developing a product, a blog, or a marketing plan.

But I stopped working on the product altogether because . . . (to be continued tomorrow).