All the major leagues are comprised of the top 1% in their field. Their heads MUST be screwed on right for the most part to get that far.

A great story in Moneyball, the book about Billy Beane ( a truly physically gifted player, who DID NOT have the right pyschological makeup to make it in the big leagues), goes that he was stting in the dugout watching in awe as Steve Carlton pitched. Lenny Dykstra, with little in the way of physical gifts, but a totally scrappy player, says: ” I don’t care who he is, I can that sh!t he’s throwing”.

Two players, one with the right mental attitude, went to have a very nice career, while Billy Beane, a thinker, went to success in Baseball Management.

James Mangosteen Dean

I read on your blog that you had a 6000 person downline at one point. That is really impressive.

Regards,
Mark

Bottom line — people need a workable plan, and they need to tirelessly work the plan (ignoring everything else).

Thanks for the great comment!

Regards,
Mark

To me, it has to do with motivating yourself daily and also recognizing where you’ve been. If you’re not keeping a baseline, sometimes you forget how much you have accomplished.

As for trying to keep your head above water in this economy, residual income is the best consideration. For myself, I am always supporting my team so the business I am in is great because I just need to buy the customers from the company and they do the follow up. I think any business where you believe in it and are able to achieve residual income paying you month after month instead of a linear paycheck where you are paid once for your efforts just makes sense.

I like the idea of committing to one hour a day or whatever you think you can start with and compete. Doing something on a smaller scale lends to success rather than setting goals too difficult to meet and setting yourself up for failure, feelings of being overwhelmed and becoming anxious and discouraged.

SO, instead of spending 15 MORE minutes expounding on the subject here… I think I will go and do 15 minutes of something toward my goal that will help me move forward.

Thanks again, Mark… great stuff!

Exactly what I am trying to do and you have been a great inspiration for this…. oh by the way did you ever see my vid that pimped your NAT themes …. by the way I could not find an aff program for it? Does it not exist or am I being an ejiot?

http://therandomforest.com/how-to-create-a-micro-niche-website-video-tutorial/

@Christine and @Forest — I only see one and only one path out of the time and money trap. You have to shift your focus to work on things that pay your residually. Of course this is more easily said than done — I get that. Still, you need to spend more and more time on things that you do once but pay you over and over again.

Let’s take Forest’s clients, for example. Forest is very talented and great to work with. I am one of his clients in fact. But the bottom line is that Forest get’s paid once and by the task for that work. That is good because he gets paid a premium and gets paid immediately. It’s bad because once he gets paid the transaction is over and he has to do more work to get paid again.

I have the same problem in my day job — if I don’t show up, I don’t get paid.

If Forest is able to use some of his talent to build something that can generate passive income — even just a few dollars a day, then he can get paid over and over for working once.

This is the key as far as I am concerned.

Of course, Forest knows this, and has some great projects in this area. I’m just using him as an example.

The problem is that this takes longer and you need to have good ideas that you can execute. It’s not simple, but it is the only way that I can see that you can really make it big online.

If it were me, I would dedicate 1 hour per day to working on something that could eventually make a few dollars per day. When I was done with that, I would do the next one.

Wait – that is what I am doing.

Regards,
Mark

So, my goals – commit more time, stay more focused, and worry less about finding the magic shortcut!

I have always been an etrepreneur at heart, and I have battle scars to show for it from years of struggling with a brick & mortar franchise and other endeavors in years past.

I don’t think I’ll ever stop trying, but I still face resistance from friends and family when I mention I am working towards creating income on the internet… wow, the negativity you face at times!

By staying connected with like minded folks like all of you and hearing the overcomer and success stories, it keeps me on the path and reinforces my belief that I need to believe — in ME!

Thanks to all of you out there!

When I was a teenager (1980 or so) I wanted to be in a rock band. I loved AC/DC, Judas Priest, Van Halen, etc. Everyone told me I sucked, I wasnt good enough, I’ll never make it. For years I was told this. But I held on to the belief that I could do what these guys were doing. I kept at it, kept practicing and “jamming” with different groups. Eventually in 1993 I was good enough and connected with a group of people that were in the same place as me. That band did extremely well. We headlined friday and saturday nights in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin. We went on tour up through the east coast and had a great time.

I look back on that experience and compare with what I’m doing today. Everyday whether I have enough time or not I try to do at least a little something. Some days I do more than others. But everyday I “practice” my SEO and writing. One blog post at a time. I’ve also joined up with a great group of like minded people on Coaching with Josh where we can all share ideas and help each other reach our goals.

Its up to ourselves whether we “make it”, whether we can “headline”, or whether we can quit our day jobs. Don’t compare yourself to others. Everyone is different and learns at a different pace. And Never give up or you will certainly fail

Do or Do Not – there is no try — Yoda

Cheers!

Sometimes obstacles are so close to us that we don’t see them. We are one of such obstacles. Everyone of us stop ourselves in a different way.

The way I’d stopped myself recently was to try to focus on different things including the stuff that were not my type of things. The result was diversion from the main path I’d planned for myself long ago. Fortunately, I managed to stop myself and even pay to let me go … ! Now, I feel I’ve paid for my freedom. I’m an SEO practitioner, but I had been tempted to get into e-commerce.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing negative about it, but it was not the right thing at the right time for me. So, I just let it go.

I learned that the only liberator is also myself. I’ve discovered this recently and feel so relieved. I’ve decided to do one thing at a time, but do it well.

I am constantly trying to balance moving on my blogging and getting client work done…. if money giving but non progressive client work comes in I have to drop all my blogging and get that done… gotta pay the rent.

I’m not moaning, I love my work and the variety…. But just saying it’s take me longer to get to that dream place as I can’t throw all my time at it.

Great quote

My biggest obstacle at the moment is TIME and money… or lack thereof of both.
Given today’s economic turn down, I found myself scrambling to do whatever I can do in the short term to generate the income to stay above water with mortgage and the basics. So, I’m doing web sites, email and graphics for OTHERS… and it’s a big time stealer, although I enjoy it.

Can’t quite get to my own stuff or when I do, it’s in small bytes. Yet, I know if I could just hang tough and keep at it, I can get there.

Any advice on managing time so I can make faster strides? I know if I could, my income might increase at least enough to take a bit of pressure off.

Anyway… that’s where I’m at. Thanks for all you do.
Christine
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