I remember back when I first started as an affiliate marketer. I was working a full time job that consumed at least 40 hours of my week. For me, the next level in entrepreneurship was going to be when I could quit my traditional job. This was challenging however because I was in outside sales. Much of my time was in the car, so I was unable to work on my business while working the 9-5.

I was forced to do much of my affiliate work at night and into the wee hours of morning. I also remember how frustrated I would get during this period of my life. A lot of my friends would tell me I had a “million dollar mind.” Hmmmm, that was great but I had a $500 checking account.

I kept thinking, “I’ve got to get to the next level”. I wanted to run my own business and do this full time more than anything else in my life. To do this I knew that I had to do 3 things:

1. Work harder than everyone else I knew

2. Work smarter than everyone else I knew

3. Find a niche, and attack it.

So I did just this. My goal was to OWN every niche I got into and to work harder and smarter than everyone else. When my buddies were at the bar partying, I was working. During this time I also remember some of the haters who did not think my ideas had the potential I knew they had. In fact many thought I was living some sort of pipe dream of “becoming rich on the internet”. Sometime this bothered me, but here are three key things you have to remember in your entrepreneurial journey:

Other people do not determine the potential of your ideas, YOU do.

Out of your greatest rejection can come your greatest direction.

Your past failures are seeds for future successes.

I lost a boat load of money starting an online casino. However, had I never failed miserably at this, I would have never continued in the online gaming market. Experiencing that failure was a stepping stone for me to get to the next level.

In order to get to the next level as an affiliate, an internet marketer, or an entrepreneur, you must also do two things.

Number one, ignore the negative people in your life who don’t believe in you or your business ideas. So many people in this world hate seeing others be successful. I imagine everyone reading this can think of a few haters or doubters in their own situations. Even if you showed them a million dollar check tomorrow, these individuals will still find something negative to say.

Number two, celebrate others successes and don’t be jealous. Do not be one of the haters when you see another affiliate or one of your colleagues experiencing massive successes. Instead learn from these people and have a genuine happiness for their success. Your time will come too. Being negative when good things happen to other people will only hold up your own success.

Action Plan: You should write down what “getting to the next level” means to YOU. Maybe it means simply being able to take the family on a vacation with your affiliate revenue. Or maybe it means quitting your full time job. Either way, take a few minutes to think about what YOUR next level is.

Make it a great week!

P.S. Thanks Corpfan for the kind words and your link back in the Big Fish Poker Club Blog.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 3rd, 2007 at 9:56 am and is filed under Affiliate Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.