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Don’t Be Afraid To Fail And Focus On Fundamentals | ||
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Some recent comments made on this blog reminded me of two very important lessons that I’ve learned… 1. Don’t Be Afraid To Fail 2. Focus On Fundamentals One commenter reminded me that my recent car business, Samurai Speed, had failed. I talk about the story in my Internet Marketing 2010 report published in a few posts before this one. There were actually a few snarky comments in the post with the report about this failed business. It seems like a few people took pleasure in the fact that I had failed — well in case they didn’t know, I’ve failed A TON OF TIMES. (I’ll give you more examples of my failures in a moment.) But to each his own, though. It really doesn’t bother me for a very simple reason… I know for a fact that you must fail, and sometimes often, before you can succeed. There’s a reason some of the most successful people in the history of the world had some of the biggest FLOPS along the way. No matter how great of a marketer you think you are, or how much you think you have a market figured out, or how great you think your product idea is, nothing is ever guaranteed to succeed. In fact, once you’ve become a seasoned entrepreneur that has tried all sorts of projects you’ll come to realize that some of the ideas you never thought would turn into much end up being homeruns, and the big ideas you were so certain were going to be a smashing success turn into DUDS. It’s just the way it goes. That’s why many entrepreneurs say to learn to FAIL FAST. I’ve certainly had my fair share of failures… Just over 2 years ago, I launched BlogRush. The little blog widget that I really thought was going to change the way bloggers syndicated their posts and generated traffic for their blogs. The widget was adopted by nearly 50,000 bloggers in the first few months and syndicated several BILLION blog posts across the network. From a technology standpoint it was an AMAZING creation. My team did an awesome job at developing it. With all the heavy traffic it rarely failed. It was a rock solid piece of software and server architecture. But the service, ultimately, FAILED. And failed badly. People started to ‘game’ the system. Others started burying the widget on their pages. And the widget itself started to get ‘tuned out’ by visitors after awhile and the click-rates on the syndicated post titles plummeted. All of this caused major attrition across the network. Click-rates went down, users got less free traffic, and many users stopped using the widget — which lowered the traffic more and created a ‘reverse snowball’ of sorts. It got to the point where the service needed to be shutdown. Our company never even had a chance to monetize it. It was a tough one to see fail. It seemed like it had all the promise in the world. But that is yet one of many failures I’ve had in my life… As many people know, I created one of the first autoresponder services in the world in 1994. I was a pioneer of sorts for the permission-based email industry. And it was fun getting press in major newspapers and magazines. There was only one problem… the service was before its time. It became too hard to educate people why they needed to use it. Some hardcore direct marketing people saw the value in it, but it was a tough sell to small business owners at the time. So, ultimately, it failed. But Wait, There’s More! Actually I could probably write a book about all of my failures. I have hundreds of them. From building an instant messaging platform, to a free personals site back in the late 1990s (makes me crazy to see the guy from plentyoffish.com killing it today! But good for him.) to a B2B supplier directory to a parenting portal to banner ad network and on and on and on. And those are mainly ONLINE ventures. I failed a ton offline too. But again, that’s the nature of business. I’ve also had my share of winners — MyItem.com (a photo hosting service for eBay users) was once a Top 500 traffic web site in the world. Yes, IN THE WORLD. Here’s an old page where someone had listed the Top 500 from 1999 — you’ll see MYITEM.COM on the list. I was a very successful domain name broker as many people already know. Even in 2001-2002 (after the dot-com crash) most thought the domain name “gold rush” had ended. I started a new strategy to isolate lower-tier (i.e. cheaper) resale domains and ended up producing over $1 million in sales (mostly profit) in less than 9 months from that project. I ended up with nearly 40,000 .COM domains at that time. Crazy times! I also did very well selling infoproducts to niche markets - like golf, parenting, karate, etc. And I was (and still am) a successful affiliate marketer. I was one of eBay’s top affiliates when they launched their affiliate program, and I was also a top affiliate for several credit card programs like Capital One and Next Card (old school net marketers will remember Next Card.) But for every infoproduct (or affiliate market) success there were many failures when testing out markets and concepts. So if you haven’t figured it out yet… business is very hit and miss. And it has been for many of the world’s BILLIONAIRES. So you can’t be afraid to fail. The great book Think And Grow Rich has some amazing passages about failure being a part of success. I highly recommend you read (or reread) that book. You can’t get ‘married’ to your ideas. Throw them against the wall and see if they stick. If they don’t (after giving it a fair effort) MOVE ON. There are a gazillion opportunities out there for you to build a success business with. The 2nd part of this post is about something else… Someone had posted and said they’d been working at Internet Marketing for years, and had bought many courses, but haven’t had success. They even asked if they should buy one of my products. My answer was NO, I don’t think you should buy it. It has to come to a point when you stop buying more education and instead use what you already have. If you have a successful business and you’re just looking for a little nugget here and there to plug into your existing business, then I DO recommend you continue to invest in training products. The beauty of training products is that you get to buy the testing results of the author — you don’t have to invest the time, money, or energy it took to get the results. You simply get to learn from it and hopefully get instant ideas for how to use it for yourself. But if you don’t yet have something working, and you have purchased a few courses (or spent many hours online educating yourself) it’s almost 99% certain that you buying more marketing courses is NOT going to help you. The fact of the matter is the bulk of online business success comes down to some basic FUNDAMENTALS: 1. Finding a market to serve and provide value to. 2. Making offers to that market (promoting affiliate products, dropshipped products, your products, etc.) 3. Driving the highest possible targeted traffic for that market (Google Adwords). 4. Building an email list so you can follow-up with prospects. 5. Writing good content related to your market — on a blog, in articles, and when communicating with your list. THAT’S IT. There are some ‘tricks’ for maximizing Google AdWords that Google doesn’t tell you, but you can still be very successful with AdWords just using Google’s free training. But what about SEO? SEO takes TIME. And SEO comes AFTER you get AdWords to work. The biggest mistake people make is trying to optimize the site for a keyword that they’ve yet to prove WILL SELL PRODUCTS TO THEIR MARKET. So you need to BUY the traffic first to at least prove that it converts — even if you can’t make that specific keyword profitable. At least then you’ll know what keywords convert so your time isn’t wasted on those SEO efforts. There are also many strategies for using Social Media. It’s a great way to syndicate that content and drive traffic. But as I recently mentioned in my Internet Marketing 2010 report (in a few posts before this one) I also think Social Media can be a BIG WASTE OF TIME because of how most people use it. Social Media is too easy to get caught up in like a chat room. I think it’s important to use with an overall strategy but use it for a max of 1 hour per day (in most cases). BUT… In the beginning don’t even worry about Social Media. If you can’t start getting some success from the AdWords traffic then your project is doomed. Think about it… the AdWords traffic is most ideal prospect… someone actively searching for exactly what you sell (or hopefully sell). So if those people DON’T BUY from you then you certainly aren’t going to sell to less targeted traffic (like Social Media traffic). That’s it. Focus on the fundamentals. Get busy. Test, test, test. And fail fast. UPDATE: I had some comments about AdWords… I’m not suggesting you rely solely on AdWords for traffic generation. But it IS where you should start — even if it’s not profitable. I teach a “sacrifice early profits” concept where you are simply just after metrics in the beginning. Even if all the keywords are unprofitable, if you’re making sales you will see which keywords drive the best conversions; then you can consider an SEO campaign for those keywords and actually STOP paying for AdWords. But AdWords is definitely the place to START (it’s the best targeted traffic) to validate the market and product being offered.
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December 14th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Great post John!
It’s been said by many successful people that failure is a part of success and to focus on the fundamentals.
Just a good read for me really, love reading your blog - great way to update my brain!
Thanks!
December 14th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
nice post, I enjoyed it a lot & it’s something I’m focusing on at the moment… Getting good at the fundamentals, cheers!
December 14th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Hey John,
Great post… I have actually learned more from my failures in life than I have from my successes. John Maxwell has a great book called Failing Forward that everyone should read…
Take Care,
~Brett
December 14th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
I think it is a shame that people can somehow take pleasure that you failed in a venture - says something about their mindset. I actually came across an old blog video of yours called reboot your brain and how you overcame massive debt to be where you are today. I found it inspirational since it made me realise that you can overcome anything and that failing many times is a good thing if you use it to take you forward. So to counter any negatives I say well done on or your successes and I for one will look to model how you do things as success really does leave clues.
December 14th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Very much agree, John
Can certainly relate to the “failing” principle - as well as having others gloat when it happens.
In reality though I don’t think failing is necessarily “failure”. It’s more just a testing result. This is why deploying something FAST is the name of the game.
What you don’t want to do is spend years on something if you don’t even know it works.
(Which is why, in my opinion, your number one goal should be list-building, with “#2″ being getting feedback on what they WANT.)
That way your development time is being spent on things that your captive audience is demanding.
I know - once again we’re talking fundamentals…
But that’s the truth.
Ask. Develop. Sell. Repeat.
Seems to have been the cure for failure in most cases
-Chris
December 14th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Hi John,
For people with credit cards and want to waist a bunch of money on adwords, I can see the value.
For the newbie looking to make a few bucks online to quit their day job, and starting with adwords, Google will soak you dry.
The reality is, 90% of people using adwords lose money.
I’m a proponent of free traffic. Want to buy my course?
December 14th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
So true dude!
I’ve often asked people how they’ve failed first before telling them how I’ve succeeded in certain markets.
You know … it’s never been fun failing, but I can honestly say that some of my most valuable lessons in life and business have come from failures.
Talk soon dude,
Ryan
December 14th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
John -
Well written and well said.
Thanks for sharing!
- Ron Reed
December 14th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
An excellent, thought-provoking post. While we recognise on a conscious level that failure is a natural way of being and that there can be no success without failure, many of us try hard to avoid failing instead of doing as you suggest - “fail fast”.
For me it’s reassuring to read about the failures of successful individuals because then the success they’ve achieved doesn’t seem as out-of-reach. Plus you can learn so much from the mistakes they made - they make for fascinating case studies.
December 14th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
thank you for sharing, John.
as you know, people stay in the perpetual learning because it’s comfortable.
that way, they’re not vulnerable to “looking stupid”
one insight I offer to anyone that rings true for…
what if it wasn’t about you, what if it was about facilitating whatever
experience other people need/want to have based around your
expertise (and yes you have GOLD inside you to share with others)
imagine the possibilities…
be well John, and here’s to testing, taking the lesson learned, using
it, and continuing to go with the flow into action to move forward.
cheers
matthew
December 14th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
John,
Very informative post. The guy that accused you of being a failure? I’ll bet he isn’t a millionaire and he is slaving away at a dead-end job that pays maybe $10 an hour. Everyone is quick to point a finger when they should be using that finger to get to work on the computer, right? At any rate, keep up what you are saying and doing and we will listen!
Michael
December 14th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Wow, great post John. Sounds like it could have come straight from one of the many people profiled in Think And Grow Rich.
I wish you nothing but the best in your future endeavors.
December 14th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
I see you recommending Adwords a lot John.
But Google seems incredibly fickle and fussy about who uses their advertising service and for what purpose.
In my experience Googles customer service is appalling.
They don’t even include a real persons name when (if) they respond to queries. Its ‘The Google Adwords Team’.
Look at any online marketing this week. And you will see that Google is shutting down a ton of adwords advertisers at the moment precisely because they are recommending affiliate products. Even if they are doing it perfectly normally, and without misleading anyone.
If the majority of your traffic is generated from Adwords, then in a market where:
1/ Costs for Googles clicks are only getting higher, not cheaper.
2/ They are apt to close down your account at the drop of a hat.
3/ Competition for the spots is becoming so intense that unless you are already an expert at PPC, it is very difficult to work out how to get clicks in any volume at a reasonable cost.
Then aren’t you putting yourself in a dangerous position of dependency if Google is your main traffic strategy?
Saying simply, ‘Use Adwords’ to a guy online who wants to drive traffic and make money is a bit like saying ‘Just become a Racing Driver’ to a new learner driver who aspires to a career with cars.
It makes something sound simple, that really isn’t.
I am sure lots of folk make fortunes on PPC. But in my experience it is a lot harder then it is made out to be. And you can far more easily lose a ton of money, then you can make it.
To me PPC seems like its far more ‘art’ then ’science’. And that is a real problem if you are trying to make money with it.
I imagine you get sent a ton of PPC courses for free.
Which PPC course out of all those you have seen (price being no object) would you hand to your Aunt Sue if she came up to you and said, ‘John, I need to make money with Google Adwords in the next month. Which course should I read John?’
(Assuming you didn’t have the time to help out. Obviously :-))
December 14th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
John,
Failure has been a big part of my success!
Successes have “paid” the bill to allow me the privilege of failure… and failure provided the motivation (after ramming my head into a “brick wall”) to learn a better way, or see that abandonment of a project was really the best way to go.
I used to write the “Las Vegas Business Secrets Exposed” newsletter, started a local email marketing business, an a myriad of other online projects.
Some worked… some didn’t… but there was always something gained from the work.
It’s sort of like a chess game… it takes time to learn the “game”, time to play, and some”times” you get beat.
I took the last few years to get an offline business going for my boy’s to eventually take and run with, but for the last year I have been setting things up to allow me to pull away from the offline venture and get back to online stuff.
I’ll be launching a new local online venture in January that seems to hold more promise through my testing so far that may outdo anything I’ve done in my life (I’m 57)… but the lessons learned through both the good and not-so-good ventures have contributed to paving the road to what appears to possibly be the best years yet.
What a day we live in!!!
Difficulties abound… but opportunities will always be hidden somewhere around the corner.
John Palma
December 14th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
John;
Great article. I’m in the middle of one of those projects right now should be a big success and make a postive difference in the world, but might not make it. A friend just sent me a great quote that is inspiring me to stretch a bit further and maybe just find a way to make it work; ““Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.”
- Mark Twain
Thanks!
December 14th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Thanks, John for the reminder. I actually said to myself, “No, I’m not a failure…but some things I’ve tried have failed.” Those first 5 words have been a long time coming…but, Hey, it came out automatically this time,
I agree with you about failing, and knowing that you too have had a few no hitters makes me feel better about my misses. I’m getting back on board, and getting back to the basics. Have a great day, John.
December 14th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Hey John great post with some good points. The part that stuck out the most for me was that at some point you have to stop buying education and use what you have. I spent the better part of 5 years learning and learning but not really “doing” or taking action. Once I got past that part the money started to flow. Great advice.
Thanks!
December 14th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Great Post, John!
comes right on time… back to basics, start with Adwords, and if that ain’t working, screw the project!
Thanks a lot!
December 14th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
John you can be sure the critical ones were those who never even dared to fail…
Entrepreneurs are ideas people, like engineers and scientists they try a thousand different combinations and variations on a theme until they hit the target. How many scholars tried to make a light bulb until Edison made the key decision to fail gladly a million times if that was what it took to make it happen….
Here’s to those bold enough to fail!
December 14th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
John,
Thanks for the great advice! I am trying to learn what it takes to drive traffic and get started and this advice makes perfect sense and your stories about your successes and failures is uplifting and inspirational!
December 14th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Hi John,
you wrote: “Actually I could probably write a book about all of my failures. I have hundreds of them.”….
If I have to write you an email everyday for the next year bugging you to please do that, (write that book) I will. Here’s why… Your recent course “Money Mindset” which I purchased and I’m currently taking, could only have come into existence if you had not failed miserably in the past for you to hit pretty much rock bottom, and from there built yourself back up to the status you have today.
I now have the privilege of benefiting from you deciding to actually share this, and so will hundreds more who bought your product and listen (and apply) what you reveal in that course as you systematically show us how to use your techniques in order to get you where you are today.
So I will just say, Thank you for failing, but more so, thank you for climbing back out from where you were, and sharing step by step exactly how you did it.
Write that book John.
If only one person bought that book and benefited from it, you will not have failed.
Arnold Stolting.
December 14th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
John,
First, I tried to alert you by email, but contact@income.com bounced
(reason: 550 5.1.1 … User unknown)
I definitely would like to read your report. All your writing is terrific..
But I cannot as outlined below.
I do want to alert you to a message that ZoneAlarm firewall/ anti-virus
software of Checkpoint Software gave to me when I went to
download your Special Report. THE message is:
WARNING: This site is dangerous
This site you have requested http://www.box.net is know to distribute spyware.
I cannot say with absolute certainty they are right….
But I did click on another site where they gave me
a similar warning… It cost me 12 hours of my life
to fix the problem!
Please let me know when this is resolved so I can download it!
Thanks,
Katy
December 14th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Thanks John,
Very good points throughout. Thanks for the boost to get back up again!
December 14th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
I failed because I gave 3K to one of your marketing buddies for coaching and got zero - no coaching and attitude from his customer support. I have no faith in internet marketing anymore and I don’t consider myself an overall failure. Just someone that bought into too much snakeoil (10K worth). With $0 in revenue.
December 14th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Show me a man who says he has never failed and I’ll show you a man who has not taken action on anything in order to shield himself from failure. Not taking action because you’re afraid to fail is worse than failing because you have nothing to learn from.
December 14th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
aaaah failure!
it’s usually painful but Always learning’full’ & so useful in the playing field of creating the next business & the next, & the next…………….
success is always going to show up out of it somewhere, just depends how you’re looking back from the future.
December 14th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Hi John,
Great post as always. I totally agree with Nigel, the Reboot Your Brain post is terrific. Something to be used regularly to ‘clear out the junk’.
I agree that people should test keywords using Adwords to see if they convert, but as Affiliate Marketing Strategies above said, it ain’t that easy to make Adwords work.
I have a LOT of experience using both Search and Content network traffic, and I still have more losers than winners. I pity poor newbies rushing headlong into Adwords trying to find keywords that will work for them - they are likely to get their heads handed to them on a platter.
It used to be easy to make money and test stuff using Adwords…not so much any more unless you are really switched on and have the patience to hang in until your testing provides you a winner.
It’s hard to keep going when you’re new and you’ve burned through a grand or two you couldn’t really afford on 10 failed Adwords campaigns that with hindsight never had a hope of succeeding. if you can learn from it, that’s great, but you need toe occasional success to keep you motivated, and staying the course can be hard with all you do is fail.
This is why the scammers with the ‘Magic Button’ do so well. It’s a shame that so many people get caught and never make it out the other side…
Thanks again for a great post,
Regards
Rocky
December 14th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
I still look find myself (even after your explanation) wonder how you consider Blog Rush a failure? Even though there were some things going wrong with the gaming and the click thru’s dying down…I wouldn’t consider that a failure. You just found some things that weren’t working with it.
I really wish that was something that you didn’t hang up.
Think of where it may be now if you would have implemented just a few more changes or even gone in a totally different direction with it.
Then again, would the focus on trying to “make” Blog Rush work have taken away from the projects that you’ve been doing instead. The world will never know.
What if Thomas Edison stopped working on the incandescent light bulb? Talk about failures….wow…!! But he took his “failures” to move on.
I pose this question…
When do you decide your project is a failure and when do you decide to adjust, move in a different direction, and continue to apply your efforts?
That’s a tough question that only YOU can answer. When I say You, I don’t mean “John Reese”, I mean who ever is working on a project that doesn’t seem like it’s going well.
December 14th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
John, my main man. To this day, I still read your Let The Crap Fly article. It has changed the way I do business online, and it’s served me well. It’s made me a lot of money in fact. The mindset shift was so crucial.
December 14th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
I appreciate the reminder to test keywords via adwords before trying to get your SEO right. I see lots of small business owners who are totally clueless to the keywords people are using to find their sites.
December 14th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Thanks for a great post John. There are so many “simple to exploit” (virtually no skill required) opportunities these days, that failure to make a full time income online shouldn’t even be an issue anymore.
The real challenge for most people starting out, in my experience, is how to move from hard work to automated income (which doesn’t really exist in the way they think it does….activity always needs to take place over the long term).
This move from hard work requires failure, testing and long nights tweaking and optimizing.
Even looking at large, complex organizations and their R and D budgets, they often work very hard to have the correct mix of probabilistic outcomes in their R and D pipelines….a few sure things with low pay offs, and a lot of long range, potentially revolutionary R and D projects…most of which come to nothing…but once in a while, something remarkable happens and shareholders/management receive a bonanza. My question is why people think it will be any different online?
Failure, not success, is the common, natural state. I like it that you point that out…while at the same time showing people that this is no reason to give up….which many people do unfortunately, due to a lack of knowledge about the evolutionary process towards success.
Thanks again for a wonderful post.
December 14th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
[…] Internet Marketing guy John Reese had similar thoughts on the keep buying more products and you will be successful idea - he says to […]
December 14th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
As Buckminster Fuller used to say, ‘The only reason I know so much is because I have failed more than anyone else I know’.
The only way that we can know that we have something to learn is to screw up. To lay blame for a mistake and be afraid to fail, is to forever live within the bounds of what we know and who we are.
I will take the chance and make a mistake any day. To do otherwise is to die.
Cheers
JohnGG
December 14th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Great article John. I must have failed 9-10 times before starting my first truly successful business. Now I’m off to start another one, and am constantly reminded that I have to be fearless of failure.
I like to compare it with playing poker. There is some luck built-in, and sometimes there is nothing you can do to win. But, if you never play a hand, you’ll never win. Get out there and give it a shot!
“I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work.” ~ Thomas Edison
December 14th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Hi John
We at Qualtra belive that :
FAILURES ARE PRECURSORS TO SUCCESS
The only way to success is when you learn from your past mistakes & learn lesson of how you would have avoided that failure really counts.
Anil
Team Qualtrapharma
December 14th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
John,I prefer not to look at not succeeding as a failure but a learning experience. Yes, the results may not be what we want to happen but through the experience, we can learn something. Some Network Marketers think if they do not succeed, it is their fault but most of the time, it is the way the company plans it.
Education is vital and that is the way I look at something that does not work, not failing. The word Fail or Failure gives off a negative thought or feeling and could be destructive to the person. Some people will give up rather than keep on trying because of the word Failure.
Thanks for letting me express my thoughts on this word. I know of a great free ebook that gives you the direction to go. You can find it on my site
http://maggiekress.com
This book was a start of my education and learning about how to succeed.
It tells you if your fail to succeed that may not be your fault.
Thanks and God Bless
Maggie Kress
maggie@maggiekress.com
December 14th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Excellent post. It is so easy to not do something because we’re afraid we’ll fail. Without trying we can’t succeed, so we have to accept failure to ultimately be successful. Easy to understand, difficult to act on
December 14th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
I am one of those who has made multiple purchases (from several marketers) and yet to implement any. I finally put the brakes on and decided to focus on one. Your blog post is very encouraging and let’s me know I am on the right track. I appreciate the clarity you shared concerning this industry, your candidness, honesty, and transparency. Being a newbie, I look forward to future enlightening posts on your blog!
December 14th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Thanks for the great post John!
I keep thinking about the late great Gary Halbert and the struggles he went through. As I recall the story… he was days away from having his utilities cut off but he pulled it off with a direct response letter and succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.
Jimmy D. Brown tells working of being snowed under in debt at 21, living in a shack and paying off his parents debt…he didn’t quit and he made it.
Mark Joyner started part time while he in the military… he made it.
Joe Vitale struggled and was virtually homeless and he made it.
Jim Edwards was living in a beat up trailer and not doing too well and he figured it out and he made it.
The late great Ken Giddens described how he made it from his roots in Ozarks to being a designer of Netscape and beyond.
John Reece tells how he lived on dry noodles, studied and tried and tried…he made it.
No silver spoons for these guys.
The common denominator with all those folks is they never gave up, they studied and worked hard and made their own breaks and failed forward and they never gave up and I believe that they never forgot their roots and humble beginnings. I know that because these are the things they tell of in their works.
We should all take a lesson from these guys…don’t ever ever ever give up.
Cheers,
Tim
December 14th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
THANKS FOR THE GREAT COMMENTS, EVERYONE!
HANK - I just updated the post to address your concerns. (See the end of the post.)
KATY - I wasn’t aware that Box.net gave those security warnings. They are a big file storage company and that surprises me. I’ll move it back to our own servers soon. (I did that on a night when my FTP server was down.)
MOODY - I’m sincerely sorry to hear you spent money for coaching and didn’t get the help you paid for. Hopefully you can get a full refund or at the very least do a chargeback with your credit card company to get the money back.
JASON ANDERSON - I hear you on not calling BlogRush a failure. It’s a tough call. In hindsight I probably should have sold it to someone that would dedicate the time and energy to try and ‘fix’ it and make it a better model. I had some interest in buying it but, ultimately, thought it was best to just shut it down as I was afraid a buyer might do some shady stuff with the users because that widget had some pretty wide distribution.
December 14th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Great post John! You really nailed it. As I communicate with other Internet Marketers I hear a common complaint (really two). Information overload and too many choices and no real way of knowing what will work for them. Ergo, failure. I am convinced there is really no way around it.
Be blessed,
Wayne
December 14th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
TIM - in all fairness, those guys had it a lot worse off than I did. (Just being honest.) I grew up in a middle class home and had a great life growing up. My parents certainly didn’t give me a trust fund or anything crazy; my business risks became my own. I did end up in over 100K of credit card debt at a young age, and then worked hard to pay it off and moved beyond it, but I never was on the street or living in poor conditions. Jimmy Brown is a great friend of mine and his story is AMAZING. He lived on an old mattress in a DIRT FLOOR shack for years. Incredible. He’s also one of the nicest human beings on the planet.
December 14th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Thank John for your vulnerability and encouragement.
There is a new book out from the Napoleon Hill Foundation
“Three Feet from Gold.” It is like an updated version of
“Think and Grow Rich” with a new cast of achievers stories.
The best to you John.
December 14th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
you talk about google adwords john but the reality is for affiliate marketing, google hates affiliates and doesnt like the business model…so I think diversifying your incoming traffic is absolutely necessary to be successful… as an affiliate
Adwords is just much more difficult these days if you are in this affiliate realm…
December 14th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
I think “failure is not an option”.
It’s a necessary part of learning and growing.
The worst “state of stuckness” is the state of steady success … since complacency and arrogance slips in and people begin to believe their own hype.
The MOST successful people (from my own modeling and also from general research) still search for their own fallibility and still have mentors/coaches to help them see through their own complacent/know-it-all thinking.
My 2c!
Thanks John … love your work.
Robert
December 14th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
John,
Great post my man. You said it fail fast and move on, the main thing is don’t quit. Some people fail and give up not realizing that their biggest success right around the corner, or better yet right in front of their eyes. So in addition to not being afraid to fail, be persistent and never give up. A good story to read is acres of diamonds by Russell Herman Conwell a classic and is right in line what JR says!
December 14th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Failure is the only road I know that leads to success, and those who bitch about our failures, should get out of the way and let us do what we know how to do best: get results.
Probably the hardest part about getting the results that do not match our expected outcome is to keep our momentum and keep moving forward without letting all the setbacks and critics slowing us down.
And talking about getting moving on and getting results, I’ve been trying to figure out when Traffic Secrets 2.0 is going to be back into the Market… I guess you’re doing some upgrades to the course.. are you dude?
You see, I’m about to launch a special program for entrepreneurs and I need 500 copies of your TS 2.0 pronto, so any information you can provide about the status of TS is much appreciated John.
Keep the good stuff coming
Best Regards,
@PeterPalatnik
December 14th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Hi John,
I have been following you since “Traffic Secrets” and I owe you big! Traffic Secrets was worth for me its weight in gold….
Anyway… I find your post enlightening and I was wondering if I can translate it into Italian and post it on my italian blog…. of course full credit will be given!
December 14th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
I’m 58 now and have spent 5 years trying every new thing trying to make money , so far $30 and spent on things $4000 and my wife took the credit card away so I’m very careful with the card.
I finely found something I’m interested in way more then golf witch was a failure I drove with 53 articles 1,000,000 per day 315 pages of content 7 months and nothing !!
So I’m going to take your advice and stay with what I started with until I make something out of it.
So if you need real cheep transportation and get it right the first time then go here for the knowledge . http://true-class
December 14th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
I you don’t look at life as a game to play you won’t have fun.I have been broke more often than I have been rich.When I fail I start over the next day.I am an Inventor many of my inventions get stolen.I don’t go to court any more .I just talk to my Father about it and leave in His hands.
Some times it is fun to see what happens.When the tables are turned and I don’t have to anything.A guy alleviated me of the heavy burden of 5 million dollars of having the money.Now he is going to jail for a scam he ran..I did not have to a thing he did it himself.It is only money so don’t lie awake.No point God and me being awake so I go to sleep.I don’t worry about money.I am 77 yeras young and am starting from scratch.LOL
December 14th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
John
I know the most important failure and the glory of winning the battle.
I as asked to write a book a true sucess story. Beating cancer and living a quality life. Now that it is written with information about the mental, physical and nutritional information, I am learning the marketing and getting the book to the masses.
December 14th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Failure is the only road I know that leads to success, and those who bitch about our failures, should get out of the way and let us do what we know how to do best: get results.
Probably the hardest part about getting the results that do not match our expected outcome is to keep our momentum and keep moving forward without letting all the setbacks and critics slowing us down.
And talking about moving on and getting results, I’ve been trying to figure out when Traffic Secrets 2.0 is going to be back into the Market… I guess you’re doing some upgrades to the course.. are you dude?
You see, I’m about to launch a special program for entrepreneurs and I need 500 copies of your TS 2.0 pronto, so any information you can provide about the status of TS is much appreciated John.
Keep the good stuff coming
Best Regards,
@PeterPalatnik
December 14th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
John -
I could not have said it any better. I also preach that failure is part of getting where you want to go. It’s almost the Univeral Code to success.
Thanks for the confirmation. You touched on many things that most marketers will relate to.
Take care,
MarketingSPY
December 14th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
I think the emotion of failure can be one of the most crippling effects on your pesronal
wellbeing and mindframe. We all have our fair share of failures it -it is through plowing through and continuing to strive for our goals is the way to dimisih the emotianl scarring that failures produce.
It only takes that one seed of success to wipe away those dark clouds of failures-that
constant chipping away at that rock will one day crack open a whole new world.
thanks John
@georgek
December 14th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Hi John
Great bullseye! You got me, right where you said it was time to start using the resources I already have.
The only thing is, how do I decide what I should do first? I have ebooks and software and courses and knowledge coming out my ears - it comes from listening to too many marketers, I suspect
I think I’ll start building a list. That ought to do the trick…
Cheers
Stephen
December 14th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Thanks for the honesty. The post hit home for me also when you say to stop gathering information and start to do something. I have managed to run myself into a brick wall when I try to start something..my problem is in my own mindset. I am trying to set myself a min amount of time to spend every day DOING something..and trying to ignore the myriad emails from people trying to sell me yet more info products..is everyone trying to get some quick Christmas cash or what? ..the problem is that so much of the free stuff..videos and so forth are good stuff! you can spend HOURS just reading and watching it all and not accomplishing anything.
I thought I had found a perfect niche market but it turned out that the product was being handled as a MLM product so it is priced too high for most people who otherwise would buy it..including me. Back to the drawing board…
December 14th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Hey John,
Thank you for the reminder…
You are so right, that in order to be successful their will be failures.
That’s how we learn and grow.
I enjoy reading your posts.
God Bless
Paul
December 14th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Thanks for the inspiration!
Many people say “Never give up”! When is right time to give up? How do you decide that’s time to stop a project and move to new one?
Brat
December 14th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Thanks for the post, John.
It occurred to me as I read your comment about your failings that it would be interesting to read a book about a collection of unsuccessful attempts and the ensuing insights/wisdoms - there is gold in that information because we learn what not to do. Thank you for talking about this though. I think it’s admirable to build something that doesn’t come with a guarantee because, let’s face it, nothing does.
It takes courage.
Failing isn’t so bad, it’s when it wipes you out financially that it sucks. But, we learn from everything and, sometimes, having considerably less in one’s life drives the passion to succeed even more. It creates more appreciation for what one still has and who is still around when the dust settles. It also means you can’t buy anymore stuff and you have to make something from what you’ve already got!
Blessings & Thanks for the inspiration
Nancy
I
December 14th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
I’m right there with Brat - not willing to give up, especially on a project that I’m so passionate about.
December 14th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
I t was great to come home today & read johns post on never giving up.
Creative minds cant give up.
December 15th, 2009 at 12:58 am
I guess it is what you perceive as failure, generally failure can be the stepping stone to greater things, this is when so called failure turns to success.
December 15th, 2009 at 1:03 am
John thank you for these posts.
We must drive.
Gary Halbert has written on his website:
“One of the best things I firmly believe is, if you are at Point A and you want to get to Point B… that (no matter what) before you get to Point B… you are definitely going to make ‘x’ number of mistakes. So my motto is…
Let’s Hurry Up And
Start Making Them!”
So what are we waiting for?
December 15th, 2009 at 1:06 am
Every failure leads you closer to success.By our failure we learn humility,courage,and fortitude.It is not failure until you give up.My mother taught me two things.CANNOT IS BURIED IN THE GRAVE YARD .WILL NOT IS BURIED BESIDE HIM.tHE WORD CANNOT IS NOT IN MY VOCABULARY.
December 15th, 2009 at 1:24 am
Thanks for sharing John. With so many ‘gururus’ shouting about how good they are from the rooftops, it’s good to see someone put things in perspective and reflect on the fact that not everything they touch turns to gold. Cheers.
December 15th, 2009 at 2:19 am
Well done, John. You have the habit of saying exactly what I need to hear exactly when I need to hear it. You are the real deal, and thanks for blasting through the noise that invades my inbox daily.
December 15th, 2009 at 2:34 am
adwords is a great “proving ground” - good advice there
December 15th, 2009 at 2:56 am
I agree with John, and I have to say that timing is a major factor sometimes.
IMO, anyone who thinks that TRIAL and ERROR comes without both SUCCESS and FAILURE is either an idiot or ignorant about the laws of nature. Look at nature. She goes through trial & error for billions of years to achieve perfection. It is a universal law we are talking here. And a simplified equation goes like this:
Choice -> Trial+Error -> Success+Failure -> Experience (the knowledge of what works and what doesnt) -> Next Choice, build upon the previous experience
The key is to understand that we need both results to figure out the next move.
It is the law of compounding. With enough trial & error, you get enough experience and a good amount of right answers to the questions that drive your endeavour. And that is what we can EXPERIENCE. It does not come free, there is always a cost in TIME and sometimes money, but this is how the universe works. Nobody can cheat all the time and have shortcuts. You actually HAVE to go through the process.
Can you imagine being e.g. a doctor without spending at least 10 years of your life studying and practicing? You get the idea. So those who want a shortcut without the failures, should think that we all learn based on other people’s accumulated wisdom, that came after MASSIVE individual or combined failures. And those who do not want to accept that, better quit now and do something else. There is a big difference between being a LOSER in a battle, and a QUITTER of the war. You cant surrender or cheat in the game of life folks. Its that simple.
December 15th, 2009 at 3:15 am
[…] of summarizing or rewording what he said, I’d rather have you just read it. Tags: john reesePosted in General | No Comments […]
December 15th, 2009 at 5:41 am
Hi John, thanks for sharing your failures - only a fool would laugh at you!
I found that Twitters don’t buy anything…
It is about impossible to direct link with Adwords - so how on earth do I test and then build a SEO site?? What about Yahoo! search for direct linking & testing? I have one micro campaign in profit on Yahoo only possible by using tracking202pro. It’s for a ‘good’ CPA offer. What’s the next step?
After reading Gauher’s latest blog: ‘Google Adwords Drops The Axe Again’ and my own experience it’s over and out with Adwords for me…
December 15th, 2009 at 5:51 am
John thank you!
December 15th, 2009 at 6:21 am
John
Great inspirational post. The Comments alone show that.
It’s sad that many continue to (refuse to?) miss the point. Of COURSE failure is likely to happen (to some degree) but IS a stepping stone to other options.
But like anything … that failure is only valuable and worthwhile if one’s ATTITUDE is right. It’s all about whether any lessons are allowed to be, perceived to be of value. And then whether any correcting action is implemented.
It’s not about having “better luck next time” …. it’s about correction about change and then repeating so that greater success WILL be had next time.
I hope tens of thousands read your inspirational post and it acts as a catalyst to success. I’m goin to Tweet it now ……
John Gordon
The Infotainer
December 15th, 2009 at 6:46 am
Great post John,
I find that failure is sometimes caused by market changes and your own personal timing. When you continue to be in “analysis paralysis” by not taking action the market will respond with “you had your chance!” and then the cycle repeats. Better to take action and find out if this may just be the one time when the market says “enjoy the ride!”. Everyone deserves their 15 minutes of fame or success and you’ll never get there if you don’t jump in with both feet!
December 15th, 2009 at 7:06 am
John, you wrote in regards to permission based email marketing:
“There was only one problem… the service was before its time.
It became too hard to educate people why they needed to use it. Some hardcore direct marketing people saw the value in it, but it was a tough sell to small business owners at the time.”
That is STILL the case with many business owners: especially those in the retail, insurance and real estate industries.
Too many businesses just don’t see the value. They think it’s a “one-sized-fits-all” and it’s not. Each company needs an email “system” tailored to its own needs.
I think the job that we need to do as marketing consultants is show them how to tailor a good campaign to their business and then give them a 30-90 day trial.
I did this for a diet mlm affiliate (a friend of mine) and it’s working. He swears by it. I also did one for a hair dresser, and her business picked up.
So, yes, permission based email marketing works. Getting the “prospects” educated is the next step to getting them to success.
Ernest O’Dell
Guerrilla Internet Marketing
December 15th, 2009 at 7:12 am
Don’t Be Afraid To Fail And Focus On Fundamentals
thats a positive attitude,yes, we should always know
where our goal is,though there may be some obstcles,
never mind,take action, never never give up,
your life will never be the same!!
buynotebook.weebly.com
ps:wish everyone have a great year in 2010!!!
December 15th, 2009 at 7:17 am
Hi John,
I started a business last year which failed. But, as you say, I learnt a lot. I have started other businesses and some did ok and others failed. It takes a lot of guts to try something. People used to be very sceptical of people who failed in starting their own businesses but, fortunately, this is changing for the better as people get to see how tricky it can be.
None of the failures has stopped me from looking for a niche where I can see an opportunity.
Thanks for the great post.
Will
December 15th, 2009 at 7:34 am
I’m bookmarking this post because currently, I’ve had more failures than successes. And all of those failures have been on a very low budget. In other words, I can’t afford to fail which makes it even harder to justify.
I do agree with you about Adwords. Recently, I decided to try an Adwords campaign on a new niche blog I had built to see how it would go. Within 24 hours I had a sale. Unfortunately, between what I made and what I spent, I lost $7. Oh, well, aother failure to learn from! I immediately stopped the campaign but I think if I continued with it, I would’ve sold more products and my profit would’ve increases. So, I’ll have to revisit that…
Anyway, I appreciate you sharing your insights with all of us. Thanks!
December 15th, 2009 at 7:35 am
Indeed, Failure is the pillar of success.
December 15th, 2009 at 8:08 am
Hello John,
I would be happy if anyone would just
sign up for my site updates & contests.
Alls I get are SPAMERS.Blogging can
be very frustrating at times..I have pretty
much lost all interest in this mess..If you
have no real visitors or sign ups,what the
Hell is the use in trying anything.
Thanks for the Post,
G.A.P.
December 15th, 2009 at 8:23 am
John,
Thanks for replying. Don’t get me wrong - I fully agree that failure is a key part of success. I tell my kids this all the time and they prove me right always. The issue is how do you separate the BS from the products that are worth an investment?
December 15th, 2009 at 8:53 am
This is my first foray into internet marketing and I’m on a big learning curve to say the least. I really needed to read your post. It’s certainly not a downer and it hasn’t put me off internet marketing. It has, however, shown me that success comes with trial and error and tons of patience.
Thanks for the encouragement!
December 15th, 2009 at 8:58 am
GREAT information!
As far as I’m concerned, you and Perry Marshall send the most beneficial and inspiring information.
Others could learn not only from the information you post, but the fact that you post it in the first place.
Posting takes TIME, and it is obvious that your readers are your first priority.
THANKS!
December 15th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Thanks for sharing it John.
I wasn’t realize that Adwords could be used to “fail fast” until I read your post.
December 15th, 2009 at 9:14 am
You nailed it John! My wife Gina Sprenkle-Gunning and I actually wrote a free ebook on the subject and give it to our trainees.
We do remember the widget and saw the problems you were faced with - it took some genuine character and integrity to close it… kudos!
Always great info John, thanks,
Pat & Gina
December 15th, 2009 at 11:39 am
John,
Another nugget of wisdom my friend…excellent.
About the “purchasing more courses to gain more knowledge” part…I found through personal experience that I only really used 5 - 10% of what I learned from purchasing course after course etc… to succeed.
It’s scary how little we really need to be successful in terms of knowledge.
December 15th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
I hear ya, if your afraid to fail, then I.M. is definitely not the business for you, the fact is your going to have failures in your business, I have, many times over, but I’ve learned you have to have failures in order to have success, that’s how experience is gained and without experience even if you “somehow” gain success without failing, your more likely to fail because you have no experience. All you can do is learn from experience and make it better until you find success.
December 15th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Thanks again for the valuable information John. May God bless you.
December 15th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
John: I’m one of those people who is on their 3rd course with little results. Thanks for the nudge.
I’m hoping to use the Blueprints from TS2.0 to push me off the ledge. I have 2 domain projects and 2 teams of people to help me.
In reading your post, it is clear to me that I need to take that first step of faith and actually do something.
Keep up the good work,
RJ
December 15th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
I try to keep it simple. If you don’t fail first, you will not know how to appreciate the moment when you have truly arrived?
Just my take,
God Bless
December 15th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
John,
I’ve been a loyal customer (TS1, TS2, RR, IMA class) and subscriber for years. I’ve also cheerfully bought THOUSANDS of dollars of products you’ve endorsed.
Just keep doing what you do.
There are plenty of us who sincerely appreciate your courses and free content. But we’re usually too busy USING what you teach to take time and post comments.
Don’t give a thought to your critics. They are envious.
You’re a good and honest man. And you’re content speaks for itself.
“Ignore the dogs that bark at you along the way.” — St. Josemaria Escriva
Best,
Daniel
December 15th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
THANKS!
The honesty is very refreshing.
Not to mention, believable.
THANKS, AGAIN.
I had started the process of just giving up.
This post has motivated me to keep trying.
December 16th, 2009 at 2:01 am
My uncle’s friend, Dave Edgerton, failed at over a dozen restaurant startups. He commented that in failing so many times he learned where all the mistakes were. By the time he started Burger King, he knew what not to do and the rest is history. Every business starts with failures. It’s where we learn. The important thing is to never give up.
December 16th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
When I was a kid learning how to play Chess with my father, he once advised me on the Chess-move that I believed my good move, “If you find a good move, look for a better one.” He further explained that Chess is like a real game of life. So, as you move towards your life’s direction, don’t be contented with simple and easy solutions. Rather, choose the harder ones, for they are the best moves for success.
December 17th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Hello John,
I am not what my reply aught to be, as I know very little about internet
marketing, and even less about the computer.
But my knowledge about conventional business is a lot more though, and there is very little trust, you give the company, or person, credit for goods or sevices,
and as you know the norm is 30 days. They in their wisdom stretch it to 60days, that puts added presure on you as where you had a good name with your supplier, you also have to go down the same road as your customer.
Now as I see it with network marketing, you offer a product or service with
payment up front, and you give 30 -90 days guarantee if they are dissatisfied with
their goods they can back them! John your type of business is fine, providing you
ethical in all your undertakings, a network marketing business will not fail.
In conventional business you do tend to become somewhat cynical.Oh how I wish I was forty years younger, and have learnt what you know now!!! My very best wishes to you Mick
December 17th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
John,
One thing I learned from my AWAI training was to never make enemies. so when I was orginally pissed that I got sucked in by your “free offer” technique I bit my lip and kept reading. You have some worthwhile things to say and your style is very good. What I was hoping to find out was how to create a webpage, I have a Url. an ad
Writing copy that sells
I write what you need
that your customers need.
Ialso have key words and your advice n0t to optimize was invaluable. thanks. I did bite didn’t I? Maybe we can do business together. Let me hear from you.soon. tonight? tomorrow? Time is wasting. I am savy and hungry just like you. Tom Lumsden writing copy that sells.
P.s see yq at the bank
December 17th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
I see my opinion is more than confirmed. I am really interested now. You appear pretty enlightened like me. Awai is dishonest in my opinion but they try hard and if I hadn’t listened and learned i wouldn’t be sharing with you right now. like to hear from when you have time. I have the time. thanx
December 18th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Mmm… The difference that makes the difference. Successful people fail - a lot!
The other side of the story is that nearly all education systems teach us that failure is unacceptable. Even the risk of failure is unacceptable.
It leaves us with millions, probably billions, of people who yearn for success but can’t get through that barrier that says “the risk failure is unacceptable”. In short our progress toward success is hindered by our fear of failure. We don’t always call it “fear of failure”, no, sometimes we call it other things like “common sense” or “security”. But the effect is unaltered, it stops us doing things which could change our life.
Isn’t it about time that the world was developing education systems which taught people to take action instead of looking for reasons to fail?
Jack
December 18th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Nice pep talk again John.
What do you regard as your biggest success?
I have kind of figured out SEO (3 sites on Google p1)
niches.com, marketersdirectory.com, publishersarticles.com
but traffic and conversion could still be better …
John
December 27th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
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January 8th, 2010 at 2:38 am
I’m a little behind in reading your blog posts but I always find them informative. Some very sensible advice there, even if you’re not an internet marketer. Thanks!