The Difference Between Success and Failure

Hey, I’m down in San Diego for the weekend with my buddy Bedros Keuilian and his fitness information mastermind group.

Rick Porter and I will be sharing some “we can’t put this in writing” secrets with them later on today…

…but now I want to share a really cool email I got from a reader named Dave who dramatically demonstrates the difference between failure and success.

I think this is a near-universal truth. Let me know if you agree or disagree.

Question: Hey Craig, I have been a fan for a while now. I really enjoy your newsletters. There are only a few internet marketers out there that I look forward to hearing from. You are one of them. You over deliver and I appreciate that.

Many times it feels as if you are talking directly to me.

You regularly seem to address all of the issues I encounter as I haphazardly pursue an online income.

I decided to start an online business almost 5 years ago.  I planned on writing an ebook and selling it online.  Simple enough, right ?

I have been writing the ebook for about 3 years now.  It should have been completed in months. Even though I am passionate about it,  I always find an excuse to do something else even though I dream of successfully selling it online and I know it will help many people.

I own 50 or 60 domain names that I plan on using someday, or so I keep telling myself.

Recently I sat down and did some soul searching to try and identify what is holding me back. I also tried to find the common denominators in my successes over my life as well as my failures.

Here’s what I came up with.

Every time I have failed at something in my life it is simply because I quit. That’s it. I gave up.

Every time I succeeded at something it was because I persevered over a substantial amount of time.

Or put another way, I didn’t give up. I didn’t quit. Not until my goal was realized.

Wow . Ground breaking revelation here !

I also noticed something quite important.  I was much more apt to give up on something if I was going at it alone. If there was no one around to see me quit, I had no problem quitting.

However just the opposite was true if there was anyone around to watch my progress. The option of quitting was off the table. Perhaps it is simply my ego. But it really doesn’t matter.  I have found an important factor in what makes me tick.

Now I need to turn that into a strength.

I know that I want to make a living online.  I dream of it.

I know that I have some fantastic ideas for products as well as partnerships.

I know that I operate much better when I am accountable to people other than just myself.

Any advice?

Regards.

Dave

Answer: Dave, I really appreciate your email. Thank you for sharing your story and insights. Identifying the need for accountability is a huge step forward towards reaching your online business goals.

I encourage you to start networking online.

Figure out what market you want to serve…and then start visiting marketing forums related to that industry.

For example, the Warrior Forum is a popular spot for online affiliate marketers. I also recommend you join affiliate programs in the niche market you want to enter, and start building relationships with those people. Perhaps one of those people can hold you accountable.

Keep moving forward. Keep networking. And set a deadline to finish your product and find someone to hold you to the fire with accountability. Once it’s done, then the fun begins.

Question: How do you handle security and passwords with VA’s who are doing wordpress installs and adding content to your sites?

Who actually uploads the banners, graphics, etc. to your site and how do you maintain security? – Steve

Answer: Hey Steve, good question.

The answer is simple. Eventually you have to trust someone.

It’s just like when you have a babysitter for the kids.

If your wife ever wants to leave the house with just you, eventually she has to place her trust in someone else – with something that is very important to her.

Of course, she wouldn’t just do this with total strangers…and you wouldn’t trust a total stranger in your business either.

Many different levels of access will require different levels of trust.

You start small, get referrals, build trust, and do everything to build relationships with the people that you do end up trusting.

Of course, you keep a watchful eye over everything, and never give access to someone for anything they don’t require.

And finally, when you find someone you trust, keep that relationship as positive as possible and give them more responsibility.

Use safe, conservative judgement, but also be prepared to take small leaps of faith with outsourced contract workers.

And always maintain the ability to end a relationship and change those passwords if something happens.

*************

Finally, some positive energy and good vibes from a reader…

“Craig, You need to bottle all this information you give us and put it into a microcontinuity program  or video/pdf  product.

Although I was focused on my elitesoccerpower.com site I have moved over to focus on my rmt-ceus.com site and your information has been PRICELESS!” Mike Grafstein

Thanks Mike, greatly appreciated.

The biggest thanks anyone can give me is simply to get out there and take action and succeed.

By the way, don’t be shy to send your feedback – and more importantly, send your SUCCESS stories too.

I’m working on a new project that would benefit tremendously from hearing about how something I wrote about has helped you make money with your website – whether it was your first $50 or your latest $5000.

Just reply to this message or post on the blog.

I sincerely appreciate it,

Craig Ballantyne

You are the type of person who takes action, doesn’t complain, finds a way to get it done, and never gives up, right? The answer is yes, you are. Remember that during the tough times today.