Increasing Your "Net Wealth"

Okay.. Luke CAN lick HIS elbow...

That’s right.. you can try but you can’t do it; you can’t lick your elbow! Most of us already know this and most of us don’t try. But why, then do we spend so much time, money and energy on other things we we can’t control when it comes to our online business? We stubbornly pursue marketing that doesn’t work thinking “if I just stick with it, eventually I’ll get results”. We blame our pockets for not being deep enough, we blame the program we are promoting for not converting, we blame the gurus for cornering the markets, we blame ourselves for not getting results, we bang our heads against the wall looking for answers.

I have been working with Traffic Exchanges and Safelists for several months now. Last week it occurred to me that either I am really MISSING something or I am preaching to the choir using these two methods. My guess is it more the latter than the former. It occurs to me that when I search for information on a product or service on the web, I don’t ever end up on a Traffic Exchange or Safelist. Now it may be that these methods do have a place in a bigger marketing picture but I really don’t think they are doing much for me. Yet, I keep using them. I have paid for them. I feel the need to see it through and I was trained to use them from a coach whose program I also paid for – they say you are supposed to follow the coaching, right? Well, what if the the coaching is flawed. Not intentionally, of course. Just flawed.

Think about successful businesses you know about. They don’t have to be BIG companies or even internet companies. Just successful. What do they do when something isn’t working? Ask yourself if you are treating your company like a BUSINESS or a hobby? Did you start with a “I’ll TRY” attitude or an “I WILL” attitude? Never quitting is one thing but stubbornly pursuing things that don’t work is just folly. You’ll never be able to lick your elbow so you don’t spend months trying to figure out how to make that happen – you accept it and move on. Cut your losses.

So… I’m faced with that now as well. I need to figure out which, if any, of the Safelists are working and I’ll keep them. But the money I’m spending, while not a lot per list, could be better used in another form of marketing – like Pay Per Click or something. Also… there are even other inexpensive or free methods of getting better traffic like… Article Marketing – the thing that keeps us from doing this is the thought article writing is hard. How will I know what to write about? I’m not really an Expert on anything yet. How can I write about results if I don’t have any yet? Excuses.

Yes! Excuses! I make them too! Problem with excuses is that we KNOW we are making them. We try to believe them but we don’t really and to be honest, excuses cost us a LOT of money. Here’s why. Someone out there has thought of an “answer” to those excuses which are conveniently repositioned as problems that need to be solved and a that same someone has now made a better mousetrap to solve all those problems we “created” and now we’ll pay for a way to fix those problems.

But no matter how much you pay, you still CAN’T LICK YOUR ELBOW! The solutions aren’t “out there”, at some point, the solutions are within YOU. Somethings you CAN fix, but the rest of it is just out of your control – You’ll never have ALL the knowledge, not everyone will Opt In, your articles may not be the BEST, your results won’t always be POSITIVE, your marketing won’t always work, and you’ll ALWAYS have new problems. You cannot spend your way to success – I mean you can try.. but you’ll probably go broke doing it and end up with a BUNCH of programs and systems and products that you have never opened or implemented. How do I know? I have BEEN THERE. Ashamed? A little. Hard lesson to learn? VERY.

Good news is I am on the right path now. My elbows are supporting my wrists which are supporting the hands and fingers that are doing the typing that will create the articles that will bring the traffic which will become my list with whom I will develop a relationship and create my business.

What are your elbows doing?

Peace~
Leanne