The easiest thing to do in IM is get excited and come up with ideas. The hardest thing to do is to carry out those ideas and keep your excitement level high. People on the Internet crave instant gratification, and IMers crave it even more. Honestly, I think that’s why a majority of those who start IM, fail – they’re impatient. There is no “get rich quick” scheme that works, unless you start the scheme, and then it’s not quick anymore.

Goal Setting

You need to treat your online business exactly as the name implies: as you would any other business. You have to set obtainable goals, reach them, and set new obtainable goals. Sit down and come up with a to-do list. Outline your project, and give yourself due dates. Write down new ideas in their own place (notebook, their own folder, etc) and forget about them until you’re finished with this project. Do whatever you have to do to keep yourself organized and focused, or you’re done for.

Setting obtainable goals will keep you motivated and will give you the gratification you need right now, so you can get the gratification you want later, in the form of security and money flowing into your bank account. The to do list will keep you on task, so you don’t end up with the beginning of 10 projects and no real product to show for it. The notebook of new ideas will keep them around, but not in the front of your mind, so you can stay on task, but know that you have some great things coming up, too.

Don’t Stop

If you have a failure, don’t stop. Come up with another idea and market that one. Or, revamp the original idea, and re-evaluate the product. If there’s something wrong with it that’s keeping it from selling, fix it and re-launch the product. This can save you tons of money, because the product is already created, you just have to determine why it’s not selling and fix it.

Perseverance is a huge virtue when you’re starting in the IM field. If you quit because one site didn’t go like you had planned, you’re not going to make it far at all. Failures happen, just make sure you learn from your mistakes and apply that knowledge to future projects.

One Vital Piece of Advice

If you read this whole book and don’t take anything else with you along your IM path, remember this: Don’t spend all of your money before you start to see income. If you’re broke, you’re not going to make it day-to-day unless you’re launching a product tomorrow, or your large affiliate check is in the mail. Many, many beginning IMers make this mistake. Don’t follow in their footsteps! If you want to buy any ebooks or sign up for membership sites, you should check out The IM Connection and see if it’s listed there. You’ll save quite a bit of money on the IM products already on the site, and new products are being added every month.