Break Out of the Employee Comfort Zone

I have a membership at the Smart Business Formula site, which is operated by online entrepreneurs Winston Yap and Thomas Choo. It has a collection of free tools, resources, and videos on internet marketing.

One of the videos on the site gave a reason why most people fail at internet marketing - and it was a great observation of human nature.

The problem is that many people who go into internet marketing are used to being employees - with its corresponding security and certainty.

When they get confronted by the insecurity and uncertainty of running their own business, and now have to make decisions, they unconsciously seek out a "boss" and get attracted to internet gurus. The guru becomes their "boss" and the marketer is back in his "comfort zone" as an employee.

For example, Joe was a web designer for a company, and his boss made the decisions, such as telling him what to design. At the end of the month, no matter how things went, Joe got his paycheck.

One day, Joe decided to "get rich" and start his own internet business. Well, Joe now found that he had to make all the design decisions, and there was no guarantee that he would earn any money at the end of the month.

So, he joined "Guru Mike's" newsletter, and bought his course on "Designing a killer website". Joe is now planning to attend Guru Mike's "Advanced Riches" seminar, etc.

The problem, of course, is that the guru is not your boss. - He is a marketer trying to make a sale to you.

The newbie marketer ends up spending his or her time reading info from gurus and ordering products - instead of taking action. They end up on many guru email lists with a lot of information products sitting on their hard drive.

The video concludes by suggesting that, instead of listening to gurus, it's better to get out of your employee "comfort zone" by focusing on enjoying the experience of internet marketing, rather than money - which will cause you stress.

They then compare internet marketing with learning to ride a bicycle, driving, or cooking. Even with a mentor guiding you, you will fall down.

Also, like riding a bike, you will only learn through developing experience and intuition. You have to develop abilities like intuitively evaluating products for money making potential. There are no shortcuts.

In addition, there is no substitute for action. You have probably heard the expression "Ready. Fire. Aim." You have to break the cycle of just buying courses and studying. To succeed at internet marketing, you have to take action, try something, and get feedback.

Write an e-book, set up a website, and try to sell it. Start a blog and try to monetize it with Adsense. You will make mistakes - you won't make an optimal amount of money - but that is ok.

Constantly test out things - try to optimize - and slowly you will increase your earnings.

Study and learning has its place - but you need to make your own mistakes and learn through failure and feedback.