To Succeed You Must Fail...A lot
A lot of times I read about new affiliates that want to give up because they have had some set backs or failures. Little do they know that they're actually on the right track.
Say What?
Yes you read that correctly. Failing is a necessary evil to succeed!
Some of the most successful people are "serial failures". Don't believe me? Let me give you an example of one of the biggest failures and you probably see his products every day.
The Ford Motor company was started by a multiple time failure Henry Ford.
- He burned through all the money from his first group of investors without producing a car
- He eventually produced a car and raised another $60,000 in share capital, but his Detroit Auto Company went bankrupt
- In the 1920s, Henry Ford refused to update the Model T car, leading sales to fall dramatically
- Ford tried to launch a political career, but never succeeded
So what does this have to do with anything?
Well imagine if Henry Ford decided to throw in the towel because he failed a few times or running a business was too hard? Our whole world might be a very different place. We may never have had the assembly line production method. This means that cars may have still been too expensive to produce and buy. Life as we know it wouldn't exist. More importantly for Henry he would never have gotten rich. lol
But no Henry Ford kept plugging away because he had a dream and refused to let some road blocks stop him.
Change your point of view...
So here's what I want you to do.
1. Stop whining about your failures.
Instead, view them as learning experiences. For instance, If Ezine Articles rejected your latest post, make the changes they suggested or just say screw them and find another article directory. Don't harp on it.
2. Don't hate, appreciate...
Instead of focusing on all the wrong things that happened this week, why not magnify the positive things that occurred instead. If you learned how to create a link, then celebrate that. Be happy that you learned something new. If one of your articles ranked in Google, jump for joy. Share it with others here. So what, you haven't made a dime yet? You're that much closer now, so appreciate it! When you appreciate the small victories, the bigger ones tend to follow. But if you keep focusing on the negative things then all you're going to see and find is negativity in all that you do with this career.
3. Make adjustments...
Look, there is no sense in continuing to run into a brick wall over and over again. It's just dumb and is pretty painful. lol There was a time when I was hell bent on mastering PPC. I had some success because of WA but I just didn't like this method of advertising because of obvious reasons that most affiliates are now feeling with Google. So instead I decided that I would master SEO which seemed to fit my style and needs. I didn't care that everyone and their mother did PPC. I decided that I was an SEO guy. It was a decision that worked well for me. I rank high if not number 1 for some of the most competitive work at home keywords on various search engines. I did this because I wasn't afraid to make adjustments that worked well for me. The beauty of affiliate marketing is it's flexibility. You don't need to follow everything to the letter. Find what works for you and do you!
Your take away...
At the end of the day the biggest thing to take away from this article is that failure is part of the road to success. Anyone that tells you that they haven't ever failed in their lives means that they never tried anything worth something.
I want to leave you with the following quote to bring home the whole point of this article:
"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."
- Henry Ford
Keep this in mind if you get that itch to call it quits. If not you're going to get more of what you've already been getting in life. Obviously the reason we all became affiliates is because we wanted to change that. So how is giving up helping matters?
I hope this helps you out. I'm living proof that serial failure leads to success. If I gave up when I failed I would still be working for "THE MAN" instead of being at home with my family collecting checks for just writing what's on my mind. Let it marinate.
Recent Comments
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Eddy, I read this blog again and feel inspired all over again. I call this "nurturing" reading. Thank you. Did you happen the catch the video of Brian Tracy that Vstar gave us in the Forum?In case you haven't seen it yet, it is: http://expertsacademy.com/blog/brian All about what you are saying here.
Love love love this post ... these are the important things we should teach this to our children in school, 'twould save a lot of heartache :) Jared I'm with you on the laughing, even when I start off growling I know eventually I'm going to end up laughing at myself so I've learned the sooner I get on with it the better off I feel. Thanks for the post workathomecareerscom :)
Great post, from someone who enjoys learning from failure every day! It makes the success so much sweeter. As I look back on some of the failures, laughter is usually my first response, though it wasn't at the time. Go forward laughing at yourself. That sounds like a great new catch phrase for me! Take it easy.
Thanks Abundantlife, Same to you.
Thanks andys43us. I've never seen that you tube video before. Thanks for sharing it with me. I'm going to need to throw that up on my site. Very inspirational!
love your post Eddy. Reminds me of a Youtube and facebook viral video. some of the most famous failures of all time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6hz_s2XIAU
Thanks sox1n05 & jatdebeaune. I love both of your analogies! They cover two wide spectrums but basically reinforce the same concepts about success. Well said! At the end of the day let's hope some of the folks that are ready to quit will have a different perspective after reading this articles and these comments.
I love sports and I always equate life to sports. A great, hall of fame baseball player may have a batting average of .315. That's a great average over a career. It still means that he FAILED close to 7-10 times throughout his career. How's that for making a success out of failure? Great post!
Love this attitude Eddy. Hope everybody here takes it to heart because it is the truth. I, too have failed a ton of times, usually right before a success. Every artist knows that you make a mess right before you produce something that is inspired. Why? Because you're doing something new. If it's rote, it can be OK but it isn't really inspired. Yes, take IM and own it. Learn everything you can, then do it your way. The trick is do it and don't worry about it.
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Great post at just the right time. I keep trying to make affiliate marketing work for me with articles posted daily/weekly but still no breakthrough. Having read your comments, you are so right. Focus on the positive's and keep working at it. I know that it will come good for me eventually. The smile is back on my face. Gold for You.