In honor of my 100th Forum post, I would like to quote the President of the United States.

"Oh, no! Nothing's happened! It's a disaster!"
After the health care reform bill was signed, US President Barack Obama said, “Can you imagine if some of these reporters were working on a farm, and you planted some seeds, and they came out the next day and they looked and said, 'Nothing's happened--there's no crop! We're going to starve! Oh, no! It's a disaster!' It’s been a week, folks...we should wait to see what happens when we actually put it into place.”
I started planting my IM seeds five months ago. Having been apprenticed by Travis Sago, I knew the worst thing I could do was expect instant results. I did my keyword research, article writing, domain buying, and backlinking. But like the President, I planted my seeds while being serenaded by a hallelujah chorus of skepticism: "You're throwing your money away...it's a scam...you're going to starve!" And when I would look in my ClickBank account, the voices would go up an octave: "Nothing's happened--there's no money! Oh, no--it's a disaster!"
But finally, one seed began to sprout, then another. I found my target audience, and the right products, paid and free, to offer them. I figured out how to appease the article directory gods. My web sites got indexed in the search engines. My visit and hit counts climbed. An opt-in list materialized. People signed up for my RSS feeds. And as for my ClickBank account, enough money "sprouted" to get my first check in the mail!
I still have quite a way to go, of course--I am far from intermediate, let alone guru status. But I have accomplished one big thing: I've told those voices to "Shut the #@@#$!! up!", because I'M in charge now that I know this can work!