I started in online marketing many moons ago. Back when we had to hand code our websites in HTML. Because I made some mistakes, I never really got it off the ground.

I went back to my normal 9-5 and struggled for several more years. I want you to avoid that. Here are the 5 main mistakes I made that caused me to slow down and not succeed.

1. Focusing on low-quality and low-ticket products.

This is a BIG mistake that many people make when they first get started. One of the first products I sold online was a cooking e-book.

I made $4.05 per book.

Worse is trying to promote books through Amazon. (I still do from time to time, but it's not agreat idea.) You get about 4% per sale. It's not even worth the time to do that math.

There are high-quality, high-ticket and / or recurring commissions out there in every niche.

Don't settle. And don't think it's harder to sell high-ticket offers. It's practically the same. The low-ticket offers can help you practice, so there is value there. But why not just go for those high-ticket offers right away? You'll get the hang of it!

You can check out fellow member TDomena's (Tiffany's) great trainings on high-ticket sales (Please note these are only available to Premium Members):

• Part 1: https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/training/how-to-sell-high-ti...
• Part 2: https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/training/how-to-sell-high-ti...

Note: Be careful of high ticket offers where you have to "pay to play". You want to offer high value products to your customers. You don't want to get them - or yourself - into financial trouble.

2. Not taking responsibility for my results.

To be honest, I still have trouble with this one. Sometimes in this business you can feel like you're doing everything right, but you still aren't getting results. I like to blame the Google gods a lot, but that's not fair.

My results are MY results. Period. I am the one who's in control of my business. Learning from this one mistake will be a game changer for you.

Because once you realize it's all up to YOU and no one else, you can take control and create the results that you want.

Do not blame circumstances or other people around you. Do not blame anything you can't control.

Take control of what you can, focus, and make it work.

3. Not focusing.

I say focus a lot in this tutorial. Why? Because it's extremely important. When you're focused on a target (maybe your daily money goal that you came up with), the other things don't even matter.

You won't be blaming circumstances on your lack of results because those thoughts won't even be able to penetrate into your brain.

Stay focused on each step.

If you're doing the Online Certification Course, stay focused on that until every task is checked off. If you're creating a post, stay focused until it's done.

(Don't try to be perfect though. That will kill your progress. You don't have to be perfect online. Another reason why it's great.)

4. Not feeling worthy of success.

This one is so dumb, but we all feel it from time to time. Maybe even most of the time. A feeling of not being worthy enough.

I feel it too, but it's really, really stupid, honestly. If you're on this Earth, and you have a desire, you are worthy of it.

You are 100% worthy of ANYTHING you want. I believe we are here to explore, experience all that we can and have a truly fulfilling and fun life.

If you exist (and you do because you're reading this), you're WORTHY.

You're worthy of money, freedom, fun, happiness, excitement and everything else good in this life.

Rich people aren't rich because they're more worthy than you. They're rich because they learned how to leverage certain people, tools, systems and even universal laws (Law of Attraction is real, and I can teach you if you're interested) to attract money into their lives. Anyone can do the same thing.

YOU can too. You are worthy of living a great life! So, get to it!

5. Quitting.

I know this is so cliché, but quitting is seriously the dumbest thing you can do. The only time it makes sense to quit something is if you really don't like it. If you hate affiliate marketing, then I encourage you to quit.

Otherwise, if you love the idea of what you're doing, but just don't feel like you're getting it, or it's too hard, or you're not worthy (read #4 again), or there's too many obstacles in your way, then you may feel like quitting.

I think every single person feels like quitting at some point. Because, it's true. It's easier to quit.

But it sucks.

I quit the first time I tried affiliate marketing. And the 2nd. Now I'm on my third round. I never really wanted to quit. I love affiliate marketing! But I quit because it was “too hard” and I wasn't seeing the results I wanted and it was too competitive. (I blamed my circumstances.)

That was a HUGE mistake because I had to start ALL over again. I just ended up wasting time and money.

Really.

Don't do that.

If you're in Wealthy Affiliate, and you're feeling it, then go ALL in. Grab that Premium Membership if you haven't. Really FOCUS (there's that word again) and get it done.

Yes, there will be obstacles, but you can get through them. That's how you learn. This is why I recommend grabbing the Yearly Membership. Not only do you save money, but you also are committed for a year.

You can do incredible things in a year.

The Dip

Just be aware. As you continue on with this business, you're likely to go through something that master marketer Seth Godin calls The Dip. This is what separates the winners from the quitters.

Here's an excellent article about it if you'd like to learn more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/excerpt-seth-godins-the-dip-on-...

Just know that when the dip happens, that's the time to embrace it, push through and decide you will make bigger and better things happen! You can ride out your competition who are in the dip and end up quitting. :)

Next up, let's talk about how to avoid feeling overwhelmed.