Never look back!
The worst thing you can do that will kill your motivation is compare yourself with anyone else. You have to run your own race!
The only things you need to keep you on track is your desire and your persistence.
Knowing that eventually you will reach your goal by keeping to your plan is all you need.
As you grow your goals will change. You will become more knowledgable and more proficient as time goes on.
Let me tell you about my experience. I wanted to lose weight but knew diets didn't work for me so I started running.
The only reason I started running (even though I hate it with a vengeance) is because I read this book by a guy who shared how joyful running could be.
So, I started slowly, shuffling, and managed to complete a 7 kilometre course. I also realised that I would not lose weight with running but I had to start somewhere.
For 4 months I got no perceivable results. You would wonder why I would keep this up wouldn't you?
The reason I kept at it is because the more I ran the more my diet would change. I found I was noticing more what my body needed and started to eat better and slowly but surely felt the results.
I had 30kgs (66 pounds) to lose and finally nearly seven months later I have lost 15kgs (33 pounds). For the first time in over 20 years I am getting into shape. This keeps me motivated. Now I have a real shot of having the body I want and hopefully keep for the rest of my life.
Business is no different. You work towards a goal and eventually you will get there. It may not be within the first year but when it happens you will be amazed. Consider your first year as training, learning how to run an online business which will grow with you.
Let's finish this up...
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Here is my story of savings paying off and following my dream to get into real estate.
I work for state government in Alaska. We have much higher gross than net salary because so much goes into retirement. I always hoped all the money in retirement would pay off someday. That someday is here hopefully.
If all goes according to plan, my husband and I can use our retirement accounts here to buy a 4-plex. Our offer has already been accepted. When buying a multi-unit property you can (for some loans) use the income from rents to qualify for the mortgage loan. You may need to have 6 months worth of mortgage payments available on your own however in case of vacancies. In our case that is over $20,000! Our retirement accounts meet that need on paper. We will not touch them but they are there and will let the lender know we are "good' for the payments no matter what. The units are already rented so there is no danger of having them all vacant but this assures the lender we will not fail.
So, our retirement accounts are paying off big time right now even without touching them! My husband would get so frustrated feeling like we were broke and worrying that the stock market would crash or something would happen and that money would not do us any good. I kept telling him it would and that we would be successful one day.
Also, the home loan qualification is based on gross not net income and if you live in the building yourself you get lower interest rates, and better financing. We also resisted temptation to get new cars and have been fixing up our old ones. So, no car loans either. All these little things added up to our ability to qualify to buy a property worth over $600,000. Of course this is mostly due to the fact my husband served in the U.S. Marine Corps and has the full value of the VA loan available to use. Alaska is a high cost area so the loan limit is very high. With no money down, seller paying closing costs etc. we are on our way to making this happen.
