Staying Focused For 2020 - My Year In Review

So, I finally have made myself sit down and actually write my first blog post on WA. What's taken me so long? I'm sure most of you do not want to read the long story, so I'll try to make it somewhat short. It's definitely been a hell of year, that's for sure!

While 2019 has not been a great for me or my family, I am hoping to change that in 2020...at least the 'me' part.' by staying focused!

Alot has happened this year. My rescue kitty was chased off by the neighbors dogs on 1/5/19 and wevhave not seen her since. She was my beloved little girl, Margo, who I still can't stop thinking about and searching for. I broke a brand new printer...I was trying to save money and bought a cheap ink

replacement. So much for that. I broke two cell phones. My husband spent most of February up until July getting x-rays, CT scans, MRI's, blood work and colonoscopies to finally get a diagnosis of Crohn's disease. Although we're still not 100% convinced it's Crohn's. He is going through treatments of Remicade, which I won't go into detail, but I will say the hospital charges are $50,000 a pop for this!!! Can you even believe it?! My mom was in the hospital twice. I hurt my back so bad I had to go to the ER one night recently...I see a neurosurgeon tomorrow. I have spent all the money I had to start working from home as an online/affiliate marketer paying for unnecessary courses and stuff that I thought I needed or could get me ahead of the game...only to be left with a couple hundred bucks and no sales. Well, at least I won't have to pay in huge amounts of taxes in the spring because I didn't make anything and spent A LOT! So I guess that's one GOOD thing!

I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me or pity for me...well, maybe a little, but that's not the purpose of my post. Plus, we all know that it could be much worse. I'm still alive and have more to be thankful for than some who don't have anyone or anything, so I shouldn't be complaining.

Throughout this year, good or bad, I have learned so much and I want to try and tell any 'newbie' going into affiliate marketing for 2020 to, well, not do what I did. So if you're thinking of getting into affiliate marketing and making tons of money, this post is for you, so please read it...you'll thank me later.

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First and foremost, the most important piece of advice I've learned and YOU should learn and understand, is something that all the 'pros' in this field will tell you. You'd think all of this would be common sense and I should know all of this at my age, but let me just say this, when you get into this line of work, especially for a newbie, you don't know what you're doing and which way you're going, so don't give me the 'you should've known this' crap! I can't tell you how many times I read this, but failed to follow it. Don't try to multi-task. I'll say it again so it sinks in. DON'T TRY TO MULTI-TASK! In other words, only work on ONE website or project at a time. To this day, I have no clue as to why I thought I needed so many websites and I didn't concentrate on just ONE thing! So don't do it! Seriously. You will become so side-tracked and disillusioned it isn't funny. And it's really not funny actually because I did just that and it bit me in the ass. One thing at a time. Work hard to hone in on what you want to promote and what your best skills are, but most of all, do what you LOVE and are good at, so then you can write about it and help others with your knowledge. I failed miserably at this! And it's because I didn't know my purpose, what I was good at and what I loved because I was so focused on the money part of it. Lesson learned.

Second, don't waste your time trying to do everything yourself. Ask someone for help. This one is still hard for me. Why? Because all my life I've had office jobs that I was in charge and HAD to multi-task because everything was completely dependent on me and my actions. While I'm not saying don't work or try, please do, you will have to if you want to make it in this kind of business, but just don't try to do it all in one day. Maybe that goes back a bit to my first reason. It will come to you if you stick with it, be persistent if this is truly what you want. I know it is for me. I have worked extremely hard to get where I am throughout my online journey, probably too hard at times. I've cried a lot because I could not figure things out on my own or I didn't get enough done for the day or wasn't collecting an email list for subscribers and why wasn't I making any money yet and the list goes on and on. I was stressed and still kinda am. Not understanding codes and some tech stuff was the least of my problems. Truthfully, I had NO clue what I was doing or where I was going. But yet I was still pushing myself to get so much done in a day. Sometimes I would be on my laptop for 8-15 hours a day, every day, but still wasn't accomplishing much. But why? For what? For me, I guess. It's not going to make things happen any faster. Take your time. Learn things properly and thoroughly. Spend time with your family, but most of all...take care of yourself. You can really get yourself run down once you start something like this and then you're so tired you miss a day of work here and there, and that defeats your purpose. Make sure you take a break for yourself and for your family and friends or you will go nuts! Seriously.

Third, my problem with 'shiny object syndrome.' Don't go out and buy the next course, plug-in, website page builder, or whatever it is that looks so tempting because you think it's going to get you there quicker and 'fix' all your problems. The only answer to this problem is yourself. Sure, there are plenty of things that may help you along the way, but make sure you do lots of research and read the fine print. You're better off looking at that stuff later. It's a huge time waster, money taker, and probably not necessary to have anyway. You don't need all this stuff right now to be successful, that all comes with time. All you need is a little elbow grease and YOU. And yes, I'm gonna say it, seriously.

Lastly, because I'm probably boring you if you've made it this far reading...don't forget WHY you started this journey. Was it just to make money? Was it because you actually want to start a blog and help people? Was it because you wanted to escape the 9 to 5 grind? Or possibly all of these. My why was to start a blog, but I had no idea what I was getting into because I didn't really think it out or have a plan. Always keep in your mind, every day, why you started doing this, because if you don't, you will end up like me and not know what the heck you're doing, where you're going and why...seriously folks!! It took me 8 months to finally figure that out.

Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I was going full speed ahead, but realized that I was not getting anywhere and this was not where I wanted to be in my online journey. I figured out that I did not want to blog about some of the topics chosen because I knew very little about them and I wasn't really interested in them. I purchased these websites a while back in hopes it would get me closer to making a little money, but I couldn't have been further from the truth. There are no short cuts and I know I knew this, but this is what happens when you get frustrated and side-tracked and you're promised quicker results, or more money, or whatever it is that you are being promised and you don't know any better because, face it, you ARE a newbie and you really don't know how things work. You're better off doing this on your own. Please take it from me. So if you're here at WA and you have joined because you need some guidance, then that's perfect, because you won't find a better program, community, or training online. And if you can afford to go Premium, the benefits are truly amazing compared to any other program on the market. How do I know this? Because I'm the one who has tried MANY different courses, MANY different 'ways to make money quicker' and the next gadget you need for your online business because it will make you money. None of them work, or are certainly not half as good as what you were told and expecting to get out of it. Trust me on this one. Yes, seriously folks.

So keep your head high and stay focused on your WHY for 2020. It's just around the corner. Here's to wishing you all to a prosperous New Year and to always keep moving ahead little by litte with your dream, as it is not out of reach if you stay focused.

Wishing you all a great Christmas holiday! We are going away for a week to visit family starting Monday and while I'll still be on my laptop here and there, I plan to clear my head a bit and not work so much, and so hard, so I can get focused and stay focused in 2020.

Wishing You All The Best For The New Year ~ Cheers!