SEO and Marketing

Lets face it. They only way you are going to be successful online is by working your ass off or doing clever and original things. Oh and you might have to get lucky sometimes. However those who do work hard and those who do have a head for Internet marketing, can achieve incredible success. The only problem (Unless you are a workaholic) is actually keeping motivated and getting yourself to do the work. It is very easy to get distracted when working for yourself. Whenever i get lazy i think about this guy who i used to work with around 5 years ago. I find his story very inspirational. (Lets call him Mike)

For one reason or another Mike was no longer able to work offline. Because he was into photography he decided to start his own photography and design forum/community. The plan was to generate money, shifting photography related products via various affiliates. The only problem was that Mike has only learned how to start his computer the other month. I mean… that guy was way way way behind anyone else. Some people struggle with HTML, he struggled to understand what a browser was. Forget SEO and marketing. After finally getting help with the forum, domain and what not, it was time for Mike to start promoting it. Do you know what he would do? He would go and personally ask various photographers, one by one to join his forum. Every day he would sit in front of his computer for hours emailing and PMing individual people. A few weeks later when i had a chance to speak to Mike it turned out that he has achieved very little indeed. I then advised him to try a few other methods but he would not listen. Instead he started to work harder and for longer hours. He just would not give up…

After bumping into Mike again a year or so later and asking him how his business, i was not expecting to hear “Excellent!” as a reply. He was now running a hugely popular community. And not just any other community. Because he was personally speaking to and inviting members he has managed to really connect with his community. He made tons of friends, he had tons of people willing to help him promote their community and the general atmosphere in his forums was incredibly friendly. And to top it all up he was making more money than me with all my fancy tricks and methods… 10 times more… Simply because he has managed to stay positive, motivated and truly worked hard towards his dream.

Tags: marketing, hard, lazy, motivation, blog, inspiration, blogging, work