An online business is just like any other – it takes time to reap the rewards of all the hard work you put into it. This may be even more applicable to e-commerce than a traditional bricks and mortar business because the competition is much more fierce, and much more prevalent.
Staying motivated can be quite difficult while you are waiting for results in the form of profitability. Sometimes it may even seem like you are wasting your time and you may consider giving up on the whole idea.
Take heart. Every online entrepreneur goes through a similar period. A business that will sustain itself for years to come is not a fly by night get rich quick scheme, it is gradually built upon a solid foundation.
Until that time when your website starts bringing in a good profit, consider these tips for staying motivated and sticking with it.
Stay Motivated By Making Your Goals Attainable
It is much easier to get depressed when you set lofty goals and review your efforts only to find you are nowhere near meeting them. Rome was not built in a day and neither can your website miraculously become a money making machine overnight. Set small goals, such as writing a blog post every other day or adding a set number of outbound links per week. These are good SEO goals that turn your focus from sales to marketing tasks.
Take A Break
If you are focused on creating blog posts that highlight the products offered by an affiliate marketing program and find that you simply have no energy left to write another line don’t force it. Take a break instead. Find an alternate activity that still helps to accomplish a goal, such as social networking. After a brief respite, you will find renewed energy for going back and completing the original task.
Sometimes you may even need to take an actual physical break away from everything associated with your fledgling e-commerce enterprise. Turn off the computer, don’t check email on your cell phone or update your social media sites. Go on a hike, take a trip out of town, or just spend a weekend watching movies – whatever relaxes you most. Everyone needs time to rejuvenate physically as well as mentally.
Read A Success Story
Every person must start somewhere. Even the founders of Google were not an overnight success; they had to battle the giant Microsoft and go through repeated revisions to their search engine program before they established a good base of users. It might help to read their story and realise that they were once in the same place you are now; to realise that with determination, hard work, and persistence, anyone can be an online success.
Your online business was started because you had an interest and a dream of how to turn it into a way to make money. A good tip for staying motivated, is to remember that initial excitement and use it to fuel your current motivation. Most of all be patient. Rest assured that success will come if you just stick with it.
Have a most outstanding day.
Sean RasmussenAussie Internet Marketing
www.AussieSEO.com 2010
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
wise and timely words.. thank you.
I believe that it is extremely important to stay motivated while building your online business. It is never a overnight success and can sometimes take many moon’s to begin to show promise and a return on your investment.
People (including myself) all go through times where we believe that it is simply not worth investing any more time, money or energy into a online business. This can shatter all the effort that was initially put in.
Its important to setup small goals (i.e. publish 10 posts, then 20, etc. Have 50 twitter followers, then 100, etc. Sell a affiliate product, then 2, etc). By setting and achieving these small goals your are actually putting together the pieces for the puzzle that is making money online.
Cemil´s last blog ..Google Delivers On Time
Hi Cemil
With your way of thinking, you will no doubt become successful in your online business. Many people spend a short amount of time and put in minimal effort, wonder why they don’t make a million dollars overnight, then give up.
Small goals, consistent effort, motivation and learning will lead to achieving large goals
Regards – Sean
Great words of wisdom Cemil.
You have the right advice for anyone wanting to stay motivated while building their online business.
I have copied and pasted your words about achieving small steps. Thank you
How true your words are Sean.
Small steps and taking breaks .
Maybe I should be spreading my post on setting goals far and wide. Big goals are just a series of small steps. It’s important to celebrate those small steps
Each small step achieved is another step closer to your main goal and well worth celebrating
Hi Sean,
These are all great tips for staying motivated in your online business. I think it’s easier to stay motivated if you’re following your passion because even if you never get paid, you’ll still do it.
I think setting small goals that you are regularly achieving helps you to create that winning feeling and helps you to feel like you are getting somewhere. In a sense, you are, because with each goal you hit, you’re one small step closer to your dream.
And it never hurts to take a break away from the computer and re-charge the batteries. I often find a way around a problem and get more done after a break. I love reading success stories because they remind me of what’s possible.
Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Learn and Earn – It’s a Marathon Not a Sprint
Staying motivated was definately something I struggled with after working online very consistently for 6 months with no results – not even any page ranking. But that was because I wasn’t implementing good seo strategies. I took 7 mths off and now after 4 mths of working on my site and am having small but steady improvements.
Jackie Stenhouse´s last blog ..Anxiety Separation in Children
Hi Jackie,
It’s not easy to continue on when you’re not getting any results. I know the feeling well. I think you just have to re-evaluate what you’re doing and make some changes.
You need a new plan. Or at least this is what I tried to do. It did help my results some but I still have a ways to go.
Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Sean Rasmussen – Aussie Internet Marketer Making a Difference