Need to get my act together

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shinysign

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Oct 17, 2007
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About a month since I really got into researching affiliate marketing, bought some domains, started on a few pages, read some wickedfire posts and a couple of ebooks (don't worry they were free) and I'm still just starting to understand what I need to do. Motivation is not the problem - I spend a lot of time on it yet it feels like I have actually done nothing and I am kicking myself for it.

So, I am thinking, what is the ultimate crash course on this subject? Doing the noob challenge? Reading most of the wickedfire posts? (Many of which are still over my head as to what exactly they are talking about). Any advice would be good - I don't need a motivational speech just some recommended courses of action - what is the best use of my time to learn this stuff? How would you personally go about learning all this if you were just starting out?

Thanks.
 


When I first started I was very hyped, and working night and day with every ounce of energy I had, but I started losing motivation and wanting to work. Even if I was making money, I just didn't feel like messing tweaking my PPC campaigns anymore, or doing my expense/profit reports. I honestly don't know what it is, I would recommend trying to get involved into group activities such as the "noob challenge". I still haven't started it yet, but I've been reading and taking notes.

I take pills to keep myself from getting lazy, drinking, I found another method to keep myself working is to stand up instead of sitting down, that way I won't just sit back and standing up will get me tired so I'll start doing stuff to keep from not doing anything and just standing up like an idiot.

I just started a full time 9-5 job from being in affiliate marketing for 6 months, I hate mornings since I always stay up late, I can't do any AM from work, and seem to miss it so much at work and think about all the learning I'm missing out on, but then I get home and I'm the same, just don't seem to care. I don't know what to do since if I'm on my own i never feel like doing anything.

I guess I'm one of those people who needs discipline?

I had my psych prescribe me some ADD meds., Strattera I think, I'll see if they help me or not. I don't think I really have ADD, just made it sound like I did to my psych, from what I've read they seem to get some people wired so anything to get me working I'll give it a try.
 
Last week I did go out on Saturday night and took exctacy and the next day (Sunday) I was planning on going to a strip club. Instead I ended up spending the entire day reading 20 pages on "Cycle Sites" on Squirt's forum. More than I've ever read on anything and took mad notes and understand it very well now. Just can't start it since I don't have the resources, a dedi, and don't want to setup the fake hosting, etc.., but I did learn more than I think I ever have in one sitting.

Ofcourse I wouldn't recommend anything like that, I didn't expect that to happen nor do I think anybody would be thinking about affiliate marketing, and learning coming down of exctacy, I guess I'm just weird.
 
You just have to start trying things to see what works and what doesn't. But if you can't motivate yourself to do anything at all then you have bigger problems.
 
The best thing for me is the first 10 or 15 minutes of each day I plan what I need to do and the order to do them. Start knocking em down.

A great sense of accomplishment and keeps you from overthinking things and dwelling on them. Do something, cross it off, and then "Next"...
 
I think also it helps to have a set schedule and then take time for breaks. This is our work. In the morning, review what you have to do over a cup of coffee and then plan out your day. Make sure you schedule a few breaks and treat it like a job. It's just a fun job where you are your own boss.
 
Thanks, these are very good ideas. I will definetly try them, especially the planning type ones, and it is true you just have to try things out and see what works and what doesn't.

For me, motivation isn't the problem, I work on this everyday, it is more efficiency. I am learning this stuff and reading yet I feel like I'm getting nothing done. Perhaps part of it is learning has no physical results until things are applied. And I'm sure I've wasted some time on useless areas too just because I didn't know it was useless at the time. I am still trying to figure out whats the fastest way to learn this stuff and learn it right?
 
I think I know what you mean. I've had the same problem. When you are totally new, there is so much to try and learn. But look at it like that's a good thing. The internet is your oyster. (what the hell does that phrase mean anyway?) Don't let yourself get overwhelmed by reading about cycle sites and autoblogging. (I'm not saying don't read them, just read them, put them in a nice little file in your head, maybe subscribe to the thread and then come back to it later) But what everyone is saying is you've got to do something...anything. And then fail and then try it again. Which direction where you thinking of going? PPC campaigns? Blogging? Working for others (articles, manual submissions)? directories? Can you do websites? How technically newb are you? If you don't know how to do any of that then I would suggest starting somewhere else like DP and then coming back to wf when you know how to at least do a few of those. Trust me, I know. I came here when I barely knew any of that and it was a struggle. I'm still struggling, but things are finally falling into place now. So to sum it up here's my advice, Either: 1) pick something and start (and most likely fail and just start again) 2) Go to DP and then come back to wf later 3) Stay here, accept that you're going to be lost for a few months but know that things will eventually start making sense if you stick with it. (I still think you should be trying little ppc campaigns or SOMETHING along the way.

(PS, I guess you could go back and forth between dp and wf, I know alot of people do, but I was always worried I would forget where I was and start calling DPers asshats)
 
I do the same thing the guys above are suggesting. Every day I make a list of what I need to get accomplished that day. Some days I have design orders for clients that I need to work on, and other days I set aside for my own projects. I never try to tackle too much at once. No matter what, always make your list realistic or you'll never stick to it.

But, seriously, no matter how you plan on spending your time, get on some sort of schedule where you'll work on X and Y this day and then A and B the next day.

Just writing a list of what you need to do will increase your productivity 10x and help you manage your time.
 
Staying motivated is hard in the beginning because you're not seeing any results. Set very short-term goals for yourself. And keep reading all those awful testimonials on the get rich scheme pages. They're silly but they can be motivating to read... :D
 
First thing that you need to do is establish an account with one of the affiliate networks so that you will have offers to promote. Then you need to figure out how you are going to promote them. Your accounts manager should be able to provide you with some guidance as well as telling you what is permissible and what's not - not all offers can be promoted the same way and not all networks allow you to do the same things with their offers. I would recommend finding someone who can mentor you and provide you with guidance, even if it's just someone successful whose blog you can read. Different people need to develop different courses of action that are going to work for them. Some people article market but some can't write, some are good at PPCs and for some it just sucks, some people spam forums, Craigs, write blogs, Squidoo, harvest people from MySpace, or whatever. You need to figure out what works for you. I don't think there's anything wrong with reading a book or even an ebook as long as it's not some spammy get rich quick scheme because success in affiliate marketing requires work and it takes time.
 
ubaidabcd said:
....did go out on Saturday night and took exctacy and the next day (Sunday) I was planning on going to a strip club. Instead I ended up spending the entire day reading 20 pages on "Cycle Sites" on Squirt's forum. More than I've ever read on anything and took mad notes and understand it very well now. Just can't start it since I don't have the resources, a dedi, and don't want to set.......
Click to expand...

Oh Man, if you could hear me laughing right now.... busting a gut here.

20 pages? More than you ever read on anything?

Illiteracy kills....

::emp::
 
emp said:
Oh Man, if you could hear me laughing right now.... busting a gut here.

20 pages? More than you ever read on anything?

Illiteracy kills....

::emp::
Click to expand...

Yeah, I hate reading. I haven't read that much since school which has been a while. I think there is something wrong with me, since I have no attention span at all. I'll try to read and keep reading the same sentence over and over to try and understand what's being said. Sometimes I'll be watching tv and my mind will just wonder, and not know what happened when it's over. I've practically stopped watching movies and tv, just keep it on as background noise. If I watch a dvd, I'll end up rewinding over and over just to be able to pay attention and understand what's going on. If I have problems with watching tv, you can guess how bad it effects me when I try to read. That's why I got those meds to help me pay attention.
 
As suggested above, every day I make list of things that need to be done.
...
...
and then I go to sleep pissed off because I did nothing.

J/K, just make your daily plans, it worked for me.
 
Sometimes I get mad myself for not working, and then I think to myself, "well, that's the benefit of working for yourself, you don't have to work if you don't want." Needless to say, last week I've had to pick up a 9-5.
 
ubaidabcd said:
Sometimes I get mad myself for not working, and then I think to myself, "well, that's the benefit of working for yourself, you don't have to work if you don't want." Needless to say, last week I've had to pick up a 9-5.
Click to expand...

Good point and I hope you learned a valuable lesson you born-again-nine-to-fiver. Just because you work for yourself doesn't mean you should ever slack off. In fact, you should be working that much harder so you don't have to go back to a shit job.

When I first started working for myself and making a living online, I came to the harsh reality of the situation pretty damn fast. I either work my ass off 7 days a week, or it's back to working for the man.

Don't get me wrong, though. It's perfectly okay to take a day off every once in a while to get your head straight and prevent burnout, just don't make it a habit. :D
 
ubaidabcd said:
Last week I did go out on Saturday night and took exctacy and the next day (Sunday) I was planning on going to a strip club. Instead I ended up spending the entire day reading 20 pages on "Cycle Sites" on Squirt's forum. More than I've ever read on anything and took mad notes and understand it very well now. Just can't start it since I don't have the resources, a dedi, and don't want to setup the fake hosting, etc.., but I did learn more than I think I ever have in one sitting.
Click to expand...

Being a guy that is married that has a kid and lives in Atlanta where there are a ton of strip clubs, very good ones, do not ever pass up a chance to go to a strip club.

Please go to strip clubs go home and go to more strip clubs....and come back and tell us about them.

My days of going to strips clubs stopped when she asked why do you have glitter on your face? See you later strip clubs
 
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