How To Beat Marketing Burn Out And Disillusionment

Feb 8
22:00

2004

Charles Kangethe

Charles Kangethe

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How To Beat ... Burn Out And ... An Online ... ... ... 2004 Charles ... Once Upon A ... people set out on their Internet Mark

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How To Beat Marketing Burn Out And Disillusionment,How To Beat Marketing Burn Out And Disillusionment Articles
An Online Marketer's Occupational Hazard.

(c) 2004 Charles Kangethe

* Once Upon A Time
--------------------

Many people set out on their Internet Marketing careers
full of hope and enthusiasm.

However, within a year or two reality sets in and hope turns
to disappointment and the enthusiasm wears off.

What goes wrong and how can you get back on track ?

* The Wheels Start To Come Off
-------------------------------

Ironically, trouble starts with one of the Internet's
greatest strengths.

Information.

Or more precisely information overload.

As you research opportunities, so called "experts" tell
you "how to do it", "when to do it", "where to do it" and
offer you expensive tools and resources to help you
do it.

You get confused from the widely available advice and
your progress suffers from lack of a consistent easy to
follow plan.

Then just as you're getting your head around the
information, your family jump in telling you how you are
no longer any fun.

They tell you that you spend far too much time at the
computer, and they want to know why you aren't earning
any money.

Feeling their doubts, you start to doubt yourself.

But you struggle on, produce your first web site and
ask a favourite forum to review it. Back come the opinions
and advice on hundreds of things you must do to improve it.

You write your first e-zine, but being your own harshest
critic you know it stands improvement so you delay
publicising it and getting subscribers until it is just
right.

It has now been a year or more since you started and you
still haven't made any "real" money.

Your early hopes and enthusiasm are being seriously tested.
You are losing focus and your desire to carry on, to take
action seems low.

If you recognise this person, start with the basics, and
use the following four steps to get back on track.

* Go Back To Basics And Answer The Fundamental Question
---------------------------------------------------------

Success as an online marketer starts with a simple belief.

You must believe in yourself, your talents and know your
destiny.

It is this belief that will sustain you when the wheels
seem to be falling off.

From the very beginning you must have goals that drive
you onwards. Your goals are derived from the answer to
this fundamental question.

"What do you want to achieve as an Online Marketer ?"

You must find the one answer to this question, that is :

* Simple - Can be explained in three or less short
sentences.

* Clear - Well defined, and unambiguous

* Personal - It must satisfy a deep personal desire
and you must strongly believe that you will achieve it.

* Set SMART Goals and Plans
----------------------------

Once you have the answer, you must set long, medium
and short-term goals.

Your short term goals must be detailed and explicit, your
longer term goals can be less detailed , but they must all
be SMART.

* Specific - Each goal addresses a single, clear issue.

* Measurable - How will achieving the goal change anything.

* Achievable - Each goal must stretch your abilities, as
you reach for it

* Realistic - Each goal must be rooted in real life which
is why the starting point is to find the answer above

* Timing - Give yourself deadlines to achieve the goals

Once your goals are defined you must design a plan to
achieve them.

Plans are the vehicle by which you achieve your goals.

Refer to your goals and plans frequently in order to :

* Ensure you are on track

* Ensure they are still valid

* Give your motivation a boost

* Schedule It And Do It Right
----------------------------

Next, create a schedule of activities, that you must achieve
each day of each week.

My weekly schedule requires me to write an article each
week, update site content, and do more work on creating
my own products.

My daily schedule involves posting messages on public
forums, responding to my e-mail in a structured manner,
addressing any customer issues, building my Opt-In list and
making time for my family.

I use Timesheets lite available from
http://www.timesheetsmts.com/ to schedule my daily activity.

These daily and weekly tasks are all aligned and geared to
helping me achieve my short-term goals. In turn my short
term goals are geared to helping me achieve my medium
term goals and so on.

By setting your schedules in a similar way, you develop
discipline, you learn how to pace yourself and you allocate
time to all the activities that demand your attention,
including most importantly your family.

Remember despite your improving self belief you must ask
questions when you come up against obstacles. Asking for
help early on avoids many lost hours in trial and error,
resulting in less frustration.

* Support Networks
-------------------

Working alone is lonely, and we all need support from people
doing the same things, people who understand the issues
and problems we are going through.

Public forums are a good source of information and answers
to questions, but they offer little by way of personal, and
immediate support.

Support in this context is better if it comes from a small
private support group.

You can build your own support group either on or
offline if you live in a place where there are many other
netpreneurs. However for most of us this offline support
route is difficult and unrealistic.

Hence at Simply easier we will soon be implementing a
number of support cells where people will be able to use web
cams, and msn to chat and form remote, but practical
support networks.

For more details check into http://www.simplyeasier.com
and look out for the support program announcement.

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Conclusion

Burn out and disillusionment with online marketing, are an
"occupational hazard" for many marketers. Getting back on
the right track requires that you :

* Go back to basics and answer the Fundamental question

* Set detailed SMART short, medium long-term goals and plans

* Schedule your daily and weekly activities and align them
to your goals

* Find and join, or create small support networks

Use these four steps and get back on the right track today.
------------------------------------------------------------
Charles Kangethe of http://www.simplyeasier.com is a leading
new wave Netpreneur and a published author from England. The
"Simply Easier" brand name is your guarantee of high value,
quality Marketing Products, Services and Resources.
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