I’ll explain why my wife’s hurtful words made me thankful… Before that, there’s another reason to be thankful this Thanksgiving…
…And that’s a heartfelt thank you for sticking around for my now infrequent emails.
I just want to say I’m sorry.
It’s just that life has been pretty crazy. The business has just grown like crazy, and we’ve been trying to keep up.
Over the course of the last year… We added 6 people to the team… Became the SEO superstars to the biggest property portal in Asia… Spoke around the world… Made a killing from Adsense…
I’m not saying that to boast. Nor is it an excuse for my lack of communication.
But all I’m saying is that the internet marketing dream is possible – where you make money while you sleep, earn more in one week than you do the whole year, work from anywhere in the world.
However… the internet marketing dream is not easy. If it was–then there wouldn’t only be a dozen or so peers who are making a full time living online in my country with a population of 27,467,837.
In fact…
Here’s the no.1 reason why most people fail to make money on the Internet…

They don’t treat it like a business.
Here’s the harsh truth…
5 years ago, hobby efforts got you hobby income. You wrote a few EzineArticles, slapped on your affiliate link, and voila… You got some grocery money for the month.
Today, 5 years down the line, hobby efforts get you ZERO income. The prior hobbyist who had a little more success than average has developed million dollar businesses with an army of outsourcers and a near unlimited advertising budget.
And unless you rise above the ranks of hobbyist to become a business person, you’re never going to succeed in this space.
Sorry if I sound a little brutal.
But you know the only reason why I can say that?
I was one of these hobbyists just a few months ago.
And the only reason I’m not one anymore is because of the verbal lashing my usually demure wife gave me.
Even though it stings to admit it, for this whole year I treated Puppet String Marketing like a hobby, when I was supposed to treat it like business.
Don’t get me wrong, we make a decent living from Puppet String Marketing. The thing is… We could have been a lot bigger than we already are.
In the space of 2 years of doing business… I have passed up countless opportunities (even strategic alliances with the biggest guns on the planet), left money on the table due to a lack of implementation, and left my wife holding the bag.
And then… Came the obvious question…
Why was I acting in such a baffling way?
The answer is twofold.
- I don’t have a “do whatever it takes” mindset
- Action requires overcoming inertia
You see… I have always mistaken my superior marketing and copywriting skills for the actual running of the business. I ignored the “boring” aspects of cash flow in favor of cool ideas and persuasion. Even though marketing is really important, a biz owner’s role expands far more than that.
The bulk of online marketers are just technicians. Good at the theory of marketing, but unable to create a business out of it.
Now… you start to find an explanation for the local marketing boom of 2010. This industry has bred a ton of marketers with just an inkling of direct response knowledge –but no actual business acumen.
No wonder they’re doomed to failure.
And I was going down that forlorn route until my wife saved me.
And that’s my first point, that the hallmark of a successful entrepreneur is in the willingness to suffer until the business venture reaches breakthrough.
I guess I was seduced by the promise of instant riches.
Well… I did make a ton of money with my launches. But I wasn’t willing to do more of them, since it takes work.
And I wasn’t certainly investing in systems and outsourcing processes. Too much tedium. Thank you very much.
No business is going to sustain with that kind of chronic laziness.
Here’s the surprising thing…
Most of the internet millionaires you know work really, really hard.
They work when they’re on holiday. They work even crazier hours than those who are employed.
This brings me to my second point. You may not be achieving your fullest potential because its darn hard to get out of a state of stagnation.
After all… A body at rest tends to stay the rest…
That is…
Until external force is used.
In my case, it was my wife being uncharacteristically sharp. Reminding me we’re not in the business just for our own survival… But so that we can positively impact the nations with our ideas and our finances.
What’s your external force?
God? Not becoming homeless? Paying off debts?
Until you get one… Nothing is going to change. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Well… This is my thanksgiving lesson to you. To succeed in the internet marketing realm. You need these 2 things – a “whatever it takes” mindset, and a willingness to overcome inertia and take action.
And yes… Me and the wife are still very much in love.
Hope this helps you. Would love to know your thoughts in the comments section. So write away!