How NOT To Fail In Your Online Business

Previously Stuart Ross, co-founder of SFM & DEA, had talked about the most common reason that people fail with their online business and he provided an antidote to prevent failure. He had come to the conclusion that it really comes down to peoples lack of commitment and not following through with their commitments.

He concluded that the antidote to this was having a big enough vision to follow through with your commitments, even when you felt felt tired or lazy, or things got in the way such as personal issues.

One of the other reasons that Stuart feels that people so frequently give up on their dreams is that they dip in-and-out of the online business industry and are not consistent over a long enough period of time.

Many people get started on the internet then leave, come back and dip their toe in the water and then leave again. The good news is that some of these people who have returned after previously giving up with an internet business, have gone on to build successful long-term businesses online.

In this video Stuart shares some words of wisdom based on his own experience and what he’s witnessed in the industry. In doing so gives he gives us all something to seriously think about.

What Stuart has seen to often is people making excuses for not building their dream lifestyle and online business. The first thing to say is that there have been people who have gone on to succeed online despite some really horrendous personal circumstances.

Without going in to the specifics of some situations I can just say that it was far worse than not having money in the bank and far worse than not having a job. Some examples are where single mums have been left in the “lurch” by their husbands or partners, to look after their kids and fend for themselves. These abandoned single mums had absolutely nothing left but despite that they went on to build a successful online business.

There have also been people who have had so much debt that they have debt collector after debt collector turning up at their doorstep making demands for the repayment of money. Also some students of Stuart’s have lost family members to illnesses who have been the main bread-winners of the household. Suddenly they’ve had to go out and become the bread-winner to replace the lost income.

Yet, a lot of people use the excuse that they’re not carrying on with their online business because of “stress” or because things are “a bit tough”. But when you see such a diverse range of people succeeding despite very bad circumstances, you realise that those who do not succeed do so because of excuses.

Your past does not have to equal your future

The point to make here is that your past and your present does not have to equal your future. This is something that’s really important. You’ve really got to take those words and understand what they mean.

If you’re in a situation where you really want to change your lifestyle and you really want to build a better lifestyle for yourself and your family, then if you keep doing things the way that you’ve done them before (as you’ve done in your past), then you can not expect a different result in the future.

So what that means is that when the going does get tough, like:

* Your in debt and you’ve got the debt collectors calling at your door
* You can’t invest as much as you would ideally like to in your business

It’s imperative that you do NOT go through life with the attitude of, “Oh well, when I clear that debt, then I’ll build my business”, or “When my finances are better then I’ll really spend time and effort on my online business”.

Trust me, in these type of cases people will get their finances in order and very rarely will they start to build their online business at this ideal time (or what is deemed to be the perfect time). Because at this time they realise it is a period where they are not stressed and they want to enjoy it. 3, 6 or 12 moths later they get a bit stressed again and suddenly they want to start building their dream lifestyle again because things are not going as well as they would like.

The point is that you should try and build your business at a time that you feel inspired and motivated to do so, regardless of your current circumstances. If you really want your own home business that’s going to give you freedom, flexibility, choices, more money, or whatever it might be - then the answer is to do it NOW!

Just do it now. The worst time to do it is when you are forced to through your circumstances. Now, many have started to build their business when they have no options and this can be so much more stressful.

Stuart did not do this. He started his online business in the evenings while he still worked his job during the day. He then got to a situation where he was making enough money in his online business that he was then able to quit his job.

Now, was it stressful? Yes it was. He was working 70 hours a week in his job. For the first 3 - 6 months he was totally obsessed and you would not see him without his laptop as he began to build his online business.

In this period he dedicated 80% - 90% of his spare time to his business. But that was just 6 months of his life which built the foundations of a multi-million dollar online business.

Make it happen now regardless of your current circumstances

Then thing to be learned here is that regardless of your current circumstances there is nothing stopping you from making this happen now. Yes, maybe it would be better to be able to invest more money in your business. Yes, it would be great to have a bit more time. Yes, it would be nice if you paid off that debt. Maybe it would be nice if you had that better relationship with someone in your life.

But, life is never going to be perfect. You are not going to have the perfect time to start your online business. With a business, the best time to do it is when you are inspired, motivated and driven to do it.

If you are reading this, then the chances are that you are now more inspired and driven to start a business than you have been in the past. So, just get on and do it.

Now, another distraction that often stops people succeeding is listening to the “naysayers”. When you get started working online you may be working extra hours and putting your money into your business.

Maybe you don’t have much disposable income to do the things you’re used to doing. Maybe you now don’t have the desire to do the things you used to do. It’s at this time that you’ll come across more “naysayers” than you ever have done before.

They will consist of family, friends and people around you. Everywhere you find people telling you why “you shouldn’t build a business”, and why you she should, “stick to what you know”. Why it’s “not going to work”.

Now, as Stuart quite rightly says - why should you listen to people that have not created what you want to create. That have not done what you want to do.

If you rate getting advice from those that have achieved what you want to achieve - then it is worth listening and learning from them. But anybody outside of that you have to shut out.

One of the things that can be helpful in situations like this is not to talk about your business with certain family members and friends. Because you’ll find that there is nothing to gain from those people who are negative and do not understand your business.

This can be because they feel less inspired about their own lives when they see you actively going after your dreams. They can then feel guilty about the lack of ambition. Some of the concerns can be genuine from people who just do not want to see disappointed because of the risk.

Well Stuart was prepared to take a very calculated risk. Statistics show (and who knows how accurate or true they are) that 85% of home based businesses succeed compared to only 5% of businesses where people get a loan to start-up.

I’m not a betting man but I will do something where statistics are on my side. Starting an home based business in the digital economy, with low over-heads is where you give yourself every opportunity for success. It’s not like you are borrowing money from the bank. It’s not like you have to find some high street premises. It’s not like you have to have garage or store full of stock.

It’s essential to blank out the “naysayers”

So, go with your gut instinct. If you want to build an internet home based business and it’s something that’s been on your mind for a long time - get on and do it. Blank out the “naysayers.” For example, accountants are individuals that people go to for advice when starting a business. But how many accountants do you know that are living the lifestyle that you want to achieve.

Just be very careful who you heed advice from. This is why communities are so important. It’s so important to surround yourself with like-minded people.

Another thing about the online business world is that you’ll see a lot of people come and go for the reasons that I’ve written about above.

The best thing you can do is to find people who you sense, or have proven that they are in this for the long-haul. In other words they area committed. They’re not just dipping in and out of every opportunity. They are not just pitching all sorts of products all over the internet, just one after the other.

You want to find those that are “sticking to their guns,” and have tunnel vision when it comes to achieving success. They will be loyal to themselves, their goals and the businesses that they’re building. These are the type of people you want to be surrounded by.

I’m very proud to say that at the Six Figure Mentors (SFM) we have a ton of people like this. It provides the right environment to build a successful online business without the “naysayers” and other negative influences.

With this conducive environment and the “Big Vision” that Stuart has previously spoken about, because that’s what’s going to push you through. Stuart sets goals all the time, short medium and long term. Some of them he achieves and surpass his own expectations and sometimes he doesn’t hit them.

But it’s the a vision that carries him through. If you’ve got a big enough vision, somehow you’ll get there. Imagine a vision being up in the sky behind the clouds and imagine there being stairs up to that vision. You take a few steps and look up. But, you still can’t see the end, the destination. You take another few steps and you still can’t see the end-point, the destination.

But each further few steps you take begins to reveal a little bit more about your destination. And as you go on more and more is revealed as you get closer to that end vision. And you are getting closer because you’re persevering,committed, and not allowing the “naysayers” to distract you and take you back down the stairs to the beginning. Or even worse, get the elevator back down with them to the ground floor where they are all sat in an office and giving pretty bad advice. Following the advice in this article certainly gives you a framework of how not to fail in your online business.