Copyright © 2008 Bill Platt
There is barely an industry on the Internet who has not been touched by those who quit and those who overcome obstacles to success. "Attrition" is a term that describes the "people who quit." I utilize the term "attrition" most often when I am talking about subscribers who leave a newsletter's member list, while others discuss the term in regards to people who quit business opportunities to pursue greener pastures.
Silly Cows and Three-Year-Old Logic
I grew up in rural America, so I fast caught on to the phrase, "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." Those silly cows can be in a field full of lush, green grass, but it never fails that many of them will strain against the barbed wire fence to reach out for that brown grass outside their enclosure.
My three-year-old once explained to me, "Cows do not have any brains." I told him that of course cows had brains. He insisted they did not. I asked what made him so sure, and he responded, "Well, they don't know how to talk." Ah, the beauty of a child's logic.
Success Online Begins With Commitment
Far too many people on the Internet have yet to figure out how to succeed online, but they are experts in how to quit, before they ever give themselves a chance to succeed. Someone once told me that in network marketing, 80% of all new sign-ups quit one opportunity and move on to the next one, after only two weeks. That is one heck of an "attrition rate".
Success online begins with the acceptance of one simple word, "commitment". Followed closely by commitment is investment. One must invest their time, their heart and soul, and sometimes their financial resources, in order to find the success they desire for themselves.
When I started my current business in 2001, quitting was not in my vocabulary. I started my business with the commitment to stick to my task until I found the success I desired. In March of 2005, I quit my day job (which required 65 hours most weeks, and 90+ hours per week during December) and risked it all on my own belief that I had laid the foundations that would make me successful in the long run. My revenues last year were three times higher than what they were, in the year that I quit working for other people.
After starting my online business, I kept my job for another three-and-a-half years, and then I went solo. I have been flying solo for just over three years now, and each year since leaving my job, I have been met with sales that continue to climb.
I recently did an analysis of my business' growth over the years since I started it. In four of six calendar years, my business grew by more than 100% in just twelve months. For those of you who are not math-savvy, that means my sales doubled in four of six years - it tripled its sales in its first full year (against a partial-year), and it doubled its sales in its third, fourth and fifth years of operation. My business is in its seventh year of operation. I will have my seventh year anniversary in October of 2008.
Overcoming All Obstacles In Your Path
If I had quit my business opportunity after only two weeks like most people do, I would still be working a job 65 hours per week at a job I mostly hated. But, because I was willing to do what was required to overcome the obstacles in my path, I now work from my home, available to my children when they need me. I was glad to leave the job world behind, especially during the Christmas shopping season when I had been required to work 90+ hours per week.
Even now as I write this article, my five-year-old is sitting behind me in my chair as he is fond of doing, and he is watching Spongebob Squarepants as I type. I listen to Spongebob more than I watch it, but I have to tell you, it is truly a funny cartoon. Spongebob's writers realize that mom and dad watch the show too, so they have been kind enough to include jokes that mom and dad can appreciate too.
Obstacles Fall When You Approach
Commitment, investment and overcoming obstacles will deliver you to success online, but "belief" will carry you forward to greatness. When you begin to believe that certain good things will come your way, the laws of the universe will stand behind you and elevate you to greatness.
The following book titles should be required reading for anyone who strives for greatness in life:
Each of these books addresses the concept of creating and possessing a real "belief" in yourself and your potential for success. "The Magic of Thinking Big" is my personal favorite, although the book "Think and Grow Rich" runs a close second place for me.
When you strive for a goal, you can reach it with a lot of hard work. But when you believe that your goal will absolutely be achieved by you, call it "faith" if you will, then there is nothing that could stop you from achieving your hearts' desires.
As you gain levels of success in your business and life, you really should use those successes to strengthen your "belief" in yourself and your capabilities. At first, the "ownership of success" will be hard to accept. But, if you continuously apply your success to the foundations of your belief, you will eventually know in your heart-of-hearts that success is yours to possess.
Do Not Be A Quitter
After two years of failure online, many people will quit this online thing and declare to all of their friends and family that no one can succeed online. The declaration will be made as if to assure the listener that if the speaker could not do it, then no one can.
Let me assure you of one thing. If you try to find success online in the same way that the speaker did, then you too will surely fail. But if you pick a target, commit yourself to reaching for the target, invest yourself fully in achieving your goals, overcome all obstacles that will stand in your way, and finally, believe that success is yours to possess, then you will succeed online as many of us have already done and continue to do today. I will sign-off by swiping a book title from Zig Ziglar, "See you at the top."
About the Author:
Bill Platt has been providing article marketing to his clients since 2001 at: http://www.thephantomwriters.com/ He offers ghost writing and article distribution services. With lots of experience writing articles that attract publishers, readers, traffic and sales to his website, Bill wrote an ebook to share the secrets of his article writing success that can be found at: http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/article-marketing-traffic.html
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