(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 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 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 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 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 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 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 basics, and use 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 wheels seem to be falling off.

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

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

You must find 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 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 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 starting point is to find answer above

During safety instructions on an airplane, we are instructed to put mask over our own mouth first, and then on our child's. Why? The reason is simple -- if we are knocked unconscious there will be no one to look after child, putting them at greater risk than risk they face in few moments it takes to put our own mask on. The wisdom of this is readily apparent once we stop and think about it. It's also good advice to take forward into all areas of our lives.

For many years, I put needs of others first. As I evolved personally, I came to understand that it was okay - healthier, even - to put my needs equal to needs of others. In fact, it is how I now define word 'selfish', and use term 'self-centered' for someone determined to live as though world revolves around them.