My First Steps to Become an Internet Marketing Addict

Feb 14, 2016 Alessandro Zamboni Discover me 4

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For years I wanted an independent lifestyle, which meant I dreamt of having a job where I would work for myself, instead of making someone else rich. I wanted flexibility and the right to decide when I would work and where I would work. I wanted to wake up every morning knowing that I was making enough money to support myself and my family, or at least provide a valuable income stream to give ourselves more choices in life.

I dreamed of the day when I would look out my window in the morning and see the sun shining and that it was okay not to work that day. I wanted to give myself permission to take off whenever I felt the urge, fully recognizing that I needed to be accountable to my new business demands.

Back in 2008 I heard that Internet Marketers worked part-time and made a full-time income. I also learned that many of them made more money in six months than many doctors make in one year. I wanted to be one of those statistics. I was willing to work extra hours each day, in addition to my other responsibilities, just to make that happen. You must admit that’s a commitment!

During those many months of putting in lots of hours at my computer and striving for my dream of quitting my full-time job, I became obsessed with learning about Internet Marketing. Those big famous gurus all made it sound so easy.

A Little About Me and How I Knew I Was Becoming an IM Addict

I thought I knew what I was doing, and I thought I had set my goals appropriately, but somewhere in time, I began spending money on IM courses, tools, software, and any product that I knew I just had to have for my business!

Yes, I was addicted to buying every new thing that someone marketed to me. The process of buying information for my business had me spending my entire IM budget just to get my hands on the next deal that was sure to make me successful. The point is that I was willing to do the work, and I knew that there was no magic button to press that would make me an instant millionaire.

The problem was that I was buying so many deals that I hadn’t even considered that I’d never use 99 percent of them. It was as if my mind tricked me into thinking that the dime-sale price (where the product price increases by a fixed amount after a specific number of sales) would never be lower and I had to buy it right now!

It was euphoric buying each product. I was excited and filled with adrenaline knowing that I had gotten in early and was paying a decent price. But then in one instance, before I was sent to the download page, I was presented with another offer, but it cost much more than the item I had just purchased.

As I sat there anxiously waiting to see what was inside the download area, I read and re-read the second offer (sometimes called an OTO, a one time offer or upsell), and the way everything was worded I suddenly felt like I couldn’t make a decision. Should I leave the page and just get the link to download the product I bought? But what if I really needed the add-on product to be successful?

I couldn’t decide, but I didn’t want to miss the chance to buy the add-on at the low price, so I bought it. I didn’t even consider how much I had spent. I just knew I HAD to have it. That’s kind of when I knew I was an Internet Marketing addict.

For an hour I felt so happy and lucky that I got such a sweet deal from one of the top Internet Marketers. I just knew in my heart that I could make $5,000 this month, as long as I had the time on the weekend to read the report or follow the videos and implement the steps. The sales copy had sounded so convincing!

But by the time the weekend rolled around, I had bought other products that I just “knew” were as good if not better than the one I had purchased earlier in the week. You’d think by that point that I would have known I was addicted to buying every new product, but I didn’t even give it a second thought.

On the weekend, my friends invited me to come over, and I couldn’t resist the idea of getting away and enjoying their company. By Monday morning, I was headed to my job. I again thought that I really should set some time aside to read at least one of the reports from beginning to end. How else could I “commit” to doing something if I didn’t take action? I reminded myself that doing nothing produces nothing. I had to get motivated and take action. My dream of becoming an Internet Marketer was still alive.

However, true to my addictive state, I couldn’t resist reading all the offers that found their way into my Inbox; and then there were my favorite forums. I would cruise the offers on three forums every single evening after work. I convinced myself that I was doing research, and in some regards, I was. Yet by the world’s standards, I was in denial.

Before heading off to bed one night, I read this in one of the reports I bought:

“To succeed in any program, make sure that you’re buying into something that you believe in and you think is achievable. Then set a goal to take action implementing one phase of that product within 24 hours following your purchase. Next, promise yourself that you will take at least one additional action during the upcoming week that furthers the launch of the product you just bought. If you can’t commit to those rules, then cut up your credit cards so you can’t buy anything else.”

I promised myself that I’d take action within one week. And I didn’t bought IM products anymore. This is the first step for becoming internet marketers: stop purchasing all the products that you don’t need. For everything there are free guides over the web: just search on Google and Youtube! That day I knew I discovered the first IM trick of the gurus.

My First Sale as an Internet Marketer

I still remember the first time I got home from my full-time job and opened my email program. There it was—notification of my first sale. Wow! I felt like I had just won the lottery, well, not from the money perspective, but from the shock and surprise that something I did had actually paid off. That one sale is what encouraged me to learn as much as I could about Internet Marketing.

I still put in a lot of long hours sitting at the computer. For me, it’s personally satisfying to work on a new revenue stream, an information product, or creating a service that I know others need. But very often, well, most of the time, actually, my social life gets put on hold and the people in my life don’t always appreciate being in second place. But when you’re first getting started in Internet Marketing, I found that taking action was the only thing that was my path for making that first sale.

My advice, if you’re thinking about getting into Internet Marketing is this: Don’t say you’re going to TRY it! Say you’re going to COMMIT to it.

Just remember that time management will become a priority in your life. As with any dream, you have to pace yourself and set realistic goals. One thing is for sure—if you think it will take you five hours to do something meaningful in your business, double that time. Then you won’t get discouraged if it takes you longer than you estimated or that someone told you it would take.

The more I learn about Internet Marketing and all the ways there are of earning an income, the more I get addicted to it. This is the end of the first lesson.

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