Do you want to be achieving success this year? How long will it take you? This are very common questions. Especially for those people who have either just started their online business. Or, maybe they have had an online business for a while and are still struggling to achieve the success that they desire.
A big problem comes in when people start comparing themselves to others. This is very easy to do because if you are on social media at all there are tons of images posted of people who say that they are successful.
Just because it is posted online does not mean that it is true.
Success Online Is Fast – 2 Parts
Part One: You Can Achieve Success Quickly
In his book called The Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell stated that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery at an activity. Apply this to your online business: if you work your business for 40 hours/week, it will take you at least five years to master the skills needed for your business.
In reality most people do not work their online business 40 hours/week. The most common method is that people build online businesses on the side. This means that maybe someone is putting in 10 hours per week. At this rate it would take you 20 years before seeing your efforts achieving success.
Do you love what you are doing enough to keep going for 20 years?
Ok, let’s double down and be really motivated. You put in 20 hours a week. You are putting in lots of time on the weekend and getting up early to get a couple of hours in before you start your day job. If you follow the formula you are looking at 10 years of effort.
This is one reason for achieving success that it is so important to pick a topic or niche that you love.
Achieving Success – What You Don’t See
When you see posts on social media showing someone’s success, what you don’t see and what they don’t tell you is how many years it took for that success to happen.
Before I got into affiliate marketing I was really into network marketing. One of the things that I noticed is all of the people at the top earning the big bucks would all talk about how great the program was and how easy it was to earn. I can’t tell you how many times I heard: All you need to do is…
What they don’t tell you is all of the companies they were in that were not successful. They were learning the skills in previous ventures that transferred over to the current company. That’s how they really were achieving success.
When I took a moment and really looked at the experience of those at the the top., they all had 5 -10 years experience with other companies. For many of them, they were an “overnight success” in the current company but their journey was 10 years long with other companies.
So when you do see social posts, take a moment to realize that that person has probably been learning the skills for a long time.
The people that experience quick success in online business usually have experience in marketing, SEO, sales or other jobs where the skills can transfer over easily.
My point is this: don’t get discouraged if you do not see success in your business right away.
If you continue to take action towards your goals you will succeed.
In his treatise The Greatest Salesman, Og Mandino writes:
…the only difference between those who have failed and those that have succeeded lies in the difference of their habits. Good habits are the key to all success. Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure.
Og Mandino
I came across a book that has really helped me in achieving success! Click here to check it out. And here’s another article on success by my friend and co-guide, Arlene.
Part Two: You Can Achieve Success With 20 Mins a Day
I don’t know about you, but I have never been able to do required tasks in 20 mins a day. In fact most times it takes more than 1 hour a day. Most of the training programs I have taken never really talk about how long each task takes.
If I create a YouTube video then there is the research. There is the outline or presentation creation. There may be a lot of takes depending on how tongue-tied I get. There is editing the video, uploading the video. For me, uploading to YouTube takes a long time. I have resorted to uploading my videos at night while I am sleeping so it doesn’t bog down my computer while I am trying to get things done.
So just for one video I may be looking at 4-6 hours.
What has really helped me is to break down the tasks and spread them out during the week. This way I do not get overwhelmed. I have created a schedule that I follow.
Achieving success is within reach for you too! Do it now!
A very interesting and in my eyes true as can be. What looks to others as an overnight sensation really took effort at some point. It all starts and blossoms with good habits. Thank you Debbie!
What magnificent advice, as always, Deb. Some easy, specific steps to put in place to be successful. And like you said, just do it now and create those good habits. Thanks for sharing this!!
That is so true – the overnight / 15 year success. Thanks for sharing some great insights.
Great blog mahalo for sharing this!
I can relate to your blog Deborah, one task at a time, schedule it and DO IT NOW! We can have everything step by step, you know what your talking about!
Thank you Deb for sharing this! It is so good to have this reminder when looking at others successes. And also to have in mind that we can transfer over experiences and acquired skills to new situations so even if we haven’t reached that success, we have at least laid the foundation to it
you are spot on – a number of ‘overnight’ (many years behind the scenes) spectacular successes come to mind..
I often muse and wonder on how the MKE experience optimizes our lives & how much that affects the Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hours for mastery proposal.
Deborah, your blog had so many truths when you are looking into network marking. Success doesn’t come over night and it takes hard work along with determination to keep going. Congratulations on celebrating your daily accomplishments, spreading out your goals for the week, and enjoying the moments that each day offers. Interesting blog!
Thank you so much for sharing your insights. It is so easy to compare our starting point with someone who has been on their journey for many years.
Valuable content Debbie! Great reminder for us to break down tasks into manageable pieces and spread them out as needed to avoid overwhelm.
I love your insights about the REAL time needed to achieve success in any area, and also the requirements for authenticity and celebration…Thanks for this very timely reminder!
Thanks for the reminder, Deb, that when doing business online we are so often dealing with the SURFACE of things, as ads, videos, posts, photos, and more are carefully edited to be an ideal of what’s real. It was helpful to hear what:s real for YOU.