photo credit: torres21

Are you a beginner at marketing online?

Lost in the maze of all the things you just have to do?

Think you don't know enough to get started making money online so you keep on putting off the day when you throw out your shingle.

Here's one important truth you should keep in mind:

"It's not what you know when you start that matters, it's what you learn and put to use after you start your business that counts the most."

You don't have to be a computer programmer or a video expert. You don't have to know what a podcast is or a blog or even how to edit html.

The bare essentials you need to start an internet business are:

1. Access to the internet.
2. Willingness to learn.
3. Willingness to take action.
4. A healthy awareness that your experiences and knowledge are valuable.

Everything else is secondary.

Of all the those, number 4 is the most important. If you don't know, deep inside you, that you have something to contribute, you'll never get out of the learning phase and into the action phase. You'll stagnate and wallow in that nether region of "If I just knew this thing that's taught in this new report then I'll be ready to contribute…" or "I need to learn this new tool so I don't waste a bunch of time…"

If this is you STOP!

Get off your arse and start doing!

If you really don't have knowledge that you can contribute, here's a 3 step plan to getting on the right track.

1. Think back to all the things you've done in your life. Ponder on how nobody else has had those exact same experiences. List any hard or difficult things you've done. Were you an exchange student or hosted an exchange student? Kept sea monkeys (that lived) or were a rocket builder in elementary school, maybe you make a divine cheesecake or BBQ like a fiend? Maybe it's something in a hobby you do, maybe it's a talent you have, I don't know. It needn't be saving the world or some heroic deed. It just has to be something very few other people have done. My list includes graduating from OCS (Officer Candidate School in the Army) before I could legally drink, graduating from college with 2 bachelor degrees, earning the "Red Devil" award in track (it basically meant I had no talent, but always challenging myself to be better), there's more but those are good examples for now.
2. Now find out how many others have done the same. Here's my thought process I used to see how unique my OCS graduation was - less than 10% of the US population will ever serve in the military, less than 10% of those will ever attempt OCS, 50-60% of those that do drop out of the program. That right there puts me in an elite group of less than 1% of the entire US population. And those who did it before they could drink? I would estimate more than 99% of OCS graduates are above 21 when they finish. I'd be in a group of 1% of 1% of the US population. That's pretty special. My Red Devil award is just as special because there's only 1 given out every year (of a team of 100), but it's meaning increases it's value exponentially.
3. Remind yourself of your deeds everyday. Write them down in a notebook along with the calculated uniqueness. Read it once daily. Also, once you learn to spot unique actions, you'll come up with a lot more things. Write those down and how unique they are. Keep your uniqueness and value in your mind at all times.

If you follow these simple guidelines (as I did), soon you'll have to confidence to say as Stuart Smalley used to say: "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and doggone it people like me!"

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