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The Little Things Hold You Back The Most
By Daniel Flower | October 17, 2008
Over three hours I’ve spent this afternoon trying to get a link to work in a report I’m creating. It’s normally a simple thing and something I’ve done many times before - create the PDF document, open up the editor, and insert the links. But for whatever reason this one particular link just doesn’t want to work. The other ones work fine, but all in all I’ve ended up spending almost an entire afternoon on ONE link…
All this got me thinking about how little things can stop you dead, and about the amount of time you end up wasting in IM. This is particularly the case when you’re just starting out. You’re trying to learn the techniques and strategies that you want to use, AND you’re trying to battle with the technology to actually make it work. I’m sure that my problem is easily solved, but unless you know HOW to solve it then it can hold you back for a very long time (much longer than my one afternoon….)
I consider myself to be quite good with computers, but as an internet marketer you have to be conscious of the fact that even an experienced user faces problems with technology from time to time. At the end of the day we’re internet marketers not IT technicians.
A subscriber emailed me recently and said that the reason he hadn’t written his own eBook was because he didn’t understand how to create a PDF. He’d actually got a pretty good idea for a book, and he was wonderful with the written word. But he didn’t understand the concept of a PDF at all, and had no idea how to create one.
When I explained how to do it I think he was pretty amazed at how simple it was. This one little thing had held him back for years. It had stopped him writing his book, and had been a mental barrier to taking action.
And sometimes in internet marketing you have to take a step back and think about what your customers might NOT KNOW. It’s easy for some guru to sit there writing about a new technique to make money online and then assume that their customers already have the knowledge to put it into action. I’ve read many many eBooks on how to write and sell an eBook, but only one or two actually explained the process of creating a PDF.
Now you might be thinking - ‘yea, but if you don’t know how to do something then it’s easy to find out through the internet’ - and that IS perfectly true, but sometimes something can seem so alien to you that it discourages you from even trying to find out.
If you’re trying to build a business in the internet marketing niche then you have to remember that amongst your subscribers there might well be 80 year old’s who have only recently found the internet, not just 18 year old whizz kids who (annoyingly) know everything.
It’s very easy to spend all your time doing things that aren’t actually building your business. I could theoretically spend the next 7 days solidly trying to solve my link problem, but would that help me to sell my eBook? Nope!
It’s a strange thing with computers too. Internet marketing has the power to change your life (of that I have no doubt,) but at the same time it has the ability to totally frustrate and turn you away from IM completely. I’m not talking about deeply technical things either. Most of the skills you need to build an online business are quite simple, but sometimes it’s the little things that hold you back the most.
Ps. If anyone knows about links in PDF’s, or you’ve got something else you’d like to say, then drop me a comment : -) I always like to know if people are identifying with my posts.
Topics: Dan's Blog |
October 18th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Boy can I identify, Dan!
When I decide what to work on each day, I make a to-do list. Now when I do that, I assume certain tasks will take me a certain amount of time. I get so frustrated when one little thing I counted on being easy and quick, turns out to be a 3 hour ordeal (as the case with your PDF link). It ALWAYS happens.
That’s when I reach for the chocolate and a glass of wine…
Just kidding (sort of). Even though I’ll sweat and swear, there is a great sense of satisfaction in finally “beating” the problem. It also gives me a chance to grow closer to my IM friends when I frantically email or IM them to help me figure it out.
And you are so right that not everyone is at the same place. I tend to think people are where I am now or know more, and sometimes I take for granted where I was even a year ago.
Thanks for your insightful post, Dan.
Peggy
October 20th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Hi Peggy
Thanks for posting. I should really start making ‘to do’ lists as I always get terribly side-tracked from what I’m doing…. Actually I think the first thing on my ‘to do’ list should be to make a to-do list
A glass of wine ALWAYS helps
Dan
October 21st, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Hi Dan, hows things happening with this report then? I do hope you got the problem solved, and as I remember you posting this problem on SSP, I do hope you have downloaded and installed OpenOffice 3.0 and spotted how much easier it is to create PDF’s than in Microsoft Office.
Right, moving back to your post! Were have I had that kind of feeling before? (However it wasn’t anything to do with inserting links for a PDF before you ask!) - Sorry Dan, I couldn’t resist it!
There’s actually quite a number of little things that are holding me back, although I don’t think you’ll want to read them all here! Being serious though, it’s stupid little this I ‘worry’ about, and shouldn’t! But trying to break through this metal cage is a nightmare, have you tried it?
At least you weren’t talking about me, when you mentioned 18 year olds! I’ve got a few months yet until I’m that age!
Speak soon!
Thanks
Mark
October 21st, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Hi Mark
Cheers for posting mate. For some strange reason I thought you were a couple of years older than that! Seriously though, your blog posts are so insightful and helpful it gives that impression, which is great
Talking of metal cages - I know exactly where you’re coming from. It’s easy to worry about everything - thinking maybe what you’re doing ‘isn’t good enough’ or ‘what if this or that goes wrong?’ I think every IMer can relate to that but you have to try and work through it.
Thanks again for dropping by
Dan