Summer vacations are over.
I took three weeks outside of my day job and had to slow down my affiliate marketing tasks. With the family we went around doing outdoor activities, obviously deliberately forgetting we were on a budget.
In vacation, I can easily throw away a budget. I’m good at it. I spend the money without really thinking too much about the aftershock. When these insidious thoughts come, I use to arm myself with one of the best excuses that often come in such a situation:
“It’s vacation time! Let’s make the most of it!”,
“We have only one life to live, enjoy the moment!”
However, this time, I felt irresponsible.
I was caught in my dreams, looking forward for the day I could say: “Go ahead! Make the expense! Your affiliate business will bring you the money you want!”. The excitement? Maybe.
Even if this was my vacations, and I know I was supposed to enjoy every bits of it, it was really difficult for me to let go. The more I thought about it, the more I was feeling guilty; guilty of doing none of the actions I should do now to get money while I have the time for it.
I am like this. When I have a passion I become compulsory.
But there is something else. Something I associate with insecurity, or the feeling of losing the faith, the confidence I could make it. While sitting on the edge of the pool, feet in the water, this little voice resonated:
-“And if all this was just a dream?”
Oh no! Another negative thought…
– “What if all the expectations I have were far fetched?”
Suddenly, I felt overwhelmed and oppressed. My toes started to crisp together like if they wanted to grip the water. As I tried to surf on the waves of summer fun, I kept receiving splashes of negative thoughts, questioning my capacity to bring my business project out to success.
Am I following a trail in the darkness? You know that kind of trails we see in movies that crosses a creepy swamp. A trail where every sounds are felt suspicious and heard louder than they are in reality?
Difficult to relax with these thoughts in mind.
In a moment of panic, all I wanted was to get back home with my laptop to revisit my business plan. However I have learned by experience that things don’t always align well when you precipitate them.
So I calmed down and backed-up a little bit.
I filled my lungs with fresh air and the storm in my head was calming down.
I went back to reality and tried to enjoy the remaining sunny days.
The end of my vacation came and marked the return of my financial reality.
Resigned, I’m counting down the days when the vacation bills will arrive, taking the traits of that big wave I never learned to negotiate. There I am back to my day job again with the Sunday blues.
On the horizon, I feel the wind of fall season coming as daylight starts to dim.
Am I a failure?
No, not at all.
However, I must keep the focus.
It is just normal I make no money yet. I’m still learning how to do it and learning takes time.
That trail, I know, can get me out of the woods. I know it because I have the support from my mentors and my community. I have a goal, a new part time business to run, and a hope of a better me. Fall season must be well-behaved.
Walt Disney once said:
“All dreams come true if you have the courage to pursue them“
I believe it’s true. However, I wonder why did he used the word “courage” in this citation? Is it because the path of our dreams is strewn with pitfalls and ferocious beasts? Would have been the word “motivation” a better choice?
I don’t think so.
What’s the greatest thing that prevents us from achieving our goals?
FEAR!
The fear to fail, and the fear to success are the most common reasons why we often abandon a project.
We fear the first times we do something because we don’t want to fail. Have you ever given up on something difficult because you were afraid to learn it and fail?
Learning could be seen difficult because it necessitates efforts and a proper mindset. Remember the learning curve, the more you do something, the easier and the better it gets.
We fear success because we fear what money can do to our life.
Money sometimes has bad reputation in the heads of many people and they imprison themselves with this image that money will change them negatively. Realize that we have to embrace these things.
Change is good! A person who isn’t changing throughout his life isn’t evolving, isn’t developing. That is, this person isn’t becoming the best version of himself.
In today’s reality, the average person is often perceived as being a bit lazy. As soon you take him out of his comfort zone, he wants to return back where he was. In science, this is called stability, but you can call this a sedentary lifestyle if you like.
Doing an effort is difficult for those people. Physics tells you: it’s easier to maintain momentum than to start.
Break the ice, and take this first step. Destabilize yourself and you will see opportunities coming at you.
By getting fearful, we don’t move forward, we hesitate and we stay neutral, hence we quit the path to our dreams.
It’s OK to have fear but it’s not OK to let fear stops us.
The Core Reason
What is the core reason of our fears?
In my opinion, I think that the core reason why we get fearful is because we are worried or concerned about what people might think of us.
If someone, my boss for example, read my blog what will he think?
If a member of my family knows I’m investing my time to make money on the internet what will be his/her reaction?
I wonder what would be worst? What other people might think of you? Or the reality of not accomplishing your goals?
I don’t have to think long to realize that the need to achieve my goals far outweighs what people, usually complete strangers, might think.
Should I try this?
In my creativity moments I thought about doing videos… I don’t have yet the traffic I would like to have. It’s my biggest challenge right now and I’m working on it. So I came with the idea of starting a YouTube channel I would call “The Mentor’s Corner”, featuring Dean Holland (me to introduce and conclude), in a sequence of short videos.
I like the challenge.
The idea could be nice! However,… OK, I am going to tell you.
I’m just too scared about doing it. 😨
The idea of having to appear on video terrifies me. I’m afraid of ridicule. Also, English is not my first language, and my accent is terrible. I hate seeing and hearing myself.
I know I need to change this and increase my self-confidence. We succeed by doing things that need to be done and by looking ahead. If I back-up, I miss not only a chance to attract more people interested in what I do, but I lose the chance to improve myself, and to make progress.
We are rarely good when we start at something, I told you that. I’m not different, I have my comfort zone. Doing videos isn’t near my comfort zone at all. I have to overcome my fears and to do this, I need to find the courage that Walt Disney was talking about.
Now it’s clear.
I have a dream and I will take the actions required to pursue it.
Well, we’ll see where that leads.
Please tell me in the comments below, what fears you experience in practicing affiliate marketing? If you are someone interested but haven’t yet started the journey, then what makes you hesitate? Have you ever talked to your colleagues, your boss, or someone else you trust about starting your own business online? If yes, what was their reactions?
If their reactions looked like this…
then believe me when I say I understand your situation and I sympathize with you.
Speak to you soon,
Martin
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