Right after I got back from Affiliate Summit West 2012, that same weekend, I went out snow boarding with a couple friends. I have never been snowboarding before and I felt it would be a good experience. Now that I am back in Jersey I wanted to write about it and explain how trial and error relates to my and all internet marketing experiences or life in general.
As I was with a friend, he fell once hard and said he would go to the bar and warm up. That was 1 attempt and 1 fall. Before I go into the explanation of what I am talking about, I want to show you my boarding skills...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkNSNdmJEl0[/youtube]Yes, you know you like how I ride the green hill! Straight professional! lol.
Anyways. If you watched the end of the video, I explain what I am about to write. Basically you need to fall to be successful. How many times did I fall before I got up and did it again. My buddy I was with, went once and fell hard. After that he went to the bar and waited for me. I continued to keep falling and getting back up to do it again.
Falling is life, in order to be successful you have to fall and sometimes you fall harder than others. Some fall give it a rest then get up again and do it, others are so determined they get back up right after they fall. For example I fell and I just got back up and finished the hill. I didn't wait nor did I think about how hard my next run is going to be. I simply just did.
The fact of life and internet marketing is about falling or failing. You have to fail at something to understand what to do next. I didn't take lessons and it was my first time snowboarding but fear didn't stop me. I took the risk knowing I can get injured, crash into other people, and just look plain silly. That didn't matter because I wanted to gain the experience on how to snowboard, plus i thought it would be better than skiing.
Could I have taken the lesson to speed up the learning curve? Yes but sometimes, especially for me - I like to learn from my own mistakes. Unlike my buddy of mine, he fell once and went straight to the bar to relax and safe. I simply went back up the hill and continued to board.
As you can see there are 2 types of people. People who are just satisfied and secure, knowing they don't want to hurt them selves anymore or risk takers and people who do. This past weekend gave me a perfect example of how I look at our affiliate marketing industry or internet marketing industry as a whole. From noobs to experts, we fall in every category similar to those snowboarders and skiers.
Everyone wants to be successful at something, if its gaining more muscle, being a professional snowboarder, or more appropriate to our industry is making money online. It was a HUGE problem last year and I called out every Clickbank Guru out there. Funny part is the info launch craze died out, thank god! These 'gurus' pledge they can get you making money overnight just by hitting several buttons and you are done, when in fact that is not true.
Take my recent snowboarding falls as an example, did someone hand me an ebook? No. I went out there and did it. I accepted failure and got right back up and did it again. Yes, coaching and lessons can help but I bet I would have still fell until I learned how to properly shift my weight around. Internet marketing is a process and can not be taught overnight to make quick money. Yes there are mentors and tutors out there, but again you still have to make your own mistakes.
There are so many quotes out there about failure and success. They all lead to one goal failure is an option and it is a must to learn your own true success.
