Entrepreneurs-Journey.com

I was at the Business Mastery Secrets conference on the weekend. The person I wanted to meet was Ed Dale, well known Australian Internet marketer most famous for selling his 38 niche sites for $5 million a few years ago. He’s also know for his “underachiever” program designed to teach anyone how to make profitable niche sites.

After Ed’s presentation I went and introduced myself and had a chat. I had plenty of questions to ask but I had to wait my turn since a lot of my fellow attendees eager to join Ed’s program were asking questions about how to make niche sites. Eventually I got my chance and it was great to talk because Ed knows a lot of the Internet marketing guys like John Reese, Frank Kern (his Underachiever partner), Rich Schefren, Brad Fallon (Ed’s on the faculty at StomperNet) and pretty much every top Internet marketer.

Two things make Ed Dale extra special though - he’s a fellow ex-Magic: The Gathering player (he knows Mike Long too) and he’s an aussie. He’s also bought and sold websites, which related to some of the questions I had since I do a bit website flipping as well.

While we were talking a middle aged lady came over to us who had been talking to Ed previously. She rushed over, very excited, went up to Ed and said “I’m your latest mentoree - I so excited, I’m going to make a million dollars”. She had just spent the $2,500 to join Ed’s program.

It was eerie the way she said “I’m going to make a million dollars”. It was clear that the sugar rush was running through her veins and she was entranced by Ed’s presentation and her focus was on getting rich building niche sites.

When I was listening to Ed talk to some of the people asking questions after his presentation he lamented the fact that he forgot to mention his guarantee for his paid program when doing the presentation.

Ed offers to refund the entire cost of the package if after buying it you make $1000 within the first 60 days. As expected it’s very rare for this to happen and when it does Ed uses the person as a testimonial for his program. The way Ed spoke though, it was clear he is upset, like many who sell information products, that the majority of people who buy his programs don’t actually complete the tasks laid out in them in order to get rewards. Part of the reason for having a guarantee like that is to encourage more people to actually do something after spending the money on the program.

When this lady came over to us with the “I’m going to make a million dollars” gleam in her eye Ed immediately attempted to adjust her attitude. He said it’s fine to go after a million as a goal, but you need to focus on completing a task each day. If you don’t enjoy completing each task that you assign yourself step-by-step, then you won’t get to your end goal.

The lady was still very excited and said yes of course, but I had this feeling that once the sugar rush wore off she would go home, open her package, maybe be motivated for a day or two but as the roadblocks started hitting her the motivation would wear off and she’d eventually fail at her daily tasks because she just doesn’t have the right mindset in place.

Let’s hope that’s not the case, and even if it is, there’s a good lesson in that experience for her future online career, but it’s a shame so many people have to spend thousands to learn that lesson.

The Mindset

Ed’s advice is sound and I agree totally with him. I personally don’t use a physical to-do list, I just have one significant major task that must get done (or worked on) each day, which I usually do first thing in the morning, and a handful of other priority tasks that get completed depending on my schedule. Once that is done I do other things like respond to email or leave the computer altogether for exercise or food or going out.

My sense of satisfaction comes from completing that one daily task. If I don’t do it I feel agitated, but if I do I feel like I had a good day. Of course the one major activity I do usually relates to meeting a significant end-goal for my business, but it’s the goal of completing one task a day that provides satisfaction.

Sometimes when I finally do meet a major goal I don’t get quite as euphoric a sensation as you would expect. It feels somewhat a forgone conclusion because I know I’ll meet the big end goal as long as I complete my daily task to get me once step closer. I’m motivated by the journey and not the destination and celebrate each little victory day-by-day.

People have looked at me funny when something major in my life occurs, at least something they would consider major (say for example making $15,000 after selling a website) and I don’t seem all that excited about it - certainly happy - just not ecstatic. I think this attitude comes from experience and the right mindset.

If you get your sense of satisfaction from completing the small steps then the big goals feel more like “when” rather than an “if”. You know you will get there eventually, the end goal might even change as you are working towards it, but it’s what you are doing today that motivates. If you are writing an ebook then writing three more pages today is what provides a feeling of satisfaction. That’s all that matters. With that attitude in place you will always make it to a destination eventually, which is why it feels like an inevitability rather than a possibility.

Complete a task each day and celebrate your daily victory and you will remain motivated no matter how far off your end-game might seem.

Yaro Starak
Getting things done