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Does Eben Pagan Work in His Underwear?
By Todd Alan | December 9, 2008
Are people who work in their underwear really successful? Before I ditched my 9-5 grind to work at home as an internet marketer I used to drool over the idea of being able to work in my underwear. Not so much actually sitting in my Hanes all day, but simply the freedom to do so if I wanted to. The idea that I could have such a casual approach to life and career and still make a fortune was pretty appealing for sure, but is it realistic? Do people get rich working in their underwear?
Porn stars and lingerie models excluded, and maybe Frank Kern too, I don’t really think it happens too often. The truth is internet marketing is hard work. Sure the payoff can be HUGE making the relative work seem insignificant, but it takes a lot of effort and dedication to make it in this business.
I make a decent living marketing on the web and although I’m not even remotely in the same league as the big internet marketing gurus like Eben Pagan and Frank Kern, my growth is steady and it’s just a matter of time. It might sound cocky to imply that some day I might make the “guru” league, but I believe it with all my heart to be true, and I’m willing to bust my ass to make it happen. Just like they busted their ass to get to where they are today.
People in this industry often talk about how easy it is to make money, but easy doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of work involved. You still need need discipline, you still have to think hard, and you still have to follow a plan for your success like any other career path.
If you’ve been spinning your wheels there’s a good chance your problem is in your attitude and work habits, and not necessarily your marketing technique.
Be honest with yourself. Are you spending most of your time surfing and reading about the latest greatest technique? Are you DOING or just reading?
Like any business you need a plan and you need to implement the plan. You need to work
with discipline and realize that your business goes beyond just business. Your whole life and the attitudes that permeate it are intertwined with your online success. If you want great success online you need to work on being successful in all aspects of your life.
Look, just go checkout Eben Pagan’s latest video on getting altitude and you’ll see what I’m talking about and why this guy is in the guru league … in fact, in my mind, he’s the guru of the guru’s.
I’m sure you remember Eben’s Guru Mastermind series. Right?
Topics: Internet Marketing Gurus, Productivity |
I’ve been marketing for about a year now and I think one of the hardest things is staying focused - I’m all over the place. How do you do to stay focused?
@Cher -
I hear you. Ask my wife and she’ll tell you how bad my focus is sometimes! One thing I do know is that when I’m focused my productivity triples. If you can’t afford something like the Altitude training from Eben Pagan then you might to checkout a book my buddy Nick put me on to called Getting Things Done. It’s got some great time management advice that I’m trying to implement.
It’s funny, for the past three years, I’ve been living off my previous earnings online, and wasn’t able to focus on anything new.
it wasn’t until I rented office space, started sticking “closer” to a 9-5 work day, and started treating my business a little more like a J-O-B, that my focus and production began to improve dramatically.
I think the real deception that takes place in internet marketing isn’t the “Get Rich Quick” techniques themselves, but the MINDSET that gets implanted in you when you begin to absorb this whole “work in your underwear” nonsense.
This is a business - not all that different from an offline business these days. To establish yourself takes TIME and HARD WORK. Don’t let anyone tell you different.
If they do, it is only for the purpose of selling something to you - making them richer and filling your head with exactly the kind of “pie in the sky” dreams that can and will be detrimental to your career in internet marketing.
And to think it only took me 9 years to learn that.
@Mike -
Well said Mike! And I love that movie Office Space
When you do a promotion and make $20K or more in a few weeks it can certainly feel like easy money, but when you look back you realize you spent a lot of time and effort to get yourself into a situation where you can do that. A successful promotion to a list still requires a list and list building is something that takes time and effort.
To be fair to the guys selling easy solutions … I think that most of this stuff is harder the first time around. Once you’ve done a particular method of promotion successfully then the second time around it is in fact much easier. When the sales letters for many of the legitimate marketing methods being sold are written their written from the perspective of someone who has done it a few times already and in their eyes it is in fact pretty easy.
But like you said Mike, it’s still a business, needs to be run like a business and takes the effort of a regular business.
It may have taken you 9 years to figure it out, but be grateful you di figure it out because many people NEVER will.
thanks for the comment Mike.
cheers,
todd
Yea, I think we’d all like to or the idea of ‘working in our underwear’ or nothing for that matter!! But we all know too well that it is a little more than rolling outta bed whenever, and finally slopping down at the computer about 1 1/2 hours later!! It takes work! And lots of it, and planning helps to, but this is where the focus part comes in and out. Seems like when you think of plans for your next big thing, 20 other things come atcha!
But please, if one of you find this ‘underwear’ plan, please alert me, even before you tell your family!!
James A Nichols’s last blog post..Using Product Recommendations To Increase Your Bottom Line
@James A Nichols -
Hey James pass me the underwear plan too if you finally find it. Maybe we can package and sell it?
“The Super Secret Underground Underwear Money Making Course” - the naked truth revealed!
later mate
Hey Todd:
Great blog your working here and excellent information.
Just wondering how you managed to get such a high Alexa ranking in such a short time !
What´s the secret?
@Harpy´s Nightmare -
thanks Harpy. I was actually just looking at my alexa rank (197,878) the other day and was think I really needed to improve it. The traffic ranking certainly has spiked up since mid November and I think it’s mostly because I’ve been blogging more and driving a lot more traffic via twitter and my list. I’ve also been doing a lot more social bookmarking with social marker.
I’m starting believe that social media traffic like twitter, squidoo and the social bookmarking sites is as important if not more important than google. I actually get most of my traffic via referrals now as opposed to google and it’s climbing the more I hook my social sites together.
cheers,
t
Hey just wanted to tell you all about a post my buddy Joe over at imwithjoe.com did about using a schedule to stay productive. He’s got some excellent point you should check out.
http://imwithjoe.com/internet-marketing/optimize-your-time-online-by-using-a-schedule