Are You Making the Deadliest Marketing Mistake of All?

If you’re earning less than $100,000 a year in marketing and you’ve been at it for at least 3 years, then I’m going to guess the answer is YES.

Let me share a story…

A man goes to Alaska to learn how to dog sled. Sounds pretty simple, right? You hook the sled dogs up to a sled, stand on the back of the sled and say, “Mush!”

Anyway, that’s how it works on those adventure shows on television.

But what you’re seeing is an experienced musher (don’t you love that word?) who has done this hundreds of times.

What happens if you’re new to dog sledding?

These experience sled dogs are harnessed, excited and just about jumping out of their skin because they cannot wait to get started. The last thing the dogs want to do is stand still and wait for you to get your nerve up. In fact, if you let go of the sled for even a second, these dogs will very likely leave without you.

You’re told keep your weight on the high side when you go around a curve. Not even sure what that means, you step onto the narrow wooden runners, take a deep breath and say, “MUSH!”

Suddenly you are hanging on for dear life. Seven super excited sled dogs go from zero to breathtaking in about two steps and you feel like you’ve got a rocket by the tail with no clue how to stop it.

Here’s where it gets tricky: When you’re going through forest, the trails are essentially narrow bridges of packed snow through oceans of endless powder. If you fall off (and you will) you’ll be waist deep in snow. That is, if you’re lucky enough to fall off feet first. The whole ‘falling off head first’ happens, too. A lot. Imagine being upside down in a snow bank. It’s not as fun as it sounds.

So you’re flying along and here comes the first curve. You fall off. Fortunately, your dogs are well trained, and they wait for you to get back on. The moment your first foot is back on the runner, they’re off again.

The sled hits a bump and you fall off again. You clamber back on and WHOOSH, you’re clinging to the handle again as you seemingly fly through the air.

These dogs give you zero time to figure out what you’re doing wrong.

Another curve and you fall off. Another bump and you fall off again.

You’ve got snow on your face. In your hood. Down your coat. In your boots.

Now here’s where the future online millionaires get separated from the hoards of people who never make it online.

You’re bruised. Cold. In over your head in more ways than one.

What do you do?

If you keep getting back on the sled, no matter what, then eventually you’re going to get the hang of this.

If you give up, which is what the vast majority of people do, and say, “This doesn’t work,” then you’ll never be successful.

Most people understand that to be successful at anything takes time and practice. You’ve got to learn things like keeping your weight on the high side on curves. And to learn that, you’ve got to practice, practice, practice.

People know they can’t become a doctor, a lawyer, an airline pilot or even a musher overnight.

And yet they expect to be successful in online marketing from day 1.

It almost never works that way.

You’ve got to fall off a few times, or maybe even a LOT of times, before you figure out what you’re doing.

The mistake is not getting back on the sled. Not getting back to your business.

The mistake is giving up too soon.

And for others, the mistake is never getting on the sled in the first place, but instead watching from the sidelines for the perfect opportunity.

But the answer is easy – get on the next sled, and then get back on that sled one more time than you fall off. Those who succeed aren’t smarter than you. They don’t have secret insider knowledge you don’t have. They weren’t born knowing exactly what to do.

They just got back on the sled every time they fell off.