There is a great deal of talk about taking action in the Internet Marketing industry. While I agree that you must take action in order to be successful…perhaps we should just take a moment and break this down a bit.

 

If you have ever read Charles Givens you may know where I am heading with these thoughts. There is a difference between being efficient and being effective. There are countless books, seminars, online courses and so forth on the topic of efficiency…but not nearly as many people are talking about being effective.

 

For instance…you can turn any endeavor from an inefficient endeavor into an efficient endeavor but it may not get you any closer to bringing you to the place you ultimately want to be.

I have an example of this from my high school years in Track & Field. I was a pole-vaulter. I was strong, fast, powerful and highly motivated. I had tons of potential…so much so that if I would have ever been able to put all of these things together at just the right time, I would have been a candidate for winning the State track meet. I'm from California…so that is quite a feat.

 

The problem was…I never really learned how to pole-vault while attending high school. I could tell you now how to be very successful in the pole-vault today (I learned in college at the University of Santa Barbara) but it would have been great to know these things while in high school for sure.

 

I am sitting here right now injured as a result of not knowing how to pole-vault in high school. I landed off of the landing pads more than I landed on them…many times on my feet. My back and neck were jarred and compressed over and over again…hundreds if not thousands of times.

I happened to be a fairly successful pole-vaulter in high school even though I really didn't know what I was doing. I worked very hard. I was extremely efficient at what I was doing. I didn't waste a lot of time. I was very fit and in great shape and I spent a great deal of time working on my sport.

 

The true problem was…I was practicing things that caused me ultimately to not get me very far. I did not think of this back then…but had I just did some research at the library or even sought out someone who knew how to do that event to show me what indeed to work on and practice, I would have been much more successful.

 

I know myself though…at the time…I would have rather figured it out myself than "take the time" to learn from someone who actually knew. I would not have wanted to "waste the time" to do that. I would have rather been "working on my event" instead.

 

I put all of those phrases in quotes because I would have actually been mistaken. Let's just say in the three years I pole-vaulted I took a few months to actually learn the proper mechanics of how to do it. I could have spent the remainder of the time actually working on the "real" things that would have made me better…more effective.

 

I probably could have spent half the time actually vaulting and ended up being a contender for the State title. Instead…I spent a great deal of time efficiently tearing apart my structural system with every new landing on the runway. I vaulted over and over again…far too much…and hurt myself instead of getting to where I wanted to be.

 

Who knows…I could have spent all of that extra time actually learning and perfecting something else as well…maybe learning how to be an entrepreneur?

Anyhow…no matter how efficient I was in my training, I was very ineffective in my endeavor. Also, I have paid a long term price for my ignorance. (Fortunately, I have also learned how to deal with these long term spinal issues very effectively…so they don't hinder my life too much. I have learned how to effectively overcome the injuries I develop so that I can continue to play soccer and do the other things I love to do. You can read more about that in my book: "End of the Ice Age").

 

I think this happens a great deal in people's lives. We capture a dream or a vision and then pursue it. We are told we need to take action and we take it. We work very hard at our craft only to find down the road that we haven't made it very far.

 

We become very efficient with our time but very ineffective at moving toward our ultimate objective. It is so natural to spend time doing things that take very little actual brain activity but "need" to be done.

 

If you have ever read "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" you know that the things we spend our time doing greatly contribute to our success or lack of success. We all have only 24 hours in a day. We all have the tendencies to learn how to be efficient in "busy work."

 

What the truly great and successful people have figured out is how to become truly effective…how to do the 20% of things that get you 80% of the results rather than doing the 80% of things that bring you 20% of the results.

 

The greatest part about this is that when you start to engage in those things that bring you closer toward your objective you find that you actually are not working nearly as hard but getting more done. It is the old adage…"work smarter, not harder."

 

So…all of this is simply drivel unless we put some legs on it. What does this mean in particular to Internet Marketing? I want to make a few suggestions since so many people I know are engaged in Internet Marketing and are working towards a goal of financial freedom. I want to do my part to help out as much as possible.

 

Financial Freedom means you have enough money to sustain the lifestyle you want without having to work at getting it. If this is the case then we need to engage in those things that create money for ourselves. What are those things?

 

1. Figure out which opportunities in Network Marketing that you can be passionate about and also get involved with plenty of affiliate opportunities that are closely related to your passion…these are the things that bring in the income (along with the mentoring, coaching and training you do).

 

2. Make sure there is an easy way to navigate to these products and opportunities on your web site.

 

3. Make sure your opportunity, product and work with me pages are intriguing and offer plenty of incentive for people to want to join you.

 

4. Give something of great value to people to encourage them to become a part of your email list.

 

5. Create amazing content so that people are drawn to you and to your blog over and over again. After awhile people will start being drawn into your blog and over to your opportunity and product pages.

 

6. Get involved with other people…with a tribe or two and make sure to give of yourselves to their cause as well as your own.

 

7. Learn the art of giving…not to get but to help other people become successful.

 

8. Learn the art of copy writing and creating compelling and intriguing landing pages that actually share real information with people and draw them into what you are sharing.

 

9. Learn how to video market.

 

10. Create a beautiful and professional looking website that does not distract people from your real purpose.

 

11. Create your own products and then open it up for affiliates to market as well.

 

12. Communicate, communicate, communicate and communicate with your list and then market to your list using your excellent skills of writing ad copy.

 

This is certainly not an exhaustive list but I wanted to simply share some examples of those things that will get you to your ultimate objective of Financial Freedom. We could ad to this list the ability to engage in PPC marketing and targeted marketing on Facebook and other places but I hope you are getting the picture.

 

I certainly do not have all of these activities dialed in yet but I am working diligently on being effective in implementing them. My nature has been to make sure I am as efficient as possible…but since I have learned the secret of being effective rather than simply efficient, the results I have been experiencing have been vastly better. I am certainly continuing to refine this skill and as I do I continue to see the traffic to my blog grow consistently and my income growing. It is really amazing.

The point is that you will never reach your objective until you learn how to be effective in your day to day endeavors rather than simply trying to become more efficient in those things that will take you in the wrong direction "efficiently."

 

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