What's holding you back? How can we help? How can we work together on this?

[Alex Goodall]

I've added this section of the forum so people can provide their input and ideas and comments about overcoming the barriers to success on the internet.

I kicked off these ideas with this video blog post about "What's Your Problem".

Here are the sorts of issues that might be holding people up.

# Defining your personal goals
# Defining your business goals
# Deciding on a business model
# Learning new skills
# Building a team
# Finding a “master mind” group
# Not having anyone to be accountable to
# Feeling isolated
# Having to do everything yourself
# Not being able to collaborate online (e.g. in a shared team space)
# Not having a mentor
# Having no deadlines
# Having no-one to brainstorm with / bounce ideas off
# Not being able to create a project plan
# Perfectionism
# Time management
# Distractions from email etc.
# Staying focussed on one project
# Having a disorganized filing system

You can add you own comments on the blog, or in this thread, if you prefer.

What I'm trying to achieve is way of addressing the most important of these issues in a way that's effective, but without the very high costs of mentoring.

Suggestions, as always, are welcome.

Alex

[Alexalotl]

Hi Alex,
This is a great, and quite original posting idea.

I think it's a shame no one else seems to have responded to it.
Maybe folks are too embarassed to admit their difficulties above
and beyond the central IM-Index topic.

Of all the items you listed above, I'd have to say that most of
them are or have been problematic for me.
As you know I have M.E which causes the problem of short-term
memory difficulty.

My general tactic in response to this has been to go into each new
learning curve thread with a magnifying glass and learn all the micro
level parts of the subject, then to look at it again at the macro level.

Although this means I've got very good at a number of area's it also
means I've got some big holes in other areas that I should be proficient
at or in.

Like Time management for instance.
The whole area around time management and staying focused are a problem
at present, because the way I've learned this stuff is by forgetting everything
else and consentrating on coming to an understanding of what I'm currently learning.

This means that much of my online projects stuff is incredibly well organized
and sussed, whilst some equally important parts are in total disaray, as they
lost out while I was learning other technical stuff.

The one thing that really is causing a problem, of all that stuff, is list building,
autoresponders, and email marketing.

I learn well from videos, but when I watch a video on the subject, it's always
quite a different system from the one I have, so it doesn't move me on.

I can't afford to go to a new one, like aweber etc, I have a good autoresponder
system for free in my hosting account.
I'm getting my techie to organise all my autoresponders and email stuff
because of this.
Time management & focus remain the top 2 difficulties for me, of the list above.

The other top difficulties would be;

Perfectionism
Having no-one to brainstorm with / bounce ideas off
Having to do everything myself
& constantly having to Learn new skills.

But with that said, I know I'm moving forward, and that some time this year,
I will finally see the launch of ONC, and I'm certain it will be worth all the money,
effort, and late nights. 8-)

PS IM-Index has been a big help in getting organized too!

[Alex Goodall]

Hello Alex

Actually, if you click through to the Blog posting referenced in my post, a number of people did respond by leaving comments on the blog.

And what I can tell you - and anyone else reading - is that I'm working on a membership site with small team to help with just about all the above problems. As customers and/or list subscribers, you will be the first to know more about this.

Alex

[johnreed]

Hi Alex,
I am really trying to make a go of OnLine Income this time around and am currently busy moving my mountain of PLR/data/software etc around so that:
1.   IM Index will get it all (eventually) on an external drive.
2.   This will all be copied as my back up on a separate external drive.
3.   My C drive will be kept from clogging up and crashing my system, which it has been doing recently!!!!
Then I can run programs faster, switch around faster and not experience the huge "Hangs" when trying to download mail or check another web site, and my keyword research should be a smoother process too.

This should help me resolve my disorganised filing "system"!!!!

Your list of other problem areas was so comprehensive though that it probably rang huge bells very loudly, all over your readership!!!

I have had many problems deciding on my:

# Goal Setting and Business Model - and I'm still torn between whether to Blog, chase Affiliate Income down the PPC route or go for Content Sites with a Virtual Real Estate chasing Adsense alongside that.

# Learning new skills whilst feeling isolated, and having to do everything myself. 
I have joined a “master mind” group (we try to meet monthly) and I also use at least one Forum regularly to get help and encouragement. However, not having anyone to be accountable to, and having no-one really local to brainstorm with / bounce ideas off is a major drawback.

# There is a lack of deadlines because it is difficult to impose these on myself - mainly because I now have a 16 year history of treating my PC as a Hobby and it's difficult to break the mold whilst still working in my home environment!!  So Time Management and Distractions from Email etc are a major stumbling block for me.
It is hard to remain focused, BUT - it's currently down to me (and the pressure from my wife to "stop wasting my time") to follow all the good advice............

I have a White Board, I'd better get it on the Wall and use it because getting back to basic office management is really going to help me advance my projects sensibly and much faster than at present!!

You included Having a Mentor........... I've had so many offers, turned them down because of cost, and then spent maybe twice as much on chasing shiny new things that promised all sorts of wondrous results but which I didn't see through to a conclusion..............

I can hear those bells ringing again!!  It's my own fault, many of the new Whizz-Bang things that I bought could have brought me a positive ROI but:
1.  I faltered over things I didn't understand
2.  I fell behind deadlines
3.  I joined out of several memberships because they were becoming a financial millstone

etc.

In fact, a good mentor would probably have got me into an earning-on-line mode which would have encouraged me immensely and better equipped me to duplicate and also try other models.

Anyway, so now I'm pretty broke, no cash for Mentoring, but have a huge wealth of domains, hosting and schemes containing some very good tips, much useful software and a mountain of Templates, articles, EBooks, Courses etc from which I can build Sites/Blogs and get my ROI into the positive BLACK field where it so richly deserves to be!!

Anyway, I thought I should post that as there seems to be a very quiet wave rolling through the Forum at present and I'm hoping to strike gold rather than just froth in finding a few new friends with whom to progress to Cash-Cash-Cash and a lot of the old "Rinse and Repeat"!!!!

John

[Alex Goodall]

Hello John

Thanks for responding to this thread.

What you write has re-confirmed that the membership site I'm working on with my colleagues is seriously needed!

This sort of comment is hugely valuable to us: anyone else have comments to make here?

Alex

[digitalceo95]

Hi Alex! Personally with myself it's a good mix of all of them. But the main problems are time management or MIS-management. Since I have been laid off for a year now all I have is time. I am home alone since my wife is at work and kids at school. But it seems to me I have distractions and more distractions. E-mail,TV,etc.... Also I really don't know where to begin. I have a few programs that are awesome, Profitlance and ISO Register, but I have no idea HOW or WHERE to start.

[dme2]

Alex,

You are a man of keen insights.

I am guilty on all counts - most of all, I am a little confused by all the things I have hopefully subscribed to, all the different systems and advices.

I am looking forward to getting straightened out and to getting going right with your help.

David

[Alex Goodall]

Interesting that you should should resurrect this thread now, David.

These ideas have bee swilling around in my head for a couple of years, at least, and have found various partial outlets from time to time.

e.g. my Laser Focus Shield product.

But now I'm incorporating all that into my mentoring program:

http://netbiz-insights.com/mentoring/

You'll probably find it useful.

Regards


Alex

[alanashwood]

Hi everybody. It's 2.30 in the morning and I doing what many of you have probably done - research! Being fairly new to this, one of the first things I noticed was INFORMATION OVERLOAD! Web hops, garish, screaming Sales Pages and loads of terminology that is entirely new to me. The second thing was - tons and tons of files downloaded to my computer. I was considering producing a publication telling people how to start with basic housekeeping on their computer, ie File Structures, and a place for everything you want (and the bin for the others)/ Then I came across this product! I have downloaded the basic package to test it before I upgrade.
However - slight problem. The program is an .exe file, so will onlwork on a Windows PC.
I have all Macs here , and all my files are on it!!
But . . my main Mac also runs Windows XP Pro (clever, aren't they?) so I will give it a shot when Windows loads while I make a cup coffee, a bun, a toasted sandwich, make a few phone calls, have a smoke, make another coffee . . . well you get the idea.
I'll be back!
Why don't the smileys work on my computer? Rude replies to be written on a tenner and posted to me at home.