Fear of Failure: For a Marketer, It’s the Kiss of Death

Are you receiving less than stellar results in your marketing? Well the first step in fixing it is identifying the cause. This article discusses one of the top causes why many businesses do not reach their full potential.

Keywords:

marketing,fear of failure

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Susan B. Anthony was once quoted as saying “Failure is impossible”. And you know what? I believe she was right because regardless of the outcome of whatever action you take, in anything you do, you always gain something from taking action.

On the other hand, fear of failure typically shows up as procrastination or inactivity which is the complete opposite of what fosters great marketing which for most of us requires properly targeted consistent and persistent action.

Now maybe you tried some marketing, even worse maybe you spent some of your hard to come by, hard earned money and didn’t quite achieve what you ultimately set out for.

As a marketer, and yes whether you realize it or not we are all marketers, if I was afraid to fail, I’d probably never try anything – unless of course it was a sure thing and I don’t believe anything in life is a ‘sure thing’. But anyway, if I never tried anything, I believe it would be safe to say that my target audience would not know who I was or what I do. Then as a result I’d most likely go out of business due to lack of sustainable income.

Now I’ve read the studies too that state the lack of capital as the main reason most small businesses fail however, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that although I can’t prove it, I believe one of the biggest reasons business fail or underachieve is due to lack of effective marketing.

The key here is to not be attached to an outcome. So what if customers weren’t banging down your door because of your last marketing campaign. What’s most important here is what you do going forward. The past is the past, you can’t change that. You can however, shape your future by what you do right now in the present.

Stay in the game. Learn from your previous marketing efforts and move forward.

Now marketing is all about timing and consistency and since timing is almost impossible to predict, consistency is key. You cannot know when every prospect is going to be ready to buy – that’s just impossible. It’s almost like trying to time the stock market. “Should I invest now? No. Should I invest now? No. How about now? Yes, it looks good, I’ll invest now.” Waiting for what seems to be the perfect time to invest is for the most part just like gambling. Hopefully you’re at least taking educated guesses there though, but that’s beside the point. Also note that even the best of the best investors regularly have bad timing however, their consistency and willingness to keep playing eventually bring them success.

So yes I’m drawing a parallel for you here. And my point is just get on the playing field. Get you marketing message out there consistently. Don’t sit back and wait for the perfect time to market your business – NOW is the perfect time! It’s always the perfect time to market your business because there is simply no way you can know when the perfect time is for everybody. However, by consistently getting your message out there to your target audience, you stand a much better chance of being top-of-mind when a certain prospect is ready to buy.

For example, if I sent out the same marketing piece every month, maybe for the first 4 months a particular prospect wasn’t interested. But then that 5th month rolls around and that prospect’s situation has changed a bit for whatever reason unknown to me, they now just happen to need what I offer and ‘whalla’ there I am positioned right in front of them.

Another key point to consider is that each ‘no’ brings you one step closer to a ‘yes’. So being told ‘no’ should not be looked at as a failure, but as a stepping stone bringing you closer to what you want.

So let me close by combining wisdom from 3 sources for you, former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Nike, and Lotto and it goes something like this: “There is nothing to fear but fear itself” so “Just Do It” because “You’ve got to be in it to win it”!


© 2006 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Can Your Behavioral Style Impact The Success Or Failure Of Your Home Based Business?

Are you a risk taker? Do you like to interact with customers? Are you the type of entrepreneur who likes to work on group projects in collaboration with others? Or do you prefer to work
alone analyzing detailed work?

A lot of questions, but if you are going to be successful in your home based business, the answers could be critical to your success!

Understanding your behavioral style can help you succeed in your home based business, whether your work requires you to ta...

Keywords:

home based business, internet marketing, making money online, tigertradellc

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Are you a risk taker? Do you like to interact with customers? Are you the type of entrepreneur who likes to work on group projects in collaboration with others? Or do you prefer to work
alone analyzing detailed work?

A lot of questions, but if you are going to be successful in your home based business, the answers could be critical to your success!

Understanding your behavioral style can help you succeed in your home based business, whether your work requires you to talk on the telephone with vendors, meet in person with customers, work with others to deliver your products or communicate over the Internet. Every style has strengths and limitations. And strengths if overused, can be weaknesses.

Most people have a primary behavioral style that is their natural approach to how they tend to respond or behave in certain situations. The DISC® model provides a quick and easy way for determining your behavioral style. Most people are unaware of their behavioral style, yet their close friends, family members and even co-workers can often tell what motivates them. Getting in touch with what motivates you as an entrepreneur and what motivates your customers is an important tool for a home-based business. It can impact your bottom line and provide direction in all that you do!

Here are the four behavioral styles: “D”- is the dominant or the risk taking style. If you are a “D” you are likely to prefer entrepreneurial pursuits where you can lead projects and present new ideas. You will have no trouble contacting the CEO of a major company and scheduling an appointment. You might have a tendency to be a bit heavy handed and if you’re not careful, you could chase some customers away. The “I” style is the people oriented style, motivated by recognition and interaction with others. If you are an “I” you will be great at marketing your business and persuading customers to buy your products. You may even get your foot in to door with a customer when your product or idea is not well thought out and this could cause you to lose a sale. The “S” is the Steadiness or team player style that tends to be cooperative and prefers to work in settings with others.

If you are an “S” style you will excel in projects that provide clear steps and processes that are sequential. You will do well with customers who like your dependability and you calming reassuring nature. You may be challenged with changes to your processes or your projects and you may have to work harder when responding to changes. If you are a “C”, you are analytical and logical.
You are reserved and business like in your demeanor and are quite comfortable working alone. Your customers will appreciate your attention to detail and the high quality of your work. You may
be challenged with in person meetings or criticism of your work and you will need to take care to meet customer deadlines.

Because most home based businesses are operated by sole proprietors or micro businesses, understanding your behavioral style is a quick and easy way to get real feedback that will forever change your business life! When you are in touch with your behavioral style you will learn what motivates you, become more aware of your own style preferences and biases, and understand how you react when you are frustrated or under stress. Moreover, you will be able to learn how to communicate more effectively to meet the style preferences of your customers, your business partners and your vendors.

So what style are you? What about your customers? If you have a home based business and or have a business that is operated primarily on the internet, it will be critical for you to adapt your ads and even your website, to appeal to the several behavioral styles mostly likely to be reflected in that environment.

Because most of us have a combination of styles, to determine your overall behavioral profile, you should take an online assessment. Once you learn your real style, you are in a much better position to gauge others and align your business accordingly.

Knowing your behavioral style and how your tendencies impact the way you conduct your home based business will be critical to your success or failure.

Warm regards,

Dr. Devona Williams
Kenny Anderson

Failure Is Temporary

Would you like me to give you a formula for...success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure... You're thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all...You can be discouraged by failure - or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember that's where you'll find success. On the far side of failure.

Thomas J. Watson, Sr.

Keywords:

marketing,internet,internet marketing,work online,online success,marketing success,internet marketing success,online business,ezine,ezines

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Would you like me to give you a formula for...success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure... You're thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all...You can be discouraged by failure - or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember that's where you'll find success. On the far side of failure.

Thomas J. Watson, Sr.

This is very true in our everyday lives but it especially rings true in the internet marketing world. The people who are making the money are the ones who are willing to fail. So many have such great expectations when they start working on the internet, yet so many can't handle the failure that comes with the territory.

Can you make money on the net? Yes. Are you going to have failures? Yes The question is are you going to fight back when those failures happen. So many get discouraged so fast. Maybe the unrealistic expectations have something to do with it. Dollar signs put wild fantasies in so many minds.

Most everyone who is successful on the internet today has had their times of failure. In fact there are going to be a lot of disappointments along the road to success. This is like any other business, it takes time and effort to make ones dream come true.

The old adage of learn from your mistakes is very true on the road to being successful in the internet marketing world. The only way to learn is to get your feet wet and see what it's like. You can watch and learn, you can study and learn but experience is still the best teacher.

So many get discouraged and give up the idea of working on the internet. The fact is that it is not going to be easy but if you have the drive and the willingness to learn, you can be successful. You must go in knowing that you are not going to be rich tomorrow. You must realize that failure will be a part of becoming successful.

The answer to becoming a success in the marketing world is pretty much the same as everywhere else. You must be willing to work and you must not let failure get you down. Failure is a temporary situation, learn from it.

Entrepreneurial Failure - Get Used To It

To be a successful entrepreneur you are going to have to learn to deal with failure. There is no way around it. Thomas Edison tried over ten thousand different experiments before he finally demonstrated the first incandescent light bulb on October 21, 1879. Bill Gates' first company, Traf-O-Data, was a failure. Michael Jordan was once quoted as saying: "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winn...

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entrepreneur, failure, business

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To be a successful entrepreneur you are going to have to learn to deal with failure. There is no way around it. Thomas Edison tried over ten thousand different experiments before he finally demonstrated the first incandescent light bulb on October 21, 1879. Bill Gates' first company, Traf-O-Data, was a failure. Michael Jordan was once quoted as saying: "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot; And missed. I've failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

In my short stint as an entrepreneur I've failed more times than I can count. I have also had my share of success, but it’s not even close to equal. The failures far outweigh the successes, and I’m sure I have a lot more failure ahead of me. I’m OK with that because I know that as soon as I stop failing, I have stopped trying to innovate. It's the nature of the business of being an entrepreneur, and of success in general.

If it were easy, everyone would do it. It is naive to think that every good idea that you have will result in a successful business venture. I have yet to hear an entrepreneur say "every single idea I come up with seems to work." More likely, you hear something like "I failed at my first five businesses before this one took off."

Think about that for a second. Five businesses. Sometimes the number is three, sometimes it's 20, but the important point is that most entrepreneurs don't hit a home-run with their first company. It really does amaze me - how many people have the stones to fail five times and still start a sixth business? You have to be supremely confident and treat those previous five times as a learning experience for the sixth. And if number six fails, you have to do the same and move on to number seven.

In my opinion, the most important thing is how you deal with failure. Once you accept that it's inevitable, you are able to learn from your mistakes and move on. It's easy to let the failure consume you - not so much because you are pessimistic, but more so because it is hard to see something that you poured your heart and soul into be ignored or rejected. As soon as possible you need to come to the realization that your business is what they are ignoring or rejecting, NOT you. The sooner you do that, the sooner you can objectively analyze why you failed and learn the things necessary for improvement in the future.

Failure isn't easy and is extremely frustrating, but it's a necessary part of success. Don't believe me? Ask Thomas Edison, Bill Gates or Michael Jordan! Ok, asking Thomas Edison might be a little tough, but you get the idea :)