Introduction

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill.  In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?"  Hands started going up.

He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up.  He then asked, "Who still wants it?"  Still the hands were up in the air.

"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe.  He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?"  Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless.

But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value.  This anecdote is but all too relevant in the Internet marketing

arena.

I have webmasters telling me about how good their site is, how they are going to be the best in what they are doing, etc, etc. Six months down the road when I went to check on their site, it's gone.  What happened?

A lot of them probably got busy, or got discouraged. For some, when it was clear that the money is not just going to drop from the sky, just move on to the next get-rich-quick scheme.

But I will bet that friends and family influenced a lot of them.  There will be questions like: "Have you made money on the net YET?" or "When are you going to stop playing around on the Internet and get a real job?" or "You are trying to make money on the ..... Internet??!?!?"

We have all been there.  It is up to us, as Internet entrepreneurs, to know our field and persevere. The Internet is a dynamic place, and setbacks and

failures are the norm rather than the exception. Believe in what you are doing and don't give up.

A failure is just a simple miscalculation, of being in the right place at the wrong time, or just a matter of bad luck. A failure must not diminish your determination and in no way reflects badly on you. Rather, a failure just takes you one step closer to success.

That said, we must also continually learn and upgrade ourselves. We must have confidence in ourselves but yet be open to new ideas and suggestions.