Viewing 1 - 9 out of 25 Blogs.

Page:  1 | 2 | 3 | Next >  Last >>

This is a long post but SO TRUE.  Read it and apply.  Then decide if you are afraid to succeed.

 

Is It Time to Quit, or Are You Simply Afraid?

by Donna Gunter, The Online Biz Resource Queen (TM)

"You give up too easily," is what my 10-year old next door neighbor, Mike, told me in 1972 or so when I wanted to quit playing our game of chase.  I couldn't seem to tag him "out" as the last player the game, despite my best efforts of 10 minutes of trying. Of course, I vigorously denied that accusation, but have been given cause to think about what he told more than once, especially recently.

In my teens and early 20s, I was the most goal-driven, type A personality of anyone that I knew.  Whatever I wanted, I set a goal to achieve it, no matter what.  And, to my credit, that determination helped me a great deal.  It helped me find a way to pay for 2 college degrees without any help or support from my parents, who thought college was a complete waste of time. It gave me the courage to move to take my first professional job in the northeast U.S., a "foreign country," as I thought of it at the time, since I'd never stepped foot out of southern culture.  That move that opened my eyes to a whole new way of thinking and of doing things.  At that time in my life, failure wasn't an option.  And, I most certainly viewed quitting as failure.

And, through the school of hard knocks in the subsequent years, I became intimately acquainted with failure. I "quit" both of my college degrees, as I discovered too late that I was bored out of my mind with my choice of my bachelor's degrees (Speech Pathology/Audiology), and then stayed in a job too long and suffered from severe burnout so that I "quit" my career afforded me by my master's degree in higher education administration and completely left the field.  I then started a business in the crafts industry but "quit" that when it was no longer fun, and I realized that I didn't really have the skills to pull it off. 

My life was in shambles at the time, as I desperately searched for what I wanted to do when I grew up, and when I finally latched onto the notion of starting my own business as a virtual assistant, my marriage couldn't take the strain of that decision.  So, I decided to "quit" my marriage and ask for a divorce and move back to my home state of Texas and reinvent myself.  A few years later, after successfully launching my business, I decided to relocate to Arkansas in pursuit of another business opportunity, which turned out to be yet another failure, and I "quit" that as well.

I spent much of this time second-guessing myself and my decisions, wondering if I was quitting too soon because the going got rough and I was afraid, or if it was just really time to quit and move on.  I discovered that I wasn't alone in my thinking when I recently read Seth Godin's book, The Dip.  He defines the dip as a temporary setback that you will overcome if you keep pushing. So starting a new business venture is fun and thrilling in the beginning, but after two or three years, it can become very hard and not much fun at all.  But, on the other side starting a successful business, most people can see that they are changed for the better, have learned much along the way, and are hopefully making money from the venture.

So, how do you decide if you're simply in a dip, or if you really need to quit?  Godin says you need to make two considerations:

1.  Do you have the resources to get through it? and
2.  Is it worth what it will take?

As I evaluated my "quitting" as described above, it occurred to me that the answer in all cases to both questions was a loud and clear "No!"  Why?   Because I'd been secretly settling for mediocrity all along.  It was time to quit when the things I was measuring weren't improving, and I simply couldn't find anything better to measure.  Most importantly, the sick feeling in my gut that I experienced at the time at the thought of continuing wouldn't let me continue.

I've had moments of panic and fear along my journey, as well, and trying to distinguish between the fear and when I'm at a dead-end has been difficult.  What have I discovered?  The difference between a dead-end and a dip.  The dead-end won't get better, no matter how much I try, and the dip makes me feel panicked and scared because I know that I will be great at something and that scares the hell out of me because it pushes me completely outside my comfort zone.  More importantly, in a dip, I've realized that the end justifies the means.

I'm currently involved in moving a business venture extensively outside my comfort zone, and it scares me to death.  I often wake up in the middle of the night thinking, "What, are you crazy?  You have no idea about what you're doing.  Everyone is going to figure out that you're completely clueless -- a complete fake."

And that tells me that I'm right on course for success..;)

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it: Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To claim your FR*EE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at OnlineBizU.com. Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at  AskDonnaGunter.com.

Ladies do you have a website or domain for sale?  This yahoo group was created JUST for listing sites and domains for sale.  No other posts except and introduction are allowed.  This is not for listing your companies, your specials, NOTHING except websites and domains.

We're trying to get the word out because the more members we have the more promotion for our site/domain sales.  If you are in the market for a site or have some to sell off, join us and give us all the details.  Don't forget that we all run into people looking for websites as well so with these sites in mind we can help pass the info on when we run into people.

WEBSITESforSALE group

Just wanted to send an FYI out there that some emails may get answered slower than normal.  Yes everyone else around here will still be on same schedule as normal, but I usually answer your emails.  I'll be on vacation from 11-18.  I will have my laptop with me to answer emails, but it won't be 5-10 times a day like normal.  lol

If you have anything pressing, please contact anita-admin or lauren-admin directly for faster response.  :)

I'll post pics when I get back!

Tags: Vacation

Plug boards are a lot of fun and can get traffic flowing to your site from unexpected places. 

Plugs are simply little tiny banners.  They are typically 80x30.  You can have one made for pretty inexpensive.  Then you go to a plug board, type in the url for your graphic (plug), the url for your site and sometimes you get a chance to add in your site name.  Click submit and your plug will show up at the top of the list.

The main rule of plug boards is to not put up the same plug or site before your  previous plug is off the board. 

You can view mine at  Working WAHM and one geared for craft sites and blogs please at Little Scrapbook Shop.  I have some other sites listed under my plug board so you can hit more.  :)

I know there are a ton of PA Mom's that I know and I told Mia that I would pass on her retreat information to all of you.  I wish I lived closer so i could go.  The place looks great and it's going to be a weekend all about taking care of just you.  My favorite motto!

The retreat will focus on the principles in Mia's book Time for mom-ME: five essential strategies for a mother's self-care.  Spa treatments and lots of relaxation along with classes to help you remember to make yourself a priority.

View full details of the event on the time for mom-me website. You can never be disappointed in taking time to remember how important you are as a person and not just a Mom.

If you can make it, let her know I sent you.  I promised I'd put up some blog posts for her and help get the word out.  I've got to find something closer for me to attend.

Well as some of you may know, I am a personal trainer.  I'd say by day, but it's 24/7.  I get texts from current and past clients all day and nite.  lol

Today a client was hitting me up about all sorts of products and what I thought about them.  Well what was her new goal?  What did she hope these new products would achieve for her?  I know this answer, but she needs to tell me herself.

Of course we are talking about weight loss here in this instance and that all magic pill or program that makes it disappear overnight.

Here's the scoop and the honest to goodness truth.  Think about it before you even go off on how your product is "the best"!  If there was a magic pill that fixed the body from gaining weight and took off those unwanted pounds of fat, 3/4 of our nation would be on it right now because of our obesity problem.  There would be no hiding the drug.  The pharmaceutical companies would have already bought it and jacked the price up for it.

So quit looking for that magic pill or pills that will do it for you and do the simple math.  It is and always will be a matter of calories in and calories burned.  If you take in more calories then you burn, you will put on fat.  Period, the end, it is that simple. 

I'm so excited that our weather has finally hit SUMMER!  This is not normal.  We tied the record set in 2005 actually.  It was 92 here in just south of Seattle at 5:30pm this evening.  AWESOME!  I love the heat.  It doesn't hit that often, so I'll take it when I can get it every time.  No complaining about the lack of sleep because of the heat here from me.

The Sample Gal has new owners and is offering free sign ups for the Sample Consultant position. This position makes 10% of sales on sample box's through your site. It does not include the sample promo kit. This will just get you your site and backend access. There are kits you can purchase or you can always upgrade your membership to Basic Consultant and earn 25% of your sales.

There are no minimums and if you have been thinking about trying The Sample Gal out, this is your time. Free Basic Consultant sign up is only good through June 21st.

Tags: Samples

Oh my word, you have got to check outShakin' & Bakin' recipe site.  The newest post is a yummy strawberry lady puff.  Which in itself is deliecous looking.  But the recipe before that was a malted milk ball cookie recipe!  OMG!  Are you kidding me?  Where in the world did that recipe come from?

There are many recipes on here that are the ultimate splurge.  But even more everyday recipes.  I'm gonna have to stick to the ultimate splurges for a little while.  Mmmm, dreamy!

Tags: Recipes

Page:  1 | 2 | 3 | Next >  Last >>