Fortunate not to have to deal with losing their freedom, but let’s pretend you are currently in prison.
How do you perceive yourself and your life? How do you see your future? What can you anticipate as an ex-convict?
Even within the safe confines of your imagination, those thoughts can, for good reason, elicit some uncomfortable feelings. Someone who possesses a healthy dose of self-confidence is required to emerge from a situation like that as a more resilient, improved individual who is determined to get their life back on track.
Everyone has heard the tale of “rags to riches.” The fact that it is based on actual events—going from rags to riches to riches again—is the best part of this one.
Our story is about an Englishman named Mark. Because he was a very successful affiliate marketer online, he used to have a very high standard of living. At a time when the internet was still in its infancy, he made approximately two million dollars annually.
Before taking a chance and going after the very people who were paying him affiliate commissions, Mark’s life was going well. He attempted to compete with them by starting his own business, but he was sued and lost.
Mark was now burdened with high legal fees, a loyal but costly staff, and no income, so it was understandable that he was feeling a little depressed about his situation.
In desperate times, Mark made the decision to pursue an illegal alternative means of earning money.
He was sentenced to four years in prison, of which he served two, which was unfortunate for Mark and his staff.
Despite the fact that Mark was bankrupt and owed a significant amount of money to his caring friends and family, he estimated that his total debts were somewhere in the neighborhood of $45,000.00, some of which had been raised by his parents against their home. Imagine being held accountable for your parents’ need for shelter!
Mark made the unlikely choice to set himself a goal of not only repaying his substantial debts to his family and friends but also becoming a millionaire once more, even though this may have been a turning point for many. His first major product in the field of internet marketing, Millionaire Profit Secrets, may have been his first idea at this point.
Create Your Own Reality How many people have dreams worth a million dollars?
Do you?
How many of those people go on to achieve their objectives?
We all know the answer to that, but why do so many people fail and what sets successful people apart from unsuccessful ones are questions we should all ask.
Put your heart and soul into it This is the best place to examine Mark’s mental fortitude while he was in prison and his motivation to reestablish himself as a law-abiding and wealth-creating citizen.
The term “mindset” can be used to describe a number of the qualities needed to succeed in any field, let alone in the highly competitive world of Internet Marketing.
Because of these characteristics, Mark stands out from others who spent the same amount of time free to make money online but did not. After being released, Mark was hampered by having to catch up on two years of technological advancement.
One of these qualities is the discipline to work at your online business rather than simply labeling the time you spend playing around on YouTube and Facebook as “work.” A strong work ethic is another.
Ambition and drive: What inspires you to get out of bed each morning? Are you eager to begin your current project when you get out of bed? Do you wish there were more hours in the day? Or are you just going about your business as usual?
Okay, so the term “bouncebackability” is something I made up (I don’t claim to have designed it; Tim Lovejoy can be found on Wikipedia). Another name for this quality is resilience, which is the capacity to overcome obstacles, pick yourself up, and move forward with renewed determination.
Passion Without passion, your business will be nothing more than work for you and will not propel you to greatness.
Sacrifice: What are you willing to give up in order to achieve your objectives? Do I have to stop watching TV? Reduce the things you do for fun? The extent to which you are willing to put hobbies on hold in order to succeed is a good indicator of your likelihood of success.
Perseverance A lot of people find it easy to start a project with enough enthusiasm, only to see that enthusiasm wane days or weeks later. Any worthwhile endeavor calls for a great deal of dedication. Is that something you’ve got?
In the four months since his release from prison, Mark had accomplished two of his five goals. As the story progresses, Mark’s journey from “Despair to Internet Millionaire” will continue, and it will be an exciting ride.
