Jeremy

Monday Morning Motivational Message - "Work Ethic" - It's not just a buzz word.

Rate this Entry

21 Comments

Jeremy

on 01-07-2008 at 01:31 PM (1052 Views)

There can be several reasons why some affiliates struggle to get traction or find success in the affiliate industry. The number one observation I have witnessed about the super affiliates versus many others is their overall work ethic.

We all know what work ethic is, but how many of us can say with conviction that our work ethic is stronger than anyone else we know? Something I have mentioned before and one of fundamentals of work ethic is as follows. It's easy to look busy and get things done when your boss is watching you or monitoring your work. The truly successful people however are the ones that do the right thing when nobody is watching.

Poor work ethic is like a plague in the poker affiliate industry. For one, many affiliates work from home where there are no checks and balances. Secondly, many poker affiliates also try to play a fair amount of online poker <------It's virtually impossible to be a professional poker player and super affiliate at the same time. There are several other factors that cause poor work ethic, but in our industry these are the two most prevalent.

I also think it's comical when an affiliate will brag about how they only work 10 hours a week at best. If you're driving around in a Bentley or flying in private jets, then fair enough. However, being a successful affiliate is not about barely ever working and getting fat checks each month. What if after his first million, Bill Gates decided to start sleeping in until noon and just be lazy about progressing his business? Well, he would have never made his first Billion!

In reality, 75% of success is simply showing up and actually doing productive work. As an affiliate, if you can work just 40 hours a week, you WILL be successful. But when I say work, I don't mean checking stats, surfing forums, or playing SnG's. I mean hard core work like coding, generating content, link building, etc.

BUT, the super affiliates will all tell you that they consistently work way more than 40 hours a week. The beauty of this job though is that you can work 70 hours a week and love every minute of it. To make the big money in this business you have to be willing to abandon the 9-5, Monday through Friday mentality. Many people don't want to hear that. Likewise they want to forget about business at 5 p.m. every night. And heaven forbid they have to handle some business on the weekends.

Nothing is wrong with thinking this way, but if it's YOUR mentality, running an internet affiliate business is not for you. I don't want to give the wrong impression that you need to be a workaholic, or devote 80 hours a week. The point I want to make is that success and work ethic go hand in hand. Nobody in this business that is earning six and seven figures each year got there without busting their asses and putting in long hours.

During the work week, every night you should be able to go to bed and be proud of what you accomplished during the day. It's easy to be lazy. Having a strong work ethic is all about habit, and more importantly having specific goals. If you do not have specific goals and benchmarks written down, how can you even have strong work ethic? I mean, what is the point of working hard when you do not know what you are working towards.

Nothing is better than when a friend asks you how you've gained so much success, and you can simply reply with, "Because I work harder and smarter than anyone else I know."

Make it a great week!

Share
- Share this post on
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
- Technorati
- Twitter

Tags: None

Categories: ‎ Uncategorized

« Prev Main Next »

Comments

- 01-07-2008 02:25 PM
Another great post... I was starting to wonder when the next update would be.
- 01-07-2008 03:12 PM
Great post Jeremy. Do you still experience periods of burnout
- 01-07-2008 03:25 PM
Yes I do get burned out sometimes. No where near how burned out I used to get though when I used to be in the real world.

One thing that has helped me is that although I work a lot of hours, I maintain a healthy balance. I have a happy marriage and great kids. I always remember that THEY are the reason I need to have a strong work ethic.

I try to plan at least one big family vacation each year (something to look forward too). This really helps to keep you motivated and not get burned out.

Overall I have a lot of fun in life. Whether it's work or play, I am always having fun. This also helps me avoid feeling burned out.
- 01-07-2008 04:59 PM
<p>Thankyou for this</p>
- 01-07-2008 05:13 PM
Great Post, it is so easy to procrastinate online with blogs, forums and stats..
- 01-07-2008 07:22 PM
Solid post. Its so easy to get distracted with working from home. But its much easier. like you said, to work a shit load of hours and love every minute of it.
- 01-07-2008 08:33 PM
I think the most important question you should ask yourself at the end of each day is...
"What did I actually accomplish today that will increase my business?"
If your answer is, "I read a lot of blogs and forums." then it is safe to say you are not making any real progress.

Great post Jeremy keep the Monday Morning Motivational Messages coming!
- 01-07-2008 09:29 PM
JE do you read a lot of motivational books? If you do, you should create a post sharing the ones that have impacted your career the most.
- 01-07-2008 10:08 PM
Great message. I need to work harder at staying on task.
- 01-08-2008 02:10 AM
Jeremy, do you do a little bit of everything each day, or do you actually organize your time to do specific things?
- 01-08-2008 06:10 AM
Hey Corp,

Actually being organized is what saves me. Each morning I get up and write out the daily goals to accomplish.

This is how I start every day now that I am an "early riser". I then email Greg and once they get in the office we conference about the tasks for the day.

We also conference about 3 other times during the day to make sure we are on the same page and getting our daily goals achieved.

For my personal stuff, I just do it when time permits. I cannot tell you though how important it is to have a game plan every morning before you start. It gives you structure and makes you so much more productive.
- 01-08-2008 07:47 AM
Hey Jeremy,

A good friend of mine just commented to me this weekend that he would love to do something like me... referring to making easy money. That's when I explained to him that I work 24/7/365. What I mean is that I have my goals in order and that I am always thinking about new ways to accomplish them, even when I am laying in bed trying to fall a sleep. The biggest misinterpretation about the affiliate business or any other kind of Internet marketing is that many people generally think we don't work, but like you say, the truth is simple: the more we work, the better our results will be.

Cheers,

Giorgio
- 01-08-2008 12:00 PM
I love when my 9-5 buddies say stuff like "I want your job". Little do they know they would have to double their hours and not have an exact 2 week paycheck all the time.

Because many of us work out of our homes or work our own schedules, it can be very misconceiving about the actual hours that we put in.
- 01-09-2008 12:40 AM
I mentioned to a friend of mine why my kids are in daycare full time now and her response is " I should do that, it sounds easy enough" If she only knew what I was thinking at that moment...but I thought the same thing a year ago Now I have stopped expecting and instead I'm planning.
- 01-09-2008 01:36 AM
It is true though, this stuff is pretty stressful. Its fun in a way but personally I just can't look at the computer screen for more than an hour without feeling nautious anymore, so I take the less work more outside time route just because money isn't worth it.
- 01-09-2008 02:05 AM
I always get that feeling, like you said Rodger, when I've taken a couple days away from the computer. When I get back on and start staring at the monitors I wanna puke. After a few hours, I'm good to go and can easily spend up to 10+ straight hours and basically not move.
- 01-10-2008 01:39 AM
Great post! I find keeping a pic of the family in my home and away from home office helps keep me focused..
- 01-11-2008 02:34 PM
I love how so many people think that running a website is just easy money. If they only knew... hehehe
- 01-11-2008 04:37 PM
lol yeah definitely Graham. And when you try and explain what you do they basically just dismiss anything you say, because we get to work from out homes.
- 01-11-2008 09:04 PM
Great post Jeremy. I've been a reader for a while now but have never commented! Your Monday Motivational Message is great. Keep it up and goodluck to your new projects in 2008.