The Mistakes I Made in My First Year Online

My website is just over a year old, so I’ve been reflecting on my first year and the mistakes I made. I think at the top of the list would have to be the fact that I didn’t ask this question of other marketers:

What would you do differently in your first year if you knew then what you know now?

Here are my own answers to that question:

1) Trying to go in too many directions at once. In my first year of internet marketing, I was like a kid in a candy store. I could see and smell success all around me and I knew I wanted some, so I tried a little of this and a little of that. End result – not a lot of progress. I switched lanes way too often. Sort of like following one car for several blocks, then choosing to follow a different car on a whim. Needless to say, you don’t reach a destination that way.

2) Being a serial buyer. Along the same lines, I was intrigued with way too many products, many of which were useless. I wish I could have back some of the money that I spent foolishly so that I could spend it with forethought and planning.

3) Not sticking close enough my mentors. I have a couple of people that are at the core of any success I have achieved. At the top of the list is Ken Evoy, the brains behind Site Build It. If you purchase a site through Site Build It, one fringe benefit is an incredible forum full of very experienced and helpful people (many of whom have sites in the top 1% of all websites). In fact, the forum alone is probably worth the price of SBI.

Another example of sticking close to people that are willing to teach you, Napoleon Hill in Think and Grow Rich talks about needing a Master Mind group – in other words, putting your head together with others who have similar goals. Or in his words, he defines the Master Mind as “Coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.”

An old friend of mine used to say, “A smart man learns from his mistakes. A smarter man learns from the mistakes of others.” I probably didn’t have to make all the mistakes I made, if I had only listened to those with more experience.

4) Not using a daily or weekly planner. I rely way too much on my brain. I expect myself to remember things, and often I let myself down. When I sit down to work, I find myself often wasting time “warming up” because I don’t remember where I left off or what I was trying to accomplish. This is one big thing that I am working on in the coming year – making out a schedule for the coming week at the beginning of the week, so I remember exactly where I’m trying to go.

Mistakes aren’t all bad – they always offer lessons. Or as John Powell said, “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” I’m looking forward to a better year because of the mistakes I made last year.