There’s a deadly disease circulating among people desperate to work from home and make money online. The symptoms circulate slowly and those with the disease may not even realise they have been infected until its too late.
Known as Grasshopperitis the disease causes its victims to move from one business opportunity to another, never really focusing on one business long enough to make money but continually paying out on their credit card in the hope of the next sure thing.
This disease is prevalent in the internet marketing industry where promises of large monthly sums of money in a short space of time and endless streams of people banging down your door to buy your product create false expectations.
Dreams of a new Ferrari after only 6 months flash before the unsuspecting victim and common sense is thrown out of the window and replaced by an emotional need to buy NOW!
Fast forward 6 months and many of these “victims” will have already moved on to their next business after trying their previous venture for a few weeks and deciding that they just can’t make money from it, it just isn’t working.
So you can see why Grasshopperitis is a major problem that affects over 95% of newcomers to the industry.
But help is at hand. There is a cure for this terrible disease that causes over spending, misery, anxiety, frustration and major credit card bills. The cure is free and easy to say but for many not always easy to stick to. It’s called focus.
Focus in your business opportunity means finding yourself ONE great opportunity that excites you because of the services/product it provides and sticking to it. Sticking to it means giving it your undivided attention.
It is possible to find focus by avoiding the need to rush in and join every opportunity you receive like I did (this article is of course written from the perspective of hindsight!) but by researching many and finding one that fits into what you want to achieve.
Are you purely motivated by the commission on offer? Are you looking to become an affiliate and sell products on behalf of a company? Is Ebay right for your money making venture? Does running a membership site appeal to you?
Focus is achieved when you sit down and think about what you want to achieve and how much time you have to dedicate to achieving it.
Once you decide on your business model you then shut out every other opportunity that comes your way. These tempting “apples” will want you to take a bite but doing so will expel you from your focus and Grasshopperitis will return.
The best thing to do with these offers is to delete them, immediately. Add them to your spam box or unsubscribe completely. Don’t allow their smooth words to charm you into clicking “buy now!”
Grasshopperitis (and it’s sister disease Unrealisticitis – but that’s a whole other article!) is curable and can be managed if you stick to one business and focus on building that.
Once you make money from that one business there is nothing wrong with then taking on another. I currently run an online magazine, booklet website, membership site and a podcast directory, so I have a few businesses online and intend to have more.
This is not about limiting yourself but about limiting the damage that can be done when you continually spend and never focus long enough to succeed at one business.
If you recognise yourself as a suffer of Grasshopperitis here is a cure for you. I encourage you to take the next 3 days off and re-look at what you want to achieve and how you are going to achieve it and then stick to your plan.
