Do you think the deck is stacked against you?

Not convinced you can ever succeed at online Marketing due to all the obstacles in your way?

Look I get it.

Here's the thing...

Usually we only see the "success" part of an online marketers journey and think it must have been easy for them.

Rarely do we see the struggle and the grind leading up to their success.

Nor do we always know their back story or the obstacles they had to overcome.

And I had personally had plenty of obstacles and limitations to overcome to get to this stage.

To the point where I'm actually amazed that I would now be classed as a successful "entrepreneur" as it just seemed so unlikely a few years ago I'd ever get to this stage.

Chances are you have far more entrepreneurial skills and chance of succeeding than I ever have.

Don't believe me?

Then let me show you the 14 reasons why you have far more chance of succeeding at online marketing than me...

1. The $100 Start Up? I Wish I Had $100 To Start A Business...

You've probably heard of the idea of the '$100 Start Up' as made famous by the book of the same name by Chris Guillebeau.

The idea is to create a series of "micro-business" around your passions in order to support a life of excitement and adventure.

And all for under $100 per start up.

Well it must be nice to be privileged enough to have even just $100 to spend on your new business.

Because, you know what?

When I started my journey into online business I had around $100 to my name.

That's not $100 spare.

That's not $100 in savings.

That's not $100 to spend on a business.

That is $100 spread across my bank account, and in my wallet and includes the spare change in my piggy bank.

I was f*cking broke as a joke.

I had no idea about online business, what it cost or what it involved but I couldn't see any better option.

What did I have to lose?

And it will come as no surprise to you...

I quickly spunked that $100 as I had no idea what I was doing or what to invest my cash in.

Back then all any one seemed to talk about was loopholes, blackhat crap, gimmicks and other garbage that was short term or just never really worked so my piggy bank was emptied fast.

It didn't help that I was learning everything from the DigitalPoint and BlackHatWorld forums, hardly the best places to be learning to build a proper online business.

The fact you're here reading this post shows you're probably a lot wiser than I was and have far more idea about what it takes.

Which ties in nicely with reason #2 why you have far more chance of succeeding than me...

2. I'd Love To Say I Owned The Lemonade Stand. However...

I know you've heard this before from tons of successful entrepreneurs...

"When I was a kid I didn't just set up the lemonade stand...I was the one who owned it and had other kids working for me".

Or "I was always the one in the playground selling baseball cards to the other kids for profits"

Sounds familiar, right?

Was that you?

Because it certainly wasn't me.

I don't have an entrepreneurial bone in my body.

Never have.

I didn't have a lemonade stand.

I wasn't trading baseball cards with other kids.

And that's not just because I'm from the UK and we don't have baseball here. We have football (or soccer if you are American) and I never traded those cards either.

The closest I got to "entrepreneurial" was when my parents forced me to get a paper delivery round around age 14 and I was paid £6 (about $8) per week for getting up at 6 am before school Monday to Friday and on Saturday morning.

On top of that...

I have absolutely no formal sales, marketing or business experience.

I've never studied it at school, college or uni.

And absolutely no family history of business, all my family and everyone I've ever known are strictly working class. Mostly working manual jobs or in customer service.

So as you can see the entrepreneurial spirit wasn't exactly strong in me.

I almost guarantee you will have more entrepreneurial bones in your body than I have.

And if I can make this online marketing thing work....you most definitely can too.

Which brings me nicely onto point #3 of why you have far more chance than succeeding than me...

3. I'm A Few Clowns Short Of A Circus

I'm not exactly the smartest of people...

I failed all my exams at school first time, except History (my favorite subject at the time) which I scrapped a pass mark in...just.

Then I re-took all the same subjects the following year, including history thinking I could get a better grade, and failed them all again...including history.

Yep, I literally failed the subject the second time around even though the course material and the exam was EXACTLY the same.

Smart, real smart.

After a couple of years of dossing around wondering what to do with my life, I managed to get myself into an entry course at college.

I scraped a pass there and went on to a low level uni where I studied such a stupid subject I'm embarrassed to say what it was.

Can you guess what happened?

Again, I scraped a pass by the skin of my teeth even though the pass mark was only 40% (I got 42%) and graduated with a bullshit degree, from a bullshit uni, with absolutely no job prospects.

I'm not very smart as you can see.

If you have an ounce of sense or a couple of brain cells you're probably far more intelligent than me and far more likely to succeed at online marketing than myself.

Which brings me nicely to the next stage of my life which yet again didn't point to me being a successful entrepreneur...

4. The Pot Washer, The Office Pleb, & The Call Centre Monkey

Before, during, and after graduating from university with my oh so prestigious degree in 'Mickey Mouse' studies I worked in the crappiest of jobs.

Pot washer? Check!

Office pleb? Check!

Call centre monkey? Check!

Every single one of my jobs has been a brain dead, minimum wage, job with no prospects.

It was all I felt cut out or skilled for.

I had barely any useful education.

I didn't seem to be good at anything.

I wasn't smart.

I had no clear skills.

So a life of misery was all I felt I was destined for.

So my point?

If a brain dead pot washer and call centre monkey like yours truly can end up with a successful online lifestyle business...

...then things are looking pretty good for you as I'm 100% confident your employment history is far more prestigious than mines.

Which ties in nicely with point #5...

5. They Love Giving Broke Losers Money

All through college and university, the banks were throwing "free" Money at me...

"Interest free" student loans, overdrafts and credit cards.

Of course they are interest free for a time but as soon as you graduate suddenly the interest shoots up and they want their money back.

Which is fine if you enter into a graduate job with a good income.

Less good if you just go back to being an office monkey on minimum wage as I did.

And even stranger...

Even though I was only in a minimum wage job they kept giving me more and more debt.

I ended up in about £30,000 ($40,000) in debt just to banks and another £15,000+ in student loans by the age of 25.

And due to the pitiful wages, I was earning I had to keep taking out more debt just to cover living costs.

I didn't think I would ever be able to get out of that mountain of debt.

Fast forward to now...

And yet here I am, completely debt free for years now and with savings, purely thanks to income from online marketing.

My point?

If this pot-washing-pleb-monkey who can't pass the same exam on the second attempt can get himself out of that level of debt due to online marketing...

...then imagine what you can achieve.

Keep reading to find out why there was another huge reason why the deck was stacked against me...

6. How A Brain Dead Zombie Built An Online Business

I'm like something out of The Walking Dead most of the time.

What I mean by that is I'm tired a lot because I struggle with insomnia at times.

And if you're tired you of course can't focus.

And lack of focus doesn't exactly help when it comes to building a business.

If a brain dead zombie like me can find enough focus to sleepwalk his way into online business success...

...I'm entirely confident you can too.

And point #7 highlights how even the laziest of people can succeed...

7. Online Business Is A Lazy Man's Dream

People in the NicheHacks tribe occasionally are honest enough to say the reason they feel they haven't had the success they desire is because they are too lazy to put the work.

Laziness? That's me all over.

In fact the reason online marketing appealed to me was because I'm too lazy to drag myself out of bed every day and into a workplace I don't want to be in doing things I have no interest in.

I wanted to stay at home, sleep late, and mess around online.

Online marketing is the lazy persons dream.

You don't even have to get out of bed if you don't want to.

You can quite literally make money whilst you sleep, once you have an automated system in place.

So if you're even slightly more motivated than this lazy b*astard you've got a good chance at succeeding.

And point #8 really hammers home why even someone who's not that motivated can make this work...

8. Productivity Isn't My Strong Point

I can have forced spurts of productivity and routine where I'm out of bed "early" (8am) every day and working solidly every day (well for about 4 or 5 hours per day) for a few weeks at a time.

But, they rarely last long.

One late night, one bad sleep, one unmotivated day, the weekend, travel, a drinking session or almost any other excuse you can think of sends me spiralling off into the productivity wasteland.

And I remain stuck there for weeks or even months at times.

I start sleeping late in the day, going to bed late at night, wasting time playing video games, messing around on Facebook all the time or drinking.

None of which leads to productive work days.

Weeks might go by without me ticking anything off my to-do list.

I start taking random Tuesdays off just because.

And I rarely do any work on a Friday either...just because it's Friday.

If you can stick to a productive routine even slightly better than I can you'll do just fine with online marketing.

And point #9 might surprise you as it's quite different to what you'd expect...

9. How This Secretive, Introverted, Anti-Social Guy Built A Popular Online Marketing Blog

It's easy to make this mistake...

You assume that to be a successful marketer you need to be the confident, outgoing, flashy type who's comfortable doing webinars and Youtube videos, sharing everything from his private life and speaking on the stage of conferences.

And I don't blame you if you think that as so many of the "gurus" and big name in our industry are like that.

They love attention and ego-boosting almost as much as they love taking your money (OK so not all of them are bad but I couldn't resist a dig at the gurus).

You're not this type of person?

Then I have good news for you...

You do NOT have to be the outgoing, extroverted, happy to share everything from your life, flashy marketer who's always on camera.

I'm certainly not.

People I've known for years say I'm "secretive" or "private".

My closest friends and family barely know what I do other than "something on the internet".

I'm a total introvert and you'll never see me on camera, doing webinars, videos, podcasts, interviews or stage presentations.

F*ck no! You couldn't pay me to do any of it.

If I could I'd run this blog as "NicheHacks" and not even have my name on it or be in the spotlight in any way at all.

I got into online marketing because I hate talking to people (I'm joking...kind of) and wanted to stay at home hiding behind a computer all day.

So sure if you want to be the outgoing, extroverted, marketer who's always on camera you most definitely can be.

And it will probably help you built trust and authority too which will boost your sales.

But, I am proof you do not have to be.

So if it's something you're worried about then please don't be.

Not everyone expects this from you and people in the same situation you are, who aren't the extroverted types either, will understand.

This anti-social point takes us nicely onto point #10...

10. The Zero Connections Model.

As I said above I'm an introvert.

I don't like talking to strangers.

I'm not the networking type.

I literally don't personally know a single other person in life who's involved with online business or any type of business.

And therefore when I started NicheHacks I was a totally unknown person with just another blog out of the millions cluttering up the internet.

I had no connections, no authority, no audience, no reputation to trade off.

And yet I've still managed to turn NicheHacks into a household name in the online marketing niche that has had testimonials from "superstar marketers" like Neil Patel and Brian Dean.

This blog has had over 1.4 million unique visitors and allows me to live location independent and travel the world thanks to the proceeds from it.

Pretty amazing, right?

So if you aren't exactly the networking type either don't worry.

Here's why...

Online you can network via email and social media in a pretty faceless way.

And simply let your content do the speaking for you.

Look, it isn't a perfect model and if you ARE outgoing and good at networking (or can learn to be) then you'll go even further.

Just don't stress too much about it if it's not a strong skill for you.

And point #11 is yet another thing I'm really not very good at that you would expect a blogger and online marketer would have to be quite good at...

11. Writer Good I Am Not A

I failed English class at school (twice), remember?

I could barely write my university dissertation (that pitiful 42% grade when 40% was a pass mark), remember?

I am a terrible speller and my grammar sucks.

I'm not a naturally creative type and will never be a good writer.

And when I started online marketing I didn't have a clue about how to write content for websites or blog.

But you're reading this aren't you?

And you aren't bothered that I failed English class, that my spelling and grammar isn't up to much, or that this isn't written in a formal manner.

Because that's not why you read blogs, is it?

You want education and entertainment and inspiration.

You want to hear from real people and get a sense for their personality and life even if they don't write well.

I personally follow blogs from people who are dyslexic (and it shows), non native English speakers, and can barely string a coherent sentence together if they tried.

But I still love them.

Why?

Because they are real and their personality shines through.

You can tell they are being themselves and that's what you want.

If you wanted perfect English you'd read the dictionary.

Here's the secret...

Write as you speak.

Exactly as if you were having a conversation with a friend with all the colourful language, swear words and odd words you say included.

And if you REALLY can't write something anyone wants to read, you can always outsource your content (50% or more of the content on NicheHacks is outsourced).

You have options.

Point #12 which is coming up next might shock you so keep reading...

12. Tony Who? Rich Dad What Now? Gary V...Who's He?

You'll either be shocked or find this funny...

I was about 4 years in, if not more, to my online marketing journey before I'd read a single book on business, marketing, sales or self improvement.

Even longer than that to I listened to my first business podcast.

I'd slowly learned everything I knew from free blog content, some paid usually low end products, and trial and error.

I had no idea who some of the biggest names in business and marketing were.

I'd never heard of the likes of Robert Kiyosaki, Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, Tim Ferris or Gary V.

Even now I've never watched a Gary V video (though I hear he swears a lot), have no idea what Tai Lopez does (apparently his garage is nice?) and have never read The 4 Hour Work Week.

Shock horror, right?!

And this isn't me knocking these guys, they are all far more successful than I am, I just shut myself or have been ignorant to most of it.

My point?

You don't need to be following what everyone else is doing in your market place or know everything to have success.

And there's no need to read every blog, buy every book, listen to every podcast or take every course.

Sure, strategic learning can definitely get you ahead much quicker.

And learning from those who are already where you want to be is smart.

However, constantly taking on new information can be overload.

And following everyone and all the new trends is a full time job in it's self.

And the really cool thing is...

You can actually get quite far with common sense and trial and error to see what works for you.

And if that didn't make you laugh then point #13 should so keep reading...

13. The Hilarious Lie About Why I Didn't Watch TV For 12 Months

I once didn't watch TV for 1 year and told everyone it was because it was a time waster and I chose not to watch it.

The truth?

I couldn't figure out how to tune the TV in so couldn't watch it even though I wanted to.

I'm an absolute technophobe.

So when it comes to the online tech stuff which is essential?

I struggle.

Even with all the tutorials on Google and YT, somehow they always seem to miss bits...or that's what I tell myself anyway.

Actually I'm just not very good at following technical instructions most likely.

So whenever I do anything tech-related online I need to resort to using tech support or pay someone else to do.

Which is the beauty of online business, all the tech stuff can either be done with the help of tech support, online tutorials or outsourced for cheap.

So if you're worried that the tech aspect of online marketing will hold you back, don't be.

You're not alone.

I'm in the same boat and I got this far so you'll be OK.

Just watch those online tutorials a few times, badger tech support or outsource it on Fiverr or UpWork like I do.

14. I Had To Ship Myself Off To The Other Side Of The World Just To Get Sh*t Done

After a couple of years of messing around online treating online marketing like a hobby I decided sh*t had to get serious.

I was broke, working a dead end call centre job, and hated my daily grind.

Yet I just couldn't seem to make any progress with the online marketing.

My dream had been to earn just $1,000 to $2,000 per month online so I could go live on the cheap in Thailand.

But I could barely make $100 online at the time.

So I decided enough was enough and took drastic action.

Here's what I did...

I took the meagre amount of money I had saved up from my call centre job (about £3,000 / $4,000 but I was still £30,000+ in debt so it's not really "savings") and told everyone I was moving to Thailand for at least a year

And that I wouldn't be back until I had my own profitable online business.

The money I had wasn't nearly enough for 12 months living in Thailand. If was extremely frugal it might have lasted 6 at most but realistically it was a budget for about 4 or 5 months.

And in turns out there's nothing like fear of running out of money in a foreign country mixed with the shame of ridicule of going back and not having achieved what you said you would.

I don't know whether the fear or running out of money or the fear of hearing "i told you so" from all the family and friends who expected me to fail motivated me more...

...but it had a big impact.

Look what happened...

I lived on the ultra-cheap in Thailand, grinding on my laptop for 12hrs per day building an online business and slowly but surely built up an income.

It took a bit longer than 12 months to start making any reasonable or sustainable money and I had to extend my loans and overdrafts with the bank in order to finance my living costs to begin with but I could see the light at the end of the tunnel so I kept at it.

About a year and a half after leaving home I was able to say that I did have an online business and a sustainable, but small and growing, income.

And went home eventually with my head held high.

Soon after I was able to start paying off my debts and I'm now 100% debt free.

So how does this story relate to you?

Well, here's my thoughts...

Whilst I definitely think you need to put your back up against the wall and a fire up your ass to make you achieve your dreams...

...it probably doesn't have to be as extreme as shipping yourself off to the other side of the world with next to no money.

And it may not be feasible for you anyway.

I was young, single, had a dead end job and with no ties so it was easier for me.

However you can definitely find your own way to put your back up against the wall and make sure failing isn't an option.

Try this method to make sure you don't fail...

State your ambitions and goals out loud to all your friends and family with a clear deadline of when you plan to achieve them and a major consequence if you fail (like donating a large sum of money you can't afford to an organisation or political party you hate).

Fear of ridicule and embarrassment is a strong motivator as no one wants to feel like they didn't live up to their word.

And fear of loss (the money you'll have to send to your hated organisation) is a big motivator too.

It worked for me and it could work for you.

Which brings me around to why you have far more chance at succeeding than I ever did...

Are You Beginning To See Why You Have Far More Chance Than Me?

These have been the 14 reasons why you have far more chance at succeeding with online business than I did.

Because as you can clearly see I had the deck stacked against me and a lot of obstacles to overcome.

Yet, somehow I got here and I think you can too even if you're struggling right now or not sure if you'll ever get this far.

Let me wrap this up with my final thoughts and the big takeaways I'd like to share with you on my journey from broke-clueless-introverted-technophobic-lazy-insomniac-pot-washing-monkey-pleb to successful, location independent, online marketer.

My Biggest Lessons & Takeaways On This Journey From Pot-Washing-Monkey-Pleb To Successful Online Marketer & Entrepreneur

• If I can do this, you sure as hell can as well. Because clearly even when you're not the typical entrepreneur type it's possible to achieve amazing things if you really desire it.

• Though it's not recommended even with a budget of $0 you could succeed if you really want to. There's free blog platforms to launch your website on and ways to do almost everything for free.

• Being academic, having an high IQ or being considered smart has no relationship to success. So if you're not the sharpest hammer in the picnic box (yeah, I found that funny) don't worry about it.

• Even if you aren't the most outgoing person and prefer to hide away behind your laptop, you can! You don't need to be on camera and doing presentations to be a successful online marketer, though obviously it will help so if you want to then go for it.

• Write like you speak. No one wants to read a dictionary. They want a connection with you, a real human being with all your flaws.

• Spend less of your time following "experts" and more time becoming an "expert" yourself through trial and error. What works for one doesn't always work for another any way, so you're better off trying for yourself to be sure.

• Even if you have basic tech skills you'll get there eventually with the help of Youtube and tech support. If that fails you can hire someone from Fiverr who will be happy to do it for a low price.

• Put your back up against the wall so that failure is not an option and make sure there are some serious consequences for failing. You will not want to embarrass yourself or face those consequences so you'll make it happen.

• If you have a strong '"WHY' for making your dreams a reality then you will get there but personally I think it has to be more than "I want to be rich" and something more substantial.

The post How This Lazy Pot Washer Failed At Everything But Still Built An Online Empire (And 14 Reasons Why You Have More Chance Of Succeeding Than Me) appeared first on NicheHacks.