When you choose to go into business for yourself, especially when you’re thinking about making money online, it is absolutely necessary to shift away from more conventional or traditional mindsets. You need to stop thinking in terms of trading hours for dollars, for example, because you should really be thinking about time as an investment. That’s not how a conventional employee approaches his or her job. The transition may not come easily for some people.
It takes a certain kind of personality (and work ethic) to make it as an entrepreneur, but not all entrepreneurs are made alike and there are an infinite number of paths you can take to be successful. More to the point, is it in your best interest to be absolutely obstinate or is it a better idea to be as adaptable and opportunistic as possible?
Making the Case for Stubbornness
Generally speaking, society doesn’t like stubborn people. As a parent, you might be incredibly frustrated when your child refuses to try a new food. As an employee, you might get remarkably frustrated when one of your boss refuses to budge on an outdated policy. As a friend, you might hate it when your buddy refuses to shift his opinion on an absolutely terrible movie or TV show.
All this being said, being stubborn might actually work in your favor when you’re running your own business. When you’re stubborn, you’re far more likely to stick with a project or endeavor when everyone else around you is quitting.
I remember when I first started taking professional blogging more seriously more than ten years ago. I made friends with a lot of other bloggers at the time and, truth be told, very few of them blog on a regular basis (if at all) today. They gave up, but I’m still here. When you’re stubborn, you’re more likely to outlast the competition.
When everyone else is jumping off the bandwagon, you continue hanging on for dear life. And the reward at the finish line is that much more rewarding because you were willing to stick with it… and it’s probably bigger too, because you don’t have to share it with as many other people.
You’re going to encounter many people who will tell you that you’re foolish. That trying to making money online as a blogger, influencer, Internet marketer or anything else is a waste of time and that you should go get yourself a real job. That you should give up on that dream, because it’s just not realistic. When you’re stubborn, you can ignore all of that. If you want something bad enough, you’re willing to do what it takes to get it. Do what you can’t.
Know When to Hold ‘Em…
I’m not going to sing the whole Kenny Rogers song, because most of you probably already know it. You already know about knowing when to hold ’em, when to fold ’em, when to walk away and when to run. I disagree that you shouldn’t count your money at the table, because especially when you’re in affiliate marketing or any other kind of online business, staying on top of the numbers is key. You should know all about your statistics and analytics.
But all that aside, the old gambler has a point. At some point, you need to know when you should give up and move on to the next thing. There’s the concept of sunk cost, but you may have also come across a study that found that people tend to value things that they own more than things that they don’t.
Let’s say that you bought a modest car a few years ago for $30,000. Now let’s say that someone offers you $20,000 for this car. You resist, because you really like this car, even though the fair market value might be closer to $15,000. On the flip side, if you didn’t already own this car, chances are that you wouldn’t want to buy it for $20,000 yourself. You’d get something else. When you do own it, though, you’re more emotionally invested and you place a higher value on it. Business endeavors are no different.
You need to know when to walk away. By being far less stubborn and being willing to give up, you’re much better positioned to move on to the next thing when the opportunity arises. You’re much more capable of jumping on a hot trend before anyone else, because you’re less emotionally attached to whatever else you’ve been working on.
This also gives rise to what we might call rapid prototyping. Rather than stick to your guns and grind out with a strategy or product that just isn’t working, you keep trying new things until something does work. That’s versatility and creativity all wrapped up into one, two qualities that are highly valuable as an entrepreneur.
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
Whether you’re the kind of tenacious person who will persevere through all obstacles and stubbornly stick to your goals or you’re the kind of adaptable person who will happily leap from opportunity to opportunity, you need to give it your all. If you don’t believe in yourself and what you’re doing, no one will. Just be prepared to work for it.
Click Here To Download John Chow’s New eBook, The Ultimate Online Profit Model!
