Who is the biggest liar on the Internet?

You.

That’s because you probably have unrealistic expectations about what can be accomplished, how much time it takes, what skills you need and how much money you can earn.

If you don’t have goals with numbers, then you are lying to yourself. How will you ever know if you reach your goals if you can’t measure them?

You are lying to yourself if you:

1.     Believe in lottery tickets, get-rich-quick schemes and horse races. Those one-in-a-million shots are great if you are number 1,000,000. Otherwise, it’s a sucker’s bet. And you’re the sucker. Don’t be a sucker.

2.     Believe that if you build a better mouse app, the world will beat a path to your door. That might have worked in the 1700’s, but there’s a lot more competition now. You could have the world’s greatest service, product or app and you won’t sell a single thing unless you tell people, convince them yours is the one they need and get them to share their credit card number. That takes work.

3.     Believe that you have all the skills you need to make money. You need to master many skills or you need to hire people who have those skills. More about both those points later.

4.     Believe that wishing will make it so. It takes work. Lots of work.

5.     Believe that you can do this in 4 hours a week. Some businesses can operate that way, but for most of us, add 4 hours to the 8 hours you already work. Then throw in the weekends, holidays and sick days. Not a day goes by that I don’t check my email – even when I’m on vacation. When your clients call, you need to be there or your business will fall apart.

6.     Believe that all service providers have your best interests at heart. I wish that were so, but as you’ve already learned, there are people who will think of themselves first and you last. And they’ll think it is your fault. Unfortunately, there are scammers and spammers all over the world and they’ve got your number. You must read this book and find out how to protect yourself.

7.     Believe you must make a million, zillion, gazillion or bazillion dollars in order to be a success. It actually doesn’t take a zillion dollars to be rich. Many people set themselves up for failure because they don’t know how much money they really need.

8.     Believe that more people need their service or product than really do. But if you have dreams of numbers that are unrealistic, then you will never be happy.

9.     Believe that the next “bright, shiny object” will launch you to success. There’s always another product, service, book, audio or video that promises you the keys to the kingdom and success that is right around the corner. Chances are that those ideas are either hogwash, overpriced, or repackaged ideas that you can get in a book for $24.95. Beware of the next big thing because it either doesn’t exist or it is a rehash of some other thing.

Let’s be honest:

1.     How many people have built $10 million businesses? Only a handful of authors and speakers have achieved this goal. Do you have their knowledge, their following and their sense of timing to create the right product for the right audience at the right time?

2.     What would you do with a $10 million business? Seriously. Can you spend that much money? Do you have a favorite charity you want to enrich? Then cool. Go for it. Otherwise, think how great your life would be if you created a business that generated $150,000 a year, every year. That’s doable.

I know you.

You’d be happy making $90,000.

You’d live like a king.

Admit it.

Be real.

Be honest with yourself.
 
Bottom Line: You can wish for success, but if you want to achieve success, you have to work, build skills and avoid scammers.

This article is adapted from “Internet Marketing Confidential: How to Spot the Lies and Scams Internet Marketers Use to Rip Off Speakers, Authors, Coaches and Consultants,” to be published later this month. To sign up for the notification list, go to http://www.InternetMarketingConfidential.com.

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