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WBM#14: 22 Money Mistakes That Kill You!

by Frederick Mann

(Excerpt from WealthBooster Magazine -- Issue #14 & 15 -- March 10-14, 2001)

If you're not making enough money on the Internet to live comfortably, chances are you're making serious mistakes. Overcome these mistakes and you can make as much money as you like! Your "education" may have programmed you to do certain things wrong and to fail. You may need to reprogram yourself to do things right so you can succeed.

MISTAKE #1: YOU FAIL TO LEARN CERTAIN BASICS ON HOW TO DO THINGS RIGHT.
Many people can become much more successful by simply learning to do some basic things right. If you don't do these basic things right, you're unlikely to achieve success. I highly recommend the e-book Real 'Secrets' of Success! which addresses, why certain basic actions don't work very well, better than any other book I know of. Over the years, I've often been asked, "Where do I start?"; "How do I learn to market on the Internet?" Finally I have the answer: Real 'Secrets' of Success! See Success Arsenal!(sm) [service defunct; instead see Report #TL10E: The Power of Doing Things Right.]

MISTAKE #2: YOU BLAME OTHERS OR FACTORS OUTSIDE YOURSELF FOR YOUR FAILURES.
One of the most important things to observe is what you tend to habitually think and do when an action of yours didn't work the way you hoped or didn't produce the result you expected. If you blame others or factors outside yourself, your personal power and effectiveness drop dramatically. You have control over your actions; you can change and improve them. In general, you don't have control over others and most outside factors; you can't change or improve them. Instead of blaming others or outside factors, you can observe what you did and how well it worked or failed. You can learn from it and improve future actions. See How to Achieve and Increase Personal Power

MISTAKE #3: YOU FAIL TO OVERCOME PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS THAT PREVENT SUCCESS.
It's almost as if some people are programmed or have programmed themselves to fail. From a Delphi forum:

In '94 I joined several programs and they are all gone.
In '95 I joined several programs and they are all gone.
in '96 I joined several programs and they are all gone.
In '97 I joined several programs and they are all gone.
In '98 I joined several programs and they are all gone.
In '99 I joined several programs and they are all gone.
In '00 I joined several programs and they are all gone except one.
In '01 I joined several programs and they are all gone.
All are gone and so is my money and any hope of ever getting it back.

Because of psychological factors, some people make the same mistakes over and over again. See Failure Scripts and Where The Rocks Are

MISTAKE #4: YOU DON'T CONSTANTLY WORK AT IMPROVING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF YOUR ACTIONS.
You can observe every intended money-making action you take, get a measure or sense of how effective each action is, learn from the results each action produces, and use what you learn to improve future actions. For more on self-observation, see Report #12

MISTAKE #5: YOU SELECT INFERIOR OR MEDIOCRE MONEY-PROMISING PROGRAMS.
The "poor victim" quoted in Mistake #3 made mistakes in the programs he selected. It also seems that he hasn't learned from his mistakes and hasn't developed a methodology for selecting the right programs. You also need a methodology for dealing with the inevitability of your selections failing, no matter how good your selection methods.

MISTAKE #6: YOU RISK MORE MONEY THAN YOU CAN AFFORD TO LOSE.
Whenever you put money into a money-promising program, there's a possibility that you will lose it all. You need to be prepared for the worst... both emotionally and financially. If you have little capital to risk, you should start with programs you can join free. You can use free programs and ones with entry costs of $100 or less to build up your capital. As your capital grows, you spread your risk. Personally, I don't like to risk more than 10% of my capital in any particular program. Ideally you want to operate such that a total loss in any particular program has little impact on your overall success. See Money Skill #24: Risk and Money Management

MISTAKE #7: YOU PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE (OR A FEW) BASKETS; YOU DON'T CREATE ENOUGH INCOME STREAMS.
Some time ago, a contact wrote me:

"My family and I have been through three network-marketing businesses in the past 10 years, and we watched with wonder as they all three grew and with horror as they all three crumbled to dust. My final analysis on our experience with network marketing is that we just didn't know enough of the right kind of people. Do we now? Beats me. My family is really skeptical now about anything remotely MLM."
The reality of this world is that businesses and programs fail. It's vital to create multiple income streams. See Money Skill #10A: Generate Multiple Income Streams

MISTAKE #8: YOU DON'T PRACTICE DISCIPLINE.
Some people sometimes realize what they need to do, but don't do it. They may also realize that they shouldn't do certain things, but they still go ahead and do them. For many people, overcoming the mistakes that kill their money-making efforts is a long and hard road. You need to start somewhere. You may have considerable learning to do. You may have to UNLEARN some wrong ideas and bad habits -- see Millionaire Report #1 You may need to set some time aside every week (every day is even better!) and devote that time to learning more about money and improving your money skills. See also Money Skill #27: Improve Your Discipline

MISTAKE #9: YOU DON'T LEARN HOW TO MARKET.
You can actually make a great deal of money without marketing. You can risk your capital in the stock market (and other markets, such as commodities, currencies, and futures), or in programs that don't require you to sponsor people or sell products. However, you make much more money if you learn to market. If you can market, you can make money without risking your own capital. The ability to market is probably the single most important money-making skill. See Money Skill #40: Marketing

MISTAKE #10: YOU DON'T TEST OR MEASURE YOUR MARKETING EFFORTS.
Many marketing mistakes are made by aspiring marketers. The most important is probably that they don't test or measure their various marketing efforts. They don't know how successful one headline is compared to another. Every Internet marketer needs to use a program such as ROIbot to measure the responses to their marketing efforts.

MISTAKE #11: YOU DON'T CONSTANTLY IMPROVE YOUR WEBSITE.
See:

MISTAKE #12: YOU DON'T ACQUIRE THE TOOLS YOU NEED FOR SUCCESS OR LEARN TO USE THEM.
A personal computer can be a powerful money-making tool... if you know how to use it. Email is the Internet's most popular application. It's also one of the most powerful marketing tools. You can use a "signature" at the end of your emails as a marketing device. You can use email to sell products for which you earn commissions. You can use email to promote other money-making programs. You can learn to use BB7M to build a downline/community to market to. You can learn to write "power messages" that get higher responses. You can set up a website and take various actions to attract visitors. You can utilize both free and paid advertising to market your products/ programs and/or to attract visitors to your website. You can learn to use FFA pages, classified ads, autoresponders, opt-in email lists, newsletters, etc. as tools to become more successful.

MISTAKE #13: YOU DON'T CREATE AND IMPROVE YOUR AUTOMATIC MONEY MACHINES.
See Liberty Money Machines. Now have a look at the Private Page. Visitors come to this page every day. They check out one or more of the programs. If they like what they see (and they can overcome certain obstacles), then they join one or more of the programs and I earn some money. More and more people join, with practically no work on my part. My monthly earnings just keep on growing.

MISTAKE #14: YOU FAIL TO DEVELOP GENERAL MONEY-MAKING SKILLS.
Most people learn little about making money from their parents and teachers (who themselves often have few money-making skills). It's almost as if "the system" is designed so most people will have to get jobs where they perform a narrow range of tasks and get a paycheck every week. Often the pay is just enough to survive on. Many workers accumulate credit-card and other debts, have to pay more and more in interest, and keeping their "financial head" above water becomes a problem. It's almost as if "the system" is designed so many will remain trapped in jobs they don't particularly like for their entire working life. You may be able to learn some important general money-making skills at: Basic Money Skills

MISTAKE #15: YOU INDULGE IN TIME-WASTING OR DESTRUCTIVE ACTIVITIES.
An acquaintance wrote me: "Among the most useful information I found on your websites Build Freedom, BigBooster, etc., perhaps the most practical are those which relate to personal creative power, and happiness. This information alone is life changing, however, I think there's one important insight on this theme which you still haven't addressed: The connection between creative personal power and income streams. I believe a fundamental cornerstone of financial success is EXPRESSING YOUR POWER IN A WAY THAT PUTS MONEY IN YOUR POCKET. This might sound obvious now, but it was just a few months ago when I realized the trap I was stuck in.

I used to spend my afternoons at a chess club, and would feel powerful for beating everyone's ass and being the best chess player in the club. This was a creative expression of power, which had many countless beneficial side effects like increased mental power, developed strategic thinking and so on. However, it never put a penny in my pocket. Just the opposite was true! I had to pay for my experience of power. I would experience power in a negative cash flow way.

I also knew both men and women who would buy expensive clothing to feel powerful among those with less expensive clothes. All of them would express power in a negative cash flow way. I believe it's imperative for anyone wishing to cross the success divide line to begin to express their power in financially wise ways. Ways that create positive cash flow. Examples of that are authors who experience power when they see their books ranking high, website authors who experience power when a number of people visit their sites, musicians who experience power when many people come to see their concerts, and so on. All these people have something in common: The more powerful they feel, the more money comes into their pockets. On the other hand, if you express your power in a negative cash flow way, the more powerful you feel the less money you'll have.

MISTAKE #16: YOU ALLOW PARASITES TO SIPHON OFF YOUR WEALTH.
There are four basic ways your wealth can be siphoned off:

  1. You work at a job, the nature of which is that most of the wealth you produce goes to the boss(es) and/or the company owners.
  2. Government taxes.
  3. Interest on your debts, particularly a home mortgage.
  4. Wasteful spending.
The success of parasites depends largely on the ignorance of their victims. It's almost as if "the system" is designed so that most people will see no choices other than subjecting themselves to parasites... and pay heavily for the "privilege" all their lives. See Basic Money Skills and Fiscal Freedom.

MISTAKE #17: YOU FAIL TO CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVE YOUR MIND AND THINKING SKILLS.
My Webster's defines "intelligence" as: "the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations; the skilled use of reason; the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly." It defines "intelligence test" as "a test designed to determine the relative mental capacity of a person." Intelligence could also be simply defined as "the ability to solve problems." A more powerful definition: "Intelligence is the ability to produce desirable results." See How to Increase Your Intelligence and Thinking Skills, Creativity & Problem Solving

MISTAKE #18: YOU FAIL TO PROGRAM YOURSELF TO DO THINGS RIGHT AND SUCCEED.
Probably, more than 90% of people who attempt to make money on the Internet behave as if they are programmed to do all kinds of simple things wrong so they can't succeed. Example: An email that says, "Please put me on your list." It doesn't say what list. Or, "I tried to upgrade, but it didn't work. Please help me." What program? What did he do? What happened? Given the contents of his email, how could I possibly help him?

Even if your emails are much better than the above examples, if you've been trying for some time to make money on the Internet, and you haven't succeeded, chances are that you are programmed (or have programmed yourself) to fail. If this is you, you may need to confront the possibility that you have a mountain to climb. I suggest you start with Failure Scripts and Where The Rocks Are

MISTAKE #19: YOU FAIL TO MOVE YOUR "WIN/LOSE SWITCH" INTO "WIN TERRITORY."
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves that we are underlings." - William Shakespeare
See How to Improve Your Information

MISTAKE #20: YOU FAIL TO IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH AND FITNESS.
Death effectively kills your money-making efforts. If you're ill in bed, it's difficult to make money (unless you have some great automatic money machines!) The healthier and fitter you are and the longer you live, the more money you can make. See #TL09 - How to Achieve SuperHealth and Health Freedom & Life Extension

MISTAKE #21: YOU IMPROVE YOURSELF AND YOUR ACTIONS TO THE POINT THAT YOU SURPASS THOSE AROUND YOU AND THEN YOU STOP BECAUSE YOU FEEL SUPERIOR.
Suppose your "win/lose switch" for making money is in position "4." Among your family, friends, coworkers, and other contacts, nobody has their "win/lose switch" above "3." You're a "half-eyed king" in the land of the blind!

MISTAKE #22: YOU DON'T FOLLOW THROUGH.
Most people have a mountain to climb before they can succeed at making money on the Internet. And having achieved some success, there's more mountain to climb in order to become highly successful. Overcoming the mistakes I've pointed out (and the many others I haven't mentioned here), is a long-term endeavor. Do yourself a favor and keep climbing!


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