Getting started on the internet is in reality a daunting prospect. As I mentioned in my 1^st article: The First step in your Internet Marketing Adventure, I am undertaking this adventure and getting involved. The plethora of options on line means that focus is a key component to moving forwards. Once you have made a decision on which model you would like to follow. The next step is to get involved. What do I mean by this? Well, the first step is getting yourself into the right frame of mind. In order to succeed you have to commit 100% to believing in making it work. Once you have made this conscious mind shift, you need to find someone to guide you. It is getting harder and harder to come up with a truly original idea. In fact, there are people out there that believe that there aren’t any new ideas, but rather new takes on ancient ideas. Within the internet marketing arena a common phrase for success, is Wash, rinse and repeat. In other words, when you find something that works, do it over and over again. But how do you know what works? How do you decide on what should be rinsed and repeated? What you need to do is find someone that is already successful in your chosen area, whatever it might be. You need a mentor.

Mentor is a word loosely associated to many people that do not really fit the mould of a true mentor. What you are looking for, is someone that is already doing what you are thinking of getting into, is successful within that market and perhaps most importantly can teach it to you. It's difficult to find someone to fit that bill because there are a lot of people pretending to be mentors that are happy to take your money and deliver nothing. It's natural. We take advice (mentorship) from those least qualified to mentor us. Take your next door neighbour or your friends – most of whom at this stage are probably struggling to make ends meet, pay all the bills and keep a roof over their heads. These guys are the first to give you pinpoint accurate opinions on when the stock market will recover, when the economy will recover and what to invest your money in, should you ask them. It's natural human behaviour which is why we all do it. The problem with that is your choice of mentor has got you to where you are today. Why listen to the advice of those people that have not actually succeeded in the field you are looking to succeed in? You need someone that has done it before, can prove they have done it before and can then teach you exactly how to do it.

Now you may have read the above and discard it as nonsense, but for those of you who are ready to make a change in your lives and start living the life you have always wanted – TAKE ACTION.

At the beginning of this journey, you will see that there are literally hundreds of ways to make money online. But is this actually the problem?

When I started on this journey I subscribed to the idea that I would be building a business, I wasn’t taking the opportunist approach to ‘make a million’ overnight. I knew that it would be a titanic task and it would require a lot of work. Time is the currency we all possess and it’s usually the one that we undervalue the most, you will need to invest time into your online business. However, I wasn’t aware of perhaps how much time. I am constantly bombarded with mails containing information on how to make $4000 in 24 hours, or grow my list by over 10,000 subscribers in one month. All of which sounds great, as this is of course what I am trying to do after all. I am in it for the long haul though, I will make this a success, and it will happen in the very near future.

I have only been exploring this niche market for a few months now, but I now know enough in terms of the technicalities, strategies and mechanisms to put some in place to start building my business from the ground up, I have my mentor, I have watched many videos from the guru’s, I have bought products and courses and most importantly, I have put what I have been learning into practice!

As I mentioned earlier, there are literally hundreds of ways to make money online. The 2 key points I can highlight to anyone that is looking to get into this way of life, or is dabbling with it as a hobby, with a future hope of doing it full time follow;

· Pick one method! – this I can’t emphasise enough because the problem is that there are so many options for you, it is very easy to be distracted by ‘bright shiny objects’ and before you know it you have tried about 5% of 30 different methods and not really succeeded in any of them. Research the various courses and strategies available, pick 1 that you relate to, get yourself a mentor and then just focus on that one method, whether that is article marketing, affiliate marketing, ebay, Adsense, your own product, outsourcing and the list goes on.

Don’t fall into the trap of paralysis by analysis, pick a subject and implement the learning from it. This can be watching videos, attending seminars, buying courses, acquiring a mentor, attending classroom tutorials, webinars, tele-seminars and the list goes on. Take action immediately, whether it is a seminar you’ve just attended or an audio download you just listened to, put it into action.

To quote a very famous and powerful marketing brand ‘Just do it’ (courtesy of Nike)

Barry Cummings is a budding internet marketer. Check out which method of internet marketing he chose as his first to master at www.profitonautopilot.info