Today, 30 October 2009 is a huge day for me and I’m feeling quite sentimental.
Two years ago today I joined the world’s most lucrative home business. I tell my story on the Ann McLaren page so no point in repeating it here.
No, today I just wanted to ponder over why I’ve been so successful when others have failed.
I firmly believe that everyone has an entrepreneurial spark in them but for some it’s harder to ignite than for others.
Just as some people get behind the wheel of a car for the first time and are natural drivers while others struggle (I passed my driving test on the third attempt!), some new home business owners turn out to be born racing drivers while others are still spinning their wheels in the driveway!
Just as pretty much everyone can master the art of driving a car eventually, so can anyone become a successful home business entrepreneur. It’s not rocket science!
The big difference between driving and entrepreneurship is that many new home business owners throw in the towel too soon, crying “this is too hard, I’ll never make it”.
If failing at their home business was going to have the same negative impact on their lives as not being able to drive a car, how many people do you think would give up?
And that’s the rub. Most people who join a home business already have a job. They may hate that job, their boss, the long working hours and the lack of time freedom but the bottom line is that it’s not the end of the world if they don’t become a successful entrepreneur. Life as they know it isn’t going to change.
Compare that to the inconvenience of a lifetime spent begging rides from friends and travelling on public transport because you can’t drive a car. That’s why people are a lot more determined to master the skill of driving than they are to master the skills needed to make a go of their home business.
With the benefit of hindsight, I’m pretty sure that if I’d had the security of a regular income and the knowledge that the roof wasn’t going to fall in if I didn’t make a go of my business, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now analyzing why I’m the most successful woman there has ever been in my company.
But the fact is that 2 years ago today, when I was lucky enough to discover the world’s top home business, I DIDN’T have financial security and, metaphorically speaking, my roof WAS about to fall in if I didn’t replace my lost translating income pretty quickly.
That fear of being broke, the fear of what would become of me when my savings ran dry is the single biggest reason for my success.
Put simply, I was successful because I didn’t have a choice.
In the face of “clear and present danger” we all have hidden reserves of strength and courage.
Could you imagine jumping 15 feet to the ground from a first-storey window? No, neither could I. What about if your house was on fire and the alternative was to end up roasted to a crisp? Suddenly, the idea of two broken legs doesn’t seem quite so bad, does it?
Needless to say, building a successful online business from home is way easier than jumping out of a window, and much less scary! I simply wanted to illustrate the point that it’s much easier to act in any situation if the consequences of not acting are going to be unpleasant.
And that, in a nutshell, is the secret of my success. As I explained, I’d just lost more than half my income overnight so the consequences of not acting were going to be an old age in poverty for me.
My advice to you if you want to be successful with a work at home business is to think of your own set of unpleasant consequences.
Strange as it may seem, that’s the main thing that most successful online entrepreneurs have in common. The fear of what would happen if they didn’t succeed was much greater than the fear of the work they were going to have to put in to make it happen.
So ask yourself: How secure is your job? Your pension? Your children’s future? What about your old age, do you have enough saved to enjoy a comfortable retirement?
Whatever it takes, you need something to motivate you sufficiently to spend the two hours daily you’ll need to build your home business online.
Once you have the motivation, and provided you’ve chosen a business with proper marketing training like mine, the rest is just academic. You then become an unstoppable force.
Hi Ann,
First of all congratulations, well done. My query is how personlised a reply will I receive from you to this comment, I understand a lot of your emails are automated to allow you time to manage the business, and thats neccessary but I can’t help wondering where the money comes from and is it just coming from people “signing up”
Regards,
Lance Alden.
Hi Ann,
Congratulations on your success and your determination.
My name is Rose and I’ve been getting your emails for months now. I first saw you online via Mike’s Dillard Coffee House letter.
Hi Ann — thanks for sharing your inspiring trip to the top. You are an incredible leader!
See you in Las Vegas!
Bob
I am interested for the same reasons Ann took up this business. In my life which I waS very successful both as achartered engineer and a salesman. As a director of a major company I not only had to devise new sytems but market them as well. Much of what ann talks about is really the psycholgy of selling. Let the other person buy and as she says let them realy think it was their idea in the 1st place
I later broke away and set up my own company and because my name bwcame known worldwide for my expertise, I was very succesful, this, however, brought about my downfall,it attracted the attention of a large american company which so wanted the market with me out of it they drove me to the wall with fiendish undercutting on major items some in the region of £200,000 where they would offer 20% reduction it destroyed me and I need to try to earn money to replac e that lost income and provide for the future
Hi Ann, It is always exciting reading your thoughts. You have proven what it takes and hopefully you will have many followers. I think of you often and actually pray for you now and then.
I never, in my life, thought my health would fail me. Stress is a big contributor to that and caring for my wife day in and day out took its toll. I would never change that as she was the very best part of me.
I keep thinking the Dr’s may find an answer for my failing heart. It just isn’t strong enough to even give me breath. I’m not complaining just facing some facts and I sincerely believe there is an answer.
You will be a blessing to many others that allow you to guide them. God Bless
LOL Doug
Thank you, Doug, that means a lot to me. You are a good man and I pray that the doctors find a solution for you. Take care. Ann
Ray, you have the talent, you have the expertise, you can start again and build up a new business. You’d be hard pushed to find a truly successful person who hasn’t suffered heartbreak and setbacks along the way, so my advice is to use those setbacks as the fuel to fire you in your comeback. I wish you every success. Ann
Thank you, Lance. It sounds as though you are hinting at something along the lines of an illegal pyramid scheme. Surely, looking at me and reading my words and my story you don’t think I would be involved in something like that? I do hope not!! Success is great, money is great but I still have to look at myself in the mirror each day and be proud of my business and what it’s allowed me and many others to accomplish. Regards, Ann
Thank you, Rose. As you can see from the photo on the Resources page, Mike Dillard is my hero! Without him I probably still would have made it eventually because I was determined to do so, but he cut the learning curve by 75%!! Take care, Ann
Bob, how do I get my photo to show like yours? See, even “incredible leaders” (and thanks for that!) don’t know everything!!
Ann, I believe the picture comes from the one I added on Gmail Chat. If you right click on the anonymous photo next to your name in the Chat, you can add a picture. Then it will show up when you perform an action like a blog comment using Google as the search engine.
At least that’s how I THINK I did it! Getting old
Thanks, Bob. I just uploaded a photo to Gmail chat so we’ll see what happens when I submit this reply. Fingers crossed!
No Bob, that didn’t work but a Wordpress plugin called Profile Pic did the trick!!