What a Billionaire Balloonist Taught Me About Internet Marketing
by:
Michael Cheney
Yes, believe it or not,
after 10 years' of mastering Internet marketing I can now safely say that
being successful at it comes down to just one thing..
Billionaire Richard
Branson, the entrepreneur behind the Virgin brand, is one of the world's
most successful and adventurous businessmen. Not being satisfied to run
several highly profitable businesses Branson also engages in occasional
feats of courage, or stupidity, depending on your stand point!
I read his autobiography
recently and discovered something that perfectly sums up what it takes to
achieve success on the Internet.
To set the scene - Branson
had called a meeting a few hours before he and his co-pilot were due to
embark on an attempt to fly from Japan to America across the Pacific
non-stop in a hot air balloon. The attempt would be fraught with countless
difficulties, challenges and life-threatening risks. One last pre-take off
meeting was held to talk through all eventualities of the flight and to
discuss what Branson and his co-pilot needed to do to survive in each
case.
After an intense 3-hours'
briefing, covering everything that could go wrong, on this, one of the
most complex and risky aviation record attempts in history, Richard
Branson came away having written just eight words into his notepad;
"Keep the fire burning -
that's all that matters."
How incredible is that?
He's faced with almost certain death and has just been briefed on the
technical details of which levers to pull when, which buttons to press to
escape crashing and which actions to take to prevent the capsule from
decompressing and yet all he writes down is "Keep the fire burning".
Why? Because that's all
that matters! As long as he keeps the fire burning the balloon will stay
in the air and he will eventually make it across the Pacific safely,
nothing else matters.
So what has this got to do
with Internet marketing? Let me explain..
** Do You Have The Energy
To Keep The Fire Burning?
Being honest now - how many
times have you stared at your website and thought;
"What ONE thing can I do to
get more sales?"
You've probably thought
this a few times right? Well, you're not alone. Unfortunately though, too
many people make the mistake of thinking that;
-
The one thing is getting
a high search engine rankings
-
The one thing is getting
more subscribers
-
The one thing is getting
more traffic
-
The one thing is getting
accepted by Yahoo!
-
The one thing is getting
an article published
-
Etc.
But the point is that none
of these are the right 'one thing'! The ONLY right ‘one thing' is to do
what Branson knew - keep the fire burning. Keep going and never give up.
We all know how easy it is
to do those tedious or those time-consuming tasks when the sales are
flooding in, right? But what about when nothing is happening on your
website? What about when the sales dry up and your phone stops ringing,
what then? What motivates you then?
Well then - you need to
keep the fire burning.
Keep on doing what it is
you need to do - as ultimately, this is what will make your website a
success and separate it from many around you that become failures. The
people that achieve REAL success on the Internet have just done one thing.
The same thing that Branson did.
** "I've Tried Everything!"
"But Michael, nothing is
working - I have tried everything and still I'm not making any sales!"
Really? You've really tried
EVERYTHING? How many things have you really tried? If you ever find
yourself whinging like this force yourself to actually count how many
different things you have tried. I bet you'll find it's often less than 20
and will always be a long way short of everything!
** So What Happened To
Branson and His Balloon?
His attempt to cross the
Pacific was abandoned even before take-off as sub-zero temperatures caused
some of the balloon's outer layers to disintegrate. But did he give up?
What do you think?
He tried again two years'
later and despite freak weather storms and his capsule catching fire he
flew 6,761 miles across the Pacific and landed safely in Canada having
achieved the longest-ever balloon flight in history. He had kept the
(right) fire burning..
by-http://www.websitemarketingbible.com/marketing/ |
