Your Fastest Shortcut To Success in Online Marketing
In my last post, I told you a story about this know-it-all student of mine who wanted to skip all the “mindset crap” and get right to the good stuff — making money.
And you found out what a huge mistake that would be.
You can read it here —> Experts Speak! What’s With All This Mindset Crap?
Today, I’m gonna give you another really important lesson if you want to succeed as an online marketer. Actually this one applies to just about anything you’re attempting.
It’s also one of the fastest shortcuts to success that I know of.
The right mentor showed me how to finally hit a curveball
It’s all about finding someone to “show you the ropes”, someone who has already accomplished what you’re trying to do…. and is willing to share his secrets with you.
I’m talking about finding a mentor.
But before we go into this in more detail….
My Real-Life Story
Let me tell you how a 5’10”, 150 pound beanpole of a high school baseball player who couldn’t hit a curveball if his life depended on it….. became an all-league first baseman who got courted by scouts to play college ball.
It’s true… that kid was me and you wouldn’t know it by looking at me now, but I was a just a skinny beanpole of a kid growing up… a strong wind threatened to pull me off my feet, that’s how skinny I was.
I was an average baseball player in high school… could hit a fast ball like nobody’s business, but the first time I faced a pitcher with a good curveball, my knees buckled and knees knocked… and after strikeout after strikeout I soon found myself sitting on the bench.
If you’ve never faced a curve ball pitcher before, it’s a ball that looks like it’s coming right at your head but at the last minute it magically darts back in over the plate, making most inexperienced batters (including me) look like fools.
I mean, I was lost. My high school coach knew nothing about hitting and was no help.
My Dad came to every game to cheer me on, but he never played the game himself.
So I sat on the bench, frustrated beyond belief. No matter how hard I tried, how much I practiced I just could not hit that damn pitch.
I was no lazy kid, but I could have worked on this for 1000 hours and still not gotten any better at hitting a curve ball… until I found someone who could help.
I remember one day at the local batting cages, jumping into the cage with the only machine that threw curve balls, and there I was once again, flailing away at pitch after pitch, never hitting the ball.
Then I heard a voice behind me, saying the words that changed my baseball career forever….
“You’re doing it all wrong…. let me show you.”
The voice was that of a local college coach and hitting instructor named John. To me, it was like an angel got sent from heaven.
For some reason (maybe he felt sorry for me), he took me under his wing.
Actually, he later told me that he’d seen me at the batting cages day after day, struggling and getting frustrated… but he could see how hard I was trying.
Over the next few sessions, Coach John taught me the secrets to hitting a curveball — not committing too soon, recognizing the pitch coming out of the pitchers hand and even seeing the spin on the ball as it’s coming in.
Don’t get me wrong — even with this knowledge I still didn’t hit a curveball like a Hall of Famer, but I did hit SOME.
And with practice, I hit a lot of curveballs.
Soon, I was back starting for my high school team, and in my senior year I hit .402 (that’s damn good if you don’t know) and was named First Team All League.
I even got calls from some college baseball scouts to play for their team the following year.
So why did I tell you this long story?
Because it’s the best way I know to illustrate to you the incredible IMPORTANCE OF FINDING A MENTOR in whatever you do.
So finding a mentor is the first hurdle. It was no mistake that I found mine at the batting cages… that’s where lots of baseball coaches hang out, working with their players.
[HINT: ask yourself WHERE your mentors would be likely to hang out online?]
Here’s a place to start finding your mentor. It was written first for Network Marketers, but the advice holds true for any type of marketer.
Here’s the next thing — even when you find a mentor and he/she teaches you what you need to know, success won’t come unless you continue to work your butt off.
After all, wisdom without action is wasted.
Your Next Steps
- Think about where you can find the mentor you need right now.
- If you need some help, go check out this post for more tips.
I really want you to watch a video in our Part Time Entrepreneurs Success Kit — it’s called Finding the Perfect Mentor and you can only watch it when you get our Success Kit. Use the form below to get yours now.
To your unlimited success,
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Categories: Becoming an Entrepreneur, Finding a Mentor, Network Marketing Success, Online Marketing - Tags: finding a mentor, mentor, online marketing, success
15 Responses to “Your Fastest Shortcut To Success in Online Marketing”
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Really an interesting article….you have really given it with good example and awesome tips ..it is really refreshing to read your article
Glad you enjoyed it, Linda… welcome to the blog.
Don’t make yourself a stranger!
Glad you found it useful, Linda.
So what was your biggest takeaway from this post?
Success in online marketing can be hard to achieve as it requires hard work and determination on your part. It entails continuous education and learning. In the end, I believe that success will come at the right time.
Great story Bob, even as a kid, you showed a lot of determination and hard work. I agree how rewarding having a good mentor can be. Time and effort won’t be put to waste especially if we know what to strengthen and improve. Thanks for the additional tips on finding a good mentor.
Jennifer invites you to read..DTS Home
Choosing a mentor or a coach is very important and I have no doubt whatsoever that my online journey would have been a whole heap quicker had I chosen the right one.
I recognized fairly early on that after mastering the basics I needed some help to take me to the next level. I joined a great guy, but he was not on a par with what I wanted to do – i.e he was incredibly technical and I was not so I carried on without one – sometimes floundering and feeling exasperated with my small steps progress.
Having said that my journey has given me such a wealth of knowledge, that I now feel I have tremendous value to share with any students to help them avoid the same mistakes as I did, but I have just hopped over to your other very useful post on how to know when you have found the right coach and mentor and I agree.
Thank you for a very informative post,
Nicky
Nicky invites you to read..MLM Success Tips: My Secret Weapon to 20% More Activity
Thanks for sharing your story, Bob. Anyone can learn a lot from it. A mentor is indeed a guiding light and great source of inspiration. No man is an island, and this saying fits in every endeavor that we make. It’s always good to know that someone is there to educate and guide the way for you. In the world of online marketing, I’ve been struggling to learn things on my own and I just hope I can find a friend who can teach me the best strategies.
What a great post. It’s a shame so many people don’t have mentors. Without a doubt, the fastest way to success (in any industry) is to find someone who has already achieved success doing what you are trying to do. That applies to this industry, parenting, quilt making, cooking or anything else.
Playing the lone wolf is a dead end road that normally leads to failure or heartache. Why go it alone when you can have someone help you?
As always, great article.
Chuck
Hi Bob,
What a great personal story about how you upped your game! I love sports-stories and movies because most people can relate to the personal struggles and overcomings, as well as the teamwork aspect to successes.
There’s a good deal of precision to learning an effective swing in any sport that uses one, especially when you add the dynamic of a curve ball being hurled toward you at a fast speed. It makes sense to me that it would require an outsider witnessing the mechanics to help another person improve their swing. I’ve always found that when we’re “too close” to a subject, it’s easy to lose perspective of it because we are inside of it. It takes being removed from whatever it is to be able to see it from a vantage point where it may be better evaluated.
One of my greatest mentors came in the form of a group which I joined in 1997. I used to have a stutter that was brought on by social anxiety. In the Summer of 1997 I got my first taste of the network marketing/direct sales world and just knew that I had found something that could help me develop as a person, as well as something which could help me to finance my life and dreams. I joined a Toastmasters group in order to get some assistance with my fear of speaking in groups and this made a tremendous difference in my life.
I think that each of us who are driven to improve in life and business do owe it to ourselves to find a mentor to help us grow as we desire!
Cat Alexandra
Cat Alexandra invites you to read..Write content that captivates: 5 keys to kill them softly | Killer Articles.
Finding a mentor is SO important in becoming successful online. My mentor is Pat O’Bryan and his mentor is Dr. Joe Vitale. I feel like I get the benefits of the “trickle down” mentoring! There’s no way I would be a best-selling author or any other of the online successes I