Staying Motivated
by Jon Ringhofer, Senior Affiliate Manager
Many people dream of working for themselves. For a lot of people, the idea of being your own boss is like the Holy Grail of jobs. No one to tell you when to be at the office every day, what to wear, how long your lunch should be. It must be paradise! Successful affiliate marketers know that there are plenty of challenges to go along with the benefits of working for yourself.
One of the biggest and most important challenges is motivation. Staying motivated and energized on a daily basis isn’t always easy when you work for yourself. While successful affiliates are generally very entrepreneurial and good at self-motivation, this doesn’t mean they have access to some kind of magical fountain of motivation. Hitting some rough spots and plateaus are ordinary stages in any affiliate’s development. There are days when the motivation just isn’t there. Maybe you have hit a time when your ads just aren’t working well and you can’t seem to get a handle on how to improve performance. Even people who work for themselves can sometimes feel like they are in a rut. When this happens, you need something new and fresh to get that creative energy flowing again.
Everyone has different ways to recharge their batteries, but there are definitely some tried and true methods that work for a lot of people. Here are a few suggestions.
1. Buy something new for your business. Whether it is just a new pen, desk chair, software, an upgraded computer or other office gadget, these kinds of things can shake up your routine and help get you over the hump of stalled motivation.
2. Check out a movie that will get your entrepreneurial spirit engaged again. It could be a film you’ve seen before that really got you excited when you saw it. It could be Rocky, Wall Street, Good Will Hunting, The Blind Side, or whatever film that had you walking out of the theater just itching to get started on some new project.
3. Another idea could be to just take a day (or even a just a few hours) and do something fun. It should be an activity you really enjoy. Maybe something that you haven’t had as much time for since starting your own affiliate business. Whether it is a long bike ride, a trip to a museum, a visit to a relative or friend, or just a stroll downtown, in the woods, or on the beach – it should be something to take you away from your routine for a period of time.
4. If inspirational quotes motivate you, take 5 – 10 minutes, and read a few. There are countless websites and books that have compiled quotes from a huge variety of sources. Some of my favorites are: www.inspirational-quotes.info, www.inspirationalquotes4u.com and www.motivatingquotes.com.
These are just a few ideas to help get you through the inevitable time you’re your motivation starts to drop off. The bottom line is that you need to find things that get you recharged and utilize them when your start losing your enthusiasm.
