Information Sources

Years ago, when I started practicing Aikido, I was constantly humiliated by my inability to perform the most simple of techniques. I was really bad. Very bad. Nothing ever ended up in the right place. I couldn't keep my balance, turn, attack, fall or roll. My techniques resembled a old Gumby film with missing frames.

Hardly anything done in Aikido is what a normal person would choose as a first option. It takes a lot of practice to overcome the basic instincts of avoiding punches and kicks, instead stepping into them. Do you know how much confidence it takes to realize just when your attackers think they have you where they want you, they just gave you a great opportunity to introduce them to the Earth... very suddenly.

In an online business, it's much the same. You're going to start out doing everything badly. The first product will not be perfect. It will contain typos and squeaks and whines. You'll say to much in some places and too little in others. The conversion rate on your first sales page will probably be less than 1%. You'll list features instead of benefits. When you start blogging, the posts will be short and me tooish or too long and cumbersome. Your articles won't contain the pizzaz needed to bring traffic. Traffic and sales will be slow for a long time.

So what if you suck, it's just important they get done and released. What you're looking for at this time is feedback. Did the sales page convert? Am I getting a lot of returns? Where is the traffic coming from? How can I get more? What could I have done better? You'll be embarrassed by some of the things you do in these early days. You'll survive and hopefully apply the lesson the next time. And the time after and the time after... Focus on getting better, not how terrible you are today.

Here's 3 reasons why being bad at something is good:

1. For the ideas. Everything you have problems doing is a potential product/blog post/article - once you find an answer. Can't do something in WordPress? Build the plugin yourself and sell it on to others. Did you find a nifty combo of techniques for bringing traffic to your site? Create an e-book. Don't understand what FTP is? There's a blog post. My suggestion: If you're having problems with something - WRITE IT DOWN! Keep it in a journal or a simple txt document. I personally keep a list of product ideas in a Writeboard in Basecamp.

2. You get better at it by doing. Everyone was once a beginner. Leonardo Da Vinci probably once drew in stick figures but he went on to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. You don't get better my reading, you get better by practicing. My suggestion: Consider everything between now and when you consider yourself a master to be nothing more than practice. Practice, practice, practice and make it fun!

3. It's fun. Perhaps it's just me, but I find learning fun. I've learned you can't learn about things your already a master of, so if you're learning, you're going to be doing it badly. There isn't a single person who is good at everything. So make learning fun. My suggestion: Kids find most everything interesting. Adopt a child like attitude towards all the tasks you're faced with. When you learn something let out a big AHA! Then do a little dance.

So get out there and be horrible at something. If you keep at it, in a couple of months/years, you'll actually be good at it. That's how the masters got to be masters.

"The PayPal Kunaki Integration Software will allow you to set your entire sales, production and fulfillment process on full autopilot." -Steven Lohrenz. Here is the URL: Automated DVD Delivery With PayPal