by © Willie Crawford

We've all heard the stories of people who gave up on a dream when they were only one step away from achieving it.  We discovered that they were only one step away because someone else following their path took that next step and succeeded wildly.

When you observe, or talk to many people in the online marketing arena,  you see lots of people who're only one step away from success.  Not only that, but many need to take the SAME next step.

For some reason, people like to hire me as a marketing consultant so that they can "discuss marketing theory."  What these consultations soon reveal is that we've often studied the same material and have the same basic understanding of how things work.  They understand the mechanics, the psychology... even the how-to. Yet they're stuck!

That next step that we often need to take is simply in the doing. Knowing is not doing. You can understand something as deeply as possible on an intellectual level, but until you do something with that knowledge, you're no better off than someone who doesn't understand.

One of my recent phone conversations centered around how all of the Internet marketing "gurus" teach the same thing in their courses... with only slight variations. The reason for this is that they've all studied the same material. Certain principles of direct marketing haven't changed in over 100 years!  Certain things about human nature probably haven't changed in thousands of years.  They're immutable natural laws.

There's a reason every great copywriter, or marketer,  that I know has studied Claude Hopkins and Dr. Robert Cialdini.  These authors understood certain things about human nature and were able to explain them in an understandable way. If you study their material long enough, and often enough, something magical does
happen. Their thinking becomes YOUR thinking.  So, of course, all of your marketing gurus will tell you similar things. They've studied the same material AND they mentor/coach each other :-)

I've just revealed to you one of the few success secrets I really know.  That secret is that "repetition is the mother of mastery."   That's why really successful people teach their students to study the same material over and over again. That's why, 25 years ago,  my karate instructor use to have me spend 4 solid hours just practicing one thing.  Do, or hear, the same thing often enough and it becomes a part of you.

However, making a piece of information or knowledge a part of you is not enough. Then you need to take the next step... the one most of the world seems afraid to take.  You need to act upon that knowledge.

People don't do the things that they know that they should do because they're afraid of making mistakes. The fact is that you WILL make mistakes. Hopefully, you don't keep making the same mistake over and over again. Hopefully, you learn from the mistakes and then that ingrained knowledge helps you to make major breakthroughs.

Every successful person that I've ever talked to admits he's made many mistakes. My coach use to teach me that since you know you're going to make mistakes, and then move past those, why not get them out of the way. He preached "fail fast" so that you can then get to the success born out of the lessons taught by failure.

Major successes overshadow a string of minor failures!  This is why major book publishers are willing to publish 1000 books that rarely break even in order to find one or two best sellers. The best sellers make up for all of the failures many times over.   It's generally the same with operating a business. So don't be afraid of mistakes. Seek to avoid them by learning from the mistakes of others.  However, don't let fear of making mistakes
keep you from taking that critical next step.

If you're like a major percentage of online business people I've studied, you really are just one step away from success.  That step is sometimes a big one, but it's a necessary one. Look closely at where you are, and you should be able to see what that next step is for you. Then take it.  If you don't, you'll still be one step away from success tomorrow, and even a year from now.

Now that you know... go ahead and TAKE that next step.

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Copyright © Willie Crawford
Willie Crawford has been teaching others how to build an on-line business since late 1996. Frequently featured in radio, magazine and newspaper articles and interviews, Willie teaches the average guy what the top marketers are doing but seldom talking about.  Learn Willie's Success Secret at: http://TheInternetLifestyle.com