Instant Star

Every now and then, I get lost in the maze of internet marketing and promotion. Should we focus on more SEO tactics? Should we be submitting more articles to directories? Are our blogs captivating enough? Is our ranking high enough? Are we even ranking at all?

It’s crazy. I spend most of the time doing the promotion and marketing for our business. I love a challenge, I like figuring out new stuff, and it’s important to keep up to date with the online strategies out there. Hey, I enjoy the whole process, and I learn an awful lot along the way. Most of the time, I’m smooth, calm, and in control of everything that is going on, taking it all in stride.

And then I hit one website or blog post that is worded so well that it makes me wonder whether I’m heading in the right direction. Worse, I suddenly feel like I’m not doing enough to market my business and that our venture is suffering because my promotion is lacking.

That’s when I need someone to say, “Slow down, Sunny-boy. Relax. You’re doing just fine. Rome wasn’t built in a day.” I want to be an instant star online; doesn’t everyone? I want to have so much work that I’m booked a year in advance and turning new gigs down. I want so many visitors and comments on our blog that we have trouble keeping up. I want fame and fortune. I’m human; sue me.

If I let the moment sweep me away, I would panic and end up spending tons of time I can’t afford exporing every internet marketing strategy there is, applying money and effort into bigger, better, more. I’d probably be going crazy, too. There are hundreds of gurus out there, each with their own version of the “best” way.

I’m not the only one being overwhelmed, too. Plenty of new online entrepreneurs (and some experienced ones) face the same problem of trying to stay on top of everything at once. The virtual world is so huge, I feel like I’m in the story of David and Goliath – or James and Goliath.

Then I think to myself, “James? Relax. Settle down. The world isn’t going to end because you didn’t write up a new article for marketing, because you didn’t take some “expert’s” advice, or because your traffic count went down for an hour on Wednesday.” Harry tells me to slow down often, that it’s okay to breathe a bit. (Actually, he calls me a workaholic and I’m still trying to deny it.) He’s right though. There’s no fire to put out. Slow and steady is the way to go. After all, I didn’t get into online business to drive myself insane.

The virtual world is fast-paced, but it can only go as fast as I let it. 24 hours won’t kill a big opportunity or mean that I missed a chance. The sun still rises each morning, and life goes on, even if I’m not an instant star. Yet.

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