3 barriers that stop you from making money online

I have been exploring ways to earn money online for 5 years now. In that time I spent so much money on courses, trying different things, learning new skills, and building my brand online. For most of that time I faced failure after failure after failure. Many times I even wanted to give up because I wanted to make money online and I wanted to make it fast, but that wasn't my reality. I was seeing all these people successfully do it and I couldn't help but think "what am I doing wrong!?"

Which is why I knew I had to share the 3 major barriers I faced when I first started and tips to help you become resilient should you face these barriers during your own journey! Feel free to take notes and add a page to that journal I was talking about in my previous post 3 Easy Ways to Make Money Online & Change Your Life Forever! Don't forget to refer to this page in your journey often to help keep you focused on your end goal - financial freedom!

When I started building my online business I was brought in almost 5 years of business operations experience and I thought that would be enough to get me started.

What I wasn't prepared for was the marketing piece of starting an online business. Whether you create digital products or start digital or affiliate marketing you need to focus on becoming a marketing whiz! If the thought of making content to promote your products makes you uncomfortable but you really want to start this new chapter of your life you need to break this marketing barrier ASAP!

I am going to share some tips I learned along the way but before I do I want to share with you the mindset shift I had to make to start seeing success in my own online business.

I associated marketing with sales. So in my mind to be good at marketing I needed to be a sales person. And I am NOT a salesperson, and I know I never will be.

I know this because I spent 3 months being one of those sales people working the little booths you see at a Costco. And if you don't know what Costco is imagine a huge warehouse sized store that sells literally everything. From food to clothes to furniture and everything in between. It's like a one stop shop for all your needs.

Well, Costco also has little booths where companies can use to sell their products to Costco customers. My first job out of college was being one of those sales people. I was selling Direct TV and I hated every minute of it.

I didn't like the sales approaches I was taught because they always felt inauthentic and morally wrong to me. I couldn't get people pumped up for a product if I didn't truly believe that product would be valuable to them. So it just felt wrong to me on so many levels and every person I tried to sell to saw that and never bought from me. Seriously, I think I made one sale with the help of my trainer when I first started but after that... nothing! I even remember going to the Costco bathroom and started crying because a customer who bought the service one of my coworkers sold to them came back and hated it and took their anger out on me, and I wasn't even the person that sold them the service! Like I said, I'm not built for sales. LOL.

If you relate to this in any way let me relieve your stress right now. Marketing isn't sales! In fact, the best marketing, the marketing that brings in the sales, tends to be authentic stories and testimonials. Good marketing tells a story that is relatable and the most relatable stories are the ones we live! So remember that journal I mentioned earlier in this post, and in my previous post 3 Easy Ways to Make Money Online & Change Your Life Forever, start journaling and you'll be building a treasure trove of real stories you can share in your marketing content! And if you are thinking that you're life is boring, you have no stories, it's the simple, normal stories that happen in everyday life that are the most relatable! Trust me you have stories to tell!

So remove that association right now. Marketing is not sales. And trust me, that's a good thing! It means people like you and I have a chance babe!

If you are still nervous about the marketing piece of your online business, read the tips I share below. Read them over and over until they sink in. Add them to your the journal you are building documenting your online business journey! Because if you approach marketing using these tips, you will start to see how fun, and beneficial, marketing is!

Another obstacle I faced was getting the right products out there. I spent so much time creating tons of digital products and getting tons of products to affiliate for so I can provide so many options and watch the money roll in. What I never thought about while developing my products was "why does my customer need this product" or "what will my customer gain from this product". I was too busy focused on just getting it out there so I can have more things online that will make me money.

I am telling you right now babe, DON'T do this! It will be the death of your business and a waste of your time and energy.

If you are creating digital products, make sure they serve a REAL purpose to your audience. Make the product so valuable that when they see it they think "oh, this will help me solve this problem I have been having". I started out selling digital journals because your girl here is a BIG TIME journaling addict. I seriously love this self care practice, (you will notice that the more we get to know each other babe).

But the problem with this approach is many people who aren't heavy into journaling, which was my audience, won't purchase an online journal because they don't understand the benefit of it yet. So I would launch one new journal after another and see no sales as a result. Don't get me wrong, I loved creating the journals, but the audience I was serving just couldn't see the value of it. So I spent all that time designing, to get nothing in return.

I made the same mistake with the products that I promoted with my affiliate links. I started out with the Amazon Affiliate program because I love me some Amazon! And I could pick anything to sell for a commission, seriously Amazon allows you to promote anything! And of course, I choose little things like a cute journal or a nice set of pens. Things that were cheap and therefore the commission tended to be a few dollars, if that!

So before you pick the affiliate products and services you want to promote & before you start creating those digital products think about these tips so you don't waste your time on products that aren't going to give you the sales you are looking for. I learned this the hard way so you don't have to!

Have you ever heard of the saying "don't be your own worst enemy"? Or have you taken any courses where the first lesson talks about mindset?

I will tell you this as someone with years of experience learning about the different side hustles that exist online. I also have a B.A. in Psychology from the U.C. Berkeley (go Bears). So I am very aware of the power of our minds! Seriously, your mindset will be the determining factor on whether or not you fail or succeed at whatever you try. No matter what it is.

Which makes sense because our mind is how we perceive the world, and our role in it. It can be the fuel to our fire, our biggest asset. Or it could be our biggest obstacle and worst enemy. It's honestly up to us. I always tell my customers, friends, and well... anyone that will listen, "You are the only person that is going to be by your side from your first breath to your last, you might as well enjoy your own company".

When you start this next chapter of your life, you must be your biggest supporter, the ultimate fan girl for yourself. The person that truly believes you can do anything. Because the moment you start listening to your self-doubt, the moment you start letting your limiting beliefs influence you, is the moment you will fail. But let me tell you another thing about mindset here, just because you fail, doesn't mean you can't keep trying. Failure doesn't mean stop, it means adapt. And if you can shift to a growth mindset that sees failure as a stepping stone to success, your growth will be UN-FREAKING-STOPPABLE babe!

So if you are truly serious about starting your online business. Whether you decide to sell digital products, promote affiliate products and services, or a combination of the two - you have to approach it with a growth mindset, one that attracts money by growing and learning. With these tips you can ensure you start your next chapter the right way!

In fact, one of the digital products I created for myself that has actually provided TONS of value to my fellow boss babes and fellow creatives is the Mindset Guided Journal. I use this journal every 3-4 months to ensure I don't go back to that annoying limited mindset I was stuck in and continue to embrace the growth mindset that has changed my life! I highly recommend using this as a resource to keep you on track, because YOU ARE WORTH IT & DON'T YOU FORGET IT! Seriously, don't forget it. Your business & future self will thank you!

I am sharing this because I wasted too many years running my online business with the wrong mindset! And like I mentioned earlier, I come from an extensive background in Psychology and I still fell prey to my self-doubt, limiting beliefs, and low self-confidence. It almost destroyed me. And I don't want the same for you! It was truly awful and almost pushed me to quitting.

But another HUGE reason I am doing this is because us women are told by society, the people in our life, and even our boss and coworkers that we aren't good enough, aren't skilled enough, aren't strong enough, aren't talented enough, aren't educated enough, aren't experienced enough... I could honestly go on. And let me tell you, I am so MF tired of hearing that B.S. Because that's what it is, utter B.S.

Now, I see it for what it is. False, limiting beliefs trying to keep us in our place. Trying to keep us in a supportive role. Well no more babes! I created Boss Babes Mindset, the site you are reading this on, for my fellow women who want to prove just how powerful and enough we are! Not just to the world but to ourselves! And that starts within, with our mindset. Then, once you take care of that beautiful mind of yours and channel that growth mindset we talked about - the online world will be your oyster!

The choice is up to you and if you want to do it right the first time, and not waste years and money trying different things out like I did. I recommend building your own Affiliate Hub that you can jam pack with anything you can that will provide value to your customers' lives. Promoting products and leading them to a real website with a real story showing the value of the product or service will look good to your audience and the platforms that you promote them on, keeping your account safe from being deleted or flagged as spam. Seriously, I've heard horror stories about people posting their direct Amazon affiliate link on their pins and promoting tons of products and being flagged by Pinterest because of it.

Having your own resource hub is the perfect way to provide your audience with everything you can to enhance their life and solve their problems all in one place! Meaning they will want to come back, maybe join your community and get to know you, and eventually you become a trusted partner and friend they will turn to when they need more value, help, and support (which only helps you figure out new ways to provide them with that value). And when they go online to find you and get more value from you guess what... your hub will be there! It's a truly beautiful cycle!

To learn more about this method I recommend meeting my friend Vick, he helped me build this very hub you are in right now and he can do the same for you! I built mine in under a week which means you can do it too!