Most of us have experienced that moment at one time or another, in which we look around and it seems like everyone but you is making thousands a month online and you’re the only idiot making $300. (Hey, I’m still there.) But consider this from Yaro Starak’s Sometimes You Have To Reinvent The Wheel:

We can assume that every person who does nothing or almost nothing earns the same in return. That pretty much sums up the majority, but let’s go a little deeper so we can fully appreciate why it’s hard to succeed purely through replication.

When Mark @ 45n5 recently asked how long people think it takes to be able to pay your mortgage from affiliate marketing and they mostly agreed that it takes 1-2 years. Holy cow, I’ve been at this for four years, and I’m making a few hundred a month! Am I an idiot?
Yaro goes on to explain that he had three advantages. Ample time to work on his sites, five years of experience learning about internet business, and good writing skills. I had precisely one of those advantages. How many do you have?
I gave Mark’s post more thought after responding in the comment thread and realized: I didn’t have the tools I needed. I was self-educating and working on sites at the same time. I had a lot of dead-ends that wasted my time. I can admit I don’t spend every minute I could working on sites because I have a lot else going on in my life that I don’t want to miss, and I don’t regret that decision.
Yaro also points out:

You have to find something that is special, unique or above average about you (or your life situation) and use that when applying any system that you learn from someone else.

I’m a unique person. I’m not sure I’ve yet discovered what’s unique about me that would appeal to masses of people online. Maybe it’ll be my writing style. Maybe it’ll be something I haven’t even thought of, but you know what? If I don’t quit, I’ll find it sooner or later.

For most people reading this, if you are not succeeding at your goals at this time it’s probably because you don’t put enough concentrated energy into it. That’s not due to you being lazy or apathetic (though it’s worth considering these things too), it’s much more likely that you are not inspired to do it.
Above average output comes from people working with purpose. Purpose creates drive to go beyond the norm and to find purpose is not easy. You need the mindset, plus the tools and the vision. If any one of these ingredients are missing, it’s difficult to realize a result simply because you will face significant blockages.

It sounds hokey, but I totally believe passion is key. I visit sites where it’s obvious to me someone’s really cared about how they constructed it and what they put on it. I visit sites that look like they came out of some SEO starter kit. If I can feel the difference, so can people visiting my sites.
After all the reasons I listed above for why I’m not doing better, maybe the main reason is I didn’t have passion about some of my sites. Passion alone doesn’t cut it - I had plenty of passion for my hobby site, Project B-2 Bomber, only to realize a couple of years down the road it’s just not going to be a big earner ever unless I want to put spammy dating and weight loss ads on it, which would alienate the existing audience who expects more quality than that.
I was so stuck on the potential I believed B-2 Bomber had that I was missing the much greater potential Project Mai Tai has. It took seeing a similar blog take off and soar for me to realize I’d been onto something several months before that site began, and I’d let someone else beat me to it. Now that I get it, a lot of things are falling into place for me. It’s suddenly clear that I should spend most of my earnings on Mai Tai. That I should also spend a little time on my crap sites that are generating revenue so I have more to spend on Mai Tai. That my crap sites can later be converted into flagship sites if I want to compete in their niches. That crap sites have a purpose if they generate money for the long term sites you intend to replace your day job.
The most important element of success is perseverance. However many mistakes you have, however many instances of bad luck (and oh, I’ve had a few!), by sticking it out, you increase your odds of finding your sweet spot and making it all work.

Failure is only a delay of success.�*
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