Actually, this could probably apply to any business you may be thinking of starting. But for my purposes, I tend to stay within the world of my shirt shops. You can apply these Five Things to your own life or think I’m totally missing the mark. Either way, live with it. Loooove yoooou!

I’ve blogged before about being successful. Am I?  I think so. Why?  Because I operate a business that makes money above and beyond any overhead I have.  Am I rich?  No.  In fact I will probably never be rich based on my sales and effort alone. Who’s fault is that? To quote Van Hagar, “Mine All Mine.” The truth of the matter is that I have been totally wasting sales potential since day one of my first store on CafePress. Why?  Because I didn’t think it would work.  That brings us to the first and foremost thing you need to be a success.

This isn’t about religion or pushing a button every 108 minutes. This is about trusting yourself and having faith that you can smash through any ceilings that may have been placed above you. I didn’t have faith in my ability to make a sale because I’m a Doubting Thomas. I look at the world and the Internet as being 90% scam worthy with the remaining 10% being legitimate opportunities to make money from running a business. After all, the last couple of years have shown us that making money is only for schemers on Wall Street who do shady business deals and get huge bonuses for selling their souls. In the long run, is that really a good thing?

So, when I stepped up to the plate and clicked “Yes” on creating my first premium shop on CafePress, I gave it two weeks to produce some results. After that I would have to start paying to have that premium shop.  Had I been faithful, I would have been in it for the long haul and worked extra hard to make sure I could not fail.  But no, I simply closed my eyes and put luck in the driver’s seat.  In those first 14 days I had made enough to pay for an entire year of premium service.  I couldn’t believe it.  And then Yoda said to me, “That is why you fail.”

Yep, had I been a little more faithful I could have been planning the word domination of Mongo from day one.  Now, I’m trying to hold onto Oceania while the rest of the Risk board is filling up with other players’ armies. Like I said, it’s my own fault. I do this more for fun than a full time job. I already have one of those and it is the complete opposite of this kind of work. My work is done in a cube. My business is done in a recliner with the television on, scoping out pop culture lightning to capture in a bottle. Perhaps if the environments were switched I would be more successful.  Regardless, I guess I need more of the second thing on the list.

What's Number Two?