I started with eBay over 15 years ago and gradually moved on to affiliate marketing. Originally, I was buying and selling and came across an e-book that taught a simple eBay strategy. The buy and sell model was working. But he just wasn’t making much progress.

When I bought the eBook, it seemed like a simple strategy. The eBook was an automated sale. The owner just created an eBay listing and let it run. You could sell multiple items through that single list, plus customers could download the book, and there was nothing to do beyond creating the list and the book itself.

Despite some changes to eBay laws in the UK at the time, which meant that you had to ship a physical product in order for your item to be listed, it seemed like the perfect ‘autopilot’ business model to me. I created my own e-books and tried to sell them online, with little success.

However, I knew the idea was a good one, so I followed it! I knew there had to be a business model that would allow me to use the Internet to its full potential.

I tried many of the so-called “autopilot” money courses, many of which failed me. Over time I also became quite disappointed. But I continued because the alternative seemed to be my current reality of continuing financial concern.

I took several “money making” courses that used various tactics. The last one I did really worked. But it had been a few years and I was getting disappointed again. It wasn’t until I looked at myself as a possible problem that nothing changed for me. He worked the same tactics over and over and never really looked inward. This course that I finally found taught personal development as well as online business skills.

Maybe you think this is not important to you? I also thought this. But the problems persisted and he was always jumping from one ‘shiny object’ to another. I never grew personally while working in these businesses. I just ran the same programs and did the same things over and over again. It wasn’t until I started noticing my patterns that things changed.

I began to focus on changing my image of myself, developing my confidence, and developing my awareness. My language always let me down, and although I blamed others, it was my own “internal dialogue” that carried the “record” of failure. Whenever I talked about my internet business, I always felt that someone would quit. So I started talking about it before they could talk. In some ways, this mechanism appeared to be self-protection. But in other ways, he was creating the results he was imagining.

As I talked about my Internet business, I believed less and less in it. When I finally realized how little I believed in what I was doing, I stopped talking about it. I decided I would have to make it happen before I mention it again.

It is easy to let others destroy your belief in something when your belief is very weak. I realized that I had to prove it myself, before I could tell it to others. Otherwise, his skepticism would topple any belief he had spent months and years building on.

It is the belief that is the basis for building anything worthwhile. Without faith, nothing would even be done. No one would try something difficult if they didn’t believe it could happen. An internet business is no different.

Therefore, building your faith and protecting it is very important. Unless you’re already surrounded by entrepreneurs who convince, challenge, and motivate you, you’ll need to protect yourself from the never-ending barrage of negativity from well-meaning friends and family.

Most people just don’t believe in the possibility of making money on the Internet. Even if they do, there is a subconscious belief system for most that is geared toward staying “safe.” If it is possible to make a living full time online, then deny any endeavors that could be undermined by an easier or simpler way of doing things.

Because an internet business offers a means to stop trading time for money, it’s hard to reconcile this if you’ve been doing exactly that in a job or career. Especially if you have dedicated a large part of your life to it.

After believing, there is a real possibility of failing, or the doubt of getting caught up in something that is not totally correct. Again, this comes down to belief. When you need to reinvest in something, most people push the buttons. They do not believe that you can make a great deal of money with an internet business. People’s attitude toward money affects how they spend it. Often times, they cannot see beyond the way they have always seen money. This was me too. I held on to what little I had because I was afraid of losing it. Until I noticed and got over this fear, my business couldn’t move forward.

Thinking about making money on “autopilot” is overkill if you’ve had to work very hard to achieve it. It’s hard to let go of your attachment to money if, for example, it has taken years to save it. So there is a lot to leave and a lot to learn as well.

The technical aspect of an Internet business can also be challenging. You need to learn new skills and be able to follow directions. Although software and technology have eliminated many of the difficulties in creating an online business, there are still things to learn.

Once you start to see that things work with an internet business, it is a huge boost. Before that, you are trusting everything. If you don’t know anyone who is personally succeeding with an Internet business, you may be being cautious. This makes it difficult to take any leap of faith that you will need to progress. Investing in a business model and paying for advertising are two of those jumps.

For years I blogged in the hope that things would change. I was concentrating on the wrong activities. Until I found a good source of training and education, I was wasting a lot of time doing the unnecessary things to fill the time and feel productive. This is another easy mistake to make: being a busy fool.

Finding a community of people who are trustworthy and willing to share is worth its weight in gold. Without it, your chances of success are much lower. Developing your faith, finding people to connect with, and learn from are probably the two most important barriers to the success of an online business. Before belief, there is no action. When you know and trust others who are already building successful online businesses, you can follow their teachings.

It still takes patience to learn a skill like this, but it’s a lifetime skill if you don’t give up first.