I sat watching a documentary on U.S. Navy SEAL Team Training on the local exercise channel. It showed young men, mostly in their early 20's, enduring grueling ocean swims in near-freezing water. It showed these same young men forced to swim underwater (holding their breaths) until a major percentage of them passed out and had to be rescued by their instructors. It showed weeks of grueling training in which ordinary men are transformed into incredible machines with wills of steel and unshakable discipline.

Sitting... transfixed, and marveling at what these young men were able to accomplish, I saw the one missing element that most online business people are missing. I saw an ingredient that if more of them harnessed it, they would be able to accomplish things "in their world" as magnificent. That one secret ingredient is teamwork. It was the group cohesiveness, and the fact that they were all working for a common purpose that allowed the SEAL Team trainees to accomplish what they would not normally be able to do.

Enter the realm of the online entrepreneur. He sits at his computer, researching, writing and testing ads, tweaking his webpages in an effort to achieve greater search engine ranking, and doing a dozen other chores. Many of these online entrepreneurs do this all alone. They attempt the monumental... to build a six or even seven figure income while operating in a vacuum.

Step back and observe the Internet marketer earning several hundred thousand to several million dollars per year. He doesn't operate in a vacuum. I know! I lived among and studied these people, and in the process became one of them.

Let me emphasize what you may not be noticing on a conscious level:

• Successful Internet marketers all have mentors. Actually many of them mentor each other. They don't fear sharing things they've learned through trial and error with those who will share back with them. They all "cooperate and graduate." They don't have the "scarcity mentality." They know that through cooperation the pie actually gets bigger so they each get a bigger piece.
  

• Successful Internet marketers often have coaches, or managers. They do this for the same reason that successful athletes, politicians and celebrities all have coaches or managers. They know that others can often step back and observe what's happening in their lives more objectively, and then make sure that they're only doing things that will move them towards an identified goal. These coaches will push them and challenge them to do more than they would probably do on their own.
  

• Successful Internet marketers have formal and informal brainstorming or masterminding networks. Napoleon Hill, in "Think And Grow Rich," pointed out that this was a common trait among the millionaires that he studied too. Put several people together who have a common interest or goal and it's a natural breeding ground for breakthrough ideas. The masterminding can be long distance, via conference calls, but it's usually more productive when it's at an in-person gathering. These gathering can be as infrequent as twice a year, but they have proven very
  
  
  powerful!
  

When you think about why the above factors of extraordinary accomplishment are so powerful, it seems to boil down to one word. That word is... accountability. When you've made a commitment to a group to work towards a common goal, that's much more effective than if you just made that commitment to yourself. There's the incredible social pressure of not letting the group down. There's knowing that the success... or failure... of someone else hinges upon your actions. That's an amazing force that you can tap into today which will allow you to do things that you had previously not even imagined possible.

Now that you know the secret, if you're serious about building an incredible online business you only need to harness it. A good place to find people who are ideal for teaming up with is at seminars and conferences. That's why I attend so many. On breaks, at lunch, and after hours, I bounce ideas off of those with perhaps differing points of view, but with similar objectives.

While seminars and conferences offer lots of useful information and provide a motivational lift in-and-of themselves, my observation has been that the real "money" is made after-hours. That's where small groups of friends, who only became associates through these events, sit around and put together deals and flow out large projects. They do it around the pool or huddled in an individual's room. They don't just brainstorm, they make long-term business commitments. These are commitments that muster in them the same type of effort that I witnessed in the Navy SEAL trainees swimming in the freezing ocean water.

I encourage you to stop procrastinating and act upon this obvious but too-seldom acted upon gem today. If you need help locating events where you can look for ideal partners, visit my resource website:

http://InternetMarketingSeminarSchedule.com It lists a variety of events, and might even offer some very convenient to where you live. Break out of your shell of mediocrity and do it today!

As an aside, the next event that I'll personally be at is Michael Penland's Internet Marketing and Joint Venture Super Conference, in Orlando, Florida, December 3rd - 5th. There will be a lot of people there looking for proactive potential business partners. That's the whole purpose of the conference. You can register for it today through a special link I've arranged for my clients and friends at:

http://www.instantcashmarketing.com/WillieCrawfordSpecial.html

Copyright 2004 Willie Crawford

Willie Crawford is a corporate president, published author, seminar speaker and host, tele-seminar speaker and host, retired military officer, karate black belt, network marketing trainer, and lifetime student of marketing. He shows people how to actually generate substantial income on-line using very simple systems. An example of such a system that you can use is at: http://ProfitMagician.com.