What Internet Marketers Can Learn From Tyler Durden

I’m a fan of good movies, so naturally I’m a fan of Fight Club. If you haven’t seen it…see it. One of my favorite all-time quotes comes from Tyler Durden and can be directly applied to affiliate marketing. Then I started thinking, “Hm, I bet there’s a few quotes from him that can be applied to this industry.” Sit back, relax, and take some life advice from a fictional movie character…

It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.

This is one of my favorite quotes. If you’ve read my blog for the past few years, you’ve heard me say many times that Fear is probably the #1 obstacle to get over when starting a business. What if I lose all my money? What if I fail and look like a big loser? What if I let myself down? These are all questions you can’t be afraid of if you want to make it big, simple as that. That’s where this quote comes in and gives a delightful perspective on fear. Only when you lose everything are you absolutely free to do anything. Big deal if you risked all of your money on a business that bombed out. You gained experience, and now you’re free to restart and choose any path you want. Losing everything doesn’t have to be the end of the world, it can just as easily be the beginning.

Keep in mind all of this is said within reason, I’m not saying gamble away your life savings, but you have to take risks you might not want to take.

You’re not your job. You’re not how much money you have in the bank. You’re not the car you drive. You’re not the contents of your wallet. You’re not your fucking khakis. You’re the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

The things you own end up owning you.

I’ve seen a lot of internet marketers fall victim to the belief that Durden points out with this quote. They think they are the car they drive, they think they are the money they have in the bank, the penthouse they live in, the expensive clothes they wear. The more successful you become, the easier it is to lose your identity and create a new one based on all the material things you’ve gained. The more material your identity becomes, the less personal, ethical, and moral you become. I’m certainly someone who has taken a walk on the shady side of things more than once and I can relate to this quote. The one thing I constantly try to do now is keep my identity in tact, and remain the person I was before I became successful. There’s much deeper satisfaction in life when you can fulfill something that’s not just material.

Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing. Like the first monkey shot into space.

Internet marketing (and business in general) is certainly a rollercoaster of highs and lows. The higher the highs get, the further there is to fall. It’s important to remember that without the lows, there wouldn’t be a high. There’s been many times where I have campaigns that completely tank and go from hero to zero in a day. I sit back, tell myself “Alright, just do some work on it and you’ll revive this”. After a week of work, it’s not getting better. After 2 weeks there’s still nothing; it’s enough to just call it quits on that offer and move on. 2 weeks after that and I still haven’t found an offer I can profit on. The longer I go without seeing anything positive, the more bleek my reality becomes. Once I let that happen to myself, my motivation drops, I work less, and generally just become extremely counter-productive. The trick is trying to stay high even when things are low. This quote is a good reminder that pain and sacrifice are all part of the process, and becoming depressed and counter-productive about it won’t do anybody any good.

Hitting bottom isn’t a weekend retreat. It’s not a goddamn seminar. Stop trying to control everything and just let go! LET GO!

Sometimes campaigns just won’t work for you, no matter how much you try to make it work. At a certain point you have to be bold enough to just accept that you lost X amount of money, and move on. The more you try to control the situation, the deeper into shit you’ll become. Letting go is something any good marketer knows how to do. The skill of it is learning exactly when the best time to let go is.

You wanna make an omelet, you gotta break some eggs.

You can’t expect to magically turn $10 into $100 on your first try. You’re going to lose money, you might partially “break” your bank account, but that’s the only way you’re going to learn how to really make money.

That concludes philosophy hour for today. I’ll try to post something more tangible soon.


13 Comments

  1. Benny
    July 6, 2011

    Awesome man. I seen this movie abour 100 times :)

  2. July 6, 2011

    I love this movie! You should blog more uber, were missing your quality posts!

  3. July 7, 2011

    Very good post. When things go well its a great feeling. When things don’t go well it feels like crap! But a winner will keep going, while a loser will stop!

  4. July 7, 2011

    Good post, but not a fan of the new theme you got going. idk, maybe I’m so use to the other look for so long.

  5. Remo
    July 10, 2011

    Kickass post

  6. The Angry Russian
    July 11, 2011

    Damn man its been a while, but when you come back you come back with style (minus the new layout i think my eyes are bleeding).

  7. September 30, 2011

    nice post, especially the quotes were good!

  8. November 21, 2011

    Very good post …….thank u

  9. December 16, 2011

    Hey,

    Fight Club is one of my all time favorite movies.
    I agree, lots of wisdom is packed in the movie that most call disgusting.

    thanks for the share , really enjoyed it

    Peace out!
    Akos

  10. February 12, 2012

    Great article. Love they way you have blended your key points in with the details and quotes from the movie. Excellent stuff

  11. February 14, 2012

    This movie never gets old, and Tyler’s words of wisdom never cease to inspire. It’s definitely worth giving these quotes some thought no matter what it is you do for a living.

  12. April 28, 2012

    I liked the Quotes.

  13. April 29, 2012

    Hey, this is a great post! I really love the quotes!

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