Prime The Pump - Give Before You Get
By Robert Smith   ©2004 All Rights Reserved

Five years ago, I made a decision to work towards working on-line full time. I started by reading everything about it. I subscribed to over a hundred newsletters dealing with home-based business and networking. I didn't have time to read them all completely, but I did learn something from almost all of them. Sometimes what I learned was what NOT to do. Give Before You Get
I've always believed that if you want to learn something, you should invest completely in the process. I invest an average of 20-30 hours each week just reading articles and learning from others. This is the information age. The Internet allows us to leverage and add value to information. I call this process "Priming The Pump." Let me tell you a story to illustrate my point.
A gold miner was hopelessly lost in the desert, he had run out water days ago, and the temperature was over 100 degrees. He was about to give up when he stumbled across what appeared to be an old abandoned water pump. He pumped it like crazy but no water came out. At the base of the pump, he discovered a tiny bottle of water, and under it he finds a note that read.

"I repaired this ole' pump, so it'll work if you try. Just take that little bottle of water and pour it down the well. It'll wet the leather washer and seal the pump. Then you'll get all the water you want."

Earning money on-line is not as easy as people believe it to be. The problem is that more than 90% of all newbie marketers do not invest enough into their business to prime the pump. A rocket uses most of its fuel just getting off the ground. So If 90% Fail Why Even Try?
You see, when you have little invested, you have little to lose. The more you invest the more you have to stand to lose. An invested marketeer doesn't give up - he can't afford to. Too much effort is wasted in search of a silver bullet, or finding a get rich overnight strategy. Big business interests want us to believe that a bird in the hand (a job) is worth two in the bush (long term residual income). The corporations have a vested interest in our continuing to working for them. They are accustomed to getting the lion's share of the profit for our efforts. Remember your earning power is magnified in a job and you must not only earn your hourly rate, you must also earn enough to pay all your benefits AND earn a healthy profit for the company. Giving up too soon is like drinking that little bottle of water, it is a shortsighted solution to a long-term outcome, and it only partly satisfies your thirst. If on the other hand instead of drinking the little bottle of water you use it to prime the pump you can have an unlimited supply. Success on the Internet comes through priming the pump - giving before you get. It's as simple as that. If you are serious, enough to want to be in that top five to ten percent in your business niche. Invest the time and effort to belong there. Develop valuable content in your area of expertise, everyone has expertise and everyone has a passion. Find yours and integrate it into your business. Prime the pump.