[ad_1] Do you ever think about where all the biggest “one hit wonders” ended up? I’m talking about the bands that seemingly come out of nowhere with a song you just can’t get out of your head. For me it’s those lyrics of “Ice, Ice baby. Too cold. Too cold..” or “Don’t tell my heart. My achy breaky heart..” So sorry if those songs are now stuck in your head! 😂😂 After a while, one hit wonders always drop from the charts until you just don’t hear them anymore. The bands seem larger than life for a while, but then they fade into the distance and move onto something else. We also see this happen with athletes, businesses, and online entrepreneurs. Within the make money online space, you can probably name a few big actors that fit this description. You know, the guys that come out of nowhere and achieve massive success, but then you never hear from them again. I am very happy to say that hasn’t happened to me — at least not yet! #fingerscrossed 🤞🏽🤞🏽 I started blogging back in 2008, and I am still around and performing better than ever. Like it or not, I have staying power. I have also been able to exceed my wildest dreams in terms of income. It took me nearly a year to earn money blogging after I started Good Financial Cents, but my website has gone on to generate $10 million in revenue since those early days. $10 million dollars! I can hardly believe it, but it’s absolutely true. If you would rather listen to this post, and others here on the blog, please check out the Good Financial Cents podcast on Spotify. Here’s the episode on The Wealth Stack: 6 Key Reasons I Was Able to Earn $10 Million You may be wondering how I managed to stay relevant all this time, and especially when a lot of others have surged to the forefront only to slowly fade away. How have I survived and thrived? What have I done differently? I wanted to share these important lessons, mostly because I think it takes more than people realize to build something that lasts. #1: I Allowed Myself to Fail One key reason I’m still here is the fact I have let myself fail so many times. If I added up all my entrepreneurial ventures and the things I have tried, I know for a fact I have failed a lot more than I have succeeded. A lot of people don’t know this, but I was in a multi-level-marketing program (MLM) at one point! I have also made poor choices in real estate investing, and I have tried very expensive (and massively disappointing!) marketing strategies as a financial advisor. Heck, I remember one time I spent nearly $10,000 on marketing brochures that basically nobody read. But, you know what? It’s okay. Most entrepreneurs will tell you failing is part of the journey, and that you have to fail to find things that work. This may seem like a small detail, but this is a big deal because fear of failure holds far too many people back. Other times, someone will try one business idea that doesn’t work and give up their dreams forever. It’s understandable, really. I mean, you don’t want to disappoint your spouse, your church, or your family! But if you want to be truly successful for the long-term, you have to be willing to try things and fail. More than that, you have to have an underlying belief that you will be successful. If you want to give yourself permission to fail, you have to believe that something better is coming along every time. Along the way, you have to be willing to treat failures as learning experiences. As painful as it can be, there is always something you can learn why you try a business idea that flops. While I wasted a ton of time and money doing things that didn’t work, I made sure I gleaned at least one lesson from every failure. Sometimes it hurt, but this part of the process was (and still is) essential. #2: I Gave Back I also started my business with this idea of S.Y.N.R.G.Y., or “Serving Your Network with Radical Giving.” When you look at your network and try to build your client base and serve others, that’s where the magic happens. What do I mean? Over the years, I have served other bloggers by linking to them, quoting them, sharing on social media, and making an effort to get to know them. I have also tried to recognize areas where I could give back, and the results have been astounding. And, guess what? When you take the time to help others grow, they often return the favor in ways you never expect. That has often meant doing things to help my business as well, like linking to my videos or featuring me in interviews. I also started my journey as a blogger by answering as many questions as I could and taking the time to reply to lengthy emails. I have even used a tool called Loom to record videos that answered reader questions, and people were blown away that I would take the time to do that. But that investment of energy has helped me build a following that has stuck with me today. I drank too much caffeine before this pic #3: I Became an Expert Another way to have staying power is to become an expert in your field of interest. I’m a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), so that has helped me quite a bit. Even before I became a CFP though, I was generally curious about how things worked. And if I am curious about something, I strive to learn everything about it. I want to understand as much as I can about the topic. alphabet soup ftw! For instance, I knew almost nothing about search engine optimization (SEO) when I