Although we’ve become decent friends over at the APSense Business Networking site over the last couple of weeks, Philippe Moisan puts me to shame.

Here is the introductory text on Philippe’s about page at his blog:

My name is Philippe Moisan.

I’ve been active online since July 2010.

My favorite business social network is APSense.com. There, I have:

• written more than 300 articles.
• created 90 RevPages ( review pages ).
• created 40 videos to teach features of the site.

The title of his blog: Be Proactive Now | Stop overthinking or worrying, start doing, make mistakes, have fun!

Philippe Moisan is a guy who practices what he preaches.

He has fun doing what he’s doing, and he’s doing a lot of it.

Due to his persistent and consistent activity at APSense and elsewhere, Philippe is positioning himself as a leader among his peers and is a great example to those of us who tend to get too wrapped up in the minutia of internet marketing.

If he does something wrong, so what?  When it comes to building your reputation and your business it’s far better to do something wrong than to do absolutely nothing…. Perfectly.  I should know.  For much of my home business career, I’ve managed to do almost nothing, but I have done it perfectly.  I have been the antithesis of his blog’s title.

But, as they say, timing is everything.  If I hadn’t let myself be held back by my own flaws, I may not have had the pleasure of bumping into Philippe in the vast space of the internet.

Over the last 6-9 months, I’ve started bumping into more and more people like Philippe who bring a true positive energy to the internet and a sincere desire to lead by example and help others.

For that, I’m almost thankful for my struggles.

We have chatted at APSense about a number of topics and Philippe knows that one of my hot buttons is internet scams.  Like me, Philippe does not like to see so many others being led astray by the promise of easy money online.  Yep, there are opportunities out there that can create fast money for you.  The problem is that they are generally built either on lies and hype, or they are money games that will collapse.

Guys like Philippe show us that by being consistently proactive, you lay a solid foundation for business and personal growth.  As mentioned earlier, his actions are now starting to open doors for him to move on to the next level of internet leadership.

I could not write an article like this if I thought that Philippe was your typical gung ho guru that brought people in with hype and lies.  So far, I’ve seen just the opposite.  He appears to be a well-grounded individual that keeps his head down In the trenches and does what needs to be done with the intention of teaching others anything he can.

Even though we are not involved in any business together, emerging leaders like Philippe Moisan provide dawdlers like me with the inspiration to “Stop overthinking or worrying, start doing, make mistakes, have fun!”

I recommend you visit his blog and connect with him from the links on his about page.

Wait, wait.  Don’t worry.  We haven’t been invaded by aliens and the Rapture has not happened.

I’m referring to the thousands of people that I have watched disappear from their businesses over the years.

As the owner of Work At Home Network for nearly 11 years, I’ve watched thousands of people come and go from my site.  I’ve also observed this phenomenon on other forums and networks around the web.

Many vanish within just a couple weeks.  Some after a couple months.  And others might make it a year or so.

To be completely honest, I disappeared for a few years myself.  Luckily I found my way back.

So, why is this happening?  And, are you a “missing person” from your business?

There are as many reasons for this happening as there are people who’ve gone missing.  We’re all different.

When many of us started our pursuit of internet gold, we had absolutely no idea that we were embarking on a journey through what is still a cyber version of the wild, wild west.

Instead of ticked off Indians and wild animals waiting to scalp us or devour us for dinner, online we have ponzi scammers, professional hypesters, and charming internet gurus coming at us from every angle looking for the shortest route to our wallets.

Why do so many go missing?

Because they are confused, frustrated, angry,and  lost.

This whole internet marketing thing isn’t what we are typically led to believe as newbies.  It’s not always easy.  There is always more to be learned.  And we all need a chastity belt for our wallets.  One slip and the smooth talking con men have some of our hard earned bucks with promises of easy returns.

If you are reading this, congratulations on not disappearing, or welcome back from the milk carton.

If you’ve been around long enough, you may realize that there simply isn’t one magic bullet that will lead all of us to success.

Each of us has to find our own path to internet marketing success.

For some, it is blogging on topics they love/hate and have knowledge of, driving traffic to their monetized sites and earning money from contextual ads and affiliate products.

Others might have a knack for web design and search engine optimization, earning their incomes building sites for those less creative.

Then we have those who are great motivators and love to speak to people, making their money doing webinars, creating videos, pounding out podcasts, and anything else they can do to put themselves in front of viewers.

The web is a huge place and no matter how smart of dumb we think we are, we can all create a niche for ourselves that can be successful.

Don’t disappear before you find or create that niche for yourself.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

Put yourself out there.  We don’t bite and most of the people you meet are just like you.  They are finding their path.

Most of what you need to know can be found online for free at sites like I’ve listed here.  Be wary of those interested in teaching you their “secret” methods.  There are no secret methods.  Those who succeed do so via trial and error and persistence.

Stay focused.  Have goals and make plans to achieve them.  And never quit.

May we never go missing again.

In my time on the web, I’ve noticed many of us in the internet marketing world suffer from this horrible affliction.

If you are anything like me, you tend to come up with one great idea after another(well, at least we think they are great ideas )

The main problem with our “genius” is that we often tend to leave many of our projects unfinished as we jump from one to the next. I know I have a veritable minefield of unfinished work and ideas.

As I was searching on the net for others with this affliction, I stumbled across Andrew Wee’s article Internet Marketing Attention Deficit Disorder And A Solution?

I can’t come up with any better advice than Mr. Wee.

The main point of his article and advise is quite simple:

• • Go with the flow: You know you’re not cut out to do one thing for weeks on end, so don’t fight it. Break your day up into several pieces. Focus on product development in the morning (or whenever your peak periods might be), talk to joint venture partners or strategic partners as you feel you’re moving out of your zone. Answer email and tackle customer support issues during your downtime.
  • Focus, focus, focus: This was a major problem for me initially when I was doing consulting. You can take on 20 projects, and deliver below your optimal performance on all of them. OR you could charge a premium and work with your preferred 3-5 clients. If you work in performance incentives and revenue share, you might end up doing better with a select few, rather than attempt to take on the market.
  • Recalibrate, reorient and refocus: Take time out to audit your efforts. Is what you’re doing helping you move toward where you want to be? Evalute and do the equivalent of “testing and tracking” in your business. Jettison projects that are stumbling or backsliding. Declutter experts say there is limited space in your life. If you cut and clear away stuff that isn’t helping you (people, projects and places), you’ll free up more “space” for new things to come in.

Personally,I’m trying to hold off as much as I can on my next “great idea” and am working on what I’ve already started.

Some ideas I’ll be scrapping.  And the rest I willdevelop as fully as possible.

After suffering from a bit of internet burnout, I’m finally getting myself back into the internet marketing playing field.

For the past couple years, I’ve mostly been “lurking” around the internet.  One thing I’ve observed is the old adage that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Many of us are chasing the internet money making dream.  A rare few of us will ever attain that dream.

Scams and hype still abound in cyberspace just like they always have and always will.  Some will learn the hard lesson that while they may occasionally hit for some easy money, only consistent effort and perseverance will provide any chance of long term, sustained income from internet marketing.

As internet marketers, we not only have to keep pace with the rapidly changing rules of the net, but for maximum advantage, we need to attempt to stay ahead of the curve.  This ride is evolving minute by minute.

To those both old and new online, best of luck to you and keep at it.  Learn from your mistakes.  Don’t repeat them.  Don’t be afraid to fail.  We all fail.