Four years ago, I started a tomato garden.  I’m no gardening expert and I don’t have the greenest thumb, but I do love a fresh garden tomato, and that was enough of an incentive to get my hands dirty.

So I prepared the earth, fertilized it with tender-loving care and carefully planted my tomato plant.  Oh how I loved my tomato plant, watering it, ensuring its roots remained well covered and removing any weeds that could potentially take away from its growth and prosperity.

This continued for many weeks, and soon I began to see the fruits of my labor.  And they were red, and plump.  One day, when I checked in on my beloveds, I thought, finally, they were ready to be plucked.  Maybe just one more day.

And when the next day came, I raced to the backyard, eager and excited, with my woven basket in hand, ready for my bountiful harvest.  But apparently, I wasn’t the only one.  Waiting as patiently as I, was a family of racoons, who throughout the night had gorged themselves, leaving one single tomato on my lawn—with a bite taken out of it.

I was devastated.  So devastated in fact, that it took me four long years to get over my loss, and pick up my spade to try again.

What’s the point in trying again, the racoons will only eat them!

Why would I do all that hard work, only to fail.  Let the farmers handle the tomatoes!

Negative talk can sometimes get the best of us, especially when we’ve invested so much of ourselves into something that we feel passionate about.  When that negative talk turns into stalling, procrastinating and eventually abandonment, you know that you’re in trouble, and that it’s time to get back on track.

Affiliates can often experience this kind of frustration when building their online business.  You try something new out, and despite your best efforts, it is less successful than you had hoped.  You learn a new online marketing strategy and instead of making a return on your investment, you end up with a loss.  You get active with social media, but you don’t manage to connect.  You invest in a PPC campaign, get thousands of impressions and lots of clicks, but not a single conversion.

The key here, is to keep your goal at the forefront of your mind—not the challenges and obstacles that stand between you and your goal.  It’s easy to say, I want to earn $500 every month from my affiliate business, or $1,000 or $10,000.  But what if you translated that number into something really concrete—something tangible?

I want a new cell phone, and I want I want to make enough money through my affiliate marketing endeavours to pay for it.  I owe $10,000 for my school loan, and I want to pay it off in a year.  I want to take a trip around the world, and live in the lap of luxury, and not have to work a single day while I’m travelling.  Or maybe you want to promote products that you feel passionately about, or you want to demonstrate your expertise in a particular subject.

In my case, with my garden, it was my tomato sandwich.

And finally, this summer, I tried planting tomatoes again.  You better believe I was hesitant, plus I have two more kids than I did the last time around, and even less time to waste.  But you know what? Those tomatoes made it this time.  And damn they’re good.

Have a goal.  Keep it at the forefront of your mind.  And don’t let a few raccoons get in your way. 

What obstacles have you had to overcome? How did you do it? Let us know in the comments below.