Seth Godin is a well-known marketer who wrote a little book called The Dip: When to Quit and When to Stick. The book talks about when you should keep working at something, and when you should just give up and call it a day.

Seth says the common saying about winners never quitting and quitters never winning is just wrong! Sometimes winners do quit, and sometimes quitters really do win. It's about knowing when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em – a good life lesson. And in the Internet marketing industry, this is a lesson we all must master to save time and money.

Whenever you start a new project, it's usually very exciting. It's fun, it's new, and it's a lot easier to stick to. After awhile, the project starts to lose your interest. It starts to get boring, and then it gets a lot harder to stick to.

A Dip is only temporary. If you keep working at it, you'll break through it. But sometimes it's what Godin calls a Cul-de-Sac, which won't get better. You could try and try and you'd never make it out of your rut.

You shouldn't always keep working at something because if it's going nowhere, it could be preventing you from realizing success. So many people will tell you to keep pushing no matter what – that it's the only way to be successful. That's not always true. Smart people know when to escape those dead ends and walk away.

Yes, winners do quit. They quit while they quitting's good. They quit when it makes sense to quit. People who fail a lot generally fail to keep going when times get a little rough. Sometimes they'll even keep going when they know deep down they're fighting a losing battle.

If you train yourself, you can eventually learn to tell when you should quit and when you should keep pushing. It becomes second nature. Until then, there are a few tips you can use to decide whether or not you should maintain momentum with a specific project.

First, ask how long you've been going. If you've been going quite awhile, giving up might be a waste of the work you've already put in. Then again, if you've stuck to something for a very, very long time and you're not seeing any results, it would be ridiculous to keep going.

Next, ask yourself if the potential rewards are worth it. If you're busting your butt to carve out a big chunk of a very tiny niche, maybe it really isn't worth it. Will that tiny niche ever be worth the mammoth amount of work you're putting in?

On the other hand, if you're already making some headway into a very large market, giving up might be a bit premature. Why give up on a major cash cow when you're already halfway to the barn?

Finally, ask yourself if it's REALLY worth it. Don't think in terms of money – think in terms of your LIFE. You're the one putting the time, effort, and money into a project. If the potential reward doesn't seem worth the hassle anymore, maybe it really is time to give up.

After all, most of us wouldn't be willing to sell our soul to the Devil for fame and fortune. So why sell your soul to this project? If your heart just isn't in it, consider getting out while you can.

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Before you get started in this industry, you have to analyze your own mindset to see if you have what it takes to be an online entrepreneur from conception to fully-functional success operation. It's not enough to say you want to make money or be your own boss.

Everyone wants those things, but not everyone can achieve those goals. It takes a special person. You don't have to be a workaholic or be willing to engage in questionable marketing tactics. You just need to have a few characteristics that are common to most successful Internet marketers.

This industry requires deep commitment. If you're the type to change jobs with your moods, then stick to a 9-5 gig. You're building a business and it takes time, effort, and tweaking to make it work.

Perseverance and a positive attitude can make or break an entrepreneur. You're going to have down times. Every marketer does. Something will go wrong – whether it's a freelancer who didn't deliver on time and threw off your launch date or a JV partnership that fell through. If you panic and shut down, you'll tarnish your reputation as a true professional.

The great Internet marketers don't fly by the seat of their pants. They believe in being meticulous planners. They make schedules and plans for their day, week, month, year, and even further down the road.

They plan every step of a launch before the product development even begins. They plan every single detail they can think of. The more meticulous you are with your plans, the fewer things there are that might go wrong.

To become an authority in your niche, you need to exude confidence. Even if you're worried, anxious, or unsure of yourself, what you project must be that you have it all together – you can't be paralyzed by fear.

Are you willing to be a student for life? No successful marketer gets to the top and stops learning this industry. That only means you'll eventually become the prey of another hungry marketer who's stayed on the ball with up-to-the-minute solutions and practices in your niche so that they can become king of the mountain when you let your guard down.

You have to know how to get from point A to point B on your journey to achieving financial independence. Do you know what you'll say when your in-laws or spouse questions your "career?" If you're a fearless marketer, the inquisition won't bother you a bit.

If you aren't sure how to develop a blueprint for your success, don't know how to set and achieve goals, or have a mindset that's not in sync with that of victory, then work on those things before you quit your day job and set off on this voyage. You want to be mentally prepared for the ups and downs along the way.

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The short answer is, "No." You can effectively launch an Internet marketing career without a single dime. All you need is a computer and an Internet connection, which does cost money, but we're assuming you have those two components already.

Many a marketer has gotten his or her start as an affiliate marketer. Aside from shuffling around in your attic to find something you can sell for a profit on eBay, affiliate marketing is your best bet for a zero-dollar start-up business in the Internet marketing industry.

All you need is a free ID that you can get on PayDotCom, Amazon, Commission Junction, LinkShare, or ClickBank (to name a few), and the ability to learn about free traffic sites and you can begin generating an affiliate income without investing a penny of your own money.

That said, it's best if you save a few dollars here and there to invest in some tools that are going to make your Internet marketing efforts a whole lot easier. For instance, you could sit around and brainstorm for five days to get a list of keywords – or, pay for a one-day subscription to WordTracker and harvest thousands of keywords in less than an hour.

You could also use nothing but web 2.0 social sites that are free, such as MySpace or Squidoo, to host your content and affiliate links. Or, you could pony up the $9.95 one-time fee for a domain name and $6.95 a month for hosting and have your own business presence on the 'net.

You can also spend days and weeks searching for information about how to do a task that will help you make money as an Internet marketer – such as how to master pay per click advertising.

Or, you can invest in a step-by-step guide t shorten your learning curve. What most marketers suggest is to take a look at your budget and see what you have to invest. If you have to start out with nothing, go for it – but set aside a few of your profits to pour back into your online efforts.

Everything you'll invest in is built to ease your workload and hasten the procedures, so your income will increase faster and with less input from you as you learn to wield these tools in your favor.

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