8 Common Habits That Keep You from Growing Your Online Business

Most people never make more than $100 online, and the reason is almost never a lack of skill or a bad idea. It is the time-wasting habits they keep repeating without realizing it. Over years of coaching affiliate marketers and talking to people who are genuinely trying to build an online business, Alston Godbolt noticed the same patterns showing up again and again in the people who stay stuck.

This post covers all eight of those habits in plain detail. For each one you will find out what it looks like, why it kills momentum, and what to do instead. By the time you finish reading, you will have a clearer picture of what is actually costing you time and what a focused week of work should look like instead.

What You’ll Walk Out With

A clear name for every habit that has been slowing you down
The simple revenue test Alston uses to decide what to work on next
How to set a reverse-engineered income goal and actually hit it
The 6-month rule that turns inconsistent creators into successful ones
Why over-consuming information is often fear in disguise
The four steps every beginner should focus on before worrying about anything else
A decision framework for picking a platform and sticking with it
Not sure which online income path fits your background? Take the free quiz at finder.platformproof.com to find your match.

Habit 1: Working on Things That Do Not Bring You Money

The number one time-waster Alston sees is people spending hours on things that have zero direct impact on revenue. Designing a logo. Picking the perfect color scheme. Tweaking a website header. These things feel productive because you are doing something, but none of them are going to make a single person click buy.

Here is the honest test Alston gives himself before every task: Is this going to put money in my pocket? If the answer is yes, do it. If the answer is no, skip it until the business is actually generating income. A black and white site with zero styling will outperform a beautifully branded site with no traffic every single time.

The things that do bring money at the beginning are content creation and outreach to prospective customers. That is the full list. Once you have 10,000 views consistently coming in, then the logo matters a little more. Until then, any color will do.

Habit 2: Trying to Be Perfect Before Hitting Publish

Perfectionism is one of the most expensive habits a new creator can have. Alston talks about people who record a YouTube video and then spend hours in post-production editing out every single “um” and “uh.” Or worse, they watch the video back, hate how they sound, and never upload it at all.

The reality is nobody watching your content cares about the ums. In fact, small imperfections build more trust than a polished, corporate-sounding delivery. The viewer feels like they are talking to a real person rather than reading from a script. Imperfections build connection.

Alston’s recommendation is direct: as soon as you finish recording a video, upload it. Do not rewatch it. The data you get from real viewers telling you what worked and what did not work is worth ten times more than another editing pass. You learn faster by shipping than by polishing. Perfectionism limits your opportunity for success because it limits the number of attempts you make.

Habit 3: Working Without Any Concrete Goals

Saying “I want to make a lot of money” is not a goal. It is a wish. When you do not know your numbers, you cannot build a plan. And when you do not have a plan, you end up doing random work that feels busy but does not connect to any measurable outcome.

Here is how Alston approaches goal-setting. Start with a specific monthly target. For example: I want to make $5,000 this month. Then reverse engineer it. If you are promoting a $100 product, you need 50 people to buy. To get 50 buyers, how many people do you need to reach each day? Work backward from the number until you have a daily action target that is clear and countable.

For beginners, the goal should be low and attainable. Something like: make my first $1,000 in 30 days. Once you have that goal, everything you do either moves you toward it or it does not. The goal also gives you a way to know when you are actually winning. Without one, there is no finish line and no feedback loop telling you whether your current approach is working.

Alston recommends setting goals for at least four areas: the number of opt-ins, the number of people you reach per day, the number of sales or commissions, and the number of emails sent. Every successful person he knows tracks some version of these four numbers.

Habit 4: Over-Consuming Information Without Acting on It

There is a comfortable trap that keeps a lot of people stuck in permanent beginner mode: consuming information instead of producing it. They watch another YouTube video, read another blog post, buy another course, all while telling themselves they are not ready yet. They need just a little more knowledge before they can start.

Alston is blunt about this pattern. He says most of the information out there is telling you the same thing in different formats: go create content. Whether the advice is for faceless YouTube channels or talking-head videos or written posts, the core message is identical. You already have enough information to start. What is actually stopping you is fear, specifically the fear of failing publicly.

The best data you can get does not come from anyone else’s YouTube channel. It comes from publishing your own content and watching how people respond to it. A video that gets a hundred views and a low average watch time tells you exactly what to fix. No course gives you that feedback. Stop consuming and start producing. Consume one useful piece of information, then act on it before touching anything else.

Habit 5: Shiny Object Syndrome

Closely connected to over-consuming is shiny object syndrome. This is the habit of trying a method for a few weeks, seeing slow results, then jumping to the next thing. Drop shipping for a month. Then Amazon FBA. Then print on demand. Then affiliate marketing on TikTok. Then something else. The problem is not the methods. Every method out there works for someone. The problem is not giving any single method enough time to show real results.

Alston’s minimum is six months. Pick one method, pick one platform, and stick with it for six months before making any judgment about whether it works. The reason is simple: you need enough data to actually know something. Six months of consistent effort will tell you clearly whether the method suits your personality, your schedule, and your strengths. Two weeks tells you nothing except that things are slow at the start, which they always are.

This also applies to the people you follow online. Instead of watching fifteen different creators all promoting different approaches, pick one person you trust and go all in on the method they teach. If that is affiliate marketing on YouTube, spend six months doing exactly that. Upload consistently, track your data, and adjust based on what you learn. Every method works. The variable is how long and how consistently you apply it.

Habit 6: Being Inconsistent

Inconsistency may be the single most common reason people fail to build an online business. Alston says he regularly asks people how much content they have published in the last week, and the answer is often zero. Meanwhile, he runs multiple YouTube channels and multiple TikTok accounts and uploads every single day.

The online content space is competitive. In any niche, there are hundreds or thousands of other creators uploading regularly. Some are posting once a day. Some are posting multiple times a day. If you show up randomly, you cannot expect consistent results. The algorithm does not reward random effort, and neither do audiences.

One practical fix Alston suggests is batch creation. Instead of trying to create, edit, and publish one piece of content every single day, pick one day a week to make everything at once. Record all your videos in a single session. Write all your posts in one sitting. Then schedule them to go out one by one across the week. It takes planning upfront but removes the daily pressure that causes most people to skip days.

The challenge Alston puts to every person watching is simple: do something for your online business every single day for the first six months. Not every other day. Not when you feel motivated. Every day. If you are not willing to make that commitment, you should not expect consistent results. Consistency is not optional. It is the baseline.

Habit 7: Staying Stuck in Indecision

Indecision is a stealth killer of online businesses. People spend weeks, sometimes months, trying to decide which platform to use, which niche to pick, which method to follow, which tool to buy. While they are deciding, they are producing nothing. No content, no outreach, no data, no income.

Alston’s perspective is that this is not brain surgery. Nobody is going to die if you pick the wrong platform. If you choose Instagram and it does not feel right after six months, you can pivot to YouTube. Nothing is permanent. The cost of making the wrong decision and later correcting it is almost always lower than the cost of staying paralyzed for another month.

One of the most effective cures for indecision is joining a community of people working toward the same goals. If you are stuck between two options, post your question in a group of like-minded creators or entrepreneurs. Someone who has been at it longer will almost certainly have a perspective that cuts through the noise fast. Free communities, paid communities, Discord servers, Facebook groups. Any of them work. The point is to get an outside view and then move.

Habit 8: Worrying About Step 11 Before You Have Started Step One

One of the most surprising patterns Alston sees is people who ask detailed questions about forming an LLC, paying quarterly taxes, and setting up business bank accounts before they have made a single dollar online. These are real concerns, but they are completely irrelevant at the beginning stage. Worrying about tax strategy when you have made $0 is not preparation. It is avoidance dressed up as productivity.

If you have fewer than 50 pieces of content published on the internet, the only steps that matter are these four. First, identify the people you want to help and the topic area you are going to cover. Second, pick one platform where you will consistently publish content. Third, figure out what questions your target audience is already asking. Fourth, create content that answers those questions. That is the entire job for the first phase of an online business.

Once you have 50 pieces of content live and money is coming in, then you can think about LLCs and tax planning and the rest of it. Until then, those things will not help you make money, and every hour you spend on them is an hour you could have spent on content that does.

Not sure which online income path actually fits your background?

Take the free quiz at finder.platformproof.com to find out which platform and method matches your skills, schedule, and goals in under two minutes.

The Four-Step Beginner Framework (Before Anything Else)

Based on everything in this video, here is the exact four-step order of operations Alston recommends for anyone just getting started or anyone who feels stuck and needs to reset.

Step 1: Find your niche. Decide who you want to help and what problem you are going to focus on. This does not have to be perfect. Pick the closest fit and move on.
Step 2: Pick one platform. YouTube, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, a blog. Just one. Do not split your energy across three platforms until you have real traction on one.
Step 3: Research what your audience is already asking. Look at comments, Reddit threads, YouTube search suggestions. Find the real questions people have and write them down.
Step 4: Create content that answers those questions, consistently, for at least six months. Track what works. Adjust. Keep going. Everything else can wait until you have 50 to 100 pieces of content published.

The question Alston encourages you to ask yourself before any task is: Is this going to put money in my pocket? If yes, do it now. If no, put it on a list for later or cut it entirely. That single filter eliminates most of the habits on this list automatically.

Find Your X

Breaking these habits is only half the battle. The other half is knowing which path to actually put your energy into. Not every method fits every person. Alston has seen people burn six months on a method they were never going to enjoy because it did not match their schedule, their personality, or the skills they already had.

The free quiz at finder.platformproof.com is built to cut that guessing phase down to minutes. Answer a few questions about your current situation and it will point you toward the platform and income method most likely to work for you specifically. Take it before you commit to a path, or use it to double-check the one you are already on.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if a task is worth my time or just busywork?

Ask yourself: is this going to directly put money in my pocket? If you cannot draw a straight line from the task to revenue, it is busywork. Logos, color schemes, and website fonts do not pass this test at the beginning stage. Content creation and reaching prospective customers do.

How do I stop being afraid of publishing imperfect content?

Recognize that the fear is mostly about how you think you will look, not about any actual harm. No viewer is going to be damaged by a video with a few ums in it. The feedback you get from real viewers after publishing is far more valuable than another round of self-editing. Alston’s rule is to upload immediately after recording and not rewatch the video before posting.

What should my first income goal look like?

Keep it specific and attainable for the first 30 days. Something like making your first $1,000 in one month. Then reverse engineer it. If your product pays a $50 commission, you need 20 sales. If your conversion rate is 1 percent, you need 2,000 people to see your offer. Work backward until you have a daily number to hit.

How do I know when I have consumed enough information to start?

You are ready right now. Seriously. The core message of virtually every online business course and channel is to create content about a topic you understand and publish it consistently. You do not need more theory. You need reps. The real education comes from the data you get after publishing, not before.

Why does shiny object syndrome feel so hard to resist?

Because the new method always feels more promising before you have tried it. Once you are in the slow early phase of any method, it looks like it is not working and everything else looks like it is. The solution is to commit in advance to a minimum trial period of six months before making any judgment. That removes the decision from the moment of frustration.

What is the fastest way to become more consistent?

Batch your content creation. Pick one day per week where you create everything you will publish that week. Record all your videos, write all your posts, schedule everything out in one sitting. This removes the daily decision of whether to create today and replaces it with one weekly commitment.

How do I break out of indecision about which platform to choose?

Join a community of people working toward the same goals and ask directly. Post your two options and ask for input. You will get real perspectives from people who have already tested both. Then make the call and start. The specific platform matters far less than the consistency you bring to whichever one you pick.

When should I actually think about forming an LLC or handling taxes?

Once money is coming in consistently and you have at least 50 to 100 pieces of content live. Before that point, the time spent on legal and tax setup would be better spent on content. Those questions matter, but they only matter after you have an actual business generating income to protect and report.

Sources

Alston Godbolt, “8 Common Habits That Keep You from Growing Your Online Business,” YouTube, youtu.be/YOPqf93c51w
Alston Godbolt, alstongodbolt.com, affiliate marketing coaching and online business content
Platform Proof Finder Quiz, finder.platformproof.com

Helping 1 million working adults make their first $3,000 online with the skills they already have. Alston Godbolt, Platform Proof.