Making a Living Online: The Generation Gap

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by JacobNeldson, Feb 15, 2010.

  1. #1
    I’m an internet marketer, but I don’t tell my family. The older the relative, the less likely I am to discuss my career. You see, I don’t think they’d quite understand. If I told them I swing an axe to chop lumber and make $100 per day, or heal grievous wounds for $1000 per day, I’m fairly certain we’d be on the same page. Those professions—lumberjack and doctor—have been around for hundreds of years, so they’ve become well established as things to do in life. “Internet marketer” not only sounds vague, but also it is a completely opaque field to most people. When I mention my profession to the uninitiated, all I get is a blank stare, because there’s no obvious association with a widely understood means of support. Many older folks would consider it a weird profession. And I can’t entirely blame them.

    Perhaps the lack of a physical product is what's so troublesome. Money is being constantly pushed around, but for the most part, nothing physical is produced. You'd think that people would be accustomed to this notion—after all, Wall Street has been pushing money around for decades—but there's still something intrinsically new and uncomfortable about the absence of physical product. One industry after another struggles with how the lack CD, VHS, DVD, or printed book affects the value of the material. What's the value of a song download? How about an ebook? These are questions most people have never even considered.

    Generating (a lot of) money online calls for some different skills and ways of approaching moneymaking than are widely understood. You need a solid understanding of both traditional human desires along with a grasp of the ways in which these desires have been modified and twisted by our online existence. First and foremost, we operate extremely quickly online. Click, click, click. If a web page doesn’t load in three seconds, 90% of us will just move on. If a page is not immediately captivating, tab closed. We’re fickle, and we love it. In order to capture the attention of a web user long enough to make a sale or generate a click, we need to submerge ourselves in the motivations of a specific group of web users. And that's only the tiniest tip of the iceberg.

    When you reveal that you make your living online, it sometimes becomes an uncomfortable admission. What skill set do you need, and, most importantly, how can your mother brag about her son's accomplishments to her friends when she herself doesn't even understand them? Make no mistake: the internet is still newborn. It's just taking its first tentative steps into our lives, and puberty is years and years away. As with any new profession, that of internet marketer will take a while to seep into our collective mind. I think it'll be different in ten years when making a living online will be easy to understand, but by that time, it'll likely be far less exciting.
     
    JacobNeldson, Feb 15, 2010 IP
  2. pratishtha

    pratishtha Well-Known Member

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    #2
    though people don't understand it but i do tell them and my family,friends every1 know what i'm doin and they even praise me for this.. tell them they 'll understand!
     
    pratishtha, Feb 15, 2010 IP
  3. dcristo

    dcristo Illustrious Member

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    #3
    I don't feel the need to tell people what i do for a living. I mean unless they get internet marketing, they will probably find the discussion pretty boring.
     
    dcristo, Feb 15, 2010 IP
  4. Live2Write

    Live2Write Active Member

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    #4
    Leave sharing about IM with the generation-gap elders, I dont even share with my spouse who is miles distant from the IM.
    As long as you do anything ethical and legal, I dont think there is any need to tell anyone either. Pro'lly I'd just quip, "I'm into a home-based biz."

    Regds,
     
    Live2Write, Feb 15, 2010 IP
  5. JacobNeldson

    JacobNeldson Peon

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    #5
    Respectfully, it's not so much about going around and telling people what you do. It's more about knowing what to say when you're asked what you do for a living :)
     
    JacobNeldson, Feb 15, 2010 IP
  6. br3adman

    br3adman Active Member

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    #6
    Well maybe instead tell them your in marketing they would understand that term better.
     
    br3adman, Feb 15, 2010 IP
  7. Traveling

    Traveling Peon

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    #7
    I like to disable people who ask me what I do for living by saying that "I'm a pornographer". Any further questioning typically stops rigth there.
     
    Traveling, Feb 15, 2010 IP
  8. Live2Write

    Live2Write Active Member

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    #8
    :D:D:D + for that! I just can't imagine myself saying that anyways. Tabooed here still!:rolleyes:
     
    Live2Write, Feb 16, 2010 IP
  9. powerlifer

    powerlifer Active Member

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    #9
    it can be hard at times people end up thinking you do nothing and are blagging your way through what you do for a living.
     
    powerlifer, Feb 16, 2010 IP
  10. nucleus99

    nucleus99 Peon

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    #10
    Yeh sometimes its good to keep your mouth shut if your an Internet marketer. Theres usually a 1001 questions that follow if you tell people what you do.
     
    nucleus99, Feb 16, 2010 IP
  11. jehnidiah

    jehnidiah Active Member

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    #11
    Depending upon who is asking, I'll go into what I do in some amount of detail, or I'll say "I work in marketing," which is general but specific enough of an answer for most folks.
     
    jehnidiah, Feb 16, 2010 IP
  12. mreb1010

    mreb1010 Peon

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    #12
    Or you could just say you're in Sales and work for yourself. Of course, than you get the question "What do you Sell" and I guess you have to come up for an answer for that. Right now, I still have my full time job and will keep it for a while because of health and dental benefits so the Internet income is extra income and nobody really questions because nobody except those close to me know about it and the ones that do don't really understand it too much so I just don't talk about it
     
    mreb1010, Feb 16, 2010 IP