“Don’t expect to make any money overnight†“Leads, sales, and customers just aren’t easy to come by, you’ve got to pay your dues†Think about the first time you got started in this business. What was the conversation like with your family and friends? Was it something along the lines of the above two statements? Maybe you were once in a sales position, or any position for that matter in the corporate world, and you were told by your co-workers and boss that “If you make it to the top, you’ve gotta learn the ropes…ya know, success just doesn’t come to those who are fresh meat…you’ve gotta take a back seat to us old timers, sit back, and work your way up the ladder like we all had to do†This kind of conversation happens all to often when someone decides to break free from corporate America and start their own business. People tell you you need to wait a few years before things start to pop off, THAN you can expect to see profits. First of all, success isn’t guaranteed to anyone. There are many stories of people who have been in this business for several years, and have yet to turn a singal lead, let alone a sales or conversions. Secondly, If you wait for your turn to shine by standing in line, you WILL be standing with the losing masses. Frankly, you will be standing in line for a very looooong time. So what do you do? CUT in front of the line. No one’s stopping you but you. I promise you that. The whole idea of “Paying your dues†and not expecting results in a fast paced manner is B-S. This is the kind of advice screaming at the top of every failed internet marketer’s lungs. “Why do people scream out this kind of advice?†you ask Because the majority of people FEAR the responsibility that comes with success. But you are NOT the majority, and you need not fear success, because although success may come with its own sets of challenges…you will adapt, and you will enjoy the fruits of your efforts. Believe me, success is a much BETTER problem to have, than to have to live with failure. Just ask your local 42 year old McDonalds employee. Here’s an interesting scenario If you’ve ever been to a popular night club (as I have), you will find long lines stretching for blocks around corners. But there are a few savvy people who work right up to the front, palm the bouncer a quick $20, and waltz right in. Often times, you don’t even have to slip money in their hands. My personal strategy is to befriend these people before clubbing hours , get to know them on a personal level, leapfrog the entire crowd, talk to the bouncer whom is now a “good friend†of mines, and walk in for free. (If you’re a party animal, you have to be GENUILY interested in the bouncer for it to work) I do this often, in business and my personal life…and it’s so incredibly easy to do it ain’t even funny. Unfortunately, most people have a “Herd Mentalityâ€. People, by nature, follow what everyone else is doing. We were taught to stand in line and follow everyone in front of us – single file please. The mentality of waiting in line is for people who unconsciously seek mediocre results. Business is no different. Most are doing the same lame s***. Most are learning the ropes, waiting his/her turn, paying his/her dues – getting mediocre results. Even if you’ve been in this business a long time and have been following the herd mentality, I’m here to tell you that IT’S NOT TO LATE to go from unknown to celebrity in a matter of months or a couple of weeks. But if you know certain “tricksâ€, you can jump right in front of the line and cut off everyone else. So the question now becomes, “What is the trick?†Become an Expert. Period. If you become the “go to guy/galâ€, people will blindly follow your lead. The experts are known and that’s who YOU want to be. Not some ordinary JoeSchmo. And here’s the kicker : Most believe there is some long, drawn out process to become this expert. But the truth is, you can declare TODAY to be that expert. As a now self-proclaimed expert, you must NOW leave your ego for DEAD. Ego is your concern about what other people feel or think about you. It serves no underlying purpose to growing your online business. Don’t be sensitive to negative remarks. Prepare for negative remarks, and let it roll off your back. People have negative feelings about success, coincidently, they also have negative feelings about people being able to skip the line and get to success quicker than they have. You may be familiar with the term “JEALOUSYâ€. Like I said, just ignore it, and don’t feed on it. “What happens if you DO have a strong EGO?†When new ideas, techniques and strategies are presented to most people, their ego doesn’t allow them to accept the full value and potential of what these ideas hold. Because of their past experience with marketing and business, they start blocking out and reducing the effectiveness and power of new ideas. What this means in marketing and business is this: If something isn’t working – abandon the ego and seek help to learn how to make it more effective If it still isn’t work, seek more assistance, from experience business owners and marketers to analyze the problem and fix it. If it STILL isn’t working, don’t allow your ego to hold onto your “brain child†while you consistently lose money, hope and faith. At this point, you want to put it on the back burner, and consider trying bigger, better and stronger ideas that ARE working. If you keep up this refining process, believe me, you WILL see SUCCESS. It has been a pleasure writing this thread. Feel free to leave any comments or questions you may have. PM me, I am here to help as much as I can. I check my PM’s every 3-4 days - be patient, I WILL get back in touch with you. Stay tuned for Marketing Lie #4 of this 5 part Series.
While it is definitely possible to make money overnight (many of the top marketers make more during one night of sleep than many people make in a week at a full time job), I don't think that beginners are going to have that much luck at first. When you are first starting out with internet marketing, it can definitely seem hard to make money/get leads/etc. With more time and work though things will start to click, you will get better at certain aspects, and eventually you will find it easier to make one sale a day, two sales, 20 sales, etc. So I agree and disagree with that "lie."
It is not really easy to make money online if you don't know what you are doing. That is why I run a blog trying to teach people how to make money online. This post was really long, I skim read this one
Very interesting post. I would definately agree, starting out in business myself, that it is not what you know, but, "who you know"
I agree in some sense but also disagree it depends if you know where to go to test out your product I have several sites that show members where to advertise for free it just takes effort.
5. Hum This Tune; “Don’t Know Much about Strategyâ€. This speech details how a marketer’s time is best spent divining the right marketing tactics (direct mail pieces, advertisements, tradeshows etc), instead of putting together a complete, integrated, multi-channel program aimed at a target audience that actually gets results. Disparate marketing investments that have no correlation to each other are much more sensible and memorable. 4. Yesterday’s Gone, Yesterday’s Gone. Taking a note from the Fleetwood Mac, this speech highlights the need to keep only the last ninety days of customer transactions and purchase history in the company data warehouse. It’s really best to store historical data on CD or tape drive, preferably offsite so it’s inaccessible. After all, data warehouse storage costs money, and it’s unnecessary to understand context when building marketing campaigns or generating sales offers. 3. Life in a Bubble. One of the most popular speeches, this talk describes a very limited need for a robust and continuous competitive intelligence function because competitor moves, acquisitions, and sales strategies are irrelevant. The audience of this speech will come away understanding it is important to spend as little as possible on competitive intelligence and analysis, so there’s more money available for national print advertising. 2. Upgrade the ERP but Hold Off on that “CRM Thingâ€â€¦ This speech details how precious IT dollars should be spent on the latest ERP upgrade with all the new bells and whistles, while the CRM software licenses sit on the shelf and collect dust. Sales, marketing and service never mattered much anyway. 1. We Work Better in Isolation. Forget about attempting to bridge the divide between sales and marketing. Sales people are the enemy. This speech describes how to isolate the marketing function from sales so that the best advertisements, collateral, and assets can be created independent of the needs of the sales force. Added bonus; this speech discusses the common fallacy that sales people are responsible for a marketers paycheck. -------------------------- francis Buzz Marketing