Advice: 101
"If you want what someone has, listen to what they say, do what they do, and you will have what they have."
Sounds pretty simple folks, then why do I see so many failing?
This blog is about 3 things-
1- Who I Am.
2- Simple lesson about following advice.
3- Summery of what you need to take away from this post.
1- I am Pete, or otherwise known here as 'Slugger_mn'.
I joined the wealthyaffiliate.com in 2009, and proceeded to find some success online as an affiliate marketer selling other peoples products on Clickbank, and then creating two of my own informational products. Before I knew it I was swamped with work, had 10 or so employees working on my projects, and couldn't slow down if I wanted to.
I left the Wealthy Affiliate a few years later simply because I was so busy working on my businesses that I just didn't have time to sign in, it had been nearly a year since I had signed in when I finally canceled my membership. I knew I would come back at some point. This is a wonderful place to be after all.
I have been a full time business owner since I was 18 year's old (now 30). I have never had a conventional 'job' since my high school days, I've never lived paycheck to paycheck, and I've never really wanted for much that my income couldn't provide for my family.
2- How come I could achieve this? Simple- By being able to identify quality advice.
I will be the first to tell you that 'a penny for your thoughts' is bad news. If your thoughts cost only a penny, I don't want them. This is odd considering some of the best advice I've heard came for free from rented books at the library, or articles online. Advice is abundant, good advice isn't.
So, why does this matter to you? Why does someone starting their online journey, or even a successful individual need to know any of this?
Internet marketing is the the business of re-birthing. Provided you aren't Facebook owner Mark Z, or some internet billionaire laughing at this post from their yacht off the coast of Miami, then it probably isn't news to you that the longevity of internet marketing campaigns isn't always LONG. I've had niches last 6 years, 3 years, 1 year, 3 months, and a few days before burning out, or just simply getting bored with them, and forcing another re-birth.
List of horse crap that kills campaigns-
- The traffic price increases for 1 of 100 trillion reasons
- The traffic disappears because the demand of the product disappears
- The product becomes obsolete or outdated
- The supply increases costs
- The list goes cold
- The conversion rate plummets for any number of reasons
- The list literally just keeps going
- If it works, others find it, others do it, ROI decreases, back to square one
So, what does this have to do with advice? Here is why, there isn't a day that goes by where I haven't needed advice to help guide my choices and identifying hokey advice is about the best asset I have next to networking.
A close friend often says opinions are like a** holes, everyone has one. While I enjoy his crude sense of humor, he's 100% correct. If there is any truth to the saying that 'those that can't do teach", then there is a serious problem with seeking quality advice online.
I was recently targeted by an old friend from the WA on Facebook for one of his campaigns promoting his webinar about his 'Three Step Program'. I'm not naming names, but I enjoyed catching him on my news feed, and signing up for his webinar, what are friends for after all right? (lol...)
He is one of 100's of Internet marketers teaching other entrepreneurs how to grow their online sales through online marketing methods, and while he is legitimate, so many of them are not. I see these every single day, and I read, and research a LOT, which only leads me to finding more offers for more training. How does one tell the good from the bad so they can figure out if they are hearing good advice, which if followed would yield them good results, or deeming the advice hokey/gimmicky which if they followed would lead them to lose more valuable money, or even worse, time.
3- My advice about advice.
- If it sounds good, learn it. You can always decide you don't want to try it later, but you should be learning everything you possibly can.
- Do your due-diligence when considering following someones advice. Vet your content provider. A simple google search often times brings me more then enough strikes to throw someone out of the ball game. If all checks out, start with small split testing so you don't waste a lot of money if it still isn't good advice.
- "I'll try anything once." Split test, split test, split test. Try anything that doesn't sound like rubbish. Track everything you do, and search your data for legitimacy.
- Simply ask. Ask for proof of funds, proof of concept, proof of anything claimed. Now days, everyone in the I.M. world is building up their 'social proof' for this product or that service. Use these platforms to respectfully ask questions. Don't be a pushover, you don't owe anyone anything. If you run into a bully that tries to make you feel small for insisting they provide some type of proof of their claims, push right back professionally and respectfully. You don't have to take crap from anyone, PERIOD. Not when it's your time, and your money.
- Accountability not Trust. Some business owners have actually gotten mad at me for saying this. One of my old joint venture partners didn't like that I didn't trust him. I told him in business, we account for everything, trust is for the birds. Work together, be respectful, be responsible, be professional, be accountable, and hold others accountable. Turns out he wanted me to trust him, because he had been embezzling from our business. Not always the case, but accountability would have made this more difficult for him.
- Track EVERYTHING. Track expenses, income, traffic, etc. Track absolutely everything. You cannot be successful without knowing how or why, and that information is hidden in the stats.
- If you want what someone has, listen to what they say, do what they do, and you'll have what they have. This is a very simple concept, STOP FOLLOWING PEOPLE THAT DON'T HAVE WHAT YOU WANT! Follow people that have achieved what you want to achieve in the area you want to achieve it! So many people fall for 'shinny object syndrome' (where everything you hear sounds so good, you just drop everything you are doing, and go do it! Then the next thing, and over and over again and again, never finding success with a single thing.) Stop it, you are better then that, find someone that has the life you want, and go to school on it.
- Finally, just because I'm successful, and give you advice, still doesn't mean you will have what I have. There could be numerous things that I have done to find my success, thing's I'm not transmitting, or you aren't receiving. Thing's that make or break you. So, keep working on it, keep striving for your goals, and keep looking for the right advice for where you want to be. Don't stop moving forward.
I am going to leave you with this thought. They say that over 90% of all businesses started, fail. If you are like me that mean's you are are thinking 'I guess I should start 100 businesses so I can find 10 successful businesses.'
That's the spirit.
If you take nothing else away from this post, take this. Size up your content provider, whoever they are. That mean's if you are being marketed to by someone selling a method or offering knowledge about achieving what you want as a business owner. Size them up, vet them, ask hard questions, seek legitimacy, and most importantly determine whether or not their life is something you want to have. It's okay to take a piece from him, and a part from her, and make your own dream life.
It's not against the rules;)
Best wishes, and Cheers to your success.
Pete-
Recent Comments
3
This is a fabulous post, Pete. It goes hand in hand with my 'I Won't Tell You What To Do' post. Love this a lot... and that line your friend has about opinions? I use a variation of it that tacks, "and most of them are stinky." to the end.
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What an awesome post, Pete! Thank you so much for taking the time to write it.
No worries.. I have a deep seeded fear of being preachy and arrogant!! I don't want that, and often times that keeps me from submitting posts like this..
But when I was a ready student, a teacher appeared in the form of the wealthy affiliate, and for that I am grateful enough to pay it forward if I can in the form of advice that has served me well!