Are There No Successful Women in the IM Space?
Ok I usually do not do this but this pi#¤%¤# me off.
First off I am not out to “go after” someone but I got an email this week from a guy that I respect(ed).
I am just amazed, are we living in 2012…
Is this the way Women are seen in the internet marketing buisness?
Are there NO successful women in the internet marketing space?
This is a quote from the email I got:
It's...
A...
(drum roll please)
WOMAN.
(And she's cute.)
Yes, would you believe it? There's a successful
WOMAN in the internet marketing space
Let me repeat that:
Yes, would you believe it, there is a successful WOMAN in the internet marketing space, oh my…
Look at all the successful women we have right here at WA!!!
I can name a few right here at WA and I would probably put Jennifer potpie girl in the front of the line when it comes to working with the internet marketing niche. I know the internet marketing space is dominated by men but to make this such a big deal 2012 blew me away. There are a lot of successful internet marketing WOMEN out there, some choose to go after different niches than the internet marketing space.
Some interesting stats:
- An estimated $546 billion is spent annually on salaries and benefits by women-owned businesses.
- Female-owned family businesses are 1.7 times more productive than male-owned family firms.
- Almost all income growth in the United States over the past 15-20 years came from women.
You can read the whole list here:
http://sparxoo.com/2011/11/16/20-greats-stats-about-women-in-business/
Am I reacting too strong on this? What is your take on this?
Recent Comments
37
Wow. I'm at a loss for words here. I wonder if some men don't consider many women-owned Internet businesses a success because they often relate around topics that women want to read/learn about. In fact, I came across an extremely successful blogger just the other day who blogs about home organization and managing a household. She is very successful, but not many men would ever think twice about her business.
Soooo many great sucessful women online!! And you are so right some of us chose to create businesses around topics that are close to us and yes those biz count too!!
Thank you !!
I've came across numerous successful mom bloggers over the years and it all take IM skills to get a blog to be successful and have a loyal readership.
Hey Veronica.
The last thing you can be labelled is "sensitive", I know for a fact you can take a joke. I'll sometimes play to the stereotypical side, and you don't get offended by my teasing. Nor should you. Or anyone. I certainly don't when I find the shoe (!) is on the other foot.
You've spent considerable amounts of your time, energy and talent on trying to educate me, so no-one can accuse you of not having a sense of humour.
I've read his whole email. I've been on his site.
How do I feel about it? Well, after I washed my eyes as they felt a bit grubby, I decided that even though I'm not a woman, contrary to the vicious rumours circulating in chat about Luke, myself and our love triangle with Sam, I could still comment. :P
This (much-less-than-a) gentleman's diatribe isn't in a throwaway line, which could be forgiven as a lapse in judgement or perhaps taste. The whole email was extremely tacky, and not in a good way. Like Miami.
So, maybe he believes that cute women can't be successful outside of a lap-dancing club. Perhaps he thinks business should remain the province of ugly old men. Who knows?
What I can say is, more fool him. He's the one that needs an education. Badly.
And, if he's that contemptuous of women, how is he going to treat me, a bloke, if I sign up with him? The first thing that springs to mind is he'll be greeting me with:
"Hello Sucker!"
OK, he's certainly guaranteed not to see another penny from half-the-population on the planet. The other half? Well, a lot of us are quite capable of raising our gaze to locate a female's brain. Nor are we at all surprised to find one. His attitude will certainly help us make our non-spending decisions.
So, why not look on the bright side? You've just caught a glimpse of the last of the brains-in-the-tail dinosaurs, making an indecent public spectacle of itself. :)
Rich. x
Hello Richi Rich,
Thank you so much for your comment, means a lot! You and I spend some time in the chat and yes there`s a lot of joking around and I love it. You are like one of my "colleagues" we shoot the .... and then you go on lunch break :).
I believe that is very "narrow" thinking to promote a product targeting the 16 year old (believe me if you are 16 and doing this AWESOME, just don`t by the shiny things from this guy) when you have a variety of people signed up to your list.
How could I miss the triangle drama... better log on some more :)
Rich you have a talent of writing, very engaging and great points.
Thank you!!
Rich, I always live reading your content, you have a knack for writing from the hip and I do encourage you to keep being "real" with all your writing regardless of the niche you are in!
That is true marketing, speaking the truth from your perspective, not trying to speak in a way you "think" other people want to hear the conversation (because we are far more likely to be way off when we do this).
This is a link to an article dated 09-17-2012 from the San Diego Union Tribune about the increase of businesses that are owned by women. And a local (to me) web company that helps women especially, men too (I joined their site), start up a new business. The Chic CEO website (chic-ceo.com) is free.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/sep/17/tp-startup-helps-women-start-up/
Unbelievable...
Although many "stats" appear to state there is steal payment inequality in the workplace, women have a more than equal opportunity in the Internet space and it is self evident by the members here at WA alone. You ladies rock! There is absolutely no gender discrimination online.
It comes down to work ethic, talent, drive, and the willingness to help people. It doesn't matter where you are from, who you are, or what gender you are.
And react however you like, this was not appropriate if it was targeted towards women. Not everyone is a 16 year old male and will appreciate that language. I know it doesn't capture my interest...
Thanks Kyle,
This is how the email ended:
"P.S. Don't let this girl's cuteness fool you - she's quietly been doing quite well from this hot traffic source"
So yes targeting the 16 year old male was probably what he did...
I do agree with you IM gives EVERYBODY the same oppertunity. Hard work pays off doesn`t matter if you are a man or a woman!
The only bias is between those who are will to work hard and willing to fail, and those that are not willing to do anything and those that fear failure (and end up doing nothing as a result).
its a sales pitch, and that's his business, sales of IM stuff, and you, being on his list are the target!
I've unsubscribed from nearly all of the "shiny objects" marketeers, whether they were WA spawned or otherwise. BTW PPG is "selling" the same program...go figure :)
Hi Phil,
I understand it is a sales pitch but there is a difference between sales pitch and insulting a big group of your subscribers.
I don`t have anyting against him promoting a product, I am well aware of that when signing up.
I don`t know anything about the product might be the best one ever, and if PPG want to promote it that is up to her. It is the WAY he talked about women when promoting the product that I disliked.
Hi Veronica. I'm not in the least surprised. IM is no different from many other sectors where there is a certain type of man who are complete dinasours. Idiots. Don't lose any sleep over it. Women tend not to boast about their success!
Hi Beverly,
To be honest it did surprise me and I was kind of curious if this was actually what people thought... You are right Women tend not to boast about their success.
Thanks,
Hi Veronica, I totally understand your reaction. I think the person who wrote the email had no intention of offending you (or anyone else) BUT this type of thing is very common in IM since it has been and continues to be male dominated.
When I was still joining other people's lists, I couldn't help but notice that 10 out of every 10 emails that I received were from men. It doesn't bother me so much now because a while back I decided to get off of other people's lists and out of their sales funnels. This dramatically reduced the number of emails that I receive on a daily basis. One of the few lists that I remain on is from Mary Ellen Tribby, who runs working mom's only.
So my take: unsubscribe
Hi there thanks for your comment.
I have no problem working in a male dominating business as long as there is mutual respect. In fact the people that I work most with are men I do not have a problem with that at all, I do not have a problem with receiving emails from them either.
What I do have a problem with is when they make comments like the one above.
Well a lot of IM products are aimed at single, young guys trying to make some money from their parents basements... and it is a simple fact a pretty women sells things to that group... the person you are quoting was probably aiming mainly at that group of people... may well not be his opinion at all, just marketing.
If you market to a list and if you are building a brand, you better stand for what you say if you put your name under it. I think that is very "narrow thinking" to think that the only group you target with an email like this is "guys in their parents basements". I know there is a unsubscribe button at the end of the email...
But that could be the whole point... a targeted list... the sender may well want you to unsubscribe from the list ... because this list is not aimed at you.
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Well, I can be the devil's advocate and take an egocentric position on all this, or I can agree with you that there are many successful women on the internet and in IM. I don't think that it serves anyone to be divisive.
So, go ahead and promote working women, you can feel proud of your sex if you like. Try not to loose sight of the other side though. It takes 2 to tango and all that.
Not really sure what you mean here...
I know for a fact that there are many successful women working online... most of them might not put there face on a IM product.
Promote working women? I gave some stats...
Loose sight of the other side doing what??
I understand that there are a lot of women working successfully in all fields. In fact most women have much more going for them in the brains department. Us poor unfortunate men just can't keep up with you estrogen fired machines.
This isn't coming out anything like I intended. But at least you have one more comment to add to the discussion.
Not really sure what you mean... Can`t really tell if you are joking or not Craig.. Sorry if the chat upset you in any way...