Play Within Yourself...
In Golf, Internet Marketing and Life
 By
Ken Evoy,
CEO SiteSell Copyright © 2007
This article picks up where my last article about
"Mooch Marketing" left off.
That article explained how Master Mooch Manipulators sell products and services
at ridiculous prices to "mooches," the gullible who would love to believe
that, they too can be the Tiger Woods of Internet Marketing.
They show you "Tiger Woods" (i.e., THEIR own success story) and we'd all
love to play golf like Tiger (speaking metaphorically), right? But they aren't
teaching you how to swing like Tiger.
The problem is that none of us has that type of talent.
All they actually sell with that dream is a shiny-but-broken putter... for
the "incredible act-now-before-the-price-goes-up/limited-seats-available"
price of "only" $3,000.
How do they get away with it?
Well, we would all really love to believe that we really could do that...
if only we knew "the secret." And the willingness to buy into that dream
causes us to pay crazy amounts for that broken putter.
Result? Broken dreams. But there's always the next time.
Ah, "the next time" ... People who have paid once for these false promises
are extremely valued clients. Known as "mooches" by these relentless marketers,
their names are traded on lists and cross-sold ruthlessly.
Continuing with golf as the analogy...
Here's my best advice on how to maintain perspective and resist these
dollar-sucking exercises in futility...
When I thought I was retired 10 years ago (before discovering the Internet!),
I studied golf intensively. I would hit 500 balls per day, trying to perfect
my swing. I dreamt of breaking par, of playing a pro-level round of golf.
I loved it. But I was never able to swing and strike the ball the way a local
touring pro (who played at our club) could.
One day, this pro asked me to give him lessons. He knew that I knew the game
and the swing, even if I couldn't play anywhere near to his level. As I coached
him, I'd watch him process the information and easily execute in a way that
my brain and muscles could not. He was wired differently.
He went on to become the most improved player of the year and won a major
local tournament. He graciously and publicly gave me credit for completely
changing his game.
Here's the story.
Now, with the publicity that I received locally, I could have sold "the secret"
to hundreds, even thousands, of average players at outlandish prices. (Even
his pro competitors asked him if his coach worked with other pros!)
So why didn't I sell "the secret"? Because we are all
wired differently.
Few people have the sheer talent, the neuromuscular coordination, to process
the lessons and convert them into a higher level of play. If I sold "the
secret," I'd be selling a fraud because the average player could simply not
do it.
OK, let's bring this analogy back to the world of online business.... The
best each one of us can do is hone our own passions, our own particular areas
of expertise and knowledge.
To maximize our edge, we should be focusing on our business, whether that's
oral surgery in California or infopreneuring on whatever we do excel at.
You don't focus on the technology of the telephone to make a business call.
And you should not fight technology or learn a wide variety of skills to
build a highly trafficked site.
There's a saying in golf... "Play within yourself." "Playing within yourself"
means knowing your limits. As an emergency physician (in an earlier life),
one of the most important skills I learned was to know my limits. The lives
of others depended on it.
In the business world, too, know (and accept) your own limits. What are your
raw skills? Your passions? Your time limitations? Set reasonable goals within
those parameters. Too many people would love to believe that they can "play
online business" at a Tiger Woods level with limited talent and no motivation,
as long as they pay top dollar for... "the secret." It simply does not work
that way.
But an entire industry is willing to promote that illusion and take your
money.
The reality is that anyone can succeed online. But it takes time, effort
and persistence. The only secret is that you bring your lunch pail, full
of Brains And Motivation ("BAM"), be willing to work to build a real business.
Then simply get to it.
Ken Evoy's
Blog
About the Author:
Ken Evoy is the CEO of SiteSell Inc. He is the author of many FREE E-books
about online marketing including
Make
Your Site Sell,
The
Affiliate Masters Course, and
Make
Your Content PREsell and many others. SiteSell's flagship product
Site
Build It! has been used by over 100,000 customers to not only build
Web sites but to build successful online businesses.
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