A Professional's Mind Set To Making It Online
by Karl Augustine
Does the seasoned professional have a "leg
up" on the rest of us?
Not necessarily.
People who have had distinguished professional
careers in other businesses may have a distinct advantage over the masses
if they are common sense smart, but they certainly don't get an automatic
ticket to riches online.
There are lots of people who have made
solid incomes online who never graduated college or had a true 'white collar'
position in the corporate world.
Remember, it is absolutely true when "they"
say that the online mind set needed for success is unique. Online
marketing differs from any other type
of marketing and demands a simplistic and tactical process in order to
produce results.
For the seasoned professional (Pro), this
can be a challenging quandary.
Why?
Because people who are educated or have
already had profitable careers in other vertical markets are often
blinded by their success. Professionals
who have had successful careers elsewhere (not online) tend to have a
certain stubbornness to them making it
difficult to actually "unlearn" some of the things they know and learn
what they really need to learn in order
to make it online.
Stubbornness will certainly slow down a
professionals success track and can severely damage optimism. While the
seasoned professional is smart and experienced, if that professional isn't
seasoned and experienced in the online world, it won't matter...they will
still have to learn how things work on the Internet.
Quite simply, if a person hasn't had a
successful online business, they are a newbie, regardless of their past
history. Sure, people that are ex-professionals
might have the smarts to leap ahead of the rest of the pack if they have
similar or transferable experience, but if they don't concentrate on basics,
they can fail just as easily as someone uneducated or inexperienced in
any type of career.
In order for seasoned Pros to be successful
online, they have to reflect on their past building blocks that made
them successful in their chosen profession
and remember that any success is built around fundamentals.
Acknowledging that the online world is
different than any other, and recognizing that certain basic steps need
to be taken, are 2 vital concepts that must be engrained into a professionals
mind set for starting and succeeding in an online business.
Once these 2 steps are taken, the seasoned
professional can accomplish just about anything online. It is as simple
as mixing creativity and common sense with desire and perseverance. A major
part of 'common sense' is listening to the experts and remaining neutral
when assessing any concept or idea.
For an educated person, reading seemingly
basic online concepts can be rudimentary at best. For the educated person
or Pro, it's easy to think "This is too easy, what makes this person different
than me, this is simple!". Be smart, consider the source.
If the concept, idea, or product is from
a true expert, (someone who has really made hundreds of thousands of
dollars online) the difference between
that person and the professional is that the expert has actually done it,
not
planned to do it, or theorized about it!
It's easy to be critical of others and not focus on your own plan...a Pro,
like the rest of us, should never underestimate
anyone who has made a great deal of money online, it's quite an
accomplishment.
For the professional, the mind set needed
to be successful online has to be one of respect. The Pro has to be smart
enough to know that the online business can be very basic, but a well laid
out plan is really all it takes.
That plan, of course, includes following
the experts, keeping it simple, and taking action. The professional
should welcome being presented with information
and products distributed by the experts and should take each
powerful concept to heart no matter how
basic they may seem. The Pro should avoid getting blinded by all the hype
in any marketing campaign and realize that the "sales-like" tone is there
for a reason, to appeal to the masses.
Almost anything online has some level of
'pushy' content...for the professional, this can be a serious turn
off. The experienced person should read
between the lines and look at the concept or product for the value it brings,
and focus on benefits, not features or 'estimated' savings or results.
Professionals who start an online business
have an immediate crossroads if they have an arrogance about them or believe
they can transfer all their past experience to their online business.
Yes, lots of skills the Pro accumulated
during their past career will be useful, but the most meaningful skills
need
to be learned if the Pro hasn't successfully
owned an online business.
Just because someone knows Calculus, has
an MBA or has climbed the corporate ladder, doesn't mean they
automatically can be successful online.
Traditional education doesn't automatically mean success unless that
education is "Online Marketing Education"...and,
for most of us, the only way to get that education is to learn from people
who have done it before.
Be humble, work smart, keep it simple.
Author Resource Box:
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Copyright © 2004 Brooks House LLC
Karl Augustine
*Publisher, 'Starting Smart!' e-zine
*Author, "9 Deadly Mistakes To Avoid..."
**"65 Answers To SEO Questions"
http://www.9mistakes-online.com
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