First, a warning, today’s post has been brought on by a rant after reviewing a popular online marketing forum…but I’ve tried to turn my venting into something of value for you, leave a comment and let me know if I’ve accomplished that.
So many people considering starting their own online business, on the one hand are scared shitless by the seemingly massive undertaking of starting something brand new, from scratch but at the same time are so afraid of being taken advantage of they question the need to invest in any training to get help with their plan to create a web business and do so through internet marketing.Â
Often, this results in a plan to “go it alone…” – perhaps seek some free advice online and charge into starting your own business – how hard can it be anyway?
Starting An Online Business Without Being Trained Is CRAZY!
Look, running a business (online or offline) is not rocket science, but at the same time it is not the same as getting a job a McDonalds flipping burgers…(where by the way you still need to go through fairly extensive training).
Putting matters into perspective, consider these questions:
Do businesses hire $100,000+/year employees that have no training, knowledge or experience off the street?Â
If you want to become a fitness instructor, dentist, doctor, broadcast professional, etc…etc…etc… what would you expect to pay to be trained?  I’m guessing it is anywhere from a few thousand dollars upward – sometimes much more.Â
Growing a real business (even if it is 100% based on Internet Marketing) is no different…people who don’t learn the fundamentals are typically out of business very quickly.
Internet Businesses Fail Because…
If anything, people do not take their IM business seriously enough or get properly trained on business and marketing fundamentals.
Those who consider heading into the land of starting their own business and building it through internet marketing without investing in basic training are almost sure to either fail or experience a hobby-like income (a few hundred bucks a month).
Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying people whould recklessly spend their money on training – but carefully learn the fundamentals of market research, business value, product creation/licensing and of course, marketing and communication. Also, learning something about leadership and managing other people is critical too as any business at some point is going to require managing people (contractors, VA’s, temps, employees, partners, etc…)
Sure, I understand – there are many snake oil salesman in the land of business and internet mraketing training – and you don’t want to be their next victim!
At the same time, coming to the conclusion that you don’t need to be trained shows me that you don’t take your own business seriously enough…and at least partially explains the high failure rate of new businesses (over 80% )
Now, the middle ground of using free resources to learn your chops, not a bad plan and like most other things, the answers are most likely out there…but there are 4 downsides to simply going with finding free tips, techniques and strategies:
1. Who do you believe – having to vet every single tip, technique or strategy from different sources is time consuming in iteself
2. Do you have the time to chase down all of this material each time you want it? Is this really the best use of your limited time and energy or could you be making much more money by executing on the knowledge rather than searching for it
3. Can you make sense of it all? Our brains think sequentially (at least most of us do), so first we need a plan (step1, step2, step3…and then we need to understand information in context with that plan – with widespread free information we don’t get that context which makes learning much more difficult)
4. Where do you go when you have a question or need support? Sure, any given tip, technique or strategy may be 80% useful to you and your business, but what about the 20% that is required for YOU to adapt it to your plan or business? Free often doesn’t come with support, coaching, or explanation and that will hold you back.Â
We have coached over 1000 people through the Internet Marketing resource site InfoMarketer’sZone and focus entirely on making advanced tips, techniques and strategies available in a simple, organized way at very affordable prices so that entrepreneurs can get their internet businesses up and running the right way from the start.Â
The difference in results is night and day…whatever training you opt for, please don’t become so frustrated or jaded to give up your education altogether, there are great programs and information available and we want to see you succeed!
