One of the biggest maladies facing internet marketers is disseminating all the information and half-truths being delivered by some of the marketers marketing to other marketers.
There is an incredible amount of marketing-related information to be learned when starting your internet business. Because there is so much information out there, there are many different versions of the truth about certain subjects and methods.
Even if you did pay attention to and follow many of the better-known marketers and adhered to their methods, frustrations with business tend to make people think there’s gotta be an easier way.
For example, let’s use a person who is following the Adsense Guru Joel Comm to learn how to make money with Adsense. Let’s also assume that this person experiences momentary frustrations in their quest to make money with this method of online monetization…
What do you think will happen to this person when they get the following email in a moment of frustration:
Adsense is Dead, free report reveals why…” ?
A momentarily frustrated marketer gets the free report, see that method XYZ is supposedly better than doing Adsense, reads the report, believes what it says, and loses their focus, sometimes permanently.
Who’s right, Joel Comm or the guy giving away a report report depicting another method that HE/SHE deems is far superior to Adsense? They’re both probably telling the truth for the most part. Joel Comm wouldn’t do Adsense if it wasn’t working for him, and the “other” marketer obviously has a reason to believe that “Adsense is dead” in his/her opinion.
- So, who are you supposed to believe?
- What are you supposed to beleive?
- How can you reduce your confusion?
Can the essential knowledge be broken down into a few simple ideas?
Well, read on, because I want to tell you a story about how a high school homework assignment that I did a long time ago can help you get through information overload and guru confusion.
When I was in high school many, many, many moons ago, I was given an assignment by one of the brothers there (this was a Catholic school run by the Xaverian brothers).
The assignment was this:
Write about all the major religions, what their core beliefs are, what they call their Deities etc….
So, I went ahead and eagerly did this assignment because I was always curious about other major religions and what they were all about. For the sake of clarity we’re going to treat different religions and marketing methods as being different schools of thought, and the reasons for this will become apparent later on. So for now, when you read “school of thought” I’m referring to religions, marketing methods, philosophies, etc…
After researching the major “schools of thought” around the world I came to a few conclusions: Almost all of the major ones have the same underlying principles and ideals swathed in different ceremonies, symbols, rituals, and so on…
Almost all the major schools of thought put forth in their tenets that:
There is a higher power/source/entity/deity/being etc…You should be good to your fellow “man” There are rewards for following the WAY.
The most surprising thing that I learned from doing this assignment wasn’t that all these schools of thought had the same basics teachings, but that:
The most common underlying unforeseen benefit not talked about in these “schools of thought” is the sense of community and involvement regular practitioners get from being involved.
When you feel like you’re a part of something, you never feel alone or abandoned. You become more stable since yu need some sort of consistency to be a regular practitioner of anything, right?
When you gain consistency with trying a marketing method, you gain a deeper understanding of the method, and a belief system evolves. Some people have a belief system that is unshakable, and this is comparable to having an unshakable focus.
Now, back to Internet Marketing Information Overload and Guru Confusion:
If you receive an email that detracts and derails you from working on your current project, then you really don’t believe in what you’re doing, which is why you’re susceptible to “program-hopping, or “school of thought hopping” over to doing something else.
However, if you read that type of email and ignore it, then you’re obviously pretty stable and consistent. You have a much better chance of succeeding with your current project and your business as a whole than those who are more migratory in their beliefs.
So, what should you do to remain on target and to keep on track?
Well, remember what I wrote above, that the major schools of thought all have the same basic themes wrapped up in different “cloaks” of symbols and rituals. The most important concepts are the same, but when people focus on the “less” important differences, this is where they get lost in life and business, and where doubt and persecution begins (an example would be saying that MLM or Adsense is Dead, a scam, it doesn’t work) etc…
If everyone adhered to the same barebone basics of their schools of thoughts (marketing methods), and minded their own business, then more people would be more happy.
Realize that sticking to one marketing method is your key to online success! If you can master the basics and become a regular practitioner of those basics, all else will follow. Remember, the #1 benefit that all regular practitioners receive is the sense of community and an added measure of stability to their lives.
When it comes to Internet Marketing, stick with what you’re doing, and believe in it enough to make it come to a worthwhile conclusion for yourself. The benefits are endless, and you will achieve great peace of mind and Focus once you do this.
With focus, comes achievement
- With achievement comes a sense of satisfaction with your progress.
- With progress comes results.
- With results…stability…focus, clarity,
- No more information overload, since your focus is what drives it away
- No more confusion because you believe in what you’re doing.
ADD-ON to this post.
I was listening to a documentary interview about education a few years ago and I remember what this educator was saying about the mistakes he made during his years as one of the most highly-esteemed educators in his area.
He was absolutely chagrined at all the mistakes he made when it came to the methods he used to get children to behave. During his years as an educator, he was deemed an expert by others in his field while he was making all these mistakes!!!
HE was the expert all others looked up to. HE was the “Education guru” at the time.
He produced a good example of the kind of mistake he made time and time again while others were busy praising him as the “cat’s meow” of education..
On many different occasions, a student, usually a young boy, was sent to his office because they were acting up in class, unable to focus, sit still, pay attention, whatever…
The very first thing he did to these students when they entered his office was to tell them to have a seat, and to….yeppp… sit still and pay attention.
That was Mistake #1 right there…
This well-respected educator was faced with someone who couldn’t sit still AND pay attention, so in order to address this problem, he made them sit still and pay attention!
Pretty stupid, when you think about it…but nobody questioned him because he was the “education guru”
In the documentary he said he realized later on in his career that what he should have done in these types of situations was invite the student in, and let them stand, walk, pace back and forth, or do pretty much whatever their body and hormones were compelling them to do at the time.
He saw that he was dealing NOT with disciplinary problems, but biological issues so he let these students stand, pace, sit and stand, sit and pace…whatever, and he got more out of those meetings.
When trying to remove information overload from your mindset, you really can’t go against what is happening to you, those external forces of email, and differing information from the “gurus”, but what you can do is treat the issue at it’s basest level.
There’s a really good video on a blog somewhere that is 1-hour long and it shows you how to dump all your ideas out of your head, and how to clear your mind to achieve focus. But if you could devote all that time to working on your focus, then you’d already be focused, now wouldn’t you?
Sending people who require help with focus to watch an hour-long video is akin to having a student who can’t sit still take a seat and then lecturing them.
The real path to focus is to find something you believe in that causes all other distractions to fall to the wayside.
People often advise the beginning marketer to NOT focus on money, but on developing systems and sites that work.
Rigghhttttt…. So, if you’re laid off, you’re not supposed to worry about money, or progress, or results, but instead, worry solely about setting up a good online empire?
“Don’t worry about it! Focus on something else instead, don’t let it bother you” etc…
In a way that’s good advice since the only way to remove worry is to remove the cause of it.
But you can’t tell someone to stop worrying about money or progress or results when their mortgage is due, now can you? The only way to remove the worry is to produce results, otherwise the buried concerns are still there, lurking, and coming to a boil unless something happens, soon…
Whatever your business is lacking, don’t treat the symptoms, treat the disease.
Believe in what you’re doing, apply consistent effort to it, and wait for the results.
If you’re doing the right things, then progress and satisfaction will ensue.
Thanks for reading this, I truly hope it serves you well to some degree.
Daniel runs a membership site called Marketer’s Relief which not only trains you on how to be a better marketer/business person. Visit http://danielmcgonagle.name today for 2 great marketing resources that will help you.
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