When I entered the Internet Marketing space, I approached it with a strategic mindset. I had a clear vision of where I wanted to be and a solid plan to get there. My key tactic was to identify a niche that was underserved and not widely discussed. I wanted to offer something unique and valuable to the marketplace. In fact, I talked about this niche so extensively that it became a widely recognized subject.
Surprisingly, when I initially started teaching and speaking on Internet Marketing, my focus wasn’t on marketing itself. Instead, I centered my discussions around the concept of outsourcing. I was passionate about sharing knowledge on how to leverage other people’s skills to develop software, without having to personally code anything. These techniques revolutionized the industry and set me apart from my competitors.
One of the reasons I gained a competitive edge was that nobody else was doing what I was doing in the field of software development and outsourcing way back then. I had mastered the art in a way that others couldn’t replicate. This knowledge allowed me to offer a wide range of services within this specialized area. My flagship course became a comprehensive guide on outsourcing and software development, establishing my reputation as an authority.
But time and again, I see people go through what I call “Internet Amnesia.” When they get on the Internet, they think that they’ve got to sell or do affiliate marketing or teach people how to do Internet marketing. However, they have zero experience or success in either Internet or affiliate marketing or coaching.
I recently held a consult with a student, and as I always do, I get to know them by asking who they are, what they have done in the past and what they are hoping to do and create. I asked this person what experience they have had in business up to now. This individual has recently had great success with a specific business. They made some unique moves in their specific field and had good success.
It was a great story, and I was excited about what I might be able to do to help him advance. We get to the point where I ask him what his goal for the next year is and he tells me…affiliate marketing. I said, What? What do you mean?” They had decided they wanted to teach people about affiliate marketing or Internet marketing in general. I asked how much success he had had with either. He told me he had made about $2k on affiliate marketing and had watched a YouTube video on Internet marketing and had some friends who do it.
If you’ve never done it yourself and you haven’t had real success with something, should you be teaching it to other people? The answer is no. And it doesn’t matter the topic. If you don’t know how to do it successfully and repeatedly, then you have no right to teach other people how to do it.
I told him his product was teaching people how he did what he just had success in. Paraphrasing what Michael J. Fox once said, “The secret of my success is simply to teach people what I have learned to do.” That’s it.
And that’s the secret of my success. If there was one thing that I could say that I’ve done over the years and continue to do to this very day, is teach people what I’ve learned how to do, and I’m always learning something. When I find something that I have success with, and I can repeat it again and again and again and again, I simply teach other people what I did and how to do it.
