Thanks

David

You are indeed a classic by this post. I solely want to agree with John Chancellor. Success is not supposed to be a roller coaster ride(even though you are supposed to enjoy what you are doing all the way).

Most beginners just starting out have this “Instant Gratification” Mindset. And the the so called Gurus doesnt help either.

Thank you for being a great coach,terry. I am writing from Nigeria and am so glad you are a blessing to my generation.

I have just a question for you,though.

Do you consider Self Development Niche a profitable niche?

This one’s a classic.

It rarely occurs to anyone that business success is built on sustainable competitive advantage, and that sustainable competitive advantage is rarely ever randomly bumped into or handed over in an easily replicable ‘system’.

I definitely concur that this post should be a must-read not just for beginners to internet marketing, but every business newbie.

Gogo

I think so many people fail because they think success is supposed to be quick and easy. When it does not happen that way, they change their focus or direction. And they keep changing looking for the Holy Grail.

Instead of trying to make a million dollars or even a hundred thousand, find a way to make one dollar … and then do the shampoo mantra … repeat, repeat.

You cannot start at the top. But unfortunately there are too many people selling hope, taking advantage of the hope that there is magic in a six CD set. I advise people if you can get a 10X return on the cost of a program, you have done well.

Fortunately, there are some good mentors out there that are not afraid to tell it like it is. Terry Dean is one. Those that are in it for a fast buck will generally find their bucks are gladly accepted. If they are truly in IM to build a sustainable business, they will eventually stop listening to the pie in the sky guy and heed those that tell it like it is.

Serious, after you get your business doing well, it’s hard to spend money on products because you can’t find anything that’s useful (with the exception of Terry’s coaching!)

Most products are aimed at newbies, so once you’re no longer a newbie, you’ve taken yourself out of the buying frenzy. Which is good, because then you can actually do real things with your money — like buy food and clothe your kids, give nice gifts to your wife…or even get out of debt (something very foreign to most Americans today).

* Those who run a business
* Those who learn how to run a business
* Those who play at learning how to run a business

The 1st group are serious business owners who succeed in time.
The 2nd group often moves into the 1st – or gives up in a while.
The 3rd group is happy just buying more stuff and never using anything.

For a long time, I taught my own prospects and subscribers what I knew
without making this distinction. Once I realized it, I chose to try
and find out what category they fall into.

These days, I ask two questions after anyone opts-in to my list.
The answers are a revelation. Of the lat 71 to respond (the survey
is optional), 44 said they were looking to build a business – but
27 said they were seeking a ‘biz op’ (quick cash generating scheme)

That’s a nearly 4:3 ratio – and explains why my results with various
efforts has been so varied! The group looking for “quick cash” no
doubt doesn’t get much value from me!

All success
Dr.Mani

P.S. – re emotions that likely fuelled Google’s buying YouTube:

* vanity (can’t stand being #2 to anyone)
* laziness (don’t want to work to build the best video site)
* fear (what if someone else bought out YouTube)
* greed (with video being so HOT, surely there’s profit in there)

I can at least tell you that emotions are involved in my own purchase decisions – no matter how small. Except for commodity based purchases (like gas, milk, etc.) every purchase I have ever made in my life has emotions involved in it. Of course logic comes in as well, but emotions were involved. If they weren’t I’d live in the smallest shelter possible…whatever met the basic need of shelter. I’d drive the most basic car that got me to where I needed to be. I wouldn’t have dogs. I wouldn’t be married. I’d cloth myself in whatever I found around me. Etc. I wouldn’t even write this post, because I don’t need to for the basic need of survival.

It is the emotions in our being that give richness to our life.

All active decisions also involve emotions unless we find an audience that is exactly like Spock from Star Trek (even when you sell to programmers they buy based off of emotions – how others perceive them comes into play, the feeling that they’re saving time, etc.).

Maybe it’s simply that we see selling based on emotion a little differently. I see emotion in selling because everyone has emotions involved in their decision making process. From what you said you may see emotions as “hype” or “excitement” which of course would lead to believing it was baloney in many cases. In many cases, you keep the emotional overtone of selling hidden, but it is still resident in the selling process. For example ALL brand names have attached emotions to their selling process (you feel something in you for any brand you regularly buy).

I’ll bet we can find agreement that the internet business world needs to quit selling with exclamation points and unfulfilled promises (which I see as hype not emotional selling). It’s likely that I simply haven’t defined emotional selling well enough here.