What I've Learned in a Month of IM

I agree that IM should be treated like a business where you are the boss, however I disagree with the "You do not need to be good at a single part of IM. You need to be good a building a team/hiring/etc."

The reason for that is because you need to know (or at least have an idea) how the functions of IM work. Otherwise when it comes to hiring your workers/outsources, you will find it difficult to direct them which will subsequently lead to a less effective workforce.

I made it almost compulsory to myself to learn as much and be as good as I can in this field because:

1) I didn't want to get confused with IM Jagen.
2) I wanted to get a feel for the industry.
3) I wanted Utilize the knowledge I know to help my business and others within the community.

Essentially you can outsource almost everything, but I think it should be up to the 'boss' (you) to build your business from the ground up until profit. Once this is accomplished, by all means, assemble a badass workforce that will manage your activities whilst your building another project.

Just my 2 cents

I agree with parts of this.

You NEED to know YOUR strengths and outsource the stuff you are weak at to someone that is good at them.

MOST of all - whether it be IM or any other business you need to be resourceful...

Working as a team is definitely better. There's a saying two brains is better than one brain

One of my old friend told me some days ago that this new generation have got a big problem. Ans that is, they learn a very little things about a subject and think that he or she knows everything about it. What I believe the more you will be in internet marketing, the more you will learn. You have a lot of things to know and learn.

So very true. Hiring others to address your own personal weaknesses is an excellent way to approach it. Best to leave the aspects that you're personally passionate about and good at to yourself just to maximize the efficiency of your business while outsourcing the stuff that you're less proficient in to someone better suited

I have pretty different opinion than this one. I focus on only 1 thing in internet marketing. I think one should focus on only 1 part or 1 thing. One need to have knowledge about all departments when he has his own business but when a person is working in a company then he need to be focused on 1 thing.

You need to know how everything is done right to train your team.

I think you just summed up starting a business online and not getting into internet marketing. For a business all you need is capital and some knowledge, and outsource the rest. Which is fine if you have the money, but to be truly good at IM you need to learn it yourself first, and continue learning.

I agree with the outsourcing part. But also, I would not be outsourcing unless I try it once and I really know the true quality of stuff that would be provided to me. Sometimes there are these stuff that would just take 2 min of your time and you have to outsource it just because you don't know it.

You need to do at what you are good at and organizing stuff. I am not good at everything. But I exactly know where and who can get my things done that I can't myself.

I've also learned: Don't pick up the soap. Lots of scammers out there.

Also OP - have you tried any of the WSOs from this forum?

Have you made any sales yet?

What's that saying?... Jack of all trades, master of none? It's my experience that most successful people master a few key roles and surround themselves with people who are better at doing the other things. You should definitely discover what your strengths are and leverage them.

I learnt that a online business needs time and dedication

There's considerably more to it than that - and outsourcing what you don't know or don't want to do is not always going to be the perfect solution. Michael Gerber explained much of this in E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It - highly recommended reading.

You'll be wearing three hats and performing three roles in your own business - as owner/entrepreneur, manager, and what Gerber calls 'technicians' otherwise commonly referred to as 'labor' or the 'labor force.' He makes a number of insights into where the wheels start to come off, taking the assumption that the technicians really knows their job inside and out - which is not the case in Internet marketing because most people are still going to underestimate what is required while overestimating their ability to perform those myriad functions.

These required functions are invariably very murky in every newbies mind, assuming they know them at all; and still a little hazy even among those of us making a living doing parts of it, which explains why so many reach a plateau and are physically and emotionally exhausted to take it to the next level.

This is why I encourage you to learn the options before you make hasty decisions based on limited knowledge of what's available. In choosing your model you're going to set the course and define which of these functions are going to be crucial to success, and which are going to fall into the 'not-so-much' or 'not-at-all' categories.

There are ways to leverage what you already know and can do, but you're still going to have a series of learning curves throughout your business career. In my experience, adapting to change is the biggest one that's always lurking the shadows waiting to pounce at the worst possible moment.

If you lay a solid foundation, you'll be able to not only survive but thrive - and that's really the point, isn't it?

I agree that we need to know about the subject we are outsourcing to. For example, if you hire someone to write your sales copy, how will you know if they did a good job?

I guess you can go by the conversion rate. If the normal conversation rate in your nich is 3% and the sales copy they wrote only brings in 1%, then you wasted money, and need to hire someone better.

The good thing is that I don't think there are any aspects of IM that cannot be tested to see if you hired the right person.

You also want to find a mentor who is successful to learn from. It's good to get trial and error experience yourself, BUT it's much quicker and profitable to learn from someone who is really doing what you want to achieve. Also, TRAFFIC is the #1 factor, you can promote anything with traffic, you just have to search out the best PAID sources.

I would have to agree! I come from a "mortar and brick" background. I learned the hard way that I can't be all things to all people. Delegating responsibility was extremely difficult if not impossible at first. However, once I mastered the art of delegation, life became more pleasant, profits were higher, and respect from employees skyrocketed! I wish I knew 20 years ago what I know today! Life is Good! Be honest, try harder than the competition and you will succeed! Speaking from personal experience!

Yep - you just have to be familiar with the moving parts so you can
create a sense of expectation.

You might not need to be expert in IM but you need to know how to make IM work well.
So you only able to pick the right services and people to help you out.
The best is you learn from them as well so you do not need paid that much expenses in long run and looking for the opportunities.

I am not an expert in internet marketing but based on my experiences,
I agree with the people who said that IM should be treated as a business and
that work and dedication is required to succeed in it. I also strongly agree that
people should learn and master the skills before they out-source.

I think that instead of rushing in on a large scale and ending up losing money,
it would be better to learn from a good mentor and use free methods
to find systems that can actually bring in money and then scale up.