If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree...

I'd like to add, if you're not good at a particular skillset, you can always hire someone to handle that aspect of your online business for you. Steve Jobs wasn't a superstar coder, but he surrounded himself with people who were.

HI. So What are you proposing here ? Do you want people to hire you to help them ?

cool quote

unfortunately, i can see that quote used as a rationalization crutch.

there is a lot to be said about our education system though... a one style system for all kids.. sad...

-Ike Paz

Anything can be used as a crutch - if you insist on limping along....

Point is - you can't be what you are not....but utilizing what YOU are capable of is good enough.

I agree that you can learn new things and build upon your strengths, but a fish is never going to be able to climb a tree.

Be open to learning and education, but remember who you are.

"Stop trying to force yourself to become something you're not. Focus on your STRENGTHS. "

yeah baby - you need to know yourself! What you up to today?

see, there you go! Thats why its so easy for guys listening to themselves

I know who i am. thats why i like what i do. and never made no money
except when i was ignoring my inner voice. haha. spiritual? yeah in a way it is

Good post.

You don't need to excel at everything to make a go of things. You do need to be good at something, though.

You can do very well by being very good at one thing. Support that one thing by being passable at a few more. I'm a firm believer that you should have at least a rough grasp of those things you intend to hire out eventually. You may not be much good at them, but you will know enough to recognize talent when you see it. If you blindly outsource something, you're at the mercy of the outsourcer.

There's a thread on the main board right now that talks about a "syndicate" of marketers that tend to promote each others' products, especially product launches. For example, Stu McLaren is opening his membership site course right now, and I've heard from Eben Pagan, Ryan Levesque, Jeff Walker and others regarding the prelaunch content and their affiliate bonuses.

If you look at their flagship products, you'll notice that none of them pretends to have all the answers. Pagan probably comes the closest., but Walker is known for product launches, Levesque for his survey methods, McLaren for profitable membership sites, Obviously, they all have a similar subsidiary skillset, but they've all made their bones on one thing.

Find your strength. Learn what you need to do to support it. Then get going.

Thing is, most people got some core bundlea skills burnin' away insidea 'em.

So that core is kinda like the Sun, smack dead centera the solar system, whose gravity pulls in other stuff an' moves it around to suit what is gowin' down.

You wanna get farther out to tap into other systems, you gonna need probes, comms, rockets an' warp drives.

But I figure we should mebbe build a wooden waterslide outta the trees we got an' have its spirals twist on down between Venus an' Mars waaaaaaaaaaay below us till it meets sum h2o-rich planet fulla merpeople.

Tellya, those guys would love our fish.

Hi David,

Well said dude.

My biggest mistake; judging success or failure on the amount of money I made. I lived at tropical paradises around the world but because I didn't out earn some IM heavies I figured I was some fraud.

Then I moved away from the MMO niche, created a blogging tips blog branded as blogging from paradise and moved in the direction of what I experienced: I taught bloggers how to create a lifestyle for themselves.

This was my strength. So I played to this strength. I enjoyed the ride so, so much more those days, and even more, today.

I focus on one niche but only blog on BFP, guest post, use social media lightly and blog comment here and there. With some light forum marketing tossed it.

I'm proficient at 3 or 4 skills but focus heavily on writing blog posts and guest posts, devoting my energies to these activities and I've been able to build my skill set in these areas.

Do not attempt to master multiple niches or multiple skills. Where your energy goes, grows.

Focus on doing 1 thing really well in 1 specific niche and you'll do quite well in that area and niche.

Ryan

Einstein also said:

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

But I do agree it's usually better to be really good at a couple of things than to be a jack of all trades.

I guess I am more a realist than a dreamer.

And while I agree with most everything you've said . . . to me, the reality is that the things you're good at and the special things you have to offer need to have a market or they need to be related to talents or skills that will lead you to business success.

Sure, there are always going to be exceptions, but some peoples' skills are never going to lead to business success. They aren't the kind of skills that are valued or needed in the marketplace.

You can argue that anyone can write a book on their special talent and others' will buy it. Maybe . . . but probably not.

For many, the challenge will be to figure out how to take the special skill that you have and turn it into a profit center. Often people can't move forward because they can't make the connection.

Steve

Ditto...

I've been involved in the music biz almost my entire life. I have a lot of talent as a singer and songwriter. I've had many people ask me why I don't "go pro."

I always tell them I'm not good enough. I know what it takes to earn a living playing music and I don't have it.

I like being a realist. It gives me a huge advantage over the easily amused.

Yes,
Good stuff !

But I will say I think you have to look at the grand picture over a period of Time. I hate technical stuff and sometimes I can be a real technical "dummy".

But through Time and just absorbing stuff on a gradual basis Iam doing stuff now that I thought I was totally incapable of 4 or 5 years ago. Really totally impossible !!

It just takes Time. I think what snags people and some quit out of frustration is they put down all this stuff they need to learn and then they feel like the HAVE to learn it in a month or so.

Be PATIENT.

Let it come to you in more of a Subtle way. That's the way I look at it, at least

Then one day out of the blue you look back at your Journey and say to yourself , "wow look at all this stuff I am doing now...never in a million years"



- Robert Andrew

Fish are stupid.

I like this. Far too often beginners try to be good at everything with marketing, and it becomes their downfall. Its similar to the shiny object syndrome. Instead of trying to learn everything, try and become great at a few things!

So, I think this goes along the thinking of work on strengthening your strengths and outsource (or partner with someone) to address your weaknesses? (opposed to working on weaknesses)

Leverage your strength and consolidate your weakness with JV or outsourcing. That's how the quote will translate in case of IM..