The Internet Marketers Who Stare at Goats
Have you seen this movie - The Men Who Stare at Goats? For those who will after reading this article, here are a couple of things worth remembering. For those who will ask themselves, what in the world can this movie have in common with Internet marketing, here are also a couple of things worth considering.
To begin my story and make it as short as possible, I will tell you that George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey, are members of the super-secret and super-crazy military unit, which uses psychic and paranormal powers as its main and only weapon. You'll certainly remember a scene where an army general tries and fails to run through a solid wall. Why would he even try to do such a thing? Well, this is the moment when we can introduce Internet marketing in the story. The so-called "Jedi Warriors," which is an unofficial name the members of the previously mentioned unit like to use, convinced this general that all you have to do is to believe, strong and long enough, and you can go through walls just like that. Sounds familiar? Well, for me it certainly does
.
Believe in yourself, believe and believe again!
So, whenever I see or hear about an Internet marketing strategy or a plan, which begins with the word "believe," my eyebrows go sky-high. With all due respect to all self-proclaimed and heavily self-advertised Internet marketing gurus, I would like to stay away from the solid walls. I think that we should use our heads for thinking rather than breaking. With all due respect toward self-proclaimed and heavily self-advertised Internet marketing gurus and Jedi marketing warriors, I would like to try a strategy or an approach, which won't be based on my unlimited supply of blind faith and shiny dollars.
I feel like, in order to become a part of the marketing money-making machine, I have to be "marketized" first. You find a way to make money online, but it is obviously not enough for you. So, you've decided to share your "findings" with the world, for a symbolic compensation, of course.
We're all Internet Marketers, but we aren't all Internet Musketeers!
I feel both intrigued and terrified, enthusiastic and pessimistic, encouraged and exploited, when it comes to Internet marketing opportunities and traps. It's perfectly OK for a musician to provide classes to talented youngsters. Yet, when it comes to a successful Internet marketer, who's "commercializing" his financial gifts, then I don't feel comfortable. In this case, we can't clearly define the "talent." Even if I want to attend these "classes," what talents do I possess other than a desire to earn? Rest assured that I already heard that lovely story about "fishing marketing." You catch a fish and you give to a hungry man, you solved his problems for a day. But, if you teach him how to do it himself, then you've solved his problem for an indefinite period of time.
I would strongly appreciate if we could make a clear distinction, when it comes to our relationships and roles. Are we Internet-marketers-musketeers? You know, one for all and all for one. Or, we're all part of one huge contest where the winner takes it all? We all compete and do our very best to succeed in making money online. Then, as expected, very few of us eventually succeed. Then, these successful Internet marketers have an opportunity to sell their know-how to the rest of us, who have obviously failed.
Pink Floyd should be every Internet Marketer's favorite band
Why can we live in the Pink Floyd's world with no walls? Remember the song Another Brick in the Wall? In my ideal world of Internet marketing, you don't encourage people to run through the solid walls, but you rather show or open a door for them. If I happen to find a magic marketing stick, in the worst case scenario, I would write a book about it. You will buy a book, not the strategy. I want to share an experience, but not to accept the responsibility. What's wrong with that? Is it called the lack of ambition, or the abundance of responsibility?
I would like to see countless Internet marketers, who open many doors to new exciting opportunities, rather than to witness a movie scene where people fall like flies after they hit the walls around them. I don't want to encourage people to do crazy and impossible things. Yet, this is what I keep seeing in this industry. Let me show you how to earn $10,000 in 10 minutes. You can fulfill all of your dreams with this outstanding Internet marketing strategy. And, the list goes on and on.
And the moral of my story is...
Well, the trouble with the movie The Who Stare at Goats is that it begins and ends with the same scene. A man is trying to run through a solid wall. Well, in the end, one of our heroes actually manages to go through without hurting himself or the wall itself. But, that is Hollywood. You can't blame the entire movie industry for the lack of realism. But, what about the Internet marketing industry and its guru and Jedi marketers? Can we blame them for giving us false hope that making money online is quite easy, because all you have to do is to believe in yourself, and you guru, of course?
Until we manage to come up with a better solution, you should go to see the movies in order to experience some falsely true magic, and you should work hard to earn some real money. I've heard that goat farms can be quite profitable. All we need to get them raining money is an excellent Internet marketing plan. Right? At least, you get the real product while making friends with goats instead of marketers. Not sure, if you should've read this article in the first place, but you definitely need to see the movie.
To begin my story and make it as short as possible, I will tell you that George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey, are members of the super-secret and super-crazy military unit, which uses psychic and paranormal powers as its main and only weapon. You'll certainly remember a scene where an army general tries and fails to run through a solid wall. Why would he even try to do such a thing? Well, this is the moment when we can introduce Internet marketing in the story. The so-called "Jedi Warriors," which is an unofficial name the members of the previously mentioned unit like to use, convinced this general that all you have to do is to believe, strong and long enough, and you can go through walls just like that. Sounds familiar? Well, for me it certainly does
.
Believe in yourself, believe and believe again!
So, whenever I see or hear about an Internet marketing strategy or a plan, which begins with the word "believe," my eyebrows go sky-high. With all due respect to all self-proclaimed and heavily self-advertised Internet marketing gurus, I would like to stay away from the solid walls. I think that we should use our heads for thinking rather than breaking. With all due respect toward self-proclaimed and heavily self-advertised Internet marketing gurus and Jedi marketing warriors, I would like to try a strategy or an approach, which won't be based on my unlimited supply of blind faith and shiny dollars.
I feel like, in order to become a part of the marketing money-making machine, I have to be "marketized" first. You find a way to make money online, but it is obviously not enough for you. So, you've decided to share your "findings" with the world, for a symbolic compensation, of course.
We're all Internet Marketers, but we aren't all Internet Musketeers!
I feel both intrigued and terrified, enthusiastic and pessimistic, encouraged and exploited, when it comes to Internet marketing opportunities and traps. It's perfectly OK for a musician to provide classes to talented youngsters. Yet, when it comes to a successful Internet marketer, who's "commercializing" his financial gifts, then I don't feel comfortable. In this case, we can't clearly define the "talent." Even if I want to attend these "classes," what talents do I possess other than a desire to earn? Rest assured that I already heard that lovely story about "fishing marketing." You catch a fish and you give to a hungry man, you solved his problems for a day. But, if you teach him how to do it himself, then you've solved his problem for an indefinite period of time.
I would strongly appreciate if we could make a clear distinction, when it comes to our relationships and roles. Are we Internet-marketers-musketeers? You know, one for all and all for one. Or, we're all part of one huge contest where the winner takes it all? We all compete and do our very best to succeed in making money online. Then, as expected, very few of us eventually succeed. Then, these successful Internet marketers have an opportunity to sell their know-how to the rest of us, who have obviously failed.
Pink Floyd should be every Internet Marketer's favorite band
Why can we live in the Pink Floyd's world with no walls? Remember the song Another Brick in the Wall? In my ideal world of Internet marketing, you don't encourage people to run through the solid walls, but you rather show or open a door for them. If I happen to find a magic marketing stick, in the worst case scenario, I would write a book about it. You will buy a book, not the strategy. I want to share an experience, but not to accept the responsibility. What's wrong with that? Is it called the lack of ambition, or the abundance of responsibility?
I would like to see countless Internet marketers, who open many doors to new exciting opportunities, rather than to witness a movie scene where people fall like flies after they hit the walls around them. I don't want to encourage people to do crazy and impossible things. Yet, this is what I keep seeing in this industry. Let me show you how to earn $10,000 in 10 minutes. You can fulfill all of your dreams with this outstanding Internet marketing strategy. And, the list goes on and on.
And the moral of my story is...
Well, the trouble with the movie The Who Stare at Goats is that it begins and ends with the same scene. A man is trying to run through a solid wall. Well, in the end, one of our heroes actually manages to go through without hurting himself or the wall itself. But, that is Hollywood. You can't blame the entire movie industry for the lack of realism. But, what about the Internet marketing industry and its guru and Jedi marketers? Can we blame them for giving us false hope that making money online is quite easy, because all you have to do is to believe in yourself, and you guru, of course?
Until we manage to come up with a better solution, you should go to see the movies in order to experience some falsely true magic, and you should work hard to earn some real money. I've heard that goat farms can be quite profitable. All we need to get them raining money is an excellent Internet marketing plan. Right? At least, you get the real product while making friends with goats instead of marketers. Not sure, if you should've read this article in the first place, but you definitely need to see the movie.