Is it just me or does it seem like every time I think I have everything I need to build a kick ass business, some guru drops an email with yet another “must have” course, tool or program I gotta have and shouldn’t live without?
I love my mentors. Everything I know I’ve learned from them and most of that education I didn’t even have to pay for. For that, I will forever be grateful. I would be lost without my mentors and my gurus…seriously. Sometimes though, I do catch myself feeling like I’m betraying our relationship if I don’t purchase the next new thing they come up with—which shouldn’t be. After all, I am only human; I can’t do it all.
The problem with these offers that flood our inboxes is that whenever you read one of those promotional emails and see all the great things the “new program” can do, two things happen.
One, you spend money and buy yet something else that you’re probably not going to use or you ignore it and be left with this feeling deep inside that you’re missing out, a feeling that make you feel inadequate as you are today. It’s going to be a while before you can move on because you’ll keep wondering if “maybe your business would have grown or maybe you would be doing much better and making more money had you bought that last “thingy” your mentor or guru just came up with.
I’ve had to keep reminding myself that my mentors are running businesses. As much as they care about my success ( I hope they do) the bottom line is that they’re trying to make money and the more stuff they can sell to me the more money they can make.
There’s nothing wrong with that—it’s business, but I have to be a savvy customer and learn when to say NO or wait until I’m done with the last thing I purchased from them before I add yet one more thing to distract me from what I’m already doing.
You should do the same. It’s your responsibility as a customer, as a marketer and as a business owner to noise-proof your marketing because if you don’t, you will never be able to focus.
If you’re in the middle of trying to master blog marketing, do you really need to purchase the next Pay Per Click course that your mentor puts out? Even though it might sound like you’re being smart by taking advantage of the pre-launch discount, the truth is you’re just adding one more noise making instrument in your already crowded band and that’s no way to make good music.
Have you mastered the one you bought last time? Have you used it to a point where it’s actually producing the results you were promised?
Trust me on this one, discounts always come back. It’s OK not to purchase the next big thing just because it’s on sale or it’s the new thing, a problem that’s very prevalent in online/network marketing.
Learning to noise proof your marketing is hard but it’s critical if you hope to maintain any kind of focus that allow you to actually follow through with one thing, one marketing strategy, test it, improve it, polish it and master it until it works.
With three other options sitting on your hard drive, the moment blog marketing becomes a little challenging, you’re going to abandon it and open up the last Pay Per Click course your bought and start doing it. And then the moment you realize that PPC is not the golden egg laying goose either, you’ll abandon that and open up the SEO course or software you purchase before that and on and on and on.
These programs and tools are like junk food in the cabinets of someone who’s trying to eat a healthy diet. As long as they’re available, you’re going to nibble. You’re not going to focus on your “healthy” marketing. You’re not going to be consistent. You’re going to cheat and therefore you’re not going to be successful
So my advice is, noise proof your marketing by first picking one marketing platform to focus all your energy on, stick with it and block out anything and everything else that does not support the type of marketing you have chosen. The best way to do that is to NOT purchase additional courses and programs for marketing platforms you aren’t even using.
If you choose to focus on Search Engine Optimization, only read the material that will make your SEO skills kick ass. If you’re doing article marketing, focus on studying relevant material that will enhance your article marketing skills until you’re getting the results you want to get from that and if you choose blogging as your marketing platform, well, get everything you can lay your hands on about blog marketing and leave the rest of the stuff at the
virtual store.
Better yet, unsubscribe yourself from most of the email lists you’re on.. including some of your favorite mentors. That way you don’t have to even see those very tempting deals and offers that flood your inbox on a daily basis. A while ago I did exactly and honestly, I don’t feel like I’m missing anything. I’ve been able to completely focus on one marketing platform and when I’m done with that, I know exactly where all my mentors and gurus are—I’ll go find them then.
You don’t have to buy every program your mentor or guru comes up with or recommends.
Trust me, when it’s time for you to branch out to that other thing, you will still find enough discounted products out there that will do exactly what you want them to do.
Focus. It’s the only way to do marketing right.
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