There is a lot of advice out there for you the newbie marketer and it appears to be consistent throughout. With that being said there are 3 pieces of advice in particular that do not make any sense to me on the whole. Let me be 100% honest with you as what I am going to share is my opinion and my opinion only. We’ll dig right into them in a second, but first let me tell you what they are and I am sure you have heard them more than once. Take Action, Mindset, and Get a Customer. Are you ready? Sweet! We are off to the races.

Take Action

I cannot tell you how many times whether it be on a blog, in a forum, or Facebook group you are told this – you need to Take Action! Okay. That sounds great, but you are new to this whole internet marketing/making money online gig. My first thought and yours should be too. What do you mean by take action? At this point you don’t know what you don’t know, so what in god’s green earth is meant by taking action? That’s precisely what I don’t understand as no one clarifies what they mean by that. For example, if you don’t know what a blog post is, then how should you just all of a sudden write one? Answer. You shouldn’t. You need to figure what a blog post is first, check out an example or two, then write one on your own. The problem is NO one explains to you exactly what needs to be done. It’s all TAKE ACTION. Really?

This has to take the cake for me though – really. When you as a newbie ask a successful marketer – What is the one thing you can attribute to your success and their response is I took action. Seriously? Wait..What? No, what are the underlying factors to your success? Okay so you…

Did not learn how to market?
Did not learn how to write a pay-per-click ad, or run a pay-per-click ad campaign on Facebook, etc.
There was not a certain tweak you made to your business or business model?
Did not learn how to write a blog post?
Did not set up a blog?
Did not learn how to write in a conversational tone?
Did not acquire the skills to market on social media?
You had not built relationships with other authority bloggers in your niche?
Did not learn monetization and what works best for you?
Did not learn how to sell anything?
Did not learn how to promote your content effectively on various platforms?
Did not implement traffic generation strategies?
You did not get traffic to your content from Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, or Pinetrest?
Building a list was not part of your strategy?
You did not learn e-mail marketing?
Did not Nurture your list and building a relationship was not a factor?
Developing relationships was not part of your success plan?
Blog commenting did not have a hand in your efforts to getting you to said level?
Branding yourself as YOU, Inc. did not happen?
Learning how to make videos and having a YouTube channel was not important?
Podcasting was not what made you into the marketer you are today?
Did not generate income by selling affiliate programs or products?
There is no part of your business that was automated?
You did not sell advertising? Or implement Google Adsense or Ayboll for native advertising?
Writing and selling ebooks were of no consequence?
Developing and selling courses – say on Udemy did not happen?
Search Engine Optimization was not even explored?
No link building?
Creating a certain type of info product or software did not contribute to your situation?
You did not learn how to use WordPress?
WordPress plugins i.e All-in-One SEO, Google Analytics were not used in some fashion?
Did not build an audience?
Google Analytics or Google webmaster tools were not utilized to learn about your audience?
Did not do any keyword research?
Randomly picked your niche?
Were not passionate about what you are doing?
Solving a problem for your audience did not seem important?
Building an audience was not part of your master plan?
Immediately you started raking in the dough?
Did not fail multiple times before you were successful?
Did not learn anything from anyone?
No one was instrumental in your success?
Using software to create a squeeze page did not happen?
Did not use an email service provider such as Aweber, Get Response, or MailChimp?
Did not learn what an infographic was and how to make one?
Did not use any images within your marketing?
Hosting like HostGator, BlueHost, or SiteGround was not a part of it?
Did not learn anything that you wish to share to help others?

My point is there has to be something along their journey and I am sure that it is more than one of those skills I listed above that propelled them to great heights? Fair to say? So why not be specific and detail oriented about it? What are you afraid to give “away a secret?” Please. There are no secrets to building a successful business except for hard work, perseverance, and FAILING many times over until you get it right along the way. So why not be transparent and tell them how you got there? It goes with my philosophy to which I say:

treat others how you would like to be treated.

Mindset

Oh this is my personal favorite. Mindset.

Someone made somewhat of a colorful comment (used a derogatory term, swear word if you will) as part of a discussion in a private group for an affiliate program in regards to an error in a system that was giving false information relating to numbers. That person’s point was there has not been any communication as to what is going on and when it will be fixed. Now between you, me, and the fence post I could care less how this person delivered their feeling or frustration or what was said as no one else in the discussion appeared to have any issue with the comment. Except for one person. Everyone else was wondering the same thing, but this individual bluntly asked the question. Can’t say I blame them.

Then said person typed in their response to this individual indicating that this person I am talking about needs some help with their mindset. Really? How do you get that someone needs help with their mindset because they used one expletive. I mean come on. So if you get fired up about an issue or set back and happen to swear then that means you need help with your mindset? Please. Mindset has zero to do with what word or words you say. You could swear like a sailor, yet still be the most successful entrepreneur on the planet, thus having a killer mindset. Does that mean you need help with your mindset? Ah no. So that brings me to what is mindset anyway?

Per Merriam-Webster:

Mindset – a particular way of thinking; a person’s attitude or set of opinions about something

So based on the definition of mindset what does using a swear word have to do with it? Absolutely nothing.

Here is my interpretation of what mindset really means and what I believe most of you intend to use it for.

Example of my mindset.

I do not care how hard it will be or how long it will take, but I will be one of the most successful bloggers in my niche. Period. End of story!

Does that make sense to you? Mindset is an attitude or way you tackle a problem, complete a project, or accomplish your goals and dreams.

A personal story of mindset

12 years ago this month actually I was in my 7^th month selling to eye doctors – basically a rookie. My manager was riding along with me for the day and we started talking about President’s Club and what goes with it since he had won it 6 times in his career. Now mind you in this case for that year in 2003 if you won President’s Club you win an all expenses paid trip for two to Maui staying at the Four Seasons. Everything was covered. After he waxed poetic about it I had to win it. I had to have it. So what did I do?

I guaranteed my manager that I was going to win President’s Club and go to Maui.

What happened?

From that point forward my mindset was I was going to do whatever it took to win President’s Club and go to Maui.

I practiced what I preached and stayed true to that mindset and I WON. I won President’s Club and had the trip of a lifetime. That my friend is mindset.

Give me an example of when you accomplished something based on mindset? Leave it in the comments section below.

Get a Customer

Okay, so all you have to do is get a customer. Have you heard this phrase before? Dollars to doughnuts you have heard Get a Customer many, many times. Do you know how hard it is to get a customer online or offline for that matter? It is a challenge and takes…

Time

Effort

Tenacity

Patience

Perseverance

And just because someone happens to buy a $10 eBook you are selling on your blog does not mean that they are a customer. A customer is someone you have a relationship with, someone you solved a problem for and/or satisfied a need that they had. Buying a $10 eBook or your trip wire offer does not mean they will be a customer. For instance if you bought an eBook on Facebook marketing from an internet marketer’s blog does that mean you are a customer? Probably not. Chances are that eBook only cost you $10 to $20 bucks. How many times have you just spent $10 to $20 on things you bought on impulse or only purchased once? I know I have and cannot count how many times to tell you the truth. So do not listen to the – all you need to do is get a customer. Truly help someone by providing them with a product or service that actually solves a problem they are having. Once you solve a problem for someone, now you have a customer.

Here’s a little story for you…

Offline I sell a product to eye doctors that will help their patients with diseases of your eyelid. On one occasion I called on this doctor I have known for over a decade and he sees thousands of patients per year. I explained to him the benefits of my product and he said that he wants to have one of his office staff members try my product. This particular person has a real bad issue with one type of eyelid disease and nothing has worked for him. I instructed this staff member how to use the product and how often they need to use it. I followed up in a couple of weeks and he said this stuff is the best, wish it would have been available sooner. Your product fixed my issue! My product was able to solve his problem where nothing else worked. As a result the doctor said he will prescribe my product to all of his patients who have this type of eyelid disease going forward. End result for me is thousands of dollars in sales every year, pretty much on autopilot. Why?

I solved a problem

Now I have a customer!

In a nutshell that is how you get a customer. Not by having them buy a $10 widget per se.

So click away from whatever you are reading next time you come across all 3 pieces of advice for you the newbie marketer we have discussed today.

To wrap it up

I can feel your frustration as a newbie marketer and often times you get advice such as this which is completely moronic and does not help you at all. My hope is that today you have learned what it means to:

Take Action

Develop a Mindset

Get a Customer

Do you agree or disagree with my thoughts today?

Is there anything you would like to add?

Let me know by leaving a comment and I look forward to having a conversation with you.