As you all know I’m a big fan of Dan Kennedy. One of the reasons I’m such a fan of Kennedy is because he’s been around for awhile and seen plenty of things come and go. Meaning that he doesn’t get caught up in every hot new trend or get led around by every new buzzword. Not only does he give great advice based on what actually works and as he says “years in the trenches” but a big reason I like him so much is he spends time debunking the many popular myths of marketing that are being pushed (saving me gobs of time and money).
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. And while following any marketing guru can take you from knowing nothing about marketing to knowing a little this can often leave you worse off than knowing nothing at all. Sort of like getting with a shitty combat instructor, you’ll learn some things but they’ll probably be more dangerous than learning nothing at all. This applies to many different areas of life and learning. Anyways I’d figure I’d go ahead and bust some common myths about business that held me back and may be holding you back as well therefore saving you time and money.
Myth Your Marketing Guru Has Been Telling You #1 – Online Is Better Than Offline
If you’d like a in depth breakdown of this I’d recommend picking up a copy of David Sax’s Revenge Of Analog a book about how “real” things are desired. The internet is the hot new thing whether it’s email marketing, content marketing, social media marketing, or whatever the hot new thing is. And don’t get me wrong the internet is great and has a integral place in your business. However for maximal profitability and 9 times out of 10 the internet’s place in your business is going to be subservient to offline activities. Yes even if you’re e-commerce or an information business.
The highest ROI marketing time and time again has been offline marketing such as direct mail (whether that’s sales letters, postcards, newsletters, catalogs, or just about anything else). And the quickest and most efficient way to build a business is through direct mail. E-mail opens are crashing, content marketing is next to useless alone (go ahead and start a blog and post content on it and tell me how longs it takes to make decent money from it…I’ll wait…laughing), and social media while valuable is very hard to build an entire business off of. The internet is a great and useful tool but you’d be foolish to rely on it alone.
Myth Your Marketing Guru Has Been Telling You #2 – All You Need To Be Is Become An Expert/Influencer
Now don’t get me wrong this is a very important step and one of the three sides of my marketing triangle/pyramid thingy. But doing it alone isn’t going to make you real money (6-7 figures). This was a trap that I fell for and took me awhile to realize that by itself wasn’t doing much for me. Again you need to write a book, put up content, and get your name out there but doing that alone won’t cut it. Sure if you’re Kim Kardashian (or her male equivalents whoever that may be) this works but my guess is that you’re not and never will be and trying to be is a huge waste of your time and resources.
Let me put this another way. If you’re relying on people finding you and coming to you to fuel your business then you aren’t going to be in business very long. You have to go and get them. Eventually many many years down the road maybe this won’t be true because you’ll have build yourself up into the top guru but if you don’t have 5-15 years to spare before making real money then this path isn’t going to work for you alone. So yeah work on building your influence and expert status this is critical. But it’s only one part of having a successful business and can’t be relied on it’s own.
Myth Your Marketing Guru Has Been Telling Your #3 – X Is The Best/Fastest/Easiest/Quickest Way To Make Money
A long time ago it was mail order, a little while ago it was e-books, now it’s drop shipping. Don’t get me wrong good money can, has, and will be made from all of these things but if you’re following the crowd and whatever the “hot new trend is” the chances of you making real money from it are very low. The biggest principle of this is you can’t be a mindless follower and do what the majority is doing. If the majority is in or doing something always do the opposite. And when you’re following a guru who got his advice from another guru who got his advice from the guy who actually made money at the thing they’re talking about you’re not exactly setting yourself up for success.
You want to go as close to the source as possible, not the guy who’s copying a guy who’s 5 guru’s away from the source if you know what I mean. I can’t tell you exactly what business is right for you. Mail order (I use many of the principles in my real businesses to great success), e-books (wouldn’t use alone), and drop shipping (have no familiarity with) can all work but I’d try to diversify a little bit and maybe have them be part of your business. And another thing if anyone tell you becoming wealthy is easy then they’re lying through their teeth and should be avoided. Becoming wealthy is never easy and never happens (except inheritance) without putting in tons of work.
I’ll Leave You With A Warning
Mark Twain once famously said (or didn’t, who cares that’s not the point) “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so”. I think it’s just part of learning any new skill that it takes time to sift through the nonsense and find what actually makes sense. I could have saved myself years of time and effort by listening to guys like Dan Kennedy from the start instead of listening to many different gurus. But that’s part of life and the learning process. Don’t believe everything you read or hear, be skeptical and require proof before taking someone’s knowledge at face value.
If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it. You can follow me on Twitter here.
-Charles Sledge
