Thousands of aspiring Internet marketers come online every
year, filled with hopes of earning a full-time living from
the Internet. They learn HOW to actually accomplish that,
yet they never reach their dreams.
Many get so close, and yet they are stopped by ONE thing.
They are stopped by an insidious poison that is so subtle
that it kills all chances that they have of success in a
way that leaves them with a smile on their faces.
That success killer is a "class of poisons" called "The
Value Vampires."
Value vampires are people and things that allow you to
gradually master a valuable skill, and then act as if that
skill has no value. It's people and thoughts that cause you
to undervalue things that you create.
Symptoms of value vampires operating in your universe
include:
- You spend countless hours writing ebooks and then give
them away, or don't even distribute them, because you
become convinced that the information that they contain is
"common knowledge."
- You host teleseminar where you teach people things that
they need to know, and you don't charge anything for the
teleseminars or recordings because you consider what you
teach "common knowledge" or "common sense."
- You record interviews or teleseminars and then give away
the MP3's, and PDF's that you pay to have created, because
you become convinced that the information they contain is
"common knowledge."
- You spend countless hours creating Camtasia videos
showing how to do things such as configure scripts,
generate website traffic, or create products, and then you
give the videos away because you assume that "everyone
already knows what you teach."
STOP for a moment and examine what you're doing!
You're undervaluing your unique knowledge, experience, and
skills. You're concluding that because what you're sharing
is actually easy for you now, it can't have any real value.
After acknowledging what's keeping your from actually
earning a living from sharing your knowledge and skills,
you need to ask WHY you behave that way.
If you are like many Internet marketers with a wealth of
valuable information, but aren't earning a decent living
from it, the problem is very likely caused by value
vampires that you can readily "identify."
These are people that you interact with everyday who tell
you "point blank" that you should give away your hard work.
They imply that it can't possibly have any real value.
They subtly hint that you should feel guilty having the
audacity to charge someone for your ebooks, audios, videos,
teleseminars, and even LIVE events.
At the same time, these value vampire consume virtually
EVERYTHING that you produce. They value what you produce
enough to ask for a steady supply of it, yet lead you to
believe that it has no value.
Do you see the inconsistency?
I'm not implying that you need to charge for everything
that you produce and share.
I AM pointing out that if you've been in business online
for years, know how to do lots of things, and teach others
how to do lots of things, and you're still struggling, you
MAY be a victim of the value vampires.
I AM pointing out that if people are constantly asking you
for files that you create, then they're confirming that
your "output" has real value, and that you should probably
be charging for some of it.
Step back and examine your online activities today. Ask
yourself if you are falling prey to "the value vampires."
The first step to protecting yourself from them is learning
to recognize them.
After recognizing the problem, the next logical step to
finally building a profitable online business, is treating
it like a business. Ask yourself if you'd behave the same
way if your products were meals in a brick and mortar
restaurant.
Now that you've become aware of the Internet marketing
value vampires, the only reason you need be victimized by
them is that you enjoy it :-)
----------------------------------------------------
Willie Crawford is an internationally-acclaimed speaker,
author, seminar and radio show host, and leading Internet
marketing expert. When not out fishing in the Gulf of
Mexico, Willie can be found sharing his 11 1/2 years of
online marketing experience with members of The Internet
Marketing Inner Circle. Join them today at:
http://TheInternetMarketingInnerCircle.com
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