Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

Are You a Better Marketer Than My Cat?
I certainly hope so. But I realized recently that my cat has a lot in common with some of the marketers I encounter on various forums.

The marketers I'm thinking of are noticeable chiefly for their tendency to complain bitterly over every obstacle that crosses their path. Google isn't ranking them high enough. Visitors aren't buying. Internet marketing isn't the pot of gold they were convinced it was when they first started their business.

Those indignant yowls, though, remind me a lot of my cat. Yep, good old Rusty lives his life meandering from one comfortable nap spot to another. What does he contribute? Nothing, unless you have a weird affinity for hairballs.

And when something doesn't go exactly as he thinks it should, you definitely hear about it. YOWL! (feed me). YOWL! (pick me up). YOWL! (play with me). YOWL! (scratch my ears).

In Rusty's eyes, the world owes him everything he wants whenever he wants it. At least he's cute. And he purrs.

But too many marketers go into business with the same, me-first philosophy. They see the world as being stacked against them because it doesn't behave exactly as they want it to.

People like that will always exist and some of them will mistakenly wander into Internet marketing, thinking that it's a place that's obligated to reward them handsomely simply for putting in an appearance on it.

But we don't have to fall into the same trap of self-absorption.

Business is and always has been about solving others' problems (in a way that benefits you, too, at the same time). Next time you're ready to yowl over how things aren't going the way you expected them, think instead, "How can I enrich others? And how can I do it so well that they're happy to reward me for my efforts?"

You'll get much better results than a yowling cat would.
Jeff

Labels: mindset, start business, successful business