Following on from yesterday’s topic on losing the way, let’s talk about ambition.
Most people set pitifully low goals.
And I see a lot of stuff on my little corner of the internet about how guys on Twitter are more motivated than 100% of everyone else anywhere ever, and that they’re all about the hustle and so on.
Honestly though… a lot of those guys are myopic.
It’s learn to sell on Twitter so you can release a product on selling on Twitter.
And actually, that’s a skill that’s worth money, so that’s not really what I’m talking about.
It’s the, “Here’s some vague guru nonsense that you can sell to other would-be gurus” that gets my goat.
And the average reader of this little blog knows what I’m talking about – the vague claims and the dubious benefits about how you’ll be a better person or whatever.
And really, I’ve no problem with people selling that. It’s not my thing and I’d like to think it’s not the thing of many people who are in my sphere of influence.
But the blog to be a blogger and create an army of bloggers and you all stroke each others’ something without actually doing anything… not what I really take any interest in.
People have said, “Jamie, why don’t you do X?”
Where “X” is some ebook or Twitter thing or whatever. And I’m not opposed to it, but here’s why I’ve been reticent.
The Big Problem With My Personal Branding Stuff…
The big problem I’m having – and I’m being completely honest here – is that when we take the above: the whole world of opportunities – and I think that’s what I want to bring to the table I realise the massive gulf between that and what I’m currently doing.
Where I know and have worked with eight figure companies run by a couple of guys at most. I’ve worked with the importers and the exporters and know that there are mostly invisible opportunities to do massive business things and the necessary requirements for such an endeavour are well within anyone’s reach.
And what I do is dick about on Twitter, run my little businesses and post on this blog every day.
There’s a huge gulf between those two things and it’s like the whole aspirational self versus. Actual self thing I’ve talked about elsewhere on the site.
And what I want to achieve isn’t just another ebook or course.
And what I want for the people who read this is for them to think, I can build a real business doing whatever I want using the stuff from this site as opposed to I’m going to be another wantrepreneur guru guide buy my $10 ebook.
Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that, but there are higher sites to set your eyes upon.
And I’m not sure how best to get there. Thoughts on a postcard or otherwise left in the comments below.
But Back To The Skills…
The thing with direct response marketing, internet marketing, online business things is that the potential once you have them is limitless.
You can start a website and make money from affiliate links, sure.
And you can make a Twitter account and use it to sell ebooks.
There’s nothing wrong with either of those things.
But you can also use direct response marketing to sell anything.
You can start a business exporting from China to the US – and I don’t mean a dropship store.
Or you can find local handmade goods and sell them to the world.
You can help bring local businesses up or help bring global businesses into your area.
It’s as easy to build a social presence for an online personal brand as it is for a local restaurant or gym chain.
And let’s be honest…
People will say that this is all saturated, but nothing has changed since I wrote that article about going for offline business however many years ago that was.
Most people don’t have a clue about any of the stuff I’ve talked about in these articles.
I have trouble even describing what copywriting is to people. When I say I write words for money, people assume I must write books.
And when I say that no, I don’t write books, (which, I know I have the publishing business, but that’s not the major business I run,) they screw their face up and say, “Well how does that work?”
And so you tell them, I write web pages and stuff, and they say, “I didn’t know people paid for that!”
… as though all the other words just magically fall into place.
Now, you can’t tell the average person about a funnel. They don’t get it. It’s alien to people who aren’t in our sphere.
And that’s the problem: People get myopic about stuff in our sphere. I’ve talked to business owners about advertising, and some of them don’t know about FB advertising or Adwords/SEO.
They literally think it’s randomly generated or works like a magazine where you pay for the listings.
There’s a world of business out there to conquer, and if you read this blog, then you have the skills to conquer it.
So if your ambitions are a $5 ebook and $300 a month “passive income” then you need to set your sights higher.
And I consider it my goal to bring this power and stick it in the palm of your hand.
We have work to do.