developing skills for internet marketing
In this video, I share how I worked through my fear of creating my first video. It's a bit scary, I admit; however, given some helpful hints and encouragement, anyone can be the star of their own show!
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If you have been researching the "how-to's" of online marketing and have thought about quitting altogether, you probably just need one major thing: I call it patience.
I recently created an online video with this title and posted it to YouTube. Then, I read "Crush It!" by Gary Vaynerchuk and in it, he said that patience is the "secret to the sauce". So, I'm not crazy after all. It is the one ingredient that can take a person from mediocrity to greatness over time in internet marketing.
How does one cultivate patience and what does that mean to the online marketer? Your patience is tied to 3 things:
1) Your vision
2) Your will
3) Your results
First, let's bring the concept of patience into your consciousness. How is it defined? Mirriam Webster defines patience as the act of being patient, meaning "bearing pains or trials without complaint; steadfast despite opposition; not hasty or impetuous." The Bible uses the word longsuffering. This would be a synonym for patience. So begin to accept that your online marketing business is going to take time to build and you are going to need to look boldly into the future and envision your life a few years from now.
Let's start with your vision. First, you have to have a passion and a vision for accomplishing your purpose in life. Your purpose is tied to your gifts, talents and interests. As Mr. Vaynerchuk puts it, "it's got to be in your DNA." If you don't have your vision and passion outlined in your mind and on paper, you may flounder for months, maybe even years. Spend the time to figure out who you are. I became a yoga teacher at 43, but my body has been physically active for about as long, so it was no surprise that once I was exposed to yoga, it became a passion for me. The same holds true for my online marketing business. I have a degree in Public Relations. I spent many years working in advertising agencies and then the next 20 years in some form of advertising, marketing, PR and direct sales.This was a natural evolution for me. Think about your natural evolution. What makes you tick? If you already have this down, let's get to your will.
Your will is connected to your passion and you will do and act in accordance with that. Your daily activity must be such that it begins to manifest what you want to share with the world. There are people who will be interested in what you have to say, so you need to get busy identifying what that is, how you will communicate it and how you want to be perceived. Every day you will create something which will add to your knowledge and ability to be the expert in your area of interest. This part of your business is filled with learning, applying, mastering and teaching.
Once you begin to output your content in whatever way you choose, you will begin to look at the results. Is anyone watching? is anyone reading your stuff? Is anyone commenting? Are you getting any feedback at all? This is where analytics comes in and you would be doing yourself a big favor by paying attention to where your visitors are coming from and what they are watching, listening to and reading. When you see results, that's when you start to fine-tune your communication and your strategy. You want to respond to your audience. You want to continue to build. This is where many people quit. They either receive a lot of response and think they've hit pay dirt and slow down, or they don't receive enough response and think they aren't good enough. You have to be willing to look at your results and respond with what your market wants. If you want to be successful, you can't stop. You have to keep forging ahead and trying new things and seeing what works and what doesn't. I believe that this is the most critical stage because if you are being seen, you are doing something right. It will give you confidence to keep going.
I'm going to use the very simple act of driving a car to illustrate what I mean by cultivating patience. We all know that the point of driving a car is to get from point A to point B safely, right? (Think goals.) Maybe we aren't always conscious of that, but it would help to be, don't you think? We get in the car and we do the simple acts of backing down the driveway, stepping on the gas peddle, turning the steering wheel and all the things we learned in driving school. (Think action.) While we're driving, it would also help to assess our situation at all times, so we can get to our destination safely. (Think analytics.) On occasion, you'll run across a road block or detour or something that's going to take you out of your way. (Think possibilities.) You get back on the right track and keep driving until you reach your destination.
Make sure you don't allow car accidents, cell phones or other things to completely distract you from getting to your place of interest. This is so typical in online marketing. People will spend thousands of dollars trying to learn all the secrets of "driving" and they never get in the car!
Okay, I think you get the point. Be patient. Give yourself some time. Keep learning; stay active, but keep moving. You will be successful if you are happily sharing your gifts and passions and once you get your system down, you can monetize to your hearts content!
Please let me know if this has been helpful to you by leaving a comment. If you already have all the patience in the world, your success is imminent!
Whether you are marketing yourself as an online entrepreneur, or any kind of independent business owner, you will need to incorporate your unique selling proposition into your marketing materials. Your USP is what sets you apart from all other people in your line of work. Are you a specialist in a niche area? Do you have special skills that people need? What benefits can you offer your customers and clients?
As you can see through this video, I have incorporated my skills of yoga and marketing to inspire greatness in online marketers. I want to teach people how to discover the amazing potential within and how to change thought and behavior patterns that result in successful skill building in business and in personal life.
One day I was watching a video of an online marketing coach who specializes in personal development and the light bulb went off for me. This is where my strengths are. This is what I’m good at – teaching others. I teach yoga; I teach my kids, I teach marketing and I am successful in life. I have what I need, and now I am teaching others what I know so they can get what they need. You might have to dig deep to discover your USP – but it’s in there! Start excavating now!
Please leave a comment. Tell me what kinds of videos inspire you. Thanks for watching!
As I was helping my daughter pack her jewelry for college, I ran across a necklace that was all tangled up. It is one of her favorite necklaces and when I asked her how it got tangled, she said it had been “lost” at the bottom of her purse for about six months and that’s how she found it. I asked if she tried to untangle it and she said she gave it a shot, but gave up.
Well, I have a thing about pretty necklaces going to waste so I hastily set out to untangle the necklace. The chain was like butter, the kind that seems to melt into other parts of the chain, so I carefully pried pieces of the chain away, chiseling at the glob in front of me so I could unearth the original beauty. I don’t know how many people would have the patience for this particular project but I just kept thinking about how beautiful that necklace is and about the special person who gave it to my daughter. Plus, it was one of the prettiest cross necklaces I’ve ever seen: delicate silver, feminine with a gold heart wrapped around it. I kept envisioning that cross necklace hanging around my daughter’s neck again and I would not give up.
Almost 30 minutes later, we had that beautiful necklace wrapped nice and neat, ready for at least one day’s wear at school.
Do you have a beautiful vision? Do you have a vision? What does it look like? What keeps you working towards your dreams? What more could you want than to unearth your amazing self and shine for all the world to see? What holds you back? Frustration? (Yep, I got frustrated with that necklace!) What makes you want to quit? Is it that you just can’t see the finish line? Guess what? There is no finish line – just an incredible journey of learning, applying, mastering and teaching.
Keep your vision alive. Write down your mission statement. Create a vision board for your desk. Write reminder notes about what drives you to keep moving forward. Next time you get tangled up in thoughts of quitting, draw that vision to your mind and keep steadfast. It never hurts to pray for help either! Ask for the energy and patience to keep going. You’ll be so glad you did!
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In my subtitle on my blog it says:
inspiring greatness for online marketing.
What do I mean by greatness? Greatness means so many things, but it encompasses your entire being. Being great is not an adjective one can call oneself. It’s a state of attitude. Greatness comes when you connect to things that are greater than yourself and when you attempt to align yourself with the highest attributes a person can have. It also means utilizing every God-given talent, ability and potential to live the healthiest life possible. It means honoring your body, mind and spirit at all times. This includes how you run your online marketing business.
In essence, you have always had the potential for greatness because you were born with a body and mind that was designed to relate and create. It takes work to tap into your greatness. In my own life, I have had many different struggles trying to grow up. I have to say that up until my 30s I was pretty immature. I wasn’t given proper instruction about how to be great while growing up. Like most people, I fended for myself when it came to getting to know myself and honoring my own gifts and talents. While I do believe we learn from our mistakes and most of us grow up from them, I also believe that our lives can be so much more productive when we are taught to align with higher ways from the beginning.
Take note parents: Do not leave spirituality for your children to the culture. Dig deep with them from the time they are young. Also, remember that they are little sponges for learning, so always be teaching (from the heart, of course). Discovering your greatness takes time. It takes reflection, acknowledgment and practice. We need to reflect on where our natural gifts and talents lay. Sometimes that requires uncovering layers of oppressed feelings or desires. Getting into your own heart can be tough because not everyone accepts us as we are. We definitely need to accept our natural selves as we are – and use what we’ve got – no matter what anyone else thinks. Some of the words and phrases associated with greatness are: wonderful, first rate, very good, remarkable, distinguished, noble, notable. What would it mean to you if someone used one of these adjectives to describe you and your internet marketing business?
One of the heart qualities of a great person is humility. Humility is the essence of knowing that we don't know it all and we give credit where credit is due. Humble yourself. Admit that you don’t know what you don’t know and allow others to help you. Greatness shows up in your communication, your responsiveness (which is a form of communication) and your work ethic. You must find and cultivate balance in life in order for your light to shine, because what you do and how you behave affects everyone you come in contact with. As on online marketer, you want to be lining up with your highest intention of helping others.
Finding your greatness means being open to learning constantly. You must have a thirst for knowledge. You must be curious. You need teachers and mentors, but you also need to be your own teacher. While we need people to teach and guide us, in the end, we are responsible for what we choose to learn and apply in our lives. We need to be discerning. Ask yourself, “How can I align with greatness? Who can I follow? How can I be my own best teacher?” These are questions we need to ask ourselves if we expect to lead and guide others. Celebrate the fact that you have so much potential. Use it and you will find your own greatness in all that you do!
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