I was so struck by the sagacity of Mr. Cotrell's comments that I was moved to addend some personal experience recently gained in this arena. As this is first and foremost a Business Marketing Network, I expect that other members will alert me to their various offers of memberships in programs that they're promoting. Adland, I feel, is one of the original and best in that regard. The freedom of exchange of BUSINESS ideas, exposure, and the mutual benefit of the community members, creates a unique synchronicity resultant in the success of the entire community. I expect that when I am approached by any of the multitude of my community, I will be free to bring to bear all my faculties hard-won by years of experience in business (both on- and off-line) and interpersonal relations skills in regard to first contact between unfamiliar
individuals in business negotiations. I expect that if I pose questions or make statements on behalf of a product/service offered to me or my company, it is in those interests that I will choose to proceed by the conclusions of my OWN analysis. I also expect that either party is able to freely exchange information as to their perspective endeavor. And that either party is free to decline/accept the services of the other at personal discretion. With mutual notification of the level of interest between parties explored, a business interaction is forged. There are those who, for some strange reason, just don't get those concepts (or maybe it's way too over their heads to think that just MAYBE there are differing business paradigms - even ones based on REAL WORLD concepts. Picture that). So just to help reaffirm Mr. Cotrell's driving point, I'm even going to provide a feat as a cunningly linguistic semiotician in rearranging his words to still mean what he says yet says what I feel...........
"The reality is, as anyone who has been online for any length of time knows, you will NOT make money that easily.... People rush to the cyber gold rush totally unprepared, and ..........start paying out money left, right and centre for every program that promises easy wealth with no work, until their credit cards are maxed out and they really are desperate.
You CAN make money online if you do things properly......Instead of thinking in terms of thousands of visitors coming to your site (who never buy anything), you need to think in terms of ONE person coming to your site who wants what you have to offer, who actually BUYS something from you! Then you need to think about ONE more person coming to your site who wants what you have to offer, who actually BUYS something from you! Then you need to do it again and again and again. One person who buys what you have to offer is better than ten thousand visitors who buy absolutely nothing! "
I have NEVER been a fan of those pyramid promotional marketing programs where you have to pay in before you can expect to see financial benefits, always hyped by ways to not do crap and just sit back and rake in the dough (like thousands of herd-mentality afflicted sufferers, whose financial woes will be banished by either their lucky Powerball jackpot or a visit from Publisher's Clearing House - and I was seeing this on the text-only Pre-Internet, so it's REALLY tired), because I'm too busy actually promoting (and selling)
informational products and services designed to deliver benefits to those in need of them. In other words, I know my target market. In the event that I expand outside of it, I ensure that the marketed products/services are of a nature that is truly universal in need and appeal. I always assume that no matter how great I think those offerings are, not everyone will readily agree with me on that and they are free to let me know they're bypassing on my offer as am I (or even between either party an openness to explore an unrealized avenue to the mutual economic benefit of both parties) theirs. Feel free to let someone know about what you have - just don't beat them in the head with it. If you told me you're not interested, I have absolutely no problem with it That means that you don't feel as if what I have could benefit you. I'm certainly not possessed of the mindset that you didn't use your powers of perception to discern whether my offer fit a want/need (because, as REAL business people KNOW, people buy what they WANT), you didn't understand how "GREAT" my offer was, so I'm gonna keep after you until you break down and buy in just to get me off yer rump. Extrapolated to a multiplicity (25-45 per day), combined with my general emailaise with constantly replying a polite "no, but thanks" only to be re-mailed a "take a look at it, has many different benefits for you (or so my paraphrasing is the result of my language comprehension skills)". If you didn't respond with any kind of beacon that you wanted further info ( -or you let me know EXACTLY what you were into, I'd have for you in another conditional-upon-reply future email), that's pretty much it. And don't feel it's an attack on your endeavor for someone to feel that way. Being all about your own enterprise is complete immersal; it takes time to plough through the Frontpage manual and complete the domain acquisition and uploading of involved website creation, and find fresh content for free giveaways to forum posts and targeted traffic to contact, and perfect search techniques, and author e-books, and rapidly learn different software for business automation purposes, and wipe squash and beef off the kid's hands, and make sure wifey's lunch is ready so you can feed the kid again while you send her off to work and then hit the computer so you can do it all over again for howeverlong work cycle is (24/7).
Life is somehow that complicated, believe it or not. Oh, and expect that either party has full vocalization abilities in terms of rebuttal. People LOVE that (lol!;).