"A
big dog is just a little dog who wouldn't
stop barking!"
"I'm Too Blessed
to Feel Depressed!"
-or.....
("If the Good Lord Invented
Anything Better than Internet Marketing, By Golly,
He Musta Kept It for Himself!")
Okay, I admit it!
Sometimes I get depressed. Now
don't get me wrong; I appreciate what I have and what I've been
able to accomplish with Big Dogs. But, as a fellow Internet
marketer - a fellow comrade-in-arms - YOU know how it is. We folks
who "juggle electrons" for a living often allow the
inconsequential and the trivial to weigh us down psychologically.
It's easy to let comparatively minor
things irritate us, because in our line of work we don't have a
convenient, close-at-hand frame of reference to compare. We don't
have a buddy at the next desk, or pals to gather with at the local
coffee shop to share our frustrations or ask questions of face to face.
So we allow off-line servers, or (supposedly) user-friendly programs, or
computer glitches to get to us. We allow the fact that maybe,
because we haven't started making the "big bucks" yet, to make
us question our ability to achieve the success we desire.
That's what WE Internet marketers
call pressure.
Now I just spent a few days in Atlanta,
Georgia, during which time I had the opportunity to do a little soul
searching and philosophizing.
As I sat down on the airplane for the
short hour and a half flight from Pittsburgh, I glanced around at my
fellow passengers. Quite a few of them were the typical "road
warriors." These are the guys and gals whose jobs require
that they travel constantly.
Now, if you haven't traveled extensively,
you might think that a job that flies you all over the country and puts
you up in nice hotel rooms (all at company expense), AND pays you a nice
income would be the PERFECT job.
But as I gazed around at my fellow
travelers, I could actually feel their anxiety and tension. It's
the stress that comes from trying to sit comfortably for hours at a time
in airplane seats that were not designed for human beings taller than a
chimpanzee, or late or cancelled flights, of lost luggage. It's
the stress produced by staying in yet ANOTHER hotel room that, whether
it's in Boston or Boise, still feels the same - barren, sterile, and
lonely. It's the stress of living out of a suitcase, and feeling
that "home" is merely the place where you go to get a new
supply of clean socks and underwear.
And all the time you feel like a
rubber-stamp robot, completely out of control of your life and destiny.
Now THAT, fellow Dogs, is pressure!
While I was in Atlanta I had the
opportunity to spend some time with my younger brother Dave, who is a
successful chiropractor. His office is just a half hour away from
his home - when traffic is light. But it's not uncommon to be
trapped in traffic for an HOUR and a half on what looks more like an
eight lane parking lot as far as the eye can see, rather than an eight
lane super highway.
He took me on a tour of his new suite of
offices - brand new and very impressive. And to the tune of a
$3,000 per month lease, they SHOULD be. His lease on his equipment
- adjusting tables, X-ray machine, and other "tools of the
trade" - comes to another few thousand dollars. Then, of
course, you have to add in his full-time office manager and other
extraneous expenses. All-in-all, before Dave puts a nickel into
his own pocket, he has at least a $10,000 a month "nut to crack."
Now THAT, fellow dogs is pressure!
Ahhh, but now we come to Internet
marketing!.....
In
what other occupation can we be as thoroughly and completely
in control of our destinies as we are in Internet marketing!?
Can you believe that folks like us
actually make a living "playing" in front of a TV screen (i.e.
computer monitor)?
Brain getting a little foggy? Fine!
Go throw a movie into the DVD player and veg out for an hour or so on
the couch to clear the cobwebs. Wife need an errand run? No
problem. Just log off and run to the store. The kids want
you to take 'em to the local swimming pool? Terrific! Take
the afternoon off - who's gonna yell at ya!?
It's insane, I know, but we actually get
PAID (and paid VERY well!) to do what amounts to playing with a version
of a video game! I'm tellin' ya, friends, that there ain't nuthin'
like Internet marketing.
And I know!
I've been in various businesses for over
a quarter of a century (I started working when I was one year old - LOL!).
Oh, I was one of those "road
warrior" at one time in my career. For over a year I did
nothing but travel among a number of cities to give training seminars.
Wasn't it exciting to live in nice hotels rooms and eat in nice
restaurants, all at company expense? Oh, yeah - for about two
weeks! Then the walls start to close in, every hotel room starts
to look like every other hotel room, and you start to fantasize about
ridiculous little things - like having a "real" closet, or a
"real" meal.
And I've had a number of traditional
offline businesses, with traditional offices (and office rents!),
traditional secretaries and employees (and payrolls!), traditional
postage expenses and telephone expenses, and so on and so on.
What's that you say? You have not
yet breached that wall of success you desire. You have not yet
reached that pinnacle of financial security that you want. Take
heart, fellow "web-warrior!"
You CAN! You WILL!
Because I'm here to tell you that there
is nothing - NOTHING! - like Internet marketing. No other business
in the world offers us the freedom and the potential with so little
expense as this, our chosen field of battle!
Now I'm not sure if I would call myself a
religious man, but I kinda try to be a spiritual man, and
lemme tell ya somethin'.....
.....when I sit down at my keyboard for
the first time early in the morning - as I take my first sip of coffee
and light my first cigarette - as I ponder the incredible gift, in the
form of a microchip, that we have been given, I genuinely feel that we
professional Internet marketers, we "band of brothers," have
been truly blessed!
And I can't help but feel a touch of
sadness and pity for those souls who have chosen NOT to take OUR path,
who - in the words of Shakespeare's Henry V - someday.....
"Shall think
themselves accursed
they were not here!"