The Internet Professionals Guide

Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online

By Alex Goodall

Copyright 2009 Alex Goodall

You may NOT distribute this document unless you have explicit written permission from Alex Goodall.

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2009 Alex Goodall

The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online

What is a Professional?
A person who earns a living in an . occupation frequently engaged in by amateurs.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc.

This Manifesto is a wake-up call to everyone who expects to earn a living from internet marketing during 2010 and beyond.

The era of the amateur has passed. --Only the professional can succeed.

If you agree with the ideas in this Guide, my low-cost Internet Professionals Mentoring Program could help you overcome the barriers to getting your business underway, or to improving it.

2009 Alex Goodall

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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online

Table of Contents
1 THE INTERNET PROFESSIONALS MANIFESTO.............................................................................4 2 WHAT THE MANIFESTO AND THIS GUIDE ARE ALL ABOUT.........................................................6 2.1 KATHYS BIRTHDAY STORY.....................................................................................................................6 2.2 PAULS BIRTHDAY STORY......................................................................................................................8 2.3 WHAT WENT WRONG FOR KATHY AND PAUL?.............................................................................................9 3 WE HAVE CROSSED THE THRESHOLD. WHY PROFESSIONALISM IS NOW ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS .................................................................................................................................................11 3.1 ECONOMIC CLIMATE: THE WORST RECESSION FOR OVER 100 YEARS...................................................................11 3.2 COMPETITION: THE SHEER NUMBER OF PEOPLE COMING ONLINE TO TRY AND INCREASE THEIR INCOME..............................12 3.3 FAST-CYCLE MATURITY: SHORTER TIMES TO MAKE "EASY MONEY" FROM NEW IDEAS ................................................13 3.4 THE MYTH OF STEP-BY-STEP: WHY SKILL, JUDGEMENT AND MASTERY ARE KEY.........................................................14 4 BENEFITS OF BEING A PROFESSIONAL.....................................................................................17 4.1 BEING PROFESSIONAL MEANS - YOU ARE UNAFFECTED BY THE DECEPTION, DISTRACTION AND SHORT-TERMISM OF MUCH OF IM ......................................................................................................................................................17 4.2 BEING PROFESSIONAL MEANS - YOU GET MORE DONE IN LESS TIME....................................................................18 4.3 BEING PROFESSIONAL MEANS - PEOPLE RESPECT YOU AND YOUR REPUTATION GROWS...............................................19 4.4 BEING PROFESSIONAL MEANS YOU MAKE BETTER DECISIONS BECAUSE YOU ARE DRIVEN BY STRATEGY, NOT DOGMA............20 4.5 BEING PROFESSIONAL MEANS - YOUR SUCCESS IS STABLE, NOT SHORT-LIVED..........................................................22 5 "I'M NOT A PROFESSIONAL BECAUSE I'M A NEWBIE"..............................................................23 6 BIO.........................................................................................................................................24 7 CONTACT................................................................................................................................24

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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online

1 The Internet Professionals Manifesto

The rest of this document explains WHY it is important to be an Internet Professional in order to succeed online. This section explains what it means to be Internet Professional. Honesty, integrity, a professional image, customer care . all of those are more-or-less givens these days. Although they are essential, it is hardly worth mentioning them. Instead, I have identified a collection of Principles which are a little less obvious, but are nevertheless critical to online success in a professional way. I have put them together in the form of a Manifesto. You should think about whether you are prepared to sign up to this and if you do, what that means about how you go about setting up and running your online business.

The Manifesto
I am excited and highly motivated by the incredible opportunity for wealth creation that the Internet offers, both now and for the foreseeable future. But I recognize that times have changed: the days when the amateur dabbler could earn a living online are over. I need to become a Professional, who is:

"A person who earns a living in an . occupation frequently engaged in by amateurs"

And so, I agree to the following (either or both, as applicable):

In order to fulfil my commitment to myself to become wealthy through internet marketing, I will be an Internet Professional in all my online business activities

In order to help others become wealthy through internet marketing, I will help them be Internet Professionals.

Also, I agree that being an Internet Professional means following these

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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online

Principles:
# 1: Understanding Internet Marketing Making informed decisions about my business based on a "Big Picture" understanding of the nature of internet marketing. (Without that, I dont fully understand my options and cannot create a strategy). On the other hand, I don't need to wait till I know everything before I make a start. #2: Vision, Goals & Strategy Having a clear Vision, Goals and Strategy for my business. (Without that, I have no direction and no basis for making business decisions). #3: Project Management Planning my projects at the right level of detail and managing myself and others to those plans. (Without that, I cant tell how long anything will take, whether Im on track, or what I should be doing day-to-day). #4: Focus Using all means at my disposal to remain 100% FOCUSED on following my Plans. (Without that, Ill be dancing to someone elses tune; following someone elses agenda). #5: Operational Excellence Using time-saving systems, documented processes and personal productivity tools so that I can maximise the time I spend working to my strengths. (Without that, Ill be hopelessly inefficient and rarely doing what Im best at). Minimizing the risk of going out of business due to unforeseen circumstances; minimizing disruptions caused by adverse events. (Without that, Im running an unacceptable risk of losing everything). #6: Customer Focus and Delivery Excellence Ensuring that whatever my business delivers, it does so exceptionally well and is driven by what my customers need. (Without that, my business will never grow). #7: Mastermind Groups Being part of a Mastermind Group to provide accountability, inspiration, ideas and contacts. (Without that, Ill be alone, isolated, and will miss out on the unique creativity of multiple minds). #8: Working in Teams Working in a team rather than in isolation where I have to do everything myself: whether with partners, with outsourcers or with employees. (Without that, it could take me years to get my business going and I may never have enough resources to run it profitably). #9: Personal Development Spending time to develop my mind, body and spirit. (Without that I may give up too soon, may sabotage my success or may be overwhelmed by the challenges). Balancing work, family and friends. (Without that may end up with a business but no life: or worse no business, no life, no family and no friends!) #10: Legal and Financial Being fully compliant with all legal and financial business requirements. (Without that, I may end up paying dearly in time and money on avoidable battles with the authorities).

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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online

2 What the Manifesto and this Guide are all about

I wrote this Guide and the Manifesto for Kathy and Paul. You may well be a Kathy or a Paul in which case, I also wrote them for you. You see, neither Kathy nor Paul fully took to heart this rather obvious statement: It is no longer possible to make an income on the internet unless you take a professional approach. I know that its not a surprising or dramatic statement. I know its not emotional. And its very easy to agree with it. Kathy and John just thought it was common sense. But because they didnt follow through and really take it to heart their stories dont make happy reading. In fact, they are both rather sad. (Note that these are dramatized stories, but they are based on real people.)

2.1 Kathys birthday story

Kathy is 39, works as a purchasing manager in a department store and is raising her daughter Gracie on her own. She was on Facebook the other day, sharing news and gossip with her friends and family, and writing about how much fun she and Gracie had had yesterday with her 16th birthday celebrations. But even as she was writing, the joy from that memory disappeared. It was pushed out by the familiar fear that took its place. The family finances had gone even more into the red this month and by a lot more than usual because of the costs of the birthday. What was she going to do? She was beginning to get desperate. And then she noticed something which shed seen many times before but never focused on. There on the right was an ad which said: How I made $276 a day in just THREE MONTHS! Free Report explains how YOU can do the same!. So, thinking what have I got to loose?, Kathy clicked on it. Its now one year later and Gracies 17th birthday has just passed, but Kathy isnt saying anything about it on Facebook, which she hardly uses any more. There were no celebrations worth writing about. She couldnt afford them. Her car was about to be re-possessed and she didnt know how she was going to make the mortgage payments that month. Her mind turned back to the day shed clicked on that ad almost a year ago and she tried to re-construct the sequence in her head.
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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online It started with the Free Report. That turned out to be a 32-page eBook which told the story of someone called Dave who had been given a secret method for making money on the internet by his friend Andy. Dave was desperate for money, and Kathy easily related to his situation. Most of the report consisted of pages of proof of Daves income, and how it shot up from nothing to well over $200 per day in just a few months. Kathy was annoyed that it didnt give any useful information but she was impressed with the evidence. It was very convincing. So Kathy paid $147 for manual in a 3-ring binder that provided the step-by-step guidance. That seemed a small price to pay to learn this powerful secret. But when it arrived Kathy was again disappointed: it didnt seem like much of a secret. It seemed more like a complicated method that was going to take her months to learn. There seemed to be a never ending stream of new ideas to get familiar with and systems to master and skills to learn. And the more she read, the more she realised that, even when shed figured it all out, it was going to take many months of effort to make any money. This wasnt looking good. Then she received the email and the series of video demonstrations from the same company, and that gave her renewed hope. For $797 she could get access to the most advanced software system on the market that would do 90% of the work for her: she wouldnt have to learn all those different systems to get set up, and the running of the business would be almost completely automated. From the manual shed learned enough to understand the real value of this software. Sure, that was a huge amount to pay out (but less than the $997 shed have to pay if she didnt buy NOW), but she was sure shed get it back in about six weeks. Maybe even less. It was an investment to help her with the business that she was now committed to. She had to make this work! Two months later. It hadnt quite worked out as shed expected. There still seemed to be an awful lot to learn, and although there was an active forum for asking questions, every answer given seemed to raise more questions. But Kathy regarded herself as a professional: she wasnt going to be beaten by this. She was determined to find a way through. And to be fair on herself, she had learned a great deal, and made some real friends in the forum. So when she received the phone call, she was flattered and thankful. She regarded herself as very lucky to have been picked as one of the special customers to receive a 30 minute free coaching session to help with her business at the end of which, shed agreed to pay $397 per month for ongoing coaching to make sure she stayed on track and received personal guidance. To get that level of one-to-one advice was exactly what she needed at this point.

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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online But after four months (and another $1,600) Kathy cancelled the coaching. And a month later, abandoned the software and the manual and the whole secret idea. Instead of solving her financial problems, this whole episode had added another $2,532 to her debt. And now the crunch had come. Kathy wondered where she had gone wrong. Most likely it wasnt her fault and the whole money from the internet idea was a complete scam. She didnt think shed try anything like that again.

2.2 Pauls birthday story

Paul did a scary calculation the other day. It was his birthday, and he was delighted at the number of cards he had received. There was no doubt that he had many really good friends, and that meant a lot to him. As he was opening the cards, he began to see a theme emerging. Paul was in that age range where he was getting more and more of those jokey cards that imply you are "past it" or "on the way down". Some of them were wickedly funny and he laughed heartily, along with everyone else. All in all, his birthday was a great day, and he blessed his good fortune. But that night, after everyone had gone home or to bed, Paul sat down at the kitchen table with a final drink and the cards in front of him, and he read them all again. He still laughed, although less heartily this time, because the truth behind the jokes was getting through to him. The years were relentlessly slipping by. Very soon, he was experiencing the familiar mix of emotions that came to him whenever he thought about his unfulfilled goals, his ambitions, his "lost years" and the passing of time: disappointment, anxiety and frustration. It was then that he did the scary calculation: he worked out how many years he had left to achieve his goals and then to enjoy the fruits of his success with his family and friends - based on a normal life expectancy. He did NOT like the result, and no longer felt like sleeping. This was not a good way to end his birthday - and an even worse way to start the next year of his life. Instead of going to bed, Paul began to take stock: to look back at how he had ended up where he was. He had not taken a conventional career path. Hed had a mix of jobs and selfemployment and business start-ups, with some successes and some failures. Over the years, though, hed learned what he regarded as the core goal of personal wealth creation: time freedom. He had many goals and ambitions, despite being not so young anymore, but they all required money and time.
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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online Then, in 2003, hed discovered the internet! Here, for sure, was the answer to time freedom! Here, for sure, was the route to wealth! At that time, Paul was in a position to be able to devote 2 days a week to his new hobby, and still keep his family in a reasonable life style. And very quickly he realised that he was quite capable of handling pretty much anything he came across on the internet. He could learn new systems quickly. After some struggles, he learned how to install scripts. His copywriting was OK (although could always be better). Basic HTML, even a small amount of php, was within his grasp. Paul was a sponge for new information and new ideas. He read everything he could lay his hands on (and that turned out to be a lot of material), and when video became popular, he spent hours and hours watching videos. But Paul wasnt just a learner he understood he needed to take action. So he did. He bought many systems and signed up to many membership sites, and he followed quite a few of them sometimes for four or five months or even more. And yet, after six years, what could he show for it? Certainly hed made no progress towards achieving time freedom. In fact, he was hardly getting any income from the internet at all. Paul wondered where he was going wrong. He knew for sure that money could be made on the internet (not a scam for sure) and knew many people who were doing very well. He knew he was smart, hard-working and had certainly put the hours in - so why did he have nothing to show for all that smartness and time (and money!) afer all those years? WHY?

2.3 What went wrong for Kathy and Paul?

Kathys problem was that she was a DQFS - Desperate Quick-Fix Seeker. A DQFS confuses the idea that making money online is easy with you can make money online quickly. Once you have learned all you need to learn, and acquired all the skills and experience, and built all the systems, and put into place all the processes, and got all your supporting resources in place . THEN it is easy to make money. But all that takes time and patience and the correct mind-set and. well, it takes everything that I listed above in the Manifesto. However, the crowd which Kathy got into were never going to tell her that. If Kathy had understood the principles of being an Internet Professional, she would never have bought all those expensive upsells.

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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online

Pauls problem was that he was/is an IH - Intelligent Hobbyist. Intelligent Hobbyists are an anomaly, and there are a lot more of them around than you would think. I understand this type of person because I was one for many years! In fact, I was embarressed to tell people how long I had been online because according to all the websites I visited, if you had been online for longer than 6-9 months, you should be earning a very respectable full-time income by then. But Id been online for years and was earning $0 per month. For a long time I though I was a special case, and that no-one else could possibly be as hopeless as I was. But I was very wrong! After some time, I discovered that most people were exactly like me if they werent a Depserate Quick-Fix Seeker. The problem with Intelligent Hobbyist is exactly what the name suggests. They are intelligent, inquistive and love learning and thats where they spend 90% of their time. Sure, they take action: they find a new system which they buy, learn about and then put into practice for a while. But once the learning is over, and the hard, often repetitive work starts to replace it, they easily get distracted by the next system that comes along. And so the cycle repeats itself. The goal of turning all that learning into an income never becomes strong enough to make it a reality.

The thing is, in the past, both Kathy and Paul would almost certainly have made enough money to make their efforts and expenditure worthwhile despite their unprofessional approaches. In fact, they might even have been able to make a decent living online eventually. But not any more. The line has been crossed, and it is no longer possible to make an income on the internet unless you take a professional approach. Are you a Kathy or a Paul? Can you relate to these scenarios? If you can, then its essential for you to read this Guides carefully and adjust your strategy acordingly. Also, if you know anyone who is a potential Kathy or Paul, PLEASE send them to this page: http://Netbiz-Insights.com so they can get a copy of this Guide and understand the true picture. For their sake.

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3 We have crossed the threshold. Why professionalism is now essential to success

Running your business professionally produces many rewards: satisfaction, a sense of being in control, pride in your work ... But make no mistake - I'm not suggesting you run your business professionally so that you can feel good about yourself. I'm suggesting you run your business professionally because that is the only way you can make a living. This is all about the bottom line.

The internet has been around long enough for there to be stories of the old days. And there are many stories of people, in those old days, throwing up websites and making money pretty easily. Sure, work was always involved and the basic principles always applied: traffic, monetization and conversion. But it was different. Then was then, and now is now. In this section Ill talk about some of the factors that have changed: why the professionalism threshold has now been crossed.

3.1 Economic climate: the worst recession for over 100 years
In a sense, this factor should come last since its the most recent. Its almost like the final straw that pushed us across that threshold. At one point, some senior politicians in the UK were beginning to speak the unspeakable: they were saying that this is the worst recession the world has experienced in over 100 years. How does that make you feel? This is a time when the FUD factor rises exponentially. Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt.

People start to panic. To act irrationally. To want to do something. Anything! To look for answers, for a way out, for relief. Preferably immediately. Its a time when its all too easy to turn into a DQFS Desperate Quick-Fix Seeker. The FUD factor is a multiplier: it means that all the other factors are several times more potent.
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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online The antidote to FUD is, of course, professionalism: adopting a professional mindset and mixing with other professionals. The professional eliminates fear by crafting a plan and taking action The professional minimises uncertainty by thinking and acting strategically, and learns to live with the uncertainty that remains. The professional removes doubt through the confidence that comes from simply doing the right things. And THAT is why you have to take a professional approach.

3.2 Competition: the sheer number of people coming online to try and increase their income
The number of people coming online each week and looking for ways to make an income is enormous and of course, the recession is increasing that number dramatically. So competition in the Internet world is fierce indeed! But is it really? Need it be?

In fact, this appears to be more of a problem than it needs to be.

The opportunities to make money online are almost limitless. Your imagination and creativity are the only barriers. The problem is, however, that people new to online business opportunities get led into a relatively small range of business models and are told that they don't need imagination - just the ability to follow a step-by- step guide - a magic "blueprint to success". And so those "blueprints" get overloaded with too many people following them. At one time, it may well have been possible to make relatively easy money with those blueprints. Fewer people were applying them and the level of sophistication was much lower. Now that is no longer the case. The truth is, the days of "easy money" are gone. None of these off-the-shelf blueprints are a route to quick riches by amateurs. They all require a business-like, professional, dedication in order to compete with the increasing number of people piling in to them. Alternatively, a professional approach could mean looking outside those blueprints and separating yourself from the crowd using imagination and creativity.

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3.3 Fast-cycle maturity: shorter times to make "easy money" from new ideas
The internet is forever changing and evolving. And every so often, a new Idea (a technology, a tool, a site, a system) comes along that makes internet marketers sit up, take note, and consider how it can be transformed into an internet marketing strategy or tactic. Sometimes these ideas are big and general - sometimes very big. For example: Sequential Autoresponders (yep - they were new once!), Adwords, Adense, Web 2.0. Sometimes they are more specific - such as ClickBank, Videos, Click Flipping, and Social Bookmarking. And sometimes they are 'niche' or very targeted: the sort of things you find in Warrior Special Offerings, such as "Monetizing Stumbleupon", "Promotion Using Twitter", and Getting Backlinks from Software Download Sites".

In very general terms, the sequence of events goes something like this: The Idea Arises o o o o o A few people spot the opportunity for internet marketing and start using it. They make some easy money. It gets systematized, written up as a new "Blueprint" and sold. Some other people make some easy money. More and more people pile in.

The Idea Matures o o The level of sophistication / skill / expertise needed to make money goes up, and the easy money stops. Only the professionals continue to make significant money.

Think of any internet marketing strategy or tactic, and you can see this pattern over time. This maturity cycle - the time from when the idea was born, through the "easy money" stages and ending with maturity can be years or a few months, depending on the size of the idea and the intensity with which it is promoted. But because there are more and more smart people out there spotting the new ideas, exploiting them, systematizing them and selling them, the level of sophistication needed to make money with those ideas is quickly forced up, and the maturity stage is reached much sooner. This is "fast-cycle maturity"
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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online The key point here is that the days of making "easy money" on the internet are pretty much over for the vast majority of people - except for increasingly short windows of opportunity. So should we despair? Of course not! Money can still be made with any of these ideas as a professional. And THAT is why you have to take a professional approach.

And if you can achieve a higher level of professionalism, you could be one of those smart people who spots the new ideas early and makes some easy money. But there's no blueprint for doing that! It's a competence that only comes from professionalism and creativity, combined with years of experience.

3.4 The myth of step-by-step: why skill, judgement and mastery are key
If you give an amateur or a novice the right instructions, they should be able to perform at the level of expert, shouldn't they? That would seem to be the assumption behind much of the guidance on internet marketing. The novice is always seeking that special, comprehensive, easy-to-follow step-bystep guide. "Just tell me what I need to do and I'll do it!" And the experts are always striving to create improved, more detailed, better organized, more accessible guidance.

And talking of step-by-step guides, you are in luck! Weve spent the last six months locked away in a secret hideout creating the simplest, most fool-proof formula for online success. It doesnt come much simpler than these 4 secret steps to success. If you follow this to the letter, we can guarantee that you will make money. Step 1: Find a need / want that a group of people have and for which they are willing to pay money to have it satisfied. Step 2: Find a product or service (or create a product or service) that satisfies that need/want perfectly, and that you can sell at a price which gives you a good profit and that the potential customers are willing to pay. Step 3:

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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online Build a website, along with all the necessary infrastructure of payment processors etc. from which people can buy that product or service. Design your website in such a way that people will buy the product or service when they visit it. Step 4: Get the people with that need/want to visit your site. Keep repeating step 4. .... Then all you need to do is change out of your pyjamas every week or so to go and bank your checks! That example is supposed to demonstrate the foolishness of relying on step-bystep guidance for any significant task. But you may think that we cheated, and all we need to do is add in more detail. Of course we could. And we could make your life a lot easier and save you a lot of time by pointing to useful tools and resources and showing you step-by-step how to perform a whole host of administrative task (such as ftp, using cPanel, simple HTML etc.). BUT - and this is very important - no matter how hard we were to try, there will always be a number of essential, non-administrative, tasks for which no amount of step-by-step guidance will be of much help. These are tasks that require skill and judgement, such as - Selecting a niche - Assessing competition - Designing a product - Keyword research - Copywriting and many others that are much less obvious. To be successful online - or in anything in life - requires a whole collection of skills and the ability to make a whole range of different types of judgement. And for a true professional, it requires mastery. Skill, judgement and mastery can only be gained from experience; from practice. Step-by-step guides can certainly help, but you should never assume they can provide you with the route to success. Success requires skill, judgement and mastery; and that comes only to professionals who understand this and plan for how to acquire that mastery.

Now I can hear many people saying - "But I can outsource those tasks! I don't need to become expert in those things."

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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online Fine. Of course you can. But you just changed the business model - and for some personalities, that is exactly the right thing to do. However, having got rid of a whole collection skills that you don't need to learn, you've created a whole new set: finding suitable outsourcers, writing requirements/specifications, people management, negotiation etc. You simply cannot escape the fact that success requires skill, judgement and mastery in one form or another. And THAT is why you have to take a professional approach.

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4 Benefits of being a Professional

In the previous section I explained why it is no longer possible for you to approach the internet as an amateur if you want to make a living from it. What that section was saying is there is no longer an alternative to being a professional. This section covers some of the benefits of being professional.

4.1 Being Professional means - you are unaffected by the deception, distraction and short-termism of much of IM
We are all looking for easy solutions. The path of quickest return for least effort. That is basic human nature. And, quite naturally, the promoters of online businesses exploit that fact mercilessly. Kathy was an extreme victim of that. Anyone with half a mind to making money online gets enticed by the dream of making money in their pyjamas. What I call the "pyjama lifestyle" syndrome. Quite unashamedly, many promoters of online businesses imply - and sometimes explicitly state - that all you need to do is press one button (optionally, whilst wearing your pyjamas), and your work is done for the day. Ironically, these promoters are themselves true professionals: they do their job so well, and so effectively, that people get suckered into believing that this is possible - even subconsciously- because they want to believe it. Even the most sane, rational, intelligent and sceptical people get taken in. One reaction to this is to rant and rave at the promoters of online businesses; to chastise them and question their ethics. But that isn't a very professional reaction because it turns people into victims. "Don't do that to me! I don't like it! It isn't fair!" A much better reaction is to take responsibility for one's own responses to these "irresistible enticements". That is much harder than it seems, though, because we are being affected at deep, psychological levels. And it's even harder when so many people are becoming desperate for ways to create an income in this worst recession for over 100 years. Nevertheless, by resolutely adopting the mindset of a professional, and equally importantly, seeking out regular interactions with other professionals, it is possible to create a defence against these hard-to-resist offers.

Another way to think about it is this: there are two worlds existing side by side.
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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online There is the world of the professional. The real world of effort and imagination and creativity and collaboration: the real things it takes to succeed. And then there is the dream world. The world painted for us in the sales letters of the online business promoters. Easy money. No effort. Anyone can do it. Interestingly, as I mentioned above, the people who paint the dream world for us don't live in that world. They live in the world of the professionals - and rely on the fact that most of their audience live in the other world.

By the way, I'm not saying that the pyjama lifestyle is a total myth. It is achievable - but only after many years of highly disciplined work as a professional, including having clear goals and outcomes. In summary: A benefit of being a Professional is that you are unaffected by the deception, distraction and short-termism of much of internet marketing.

4.2 Being Professional means - you get more done in less time
A professional knows the value of their time. How much a day is worth. How much an hour is worth. Originally, the term "professional" was reserved for people who were highly skilled in some academic discipline and who sold their services to clients normally by charging for their time. Here, we're talking about doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers and so on. Such professionals know to the penny how much their time is worth - and will charge you down to the minute. It's not unusual for such people to keep time records in which they have to account for what they are doing ten times per hour - every six-minute period. How often would you see entries like this on an internet professional's timesheet? 11:00 - 11:05 11:06 - 11:11 Made coffee. Drank coffee while starting up laptop.

11:12 - 11:17 Watched Part 1 of an interesting video about some guy who says he's making $15,324 per week. 11:18 - 11:23 As above. Still not really sure what it's all about. Started Part 2.

11:24 - 11:29 As above, and Part 3. Still confused, but registered to get earlybird notification of his launch. 11:30 - 11:35 Tried to sign up for his affiliate program, but it was a bit complicated, so I gave up.

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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online 11:36 - 11:41 Checked emails. Accepted Facebook Friend Request from my cousin in New Zealand. 11:42 - 11:47 yesterday. 11:48 - 11:53 Hunting for the draft e-mail broadcast message I was working on Revised the e-mail broadcast message.

11:54 - 11:59 Looked at all the earlier messages - they don't seem to gel; thinking about scrapping them. 12:00 - 12:05 Searching for wallet - need to go out and buy a sandwich

If you're a professional, you'll organize your time and your environment in a way that suits you and the nature of your work, because you will know how many dollars you're losing for every six minutes that you go off course. In summary: A benefit of being a Professional is that you get more done, in less time.

4.3 Being Professional means - people respect you and your reputation grows
To say that respect and reputation are important in business is a truism. It's obvious, isn't it? Let's break it down a little and see. First, let's consider whose respect is important; with whom is it important to have a good reputation.

If your business model means you operate in one or more specific niches - such as silver jewellery - and you have a membership site on that subject where you are attracting people to learn from you, then without any doubt, respect and reputation for your knowledge in that area is critical. On the other hand, if your business model is to create three sites per week within different niches selling plr eBooks, then your reputation in any of those niches is not going to be an issue. (More accurately, it would be great if you could have a justifiable reputation for every niche, but that is never going to happen.) So having a reputation in the area related to your business is not always important.

However, there is another dimension to this, which is reputation and respect as an internet marketer. Is that always important, or are there circumstances where it doesn't 'matter.

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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online The answer is: it does matter. Building a positive reputation in the internet marketing world, and gaining the respect of other internet marketers always matters - no matter what your business model is. The reason that it always matters is that, even if you work in total isolation right now, sooner or later (preferably sooner), you will start working with other people. These may be members of a mastermind group that you join, or your partners or your employees. Or all three. And the quality and calibre of the people who you interact with will be determined to a very large degree by your reputation and the respect people have for you. Humans are inherently social creatures. Without human interactions we whither: our best results always arise out of the interplay between multiple minds. So we've established that, no matter what, it is hugely important to build a positive reputation as an internet marketer, and gain respect from other internet marketers. But what is the key to doing this? You guessed it: professionalism. Respect/reputation and professionalism go hand in hand. If someone refers to you as "a real professional", that is without doubt a statement of respect. But if you come across as an amateur, no matter how enthusiastic or jolly or sociable or well-meaning or friendly, you won't gain that all-important respect. Lots of people may like you, but that's something else entirely. In summary: A benefit of being a Professional is that people respect you and your reputation grows. ... and that is essential for your success in working with people.

4.4 Being Professional means you make better decisions because you are driven by strategy, not dogma.
One way of distinguishing between a professional and an amateur is this: o o An amateur is driven by dogma. A professional is driven by strategy.

The amateur listens to what other people are saying, watches what other people are doing, and follows suit. Dogma says: The key to success is to have a list. So the amateur focuses on building a list. Dogma says: Always provide the best possible customer service.

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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online So the amateur plans on offering the best possible customer service from the beginning. Dogma says: You have to be active on social networks to build your reputation. So the amateur gets active on social networks. Does this mean that the professional doesnt build a list? Or doesnt provide the best possible customer service? Or doesnt participate on social networks? Of course not but they do it because it fits into their strategy and contributes to a definite plan. Not because everyone says its a good thing to do. By the way a plan which says Build a big list is not a plan! Even more important, though, is that a professional will decide against following the dogma when it does not fit in with their strategy/plan. The professional looks at the context - their strategy, their big picture and decides on what to do based on that not on dogma.

Here is an example to illustrate the point. Most people fall into this trap, and I am as guilty as anyone. Lets look at the dogma that one should Always provide the best possible customer service . An amateur, usually with the best intentions of trying to be professional, puts great emphasis on providing exceptional customer support. Always putting the customer first and responding as quickly as possible to their needs. After all, that is the obvious thing to do, isnt it? Not always. Sometimes, that approach is not the best decision. The professional, on the other hand, whilst recognising the exceptional importance of the customer, knows when to discard the dogma and put the customer second, or even last. The reason for doing so would be when the customer's needs jeopardise the strategy. If you feel this idea is close to blasphemous, consider the views of two people whom I regard as consummate professionals: Rich Schefren and Tim Ferris. (If you've not heard of either of these people - go Google them when you've finished reading this). Both of these highly successful individuals put business strategy before customer satisfaction Rich suggests that in the early days of an internet marketing business, your personal time is so important that you may sometimes have to sacrifice the quality of your customer support until you've created enough momentum to be able to start outsourcing some of your activities. (Note that he only argues for this

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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online in the early days of a business. Do this when you are established and your reputation and hence your professionalism will take a serious dive). And Tim simply applied the 80/20 rule and "sacked" those customers (actually, distributors) who needed too much support in comparison with their sales. In summary: A benefit of being a Professional is that you make better decisions because you are driven by strategy, not dogma.

4.5 Being Professional means - your success is stable, not shortlived

Achieving stable, long-term success is a direct result of the fact that a professional makes better decisions by being driven by strategy, but it goes further than that. Behind the strategy, the professional also has a Vision or a Purpose, and it is the vision/purpose that defines what success means to the professional in the longterm. The hierarchy is like this: (1) Vision/Purpose (2) Strategy/Plan (3) Actions/Behaviours (4) Outcomes/Results As a professional, you are aware of all levels in this hierarchy at all times (or at least you try to be: it isnt easy). The focus on vision/purpose means that, alongside short- and medium-term considerations, you always have an eye on the long-term. That isnt to say that everything has to be directed to the long term (that would be an example of dogma) but it does mean that, as a professional, you attach the right degree of importance to the long term. In summary: A benefit of being a Professional is that your success is stable - not short-lived.

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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online

5 "I'm not a Professional because I'm a newbie"

Well.... yes and no. If you are relatively new to internet marketing, it's true that you can't properly be regarded as an Internet Professional because that requires both professionalism and experience. But there's nothing to stop you from taking a professional approach to everything you do. And in particular, there is nothing to stop you taking a professional approach in your efforts to become an Internet Professional. You can earn respect and start building a reputation based on the professionalism of your journey.

That point leads me to the final idea I want to introduce to you. Personally, I find this a very inspiring concept, and I hope you do too. It is just three words that summarise a simple, but very profound idea:

Living life professionally

What's the alternative? Who wants to live life amateurishly? What I've done in this document is attempt to take that very general idea and apply it specifically to internet marketing. And that means that the goal of being an Internet Professional - with all the benefits you get - starts with striving to live life professionally. And if you can truly live life professionally, you will have achieved something wonderful indeed!

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The Internet Professionals Guide Why You HAVE To Be A Professional To Succeed Online

6 Bio

Alex Goodall Alex has played many roles in his long career, including entrepreneur (founded and ran a 22-person software company with distributors in 8 countries); consultant to multi-national companies; editor of a high-quality technology newsletter; technical director/trouble shooter hired by investors; project manager, online community builder. He has successful online businesses specialising in tools for information management for internet marketers and Twitter for business Alexs approach to life and business are informed by: His 25+ years experience in the field of knowledge management, online learning and community building Studying and applying developmental models of organizational and personal change Integral philosophy

7 Contact
http://OxfordAndBoston.com/Support

If you agree with the ideas in this Guide, my low-cost Internet Professionals Mentoring Program could help you overcome the barriers to getting your business underway, or to improving it.

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