Evaluating my plans

And long term goals has left me with some choices to make.

As part of these goals and plans I need to think about all
the blogs I have and how I will utilise my time in doing them
to maximise productivity.

Its not about maximising money, but productivity.
For this reason I have spend spending less time writing
about what I am doing in the marketing side of things here.

I am glad to have been spending time thinking about it, after
all I will benefit from it, it will give me new more targeted
focus.. and that is important.

There is one thing that does stand out to me is the fact this blog
is about my learning curve and it is something I have found to
have helped me, especially when I go through some of the old
post here and see how far I have come.

It may or may not help others I am not sure.. as the lack of the
comments here tell me that it is only helping me, and while I did
do this blog for me, I realise I am better off spending my time
actually ACTING on what I have learnt here with other things..

So that IS what I will do.. but that doesn't mean I will get not post
here, it will be just far less than I have done before..

Having got my own domains now I feel I can push hard onwards
with getting them growing and keep at it steady like I did with
this blog in the past.. as you can see from my domain link here
it is part of branding too.. :o)

This marketing blog is trying to compete, not intentionaly mind,
with far better marketers out there than me.. in fact I will go as far
as to say it seems everyone blindly follows the "gurus" out there.

To me this is a funny situtation... why?

As long as people blindly follow, they continue to be part of the herd!
It IS this herd that the "gurus" get rich from... yes.. you here them say
it often enough...

The money is in the list!...well the herd is on the list!
That includes you maybe....

On the other hand the "Intenet marketing" niche is suposedly
filled with "snake oil" salesmen... as the herd so say it..
It is now being asked...

Do internet marketers have a bad reputation?

Are they.....

Gurus or snake oil slesmen?

Time to make your mind up on that..

For me it is a mix...after all.. there are "bad apples" wherever
you go in life, whatever crowd you are in.. its life..

All you can do is decide for yourself..

All I know is people would rather follow the gurus, not bother
with the "little guys" like myself.. the ones who are nearer to
your situation than the gurus.

Lets put it this way......

I am a stone mason.. so I will explain using that as an example..

So a few of us set off to learn to be masons.. my mates decide
to learn from the local small workshop where the masons will
teach you and spend time with you helping you.

But I decide better..... Go where the best are..learn from them..

Who is the "guru" or was.... the top carvers like Angelo..

But...

Lets say there is a workshop with a few of these "guru carvers".
They are the ones we aspire to be as good as...

They are called "master masons"

Can I expect to join the level of the gurus at the start?
Can I expect to be carving statues straight away?

I go to the "gurus"..watch them.. try to carve like them..
its so difficult, I get frustrated..
The gurus spend less time helping me, just showing me
what they can do.. but then they see they can start...

"Selling me tips"...

I buy the tips.. try them, yet I still cant get it right..
How do I do the bit that is done before this bit?

They say "here you need this tool/chisel, cost x"

Great I go try it.. I get stuck....
But how do I use this?..
Somethings missing.. I give up...

They are a bunch of con men... conning me with tips that
are useless to ME...selling me crap chisels "I" cant use..

What now?
Wasted a year blindly following the guru's to get nowhere....

I head off back to see how my mates are doing in the local
workshop...

Wow.. they are doing well.. they have made nice things, not
quite statues, but things that I couldn't yet do... how is this so?

The teacher beckons to me... I join him he seems to see my
confusion on my face then asked me.... "How are you doing Rob?

"Um.. not good when I see my mates here doing this" I said as
I make a sweeping gesture around me with my arms.

"Those "guru con masons" didn't help me, just ripped me off
with tips and tools I couldn't use." I moaned...

The teacher quietly explained it "was "I" that couldn't use the
tips and tools, as I had missed the basics that comes before."

And.."Yes they did take advantage of you and your money"

"But it was YOU that went to them!
It was YOU that tried to do what they can and you can't.
It was YOU that tried to get into their circle"

Thats when the penny really dropped...

He let me ponder the thought...

"Here come with me" he said... leading the way to his little
office in the back room, where he opened a draw and pulled out
a few old photos... he handed them to me..

I looked and marvelled at the near perfect 1/3 life sized carving
of mother and child... "You did this?" I asked..
"Yes I did when I was younger after I finished my training
I was only a mason for four years up to that point" he replied..

"Four years, and I could attempt something like that?"
I asked quietly... and "Why do you not have them on the wall?"

"I don't need to show all and sundry what I can do, only
do what the customers need me to do".... "the "gurus" as
you call them need to show it for their ego and for their circle"

"Heard of freemasons before?" ;o)

"You see" he went on "I am a master mason I just don't need
to BE a master mason all the time, just carve what needs to
be done to a great standard, worthy of the price charged"

Off I go back to learn from the more helpful lesser known
masons who teach.. what I NEED to learn.. the basics.

Now where was I?

Oh yeah you see..... Who are you following?

Well.. I don't follow the gurus as such, yes we can learn things
from them but we learn more by acting on what we learn, just as
I have with this blog..

We also learn to listen to those who are nearer to us than the
gurus, people who will give you more time and the right steps
you need to learn in order to progress.

So if you are a total newbie you will learn more from reading
this blog from the start than you will blindly following a guru
when they are so far ahead of your position.

So...who are you following?