The Guru Conundrum
Posted on November 24, 2007
Filed Under Affiliate Marketing
If you’ve been around Internet marketing for a while then you’ve seen a lot of “gurus” come and go.
First off, I don’t have any problem being a “guru” or an “anti-guru” or anything you want to label me for doing what I do.
I don’t have a problem with gurus.
I have a problem with what I’m labeling as the “guru conundrum”.
Basically, there are people who do and there are people who teach. And it’s very difficult to do both and to do them both well (though probably more possible to do them both very half-assed).
When I wrote the Adwords Black Book I was a super affiliate frustrated by some things that go on with affiliate marketing. I put that frustration into a book and drug my feet on selling it. What I wrote in my sales letter was true - from my house burning down and losing everything to the fact I really had serious considerations about sharing the techniques I did.
You see, when the Adwords Black Book came out, overnight I went from a guy “doing it”, to a guy teaching it and attempting to support hundreds of people “to do it”. Overnight, the entire dynamic of my business changed and I didn’t change with it.
I like being a singular force working alone in my office. I liked being an affiliate selling other people’s stuff without customer support or product inventory or employees. I liked working what was my own version of a 4-Hour Work Week.
With the change came a lot things I just wasn’t prepared for - creating affiliate campaigns got swapped out for doing webinars and seminars. Finding innovative ways to kick people’s asses got replaced with evaluating a constant stream of products and tools offered to me by wannabe JV partners.
When I met Carl Galletti I remembered thinking, “Wow - this guy gets all this cool crap for free. He gets invited to all the top seminars and conferences. I want that.”
And I got it. But there’s always a trade off.
Soon I discovered most of the gurus (years ahead of me in the conundrum) didn’t do most of what they taught; in fact, they’re under such pressure to keep the income coming in that some of them steal and don’t see issue with it anymore. Because here’s reality: when you’re a guru, you’re only as hot as your latest product. It’s like being a pop diva (and I think maybe we should drop the “guru” thing now and substitute it with “diva” - What, you don’t think that fits Reese like a wet T-shirt? :-).
And the only way around that is to “sell your soul” on occasion - to promote things you know aren’t great, in hopes others will promote you down the road.
That’s the game. You promote me and I’ll promote you. I made that mistake ONCE with Cody Moya (I promoted one of his products and he’s yet to reciprocate - more common than not).
Of course I’ve met some super sharp people along the way. I’ve met some people I really respect. But mostly it’s a game of political ass-kissing. The people who kiss ass best are the ones people promote the hell out of. And after a while you realize that in the game of marketing, it really doesn’t matter (not in the measurable terms of dollars and sales) whether your product is any good or not. What matters is the amount of hype you can generate.
The Myth of the Internet Marketing Lifestyle Myth
I don’t buy Rich Schefren’s “the Internet marketing lifestyle is a myth” shtick (since that’s what I was enjoying pre-Adwords Black Book). And, I don’t care to have a staff and I don’t care to work 60-80 work weeks any more. It’s perfectly doable to create an automated, mostly hands-off business online - I’ve already done it and you shouldn’t put thousands of dollars into the pocket of someone who says you can’t because he hasn’t.
Right now, I’m enjoying my six-week old son - I missed too much of the early days with my daughters. That means I work 2-hours per day, get in a good workout, and hang with my family. And that also means some things have to go - for a while.
Since I’m not going to teach things I’m not doing, my 2-hours per day is currently invested in building a new business that has million dollar potential within the next six months. When that’s rocking *I MIGHT* release a membership site built on the Money Map X concept and release the Affiliate Black Book.
This isn’t a solo business - I’ve partnered with a hot copywriter (think “Dan Kennedy Platinum Club” members only) and a workaholic product creator.
It will be wicked-fun (and I do mean wicked) and I’m looking forward to kicking ass in the real world for a while.
Oh - if you, or you know someone, who’s knows Wiki inside and out and likes to approach “gurus” (or “divas”) drop me a note. I have an idea I want to pursue and I’m looking for a HUNGRY partner.
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