I just said a mouthful. And I’ll be the first to admit that this is easier said than done. It’s very similar to somebody saying to you, “If you want to become a doctor you have to go to medical school.” Well, that one sentence just covered 4 years of pure hell. Don’t believe me? Ask a med student. So telling you to get an education is kind of like me telling you that if you want to become a professional baseball player you have to practice. Duh! No kidding.
Unfortunately, it’s also true.There is a mentality among marketers, especially new ones, that there should be some kind of button that you push and when you do, $100 bills come falling down from the sky with absolutely NO effort on your part and NO knowledge of what you’re doing.
If it were that simple, we’d all be rich.Okay, granted, telling you to get an education is a duh statement and if nothing else, totally unfair to throw at you without at least trying to give you some direction in this area on HOW to get that education. This is what separates the men from the boys. Once you understand how to get the education you need and where to go for it, you’ll be ahead of the game by a mile.
So, where do we go to get our education?Well, that depends on what it is you want to learn. Not all places teach all things. For example, if you want to become a copywriter you’re going to go to one place. If you want to learn affiliate marketing, you’re going to go someplace totally different. Naturally, most disciplines have multiple places of learning, and some even cross over. But for the most part, the person who wants to learn copywriting is not going to cross paths with the person who wants to learn how to program PHP scripts. He’ll most likely hire a copywriter when it comes time to promote his service.
So what I am going to do now, since there are so many ways to get educated, is to list what I feel are the best ways. You may use all of them, some of them, or even none of them and use your own methods. These are the ones I have found that work for me.
Forums – Without a doubt, forums are the best place online to get information about a subject. At the very least, they can point you in the right direction to get resources that will train you properly. The key to forums is that you have to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. There are going to be those on forums who know it all and those who THINK they know it all. It takes time to figure out who is who. This is the one disadvantage of forums. You don’t always get reliable info. The key really is to find out who most members trust. Then you have to hope they have the answers you’re looking for depending on what it is you’re trying to do.
Ebooks – There are more ebooks in this world than there are people. At least that’s the way it seems. I myself have written many. The problem with ebooks is that in almost all cases, you’re not going to really know if it’s going to help you until you’ve purchased it and read it. Many are crap. Some are excellent. To have the best chance of finding an ebook on the subject you want that’s good, go back to forums and ask around. Again, you need to know who you can trust as far as their opinion.
Training Sites – These are specialized sites that have information on the subject you’re interested in. Many of these sites are free. But usually, the best information is what you have to pay for. So again, we’re back to the question of how to know what sites will give you good information and what sites will just give you a bunch of crap. You guessed it, back to the forums. Can you see how essential it is to frequent forums in the niche you’re tackling?
These are your main sources of getting information online. Short of going directly to an expert in the field, there’s not much else you can do. And most experts aren’t going to give you the training that you need free of charge unless you can provide them with some kind of apprentice service that they need doesn’t come around all that often. So, if you ever get such a chance, jump all over it. You may never get another one.
So, we get down to the nitty gritty. How do you know which of these avenues to choose? Sure, you could choose them all and you might actually learn enough to get yourself started on the right foot. However, if I were to do this all over again, this is the way I would approach getting my education.
The first thing I would do is go back to my first step. That’s right. I would go back there and take a look at what I’ve chosen to do. I’d first get as much info as I could about what is involved to do that thing, whatever it is. I would make a list of all the requirements.
After I have done that, I would go to the top forum in that area and simply make a post telling the members what it is you want to do and ask them what the best resources are for learning the things you need to learn.
Make a list of everything they mention. Then, take that list and go to a search engine. Google will be your best bet. Type in the resource they give you and the word “review” and read what people have to say about it. You want to ignore all reviews that end with affiliate links. These people all have an agenda.
If you’re having trouble finding a resource with unbiased reviews, one thing you can do is write to the person who owns the resource and ask them if you can have a complimentary copy of their book or month’s membership in exchange for a testimonial. Some will refuse, but some will agree. This is a great way to review a product without having to pay for it. If you find it to be good, offer to pay for it after the fact and still give your testimonial. You’ll get a lot of respect for doing this.
After you have your list of supposedly “good” resources, buy them, barter for them or whatever. Just get a hold of them and start your education. Read everything several times over until it’s committed to memory. You MUST have a complete understanding of everything you’re going to do before you even take one step to starting your business. This includes not only doing the things related to your niche, but general things like setting up to run any business, or what I call “the basics” This involves things like having backups for your computer, having a business phone, etc. Regardless of what you decide to do online, there are certain things that you’re going to need.
Okay, now, here’s my rant for this section.Rant 3
And that’s the next step in the process.