Sometimes You Have To Reinvent The Wheel
One of the great selling points of many online programs – I use this myself as part of the marketing approach for Blog Mastermind – is the appeal of following the steps of someone else who has done what you want to do. A system that has worked for someone else should work for you if you do exactly the same as them, right?
Well not exactly…
Let’s state the obvious. We are all different. It’s not possible to do something in EXACTLY the same manner as someone else, but you can certainly come close, yet that doesn’t mean the end result will be close to the person you attempt to replicate. If only it was as simple as that!
There are so many variables at play, for example – the external environment, luck, timing, skill, talent, resources – that it is almost ridiculous that anyone can claim if you follow their system you should expect the same results.
Let’s take my blog and my blog training program for example.
I grew a blog over several years and now make six figures a year from it. In 2007 I sat down and over six months documented, in a teaching format, the steps to replicate what I did to build my blog.
I couldn’t completely cover everything I did, but I’m confident I comprehensively covered the key points. It’s probably better for someone to go through the lessons in Blog Mastermind as a study resource rather than follow exactly in my footsteps since I made so many mistakes. You get the benefit of my hindsight to help you avoid my mistakes, you get the benefit of my insight so you don’t have to work it out for yourself and it’s all nicely packaged in an easy to consume program (and all of that’s part of the marketing spiel too!).
Yet, even with the road map laid out, no one will reach the same destination.
How many students who take Blog Mastermind will build a profitable blog? Not many. Of course I’ll do my best to highlight the success stories to lend credibility (and hope) that it’s possible, but I think it’s important to be realistic too. I’d love it if every student who studied my program experienced big time success and met all the objectives I state are possible. Most won’t even come close, a few will make it and maybe one or two will excel beyond my achievements (the grasshopper surpasses the master 
).
I’m comfortable posting this to my blog because I know it’s not a reflection of my training that people don’t succeed. I know what I teach works, given the right conditions, which sadly are rarely met. I don’t publish this to discourage people from aspiring to become a professional blogger or take any online program – that’s definitely not my intention – but I do want you to understand why it is that so few people make it in the end so you can avoid the same fate.
