Why Ongoing Education Is The Key Ingredient For Success In Business and Blogging
At the start of March I bought a bunch of new products, including Product Launch Formula from Jeff Walker ($997), the Dot Com Secrets Free CD from Russell Brunson ($7.95 for shipping) and paid half of the $997 fee to attend the World Internet Summit in Melbourne. On top of that I subscribe to Perry Marshall’s Renaissance club and Rich Schefren’s private business systems coaching program.
I think I spent at least half of the money I made from blogging in February in the first week of March, but I consider it money well spent.
Top Bloggers Are Thought Leaders
If you read many of the top blogs written by one specific individual you will notice that they know a lot about a certain topic. They usually have spent a significant amount of time working and experiencing the things they write about. Consequentially they can blog with the authority that only comes from experience.
On top of experience, many bloggers tap into the industry they write about, reading other blogs, following industry leaders and buying books, magazines and information products. They realize the necessity to stay up to date with current events so they don’t get left behind. The is especially important if you want to be a consultant or establish authority in your field.
Good Ideas Are Not Enough
World Internet Summit Melbourne Recap
I made it to the end of the World Internet Summit (WIS) and wow, it’s been a GREAT experience.
I probably didn’t have a typical experience since I wasn’t there as a person new to Internet marketing and consequently spent more time talking to the presenters, but I want to explain to you first my take on why YOU would consider attending one of these events if you are new to Internet marketing and then I’ll throw in more tidbits about my experiences.
Opportunities, Education and Networking
My last article Beware The Allure of The Internet Marketing Success Story should serve as a cautionary tip on the mindset you need to have before entering an Internet marketing conference. Once you have that mindset you can attend these events, really enjoy and learn from the experience and leave with clear intentions rather than overloaded senses.
The WIS is four days. It’s a long event. I guarantee by the end if you watch every speaker you have enjoyed a huge variety of presentation styles and learned about many different ways to make money online.
My initial Internet marketing training occured throughout the late nineties and early two thousands where I was managing hobby sites and creating BetterEdit.com. It took a long time to learn the ins and outs of how people made money online and I can honestly say if I attended this conference back then, while I definitely would have felt the urge to buy every program (I feel that even now to a degree), I would have covered about two years worth of hands on training and experience in four days. That’s great if you want to speed up the learning process, but it also tends to overwhelm you.
What you will gain is a nice general awareness of how Internet business is conducted today. Things like capturing an email address, the sales funnel, product creation, viral marketing, copywriting, affiliate marketing, niche marketing, butterfly marketing, ebay selling, etc, are all in-depth topics that are covered in some detail at the event by each speaker. You will take a big step forward bringing the knowledge gap between wanting to make money online and understanding how others currently do it.
The big benefits come after the event when you go home and start implementing. You might begin by following the steps and training in a package you bought from one of the speakers, or by acting on the information you absorbed from the presentations. Whatever happens, if the event is the catalyst for you to start implementing and really learning through experience, then you have easily recouped the money you invested in paying the conference fee.
For the absolute newbies I’d say definitely go, it’s a fantastic experience, but be prepared to be overwhelmed. For the people who already know a thing or two about net marketing, it’s possibly even better. You still learn a lot plus you don’t feel the sense of over-stimulation to quite the same degree since the basics are not new to you and you get the chance to see how the big boys and girls make money by presenting at conferences.
