Let’s face it, internet marketing Guru’s get a hard time from some folk.

No, no, they do. Honestly.

They have so much pressure on them to constantly perform in a climate that is forever changing.  Much of this pressure comes from people that they haven’t even met!

So in an effort to bridge the gap between the expert and their subscriber I am writing this post/ open letter to all Gurus (and would be Gurus) as an insight into how they have the ability to affect people’s lives for better and worse. It is aimed at no-one in particular but everyone in general. Take from it what you will.

Dear Mr/Mrs Guru

You don’t know me from a bar of soap, but believe it or not you have had an amazing influence on my life.

You were the person who I felt really ‘got’ what it was like to be a newbie in this game. You took me by the hand and showed me how to write my first article online. I don’t know if you can imagine the unbelievable sense of exhilaration I got when I managed to get my first anchor text link to work! My world changed in that instant and I thought that I could rule the planet!

You taught me how to connect with the reader, to be their friend, to write with ‘mystery’ and get them wanting to find out what your next move was. Getting my first article published on Ezinearticles was a blast!

Instead of focusing on the big money you gave me small goals to reach for, an Ezinearticles mug, 100 real friends on Facebook, build a Squidoo lens, 10 articles submitted to 10 directories, an increase in page rank, $50 a week. Yes these small achievable goals would help to build my business, but they also helped to build my confidence.

And I did. I got that mug – it took me more than 100 articles but I damn well did it. Got a mouse pad and pen too! The Facebook friends were a little harder but I have a few that I really admire and would not give up for the world. My first sale felt like I had won the lottery – it was for $13.95 and had taken me 3 months to get, but it was proof enough for me that this was the path.

I watched as time and again you tried to help others through forums. I watched as you picked them up at their lowest point and tried to carry them over the threshold to a new start and destiny. I felt some of your disappointment and frustration as time and again they gave up on themselves. I was watching and learning, quietly and patiently, determined that I would not give up, that this was the way and I could change the future for me and my family.

Then we lost touch for a while. I had learning curves that needed a different approach than the one you were providing and you got busy doing other things to.

We reconnected briefly as you told me about what you were up to and how your new project was going. How exciting! It didn’t meet my needs at the time, but I wished you well.

Months went by and my inbox was quiet again. Ready to start on a new campaign I was thrilled to see that you had a new product on the market. I ignored the warning bells in my head as emails directed to both the affiliate center and support center were bounced back and started promoting your product regardless.

I figured that after all you had done for people; it must have been a technical hitch. I even believed the advice that you gave in your affiliate center that if we didn’t get sales it was because our articles were not pre-selling enough. That your sales copy would convert traffic that was properly targeted.

After 500 hops and no sales (except for that one that was later refunded) I decided to leave it for now and concentrate on honing my article writing capabilities. Which I did, on some articles I even get a 50% click through rate!

Despite all this, I still hadn’t heard from you and I figured that we’d meet again and maybe I’d even get a chance to thank you personally for all you had taught me.

Then out of the blue you contacted me!

My inbox started running hot with emails – sometimes twice a week. But there was something different about these ones. The connection that you had with me was lost and although you still signed off with the same line that you always do – usually along the lines of telling me that you were on my side and wanting my success -somehow I didn’t believe it anymore.

So I emailed you. I tried to get that connection back. I tried to tell you how some of your long-time readers were reacting to your emails. And I got the response that I expected, a friendly reply from your assistant acknowledging my interest and explaining your modus operandi.

I was totally OK with that. I am not naïve enough to think that I could change anything. I had tried, failed but had done my best, as a friend. I wished you well and made a note to unsubscribe when the next email came through.

What I didn’t expect or understand was the next venom filled email newsletter broadcast that got sent out to your subscribers referring to people who didn’t agree with the way you did things as cash cows and prima donnas. In some cases you may have even mentioned my name in ways that were completely out of context.

That was uncalled for and I didn’t deserve it. If you had bothered to take the time to get to know me you would have known that. But then that is my fault. I tend to believe the best in people and I obviously did the same with you, despite the warnings. I put myself up for it. My bad.

But Mr. (or Mrs.) Guru please remember this. You didn’t just lose a subscriber or potential cash cow, you lost a friend.

I see that the latest product launch sensation is centered on ‘Reputation Management’.

With this letter in mind, Mr/Mrs Guru, before you go jumping on this particular bandwagon maybe you should take a good, long, hard look in the mirror and ask yourself why you and your brand need it.

Kindest of regards,

Rachael

Ps – If this blog post/letter strikes a negative chord with anyone reading it, it is not intended to be personal. Let’s call it a fictional story loosely based on a combination of experiences. As you can see, it is not SEO’d for search engines and I do not have a list of thousands to send this to. In fact if I am lucky maybe 5 people will read it.

I’m going to be perfectly blunt here – are you a serial information bludger?

By that I mean, are you the sort of person who wants people to give them the answers all the time?

Do you think that Pot Pie Girls One Week Marketing will make you rich in a week?

How about the 4 Day Money Making Blueprint? – Do you expect it to take you just four days to start making money?

What about Tim Ferris’ 4 Hour Working Week? 4 hours work in a week to become a millionaire? Awesome!

Are you one of those that download free report after free report, write a couple of articles and still get frustrated when the money doesn’t come piling into your bank account instantly?

Are you looking for a hand up, or a hand out?

If it is the latter I have news for you. Wake up and smell the Java!

There is no such thing as instant wealth, if you are still looking for it I have a lotto ticket with the winning numbers on that you can have for $10,000 )

There is no such thing as having all the answers either. All of the courses that I have mentioned, along with many, many more will give you a great grounding in running a business. They are a great way to make connections and get a hand up, but at the end of the day YOU have to make it work, YOU have to deal with the ups and downs of working online and YOU have to keep pushing through the barriers.

Even the great AffiloJetpack requires you to do a heckova lot of work. Setting up a site is easy when you know how; getting and keeping traffic to it and building your relationship with your list is much harder. I would even say that it is 80% of your total workload.

But apparently most people won’t even get this far. They will simply get all the information, hit the first roadblock and run screaming. Some will make it to the second hurdle, some will get to the third before they realize that for all its glamour, internet marketing is also tedious and they too will fall by the wayside.

Jennifer Ledbetter (PPG) has a saying – ‘do for a year what others won’t and you will do for a lifetime what others can’t’. That is the goal.

If you are going into IM to make money, be prepared to fail miserably. If you are going in with the thought that you are just going to spend that first year learning then you have half the battle won.

If you are constantly relying on others to provide the answers for you, you are going to end up doing two things;
Freaking out every time that something changes – whether it is a WordPress upgrade that throws out a plugin, Google changing their algorithm, or a site changing their Terms of Service

You will also end up spending all the cash that you do earn on hiring people to fix stuff or on more products to take you to the next level.

Surround yourself with people who are NOT trying to sell you stuff, join a forum – maybe join Warrior forum once you are a bit more sure of yourself and abilities. Learn what you need to learn when you need to learn it.

Don’t be afraid to ask for a hand up when you need it – for all the ratbags and sharks that are around, there are also plenty of great people in this industry. Find them, watch them and learn from them. You don’t have to do everything their way, but get an understanding of what it is that they are doing.

But most of all get off your butt and learn how to fish for yourself. The more control you give other people, the more power they have over you and your future.