A Professional's Mind Set To Making It Online

By Karl Augustine
Posted Friday, September 10, 2004

Does the seasoned professional have a leg up on the rest of us?

Not necessarily.

People who have had distinguished professional careers in other businesses may have a distinct advantage over the masses if they are common sense smart, but they certainly don't get an automatic ticket to riches online.

There are lots of people who have made solid incomes online who never graduated college or had a true 'white collar' position in the corporate world.

Remember, it is absolutely true when "they" say that the online mind set needed for success is unique. Online marketing differs from any other type of marketing and demands a simplistic and tactical process in order to produce results.

For the seasoned professional (Pro), this can be a challenging quandary.

Why?

Because people who are educated or have already had profitable careers in other vertical markets are often blinded by their success. Professionals who have had successful careers elsewhere (not online) tend to have a certain stubbornness to them making it difficult to actually "unlearn" some of the things they know and learn what they really need to learn in order to make it online.

Stubbornness will certainly slow down a professionals success track and can severely damage optimism. While the seasoned professional is smart and experienced, if that professional isn't seasoned and experienced in the online world, it won't matter...they will still have to learn how things work on the Internet.

Quite simply, if a person hasn't had a successful online business, they are a newbie, regardless of their past history. Sure, people that are ex-professionals might have the smarts to leap ahead of the rest of the pack if they have similar or transferable experience, but if they don't concentrate on basics, they can fail just as easily as someone uneducated or inexperienced in any type of career.

In order for seasoned Pros to be successful online, they have to reflect on their past building blocks that made them successful in their chosen profession and remember that any success is built around fundamentals.

Acknowledging that the online world is different than any other, and recognizing that certain basic steps need to be taken, are 2 vital concepts that must be engrained into a professionals mind set for starting and succeeding in an online business.

Once these 2 steps are taken, the seasoned professional can accomplish just about anything online. It is as simple as mixing creativity and common sense with desire and perseverance. A major part of 'common sense' is listening to the experts and remaining neutral when assessing any concept or idea.

For an educated person, reading seemingly basic online concepts can be rudimentary at best. For the educated person or Pro, it's easy to think "This is too easy, what makes this person different than me, this is simple!". Be smart, consider the source.

If the concept, idea, or product is from a true expert, (someone who has really made hundreds of thousands of dollars online) the difference between that person and the professional is that the expert has actually done it, not planned to do it, or theorized about it! It's easy to be critical of others and not focus on your own plan...a Pro, like the rest of us, should never underestimate anyone who has made a great deal of money online, it's quite an accomplishment.

For the professional, the mind set needed to be successful online has to be one of respect. The Pro has to be smart enough to know that the online business can be very basic, but a well laid out plan is really all it takes.

That plan, of course, includes following the experts, keeping it simple, and taking action. The professional should welcome being presented with information and products distributed by the experts and should take each powerful concept to heart no matter how basic they may seem. The Pro should avoid getting blinded by all the hype in any marketing campaign and realize that the "sales-like" tone is there for a reason, to appeal to the masses.

Almost anything online has some level of 'pushy' content...for the professional, this can be a serious turn off. The experienced person should read between the lines and look at the concept or product for the value it brings, and focus on benefits, not features or 'estimated' savings or results.

Professionals who start an online business have an immediate crossroads if they have an arrogance about them or believe they can transfer all their past experience to their online business.

Yes, lots of skills the Pro accumulated during their past career will be useful, but the most meaningful skills need to be learned if the Pro hasn't successfully owned an online business.

Just because someone knows Calculus, has an MBA or has climbed the corporate ladder, doesn't mean they automatically can be successful online. Traditional education doesn't automatically mean success unless that education is "Online Marketing Education"...and, for most of us, the only way to get that education is to learn from people who have done it before.

Be humble, work smart, keep it simple.

About the Author
Karl Augustine
*Publisher, 'Starting Smart!' e-zine
*Author, "9 Deadly Mistakes To Avoid..."
**"65 Answers To SEO Questions"
(http://www.9mistakes-online.com)