Sometimes it seems like the only ones who profit from internet marketing or motivational techniques are those who sell them to other people. I never seem to hear about the modern business owner who admits (in something other than a testimonial) that visualization of his goals helped him increase his business or the niche blogger and ebook author who is making $3000/month or more in some field other then the two named above.
Caroline Middlebrook’s recent blog post showed me that “Are internet marketers and personal development gurus the only ones making money?” is not necessarily the right question to ask.
Why are they the only ones that we are aware of that make money might be closer to the right question.
She pointed out that it’s not the money part that’s relevant when it comes to the internet. It’s the talking about it part. There are many people who make money online in other ways than teaching about making money online. “The reason we don’t know about these people is because they have no reason to tell their story!” (emphasis by Caroline)
It makes sense. Like at the beginning of a movie, when you know something is going to happen to the main character, even though everything looks normal now. Otherwise there would be no story and then no movie. Just because you’re making money doesn’t mean you feel the need to tell others about it. Actually, it might be the last topic you want to talk to people about. You’d rather talk to them about the widgets or the gardening or the real estate that is actually making you the money. You don’t have a reason to tell that story.
I think the principle reaches further, into other business concerns and even into analysis of scientific or engineering situations.
If only a couple of your customers are complaining is the problem small? Maybe. Or is it a larger problem and only a couple customers have the time, energy, or driving need for the problem to fixed that motivates them to tell their story? Or are they a special subset using the product or service for a particular purpose and no one else has the problem? Could you sell more if you cultivated the subset in that case? The answers are different depending on why you are hearing a particular story from only certain people.
The saying goes – “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” We know why the wheel is squeaking. It needs grease. But why is ONLY that wheel squeaking? Is it the only one that needs something, or is there some reason that makes it squeak when all the wheels need grease?
