You Are Your Very Best Guru!
by
Robert Leggett
Copyright (c) January 2003

Common to every martial arts discipline is maintaining your
physical, mental and emotional center. That the only time(s)
you are thrown is when you are misdirected away from your own
center.

While learning how to earn your living online, you are
confronted by many real and self-proclaimed gurus all hawking
their information. I mean no disrespect to my fellow cyber
space marketeers. This overwhelming amount of information
overload is enough to pull Jackie Chan off balance!

There are three tiers of "guru" all selling product. The ones
making the most money and giving the best service have been on
the Internet for a very long time. They paid their dues,
continue to learn and share, and have developed credibility
over the years.

The second tier have been on the Internet a shorter time. They
have seen needs and developed new products. Many of these
products overlap but have certain unique qualities. Pick those
which complement your own Internet Marketing style.

The third tier are those fairly new to Information Marketing,
such as myself, who are developing their own Internet
Marketing style. You ARE developing your own Internet
Marketing style, aren't you??? It is OK modifying what you see
out there to suit your own style.

Note that the Japanese did NOT invent the transistor. We
Americans did! We SOLD them the technology. Why? The Japanese
wanted to make radios! The Japanese excel at adapting
technology already in place. We can learn from them. Study all
the Internet Marketing ideas/products out there. Modify those
which appeal to you and forget about the rest. Don't lose your
focus and balance!

Jim Daniels created a killer eZine viewable on the web,
(http://www.bizweb2000.com/gazette/). This is what I had been
looking for! I did not copy him! I modified his style.
However, I am experimenting by taking it one step beyond. Both
our eZines on the following sites do the following:

* 1) pop up,
* 2) after reading you can click on "ENTER" and be on the home
page OR you can close it by clicking the "X" in the upper
right hand corner,
* 3) on the home page you can click on a link and re-read it.

Jim also sends his eZine out to his subscribers as a TXT file.
To MY way of thinking, this takes up bandwidth. AND the longer
the copy, the more likelihood those new SPAM blockers will
censor it. My subscribers won't receive it. Instead I email a
short notice worded and styled to pass uncensored. This short
email lets them know their latest edition is now available at
my homepage. This is experimental and I will let you know the
results down the line. Meanwhile, I'm keeping my eyes open to
see if anybody experiments with my idea - they are welcome to!
Or...maybe they know something I don't. Time will tell.

I learn by DOING. Once upon a time, I was a professional opera
singer. I wanted work and prostituted my art by favoring
chorus and small parts. My voice and style is unique. I might
have gone much further in my field had I capitalized upon my
uniqueness rather than the mediocre security I found by
suppressing it! Never again!

For this reason I take my inordinate time evaluating and
deciding upon the Internet Marketing products I buy and use.
There are some products available which I find very
questionable. One of them encrypts web pages. Nobody can
"steal" your code! My question is, "If I encrypt my web pages,
will search engine spiders find them and rank them correctly?"
If so, I might consider this product. However, do I really
care if somebody "steals" my HTML code(s)???

Two other products promise to "cloak" affiliate links - and
they are very user-friendly. One of them recently hawked by an
affiliate showed the "cloaking" code - which has not even the
sophistication of a Captain Midnight decoder ring! I have yet
to test the other product which promises "real" encryption -
but likely, upon exploration thru Google, I may find how to
crack it. Meanwhile, through a little luck and several source
codes from other sites, I discovered a pretty good method.
When you click on our sites you will never know whether you
are on our site or an affiliate's. UNLESS you look at the
source code on the affiliate's site - you will see our
affiliate numbers. Busted! But if somebody goes this far, do I
really want to do business with this person?!?!?!

Special Note: there are some affiliate sites which protect
their affiliates. They allow us to replace their header logos
with ours and sometimes add our own footers. They make their
site look more like ours. Several go further and give the
surfer the option: book through our affiliate's site OR go
thru your travel agent! This is a travel agent only site and
generally gives a lower price than other travel agents have
available! They protect our competitive advantage!

So - you see - I take my time to think, test, experiment and
see what works for me. This is how I am earning my guru
credentials.

Before you can add, you must learn the numeric system. Later
you understand that everything is addition. Subtraction? ADD
negative numbers. Multiplication? ADD the same number many
times. Division? ADD that negative number many times. Now
let's go on to algebra, calculus, etc.

Learn the basics! After very close contemplation I have bought
several products which I feel will enhance my knowledge,
skills and growth of my Internet businesses. Before a
carpenter can build a house, he/she needs tools. Good tools.
Not "ON SALE" "Five and Dime" tools. Not even do-it-yourself
tools found in Home Depot. I mean "professional" grade tools -
top of the line Craftsman or even better, "Snap-On!" I have
purchased these top-grade professional Internet Marketing
tools. When you visit (http://www.FlightToQuality/com) and
(http://www.EarnYourLiving.com) you will see how I build with
these tools.

Let me leave you with a philosophical concept I recently
discovered - very logical if you accept basic postulates:

* 1) God created Man/Woman in his own image.
* 2) God is Love.
* 3) Therefore his image, Man/Woman, is love.
* 4) Love cannot hate.
* 5) Therefore his image, Man/Woman, cannot hate.

Business Application: You cannot hate your competitor(s). They
cannot hate you. To even try pulls you off your center, and
results in lower mutual profitability.

-30-

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Robert Leggett has over 10 years experience marketing the
scuba industry over the Internet. His focus has changed.
Robert works with individuals and business owners all over the
world. He helps them succeed in business and achieve financial
independence. Visit him at -
(http://www.EarnYourLiving.com), Subscribe to his "Free for
Life" newsletter - "CyberSpaceMarketeer" Receive your Free
eBook.