Flack

I've received quite a lot of flack since my last post. It has been made very clear to me that it wasn't appreciated by many.

But rather than apologize, let me explain a couple of terms and add a clarification or two. When I said "that just about everyone in this business that has done well has had to work very hard," what I meant was that…

Well, I define doing well, or success, as being in it for the long term and to me that means whatever you're doing is legal, honest, ethical by the most widely accepted standards, and that you make a sincere effort to add at least some value for your clients, customers and fellow marketers — at least whenever possible.

So when I said what I said, I guess I was revealing that my definition of success, or doing well, doesn't just mean making money, or just making money for now. It doesn't jive with everyone's definition. I know that. Certainly not with some of the quick-and-easy-buck types.

So yes, I'm wrong. It is possible to make a quick buck, but if you intend the above, i.e., legal, honest, ethical, and added value, then you almost certainly will:

• have your own unique and valuable product to sell; and/or
• have all the right connections within your particular industry, and/or
• be one of the very first to find out about and implement a new and effective methodology, and/or
• have at least $10,000 to invest upfront with previous and up-to-date experience in marketing, and/or one or more valued information technologies, and/or
• just luck into something.

But not very many of these things tend to be very true for those who are brand new to the game. That's all. That's all I was saying. I wasn't trying to discourage anyone. I was trying to tell those who need to be told that it's a business, like any other — except that it's been rather like the wild, wild west so far — but that's changing some already and likely to change a lot more in the next few years. So if you are in it for the long run, if you are going to stay legal, ethical, honest, and add value for your customers — and there simply are too many out and around who don't act as if they understand that — then it most likely will take work, lots of it.

So, yeah, maybe you can figure out a way, as a still-wet-behind-the-ears newbie to make a lot of money fast and easy. What do I know? It might be that very next product launch that will make it happen. But if you compromise on the long-term strategy I've laid out above, as far as I'm concerned, you might be a rich crook or a rich con artist, but you are not a successful marketer, and anything you do that doesn't pass the smell test probably will come back to bite you sooner or later.

Well, that's my take on it anyway.

Regards,

Richard D. Farley