Are you familiar with the story "The Fox and The Grapes?" It's a classic Aesop fable that goes something like this: One hot summer day a fox was strolling through an orchard when he came upon a bunch of grapes just ripening on a vine high off the ground on a lofty branch.
"Ahhh, just the thing I need to quench my thirst," said the fox.
Stepping back a few paces, the fox ran toward the vine launching himself high into the air, just missing the bunch of grapes.
Not easily deterred, he took a few steps back and again ran toward the vine, launching himself high into the air, once again missing the grapes.
Again and again he launched himself higher and higher into the air, coming up short each time.
Exhausted and frustrated, the fox finally gave up and walked away muttering: "The grapes are probably sour anyway!" The moral of the story is: "It is easy to despise what you cannot get.
" So what does any of this have to do with internet marketing? Well, a couple of days ago, I received a private message at one of the small business forums that I'm a member of.
The message was from another forum member chastising me for trying to help other members of the forum.
In a nutshell, he said internet marketing was stupid and that you can't make any decent money doing it because he had tried several times and failed.
Hmmmmm...
sounds a lot like our fox in the aforementioned story.
"It's easy to despise what you cannot do!" He went on to tell me that I was giving people false hope by encouraging them with my advice.
Anyway, that message got me thinking.
There are probably plenty of other people out there who erroneously think the same exact thing about internet marketing, because of a negative experience they had.
You may even be one of those people.
If you are, this is my message to you and the person who sent me that private message: Internet marketing isn't stupid.
Internet marketing does work! How do I know? Because I'm personally making my living online, as are several of my friends and colleagues.
But it didn't just happen by chance.
It's like anything else in life, you have to learn how to do it.
For example, people aren't born knowing how to drive a car.
You have to learn how to drive by getting behind the wheel and practicing.
Well, internet marketing is no different.
You have to learn the fundamentals, and you have to practice them.
Along the way you may fail a few times, but whenever you're learning something new, you're bound to make mistakes.
I failed at internet marketing many times, before that little light bulb finally came on inside of my head and I finally figured it out.
But I never gave up on myself and I never stopped learning.
I read every marketing book, newsletter and article I could get my hands on.
You see, learning is the key.
If you want to succeed at internet marketing, you have to learn how to do it!