Rule No 1: Invest in Yourself

By Ian Pelham
By far the most important rule in Internet Marketing, and one that you MUST remember, is that you should always "Invest in Yourself!"The chances are very good that you will have heard this saying repeated over and over again and yet you probably still don't have the first clue what this means. Let me explain.An internet business isn't a building. It isn't a place...not a real physical place. An internet business exists only in cyber space and in the heart and mind of the owner of that internet business.Basically, your internet business is YOU. You are the heart of your business, giving it the identity that it has.If you had a bricks and mortar business you could make physical changes to the look of the outside of your building, the decor inside etc, and people would notice and be drawn to take a look on the inside to see what other changes had been made and see what products lines you may now be offering compared to the past.With an internet business you cannot make those kinds of changes. The most important changes you can make are to yourself. This is what it means to "Invest in Yourself". In order to improve your internet business you need to improve yourself first.How do you invest in yourself? It's simple. You educate yourself about new marketing methods, new technologies that could benefit your business, etc. In short, you need more knowledge. The more knowledge you gain, the more your business will grow in response.Try spending just one hour a day reading articles or subscribe to an ezine that emails you information regularly about both your industry and also online marketing methods, and you will have invested a significant amount of time in yourself.You can do many things like listen to teleseminars and webinars or enrol in courses. Investing in yourself is taking the time to involve yourself in the process of gaining knowledge. This is Rule No.1 in marketing online.Following on from investing in yourself is the principle of "Abundance Thinking".What in the world is 'Abundance Thinking', you might ask? Well, there are really two ways to look at the world of internet marketing. One way is that that there is only so much business out there and I should get what is mine without regard for anybody else. I call this 'Limited-supply Thinking'.This type of thinking might allow you to make a reasonable income, but it doesn't allow you to maximize your income. It is the opposite of Abundance Thinking.Abundance thinking is the belief that there is enough business to go around and that we can all make a good living by giving away referrals, ideas and assistance to help others...including to our competitors.Abundance thinking is the belief that we are all stronger together than we are separately and that by helping one another we each become stronger individually. This principle when applied to internet marketing is usually the more productive of the two schools of thought. Limited-supply thinking means that you hold on as tightly as you can to what you have. You do not share anything with anybody. What is yours is yours. Often time decisions are made by people who apply limited-supply thinking based upon what the competition is doing. Limited-supply thinking is basically a defensive position. Abundance thinking is the exact opposite. It is proactive, customer focussed and thinks in terms of how things could be done better. This thinking builds relationships, makes more mature, healthy decisions and results in significantly less stress.Once you experience Abundance Thinking you will realize that there is plenty of business out there for everybody.The beautiful thing about abundance thinking is that it is contagious. The better you get at abundance thinking the more accepting of you your peers will become. Abundance Thinkers experience more success than Limited Supply thinkers, especially in the realm of joint ventures. - 17835
About the Author:
Ian Pelham is a marketer who has come through a very difficult time financially. He used debt consolidation loans to restructure his finances. Using a debt consolidation loan was one of the best things he did to rid himself of his bad debt.