Over the last two years, I became quickly tired of internet search results that turned up all the "spam" sites in the results. You know, the sites that are nothing but adwords and auto gnerated content. Since I got skillz with web technologies, I crafted ways around the search engine spam.

Now I'm tired of something new...

I'm tired of every Tom, Dick, and Harry calling themselves a Marketing Consultant or Copywriter. To me, it seems now that anyone can create a web site, thanks to blogs, everyone is calling themselves a consultant on something. When they ain't making a dime.

I saw on this one forum, a person called themselves a "experienced marketer" with a list of "10,000 members" (in the field of PR and branding). I visited the persons site, and this person has had appearance on big news channels, been published in various well-known mags and has a serious of books.

Do you know what this experienced marketer with a list of 10,000 asked the forum?

"How do I make $5,000 per month?"

What was funny was, somebody asked if the post was a joke. Oh, by the way, it was a business opp type of forum.

Don't get me wrong, some people are better copywriters than others and there is enough room in the market for everyone. It's kind of like the success coaches who still struggle to get out of bed in the morning. I always felt that I had to achieve some success before I went out and helped others.

If I can't market myself, is it ethical for me to give others marketing advice? If I can't craft at least ONE letter, ad, or site that sales, is it ethical for me to write copy for money.

Anyone want to set me straight on this?

Maybe I'm just to darn tired and actually need some sleep.

MikeC

Isn't ethics subjective anyway? There's nothing to "make" person A see things
as person B does, but there's no requirement for person B to do business with
person A if their ethics don't jibe with one another, as well.

There are different and all kinds of people in this earth we're all in. You decide
who to deal with and who to avoid.

But...I did have a similar dilemma. Eventually I got over it because I know I've
no desire to cheat anyone, and I'm more than happy to accomodate people's
requests within certain limits.

Time will tell what limits I can set, and what limits I can drop. But I can't help
people who don't help themselves.

Sleep can do you good.

If you can't market yourself, they won't listen.

If you can't write copy that sells, they won't hire you.

If you have better knowledge of the subject matter than most people, and can perform a job better than the person willing to hire you, what is the ethical dillema?

Hey Mike,

I hear ya and feel the same way that you do. I've seen that post you were referring to and found it hard to believe that this "experienced marketer" was looking for help, but I got an even bigger laugh when they later said they already make a six figure income and just need to make an extra 5k in order to maintain their luxurious lifestyle! Most folks on that board would probably love to just make 5k a month period!

I also can't stand those self proclaimed marketing "experts" or "gurus" who throw around those terms to try to make them look better in their prospects eyes. Personally I would hope some of their prospects would call them out on it and ask them "Just what have you done to qualify as an expert?" but most probably believe it without giving it a second thought.

Cheers!

This sounds like a drink made from green jealousy liquor, inability to compete and sour grapes.

Why an incompetent moron would cause you any consternation is totally beyond me. Laugh and move on. You ARE the expert after all. Why don't you welcome incompetent and unqualified competition? It should result in higher rates and more demand for your services.

Although I don't always agree with you Neb, this is probably one of the best pieces of advice I've ever heard you give.

Don't waste your energy on negative thinking... see what others are doing and go beyond it.