In my day, though thankfully, not anymore, all school pupils had to sit exams set by their county’s educational authorities at the age of 11 or 12. Those who passed went to a higher grade secondary school than those who failed.
I passed, as did the one other pupil of my age in the small school, a girl called Margaret, and we both then had to get a bus to the nearest town, to attend Airdrie Academy.
I can remember Dad saying, just before I left the house, to catch the bus to my first day at secondary school. “I reckon, I’ve done a pretty good job of teaching you up to now, son, but it’s a pity that I was never able to teach you to spell.” He was right, and I will be forever grateful to whoever programmed the red squiggly line that now appears under misspelled words on my computer.
Coincidentally, with Margaret and I leaving, the school became too small and it closed as soon as we left. There was another village two miles down the road towards Airdrie, which was 10 to 20 times larger than Longriggend, The school there had 6 classes, one for each year of intake. Dad was transferred there as headmaster and teacher of the oldest class. The remaining number of younger pupils, including my sister, were transferred there also. But as that school had no adjoining schoolhouse our family continued to live in the Longriggend schoolhouse.
Let’s leave the trials and tribulations of my life there for the time being and go over what we, as Internet Marketers, could learn from my experiences while living and going to school in our small village:
- I was able to quickly assimilate into the village life by getting fellow villagers, both young and old to know, like, and trust me. I did this by participating in their activities. Even if I looked awkward, I was able to demonstrate that I was trying my best at all times. It was also important that I did not try to use the fact that my father was the headmaster of the school to give me any unfair advantage. Similarly, we as Marketers should participate in Facebook, including in Groups and Fan Pages, YouTube, and all other main platforms, including our own Blogs, and by communicating regularly with our lists, which we should be trying, constantly, to grow.
-
I tried playing social football (soccer) with the original intent of perhaps climbing the ranks, and playing at the top level one day. After trying for an extended period, I, assisted by my father, realized that this was going to prove to be an impossible dream. So, although I continued to play, less frequently, socially, I gave up the idea of ever playing at a higher level.
If, as an Internet Marketer, you decide that a chosen strategy is not going to work for you, don’t be afraid to change to some other way of achieving a desired goal. However, you mustn’t give up and change course too soon. Make sure that you give your original strategy enough time to prove itself before you ditch it. If you can see no success in a couple of days, don’t ditch it, if you can see no success in two months, don’t ditch it. After three months of failure you can start to think about ditching it, but don’t make any switch until at least four months have passed with nothing to show for it. I played soccer for a year before I decided to turn to golf.
-
I succeeded in traveling the long road from hitting dustbins with old balls struck with an old wooden shafted, grip-less 5 iron, to becoming a competitive golfer, basically because I had three fundamental “must have’s”. (a) I had a mentor, in my Dad. Okay, he wasn’t a professional golfer, but he was able to provide me with the starting equipment, and he was a good enough golfer to be able to spot and correct the initial errors in my technique. (b) I read books on the subject until I could almost quote them word by word from memory. (c) I practiced and practiced, knowing that, in the end, I would be able to play at an acceptable level.
It’s the same with Internet Marketing. You would have to be one in a million, to be successful if you don’t have a mentor. You must go through training, whether that’s from books, YouTube videos, podcasts, webinars, or whatever. And you must put that training into practice. My mentor, Dean Holland, indicates that the best ratio of time spent learning and time spent putting what you have learnt into practice, is 20% – 30% learning and 70% – 80% practicing. You won’t ever make money, even if you are the most knowledgeable person about I.M. on the planet, if you never put that knowledge into practice.
-
I learned to ride a bike at the age of 12. No, I didn’t read books, because there are none on a subject that most people quickly learn naturally, but I did practice and practice until I worked out how to do it on my own. I didn’t think I needed a mentor, until the very end, after I thought that I was successful. “But you have never turned to the right,” Dad pointed out. The first time I tried to, I fell. So, it was back to the drawing board. Your mentor’s job is not only to teach but to critique as well.
-
A final lesson we Internet Marketers can take from this experience is that you can do two things at the same time. I was still practicing golf while I was learning to ride a bicycle. But never try more than two. For example, you can try advertising on Facebook organically, while buying solo ads at the same time, but don’t try to master paid advertising on Facebook, YouTube, and Microsoft all at the same time, you will not be able to master them all simultaneously. I stopped playing social soccer when I started to learn to ride, but I started again, to a limited extent, after I could ride a bike efficiently.
I hope that I have successfully summarized the last few blogs succinctly and I hope that you found it helpful. Please comment or ask me any questions you may have below. You can also email me at philip_ramage@yahoo.com. Next, we’ll go on, jumping in much longer time-frames, starting from my days at secondary school.