Well, I'm moving forward after the TTP Case study. I've been hanging around the main "core" of TTP challenge/Case Study people ever since December; a bunch that are solidly becoming a tribe, TAOLIFETRIBE.
Mostly, I'm a blogger (who needs to improve consistency), then a PTR/PTC-er, then a SL-er (Safelists, mailers), and finally - a marketer.
Truthfully, I've always HATED most marketing because so much manipulation can come into play in advertising, promoting, etc. Even when attempting to be an honest marketer, one is inundated with covert hype, product and service pitches, all day long. It's EVERYWHERE and unavoidable in this money making arena.
Offline, I study in the Radical Humanities as a lifelong learner. This means philosophy and a 5 core discipline approach to learning. My expertise, offline, is in poverty/oppression studies.
I'm providing this background in this post in an attempt to explain the HORROR I feel when I turn to what is supposed to be the great modern equalizer - the internet, for money making...
Essentially, the beginner or little guy (again, the marginalized and impoverished) is pushed far to the margins, then bombarded with covert marketing jargon when he (or she) looks to make money online. Immediately, a person is told/asked, "it takes money to make money," "you're paying for your future - how much is your future worth to you?" and made to feel like something is wrong with a person for not upgrading, buying, forking funds into an as yet abstract and undefined future.
In absolute truth, the only activity I've made money at online for absolutely FREE has been blogging/writing - and I've made THE MOST money out of all my online money making activities over a decade, via writing. The only thing about blogging/writing for cash is that it is a lot of work and I have lost the routine of if over the past 2 years.
I learn while I'm writing, so what I've just learned in writing this post is that I need to put back in place some online financial backup plans - writing - regularly and do marketing, list-building in short bursts daily, having my writing funds carry me forward.
Strangely enough, I'm branded quite well elsewhere with my writing persona. Most who follow my articles/blogs believe am a GUY writer and I can't shake that perception so I go with it. The branding is already firmly set, so actually I DO KNOW quite a bit about branding. My failure to brand in marketing circles is sort of on purpose. I like my writer more than my IM-er, I guess.
Well, this post is certainly not what most would expect, I suppose... it went a direction I didn't expect, either, so with that in mind, I'm going to post and then head over to see what my male writing persona has sitting in draft... (I'll swirl some URLs around and "Market" later with TAOLIFETRIBE people).
I guess that moving painfully forward also means going back at least a bit to something THAT WORKS for me, so I won't be sad or upset that I'll spend just a little less time marketing.
teeray~~
