Skeptics or Cynics? What’s the Difference?
Quite a bit actually!
We all know Cynics. They are the people who form unprocessed opinions and set them in cement. How easy it is to say “banks are the cause of all our problems today”! End of discussion. If you ask a cynic to expand on a subject you’ll get something like, “everybody knows that, all you have to do is read the papers”. Actually, cynics don’t have to read the papers, they already ‘know’. They seek validation, not debate.
To an internet business owner, this may not seem very relevant. But think about it, on the internet today we see people arrive, in their thousands, with enthusiasm and optimism, ready to give it a go. 99% of them will leave not long after, as committed cynics, a lot poorer than when they arrived. They will not be back.
Is that our fault? Well, we have created the environment, and it is not a very nice environment. We tend to rob the optimistic newbies of their eagerness and enthusiasm, not to mention their money. So yes, that IS our fault.
There has never been a more important time, than right now, for the internet business industry, to be accessible and transparent. As unemployment rises more people will be drawn to the internet for alternative employment. It is only natural that a large number of them will look for an internet home business.
What will they find? Think about it. What are the odds that they will be dazzled by an expensive, fake or recycled product? Pretty high…Right? What are the odds that they will repeat the mistake again? Pretty high too…Right?
These people have only one flaw, lack of experience. They are drawn to hype because they are looking for easy ways to make money. Not because they are lazy, or greedy, most often they are desperate. They need quick solutions and since they have no point of reference, they do not know a good solution from a bad one.
Inexperienced newbies, are drawn to the many products which bring promises of wealth, the seduction of automation and the big price tag because, if it is that expensive, it must be genuine. This is a popular, widely accepted philosophy in real life so why would the internet be any different?
How would inexperienced people know that most of these products are anything less than what is advertised and shown on the ‘package’? How can they possibly know that the product ‘inside’ has little or no practical use or application to anyone, least of all someone who has no clue about internet business or marketing?
Sure, we see a lot of offers of step by step tutorials and mentoring these days. But take a closer look, 99% of them are geared solely to teach people, not what they want, or need to learn, but instead, how to use the product the vendor wants to sell. The newbie will learn very little, if anything, about the most basic things needed to start a successful internet business. For example: How does it all work? What tools are needed? What skills are essential? What are keywords? What is HTML? What is SEO, what is RSS, and so on.
We have all been there and we know how difficult it is to get started and how much money most of us wasted trying to learn the ropes. In the real world, laws are in place to prevent us from being scammed. That goes for the content of our food products and the quality of our goods and services. This is done by disclosing the content on the package, or labeling the products.
On the internet, only experience will tell you if you are looking at a scam, a sham or a genuine product. Sadly, few new people stick around long enough to learn the difference. Skeptics might, and if they do, at least they’ll look for information and hopefully learn enough to want to stay.
If suddenly, all new people who join the internet are the purest of optimists, filled with enthusiasm and ready to work, many marketers would see only an opportunity for a quick kill. The result, apart from making a few undeserving internet marketers richer, would be a whole new generation of cynics, ready to discredit the internet home business industry, and who can blame them?
But, on the other hand, assume all newbies could start out as skeptics. Pre-warned perhaps? A skeptic will want to check everything and confirm it all. They would soon realize that they have a lot to learn before they start any type of business and if they have the necessary drive and enthusiasm, they will find a way to learn it. Therefore, being a skeptic is a good thing.
Of course, we could embrace all those eager, enthusiastic beavers, and warn them to be skeptical, it’s not that difficult. Give them facts do not give them false promises. Hopefully they would then stay and help make the internet a better place. If not, well, not everybody is suited to be an internet marketer. But why should they have to pay a big price to find that out.
Of course, all this would mean some self regulation and a no tolerance policy for inflated, recycled products – scams, or otherwise. Now, I ask you, how likely is that?
Kirsten Plotkin
Goldcoast Australia