Soft Sell Marketers Association – The ONLY Place for Beginners
BySince we got involved in Internet marketing as raw beginners—former psychotherapists who had NO background in marketing, sales or computer technology—we’ve seen, over and over again how major Internet marketers, who make tons of money every month, offer courses that are NOT FIT for beginners.
Their sole teaching credential and sole lure is the money they earn.
But doing something well and teaching what you do to others—no matter how much money you make—are two completely different skill sets.
And to compound the problem, the deeper anyone gets into a subject or a skill the harder it gets to remember what it was like before they knew what they now know. So these major “teachers” very often operate from unconscious assumptions that their students know more than they actually do.
So to say, “Look at me, I make kajillions a month” not only has no bearing on whether they can teach what they do to others, their big numbers only set up the illusion that they can. And while those Big Numbers are often an effectively hypnotic lure, very often the “teacher” has NO IDEA how to pay it off.
And who gets hurt? Not the guy with the big numbers. It’s the beginner who is investing their dream money, their hope money, caught up in a fantasy of the big future, lots of energy spinning in circles.
Why are we writing about this?
Because it’s time to speak the truth.
Most Internet emperors have no clothes, at least when it comes to teaching the beginner what’s needed at the beginning!.
Take a look at these emails from members of our Soft Sell Marketers Association. We excluded the names of the “gurus” referred to and the two people who sent the email:
With all the money I have spent on Internet training programs, SSMA is the most valuable and relevant training I have received over the past year and 4 months. I wish I had known you BEFORE [Major Guru] and [Major Guru]who are way over the top for a newbie. And, furthermore, compared with even people who asked that I promote them as an affiliate, you two are the only ones who are present for me when I hit a bump or a hurdle and need concrete assistance in order to progress. ~ Arieljoy Fine
I am really impressed with your program (our First Step Internet Marketing program). Before this I maxed out my credit cards trying to find someone who will tell you how to do this stuff in a logical, understandable manner. I finally found it in your First Step Internet Marketing course. It’s by far the best internet training I have ever received in 2 and 1/2 years. Your’s is the only internet training that covers EVERYTHING. ~ Diane McLain
Just two examples of what people tell us and continually email to us—some feeling victimized; some enraged; all appealing for help. They believed the dream being pitched BUT it was never delivered . . .
Because the so-called teacher was just that—so-called.
Tremendous illusion is being propagated on the Internet by those who claim—Just Do As I Say And You Can Do This!
And it’s also known and talked about by those same gurus that upward of 95% of the people buying their products won’t realize the dream. Why? Because the gurus don’t start at the beginning. They just say they do.
Just imagine starting your math education with algebra taught by someone who is very adept at algebra. No matter the teacher’s credential, in the end—SO WHAT!! You are NOT READY for algebra no matter how smart you are, no matter how sincere you are, no matter what kind of effort you put in.
So there are a lot of in-debt, walking wounded, baby-beginner Internet marketers who still sincerely want to get up and running online, but have had no place to go that they could trust.
We’ve changed that. Because we will always have been the truest of beginners, our Soft Sell Marketers Association (SSMA) is dedicated to meeting the needs of anyone who is just starting out, been at it awhile and needs to unravel the confusion, or is now finally able to catch up after years of floundering. We are dedicated to all those who need across-the-board marketing and sales basics – for both online and offline effectiveness.
AND we make it affordable for anyone. So join us at:
Soft Sell Marketers Association
We even have a special Joining Bonus right now.
Our $597.00 First Step Internet Marketing course (that we developed with fellow former-beginner Tom Justin) is yours at no cost when you become a member of SSMA.
Because It’s All in the Connection,
Judith & Jim
Good message and timely. I think it is part of Internet growing pains. One thing is for sure, to get ahead with Internet marketing you definately need a mentor and if anyone tells you it is easy immediately hit the delete button.
It’s interesting they we call them gurus, since that term itself achieves a succesfully orchestrated confusion on their part.
Guru connotes ‘teacher’. I would rather call them ‘promoters’ since that term more aptly refers to what they really do: persuade you that the answer to your needs can only come from them. In fact Promoters are probably the ones who coined the self-reference: ‘guru’.
They have done their job when they are referred to as teachers because achieving this station blurs the boundaries just enough to allow them to presume credit for virtues they don’t utilize in the act of selling you their product. It’s as if a lawyer were thought to be a judge. Judgeship would allow him to pass self-serving courtroom opinion as a form of legal truth
My understanding is that what you and Judith do is to help restore the title of ‘teacher’ to the station of sales, recognizing that the extension of goodwill necessarily comes back in the form of mutually sustaining business relationships.
thanks for the ‘grist’, as it were
Excellent post and so true. Throughout my years on the internet and having successs and failures along the way, there are two people that STAND OUT in the crowd, Judith and Jim. They bring such a refreshing element to the business of marketing and they make it fun and enjoybable. From begginer to expert, eveyone I know in their program has been amazed at how taking a different approach, a different look at internet marketing….from the heart, how fast one can improve their marketing knowledge and skill level on the internet. They have created a ‘family’ on wonderful people that care, truly care about each other. Good luck on finding that somewhere else…..I haven’t seen it and I’ve been on the net since the beggining of webpages. And that’s a long time! Thanks Judith and Jim for all your given to me and my business this past year.
Anna Banana
Leader in Real Estate….Expert in Fun!
http://www.phoenixfirsthomebuyer.com
Dear Anna —
You made me (Judith) teary and moved both of us deep in our hearts – by what you wrote on this blog.
We know you well enough that you wouldn’t ever say stuff you
don’t mean and to have our current work validated by you with such passion is invaluable and tremendously soul-sustaining.
Thank you!!!
We send our love, Judith & Jim
http://www.bridgingheartandmarketing.com/blog
Dear JMW – Thanks for your reinforcement of what we care about and strive to promote – with the intention of changing the world-mind about commerce. Your support matters! Judith
http://www.bridgingheartandmarketing.com/blog
From jmw –
My understanding is that what you and Judith do is to help restore the title of ‘teacher’ to the station of sales, recognizing that the extension of goodwill necessarily comes back in the form of mutually sustaining business relationships.
thanks for the ‘grist’, as it were
Dear Anna —
You made me teary (Judith) and moved both of us deep in our hearts – by what you wrote on our blog.
We know you well enough that you wouldn’t ever say stuff you
don’t mean and to have our current work validated by you with such passion is invaluable and tremendously soul-sustaining.
Thank you!!!
We send our love, Judith & Jim
Dear Judith and Jim,
Thanks for saying it like it is. I’ve been swimming in the internet marketing pool of information since September, trying to figure out just how to get started!
I came to the internet wanting to increase my online presence to supplement my offline business (energy healing). But I wanted to maintain a truly heart-centered focus.
It has been so hard! I get caught up in the (very effective) hype of so many online “teachers” and find myself losing my heart-centered focus.
Thanks so much for helping me keep my head (or rather my HEART) in the right place.
Bonnie Thompson
http://www.healingtreewellness.com
http://www.multiplestreamsofabundance.com
Bonnie,
Thanks for your comment and support.
Yes it’s hard. Hard sell is effective because there is no other option. So we all relate to hard sell as though its “natural.” Hard sellers claim that what they do is work with “human instinct and human propensities — although I’ve never heard a hard sell marketer use a word like “propensity.”
And it’s the belief that humans have to spoken to like children because they can’t understand any better. That kind of disrespect leads only to contempt and that leads to value-free, or value-absent commerce.
That’s what has to change. No more it’s-only-number-one that counts.
Jim