Is an Internet Monster hiding under your bed (or in your business)?

For me,  the beginning of the year, is a time of “house cleaning” in my home and in my business.  I shine my flashlight in all the nooks and crannies of my business (my clients, my business practices, my systems)  and see that I need to get rid of.  I usually end up finding a few hidden treasures that have been hidden by all the unnecessary “stuff” in my business. This year, my  mission is to tame my “internet monsters” and to help you recognize some of the “monsters” lurking in your business.

Here are some common Internet Monsters and how to recognize them:

The Googly Green Eyed Gremlin

This monster is one of the most common villains I see in the online marketing space.  She especially likes to haunt smart and articulate entrepreneurs with big dreams.  The googly green eyed gremlin is the monster that causes you to constantly be looking over your shoulder to see what the “gurus” are doing.  Unless you are naturally googly eyed, you can’t focus with one eye on someone else’s stuff and one eye on your own.   Anastcia Brice’s recent Virtual Moxie post really brought this to light for me.   The cure for the googly green eyed monster is not to be jealous or compare yourself to others — but simply to be authentic and to not try to “be” anyone but yourself. This leads me to the next monster in our infamous line up.

The Copy Cat

The Copy Cat strikes when business owners are seduced by the green googly eyed monster and copy another entrepreneur’s business model almost exactly.  The copy cat wants you to believe that by exactly mimicking every move of your favorite internet guru, you can achieve the same results they did for yourself.  The problem is, the successful person’s model is build for them and their audience and not necessarily for you.

The Copy Cat is very subtle.  Obviously,  business owners can learn a lot from watching others and applying what they’ve learned to their own businesses.  It is also somewhat fool-hardy to hack your way through the bushes when there is a clear path right next to you.  But, you need to make sure the path is leading where you want to go.  The copy cat is usually a direct result of spending too much time with our next monster…

The Bling-A-Ling

The Bling-A-Ling spins so fast, it ends up not going anywhere at all.  The Bling A Ling is attracted by bright lights and promises of gold.  If you’ve been affected by a Bling A Ling, you spend a lot of time reading e-mails promising “step by step systems or software to enable you to create a six-figure business while playing farmville on your ipad.   Bling A Lings chase after the latest bright shiny object.  The problem is that even with the “miracle of the Internet”, the people who build successful businesses earn the trust of their customers by being consistent and not changing formats (or focuses) every time something “better” comes a long.

Tune in tomorrow for more “Monsters”…