Let me ask you a somewhat personal question today. The answer to that question determines how you treat your on-line business, and dramatically impacts your chances of on-line success. That question is, "Are you really an Internet Marketing Professional?"

Being a professional means that you view what you do as much more than just another job or a business. It's something you do because it's your "calling." It's something you do because you believe that it's what you were meant to do and because you believe that it helps to make the world a better place.

You don't have to view it as a permanent calling, but you do need to believe in the importance of what you do. If you don't see what you're doing as significant, then you should seek a different calling.

I borrowed that definition of a profession... of a calling, from how I felt about my job when I was in the military. That was one of those jobs that you did because you felt that it was something that needed to be done. The pay generally wasn't that attractive, so you had to look for a higher purpose in sticking with such an often-thankless, always-demanding job where you were expect to be prepared to sacrifice your VERY life if needed.

Running an on-line business should be much more financially rewarding and certainly demand less personal sacrifice, but it should still be viewed as a profession that you can throw yourself completely into.

Like many professions, your on-line job involves offering solutions to peoples' problems. Doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, mechanics, and schoolteachers, all provide solutions to problems. They all fill needs. I submit to you, that if you are an Internet Marketing Professional, your job is no less important, and that it comes with no less obligation than any of the jobs mentioned above.

It may seem like a "stretch" to envision your job of marketing products and services on-line the same as diagnosing and prescribing medications for an illness. Yet, that is exactly what you should be doing. You should be analyzing your customers' and clients' problems. You should understand what is causing the problems. You should be familiar with possible solutions, and you should prescribe the best suitable solution that you are aware of.

Adapting that view of your on-line business is one of the big keys to your success. That's because if you do view helping your clients as a sacred trust, you WILL really strive not to violate that trust. There's that word again.... "trust." Lack of trust is what keeps potential customers who want and need what you offer from buying from you. Trust is earned, and people intuitively know whom they can trust.

Jay Abraham was the first person that I personally heard clearly explain the sacred trust and obligation that a marketer has to his clients. That obligation is to only offer products and services that really make their lives better. It's to treat a client the same as you would a close friend or a family member... always deeply wanting only the best for them. It's also selling them products and services that you know they need but may not yet realize that they need.

If you conduct your on-line business with that degree of professionalism and commitment to your clients, you do a number of things:

- Regardless of the product line or service that you are providing, you make sure that the one you offer is the best available for what your client can afford. In the real world, not everyone can afford the best doctor or lawyer. However, the lawyer or doctor that they can afford is obligated to provide the best service that they are capable of rendering to their clients.

- You take yourself seriously. That generally means that you come across to your prospect as being the expert on your topic. That sometimes means you may need more training if you're not the expert on a topic. Taking yourself seriously also means that you charge what your time and expertise are worth. You don't fall into the trap of competing on the basis of price.

- You promote something that you believe in. Some on-line marketers promote get-rich-quick schemes that they KNOW really don't offer their prospects any real earning potential. These people soon burn out - or the universe simply gives them what they deserve. When you really believe in your product, that is sensed by your prospects. These prospects are therefore more open to examining the products and services that you recommend as solutions to their problems.

You don't necessarily need to market important sounding products on-line to be a professional. People need ordinary good and services everyday, and they turn to the Internet to find them. A good mechanic, sometimes covered from head-to-toe with oil, knows the value of what he is doing. He knows that if he doesn't service your brakes properly, it could kill you. He takes pride in a job well done. He sees himself as a professional.

That mechanic also views himself as a professional because he can do something that not everyone can do. I submit to you, that when you craft webpages, write ad-copy, create a computer program, or promote a product through the search engines, that you also do something that not everyone can do. So I ask you again, "Are you really an Internet Marketing Professional?"

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Willie Crawford has been teaching others how to build an on-line business since late 1996. Frequently featured in radio, magazine and newspaper articles and interviews, Willie teaches the average guy what the top marketers are doing but seldom talking about. Willie provides detailed how to information in his newsletter, through his personal coaching, and at his annual how to workshop. Subscribe to Willie's free course at: http://williecrawford.com/

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