Hi,

Well, my Internet Marketing topic for today may be a little boring for you but…

… this is just SO important. In fact, I have been thinking about it off and on most of the weekend. I wasn’t even gonna write it. Then I thought – yeah, it’s boring to me and it’s obvious to me but then I have been around the block a few times with this Internet Marketing caper. I’ve seen a lot in Internet Marketing stuff in my travels and what may be blatantly obvious to me and even boring may, in fact, be a revelation to others. So, here it is…

BE YOURSELF.

Startling stuff hey? Well read on, I have some ideas and observations to throw at you and maybe a little bit of humor too…

Don’t be a clone of Alex Jeffreys or Mike Filsaime or Stephanie Mulac or Rich Schefren or John Thornhill or Dave Nicholson or Paula Brett or Omar Martin or Rosalind Gardner or Maria Andros or Garry Parkes or Dean Holland or even me for that matter! (heaven help you!)

WHY?

Because YOU are UNIQUE. There is NOBODY exactly the same as you in the entire world! You have unique talents. You have a unique way of expressing yourself. Some people will find you hideously irritating. Some will find you arrogant. Some will find you boring. Some will like you. Some may even find you enchanting. Some might even get so fixated on you that they will stalk you. Yeah, it happens. Social media networking is a real tutti-fruiti haven for cyber-stalkers. But that is a subject I will cover a bit later on. Back to the subject at hand…

… It’s horses for courses.

Don’t sacrifice YOUR uniqueness by copying what some other dude does. That would be false and it would be wrong and it will kill your own WONDERFUL UNIQUENESS!

I was discussing this on a forum recently with several people. Josh Bartlett and I took the lead and we really went to town on copycats. That is, people who cross their own lines of decency, morality, humility, standards and/or character to emulate somebody who they want to be like. Put simply – it’s dumb! Yep! It’s a really dumb move.

At this point, this let me ask you this… do you think that even your HEROES have their own unique weaknesses and faults. They do! Nobody is a tower of strength in everything. Even the mighty have their Achille’s Heels.

In its most amusing and aggravating form I have seen people even take on the laugh of a boss or person who impresses them. This is really pathetic – especially when the person being copied has a quirky or weird laugh. All of a sudden instead of having one hyena we have a pack of guffawing, snorting wannabes all parodying the “leader of the pack’s” jack-ass type laugh.

I am quite an observer of this and I have studied it a fair bit through the teachings of Allan Pease the body-language expert. I have been to some of his seminars and have a few of his books (of course!).

If you ever get the opportunity to see Allan Pease live then I recommend that you go. Pease is a scream and he can teach you a LOT! In fact, check out his website in that link I just gave you – when I looked there was a very funny but, at the same time, educational video there about an orange tie. WHOA! Not yet! Finish reading what I say first. You can always come back to that link.

Back to emulating others… what if such a person has a distinctive tattoo? Do all the clowns clones then have to go out and get similar tattoos, or piercings, or whatever? What about a favorite saying? Does everybody have to turn a cliché into such an obvious hackneyed, copycat parrot call? What about a distinctive walk? Do we all need to walk like a homey?

I have seen this behavior with monotonous regularity over the years. Don’t be a “monkey see, monkey do” type. Forge your own personality and maintain your OWN uniqueness and character.

Like I said, YOU are UNIQUE. Keep it that way. You will always have your detractors but you will also have your followers – IF you blaze your own trail and be true to yourself.

One of the examples that Josh gave that made me smile was that of Internet Marketer Frank Kern – you know, “Mr Mass Control” – the guy with the surfboards who wears the grass skirts and who says “dude” a lot. Now there are some people so enamoured with Frank that they too wanna be seen with surfboards and be known for goofy-footing and hanging-five and talking surf-dude talk (eg “smokin hot left-hander” and “rantry” burble, burble, burble). Uh-uh! Don’t do that shit!

Heh… heh… now I’m starting to sound like the late Gary Halbert, copywriter extraordinaire. Hmm, maybe it’s a Gary thing. (It’s odd, most Gary’s I know do swear a bit – but only one R Gary’s. Mr Parkes does not swear. But he’s a two R Garry. I do admire that in you Garry. Maybe I need to take a leaf out of your book on that Parkesy – LOL!) Sidetracked again…

Just be YOURSELF!

Having said that, you can always follow the METHODS of a mentor or mentors. That is actually a SMART thing to do. Just stay away from copying the personal mannerisms – especially if that person has unique or quirky traits but even more especially if the things you are copying hold no interest for you or, even worse, go against what you stand for or believe in. In other words, don’t be an obvious copy-cat. Be TRUE to yourself!

I once knew a Premier of the State of Western Australia who had a penchant for the “F” word. Guess what? Almost every person in his office used that word liberally, even the women. I found that incredibly crass. Watching and hearing otherwise lovely women say things like: “Get effen John on the effen phone and find out what he’s effen doing with that effen report I need.” That disgusted me (And yes – “darn it” – I swear!). It was so incredibly FALSE! I wonder if they really knew how pathetic they all sounded. All because their illustrious leader, the number one ticket-holder in the State, swore like a trooper. Unnatural. Unnecessary. False. Ridiculous. Pathetic.

Copying the exact traits of others will lead to the destruction of your own uniqueness and will therefore lead to your demise as a person worthy of taking notice of. You have to be known for being YOU, not a clone of somebody you admire, adore, look up to, wanna be like or whatever.

There is only ONE you. And, fortunately, there is only one me.

Just be yourself!

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PS: Whenever I see this sort of behavior employed I automatically think of one word – suckhole. Sorry, I know that kinda detracted from my message but I HAD to say it. That’s one of my faults – I say things I shouldn’t. It’s got me into a LOT of trouble in the past and it will undoubtedly get me into strife in the future. Anyway, don’t be a suckhole. (yeah, yeah, yeah… I know… I said it again… BAD me.)

Filed under: Alex Jeffreys • Allan Pease • Dave Nicholson • Dean Holland • Frank Kern • Garry Parkes • Gary Halbert • Gary Simpson • John Thornhill • Josh Bartlett • Maria Andros • Mike Filsaime • Omar Martin • Paula Brett • Rich Schefren • Rosalind Gardner • internet marketing • mentoring • self esteem

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