Can being a snob make you rich? (Or, Here we go again!)
May 17th, 2007 by Gina Gaudio-Graves
A few weeks ago, on my other blog, I wrote a post called “Snobbiness = Sales?”. In that post, I shared with you a recent conversation that I had with my coaching partner, Henry Gold.
In that post, I asked the question:
Not only did I tell you about Henry Gold being a snob, but I also shared with you Henry’s opinion that some other great marketers were snobs as well.
Let me tell you … that post really opened up a can of worms!
Immediately after I wrote it, Terry Dean visited my blog and wrote a great comment. (Thanks Terry!)
A day or so later, Henry Gold emailed his list and mentioned the article. And yesterday, Henry blogged about it again.
This time, though, Henry made it sound like it was ME who was saying that certain marketers (including him) were snobs.
I want to set the record straight right now …
I NEVER said that Henry or any other marketer was a snob!
and
It wasn’t even me that started the conversation!
Here’s what really happened …
Henry had been coaching me to help me improve my writing on my blog and in my emails. One day, when I was quite depressed about not getting great results like him in terms of the number of comments I got on my blog, and in the number of sales I got from my blog, Henry said to me:
“Gina, if you really want those kinds of results, you’ve got to be a snob.”
After Henry and I had this discussion, he even went to our apprentices and told them the same thing. Basically, he told them all that if they really wanted to succeed online, they would have to become snobs.
Why would Henry give me and our apprentices this advice?
Henry said this for several reasons.
Not only does he truly believe that you must be a snob to be successful, but he has become a snob himself so that he could become successful.
He wanted me and our apprentices to achieve that kind of success.
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve thought about this conversation a lot. You see, I’m anything BUT a snob in real life. In fact, I’m not really sure that I could pull off a performance as a snob either.
At one point, this even led me to telling Henry that I thought I was doomed to live a life of never being rich, because I didn’t think it was possible for me to become snobby enough.
Luckily, I’ve now had a few weeks to contemplate this further. (It really bothered me that I would never be able to get into the big league.)
The conclusion that I’ve reached is that you can be successful without being a snob. BUT …
(there’s always a “BUT”, isn’t there?)
If you want to succeed online, and if you’re in the coaching business or in the infoproduct business, you MUST first become an “expert”.
Now here’s where it gets a little tricky … Even if you are not really an expert, you MUST BECOME an expert.
In other words, your target market must truly believe that you ARE an expert, even if you aren’t. This is where that old adage of “appearances are everything” comes in.
In order to make people believe that you are an expert, you must APPEAR to be an expert.
What do you need to do to make yourself APPEAR to be an expert?
As Henry later explained to me, if you want to be respected by your subscribers and your visitors, you must:
- Have an aloof air about you.
- Be self confident and self assured in a way that people can clearly see that you personally respect and value your time.
- Be selective in giving your time and knowledge to others. (If you don’t value your own time enough to give it to others sparingly, why would they want to pay you thousands of dollars for a small amount of your time?)
When you start APPEARING to be an expert, people will begin respecting you more. It’s simply a normal process.
Does this mean that you have to be “snobby” though?
I don’t think so.
Personally, I believe that we can do these things in a way that will not necessarily be snobbish. However, for many people, the only way that they know how to act self-confident and self-assured IS to act snobby.
That’s what happens with many of the gurus.
Does this mean that they really are snobs? Absolutely NOT!
But, if you didn’t take the time to get to know them, they would certainly seem like the biggest snobs you’d ever met.
There is one other thing that you can do to make yourself APPEAR to be an expert, even if you aren’t. And … this one thing can give you INSTANT EXPERT STATUS!
Do you know what that is?
You could network with people who are leaders in their field. These should be people who are already well respected. People who may themselves APPEAR to be snobs (that doesn’t mean that they are!).
By associating yourself with these types of leaders, you ill immediately rise to their level in the eyes of those who hear about your affiliation. Talk about a great way to short cut the process!
Of course, the one problem with this is that you would first have to find these people and then you would need to have some reason to even get them to deal with you in the first place.
If you can pull it off, it can instantly make you an expert!
With my background as a retired JV Broker, my recommendation is to use this “shortcut method” to become an “instant expert” and eliminate the possibility of becoming snobby in the process.
One way to do this is to get yourself on a teleconference that is taking place TONIGHT, May 17th, with Larry Bent, “The Connector”.
Larry’s claim to fame really took off when he planned a strategy to get himself on the Larry King Show in order to raise money for the tsunami victims a few years back. Since then, Larry has had many, MANY successes in “connecting” people.
He’s now willing to share a few of his strategies for finding and connecting with these high visibility leaders to a select few lucky people who get themselves onto this call. I know it’s a little short notice, but believe me … this is one to clear your schedule for!
You’ll find the details at:
I am SO looking forward to this call! I have seen Larry present at several events in the past, but I always learn something new each time. I hope that this can help you to become an expert as well!
To Your Abundant Online Success!
Gina Gaudio-Graves
Founder, JVSuite.com
Founder, elliances.org
July 8th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! rqzovwvzalpuo