Should You Fake it Until You Make it in Internet Marketing?

Most "Internet marketing gurus" out there will tell you just about everything you want to hear -- except one thing.

They are faking it.

They may have made some money at one time, and they'll be glad to show you that. But they won't tell you where they really are financially. Not all are like that, however. Some really are making money, but they are few and far between.

Many people in any given career or field believe that "faking it" is a good way to success. But is it? It really depends on what you mean by "faking it". Are you just emulating someone else who is successful? That's legitimate, but it's limited. For example, you can emulate an insurance agent who is a top earner in his company, but you cannot honestly say that you are a top earner, or that you have 50,000 clients, or that you have your own insurance office.

Emulation is valuable as a learning tool, but it can only get you so far. And this is where people get into trouble.

"Should I lie? Should I hide the truth? Should I misrepresent myself, my company?"

The answer to all these questions is NO. If you want to be successful in your chosen business or career, you must be honest. That doesn't mean you have to broadcast every little thing to everyone. But it does mean you should reveal relevant information to people who trust you as an advisor or partner.

I have often said that there is a huge difference between income and wealth. Income can change in a matter of days, but wealth is steady. Before you can ever hope to be rich or wealthy, you must define what those terms mean. Here is how I define them.

Rich is the same as wealthy.

Wealth is the measure of how long you can live at a particular standard of living without receiving additional income.

My focus is on building wealth long-term, while growing income short-term. I don't want to wait until I'm 60 to be rich. But I do not want to work until I'm 60+ just to maintain a decent standard of living. So I focus on wealth and income.

How do you build wealth? Through investments that generate passive income. This could be a business, real estate, private hedge funds, stocks, and so on. Do these things provide instant income? Not really. But they do help you build wealth, and owning a business is probably the quickest and most inexpensive way to achieve high wealth.

This is why I believe in truly learning and practicing business skills. There is no shortcut. You must learn to market, to sell, and to control your cash flow. You must know and understand the laws that affect your finances, and react accordingly. You must learn to stop working for money and start creating money.

You can't fake any of that. You can try, but you will be just another flash in in the pan. It doesn't have to take a long time, and it doesn't have to be "hard work." But it does require commitment, study, thought, and above all, practical and consistent application.