Real Learning By Doing... A Marketing Internship

Some people learn best by reading text... others by listening to audio. Most do well with video and excel even more with a live interactive group teaching environment. Mentoring programs have become very popular recently with that realization. Why beat your own path when you can hire someone who has already been down that path to be your mentor? The cost is often nominal in comparison to the benefits.

There is a huge demand today to start your own Internet business. Everyone understands why that demand exists. There are billions of dollars at stake on the Internet. Internet businesses are easier to fully automate. You can just taste the freedom that an Internet business can provide. I know. I started my own Internet business just over 7 years ago and have never looked back. Every year just keeps getting better and better.

Most folks realize right away that the most profitable aspect of an Internet business is the marketing. Perhaps you are like me and had technical skills before starting an Internet business, but no marketing skills. Or perhaps you have management skills, but lack in marketing skills. It doesn't matter. If you want a successful Internet business, you need to master marketing. How?

Lots of folks start out on the various forums. I did myself. It took over a year to figure out what a mistake that was... the forums are just rat's nests of the blind leading the blind. Those who have found Internet success generally don't hang out there... why would they?

Others start buying ebooks. Is that a good way to learn marketing? Perhaps. I've read a few great ebooks. Most are duds though. In fact, it seems like a lot of folks new to the Internet decide to write ebooks about how to make money on the Internet... even though they haven't yet made a dime. Most of the ebooks you buy will probably be from these types. That's not a great way to learn.

Others buy audios and videos. These are often much better than the ebooks because for some reason new folks seem to think it's easier to write an ebook than to produce an audio or a video. So... you end up with teachers who seem to know a bit more when you buy an audio or video package.

Still others take that next step and go to a seminar. Often they are disappointed when they find out that they paid $3000 for a seminar and it was just a bunch of marketers trying to sell their stuff. That's the way it usually works in this industry. If they were smart though, they spend some time building some relationships and watching how the marketers did their thing... in order to emulate them... instead of to buy their stuff.

At this point, most folks are starting to get a hang of things and maybe even making a small profit. Even though all of those sources are really rather poor sources to learn from... many folks are able to put it all together and read between the lines. The total result often leads to some personal breakthroughs.

What then? Well... you can continue trial and error. You can continue to buy ebooks, audios, videos and attend seminars. Little by little you will learn to throw away the 95% junk information you hear and make the 5% a part of your business. That works. Many have taken that slow steady path and have made it. Others truly do their own sole trial and error routine and also burn a slow and steady path.

Another option is a mentorship. You can pay someone who is more successful than you are in a particular area (like marketing) and they can show you the path. There are many great mentoring programs out there. In fact, if you trashed all of the above and simply started right out with a great mentor, you could save yourself a lot of grief and build your business much, much faster.

The problem is usually one of cost. If you are currently working a middle of the road job and putting in an extra 3 or 4 hours a day trying to build an Internet business... you generally don't have a lot of cash to invest in a mentor. Once you beat your own path for awhile and create a profitable Internet business with 3 or 4 years of hard work... this might be an option... but not right now.

Or is it? There is a kind of a program very similar to a mentorship that costs no money at all. It's called an internship. Instead of paying someone to mentor you on your business, you work in their business as an intern. Many people find that they learn much better by actually doing something... much better than they learn by reading, listening and watching others.

Internships aren't just for college students anymore. They are becoming more and more popular for anyone at any age to switch careers. That is really what you are doing; isn't it? You are changing career from whatever you do currently in your daytime job... to the owner of an Internet business. Why not try an internship?

Many successful Internet companies have intern programs. They are willing to teach you exactly how they actually run their own company while allowing you to actually do each step. What better way to learn?

In fact, I have an intern program with lot's of positive feedback from those who have graduated. You can read about the details and read some of that positive feedback from prior graduates here: Intern Program

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