Why the internet is killing my business.

You should always be launching.

Launching is icky.

You need to define your goals.

Goals? Those are so… gross.

I just maded the bestest Facebook fan page you ever sawed!

Facebook is evil.

You need to find your niche.

“Niche?” Ewww. That offends me.

Find a need that people have and fill it.

“I don’t waste time researching ‘markets.’ Ewww. I just make things and people buy them.”

Tired. Woo. Feeling ranty. Begin rant.

I’m tired. Okay, wait. No, not tired. Kinda burned out. I’m burned out on marketing. Wait, let me rephrase. I’m burned out on Internet Marketing.

The internet has been crucial for building my business. So have the people I’ve come to know and love through the internet (thank you). However.

I realized that I’ve been putting most of my eggs in the Great Internet Marketing Basket lately. I’ve been letting my Twitter stream and Google Reader shape my thoughts and (sometimes) shift the damn good business sense that I already had.

I let other people drive my car, so to speak. And I’m kicking myself for letting that happen. I’m smarter than this. But that’s my fault.

So I’m burned out. Burned out on Social Media gurus. Burned out on marketing experts. Burned out on arguments about whether numbers matter or not, and how ewwwgrossicky it is to talk about people like they’re numbers.

Burned out on the words icky, gross, and eww. Monsters. Burned out on monsters.

Burned out on whether LinkedIn is better than Facebook and why everyone is so sick of affiliate programs and hey why don’t you become an affiliate for my workshop on How to Not Be an Affiliate? Starts next week, but buy it now, price goes up, but I won’t resort to those phony tactics because we’re all brethren and I know you see through it but we all have to make a living and if you think that’s disgusting then you’re just being negative and check out these boots I bought online with all that money you sent me. Don’t I look sexy wearing your money? Oh crap. I was out buying boots and I forgot I had our teleclass. Oh well. You’ll forgive me because I let you sit next to me at sxsw and didn’t cringe on the outside when you said all those Things I Don’t Approve Of. Woo-hoo!

Oh. Sorry Woo-hoo is yucky. So… just woo. But not woo-woo, because nobody likes woo-woo. So we’ll call it Not Woo-Woo, even though it’s the same woo-woo that isn’t woo-hoo. No… this is new.

New-hoo.

So, yeah. Burnt to a crisp here. Well done, my friend. And the stupidest part is, I allowed myself to get caught up in it. I’ve parroted some of those brainless, idiotic things that I just ranted about.

Ewww.

End Rant.

Last Saturday I carpooled to a retreat with a consultant friend. We spent most of the 3-hour drive talking about his frustrations in getting design work done. It was uncanny because a product I’m developing is perfect for him in both price point and content.

At the retreat I found that it was also perfect for a few more people there. It struck me that there was a whole world of people who aren’t in my Twitter stream that could benefit from this product. Duh.

Even if I went by every step of The Online Product Launch Code and all the Internet Marketing Experts talked it up, most of those retreat people would miss it. They wouldn’t even know it exists.

Imagine that.
And imagine that I might actually create something of value for people who actually need it. People who are in my (gasp) Target Market.

Yes, I said the Evil. You know what? Every person in my target market knows what I mean when I say target market and they aren’t offended because they’re doing the same damn thing so can’t we all just get along? Would I sit next to someone on a plane and say, “Hey! You’re in my Target Market!” Puh-lease. Tip-toe, tip-toe. Can we stop making words into pariahs and respect people’s intelligence?

Oh. Sorry. I was supposed to end the rant. You caught me.

It sounds so obvious and silly, but after the retreat and my visit to NYC I’ve realized that I am spending way too much time in this online internet marketing bubble. It’s becoming a major distraction. I’m starting to lose sight of what my business is really about and who benefits from what I do.

Have I received value from the bubble? Hell yeah. I’ve bought some products, done workshops, and read blogs that have helped shift my business into a new gear. I have a great respect for the true experts who have shared their practical knowledge – paid or not. I’m just tired of the noise.

After these messages, we’ll be right back.

I’m going on sabbatical. An internet sabbatical. Here’s what I won’t be doing in the month of June:

• Twitter
• Facebook (actually… ever. I left Facebook for good).
• LinkedIn
• Reading blogs

Here’s what I will be doing:

• Working with my clients, of course. It’s just an internet break.
• Answering/sending email
• Publishing on this site
• Talking on the phone
• Meeting people in person (more of this, please)

I’m not advising anyone to follow my example and turn it all off. This is something I need to do to build my business. I need to get away from the online noise for a while.

It’s a little freaky for me. I get 90% of my business from Social Media. You know what? That’s kind of freaky, too. Kind of eggs-in-one-basket freaky.

The funny thing is, I’m releasing a product and starting a new comic strip. You may not even hear about it online. And you know what?

I’m kind of excited about that.

To my online friends who have spent countless tweets and emails supporting me in whatever New Thing I put into the world, thank you. You are awesome. Send me an email. Call me up. Let’s stay pals in June. I want to support you despite my online hermitage. Tell me what you’re offering that’s new and exciting and if I think it will help people in my Target Market, I will make sure they know about it.

Until July. XOXO

*disclaimer: grammatically, it’s “burnt out.” Look at me not caring.

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