July 22, 2010

Are You Investing in The Hottest Commodity Right Now?

by Mary Lou Kayser in Writing14 Comments

If you were to walk out on a street in any major city this afternoon and ask passersby what they think the hottest commodity is right now, what do you suppose the most common answers would be?

Gold?

Oil?

Wind Power?

While each of the preceding answers are indeed hot commodities, they are not, according to some business analysts, the HOTTEST commodity right now.

Before I reveal what the hottest commodity right now is, I want to tell a quick story that perfectly illustrates why this particular commodity is indeed the hottest around.

Yesterday, I met a new client for lunch. She and I first met on Facebook  and through a series of messages, decided to get together at Starbuck’s to see how we could help each other in our respective businesses.

Kym is a dynamic woman who is reinventing herself with her passion for gluten-free cooking and working with children to help them discover the joys of cooking from scratch. Currently in the late draft process of writing her first cookbook, she is clearly passionate about what she is doing.

“I have Oprah on my vision board,” she laughed. “Big plans for me, you know.”

Our second meeting was over lunch, with the pre-planned agenda of how I could help her brand herself using Social Media and the Internet. Less then two minutes after sitting down, she told me her publicist wants her to “write 100 sentences and make a video about each sentence in the next 100 days.”

After telling me this, she flopped back in the booth, exasperated. “Mary Lou, I don’t even know what that means, let alone how on earth he expects me to get it done!”

While she ate her bunless hamburger and naked baked potato, I drew a mind map for her illustrating the process of how to launch an Internet campaign with the goal of creating a buzz and establishing a personal brand online. With each new bubble I drew, her face became more relaxed as she nodded her understanding of what I was explaining.

After the diagram was complete, she smiled and said, “I just learned more about how this all works in 10 minutes than I have in hours of phone calls with my publicist!”

Whether that is true or not, I don’t know. What I do know is this:

Six months ago, I was the one with confusion written all over my face sitting in a booth across from someone who explained to me this whole process of leveraging the Internet’s power to build my business. Today I realize how much the long hours of study and trial and error have paid off in terms of the knowledge I now have to leverage the Internet’s power, not only for my own businesses, but also to help others do the same.

Because leveraging the Internet’s power is arguably today’s hottest commodity, you are doing yourself an enormous favor if you invest your time and resources into everything you can get your hands on to learn everything you can about how to use the Internet for long-term prosperity. The futures and dividends will be huge for the people who have this knowledge and make themselves available to those who don’t — but are willing to buy it for a price.

What’s truly amazing is you don’t have to learn it all! Frankly, there are just too many facets that make the Internet the powerhouse that it is. Becoming really, really good at one aspect of it, like video marketing, for example, will guarantee you will be in business for years to come.

It is never a waste of money investing in something that will pay you back ten-fold down the road, even if you have to give something up now to get it. I invite you to step back from all the work you have been doing online these last few months (or years) and assess the skill set you have developed from your hours of dedication.

If you like this post, pass it along to the social sites. And please share with readers what you discover about the Internet skills you now have — your own hot commodity!

About

Mary Lou Kayser

Mary Lou Kayser is a bestselling author, poet, and host of the Play Your Position podcast. Over the course of her unique career, she has influenced thousands of people to become more powerful as leaders, writers, and thinkers in their respective professional practices. She writes, teaches, and speaks about universal insights, ideas, and observations that empower audiences worldwide how to bet on themselves.

  • Wow Mary Lou,
    How empowering and true your words are. We do tend to get so caught up in the everyday tasks that we sometimes forget to pause and look back over our journey thus far. We will be amazed at what we have learned.

    Investing in on-going learning is an investment worth it’s weight in gold. Thanks for reminding us to look within. What can we share with others?
    Val 🙂

  • Hi Mary Lou,

    You’re absolutely right on. The beauty about the internet is not only it’s a powerful platform to leverage your business but it has never been easier and more affordable to have an online presence. There’s really no excuse. You can easily set up a WordPress blog within minutes. The resources are everywhere.

    Janette

  • Investing in the internet is really investing in YOURSELF. It’s YOU who will teach people how to apply techniques, YOU who will guide them through setting up marketing campaigns, and YOU who will attract their attention in the first place.

    So investing in the internet begin by investing in YOU. Get your hands on all the learning you can while you’re putting your social media into action and contributing to your blog regularly.

    That’s just the beginning, but it is THE beginning of the greatest investment you’ll ever make.

    This is great advice, Mary Lou.

  • I just felt a pat on my back reading this. I have invested time and money and feel like I’m a step above people that take a college course.
    In this market, by time you take so much time learning marketing, the world changes. The amount of money we invest in our learning is nothing compared to the amount of money of going back to school. It’s a fast growing world, and this is a fast growing education. I think nothing of spending money when it comes to investing in myself. If it is too much, there is always Visa! In short, if we look at the cost of education, we are actually getting a great deal!

  • Hi Mary Lou,

    I rally enjoyed reading your post about how you were able to sit down with your client and map out a strategy for her.

    I am convinced that you have much to offer when it comes to branding yourself online.

    ~ Tim
    Empowered Tribe Member

  • Mary, I like the points your make in your post, i know for me I love to soak in different perspectives and share it with the people in my network, I look forward to reading more of your blog.

    Chris

  • Thank you, Tim! I appreciate that you took the time to read my post. The more each of us learns about how to leverage the Internet’s power, the stronger we will be as individuals and as members of a collective Tribe!

  • You are a role model for many when it comes to harnessing the Internet’s power and being a life-long student, Donna! Investing in ourselves reaps dividends, and with the Internet now making the playing field more level than ever, the more we learn, the higher our returns! 🙂

  • You are absolutely right, David. When we invest in a program about how to use Facebook to grow our business or join a webinar outlining the latest strategies for effective video marketing, we are really putting money back in our own pockets. The continuing education we get is truly the biggest reward!

  • Val, I think about how far I have come in my own online journey in just a few short months and can only imagine that others feel similar feelings about their journey as well. The process is continuous, and so rewarding on many levels!

  • Hi Mary Lou,

    Excellent article! I’ve only recently noticed how much I’ve learned in the last few months by studying and implementing. A couple different people asked me “How do I start a blog?” I sent them an email outlining where to start, what tutorial to watch, and to be sure and figure out what their goal and purpose is with their blog, so they have a journey mapped out for themselves.

    All the best,

    Alan

  • Hi Alan, Sometimes we get so busy with our own agendas that we don’t realize how much new knowledge we are gaining as we move through our days. I am so glad to know you have recognized how much you have gained and can now teach others who are hungry to learn what you know. It is a terrific validation for our own educational journeys! Keep up the great work. I look forward to checking out your blog. 🙂

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