There are those of us in this world that are competitive by nature. We are even competitive about being competitive. We are always thinking in terms of 'winning' or 'losing'.
There really isn't one thing wrong with wanting to win a competition. The trick is telling the difference between a competitive event and an event where the prize is gained by cooperation rather than through competition.
In a competitive event there is always a clearly defined winning point, a goal, or finish line. In chess the object is to 'check-mate' your opponent, if you are playing football then you need to get more points than the other team in order to win. Internet marketing is very different in this regard. There is no time limit and there is no finish line.
Internet marketing is at its optimum when it works to research, test, share and act on new ways to do internet marketing better. It works best when working within a community to better itself. Competitive attitudes get in the way and progress is much faster through cooperation.
Everybody puts their shoulder to the wheel, so to speak, and pushes in unison in order to achieve the collective goal which is to move internet marketing forward. The joint effort is better for everybody concerned because everybody benefits.
As a natural competitor it becomes a case of seeing who can cooperate more than their competition. Who is able to help their customers more, whose customers are making more money and having more success than their competitors customers.
The only way competition can help cooperation is by making us reach out to help others more quickly than our competitors. This is the only way to be successful at internet marketing.
There are more than enough customers out there for all of us. When one of us benefits, the rest will experience that benefit as cooperation spreads the word on the latest innovations within the industry.
Leading on from this is my next point. Stop blaming the Guru's..
We have all met those people that always have an excuse for their own failures. Usually their failure was caused by someone other than themselves according to them.
When they tell their sad tales, they failed because of what somebody else did or didn't do and the failure just simply wasn't their own fault....they were VICTIMS. To hear them tell it they were just innocent bystanders when their business crumbled. Ha! Don't you ever believe one word of that sad story. We all hold our own success or failure in our own hands.
When businesses do fail...and they do....they fail for many reasons none of which can be attributed to others. I have heard internet entrepreneurs lay the blame for the failure of their businesses squarely at the feet of what they mockingly call, 'Internet Gurus'.
These people tell anyone who will listen that the failure of their internet business was not their fault and that a 'guru' was responsible for the failure by selling them products that they didn't need and that they ended up receiving so much email that they couldn't get their work done.
The thing is that when any successful internet marketer ('guru') offers products to his list, he isn't forcing anyone to take up his offer. He is merely offering the product, and highlighting the benefits. Each customer makes a choice about whether to purchase the product or not.
These offers are intended to help everyone on their list but the reality is that the products won't suit each and every person. That doesn't mean the product is no good, it's merely an indication of the diversity of business models represented in his list.
Each internet entrepreneur is responsible for their own success as well as for their own failure if it comes to that. Everybody should know their own business well enough to determine whether a product offered would be truly helpful or not and when advice is given, it is just that, ADVICE.
It isn't an order that you must follow...it is only a suggestion. The decisions about your business are always up to you and you alone.