Would you use your product/service if you were not selling it, yes or no?



Be honest with yourself.

If yes, ask for and find people in the right niche - those who feel like you do already or who know those sorts - like looking for a tennis partner in a new town.

If not, look for a product line or service to market that you DO love and that you would use even if you weren't selling it.

If you don't love what you sell madly, you will come across like well, just a 'professional sales type' - someone who's selling for it the money. Would you want to buy from someone like that?

I'd rather buy from an amateur- someone who is ga ga about something and is telling me about it because they love it themselves first, and I know they are interested and knowledgeable about that kind of thing anyway.

Think an environmentalist marketing earth-friendly cleaning products.

When someone doesn't have genuine, strong feelings about the thing they're selling, we all know it, don't we? Faked 'excitement' becomes transparent in a New York minute.

Who wants to be perceived as one of those types?

P.S. Here's that distinction between professional and amatuer which I love so madly...

"Amateur is not below professional. It's just another way of doing [business/media]. The root of the word amateur is love, and someone who does something for love is an amateur. Someone who does something to pay the bills is a professional. The amateurs have [more integrity than] the professionals. If you're an amateur you have less conflict of interest and less reason not to tell your truth than if you have to pay the bills and please somebody else."