Why do people become experts in topics they know nothing about?
I came across another post on digital point the other day about why people don’t start their own business.
I was going to blog about why I don’t agree with the post and what my thoughts are on why more people don’t get into business, but I think I’ll save that for another day because I just came across another post on DP, which happened to be by the same person coincidently, and in this one he’s really showing his business knowledge…
Which is none, he’s blogging and posting about business with next to no knowledge at all from what I can make out, and as I was reading his post his stupidity infiltrated my mind and sent me into a rage of flaming… yeah, I might end up banned on DP, but I had to give this guy a reality check.
In my previous post WHY IN ONLINE BUSINESS? I tried to explain about online business. Now I will explain the difference between traditional business and online business.Traditional business means the business which we know about from our childhood. These are a bookshop, sweetmart, daily needs shop, provision stores, hotel, restaurants, vegetable shop, department stores, etc. etc.Traditional businesses have some limitations. You can’t do it as part-time, requires huge investment which a common man can not afford, unless and until you have some experience of business you can’t start, unfortunately if you fail in one business then it is very difficult to start another one, requires big space and set-up, you have to work as per customer’s demand. etc. etc. etc.
While in online business you don’t required any investment, you can start it at free of cost, this you can do as part time job and if you got huge success, left the present job, it’s possible. Online business requires very less experience but if you have some technical knowledge that is well and good. You can do it from your home or cyber café because this type of business
don’t required any set-up, only a computer with internet connection is sufficient, online business has no time limit if you wish you can do it as 24 x 7 x 365.TRADITIONAL BUSINESS
01) Business has local limits.
02) No help from field experts.
03) Physical exercise required.
04) Difficult to change field.
05) Failure is visible to every one.ONLINE BUSINESS
01) Global business.
02) Experts are ready to help.
03) No physical exercise.
04) Can do in any field of business.
05) No one will know about your failure.In my opinion online business is very good form of business, for a person who has desire
of his own business. Start it with no investment,improve skills,work hard,keep faith on yourself.
And yeah, my reply is below, I don’t know if you’ll agree with me, but have a read… beware of my language, I was pretty angry about his post:
Your blog is poor and your bold posts are pissing me off… go back to plumbing. This is a forum not a blog.
On top of that your post is complete bullshit, and you have no idea what you’re talking about.
YOU CAN start a traditional business with next to no capital. YOU CAN start a traditional business part time, YOU DONT need huge sums of cash, YOU DONT need experience, YOU CAN fail and start more (i’ve failed in at least 10 traditional businesses) and i find failing is the greatest way to learn anything in business YOU DONT need a big space, I’ve seen vegetable shops that are no more than a wooden stand
An example is me, i started a sushi train with NO experience in cooking, or any offline business. i also started it with next to no capital and i’ve never managed the business, never been part or fulltime involved.
An online BUSINESS not a random blog or something crap that a 12 yr old can do, i’m talking real business like you are, i would argue DOES take knowledge and investment, unlike any offline business where you can make sales by having a location, the internet nullifies location and creates an equal playing field, so to survive you need to know what you’re doing, you need to spend your money well and you need to do it from more than a internet cafe.
I’m talking about traditional online business… not a blog.
TRADITIONAL BUSINESS
01) Business has local limits. (No, location is the greatest asset of an online business, the only limit is the owners stupidity of starting in a bad location)02) No help from field experts. (What? so all the small business centers around the world won’t help an offline business at no charge? I’m astonished, even the government funded ones that are built to help local small business? shame on them)
03) Physical exercise required. (I’m a tad lost with this one? i assume moving away from a keyboard is exercise?)
04) Difficult to change field. (why would you want to? you should be focusing on making your business work)
05) Failure is visible to everyone. (your on the internet with your photo, i will know when you fail.)
ONLINE BUSINESS
01) Global business. (i own a sushi shop in Thailand, i’m from Australia, my offline business is global).
02) Experts are ready to help. (Experts like you?)
03) No physical exercise. (i go to the gym, i don’t want to be fat.)
04) Can do in any field of business. (yeah you can, but unless you know what you’re doing you will fail)
05) No one will know about your failure. (You just failed, i know you).
Sorry to flame you but i really think you need the reality check right now.
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Well, the problem is that online business is not that easy to do as some people think. In his article this guy is presenting it all in nice shiny clothing, but online business is hard. It does require money (domains and hosting are not free and when you have a network of let’s say 20 sites, you do spend quite a lot). Have I mentioned scripts? In some areas you need a script to manage the site, that also can cost quite a bit. A skin (if you’re not a designer) is also pricey not to mention all the time spent there that in the end is money.
An expert WON’T HELP YOU. People who know business work for their own interest. They do offer tutorials and articles, but not too many have time to show each new “entrepreneur” how to run that crappy site. I own some web development sites and I already made it clear I will IGNORE all PMs or emails from people who need me to help them. I write articles, I give them forums to interact with others, I don’t have time to install wordpress for anyone or skin their forums since I have paying clients.
So these experts can offer some input, they won’t make your job and many beginners think we are alive to make their sites for free of course and ASAP since they don’t have the time to wait for us, they’ve got a wonderful site in mind, how dare we not ignore the paying clients and do their jobs.
I really dislike people who don’t quite have a say, but they flood us with their advice. Most of these “genius” internet specialists have 2-3 months online and they are already the bread and butter of the online life. After 6 years of web development I still feel like I don’t know anything, but maybe modesty is not the first thing they have in mind
Loved your article and the response. Even if I don’t like mean responses, sometimes there’s nothing you can do but kick their bottoms. Maybe they learn something
March 24th, 2008 at 7:41 am
03) Physical exercise required.
I think he meant that traditional business can be very manual like carrying stuffs. Traditional business like construction required you to sweat and move around to supervise your workers.
But online business also required you to exercise in a sense that you need to move around and do offline promotion or marketing for your online business.
Thus, I think it should be physical work rather than physical exercise because you are not paid to exercise unless you are doing aerobics class or operating a fitness centre.
Regards
March 24th, 2008 at 8:17 am
Ramona, i love your style, and your comment.
Totally agree with you on so many levels. Many people, just like this guy, seems to be his 2nd or 3rd month on the internet and thinks he knows it all already. I’ve had a thought for a long time that there should be licenses to use the iternet, you insert your license and if your points are all gone, you cant get on. i would have deducted a point from that guy.
Also with helping people, i’ve been in this ‘game’ of what i could call… internet consulting, to generalise. I’ve been a designer, developer, marketer, systems administrator, server administrator, business developer etc etc, i think i’ve done almost every job there is to do with the internet over the last 10+ years, and having such a broad background i’m able to answer ‘almost’ every question thrown at me, or at least point someone in a direction to answer their question if i dont know it.
And having that makes me a target for help… about 5 years ago now i was doing more ‘help’ than i was paid work, i found myself really going backwards and decided to put a stop to it for good. My problem is that i like learning new things, i love problem solving, so when someone comes to me with a problem i like jumping in and working it out, i find i learn 1,000x more from problem solving an issue than reading a book.
So to stop all the support requests from friends, friends of friends and random people i didnt really know, i put in a rule. I will help anyone, but it will be at 50% of my full consulting rates.
DIdn’t matter who it was (well except my super best mates who actually appreciated the value of my time and didnt waste it), i would always bill, general friends and anyone. As much as i like helping, my time needs to be compensated.
March 24th, 2008 at 8:22 am
RWS, yeah good thought, manual labour, didnt think of that.
In the web industry thought its just as labour intensive, if not more. At times i’d prefer to be outside doing manual labour, little thought required, only working 6 hours max a day, and going home early.
I work 12hrs+ a day most days and its very labour intensive, not in the muscles but in the mind… and fingers
March 24th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Agreed with you TODD
The moment I saw I cannot care for my clients as I should because I am working for free for all kinds of people who need “help”, I decided that “my time is money”. I also charge for my work and won’t consider myself to be mean since I also work 12-15 hours a day (weekends included). Last year I had 2 free weekends (both times I was in Germany, away from my country). Otherwise I would work for 15 hours a day to be able to solve my clients projects and run my network. If I don’t have a personal life anymore and am suffering from constant exhaustion, at least I want to be ablea to earn something for my work …
The work we do is very demanding. Even if we don’t lift wights or work in the mine, our brain is subjected to CONSTANT stress. I have troubles with sleep, I am always tired, I have headaches, I wear glasses. Many times I am as tired as I would be from running 100 miles from just 5 hours or web design or forum management. The problem is that our brain cells have the bad habit of not regenerating (this is one of my problems, would like have more and more neurons and be a genius when I turn 60 :D)