I’ll start right off by apologizing if I offend anybody with this post. However, I often feel the need to express myself about certain topics. Sometimes, I may be a bit controversial in the way I convey the information, but that’s who I am. I’m here to give you honest & quality content with a common sense style approach. I hope you will see some value to the content I’m providing on this blog.
Now back to the purpose of this blog post. My question is…what the heck is a newbie? Who started that STUPID term? It sounds like you’re branding cattle, or you have some freakin disease or something. It definitely has a negative overtone to it. I’m a newbie, may as well translate to I’m an idiot.
Unfortunately, the way some marketers operate, it seems as if it’s their business to keep you in that so-called newbie mode. It quickly becomes a permanent mindset, something you can’t necessarily overcome quickly. You’re bombarded with tons of emails offering you the “path to success” from these wonderful marketers. It’s all designed to keep you at square one. Well, I’d like to express my gratitude to all of them…THANK YOU FOR NOTHING!
First off, you’re in control of your own destiny. Let’s unsubscribe from all these wonderful marketers’ lists who only aid in totally confusing you & creating chaos in your businesses. Now when you begin to start thinking clearly, you can totally separate yourself from that so-called “newbie” classification.
In my opinion, it’s time to ditch that STUPID title. Whatever happened to “beginner” or “novice?” No, instead of having a term that makes sense, the IM industry would rather brand you as a newbie & make you feel incompetent. It makes you feel inadequate & hinders you from progressing at all.
Hey, that’s great for those wonderful marketers who are here to help you supposedly. The more people they confuse, in their lame effort to help you, the less possibility they have for creating competition for themselves. So then they just chalk it up to trying to help, but yet attribute the failure of the student to a lack of motivation or capabilities. It turns into a vicious cycle & contributes to the fact that 95% of marketers fail online.
Let’s ditch that newbie title & genuinely try to help people stay motivated & feel good about themselves. With a new found positive mindset, you would be amazed as to what you can accomplish!
Please leave your comments below. Have a great Easter & thank you for taking the time to read my post!
George Nieves
Hi George,
I really enjoyed your post. It was refreshing to read your take on what is a ‘Newbie’, great stuff!
Good Luck on the Masterclass course.
Ray,
Brilliant, George! I totally agree with you that there is a definite negative overtone to the term. We can all pledge to stop using it although I suspect others who want to keep new IMers in their lowly position won’t! We are only as green as we believe we are…the reality is we are only ever one step away from being great – if we’re not there already!
Enjoy the journey.
Mandy
Right on George!
I totally agree with you…. Like the term Guru, the newbie term is the most “nothing-saying-word” I know…
Take the term Guru… anybody is a guru if you think of the word as an expert… you always know something that others dont know and that makes you an expert… if others seek your advice, you are a guru
The newbie term is the same, you are always a newbie in the sense.. you can always learn new things…..
You can be a newbie and a guru at the same time
Maybe we should start a movement to have the words deleted
I’ll be back soon to see how your site is doing George!
Keep up the good work, and I really like your graphics!
Regards, Marlene
That was a great post George! It’s amazing how things can effect us at a sub-conscious level…and, we must be careful how we refer to ourselves also
If we are calling ourselves “newbies” then consciously or subconsciously that is the level of achievement we are accepting for ourselves.
I think I need to start referring to myself as an “expert” Internet marketer…now, that’s a title I can live with
I like your “no beating around the bush approach”…refreshing
Kathy
I guess progress carries with it certain parlance it want to adopt, but I believe in your cause here. Labeling can have an impact on us if we are not aware of it, we might as well do our best to start learning for ourselves than to rely on the “expertise” of others.
Hi George, I agree with you that the term ‘newbie’ is a derogatory one and should not be used to label people who are just starting out on a new venture. Everyone has to start somewhere and to use such a term only undermines ones confidence. The best way for any one who is just starting out in IM, is to get some good training from an expert and they will not be a newbie for long! Instead they will learn the correct techniques very quickly by following a plan, and they will no longer be tempted to spend good money after bad buying all these new Guru products which are arriving in their inboxes every day. You have a great writing style George, you just tell it straight and without any hype, and that is what people want. Keep up the posting and I’ll be back!
Regards,
Sue.
Hi George
Another great post buddy! I like to look at myself as an apprentice even if I am 55 years young!
All the best
Nick
Hi George some excellent points here, have you read the Guru’s Nightmare by Alex Jeffries? He covers a lot of these tacktics used by online markets always trying the sell you the next and the best. Great post.
Rob
Hi George,
Like Rob said you certainly have raised some good points here, but my perception of what a newbie really is, is a person who [placed themselves in a very good position to become a success at freedom!
Ed.
George…
Good stuff. So, if you are a ‘beginner’ to online marketing and you have mastered one task (blog install for example), does that qualify you as being an expert on that particular task? I am not sure.
For example, in the past year or so, I have streamlined the task of doing a fresh blog install. I can obtain a domain name, get it registered, add it to my hosting account and get the wordpress install (with minimal plugins) done within about 10 minutes. Does that make me an expert or a ‘guru’ in that part of my business?
Maybe in my eyes it does, but unless I can take that process, document it, create a product and find a market it for it, I am no more an authority on the subject than someone who can do it in 45 minutes or an hour.
Moving beyond the ‘newbie’ stage requires being able to establish yourself as an authority in something and that’s where credibility is obtained.
Once you can ‘teach’ a subject or explain it in terms that a lot of people can understand easily you have climbed several rungs on the ladder and will be able to brand yourself as ‘someone who knows what they are doing’ and then people will begin to trust you.
Keep up the good work…
Hi George
Do not take ‘newbie’ word very seriously though. Some people use the word without deep meaning. They use the word only because it is in their vocabulary. You are right that more important to see yourself in positive point of view. I accept myself as a newbie in that point of view that I am always ready to learn something new. But it does not mean I know nothing about that subject.
I like your sense of humour.
By the way thank you for visiting my blog.
Irina Overy
Hi George,
I have also disliked that term. It’s kinda like New+Baby.
I have no problem being a new learner about something, but I
prefer Nick’s term: “apprentice”. I believe that says it all
for me. Other professionals use apprentice for someone who is
learning and GOING TO BE SUCCESSFUL!
Enjoy each day, it only comes once in a lifetime!
Dj
Hello George,
Thanks for your visit to my blog and glad you found the post about blog automation useful. I’m continuing to develop and try things so will post updates in the future.
Great post by the way, I agree with every word.
Best Regards
Dave
Hi George
I had to smile at your post. I’ve been feeling like that for a while. I have been unsubscribing from their interminable spammy emails and now only keep a few going who actually give me some value. I have also stopped purchasing their stuff. I just have to do what I’ve already learned.
Hi George -
Great post and I LOVE your writing style — it’s direct with lots of insight! I agree with you that labels are rarely helpful. I honestly never thought about the use of newbie the way you describe it — but I sure do now!!!
Why even think about ourselves in any kind of hierarchy at all — how about just Internet Marketers learning something new everyday???
All the best and I’ll be visiting often!
Beth
Hi George! I totally agree with what you´re saying here.
The more “newbies” out there, the more products on “how get rich quick” the “oldies” can sell to them, right?
In my online life, I´ve come across quite a few “experienced” marketers who claim to know their stuff. But the IM-world is VAST, so how could one person know everything? They don´t. Many of these “experts” have very limited knowledge and often give wrong advice about methods etc.
I think that the real key to success in IM is honesty, dedication and focus on your path. Like any proper business, really.
Have a nice weekend,
Kourosh
Hi George, interesting and thought provoking post.
I agree in part: In that a lot of so called guru’s try to keep you where you are so as to sell sell sell to you. Always promoting the new BIG thing that you can’t be without. When their very next email tries to sell another item that puts the last one to shame or contradicts it. To those Marketers i say “Shame on you” for caring more about affiliate earnings than your subscriber. I also learn from them at the same time; if they do something that offends me or jars me off I make a point of not doing it to my subscribers.
I do use the word Newbie, but In my defence, I am creating a step by step video series called The Newbies Guide To Editing and Uploading Their First Website. Which i place on YouTube and my blog to offer my readers a helping hand in a series of tasks that i struggled with when i first started.
When i use the word Newbie it is to describe a person that hasn’t done the task before, by no means am i implying that the person is an idiot, or that I am a guru. I am simply saying “If you haven’t done this before let me show you how to do it”.
My Newbies Guide is FREE of charge and has been created with my customers and readers in mind. I show them each and every step from the point of purchase to the point of uploading their first website. At which time they are no longer newbies and should no longer describe themselves as such.
Good post George,
All the best, Barry
Great post and reader comments George! I described myself as a plumber “newbie” to the plumber who was fixing my bathroom shower last month. He asked me if I was in the army or something.;-)
I imagine everyone has their own idea of what a newbie is or isn’t but
if you’re making an online income your newbie days are over.
If you consistently add value to the lives of others you’ll never be a newbie again or at all. If elusive has a color, it’s probably green (-_0)
GULP! Guilty as charged. I use the term “Newbie” a lot.
Until reading this post I quite liked the word. I had no idea it had negative overtones. I have a “Video Course for Newbies” which has already been produced, however I won’t use the term again. Very interesting blog George, keep these posts coming….. 
John
Hi John, Thanks again for your comment. Don't worry. This post wasn't directed towards you. It was directed towards the IM industry, which seems to conspire against the beginner marketer. The term "newbie" is one way they discourage the mindset of the beginner. In addition to the term, which makes you feel inadequate, the industry keeps people in a state of confusion by bombarding them with email offers & complicated industry jargon. All this is part of their evil plan to keep one forever branded as a "newbie."Please excuse my harsh tone. Best regards, George
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Hi George, Loved your post about “NEWBIE”, You tell em bud.