No I don't mean lesbian dial-a-date or porn star game shows. Anyone who actually listens to The Howard Stern Show knows that there is so much more to the show than the "shock" bits he has gotten a bad name for. The bottom line is, the man has a HUGE following and it's not only because of his on air antics.
Last week Howard celebrated his 2 year anniversary at Sirius satellite radio. He took the company, threw it on his back, and sky rocketed them to being the satellite radio provider.
During the Christmas break, they played "The history of Howard Stern" on his Howard 100 channel. As I listened to it I thought about how his story and experience can be used in today's internet marketing world.
Howard faced obstacles his entire career. No one believed in him or his methods. They said he didn't have a format, no one would listen to all talk on an FM/Rock station, etc. Everywhere he turned, a boulder stood in his way. This isn't exactly the way to start a radio career fresh out of college.
Howard never gave up. He had a vision and truly believed in it! He made a well thought out plan every step of his career, and with some luck, became a huge star and one of the highest paid entertainers in the industry.
Moral being, never give up! We all have trouble starting out. I still have trouble launching a new page or affiliate campaign. I expect to lose a little up front, but make it back ten fold down the road. Internet marketing is a business and should be looked at it as one; regardless of how small you may be.
Howard attended college at Boston University but according to him, he didn't need his communications degree to be successful with his radio show. All he needed was himself!
You don't need a college degree to make it big in life. All you need is a desire to learn, the work ethic to prepare correctly and the guts to take your shot. Howard admits that early in his career, he would do literally nothing in between his radio shows. He would use his time off work to prepare for the next show.
Make sure you are educated on the product you are pushing. Take the time and learn it inside and out. This will help you write better sales letters, ads and squeeze pages. It will also help you prepare your pitches. How else will you sell something if you can't outline it's benefits and do so with a "personal touch?"
Howard knew since he was a young boy that he wanted to be on the radio. He used to practice his show at a very young age. He spent his life learning and preparing for his radio career.
Now obviously none of us knew we wanted to be internet marketers when we were kids (internet didn't even exist heh). But now that you know it's what you want to be (or learn) make sure you have a passion for it!
A lot of people have the desire to "get rich quick" and those people will usually fail at internet marketing. Without the passion, you just can't commit the time it takes to make serious money online. I think this is the same for any business, not just online. So while making lots of money is usually the ultimate motivator, if you don't love what you are doing, it will be difficult to see much success in your ventures.
I could go on and on about Howard. I greatly admire him as a person (or at least what I know about him). He has a strong work ethic, a great personality (sense of humor) and is a strategic thinker. We all could learn a lot if we followed some of the steps he used through out his career!