I dislike term 'guru', at least when it's applied loosely, as it is on Internet. I've never thought of, or called myself a guru, but I'm referred to one pretty often. So are a lot of other Internet marketers.

My article is not about 'gurudom' though. It's about responsibility to those people who hold us in high enough regard to think of us as a guru, or an expert, or just someone who can help them along their way, and ask for our help.

Allow me to share a thought from my upcoming print book: "Our mission in life is to better lives of others. In doing so, our life is made better."

If you find yourself in position where people are asking for your expertise and help, there can only be 2 reasons for it:

1. You are Real McCoy and people trust that you can offer genuine and helpful advice and assistance, or

2. You've done a pretty good job of pretending to be above.

Hopefully you fall into category of former.

Now, you really have only 2 choices when someone does ask for your help:

1. You can make an honest effort to lend a helping hand, or

2. You can ignore their request, or, perhaps try to sell them latest, greatest product that will solve their problem and make some money in process.

This article would not exist had it not been for a rather lengthy and heartwrenching email I received other day. It came from a customer of mine, now a friend, who has been struggling past few months trying to make a go of it in Internet marketing arena. Very tough assignment as a newcomer in this post-September 11 economy especially in light of all marketing products flooding cyberspace these days!

What was remarkable about his take on things was his statement that of all "guru's" that he had purchased products from (most of which promised additional help after purchase), and had requested some simple guidance from, I was *only* person who ever responded. More than a couple of times as I recall. What a sad state of affairs in my opinion!

One even stated that every time s/he came up with a great idea, then did some research on it, topic would come up as having too much competition, or already over-populated.

This is a very interesting point because everything you read tells you to find a new, un-tapped niche and become top expert, and then dominate that niche.

We are told that this is ONLY way to make money on Internet.

Finding a niche CAN be very profitable, but it is also very difficult to discover a new niche.

Why?

Because it isn't as simple as just finding a topic that no one else has found yet: That topic also has to have people dedicated to it that have money to spend, that want products that you are selling, and that are willing to buy anything to begin with.

It is very difficult to find that perfect mix... especially now that there are so many other people online trying to do exactly same thing.

When I started AffiliateMatch there were already a ton of affiliate program directories. There were also several "big players" out there that dominated market.

I still managed to do things necessary to build it into a profitable website.

Did I bump any of "big players" out of their positions?

No. But I realized that I didn't have to.