A lot of people get started in this business and never realize their goals because they do exactly the same thing and everyone else. You can make money copying other people, but not nearly the amount you can make if you blaze your own trail as the saying goes. It's a saying for a reason!

Whatever corner of the market you are in, or if you're in every part you can think of, it's a good idea to sit down and really know who you are, what you're capable of, what you're competition is doing and how to set yourself apart from and eventually get ahead of them.

The first part: 'know who you are and what you're capable of' means that you should do things you know you're good at and know your capabilities. This can vary from person to person for example: a solo webmaster with big plans or a corporation with multiple employees, but you have to know what you can do yourself and what you have to get other people to do for you. Or if you really have the time, LEARN how to do what it is you are trying to accomplish, whatever works best. If you know you are a slacker in certain areas (like submitting galleries, encoding movies, designing buttons, researching competitors etc) then it might be a good idea to contract out specific work as necessary. Once you know what you can do WELL, you can focus on your strengths and leave the things you suck at to people who specialize in that area. You will save yourself a lot of time and big time frustration (believe me!) and you can then focus on the bigger things of your project.

The second part: 'know what you're competition is doing and how to set yourself apart' is another big step to make MORE money than you would just copying them. Dell set themselvse apart by taking out the middle man, wal-mart set themself apart by offering everything in one store at the lowest prices possible, maxcash set them self apart by offering pay per signup payouts when nobody else did. ARS set them self apart by offering a plethora of webmaster features under one site (reward points, multiple tours, 100+ niche sites, health insurance, etc). I mean no dispect to other programs, but when 'yet another' program comes out with 50 niche sites and pays $30 per signup, I think it's almost too late at that point to really make the big bucks. You have to innovate, set yourself a part, even just a little to get noticed and get people to send you traffic, whether you own a paysite program, single site partnership or tgp. It doesn't matter what site/business you run, if you do exactly the same as someone else, how can you expect to make even a fraction of what they do?

Do you know what your edge is? I do, and I work on setting myself apart (in a positive way) from my competitors everyday. I want to be known as an innovator and not just someone who is good at spitting out the 'same old thing'. I believe that in this industry, the truly successful and wealthy are those that can really 'think outside the box' and deliver WHAT PEOPLE WANT, in a new and exciting way.

One of the best examples of this was Free Ezine Bucks. The people over at pornresource (bosshawg and dirtE) had an idea that set them apart from even the other mailing programs our there. They are responsible for the explosion of the ezine market as we know it. They took a simple idea of putting a front page to an email collection box, made 50 niche sites and paid $1 per email with no deductions. This idea was so fresh and unlike anything their competitors were doing that literally overnight, you saw "FREE 'niche' ezine" on every other major tgp, exit console, tgp gallery and search engine page and free site on the net. Now this sprung up some copycats, but the damage was already done and FEB made their money and still do. The 'copycats' may have had their own 'little' spin on the concept but it was pretty much the same thing and you can be sure almost certain they didn't make 10% of FEB did. This is what can and does happen to people who think outside of the box and can 'do it'.

People that can 'do it' are better than 1,000 people who 'think they can do it' and never get around to it or simply can not. This is why it's so important to align yourself with the correct people who can help you get work done more quickly and who specialize in areas you aren't proficient in. Go ahead and keep doing what you are GOOD at, and don't be afraid to get other people on board with you. Of course you have to trust them, and you can always get them to sign a 1 page NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement).

In some future articles, I will list some websites and/or templated NDA forms you can use when seeking outside help. These are the people who will help you 'GET YOUR EDGE', Develop it, and most importantly, DO IT!

Yours truly,
Anonymous JBM Contributing Author #1