Are you really in business?

You promote yourself by building your reputation.  You build your reputation by learning and practicing the habits and actions of a business person.  Everyday I see more Marketers here that have no clue what it takes to promote yourself.

First of all you need knowledge.  You need to know your product so you can intelligently answer questions about it.  It's your product you are supposed to be the expert.  I think we can all agree on that but your knowledge should not end there.

You need to show that you have some idea of how to find out basic business information.  That means you are capable of doing basic research to find things out and here is where I see the problem.  APSense provides an ASK section where you can ask questions of other members.  In that  ASK section is a search button.  It seems that many do not understand what that button is there for.  It is there so that you can do basic research.  You can search to see if the question you have has already been answered.  That way you can get your answer without wasting the time of others.

But I have noticed that there is an even more alarming trend.  Members who either can't or won't read.  When there is a question posted on the front page word for word the exact question you have, why would you post it again?  It makes you appear to be either lazy or unintelligent.  That is two of the absolute worst traits to have as a business person.

On a positive note for those who present these traits you make it easier for the rest of us.  We already know your reputation, why would we want to to business with you?  The serious business people around here are serious about our reputations.  If we are working to build our reputation as legitimate knowledgeable business owners, we are going to connect with and associate with other like ourselves.  

Think about it.  Would Donald Trump or Bill Gates bother with someone who can't be bothered to show that they at least have some basic idea of how to run a business or find out answers on running their business?  No they would not.  Their time is valuable, they are not going to waste it with someone who needs their hand held like a three year old.