High-Income Skill Everyone Should Learn

Read time: 5 mins

When I came to the United States, I wanted to become a computer engineer.

I spent a year studying it at the community college and realized that it wasn’t my thing.

As you can imagine, confusion and stress took over me because I didn’t know what I am going to do for a living.

At that time (I still do), I liked photography, video making, and business. Well, I spent days and days self-reflecting on what I would like to pursue.

Right then, I decided to combine my interests and see what path encompasses them.

It was marketing.

It combines my creative interests and business. Perfect!

However, I didn’t realize until very recently how powerful this discipline was!

Jobs Are Losing Their Juice

The world is moving forward so fast.

It is evolving.

The same pertains to our lifestyles.

More and more people value time (i.e. with family), autonomy, and sanity than money.

Jobs are losing their juice. They chain you to the paycheck leaving almost no freedom of choice.

You are at the mercy of your boss (which is why I want to build my own thing).

Recently, big companies such as Amazon, Google, Apple, and many more laid off thousands of people.

In an instant, people lost their jobs that they were relying on.

I am not saying jobs are terrible all the time.

They have their place at the beginning of one’s career but I believe that people should evolve into business owners (no matter the size).

If there is one thing I learned from my economics class about this world it is this:

Everyone chooses according to their expected marginal costs and expected marginal benefits. (thank you, Dr. Hill)

In other words, all business owners or corporations choose what to do based on the costs they incur and the benefits they get.

If it is too costly or not beneficial to keep you, they will fire you.

It is harsh, but it is true for the majority of cases.

And no, we are not immune to this if we own a business, that’s why we need Jesus (but it is for another time).

But there is hope, like in all stories, there is a hope to have time and money freedom through your passion.

Things Get Brighter: The Most Important Skill

Look, I understand that some people like working 9-5 and it is okay.

It will be very beneficial to learn marketing anyway because people always sell and market their ideas and plans (for example, to their bosses).

You will also become a valuable asset for your job with this universal skill.

Most people have the misconception that marketers trick people and manipulate them.

Let me explain what marketers actually do.

The fundamental idea of marketing is to make a person aware of his/her problem, make it a priority to solve, and clarify how to solve it.

I am convinced that God designed the human race to evolve through problem-solving.

If you think about it, solving the ultimate problem of humankind - sin - is the root of the Gospel.

When you accept Jesus, you improve your life, your relationship with God, and the afterlife.

The conclusion is inevitable: human beings improve their lives through problem-solving.

So marketing gives you the firepower to help others to improve the quality of their lives.

Think of it as a best friend who sees that a person has a problem, for example, with spending money. The best friend calls that person out, explains to her/him why it is important, and shows how to solve it.

Did I mention that your “best friend” (a.k.a marketing) also helps you to make money with things you are passionate about?

Let me give you some examples of the financial power of marketing:

Justin Welsh who makes gazillion now by creating content about things he enjoys talking about wrote:

Dan Koe who also used the power of marketing to create income from things he liked talking about wrote:

In short, learning marketing and implementing it in building your own thing create more:

• time you can spend traveling with your family and friends

• opportunities to make money with your passions

• quality in one’s life

Where to Start in Learning Marketing

I will give a simple breakdown of fundamentals and questions you can google to learn more.

To recap, the fundamental goal of marketing is to:

1. Create awareness of the problem

2. Create awareness that it is important to solve

3. Clarify the path to solving it or providing a solution

This is also what every creator online does to help you to overcome certain problems.

If they are smart, they would provide also solutions with a price tag.

Think of the last time when you bought something online from a certain creatorpreneur (I call them that), and I hope the principle above will make sense.

There are 4Ps of marketing that are fundamental and holistic principles that you can start googling and learning about.

Product

This principle reflects physical and tangible items plus services and digital products.

Digital products can be, for example, planners, ebooks, software, photos, videos, design elements, courses, etc., which you can sell.

Service in a digital economy can be consulting, freelancing, tutoring, and coaching.

But there are also services that we use every day such as internet, electricity, trash removal, and coffee places - you get the point.

Another word for a service and product is an offer.

The goal of this principle: making sure that there is a demand for an offer and that the offer is so good that customers would feel stupid to say no.

Questions to Google to learn more:

• How to build a good offer? (there is a good book called “$100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No” by Alex Hormozi)

• How to conduct market research?

• What is the SCAMPER technique?

Price

The price is the amount a customer pays for the offer.

But it is not always easy to come up with the right price.

There are high-ticket offers (offers with a high price), medium-ticket offers, and low-ticket offers.

It is advisable to have offers with all three types of pricing in your business.

You could deliver the best value possible through the low-ticket offer, and then offer them a high-ticket or mid-ticket product (this is called upselling).

Again think about a time when you got something for a very little amount of money or for free and then you bought something more expensive.

I hope it sparks an “Aha” moment!

The goal of this principle: determining the right price for the offer in the market so that customers buy from you.

Questions to Google to learn more:

• What are the price strategies out there?

• What is the profit margin?

• How to set up the price for the product?

• How do demand and supply relate to the price?

Promotion

This principle is what most people think of when they hear the word “marketing.” But you already see that marketing is way more holistic than that.

You can start appreciating it now because without marketing you won’t have all these things that make your life a bit easier.

The goal of promotion: to create awareness of the problem and the solution you provide.

This is where the magic of raising the awareness of the customer happens.

This is where marketers create demand (or need) for the product.

There are many strategies to do so, to name a few: content marketing, advertising, influencer marketing, and more. This is for you to find out.

It is important for you to make your own discoveries and implement them in your project.

That’s how you actually learn.

Questions to Google to learn more:

• What are the promotion strategies?

• What are the customer awareness levels?

• Consumer psychology

• What are sales funnels and how to use them?

These will be more than enough to start off.

Place

The place is the location, physical or digital, where you put your offer in front of the customers.

The goal of place: finding the right location(s) (physical and/or online) so that it is very easy for the customers to find your product and buy it.

In the online market, your place can be a website, social media platforms, online stores, etc.

In the physical market, your place can be the location of your shop (I think that’s all).

It is important to meet the customers where they shop or to make it as easy as possible to buy.

Have you ever felt frustrated with certain products you wanted to buy, but couldn’t find the website or the store?

Oh, man, I definitely had that experience. I don’t buy if that happens.

Do you see how important it is?

Questions to Google to learn more:

• What are product placing strategies?

• What is the buyer’s journey?

• The question about market research can be relevant here too

This one is a bit easier and more straightforward.

The End

This letter is becoming too long, so I want to leave you with this.

Life is more than working for someone to make money and survive.

Why not build your own thing around your interests to help other people and have time and financial freedom?

God created us in His image so we are to create order out of chaos in smaller dimensions.

I think it is an honorable pursuit and marketing will help you!

Thank you for reading,

- Merdan

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