Scott McNealy, one of the founders of Sun Microsystems, said that pre-Internet, programmers could count on at least 20% of their knowledge becoming obsolete every year.
In the Internet era, he said the rate increased to 20% per month. At 20% knowledge loss per month, your competetive edge becomes obsolete pretty fast. It’s pretty much all gone in less than a six months.
McNealy was talking about programmers, not business people or marketers, but those of us who don’t make our living in the competetive world of programming shouldn’t think we’re off the hook.
I don’t think a 20% per month loss applies to us, but 20% per year? Sure. In fact, I might even crank that up to 30% or even 50% per year.
That’s why it’s so important when you’re trying to learn Internet marketing that you make sure you’re learning from a source that’s up-to-date and that once you master the basics you plan for a program of continuing education.
Sounds like work, doesn’t it?
It’s not really so bad.
In fact, one of the great things about Internet marketing is that it is a challenge to keep up. Entrepreneurs who do are pretty rare which means simply by being involved in an ongoing program of continuing education, you can count on beating most, if not all of your competition.
Internet marketing is a game of skill and knowlegde. He who knows the most wins.
So pay attention to the 20% a year “info loss” phenomenon. Make it work for you, by keeping on top of changes, not against you while watching passively as your hard-earned knowledge slips gradually, but steadily down the drain.
P.S. If you want to make sure you’re up-to-date on what’s going on in Internet marketing right now, there’s a free and easy way to do that.
I’m giving away my notes from the highights of System 2006. You can use these notes to quickly see who’s on the cutting edge – and who is isn’t.
Details: Ken’s System 2006 notes
– Ken McCarthy
P.S. For over 25 years I’ve been sharing the simple but powerful things that matter in business with my clients.
If you’d like direction for your business that will work today, tomorrow and twenty years from now, visit us at the System Club.
No comments yet.