Are you true to yourself and true to others?
If you are building a presence online, it is crucial to have integrity. Building a business online? You need integrity. Building a career and using a website to explain who you are? You need integrity.
This is not as easy as it might sound.
Right, be truthful you say. But if you check out the online world and the world of social media you will find many people seeking to portray a false image of themselves, to hype themselves up.
In the home business or make money online space, we see a ton of superficiality and in many cases just plain lies. Those who are trying to “get rich quick” may put on an image and spam people claiming results they don’t have. We have all seen it. And what this does is it muddies the waters for everybody else trying to build a legitimate income online.
There should be no surprise that your friends and family look at you askance when you say you are building an online business. All they see is the hype and the spammers and they think anybody sitting at home trying to make a dime online is an idiot. This makes it hard for those diligently working away to build a business online because they are more than likely to be prejudged negatively.
But for those committed to build a viable business online or promote your career – whether it is affiliate marketing, selling your own products, using the net to raise your profile – it is crucial to maintain integrity. This means being truthful.
There are a couple of crucially important reasons for being open and truthful.
Firstly, given the openness of social media nowadays, you have to stay true because if you whip up some fantasy image of yourself, you are going to be found out in the end. Being truthful is your passport to success if you are diligent and hard-working in your business.
Secondly, you have to live with yourself and there is a good chance your image and conduct matter not only to you but also to your family.
IT’S NOT ABOUT THE BIKE
Let me give you an example. I am a great cycling fan. And when American rider Lance Armstrong was on the top of his game – winning seven Tour de France races in a row – I was cheering him on. I bought his book, “It’s Not About The Bike,” and bought videos. He was an inspiration. So it was great to see his success.
Today, Lance has to live with the fact that everybody knows he is a cheater. He doped to win during a period when many cycling teams doped to try to win. He lied about it year after year. But he got caught – big time – admitting he cheated, particularly in his bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.
He cheated. He lied. He painted a false picture. And he let a lot of people down.
Lance has to try to explain this to his kids. Every time he is interviewed, he has to explain.
This is a pity. He has let a lot of people down. But also he has let himself down. He makes excuses but at the end of the day, in his heart, he knows he cheated, that those seven Yellow Jerseys framed on his wall are a sham.
Yes, he was an amazing cyclist. And it is a real pity he cheated.
STAY TRUE TO YOURSELF
Don’t be like Lance. Be truthful and value your integrity. The bottom line is that integrity matters not only to the people around you or you come in contact with but also to yourself.
This matters if you are working online.
At present the online marketing space appears like the Wild West with a lot of scammers and hyped up deals being promoted. But amidst all this, there are really good products and services being marketed and sold. In time, the people who have integrity will be the ones who win in the online space.
Just be yourself and be truthful in the online space. You will be the person to gain in the long run.
And you should be able to sleep at night knowing you are doing the right thing.