This ought to rile folk up.
Especially since, according to alexa.com, the VAST majority of my list is in the “baby boomer” generation. But it’s my observation that GenX’ers are the best Internet marketers.
In fact, methinks we’re the best entrepreneurs, period.
How can I say such a thing?
Well, first off, I’m biased.
But besides that, I don’t think baby boomers and Gen Y’ers or today’s whiney little “Gen Texters” have the advantages my brood have.
Here’s what I mean:
1. We were the “latchkey kid” generation
i.e. we fended for ourselves.
When I was in middle school and high school, I came home to an empty home. Made my own meals. And was alone with my brother (usually fighting) until my mom (who worked her fingers to the bone as a waitress) got home around midnight or 1 am.
Many of my droogs had similar lives.
You can’t help but be more independent growing up like that.
And so we’re a generation of individualists.
We dig freedom over security.
Have zero tolerance for meddlesome bosses/clients.
And, basically give authority the “finger.”
All are traits that serve entrepreneurs well…
2. Work ethic
Many of us GenX’ers came from divorced homes and watched our parents work their cans off, only to have the corporate world chew them up and spit them out when they were done with them. As a result of watching them work so hard, we ended up with work ethics I just don’t see in other generations (as a whole) since my grandparent’s time.
We also learned (early on) there is no true “job security.”
That you cannot trust politicians.
And, if you want something, go out and seize it.
Nobody’s gonna do it for you.
(And even if they did, it wouldn’t be as good as doing it yourself…)
3. No Internet
We didn’t grow up with an iPhone in our hand.
In fact, I remember as a kid we took a field trip to the library where we would get to see (gasp!) the Apple 2! It was a huge deal to even have an Atari that played Pacman (and you were considered to be well-to-do if you could even afford that).
Cell phones?
Please.
I had a sticker in my wallet that had a special 4 digit code I could dial from a pay phone that allowed me to call collect without going through the operator.
I think this gives us a HUGE advantage today.
Why?
We like and understand technology.
But we don’t rely on it.
(I doubt many baby boomers do, either.)
I dare say many of us don’t even trust technology (probably thanks to growing up with movies like “The Terminator” and “War Games”…) Which is why many of us online GenX’ers (I’ve noticed) tend to be more likely to study old school marketing studs — like Halbert, Kennedy, Schwartz, Bencivenga, Carlton, etc — and not some flash-in-the-pan goo-roo who makes their living doing JV’s with other online marketers with big lists.
4. Not afraid to get our hands dirty
We didn’t have the Internet when I was in school.
I mean, it existed.
But it wasn’t anything anyone got excited about. And most of us hand wrote out our research papers (putting ideas down on 3X5 note cards) and then went to the library to type them up.
(Yes, on typewriters.)
Since then, we’ve had the “cut & paste” generation:
No real attention to detail.
No real desire to do the job right.
And thus, (I’d bet) no real joy in earning what they take.
Anyway, that’s my opinion.
And, as usual, I’m right.
Even so, I suppose I should brace myself for the onslaught of “yeah but!” comments that will zing into my inbox from members of the other generations.
But that’s okay.
That’ll simply prove my point.
And daddy enjoys being proven right…
Ben Settle
P.S. I think growing up this way has given my “kind” a tremendous leg up in the realm of email marketing. We don’t take email for granted, and yet we don’t rely on it as anything more than a tool to be used (and not a way of life that, when disrupted by Internet or power outages, throws our world into complete chaos).
So yeah, it’s just a tool.
But, it’s a very powerful weapon if you know how to wield it.
You can learn how here:
