One of the most common questions I get is about coaching: “Mark, do you recommend coaching? Should I get a coach for my internet business?” The answer depends entirely on where you are in your journey and what you need. In this episode I broke down the five levels of internet marketing education and interviewed David Perdew about his Niche Affiliate Marketing System (NAMS) workshop.
Five Levels of Learning Internet Marketing
Here is how I think about the different ways you can learn internet marketing, from least expensive to most intensive:
Level 1: Free Information
Podcasts, blogs, YouTube videos, forums. Almost everything you need to know about internet marketing is available somewhere on the internet for free. The challenge is knowing what to trust and what to ignore. There is a lot of noise out there.
Level 2: Paid Courses
Someone collects the best information, organizes it logically, and presents it in a digestible format. You are paying for curation and structure. A good course saves you months of wandering through conflicting free advice.
Level 3: E-Coaching
Courses that include access to a members-only community, a forum, or direct email access to the instructor. This gives you someone to ask when you get stuck. Getting unstuck quickly is one of the biggest advantages a beginner can have.
Level 4: Live Events
In-person workshops, conferences, and masterminds. These range from legitimate learning events to thinly disguised sales pitches. The good ones feature hands-on workshops, genuine teaching, and opportunities to build relationships with other marketers.
Level 5: One-on-One Coaching
Direct, personalized guidance from an experienced mentor. This ranges from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per month. The right coach can compress years of learning into months.
Why Coaching Works
Coaching provides three specific benefits that are hard to get any other way:
- Path clarity and unsticking. A good coach shows you the path and removes obstacles. When you hit a wall, instead of spending days figuring out the answer, you ask your coach and move forward. This alone can cut your learning time by months or years.
- Accountability. When you know you have to report progress to someone next week, you get the work done. For a part-time entrepreneur squeezing work into evenings and weekends, accountability is often the difference between building a business and building nothing.
- Proof that success is possible. Working with someone who has achieved what you are trying to achieve is powerful for your mindset. Success stops feeling theoretical and starts feeling achievable.
Choosing the Right Coaching
A critical point: coaching must match your specific goals and situation. If someone tells you “you need my coaching” without asking what you are trying to accomplish, walk away. Coaching from a pay-per-click expert is worthless if you are trying to build organic traffic. The skills and the personality both need to match.
The Value of Live Events
In the interview portion, David Perdew explained what made the NAMS workshop different from typical internet marketing events. The key differentiators were:
- Teaching-first approach. No back-of-room selling. Attendees came to learn, not to be pitched.
- Hands-on workshops. People built actual websites and made real sales during the event.
- Skill-level tracks. From complete beginners to experienced marketers, everyone had appropriate sessions.
- Genuine community. Instructors were accessible and transparent about what worked and what did not.
What Has Changed Since This Episode
Online communities have largely replaced in-person events for day-to-day learning. Discord servers, Slack communities, membership sites, and cohort-based courses provide much of the same community and accountability that live events offered. However, the value of meeting people face-to-face and building genuine relationships has not diminished.
Coaching and mentorship are more accessible than ever. Platforms like Clarity.fm, MentorCruise, and niche-specific coaching programs have lowered the barrier to finding a qualified mentor. Group coaching programs offer a middle ground between self-study courses and expensive one-on-one coaching.
Be wary of live events that are primarily sales funnels. David's warning about events where speakers spend 60 of their 90 minutes pitching applies more than ever. Before attending any event, research the speakers and check whether past attendees felt they received genuine value.
Key Takeaways
- There are five levels of internet marketing education, from free content to one-on-one coaching
- Coaching provides path clarity, accountability, and proof that success is possible
- Match your coaching to your specific goals, not to whoever is selling hardest
- The best live events prioritize teaching and hands-on implementation over selling
- Accountability, whether from a coach, a partner, or a community, is often the deciding factor between success and stagnation
For more on building your internet marketing business, listen to the Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast on Apple Podcasts.
