Internet Marketing and the Four Stages of Competence

Posted on January 11, 2010 by GuruBob

“You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.” - Anthony Robbins

A recent comment on this blog caused me to consider the question of how do you go from knowing nothing to developing expertise in a subject. That is a challenging question and not easy to answer in one post…but I would like to begin meeting that challenge starting with this post.

Of course, I’m considering this from the perspective of Internet Marketing for obvious reasons which can be challenging due to the number of skills and strategies that can be learnt and the degree of choice available to all participants.

To begin though, I went back to my NLP training and renewed my understanding of conscious competence theory which is another name for the “Four Stages of Learning,” a theory put forward by psychologist Abraham Maslow. This theory explains how people learn something, progressing from 1. Unconscious Incompetence (you don’t know that you don’t know something), to 2. Conscious Incompetence (you are now aware that you are incompetent at something), to 3. Conscious Competence (you develop a skill in that area but have to think about it), to the final stage 4. Unconscious Competence (you are good at it and it now comes naturally). Click on the image to the left to see an illustration.

Success, particularly significant success only comes for a person when they get to a Stage 4 level of competence and the challenge is how to get (and stay) there, in the shortest possible time. Now that you are aware of the competance model, you can judge which stage you have reached for all the things you wish to be successful at in your life. The reality is, that for all the things we think we know or have done, we will be at different Stages of Competence depending on our need, motivation, enjoyment and level of success.

But this post is about considering the competence model in relation to Internet Marketing…so here goes.

Stage 1 – Unconscious Incompetance

People that have no knowledge, understanding or awareness of Internet Marketing will be in this stage. My assumption is that most of you reading this post have past at least into Stage 2 and the thing that causes that is awareness. For what ever reason, you have become ‘aware’ of Internet Marketing and have decided or consider the possibility that it is a subject of interest to you.

Stage 2 – Conscious Incompetance

The bulk of people that participate in the Thirty Day Challenge (30DC) start in Stage 2. They are aware that they don’t have any competence with regards to Internet Marketing and are looking for a way to learn as quickly as possible. We at the 30DC understand this, and do our very best to lead people from Stage 2 to Stage 3 as efficiently and as easily as possible. Unfortunately, for many people, the desire to learn and experience a quick outcome are interlinked and if the outcome is not rapidly achieved, these people don’t progress ultimately to Stage 4 and stay trapped in Stage 2 or 3 simply swapping from one strategy or skill set to another without ever becoming truly competant.

The strongest determinant of whether someone passes from Stage 2 to Stage 3 is motive. Motivation is a VERY important subject but I would like to discuss that subject in more detail in a forthcoming post.

Stage 3 – Conscious Competance

Having participated in a training program like the Thirty Day Challenge or having bought (and read) an educational product, the person has progressed to a level of Stage 3 competance. They know what to do but may not have ever implemented that knowledge or have only implemented once. This is where the most significant challenge in Internet Marketing raises it’s ugly head. This is the body of wannabe marketers who are constantly buying products to learn a different Internet marketing strategy or skill (Stage 2 activity) but who never implement or do implement only once or partially but don’t ever really become competant (stay stuck in Stage 3).

The reason is probably due to the fact that the person does not perceive that they can or will receive a short term outcome that is consistent with the motive that is driving them to learn in the first place. Consequently, the ‘grass is greener’ phenomenon kicks in and rather than take action and implement, it seems more attractive to go back to Stage 2 with a different strategy or skill set rather than push through to Stage 4 with what they have already learned (but not become expert in).

Or it may have just seemed all too hard and caused you to reconsider why you were bothering to learn in the first place!

The strongest determinant of whether someone moves from Stage 3 to Stage 4 is a preparedness to take action…to implement the knowledge they have learnt.

Stage 4 – Unconscious Competance

Some people either due to their particular psychological makeup (preparedness to take action) or luck in receiving a short term positive outcome push through Stage 3 into Stage 4. They begin implementing the knowledge they have learned and with repeated application gradually transition to Stage 4 competence. This does not happen immediately. For some people it takes implementing just a handful of times to achieve Stage 4 competence and for others it may take many times. But, over a period of time, the person suddenly realises they don’t have to think about it anymore and can undertake the tasks to implement the strategy automatically and easily. This is the place from which true success can happen. There are other factors that influence the ultimate outcome but it definitely won’t happen if you don’t achieve a Stage 4 competence with the strategy you are learning.

I am constantly reviewing this understanding of competence in relation to the 30DC. Our goal is that participants achieve a Stage 4 competence in ‘testing’ new niches on the Internet. We don’t try and teach everything there is to learn about Internet Marketing (in the 30DC) but we do want people to acquire and be able to implement a sustainable and successful strategy for testing niches. Over time, we have tried to improve the ease with which people learn and implement the strategy by improving the quality of the education and by developing tools and services that offer leverage (making it easier and faster to implement the strategy).

I ask you all to consider what Stage of Competence you have achieved with the skills and strategies you are trying to learn. Have you ever stopped short of achieveing Stage 4 competence before swapping to a new strategy? Have you ever considered why you did that?

Given that true success will not occur unless you achieve Stage 4 competence in at least one Internet Marketing strategy can you see how important it is for you to push through and take action as many times as is needed for you to achieve that level of Competence? If you don’t, the success that you seek will always remain elusive.

It is…as it is.

GuruBob

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Technorati Tags: 30dc, abraham maslow, achieve success, competence, four stages of competence, GuruBob, Internet Marketing, it is as it is, marketer, Thirty Day Challenge

Discussion:

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to “Internet Marketing and the Four Stages of Competence”

Amanda Prout

- 11th Jan, 10 09:01pm

Yes Rob, this is a really useful model.

Perhaps it would also help if people recognise that learning and doing are iterative – that is you can move from stage 2 to 3 as you learn and take action and get feedback, (and hopefully move on to stage 4) then you need to cycle back to stage 2 as you learn and implement the next piece. It’s not ever onwards and upwards

There are three issues here:
1. Making sure you recognise and congratulate yourself when you make progress from 2 to 3 to 4
2. Being clear that when you do need to go back to stage 2 that is progress too – IF you are developing competence in a new area
3. Recognising when you’re stuck and confused that the answer is more likely to be in the material you already have access to, (and the people you already know), rather than yet another new course. And of course that confusion and getting stuck are often an intrinsic part of the learning process – so that’s progress too!
mikeb

- 11th Jan, 10 11:01pm

good post.

This misses one category prevalent in all walks of entrepreneurial life – the ones who by luck 9or judgement) have a big success the first time in one narrow arean , and then assume that gives them some kind of infallibility – that the success is something they are, not something they have done – so whilst consciously competent in one arena and unconsciously incompetent at everything else on which they love to give advice, and their advice is publicly sought, and so begins a traill of destruction.

Another way to recognise them – if they take something like roger hamiltons wealth formula they grade themselves as “stars” almost regardless of the evidence.

fortunately there are a few oases of formulae rinsed and repeated enough that the method is fine, it is down to the person if it does not deliver, as witness 30dc
Carolyn Blacknall

- 12th Jan, 10 12:01am

This is excellent. Some reasons to avoid going from level 3 to level 4 are fear of failure, fear of ridicule from your friends, and the realization that there is still so much more to really learn.
Marius

- 12th Jan, 10 02:01am

Great post. I realize I’m going from stage 3 to stage 2 before I manage to get to stage 4 on something. And this happened to me in the 30dc as well. I think for me it’s because the lack of vision, seeing enough people in stage 4 just doing it. Well there’s a lot of rationalization, but I’ll look into it more deeply.

Cheers,
Marius
Jim Munro

- 12th Jan, 10 02:01am

I’ve stopped many times at stage 3 for a variety of hobbies/interests. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, you are just figuring out what you like/don’t like or what you are willing to invest your time in.

Given that internet marketing is different from a physical+mental skill like playing the piano where, in most cases, you can’t really speed up the process between level 3 to 4. (You can, but there seems to be a ceiling on how fast.)

It may be more up to the individual’s competency, how fast they learn, how good they are at other parallel skills (maybe conventional, offline marketing/business) to gain level 4 experience.

The nice thing is you can get quick feedback while learning-by-doing in this example. It’s amazing how making money can motivate you to stick to working on a problem.
Corinne Mitchell

- 12th Jan, 10 04:01am

I have been guilty of it myself, going back to stage 2 repeatedly. That is until I found the right mentors and made a conscious decision to follow only them. I realized that I had all I needed to go from start to profit and that I just needed to do it and then repeat it.

It has been a steep learning curve and I know there are still things I have yet to learn and that there will always be new things. But I have stopped chasing after the next shiney thing as I see so many IMers doing.

I think too many people do want the “Easy Button” and get discouraged when things don’t happen fast enough. As a wise man once told us, “Just do one thing. Pick one thing and do it. Then pick another and do that and so on.” Okay, I paraphrased a bit, but that is basically what you said

Some days I feel like I have a foot in stage 4 and then other days I feel stuck in stage 3. And I realize that I just have to work through those days because I am well on my way to stage 4.

Thank you Rob for an excellent post and very useful application of Maslow’s theory.
Cominback

- 12th Jan, 10 10:01am

Thanks Rob,

Excellent post. It has made me realize that I have been debating my next move for sometime now. My niche sites are beginning to show promise and yet I know there is so much more to learn.

I believe I’m in Stage 3 obviously..lol I’m not stuck but for the little amount of time I can honestly say I’ve been in stage 4, I do think I’m in a bit of a rut.. I’d say borderline.
Part of my problem is because I’m disabled physically and running and operating a business takes much more endurance and sometimes physical abilities then I’m able to put out.

I agree with your other readers that too much info and green grass can become habit forming so I stick with who I know is doing it right and I follow suit. I have been around for a couple years now and have learned several great skills. Now to incorporate those skills into one refined skill rather than using them independently is my next plan.

I joined the 30DC in the spring and I love the teachings. Go 30DC! You guys really know how to put information out there so that regular people can learn to use it. I follow all the guidlines that I can. I purchased MA, TB and a Bronze WPD Acct so I could get started. I’m so glad I did. The MS software is priceless. TB has saved me countless hours of doing boring tasks and WPD makes blogging a breeze. I also joined all the affiliate programs I could to share the wealth. Not much has come of those yet but I have faith that they will as I start really promoting them. I wish there was an affiliate program for 30DC.. Did I miss the memo?

Anyways, Thanks Again GuruBob for all you and your team do to bring these opportunities to people like me. and for this excellent post on the four stages of competance. It was a real eye opener.

Cheers from Wyo,
Shane aka Cominback
David Jenyns

- 30th Jan, 10 10:01am

Love seeing thought processes like this applied in a new way.

One thing I’ve always wondered though… is there a stage beyond level 4, something along the lines of a universal consciousness?… might be a little “way out there” for some but I do like the idea.

Keep up the good work.

David Jenyns
Linda

- 3rd Feb, 10 03:02am

Funny, I teach the 4 stages all the time in my day job but hadn’t thought about my marketing in that way. I’d say I’m at level 3 and need to push through to 4 now. I do think though that it’s more of a spiral than a ladder and sometimes we have to risk feeling we’re back at Level 1 to keep moving on..
GuruBob (author comment)

- 10th Feb, 10 11:02pm

Often in life, an unearned short term success (let’s call it unexpected luck) can be very damaging because you may never develop the skill to sustain or replicate that success. This is the very reason why many lottery winners squander or lose their winnings within a few years because they simply don’t have the required mindset or skill-set to manage the windfall.
Mike at Hypnotherapy Bristol

- 15th Mar, 10 08:03am

Well I certainly aware that I am incompetent.

I know they say where there’s a will there’s a way and I also know that I could learn to play the violin 10 hours a day for the next ten years and I still wouldn’t be as good as some four year old Chinese girl. Some times I feel like this about the technicalities of web stuff.
Latesha Cifaldi

- 3rd Dec, 10 04:12pm

I really cherish this site. Iwish I could come here all the time.