Is it Better to be Self-Taught?

#QOTD: Are you going to subscribe to my podcast? YES or NO?

#QOTD2: What can I do to make my podcast a TREMENDOUS experience for you?

An interesting question was raised here about taking a course/class in order to become a social media marketer. The truth is, I'm self-taught. I didn't take any courses in social media, but in general I was never a real good student and never took any substantial classes in business or marketing -- But, that's seemed to work out for me just fine :)

I think all this really just boils down to being self-aware and knowing yourself. I honestly think that 99% are you are clowns, and are just reading headlines, rather than being actual practitioners and going deep within each platform. I'm even scared of you taking a course because most of the courses I've been exposed to during speaking engagements were jokes -- either the course itself or the teachers involved came off as clowns.

My honest opinion is that Social Media right now is in a very awkward and early stage. If you look back at the early internet marketers of 1995, they were spewing out a ton of garbage as well. So the timing is difficult now, but I can say confidently that I would feel a lot better about you taking a "course" 5 years from now rather than today.

So, in this whole circus type of environment, it all scares me. The most important thing you can do is be surgical, knowledgeable, and become an actual practitioner. However, for this particular instance, there's too many variables to consider. Are the courses good? Can you actually learn in those environments? Because I can't - hence why my advice is to become a practitioner as best you can, because that's what I've done, and that's certainly worked for me :)