I Got Beat by a Sixteen Year Old Girl

If you are like me you have been listening for months to Sensei Nick preach the importance of social media and social objects.  If not, you need to get on board with him NOW. You may also be like me in that you have been doing some of the things you know you should be doing but not all of them.  I have been pretty active on Facebook, done a little tweeting and written a couple of blogs.  The few things I have done are actually working, unfortunately one of the things I keep putting off finally bit me in the ass.

Sensei Nick has been telling us over and over about the importance of social objects (pictures, videos, blogs, etc.)  One of the things I keep telling myself I need to do is to get some videos up on Youtube.  My failure to act has finally caught up with me.

I have an internet favorites folder called ‘Watch List’ that contains links to the websites of all of my local competitors as well as the websites of schools that I admire and strive to be like.  There are about fifty websites in all.  Once a week I quickly scan through each of the sites to see what they have changed or updated.  I also do internet searches for martial arts lessons and schools in my local area.

For the past five years I have dominated my area in internet marketing.  My SEO efforts combined with the lack of effort on the part of my competitors has resulted in my websites consistently ranking #1, and usually saturating 75% of the first results page.  While I have always had in the back of my mind that I need to be doing more, I have also gotten comfortable and let my guard down.

This past Friday I did a search for Taekwondo lessons in my area.  For the first time in five years someone outranked me.  I almost lost it!  The thing that upset me the most is that the person who jumped ahead of me wasn’t even trying.  About two years ago a girl who participated in a tournament put on by a school in my area that has since closed, posted a video of her competing.  The video was titled “Taekwondo Sparring” followed by the name of my town.  That’s it!  Now when you do a search for Taekwondo in my town she is the first listing on the page.

After years of watching, planning, plotting and implementing, some sixteen year old girl has outranked me without even trying.  Needless to say I now have a list of videos that I am going to start posting within a couple of weeks.

I’m sharing this because I know there are plenty of us out there that are in the same boat.  We know we are outworking our competitors and dominating the internet and social media in our respective areas.  Unfortunately  there is a new generation of kids out there that, with no effort, are in a position to show us up.  Our competition is no longer  limited to other schools. We now have to focus our effort on staying ahead of everyone!

While I have never been one to enjoy admitting my failures, I felt it was important to share this will all of you so that you can avoid finding yourself in the same position.  Stop Waiting!  If you have been putting off doing all of the things Sensei Nick has been telling us to do, the time to take action is now.  If you know how to do these things on your own, get started. If you don’t know how, it time to contact Sensei Nick.

Don’t get beat by a sixteen year old girl!