Common Sense Rules To Protect You From Tarnishing Your Reputation

A couple of days ago I added a comment to a post on Jason Better’s blog that left me with egg on my face. Or so I thought. (By the way, if you haven’t visited and bookmarked his blog yet, I would suggest you do so immediately. You will find great information there as well as a community of very experienced online marketers.)

But anyway, back to my story…

I posted a comment and thought I made a mistake and gave credit to the wrong person. (You always want to make sure you give credit where credit is deserved when you leave a comment.)

As it turned out, I had been correct in the first place and had given credit to the right person. But I didn’t know that for about two hours. I was totally miserable. I was so embarrassed.

In a way, I am glad now that this happened because it gave me a topic for this post and it reminded me how public a place the internet really is. Once you hit that “submit” button, whatever you say is out there for the whole world to see. There’s no taking it back.

What happened to me was just an honest mistake, a little blunder. But nonetheless, it’s ‘out there.’ And it taught me a great lesson. I will be much more careful next time before I hit “submit.”

Just remember these ground rules…

Always be polite.

Always be honest.

Always be kind.

If you made a mistake, fess up and try to correct it immediately.

Don’t say anything you could regret later. Because, whatever it is, it WILL come back to haunt you.

Be like “Thumper” … “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say nothing at all.”

Especially as a professional, marketing and growing your business on the internet the last thing you want to do is tarnish your reputation.

Oh, and if you ever had “egg on your face” I’d love for you to share your story in the comments below … IF you dare =)