People who apparently get a high on someone's faults or shortcomings.

[visegrip]

It's very discouraging when breaking into a field and having someone intentionally show you up on your faults or short comings. It's frightening and very discouraging to the psyche and self conscious. Apparently the competitors on a niche I've entered have been harassing and embarrassing me. They have been showing me up with veteran advice and analysis. It's down right discouraging and very tiring. I've fallen into their trap by responding and firing back to their nonsense. It's been non stop since I've apparently captured some market shares of theirs. If this is success it's very emotionally stressful. I had to ignore all the social media outlets, forums on the niche, and making any noise. I've been a gentlemen with my personal apologies that I don't even know why I'm apologizing. It's been a hard 2 weeks and apparently it's hurt my numbers. My customer base and income have fallen.How do I deal with this people with class and dignity?

[akirk]

ignore them
if your business (whatever it might be) is good enough to be better for the customers then you wil gradually build custom
if it is not - find another business

Alasdair

[Kay]

Sometimes you need a skin like an armadillo to be successful online. Once you have created something good, there are always some people who are envious and attack you. You just need to learn to ignore it, and continue to do better than them. It's a bit like school bullying. The smartest kids aren't usually the bullies. It's the biggest thicko who likes to throw his weight around to make other people feel small. Sometimes people behave like keyboard warriors and like to hide behind the anonymity of their computer. They can say the most awful things sometimes as if the person they're talking to isn't a real person at all but just a faceless automaton.

On the other hand, sometimes criticisms may be valid so you might need to take on board what they're saying to you and figure out how you can improve. Also, think about what you're doing and why. Even the most mild-mannered people can become irritated if someone doesn't treat them right.

Without knowing more about the specific details, it's hard to advise. If it helps at all, you should know that a lot of people who have a high profile on the Internet get attacked quite often. After all, you've put yourself forward as a public figure and you get attention. Not all of it is good. It's just the price of fame. Don't take it to heart. Move on.

If there's something more specific that's bothering you, then you'll need to tell us a bit more about what it is so we can suggest how to deal with it.

[KenW3]

Apparently the competitors on a niche I've entered have been harassing and embarrassing me.

oooh, that sounds like fun There will probably be those here who disagree with me, but it's often necessary to follow the two primary rules of business when dealing with competition. Rule number 1: There are no rules other than those you make for yourself. Rule 2: When in doubt or a new situation occurs that must be dealt with, refer to rule number 1. There's also a rule 3, but that one is redundant.

Somebody found your trigger or an insecurity, and is taking advantage. It sounds like you could benefit from reading The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing There is never any reason to compete with other businesses on their terms.

[eddiebooth]

Like Alasdair says, ignore them. While they are watching you and spending time deriding you they are not looking after their own business. the bottom line is you've got them worried, otherwise thay would just laugh to themselves about you and not spend time making their thoughts public.
It reminds me a bit of how BA tried every dirty trick in the books to shut down Virgin Airways.

[JJMcClure]

ignore them

Heck no! Don't ignore them, they're educating you...... And when you know they're wrong, don't educate them back!

This happens a lot in Poker, people berating weak players in the chat box for awful play, but it's a stupid thing to do because you're educating your opponents, no matter how much better it makes you feel to rant at them, you're helping them improve and why on earth would you want to do that?.

I NEVER chat when I'm playing online and when someone does something really stupid and it happens to go their way (probability), I just swallow my frustration and hope that they'll do the same stupid thing next time. In live games, where it's not as easy to remain totally silent, I'll tap the table and say 'well played' because I want them to keep playing badly. Knowing what I really mean when I do that also helps with the frustration

[visegrip]

Heck no! Don't ignore them, they're educating you...... And when you know they're wrong, don't educate them back!

This happens a lot in Poker, people berating weak players in the chat box for awful play, but it's a stupid thing to do because you're educating your opponents, no matter how much better it makes you feel to rant at them, you're helping them improve and why on earth would you want to do that?.

I NEVER chat when I'm playing online and when someone does something really stupid and it happens to go their way (probability), I just swallow my frustration and hope that they'll do the same stupid thing next time. In live games, where it's not as easy to remain totally silent, I'll tap the table and say 'well played' because I want them to keep playing badly. Knowing what I really mean when I do that also helps with the frustration

JJMcClure,

I never thought of it that way. That's very clever . I fought this behaviors from family and peers growing up in the slums of Laos. Everything I did to better myself was confronted with resistance. It's embedded in my memory that I never forget the awful times where I slept in the streets, going hungry for days with no food or water and resorting to scavenging for left over foods at restaurants trash bins, walked 16 hours to get home because I couldn't afford 50,000 kip (.80 cents usd) to catch public transportation home. It's the humiliation from family, friends and strangers who seem to enjoy the fact you'll never make something of yourself. Life in the slums has a different attitude towards success. It's implanted deep in our subconscious that we compete and fight with our peers. Success will be meet with obstacles of jealousy, let it be back stabbing, violence, sabotage and etc... It's not the path of my peers I want to follow, it's not noble or logical. Thanks to all who have gave me encouragement in rough times. Some days I don't have internet because I can't afford the 50,000 kip to add on my air card. When I do I'll post more often. Thanks for taking the time and reading. i greatly appreciate all the help.

[Kay]

Maybe your first goal should be to make that 50,000 kip per day and be able to stay online. A dollar a day isn't so hard. Then you can grow it to more dollars per day. Have you a plan for that?

Are you still in Laos? What are you using to access the Internet? Sorry if that's a dumb question, I'm just wondering if you're doing it on a mobile phone or a dial up connection or what.

[JJMcClure]

JJMcClure,

I never thought of it that way. That's very clever .

It's one way to handle criticism, it's not always appropriate but it's useful when you can do it.

It won't help with reputation management where you can't just tap the table and say 'well played' you may have to defend your reputation but I would try to do it in a way that doesn't give away any information at all if that's possible. Be polite and remember some advice I was given a long time ago:

'when arguing with an idiot, be careful, in case people listening can't tell the difference...'

[akirk]

totally agree - badly phrased on my part!
I was meaning more along the lines of don't rise to the bait - but yes, def. learn from it (remind me to be cautious about playing poker!)

Alasdair