I have a few questions that I would like some friendly Warriors to answer.

"Who is wise? He who learns from everyone".
-Simeon ben Zoma


Good evening everyone,

I have had a budding interest in business, particularly marketing, for some time, and for the duration of this time I have had many questions come by that, unfortunately, I lacked a forum or resource to reference in order to get answers to. But since stumbling upon this forum, my prayers seem to have been answered. Therefore, I submit to the superior knowledge of the veterans of this site, and I humbly request that they answer the following questions, both to the satisfaction of myself and posterity.

1.) In your own words, what is marketing?
2.) What word(s) of advice would you like to give to those who aspire to entrepreneurship?
3.) What is a good way to reach out to and meet people in the marketing field, both online and offline?
4.) What are other invaluable resources for learning the basics of marketing, besides this forum?
5.) How can one apply their knowledge, once they become sufficiently confident in their abilities?
How can they advertise their service(s) to an eclectic variety of people, and eventually gather more clients to further their practice? What is a good way to find clients as a beginner marketer?
6.) What are some characteristics, experiences or skills that are indispensable for those seeking great success in marketing? How can these be developed, obtained, or cultivated over a relatively short period of time?
7.) How helpful is a strong social media presence in building up a newbie's practice? How can one build up theirs quickly and fully leverage the benefits of this?
8.) Identify some common mistakes that many new marketers make. Explain how these can be easily and eventually habitually avoided.
9.) For a beginner, what are the most helpful sub-forums to refer to for information? It would also help, but is far from necessary, to explain why as well.
10.) What are some incredibly helpful books, on a broad range of topics but all helping to further a career in marketing, that you can recommend?

As a side note: If you feel that a certain forum thread contains valuable insights and holds relevance to any question listed above, feel free to list it in your answer.
I apologize if this not as concise as many would wish a post like this to be.

Wishing you all a prosperous day!