Entrepreneurs-Journey.com Down-To-Earth Advice For Bloggers and Internet Marketers

Gideon Shalwick and I had a long chat last week and we’ve decided to close the doors to new members for our Become A Blogger Premium video training program for a while.

We opened the program in December 08 and had well over 850 members join the program, which to be honest was a bit better than we expected. We feel that our capacity is about 1000 people, so we’re going to shut the doors since we are getting close to that number, so we can ensure the first group of students finish the program around the same time and so we can make technical changes to the system.

In case you don’t know what this program is all about, I invite you to head to the sales page and read the details -

If you haven’t already done so, make sure you grab the free report Gideon and I put together, The Roadmap To Become A Blogger, which has now surpassed 13,000 downloads with several hundred new downloads every day coming in. It’s a great report and a great introduction to what we are about as blog trainers.

If you haven’t got your copy yet and you’re interested in succeeding as a blogger, make sure you grab the Roadmap report from here (it’s available in PDF and MP3 audio) –

The Roadmap To Become A Blogger – Free Download

Be sure to read the second half about the X-Factor strategies, as that has proven to be the key learning lesson from the report, especially for those of you who are already experienced with blogs.

The 10 free Become A Blogger videos are always available if you haven’t set up your WordPress blog yet and have now been viewed by over 118,248 people.

The Deadline Is This Friday

We are closing the doors to the premium program on Friday the 6th of February at just before midnight Eastern USA time, so you’ve got a little over 5 days at the time of me posting this article to join.

Now that our program has been running for nearly two months I can report back how well it’s doing. It’s safe to say in terms of member retention, this is the best training program I’ve been a part of yet. We have had an overwhelmingly supportive and enthusiastic group of people join, who are sticking to the plan and following the process carefully.

We set up a special blog post inside the membership site to collect feedback from our members so we can improve the program and as a tool to collect testimonials from our members. Here’s one of the comments we received –

Honestly Gideon your videos are great! Now that I’m looking at doing business on the internet and watched a few videos from others who claim to be gurus; theirs are really awful, too fast to see what they’re doing and not explaining things in a logical sequence as if done on the fly.

Your teaching skills and videos are in a class of their own. Keep up the good work!

Christine

Here’s another that I’m particularly found of…

I am 59, going on 30 (I wish), I am just getting in to this blogging stuff, and I am intending to spread my knowledge of the Plumbing and Welding Industry I have gained in the past 43 years. I am very impressed with your style and the easy to understand methods in the videos. Your instructional skills are second to none. I am a bit of a hard copy freak, and I like that you are able to print out the instructions as well.

Top work Gideon and Yaro, keep it coming.

Ken

There’s plenty more where that came from, but I don’t want to make this page too long, so I’ll stop there.

Why Join Become A Blogger Premium

I’m not going to spend too much time selling our program as I think by now you have decided whether you are in a position to benefit from our training, and the sales page does a good enough job talking about what is inside the course.

If you’re new to blogging, enjoy video training, are the type of person who prefers to learn how to do things yourself (or you can’t afford to hire people) and blogging is a part of your online strategy for 2009, I suggest you join our program. There isn’t anything else out there like it, created by people who have actually had success with blogs.

Join Become A Blogger Here

I’ve been asked several times what is the difference between Become A Blogger Premium and Blog Mastermind, my other coaching program (there’s quite a difference). If you are also asking this question, please go read this post and especially the comments that follow it for the answers –

What is the difference between Yaro’s coaching programs?

No Risk To Try, But Don’t Be Late

We won’t be re-opening the premium program until the second half of 2009 after the first group of students graduate, so if you don’t join now you have quite a wait ahead of you.

Since this is a Clickbank product their mandatory 60 day refund period applies, so you can join now and try it for two whole months before you have to decide whether to continue or get a refund. The course goes for six months, but you can cancel at any time during that period.

You receive lifetime access to all resources that you pay for, so you shouldn’t feel pressured that the materials will be taken away from you if you don’t keep paying. There are six monthly payments and that’s it.

Thanks to all the members who have supported us thus far and engaged with our program and I look forward to working with all the new members who join this week and go through this journey with myself and Gideon. I’ll speak to you all in the member teleconferences and inside the private members forum.

Deadline: Friday the 6th of February
Sign-up: http://www.BecomeABlogger.com/signup/

Yaro Starak
Become A Blogger Mentor

Just a short note today before I go run out and play (I’ve been told I’m not allowed to “work” today).

It’s my birthday! I’ve just turned 29, which apparently is the ideal age. Old enough to know better and still considered young. Go figure.

Apparently whenever someone asks your age you should say you are 29. At least for this year, I won’t be lying.

I received a present when I woke up this morning – a helicopter!

Here’s a video from my first flight.

Make A Note In Your Calendar – Tuesday A Special Video Is Released

On Tuesday, if all things go according to plan I’ll have a special video for you to watch that covers my take on what I think is currently the best formula for making money blogging, and I’d go as far to say – one of the most enjoyable Internet businesses you could ever own.

A week later, Tuesday July 29, Blog Mastermind opens to new students (fingers crossed anyway!).

Until then, stay tuned to this channel.

This is going to be slightly off topic from the usual business and blogging but I’ve had a bunch of people ask for photos from my trip overseas, so I thought I’d stick some up here.

As I mentioned in my previous post – Life Portability: Mixing Travel, Business and Pleasure In One Seamless Lifestyle – I’m presently doing some island hopping, making my way from Australia to Canada for a six month stay.

Arriving in Fiji

Fiji was the first port of call on my trip, a mere three hours flight off the coast from my home of Brisbane. Having never been to Fiji I was curious what the island would be like.

We landed in Nadi and it was hot. Nothing too extreme, but since Brisbane didn’t really have a summer this year it was the first time I had felt humidity in a while. Temperatures in Fiji are quite constant and what you would expect for a tropical island. The days max out at about 30C and the nights drop to low twenties.

Upon landing at Nadi airport and quickly clearing customs we were shuffled into a taxi with a driver who turned out to be more than just your average cabbie – he also masqueraded as a tourist guide to make extra money.

He offered us a more extensive tour of Nadi city as a detour before our hotel for an “extra fee” of whatever we felt was appropriate. We accepted and he showed us around the city area before taking us to the resort. We gave him an extra $15 as payment for the short tour, which as it turned out was equivalent to nearly a days pay in Fiji.

On our taxi tour we were informed that there is high unemployment in Fiji and thus high crime too. Nadi and the surrounding area is quite run down, old buildings and a lot of Fijians that seem to be just hanging around, which is probably because of the unemployment.

The contrast upon entering the man-made island resort area, which includes several luxury hotels, a golf course and restaurants, was extreme. Clearly there is a big division between the average Fijian lifestyle and how some tourist experience Fiji.

The Fijian dollar is about 70% of the Aussie dollar and with a tiny economy I was expecting cheap everything. That rule was thrown out after entering the resort island. Meals were $20 and up, bottled water is $8 and chocolate bars $4. If you leave the resort area prices drop about 75% – that is some serious mark-up! Even with the 30% discount on the currency exchange, it was not cheap living in the resort area.

Eating and Reading

I managed to contract a throat infection that erupted the day after landing in Fiji, so unfortunately most activities were out of the question for me. Instead I focused on low-key things to give my body a chance to recover – eating, reading, and eating some more.

Buffet breakfast every morning – lots of fresh fruit in Fiji

I went to six different restaurants, some were good, some were not so good and no matter whether it was pasta, BBQ, Japanese or pizza – it was all made by Fijians.

Bula

I’m not sure if it is because Fijians are naturally friendly or they are instructed to greet every single tourist with a traditional hello to keep the atmosphere friendly at the resort, but I very quickly learned the word “bula” and repeated it several times a day.

Bula, as far as I can tell, is sort of like Aloha/Mahalo in Hawaii. I’m sure there is more to it and I’m showing my ignorant tourist side here, but needless to say it’s a word you have to quickly become very comfortable with.

Every single time I pass by a Fijian working at the resort they let out a bula. Strangely enough, Fijians don’t seem to greet each other with quite as effusive use of the greeting, so I do feel as if I’m getting a decidedly tourist experience.

I had intentions to see more of the island away from the resort area but my body simply did not comply so I’ll have to save my exploring for Hawaii instead.

Tropical Paradise

Fiji, from the perspective of a tourist at least, appeals to those who like to sit by the pool and read or head out and get into water sports. The vibe is laid back (even more than in Australia) and Fijians seem to be very chilled to the point of boredom sometimes, but I suspect that’s just because of the monotony of the jobs they perform every day at the resort.

The sunsets in Fiji are amazing

Unfortunately I wasn’t really able to give Fiji a proper look around, so I’ll withhold judgement for now. Based on the resort I stayed out, I’d opt for a trip to local Australian beaches before Fiji, but that’s probably because I never had a chance to see any of the outer islands, which are apparently very beautiful.

Next stop is Hawaii, an equally beautiful place, but with a distinctly different vibe. I’ll be blogging from Waikiki next.

Yaro Starak
Island Hopping

We’ve almost nutted out the bugs with the new design and I must say I’m very happy with how everything looks. I’ll talk more about the design process (and reveal who did my blog design) in a later post, now I want to tell you about a little free report I’m giving away to my RSS subscribers as part of the new blog design launch.

My First E-Book (unreleased until now)

Several years ago around early 2006 I had just begun blogging seriously and had spent the previous six months pumping out some of my early pillar articles.

At this time my proofreading business BetterEdit was my main focus (I sold it in 2007) and I was not a professional blogger. I don’t think I was making much, if anything from my blog yet, but my other business was doing well and I made a good living from it.

Those who have read this blog from the beginning might remember back during the early days I talked a lot more about entrepreneurship, setting up a business and general passive income strategies – and not so much about blogging (though I was starting to write about it even then).

It was around that time I decided to write my first e-book. I had no idea what I would do with it, but I felt with the several years experience running a few different businesses and I had enough content to produce a short book.

How to Start an Internet Business by Yaro Starak

Over the course of a couple of months I wrote a 50 page report detailing some of the key lessons I learned about starting and running my business and what I felt were the foundation principles necessary that all entrepreneurs understood and practiced.

The end result was a book I titled “How To Start An Internet Business…and stay happy doing it“.

For the new release today, I decided to change the tile to something a little more appealing to most people’s desires -

“How To Start An Internet Business…and make your first $1,000 online“.

The book is not about basic tutorials on the practical aspects like setting up websites, choosing domain names, etc. It talks more about mindset and business strategy, although I include 12 steps necessary to start an online business at the end which are quite practical.

The book is a companion to this blog. You can read it and gain a grasp of what you need to do and how you should think when starting your Internet business, and then use the content from within this blog to find information on the finer details about Internet marketing.

Create A Passive Income Business

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