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

What’s the single most important asset in your online business?

Your list.

You probably know that already. Your email list or subscriber list or customer list – your means of staying in contact with your prospects and customers – is the most important asset to your business.

The problem you face is how to rapidly build your email list.

I’ve talked plenty about list building on this blog and in courses and free reports I’ve published, however there is one area I failed to cover extensively because it’s not something I’ve experimented with.

What am I talking about?

Building your list using YouTube video marketing.

Luckily for me a very close friend Gideon Shalwick, who is my partner in the Become A Blogger project, spent the last seven months building a completely new online business using just YouTube to build his list.

His new business has nothing to do with Internet marketing – it’s about street magic.

I get the benefit of Gideon’s knowledge and experience all the time, so I know how good he is at YouTube marketing.

Next week you have a chance to learn what Gideon knows. He is going to help a select group of people and share his tactics in a very special webinar, which you can join here -

This is a special link only for my readers and subscribers. Gideon is not promoting this webinar outside our subscribers, so you will only have the option to join the webinar live for the next few days.

How Good Is YouTube For List Building?

When I started my blog it took me a year to build up to 1,000 RSS subscribers. At the start of the second year I started an email list. At the end of two years I had 3,000 email subscribers and 3,000 RSS subscribers.

Gideon started a new business in April 2009 and began marketing with YouTube videos only. He had a blog, but all the traffic that went to the blog came after watching the videos on YouTube.

After only seven months of using YouTube, Gideon had grown his list to 13,000 subscribers – an incredibly rapid growth rate.

It took me almost three years to match that and he did it in just over half a year.

And remember, this is not in the “make money” niche like me, this is in teaching people how to perform magic tricks.

I’m very impressed by the potential YouTube presents as a list building tool, and let’s face it – we need as many marketing techniques as we can get when it comes to building your lists.

It’s tough to generate a quality email database, especially when you start from scratch with no existing contacts. You need something extra today, you need to know what is current and powerful, and that is what YouTube marketing is all about.

Gideon started this new business from absolutely nothing. There was no profile, no online contacts, just him, his business partner Jay Jay, a blog and a YouTube account.

Gideon is going to explain the exact steps he went through to build his list using YouTube, so if you want in on all his best tactics and strategies, make sure you sign up here –

If you can’t make the live call, Gideon will provide a recording and transcript you can listen to or read after.

Gideon is also including five special bonuses, if you join him before the live call takes place on December 8th at 8PM EST US Time. You have to watch the video on the sign-up page to see what the bonuses are.

Don’t Like Writing? Need New Marketing Ideas?

This is a great opportunity for you if you don’t like writing, and like the idea of using video content to grow your list. Or you might be looking for another marketing channel to expand your business and generate new leads.

Your next step is to go and watch the short video on this page from Gideon, and then join him on his very special training webinar next week –

www.killeryoutubestrategies.com

You have until Tuesday to qualify for the bonuses and make the live call.

I’ll be on the call too, so I look forward to seeing you there.

Yaro Starak

How My Partnership With Gideon Shalwick Generated A Quarter Of A Million Dollars In Under 12 Months

When I first started this blog the Internet was younger and many of the current big success story online companies had only recently risen to dominance.

I was fascinated with the background history behind the companies that featured heavily during the dot-com boom, some of which survived post the bust like eBay, Paypal and Amazon.com, and others that had fallen far from their glory days, like Napster.

I read biographical books that covered the people behind these companies and enjoyed hearing how the initial concepts were sparked and what path led from idea to multi-million, sometimes even multi-billion dollar companies.

You can read reviews of some of the books in the archives of this blog, including the PayPal Wars, the The Perfect Store – Inside eBay, Google And The Mission To Map Meaning And Make Money and All the Rave – The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning’s Napster.

Two People Are Better Than One

I can’t remember where I read it first, but somewhere I recall hearing that many really successful companies, both offline and online, were started as partnerships. Two people, for all kinds of reasons, are able to achieve more than an individual.

The stories behind some of the big Internet success stories reinforces this idea, as is the case with Google, Microsoft and Apple. There are two founders who drive the vision behind the company, taking it to good performer and beyond to where most companies never go, to industry leader and even cultural phenomenon.

On a smaller scale, many of the people I interview in my podcasts on this blog often are part of a two-person partnership of some kind. One person may be in the limelight more than the other, but behind the scenes, there are two, who complement and motivate each other to get things done.

Up until 2007 I was a solo-entrepreneur, and I liked it that way. I read this fact about partnerships resulting in big success stories online as interesting, but it wasn’t compelling enough for me to run and find a partner. I had no interest in sharing my profits, or needing to negotiate with someone else to decide what to do. I enjoyed my independence as the only captain steering my ship.

Of course there are success stories of individuals creating massive companies too, so I wasn’t concerned that my desire to work alone might hurt my potential for success.

Despite my lack of intention, I have managed to find myself in a successful partnership that will very likely dominate the direction of my business for years to come. It’s worthwhile explaining how this happened, and what it has done for my business, so you can decide whether a partnership could benefit you too.

Random Strangers

One of the wonderful things about life is that you never know what’s coming up next. The only constant is change. This can be a terribly frightening idea if you become attached to something for fear of loss (relationships, objects, places, people, life itself), but also wonderfully liberating because it means whatever you don’t like about your life now will change, it’s a guarantee.

In some circumstances what appears as the randomness of change means you are completely oblivious to what comes next on a conscious level, so when it arrives, it’s a surprise. This idea can make you live in a permanent state of excitement or of course fear, depending how you look at life.

I had no idea that in 2007 I’d attend a typical pitch-fest Internet marketing event, which for all intents and purposes wasn’t anything special, except I met my future business partner there, Gideon Shalwick.

Many people have asked how Gideon and I met, so here’s the story in brief…

Read the rest of this entry >>

Gideon Shalwick has released another powerful X-Factor video from Become A Blogger Premium 2.0. This video is a special preview of the caliber of videos that members receive, this time focusing on the more practical training style from Gideon.

If you’ve ever wondered how people get traffic back to their blog using YouTube videos, this presentation will be pretty eye-opening for you.

I won’t say more, go watch it here –

X-Factor Video: 7 Killer Tips For Optimizing Your YouTube Videos

While you are there don’t forget to pick up your copy of Roadmap Report and prepare for Monday when we open the program for five days only.

Enjoy your weekend and look for more from Gideon and me starting Monday!

Back in 2004 when I started blogging there really wasn’t anything such as a professional blogger. Those who were making money as a blogger weren’t talking about it… yet.

Over the next two years the idea of blogging for money, possibly even as a career, became a reality. Blog networks started up paying bloggers a salary, thanks to programs like Google Adsense generating income became easier for the average Internet user, and eventually blogging went mainstream.

Today thousands of bloggers make money and while the number of those who do it as their main job is small in comparison to the number of blogs in existence, for those who realize the lifestyle of a professional blogger, life is good.

I never intended to make money as a blogger when I started. It was an experiment aimed solely at gaining more traffic from search engines. Little did I know that my blog would eventually become my business and just a few short years later I’d sell off all my other businesses just to pursue blogging.

Today my blog has helped pay for my house, my car, an 8 month trip around the world and I’ve just purchased a plush two bedroom apartment in my favorite suburb, where I will be moving to next month just before my 30th birthday (pictures coming soon!).

Needless to say, I am extremely blessed by what blogging has done for my life, and part of my mission as a blogger is to help other people realize similar benefits and freedoms thanks to blogging. Here are some of the resources I offer that can help you follow in my footsteps…

Would You Like To Become A Blogger?

If you’re interested in starting your own blog, the first thing I recommend you do is go to the free video training site Gideon Shalwick and myself provide for absolute newbie bloggers called “Become A Blogger” –

www.BecomeABlogger.com

This site offers ten free videos that take you from zero, to setting up an optimized WordPress blog (and if you go to the blog portion of the site, you will find some additional free videos that give away even more powerful secrets to successful blogging).

While you are at the Become A Blogger site, make sure you download the free report – The Roadmap to Become A Blogger – which is a solid introduction to what it takes to build a successful blog.

Pay particular attention to the second half of the report where Gideon, who is an expert at leveraging social media, especially video, takes you through a series of techniques we call the “X-Factor”.

X-Factor techniques are particularly powerful leverage tools that combine multi-media with social media to bring traffic to your blog. In today’s online marketing world, if you don’t leverage new media when building your blog, you’re going to struggle to stand out from the crowd, which is exactly why we offer the “X-Factor” techniques to teach you how to be better than “average” blogger.

You can download the Roadmap report in both text and audio here -

www.BecomeABlogger.com/roadmap/

I strongly recommend you watch the free videos, get your blog set up and then devour the Roadmap report in one sitting (or listen to the audio version). You will then be a in a great starting position, better than most people who begin blogging, to really profit from your efforts.

Follow a roadmap and you are much more likely to succeed, especially if you are very new to the blogging game and want your hand held along the way.

Become A Blogger Premium 2.0 Opens Next Week

Next Monday, June 29th, for five days only, Gideon and I are opening up Become A Blogger Premium 2.0, the latest updated version of our introductory video training program for bloggers.

This course had over 1,000 students complete the training over the past six months (the best retention rate of any of my programs).

Now that the program is finished, the entire course is there laid out, including over 60 videos with discussion on each video, a private forum for members only, plus all the additional resources we offer like live group coaching calls twice a month with me and Gideon, master the mindset audio series and more.

The videos are split into two types –

1. Strategy presentations from me where I lay out my system for successful blogging to you
2. Practical how-to videos presented by Gideon, who teaches you the step-by-step to set-up and optimize your blog, and how to implement the techniques we teach

We’re now ready to begin training the next group of eager bloggers and I’m inviting you to work with me and Gideon over the next six months (if you haven’t already!). This time we’re opening the doors only for five days and then shutting down. If you want in, you have to decide next week.

This program really is for beginners who want to learn the how-to of successful blogging. If you’re confused by technology and blogs and websites, etc, and want your hand held throughout the process and prefer to be shown visually through video, there is no better blog trainer than Gideon and the resources inside Become A Blogger Premium 2.0.

If you don’t believe me, go watch the first ten free videos we give away –

www.BecomeABlogger.com

If you like the style of presentation in those videos, are eager to learn more (and DO more) and want to work closely with someone who is currently living out the professional blogger lifestyle, then stay tuned for next week to claim your spot in Become A Blogger Premium 2.0, the last public run through of the program for 2009.

I’ll have more information for you later in the week. For the time being, go watch the videos and read the Roadmap, it’s a brilliant report.

www.BecomeABlogger.com/roadmap/

Yaro Starak
Professional Blogger

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