You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
Press play and watch the video for some important lessons I learned about how I was the reason my business took so long to get off the ground and how I could leverage who I am to increase my online earnings.
Once you’ve watched the video, read below for more information about the two programs coming out and the special bonuses I’m offering.
Get Out Of Your Own Way
On June 11th Rich Schefren is opening up the doors to his Guided Profits System 2.0, only the second release of this course. As you likely know already, Rich has been a huge influence on me, in particular for one reason: He teaches how to get out of the way of yourself so your business can grow.
What I really admire about Rich is how he’s been able to build a business that truly functions without him. He even has a CEO that runs the business so he can focus on his strengths (i.e. the fun stuff he enjoys). His company does ten figures a year now (that’s over $10 million), which is truly amazing considering it didn’t exist just a few years ago.
I paid him $5,000 back in 2007 to go through his coaching program and to this day I consider it one of the best investments I made in Internet business training.
Discovering what your strengths are and finding out what constraints are holding you back, are the keys to success with any business. This is an area that is particularly relevant for us online business people because there isn’t really anybody else out there teaching this. Most of us do not intuitively understand that we shouldn’t be doing certain tasks and we aren’t even aware of how we hold our business back. Rich’s course is very good at helping you to discover what you don’t know you don’t know.
I endorse Rich’s program 100% and invite you to join via my affiliate link. I’m offering almost $2,000 worth of bonuses if you do so (see below). I recommend you consider Rich’s course if you already have a business and are in a situation to focus on yourself over the next 30 days as you go through his program.
Be True To Yourself And Others Will Love You
On June 12th Frank Kern is releasing the final 800 copies of his Mass Control 2.0 (yes everyone has a 2.0 nowadays). I don’t know if Rich and Frank talked to each other about launch dates, but hey, I love both these guys so I’m going to tell you about both of them in one blog post!
Why I love Frank is his ability to connect with his audience as a likable genuine guy. Not everyone loves him of course, but one thing is clear - he is by far the very best Internet marketing guru that can connect with people on a human-to-human level. Frank comes across as a “normal friend” and because you naturally like the guy, you naturally feel comfortable buying from him.
That in itself is a huge lesson and if there is one big take away from Frank is that you can - and should - be yourself when you market online if you want a strong relationship with your audience. As a blogger, we get this. To blog well, you blog as yourself.
Through the use of video Frank has taught how to use every day aspects of your life as a selling tool, which is something I’ve replicated after learning from him.
Frank’s opened up Mass Control several times previously and I’ve not purchased it, but this time with only 800 copies left, I’m buying. I’ve probably learned about as much from Frank as I have from any marketer in the last year or so, especially when it comes to relationship development and launch techniques.
Jeff Walker has the best product launch “formula” but Frank has the best strategy and techniques for influencing real human beings, who sit behind their computers and read your emails and blog posts.
If you want to learn more about how to effectively use email, blog posts, video or any form of online communication as a persuasion tool, Frank is the man, and since persuasion is my craft too, it’s about time I bought Mass Control 2.0.
If you’re interested in grabbing one of those last 800 copies of Mass Control 2.0 as well, I’m offering the same bonus as I am for Rich’s course, if you order through my affiliate link below.
Do You Want Almost $2,000 In Bonuses?
Video: What Is More Profitable Than Selling Your Own Product?
As my Twitter followers know, I’ve been on the hunt for a stand up table to use as my work desk. I’ve wanted one for a long time because I can sometimes work long hours sitting down and my body, especially my back suffers. Standing up is much better for your body, especially your back and when I recently had Eben Pagan re-emphasize this fact in his Wake Up Productive program, I started actively looking for a tall desk.
Amazingly enough, after I tweeted about it, a staff member from Ikea representing my local branch of the store sent me a reply through Twitter pointing out some of the stand-up desks they sell. This week I went out to Ikea and bought one (well done to Ikea for being on top of Twitter marketing - I’m VERY impressed).
In this video I start with a brief demonstration of my home office set-up with the new stand-up desk and then move on to the teaching component of the video, about selling online products.
In a nutshell, in this video I draw upon knowledge gained from Eben Pagan, Mike Filsaime, Rich Schefren and my own recent experience selling information products online, to teach you what I consider a critical element if you really want to grow your online business well beyond six figures.
At the end of the video I recommend you check out what Rich is currently teaching regarding removing constraints as the next step you should take towards releasing your own product online.
The Core Reason Why Your Business Lacks Momentum
A couple of years ago I was exposed to Rich Schefren during the very first Internet marketing launch he did. I had never heard of the guy before, but suddenly a lot of people I had heard of and respected were recommending him, so I paid some attention.
Rich went mainstream in the Internet marketing world thanks to the success of the Internet Business Manifesto report. To be completely honest, and this really is testament to the power of a strong lead free resource, if it wasn’t for the Manifesto, I would have stopped paying attention. Instead, I went on to join Rich’s Business Growth System, paying him almost $5,000 over the next 12 months.
Every New Business Lacks Momentum
One of the key lessons I learned, and this particularly came from listening in to the questions asked from other student’s of Rich during the live coaching calls with him, was that all businesses suffer from a lack of momentum when they start up. The psychology needed to deal with a lack of momentum in your business is different to what you need to do when your business has momentum, and it’s critical you understand the difference.
If right now you are having difficulty attracting new customers, or even just building a list or getting people to visit your website or blog, then you lack momentum. Momentum is the foundation that allows you to grow your business to the point where you can set up systems to separate yourself from the business.
Without momentum you don’t have cash flow and without cash flow you can’t afford to hire people, or outsource or purchase software that will help your business become more automated. In this situation, if you have no start-up capital to spend, you find yourself doing all the work.
Not only are you required to deliver the product or service you offer, you need to get out there and attract new customers by testing different marketing campaigns. Of course once you attract a customer, then your energy becomes divided, as you need to market less and start delivering. Unfortunately once you make this change, you get cash flow, but since you are no longer focused on marketing, your stream of new customers dries up. Once the current jobs are done, you have to get out and market again.
If you’re constantly in the stop and start loop between finding new customers and delivering to current customers, then you know what it’s like to feel too busy one day, and then struggling the next. You either have too much work and you’re flat out servicing, or your desperate for new leads. There is no happy medium where you have just enough work to be busy, just enough cash flow to keep growing and just enough new customers knocking on your door.
Do You Know Your Strengths?
How To Work Less and Earn More By Leveraging The Synergy Between People And Technology
Several years ago when I was managing BetterEdit, my proofreading company that I sold in 2007, I was knee deep learning from Rich Schefren, taking his Business Growth System course.
Rich launched that program on the back of his most successful report to date, the Internet Business Manifesto, which featured the now famous flow chart of what an Internet entrepreneur is supposed to do if he or she wants to succeed online. If you haven’t read the Manifesto, I strongly recommend you do so as soon as possible, it’s still one of the most crucial reports on Internet marketing as an entrepreneur ever written.
After reading the Manifesto it was clear I needed to make some changes, so I joined Rich’s coaching program and began going through it. The premise of what Rich teaches is the idea that no person can realistically ever get to the point where their business looks after them, rather than they look after their business, if you do everything by yourself. Rich took this idea a lot further than just outsourcing, and sees business as a machine that can be completely automated.
At that point in time BetterEdit was doing well and I did have Angela, my admin/customer service person looking after most of the day to day emailing for the business, which is the main workload to keep it going. This was great, but as a result of thinking so much about automation and studying Rich’s course, I was interested in possibly using technology to further systematize the operations and gain more leverage.
Using Software To Automate
BetterEdit has a very simple job flow process. A client submits a paper and makes payment, the admin person assigns the job and forwards the document to an editor. The editor completes the job and returns to the document to both the admin and the client. Various emails flow back and forth if there are problems, but generally that’s the basic process.
One of the key weaknesses of the system I had was no affiliate program. I saw huge potential if I could find a way to pay a commission out to websites that referred jobs to the business. Besides manually tracking things, which would be a nightmare, I just couldn’t do it.
The answer to the affiliate issue was to create some kind of software that would handle the job process, including payments, so we could automatically track affiliate referrals and credit commissions for jobs completed.
I had to be careful because between paying editors and admin, the margin on jobs wasn’t massive. This wasn’t like an information product where I could pay out 50% commissions, I’d have to be careful. This was another reason where I saw software as a help as it could reduce the amount of work admin did, meaning I could incentivize affiliates with a higher commission.
With a software system in place, including an affiliate program, I could get out there and recruit an army of websites to refer customers to my business. I liked this idea because by then I was getting pretty tired of heading out to campuses to put up posters to promote the service, although I was starting to outsource this job too (my mind was constantly thinking about how I could work less without reducing my income).
Realizing Your Concept Can Be Tough
It was clear that software could be the automation answer, so I scheduled a meeting with a local development firm and sat down with them to talk about my plan.
Revisiting The 80/20 Rule and Why It Is Even More Critical To Your Business In 2009
The year 2008 for me was dominated by a long trip overseas, which meant I was away from home and in a constantly changing environment.
Although I boast I was able to run my business while traveling a circle around the globe, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t experience more pressure on the time available for work.
The way I chose to travel resulted in planning the details for my next stop a week before I arrived - sometimes just 24 hours before arriving or even after arriving! This included booking accommodation, flights and figuring out things like how to get from the airport to the apartment or hotel I was staying at.
Once landing in a city and settling in, the next “pressure” was determining what was worth seeing and doing, and ensuring the time available for fun was used on the best sites and attractions. This involves research and planning, reading reviews online at sites like TripAdvisor.com, buying tickets for tours and figuring out how to get to places using public transport.
When at home in Brisbane my time is quite fluid and I have few commitments or deadlines. With just my mother now living in Brisbane, I rarely have family events on and I’m not married with children, so I’m pretty much looking after myself.
Traveling dramatically changed how I live. What is normally stable in my life - where I live, what I do during the day and what I eat - became dynamic, with the variables changing every week. Suddenly my free time was gone and I was forced to live in perpetual inconsistency.
As a result of the constant changes in my life, I had to become very focused with how I used my working time. I didn’t want my blog to die, I had customers to support and I wanted to work on new projects so my business continued in a positive direction. This was no easy task, but I’m proud to say that I was able to achieve all my business goals in 2008 despite the changes to how and where I lived my life.
Revisiting the 80/20 Rule
If you’ve never read my article on the 80/20 rule, go do so now. It’s one of the most powerful concepts available today that can truly make a difference to your life and your business. My article introducing you to the rule has been one of the top 10 posts on this blog for years. You can find it here -
If I look at the metrics, this was a great year for my business. I more than doubled my revenues, my blog readership and email lists grew significantly, I had successful product launches and released some fantastic free resources like the Conversion Blogging video, not to mention publishing many articles on this blog that I know will continue to bring in traffic for years to come (the true essence of a pillar article).
None of this would have happened if it weren’t for the 80/20 rule.
Information overload has always been a problem. In 2008 it became even more of a problem. Although a great enabler and empowering tool for education, the world wide web has created a situation where it’s as important to be aware of what you need to know and do as much as knowing how to do it. If you don’t learn how to ignore 99% of what’s out there, you never get the clarity to learn the 1% that you should focus on.
