A journey from Internet marketing stasis to business mastery and financial freedom (I hope)

So it’s been over a month since I last posted. There’s so much I’ve wanted to write about but I’ve been kinda busy.

The good news is that since I started the Business Growth System with Rich Schefren, I’ve been able to focus on my business a lot better.

I’ve hardly even looked at any opportunistic offerings appearing in my Inbox. Hardly any… except for that course I had to buy (that I don’t want to mention right now)… and that other matter, but don’t get me started on that one…

I was doing so well with the focus and was all set to write about it but old habits are hard to break.

So what about the BGS programme then?

Well, first off, I’m soooo glad I signed up for the 12-month version and not the intensive 11-week thing. It’s been hard to keep up and we’ve only just reached module 2!

Module 1 was all about the phases of business growth and our own understanding of what it means to be in business and what we want from it. I had a lot to think about here and I’ve come to realise many things about why I’m struggling to cope with my business, where I want it to go and how I’m going to go about getting there.

I’ve even started planning an exit strategy which is something I hadn’t even considered in the past. I thought the business was just going to carry on forever on its own while I nip off and do other things. How did I figure that was going to happen? I guess I didn’t really figure it much at all.

But now my whole attitude to the business is changing and a plan is forming.

With the 2-hour call, the workbook, the forum, the 8 hours of Q&A calls and the follow up work that needs to be done, I’m really still working through module 1. It’s amazing stuff.

But I was pretty keen to move on to module 2. It’s about identifying strengths and building a business around core competencies so I managed to squeeze that in earlier today. Just like module 1, it’s no good just listening to the call and reading the slides. I’ve got to follow it through and do the work.

This is quite a scary one. What if I find that I don’t have any strengths? What if I can’t identify any key differentiators in my business or create a competitive advantage?

Of course that’s just fear and nonsense getting the better of me. My strengths are there waiting to be discovered and if I follow the programme, I’ll be sure to use them to create my competitive advantage.

The Kolbe test was interesting. This is a test that aims to uncover your Modus Operandi (MO) which is your personal, ideal way of dealing with things. I guess everyone on the course is somewhat hoping they’ll come out of it labelled as an “Entrepreneur” to validate themselves as being suitable for running a business. There’s already been much discussion on the forum about results with some people dissapointed at being labelled a “Manager”.

So how did I score? 6 4 5 6!

That labels me as a “Mediator”. It seems to indicate that I deal with most things in a middle-of-the-road kind of way. I don’t have any particular bias or strength in any of the 4 modes.

There’s go right, wrong, good or bad result with this test. It just tells you the way you are. I’m still trying to figure out what my result means to me… The graphs are very pretty though!

Until next time…

I think my gut reaction after thinking that I’d missed out on Rich Schefren’s Business Growth System training was very telling. And what it told me was that I really wanted to change my business and I was ready to use Rich’s help.

No matter what I’ve read by the cynics about this launch (I’m fairly cynical myself and can see every part of Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula being used to excellent effect so I know what’s going on), I really feel that Rich is the real deal and can help me boost my business.

But I think the real deciding factor for me was the ability to take the programme one month at a time and cancel out if I don’t think I’m getting enough value out of it or if I find that I can’t put it into practice. If it really can improve my business that much then $397 on a monthly basis seems like a reasonable risk.

So, as you’ve probably gathered, I signed up!

I was a bit surprised to learn later that the 1-on-1 coaching was just under $5,000 and not the $10,000 I thought it would have been. So that was pretty much the same price as this monthly programme over the 12 months.

Rich was criticised for not making the monthly programme cheaper since the 1-on-1 should surely be more valuable. But that will be much more intense (over just 11 weeks or so), the investment was all up front and I think the content will be a bit different. The monthly programme may even have the advantage of knowledge gained from the 1-on-1 programme. I also like the idea that it will be spread over 12 months. I don’t think I could cope with cramming it into 3 months while handling everything else that’s going on.

I’m looking forward to getting stuck in. The first conference call is today but I’m not daft enough to hang on the phone to the US for an hour or two (especially not during ‘get the kids to bed’ time) so I’m happy to wait a few days for the recording.

And I’ll be sure to let you know how I get on with it all!

Well, here’s a funny thing… As soon as I made my last post I got a call from a friend and after we’d finished chatting, I realised that the countdown to Rich Schefren’s Coaching Program had only 8 minutes left.

So I quickly had another read of the sales page (which seems to grow each time I look at it) to see if I really wanted to go ahead or not. But I couldn’t read fast enough. As time was running out, all I could do was watch the timer count down the last 20 seconds or so like watching the last grains of sand trickle down through an hour glass, until it finally told me that the offer had “Expired”.

My indecision had made the decision for me. The interesting thing is that my gut reaction was that of dissapointment. That I’d missed out on a really important opportunity. That I was too late.

Or so I thought…

You see it occurred to me that it was only midday here in the UK and that the deadline was supposed to be midday Eastern Standard Time (5 pm UK time). That would make sense as most of the punters are in the US and they’re only just getting up about now.

And that would also explain why the available slots had hardly changed during the last few hours when I’d have expected activity to be the most manic. Maybe the counter will work in Rich’s favour after all!

So I clicked the link and it’s still active. Yippee! I get to have another 5 hours of indecision!

So here’s a little tip if you ever want to put a timer on your Web site, whether it’s the countdown to a launch or the countdown to the expiry of an offer – please make sure that it’s based on the actual date and time of the event and not the local time of the person viewing the site!

Right now I have 1 hour, 37 minutes, 9 seconds and 742 milliseconds to decide!

It was a month ago that Rich Schefren’s “Interenet Business Manifesto” was released as part of a big launch for his coaching program (that’s “programme” to all you fellow Brits).

I’d decided that the coaching would be too expensive for me so didn’t pay much attention to the actual launch (besides which I was away on holiday at the time). The 150 slots sold out in 2 hours and 14 minutes so I missed my chance to find out the actual cost but I would guess around $10K.

Now the interesting thing is that, with such apparent high demand, he’s decided to open up a second coaching program for 1000 people without the 1-on-1 mentoring. It’s much more affordable at $397 a month for 12 months. That’s still a lot of money but there’s a cancellation option each month if things are not working out.

The claim is that this was an after-thought due to such high demand but the cynical among you might think that this was planned all along. Especially when you do the maths and realise that he will make 4 times as much from this than from the 1-on-1 coaching if everyone stays the full 12 months!

So here’s the thing, I’m very impressed with what Rich has put out so far and I think he could help my business. Co-incidentally, I’ve just finished reading Michael Gerber’s “The E-Myth Revisited” and he teaches along similar lines. It’s about building the business by freeing your own time up from doing ‘everything’ and getting other people to step in and do most of the grunt work, either as employees or through outsourcing. Before that can happen, you have to create strategies for the business and systemise its operations.

It all makes a lot of sense but I’m not sure (a) whether I can afford the monthly fee at this stage, (b) whether I’m really ready to accept the inevitable and dive right into this, (c) whether I can’t just apply what I’ve learned so far and progress at my own pace, (d) whether I really want to complicate (simplify?) my business in that way as it’s not what I originally envisaged, (e) whether my business can cope with the cashflow problems of getting others involved without getting further finance, and (f) a whole bunch of other things.

I’m seriously tempted because it may be just the push I need to move my business forward. Well, according to the countdown on the web site, I now have 1 hour, 24 minutes, 17 seconds and 486 milliseconds to decide…

Actually, the countdown on the site (www.strategicprofits.com/system) is cool but Rich has also chosen to show a count of the number of available slots remaining. This is a scarcity tactic. As people see the number going down, they are likely to rush to join so that they don’t miss out.

But this is a double edged sword, especially when the expectation of demand has been pumped up and, dare I say, hyped up. In Rich’s case, the number quickly went down from 1000 to about 650. But in the last 24 hours, only about 60 slots have been sold and it currently stands at 572. That’s more than half available with just over an hour to go.

It makes me think that while hundreds of people think it’s a good thing, hundreds of thousands of others don’t. It makes me think that it won’t sell out and so I’ll think a bit more about my decision.

But maybe if I haven’t jumped on it yet, my decision has already been made unconsciously. But there’s still time….

I’ve been hearing and reading a lot lately from guru after guru about setting short to long term goals and making sure that everything is aligned with achieving those goals. To work on only 1 project at a time and avoid jumping on every bandwagon that comes along.

3 years ago I quit working for someone else and started my own business. Sometimes though, I feel like I’ve traded one job for another that pays me less money and makes me do more work. But hey, at least I’m my own boss right?

So why do I continue with it? Because I know that if I could just focus on my business goals for 5 minutes and stop chasing opportunities, I could turn it into the business I know it has the potential to be. A business providing me with a steady income and more time to do other things.

So if I know what I need to do, why then do I suddenly find myself being sucked back into the Underachievers 30-Day Challenge this month? Have I forgotten how last year, despite my best intentions, I got practically nothing done on my business for a whole month? Or that I got very little sleep? At least I had the full support of my wife last year!

The trouble is, my opportunistic impulses are too strong to resist. I’m too weak and I haven’t mastered control of my feelings. I really need some Jedi training.

The thing about the 30-Day Challenge is that I know from last year how amazing it will be. The chance to get involved in an interactive learning experience within a great community and with a very good chance of having a profitable business drop out at the end. Not only that, but I can apply a lot of the new techniques I’ll be learning to my existing business.

And it’s not an opportunity I can postpone for 6 months. It’s an event and it’s happening right now.

I had thought that I could just see what was going on, learn a few things and get back to business. But it’s compelling stuff and I’ve got sucked right back into it!

It’s only day 4 of the challenge (well, nearly 5 actually) and I’m already 3 days behind. But I know I can catch up. I really want to succeed at this and meet the challenge.

I guess motivation is one of the key factors here and the trick is to try and get so fired up about achieving a goal that you’d do almost anything to make it happen.

I feel a Success Tip coming on but I’ve got about 8 more videos of Ed and Frank to watch and follow through on, plus more WIS notes to write up, a few customer support emails to respond to and some urgent consultancy to attend to (that just this minute came in)… Now where did I put those caffeine tablets…

And I’m so glad we booked that family holiday to the seaside for the middle of July. How’s that for timing? Maybe I can work an Undies project out of that…

Sometimes I come across something while surfing or reading email that has a profound affect on the way I think about things.

This time it came in an email from Mike Filsaime. I’m on a few of his email lists and I usually ignore the deluge of emails I get from him every day but this one caught my attention.

Rich Schefren is another one of those mega success stories that I’ve never heard of (and no, as much as I’d like to sometimes, I haven’t been hiding under a rock). He’s just put out a “Manifesto” document that’s “shaking the Internet Marketing world”.

If you can look past the marketing hype surrounding this document (which is essentially trying to promote a very expensive and exclusive coaching programme), there’s some amazing insights in there.

You should download it and read it yourself but here’s a brief summary based on my first read through (I’ve probably missed some stuff):

1. The typical Internet Marketing business is absurdly complex and it doesn’t have to be that way (not sure how yet). There’s a very funny (not so funny) chart that shows this.
2. Have a vision and create strategies to achieve it rather than jump on every opportunity. Be an Entrepreneur rather than an Opportunist (yep, that sounds like me).
3. Stop collecting tactics and only buy products & services that support your strategies (me again!).
4. Know the value of your time and plan to increase it (there’s a worksheet that goes into this in detail).
5. Build a business around scalability and leverage. That means creating systems and getting the most out of the work that you do.
6. Create multiple products for a single niche rather than single products for multiple niches for maximum leverage.
7. Use outsourcing to free your time and don’t out-task (the difference is explained in the document). Outsource tasks that cost less than your time value.
8. Create process maps for everything you do and use them to continually improve your processes.
9. Try to create metrics for each activity and relationship to make it easier to gauge performance.

There’s apparently going to be some follow up videos so it’s well worth your name and email address to get on yet another list to get the document. You can always unsubscribe later (yeah, like I always don’t).

Anyway, here’s the link to opt-in and download (not an affiliate link):
http://www.strategicprofits.com/manifesto/

Enjoy!

What is this blog about and why have I started it? Two very good questions. I’m glad you asked.

Well, I’ve been kinda struggling at this Internet Marketing game now for quite a while and I’ve decided it’s time to really figure it out. To stop just reading, watching and listening about how to do it and to finally take the steps I need to create a successful online business.

It’s not that I haven’t tried anything before but I guess you could say that I was really just dabbling in it. I’d have a go at one thing then as soon as another tempting money making scheme was dangled in front of my eyes I’d jump straight onto that bandwagon.

It’s no wonder I haven’t mananged to make a success of any of it. I haven’t stuck at anything long enough.

And it’s not just Internet marketing. I’ve been a sucker for everything. Info products, affiliate marketing, AdSense, arbitrages, financial trading, spread betting, network marketing, ebay, direct mail, biz-ops and even gambling. You name it, I’ve been to the seminars, bought the books, the videos, the audios, the software and the whole kaboodle. Sometimes I even look at the stuff!

I don’t want to keep buying all these expensive hard disk fillers and door stops but I can’t help it. I get seduced by all these sales letters telling me that this is the one that’s going to bring an end to my life of drudgery and instead bring financial freedom and sunshine into my life. You know, where I get to sail the World in that expensive yacht and drive that flash car to the supermarket. No promises, of course, but it made gazillions of dollars for all these other people.

I know it’s all hyped up guff but I’m so desperate to find my way - to reach the levels of success that ‘everyone else’ seems to be having – that I’ll go for anything.

And they know it. These guys are good marketers. They know exactly how to push my buttons and get me to whip out my credit card.

A few years ago I started logging all the stuff I was spending money on to reach my goal of financial independence. I had to stop. It was getting depressing every time I’d add another £70 here or $1500 there while knowing full well that I’d got zero return from all the previous stuff I’d bought.

Is there no limit to how dumb I can be?

The collective knowledge in everything I’ve bought must surely be enough to achieve what I want. Surely. Somehow it hasn’t happened because I haven’t managed to apply it.

But all that’s about to change. I’m going to get focussed and really figure out how to make something work.

So this blog is really a declaration to myself and, by making it public, I’m now accountable to you.

I’m going to chart my rise from Idiotic Spendo-Maniac to Successful Entrepreneur.

And if you’ve read this far (without skimming) then I hope you’ll join me on my journey. Along the way, I promise to share with you pretty much everything I’m doing with any insights into what’s working and what’s not. You never know, it might even help you on your journey.

It’s getting on for half past midnight now but I wanted to get this started tonight, especially as I have a few more things I want to share over the next few days.

Where do I start? Right here and right now! Well, okay, after I’ve had a bit of sleep…