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

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 doing more thinking than writing these last few weeks and it’s high time I caught up with my Summit notes. So here we are with day 3…

1. Rick Raddatz

Rick spent the first hour (well, maybe not quite that long) telling us a story about how he drove up to the mountains in a clapped out car and all the mishaps along the way. I think there was probably a point to the story and I’m sure there was a punchline. It might even have been funny. I can’t really remember. I didn’t write it down.

So Rick Raddatz is an audio/video guy. I had high hopes for this session but I think Rick spent too much time demonstrating his own A/V and Web site generation products and too little time explaining all the different ways we could use A/V to our advantage.

A few tips he did share:

• Ship something now and fix it later (this is a difficult one for perfectionists like me).
• Make a 3-year plan every 6 months.
• Use a video newsletter to build relationships (not sell). This is where you send a short email newsletter that directs readers to a web page that shows your video.
• Video and audio have about the same conversion rate improvements on sales letters so use audio because it’s easier and may even convert better.

Rick described six Internet business models that could all (not surprisingly) benefit from the use of audio or video:

1. Own a product or service.
2. Own a list.
3. Own a membership site.
4. Own traffic (advertising).
5. Own relationships (MLM).
6. Own your time (consultancy).

We’re all different so the idea here is to figure out which business model is right for you and why.

Before the official part of the sales pitch (it was all one big pitch really), Rick suggested an exercise that I really liked:

1. Spend 3 minutes writing down all the reasons why you can’t take immediate action.
2. Hand these to a partner who then pretends they’re you.
3. As they read each reason, explain to them why they’re full of crap!

I thought that was excellent! Haven’t tried it yet though. Maybe I need to write my reasons for that down and hand it to a partner…

Pitch: Lifetime use of 4 products + some coaching.

Cost: $1500?

2. David Cavanagh

David is a very straight talking Australian and was quite entertaining. He went through many of the steps required to create a simple business from scratch, starting with picking a niche, finding a problem, finding a solution, and then building a web site to sell it.

He went through it very quickly and said we’d be sent a copy of the steps so I didn’t write many notes. I’m still waiting though.

It was a hugely popular presentation and he had no end of takers for his training package, coaching programme and workshop in Thailand (where he lives). I think a sensible choice for people starting out (most of the audience).

Pitch: Training package, coaching, workshop.

Cost: $5000

3. Ted Ciuba

Ted Ciuba acted as the main host for the event and he did a pretty good job of it.

His presentation was mostly about Napoleon Hill’s classic “Think and Grow Rich” book, how Ted knows more about it than anyone else and how much better (and not to mention valuable) the new version will be that he’s working on.

He was interesting to listen to but my lack of notes might be an indicator of how much useful info I got out of it. I think it was more about mindset than anything else.

Goal setting seemed to be a key factor (a familiar tune ringing in my ears) with the suggestion to:

1. Fix the exact amount you desire (we’re talking dollars here).
2. Determine exactly what you will give to get it.
3. Establish a definite date of possession.
4. Create a definite plan and jump into action.
5. Write it all out clearly in the PRESENT tense (”I have…”, “I am…”, etc).
6. Read aloud twice daily, enjoying your money!

It sounds great! I’ve done step 1 but I’m kind of struggling at step 2. I’m pretty good at making apple pie but I’m not sure if that will be quite enough to make my millions.

The other thing he said was to write down 1-year, 5-year, 10-year and lifetime goals. Then wrap it all up in some high denomination currency, like a 10,000 Japanese Yen note, so you can smell the money as you read your goals daily. Actually, I have some Iraqi Dinar that would be perfect but that’s another story…

Actually, there was a bunch of handouts from Ted about fortune principles and bringing products to market that looked very interesting but he didn’t actually go through any of that. Shame.

Pitch: “Think Rich” products, resale rights + workshop

Cost: $5000 + $45000 once $1m made (yeah, count the zeros)

4. Brett McFall

Poor Brett. He was supposed to take a morning slot but had to swap with David Cavanagh while he was in hospital having his arm seen to after falling down some stairs.

I like Brett. Maybe it’s because he’s a friendly faced Aussie. I first heard about him a couple of years ago from his involvement in Ed and Frank’s Underachiever system seminars. His BURPIES system for writing sales letter copy is very good and has worked well for me in the past.

Now Brett’s presentation was very curious. He started off by telling us to ‘be the general of the army and not a soldier’ (or something along those lines). In other words, we should leverage our time and direct operations while others do all the grunt work for us.

But then, he goes on to show us how to build a business where we do consultancy work building web sites for people and writing their sales copy. In other words, trading time for money and doing all the grunt work ourselves. Seems like a contradiction to me.

Maybe he was trying to show us how to start such a business and then hire other people and teach them how to do it for us. I’m not sure but I can’t see any other way to scale it up and not become a slave to the business.

In any case, apart from a really useful sheet full of ways to increase advertising response, here are a few things I took away from Brett’s talk:

• Take responsibility for your own success.
• Be different – have a USP.
• Once you’re successful with products, fill your ’spare time’ by offering services for even more cash.
• Find everything interesting!
• Never give up.
• Write 100 sales letter bullet points then choose just the best.
• If appropriate, offer holiday packages as bonuses (we can find these on Google for £20 – £30 apparently).
• Buy something as a bonus if you can still make a profit.
• Write testimonials for clients yourself and have them approve them; use the formula “Once I was lost, now I am found” (nice).
• To get better at something, teach it to someone else!
• Use of software turns beginners into professionals (use it to sell services).

Pitch: Web design business

Cost: $9100

5. Stephen Pierce

This time I was ready for Stephen Pierce. When I first saw him last November (on the same stage), his aggressive and arrogant presentational style really got by back up.

I understand where it comes from. He got in with the wrong crowd while growing up and has now completely turned his life around so he’s very passionate about helping other people achieve success. By all accounts, Stephen’s a really nice guy but, for some, his style takes some getting used to.

Stephen really does deliver the goods though. He talked a lot about mental attitude but also gave some specific techniques and advice for building a successful business.

On the mental front…

• Don’t undermine your worth by comparing yourself to others.
• Don’t take for granted the things closest to your heart.
• Don’t let your life slip through your fingers by living the past or the future.
• Don’t give up when you still have something to give (you can’t prove what you can’t do, you can only prove that you haven’t done it yet).
• Don’t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect.
• Don’t be afraid to encounter risk.
• Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it’s impossible to find.
• Don’t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you’ve been but also where you’re going.
• Don’t be afraid to learn.
• Don’t use time or words carelessly.
• Life is a journey to be savoured every step of the way.

Stirring stuff that could probably be even more effective if re-framed in the positive.

There was further talk about setting goals but less in financial terms and more in the form of what that would bring. What is it that you really want? What are you really passionate about? That kind of thing.

There was a great example of a hypothetical car rolling down a hill, about to run over your child. Even if there were mounds of obstacles in the way, you’d do whatever it takes to save that child. No excuses! Compare that to the case of a shopping trolley instead of the child and that changes the situation entirely.

For some reason, this idea struck a chord with me. If I really, passionately want to achieve something then I should do whatever it takes to make it happen. But unless the passion and motivation is there, it’s easier to just sit back and watch while it all comes crashing to a halt. So what do I want? Answers on a postcard please…

Actually, Stephen got us to do a visualisation exercise (do we have to?) where we had to think about what it would mean to be successful and have financial freedom (if that is our goal).

I could have done without the cheesy background music but the effect on me was quite profound. If you don’t mind, I won’t share the details but suffice to say that I visualised some things I didn’t expect and mostly involving time with family and friends.

I had to write it all down immediately afterwards and even have “Wow” circled next to it in my notes. I’d never experienced the power of this kind of visualisation before and I must try it again.

Now my experience and emotions at the time may have been coloured by events of the day before (that I’ll reveal in another post) but it still made me rethink a few things about my life and where I’m going.

On the business side, there are two things worthy of note. The first is Stephen’s list of 12 ‘Strategic Degrees of Profit’ (SDP), or in plain English, different ways to make a profit from the same market:

1. Subscription profits (repeated, residual)
2. Post lead profits (follow up sales)
3. Direct sell profits (not recommended)
4. Lead selling profits (sell leads)
5. Pay per click profits (AdSense, banner ads, etc)
6. Advertising profits (show them a blog/site with traffic)
7. Pyramid profits (the funnel model)
8. Affiliate profits
9. Post sale profits (can break-even/lose money on front end)
10. License profits (intellectual property)
11. Blog profits (?)
12. Auction profits

The second thing is the advice to focus on and master one skill at a time. And the most important skill to master is Traffic:

• Amass traffic cheaply and use it, lend it or sell it at as high a price as possible.
• Getting traffic is the one key skill.
• Once you can get traffic you can send it wherever you want.
• Master this one thing, then build your business around it.
• A list is traffic in a holding pattern!

There’s other stuff Stephen talked about and even more I got from the seminar preview call he did with Ted Ciuba but I think that’s enough for now.

However, I will be writing another post about the way Stephen went about selling his coaching programme because it was quite amazing to watch and there are certainly lessons to learn from it.

Pitch: Coaching programme

Cost: $3994

So that was day 3 and after that lot, I think I deserve a nice cup of tea… Until next time!

After that dissapointing first day, I’m glad to say that day 2 was really excellent. That is apart from the first hour that was wasted with a pointless introduction to all of the speakers (those that were available anyway).

1. Mike Filsaime

Despite getting too many emails from him on a daily basis, I really like Mike Filsaime.

He presented very well and had all his slides prepared for us to download afterwards (I wish the other speakers had done this). Some of them were complex diagrams so it’s probably just as well.

I made about 6 pages of notes so I’ll try to pick out some of the main points:

• Begin with the end in mind and work backwards.
• Build a business that can run without you using automation, leverage and scalability (eBay is not scalable).
• Don’t be a perfectionist (one of my failings).
• Only work on 1 project at a time. Mike spent a lot of time on this with an example based around getting 4 projects done. This was one of the best parts of his presentation in my opinion.
• Keep an ‘Idea Book’ for noting down potential future projects (but don’t start them until the current project is done!).
• 3 ways to increase profits – Traffic, Conversion, Frequency (TCF)
• Traffic – more eyeballs: buy, borrow or create
• Conversion – more profit per eyeball: sell, up-sell, cross-sell
• Frequency – more sales per eyeball
• Use a funnel model – low cost front-end product with increasing cost back-end products. Make sure you have back-end products.
• Know your metrics. It’s possible to lose money on front-end product and advertising if metrics show an overall profit. Can even offer 110% commission to affiliates.

There was some other stuff Mike talked about but I got a bit confused toward the end with information overload. I made a note at the time to review the slides and make sure I got the DVDs to watch it over again.

Pitch: Mentoring programme with lots of bonuses including Mike’s Butterfly Marketing course

Cost: $1500 + $497 per month (min 12 months)

I think it’s a shame for Mike that he was on first. With the amount of great information he gave away I think he might have made more sales if he was on in the afternoon of day 3.

2. Morgan Westerman

Morgan was good. A natural presenter and a real showman. He gave out free donuts to everyone and “Interview With God” CDs (they ran out before they got to me) and actually ended with a spectacular magic trick. Very popular guy.

Morgan’s talk was all about buzz and how to create it. He defined buzz as “enthusiastic, positive gossip”.

• Word of mouth, referral marketing, viral marketing. We trust people we know; the barriers are gone.
• Viral = pushed into marketplace
• Word of mouth = pulled into marketplace
• Buzz = market penetration
• Exponential growth, X factor: anything greater than 1.0 = buzz
• Make the product a part of the communication process (e.g. hotmail, eBay).
• Have customers interact.
• Prompt customers to pass it on.
• Effective buzz campaign needs: Novelty, Effectiveness, Economy, Dependability, Simplicity.
• Turn visitors into evangelists. Customers buy an emotion and justify with logic.
• Think like Walt Disney – create an experience for Web site visitors.

Pitch: Tele-seminar and video coaching, list building seminar, partnership programme.

Cost: $4497

3. Michel Fortin and Sylvie Charrier

These two came as a double act. They’re getting married next month and were all over each other on stage. Aaaah… Michel has a huge reputation as a copywriter and Sylvie is also very successful in her own right but I’ve heard less about her on the Net.

I think their laid back style lost the interest of many people I spoke to which is a shame because they gave out some cracking strategies and a complete business model they call “Money Magnets”.

It’s based around content but using it in 3 ways: article site, autoresponder series and ebook sales. They use the same content for all 3.

Where to get content:

• Create it
• Convert existing (own written materials, record & transcribe, products with master resell rights, public domain materials)
• Reprintable articles (royalty free)
• Syndicated content (RSS feeds)
• Buy for pennies on the dollar (eBay)

They mentioned a ‘well known’ Internet marketer that had a Tattoo site that didn’t work at all and was losing money. They bought it for next to nothing and made money from it using their techniques. In the Underachievers world, Frank Kern is continually getting ribbed about his Tattoo site that went bad so I wonder if this is one and the same. It proves that even if you choose a bad market, there’s probably still a way to make money from it.

Tip #1: Build Email List

• Turn content site into membership site
• Allow them free access to just a few articles
• Get readers to register to view rest of content
• Use AdSense to monetise site
• Use a delayed, non-blockable, pop-up opt-in form
• Get visitors to either click an ad, opt-in or go away!

Tip #2: Spread Content

• Put some on site
• Deliver same content in an autoresponder over time (easier to digest bite-sized chuncks and makes more money)

Tip #3: Tease and Pull

• Don’t deliver content in full in autoresponder
• Get them to return to site and re-expose them to ads
• Use a very short message (plain text only, no HTML)
• Leave sentence hanging…

Tip #4: Seed Your Site

• Use blogs to deliver your content (WordPress)
• Offer ability to syndicate your content
• Allow comments (extra content)

Tip #5: Sell Your Site/Content

• Package same content and sell it
• People buy convenience
• Different formats: digital, physical, audio
• Use strategic excerpts
• Harmonise sales and content sites (sounds good – not sure what this means exactly)

My observation is that you probably need 10’s or 100’s of sites to make good money but this is possible over a period of time.

Pitch: Coaching programme?

Cost: Sorry, I lost the flyer

4. Rich Schott

Rich’s entire presentation seemed to be a pitch for some kind of video email and networking product. He went to great length to tell us all about the company, how great the product was and how many tens of millions were spent developing it (that now needs to be recouped).

I don’t think the live demo went as well as it was supposed to.

I’m not sure Rich actually talked much about how to use the technology to improve our business. I don’t think that was what he was there for at all.

Pitch: Some kind of product/reseller deal?

Cost: £199 + £44 per month to start but if you’re really good then you can later pay £1458 + £135 per month. Huh?

I was confused at the time and I’m just as confused now after re-reading the flyer as to what Rich was actually offering. Was it the products to use, a reseller deal or some kind of pyramid scheme? It seemed to me as if we were being asked to pay a huge fee to become glorified affiliates. No thanks!

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…