-
- Sep 19th, 2008
- 33,468 Comments
-
I am totally COMING CLEAN here. The timing could not have been more ironic or synergistic.
As you know I am delivering a series on how to make money online. I was in the middle of composing a post (well now it’s this one) with an accompanying audio podcast (see below) on How to Focus and selecting a target market. I had a previous post on the subject, but I receive SOO much traffic to that page on focusing, I wanted to offer MORE. (here is link to that post)
What happened? I am approached out of the blue by a marketer I admire. His skills are vast. Lets just leave it as that since it’s still an understatement. He is in the mood to do something ‘different’ this week, so he bestows upon me an offer to take advantage of his services for the week for x amount of $. An offer that is very hard to refuse.
I ask him – “How much you can accomplish in a week?”
He responds – “Depends on your leadership.”
Reasonable. But that meant my input would directly affect his output.
However, I had a problem. My Blog! My unpublished posts just waiting…
This is where I come clean. Blogging is NOT my focus, as I am not really a ‘blogger’.
Here is what creates a ‘blogger’:
- They start blogging out of passion, interest, online journaling, what have you – working off momentum – 95% QUIT!! or write too infrequently to call it any more than a hobby.
- The remaining 5% figure out how to Blog correctly. How? You write good content, engage other bloggers, you include links to other blogs on your site, comment on their site. You WORK IT.
- Suddenly those in the last category start earning money! Wow! Then they become ‘bloggers’ aka those who earn from their passion! A great place to be. They also have a responsibility to their readers, and their advertisers to maintain their blog. It may be their main source of income.
I am a blogger who aims to add value but frankly, it’s just a smart move for an online marketer. It’s something we coach people to do. It allows people to locate you, feel your personality out a bit, an ongoing business card.
I love it, and I love your comments, but when given the opportunity to spend a week FOCUSING, while I was composing THIS VERY text, I decided to take immediate action. It will only make me a more valuable blogger in the future.
What IS My Focus:
To Create / Improve revenue producing projects.
And that’s exactly what happened. (Thank you genius!)
I know this may sound a little vague. Isn’t that EVERYONE’s focus? Yes, but most dont actually focus ON IT. They focus on wanting a certain outcome, but dont commit to the steps needed to realize it. You get the difference? Therefore, to focus on something that seems so common actually makes me very unique.
Now I am sharing with you a conversation with Kelly Mccausey, an online marketer after my own heart! All over the place and overqualified, she had her hands in all pots.. but then PULLED the PLUG, and Finally started to earn money.
Watch this video, and listen to the podcast below it for the long version! Enjoy.
Listen to the call here:
-
- Aug 21st, 2008
- 134 Comments
-
I think the video says it all. However, you MUST read on to hear my story about last night. It’s the ultimate in making it happen, going against my nature, in a crowd not necessarily as like-minded as could be, etc..
Read between the lines and find opportunities where you may not even expect them. Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, Airplanes!
Here is mine:
‘About Last Night’
I had heard about a local Blogger convention (aka – an evening affair) and understood it to be more of a ‘cultural’ event, then ‘marketing’ event. Hence, I decided not to go.
Last minute I was thinking that right in my backyard are going to be over 100 people who spend a lot of their time doing what I do – staring at this screen I am typing on, and probably at all hours of the day (and night). There has to be some overall chemistry, who knows what can happen.?? Oh, and free food.
I did peg the evening correctly, and therefore am not sure why I was surprised at the lack of conversation about promoting your blog + monetization (which drew laughs from the crowd when it was even suggested). Clearly these people dont know what I know and will be sharing with YOU soon about earning from BLOGGING..
Did you watch my video yet? Well, the funny thing is that I did want to be a little of both ‘wallflower’ and ‘hard to get’.. First of all, I have a long history of thinking that works for me. Not too boisterous, a little mysterious, perhaps even intimidating.. However as a DIRECT response to my OWN video, I shmoozed, I met fellow twitterati, I met other bloggers, other Atlantans, and yes..
I even met..
what could become..
the beginning of a beautiful (business) relationship.
The possibilities are ENDLESS..
-
- Jun 24th, 2008
- 84 Comments
-
I didn’t do it on purpose.
I didn’t have a 4 year plan, anticipate my next move, or really… have any choice. I was under a spell.
It started out very innocently. In 1999 I learned some HTML. In 2000 I was hired to work on some websites, and their affiliate links (whatever the heck that meant). A short while after that (and a lot of riduculously interesting information that I am omitting for effect) :
I joined an email list.
Then another.
Then another.
Then I bought an ebook. or two. or three. or ten.
Then I signed up with Site Build it.
Then I stayed awake for 8 pm Eastern time (3 am here) to listen to a teleseminar. again. and again. and again.
Then I was on 30 mailing lists.
Then I bought a coaching program. or two
Then I joined a membership or four.I witnessed more urgency in a stream of ‘if you dont buy / use this / know this then you will NOT be able to succeed online’ pitches than an Emergency Room MD. Trauma care patients don’t know copywriting like these guys. I wonder if the survival rate would increase if John Carlton was pitching each patients case.
The IM’er (as it is labeled for short) Experience.
Lately I have been ‘hanging around’ (in the Social Media sense) a different online crowd. These people may refer to themselves as Internet Marketers, but many don’t know who Mike Filsaime is, or perhaps even John Reese!
While we are always reinventing ourselves, the IM path may sound something like this.. rich jerk, niche marketing, resale rights, PLR, Warrior Forum, Earn $100 a day, list building secrets, social media domination, adsense is not dead, blah blah blah. A more traditional marketer may have their success tied more to scalability, building relationships, and clients. Their means to an end is to create a self sustaining line of work, and yes, a nice revenue stream. (which could actual happen accidentally rather then intentionally – almost never in the IM’er space)
Life is a series of experiences that mold us into who we are. We are the products of our own ‘choose your own adventure’. I dont mean to sound so holistic here, but I feel I owe respect to the experience I had, even if I am prepared to question the fuel that drives it. I also have more leeway to do such since I am partially responsible for supporting it.
Last week I wrote about the surprise I had attending the Mashable Tel Aviv Event to discover so few marketers were aware of web concepts I have been embracing for so long. I also wrote that I had a half written post to dust off about the subject. Here is that post. Partially.. some of the work was done for me in the meantime:
A few days ago the debate was on full steam, ironically, starring.. John Reese and Mark Hopkins from Mashable..
I don’t see that John has anything he needs to defend. Its like a local musician being accused of ‘selling out’ since he wrote a song that became a top 10 single and made him famous. Yes, you owe a lot to your fans, but it helps to have a lot more of them, and it helps to be able to afford to keep doing what they like you for
. Next the advent of the e-book, while not making many people at home millionaires, due to it’s ‘mass production’ is able to share golden nuggets of how to take advantage of the web for a much lower price tag than hiring consultants. I haven’t earned from each e-book, but I have learned from each one.
Mark – it is simply that as an outsider to an experience you didn’t have, the vision from where you are sitting allows you to see this for what it actually is. Well, what it is to YOU. A survival of the fittest, MLM style society. Hey I hear you – when my friends start pitching AGEL and NuSkin to me (actual network marketing companies) I laugh and roll my eyes in ridicule – and think they are on crack. However, to them its a very real adventure, they love the products, and its potentially lucrative, so who are we to judge? Maybe more people are losing money than earning, but the same 80/20 rule applies to this as with any other industry. Or the more realistic 95/5 – it CAN be done. You CAN become famous in Hollywood. You can get rich online. Just not many will. Should they stop making movies since it fuels others desires to have what they most likely can’t?
For me? It is directly as a result of this experience, one that caused me to part with so much of my hard earned money, and take time away from my family, that I am able to claim what I can today. I may not be able to drink Pina Coladas all day while the money racks up in my account, no Ferrari in the garage, or a house in the Hamptons (as we have been so frequently pitched).. but I most certainly could get a sick paying job in a big firm, could consult with the best.
How?
Because I DIDN’T learn what they teach new college graduates, because I DIDN’T learn traditional marketing. I learned how to market in a way that turns the web into our own personal ATM’s. I learned marketing the Rich Dad way. I am too wise to go back and relive it, but I cant change what I know, and yes.. I actually make money online.
Internet Marketing is definitely poised for a ‘face lift’, I expect a lot more crossover between the two different arenas. However, as long as people wake up and type in ‘make money online from home’ on Google, there will be products created to cater to them.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
-
- Mar 5th, 2008
- 411 Comments
-
You are SAFE on this blog. I have gone into my backend and removed EVERY affiliate link. The only stuff that exists are Google Adsense blocks, and it’s just cuz they fit in nicely! I wont be running away from blog posts promoting affiliate products, but how many have I done of those anyways?? I am extremly selective. I know what its like to unload tons of cash for one dream or another.
Suddenly the idea of earning money off of people who innocently come by here interested in hearing what I have to say does not sit right with me.
Regardless of recent slacking off on posts here.. for various personal reasons, I find this decision to be a big step for me..
Can you see that or do I need to spell it out for you? I dont mean to sound like some father berating his teenage son for his bad behavior.. I REALLY want to know if you GET this.. or if you need it explained.. I would love to explain it.. but I would also love to read a comment from anyone FIRST that you get it..
wow.. pretty long winded there..
Can you add to this conversation below?
-
- Feb 6th, 2008
- 5,291 Comments
-
I have recently been trying to move my blog away from the personal towards the educational.. ya know real value, blah blah blah
I always have about 10 posts half written that get tossed aside for the next great thought.
However, today, and for the last 5 days I am just going through the motions..
My friends.. I have lost my direction, my purpose, my taste, my drive..
I am a rowboat in the middle of the ocean. I have oars, but I HAVE LOST MY COMPASS…
My business partner, who appeared out of the middle of nowhere, dove in with 2 feet, and said I trust you, I believe in you, You have talent, and this is going to be amazing.. oh and how much do you need to live on until it happens… well he was tragically killed in a car accident outside Los Angeles. He was a 30 yr. old beautiful and generous without limits, father, husband, son, dear friend to many, and a True Rock Star at affiliate marketing.
Meir ‘Mikey’ Volk … Thank you.
I never saw ‘The Secret’ .. but read back to my next internet millionaire quest and TELL me if you didnt see it happen. Yes I was too busy working towards it to write as much as I should have (as much as YOU would have like to see rather). This stuff is out of control..
oh, and If you think I am writing about money, just turn around and leave right now… the only money I wanted to earn was to show him gratitude for his faith in me.
I am on my way to the states tonight for 3 weeks. My main consideration to NOT go would be the inevitable absenses from my computer. Just traveling is a day off each way, forget the obligatory Target and Walmart expiditions.. (even internet millionaires shop there). Now I turn on my computer and feel the bile rising in my throat.. yeh TMI.. sorry.
So what now?
Watch, Learn and Earn or your money BACK! (hahaha - it's 100% FREE!!)
Most Popular Posts
- My FOCUS Is on Earning Revenue, What's Yours?
- How To Set Up Google Adsense On Your Site
- Tell ME Why - I LOVE Sundays - (its NOT what you think!)
- Total Eclipse of the Heart.
- The BEST Copy TIP EVER!
- Get Rich Quick Ugly Duckling = Internet Marketing Consultant Swan!
- Whats the BEEF with Traffic?? Here's the MEAT - 10 FREE TRAFFIC TIPS.
- Who knew I was in HIGH Demand??
- What is it WE Really WANT from Rich Schefren?
- Internet Marketing Gets UGLY!!!
Recent Visitors
Other IM Peeps
© 2007-2008 Get Started Today Online...
