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 My unpublished posts just waiting…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:
The following WORKS because its done with:
a) HEART
b) DEPTH
c) INTELLIGENCE
Rich Schefren will be the FIRST to tell you and SHOW you that you can duplicate this concept I will share with you,.. and in fact many of you actually DO..
.. and I am not just dedicating a blog post to this because I am a fan or because we are friends (although I MIGHT have said that to sound self important )
As Strategic Profits, with Rich at the helm, are on their way to releasing another eye opening report, you should really be doing 2 things.
1. Getting ready to read the report. I know it is going to be a great read; Rich is only getting better and better, offering more and more value, not to mention, he is actually a sincerely intelligent person. This will not be outsourced rehashed garbage. This is HIS business, he takes it seriously, and I suggest you do the same. As always, his reports are FREE. Again, check out his video highlighting some ideas you can expect to see.
2. As we are currently conducting a series on ways to make money online, lets also witness what Strategic Profits has done in the past, and how you can learn from this and perhaps adopt similar practices in your own business.
It goes something like this:
a) Find a fundamental problem in a market, step up to the plate and IDENTIFY the problem. Can you say it better than it has been said in the past? Can you create a bigger issue out of this problem? Can you highlight a New Trend? b) Engage your readers without losing YOUR momentum. Trying and figure out their thoughts on the subject. Of course, YOUR answer is just around the corner. It should be a work in progress, because how can it possibly be complete without having HEARD from your prospects? Allow their voice to help you complete your product accordingly
1) Free: This works for Strategic Profits, and it may for you, since they offer a variety of other services / products, and I think they (like many) enjoy offering Free value, and charging for those who are serious. They can afford to theoretically ‘solve your problems’ for free, because most likely, real success will come from being accountable to yourself and becoming part of a community, coaching club, mastermind, like his (not sure of the terminology), where you are not in this alone. This is actually a HUGE deal. The dent in my wall is clear evidence of this.
2) The buck stops here .. This is your product / service. This is where YOU get paid. Solve their problems! This works for MOST small niche market products / services. This model is highly recommended as a way to break into a new market, and build up a list of supporters. From here you can see where to take it. I personally witnessed Rich’s stratospheric rise to the top of the heap, and I am certain he was as surprised by the reception he received and by the success he has enjoyed since..
Dont OVERPLAN, just Start DOING.
A force you want to make sure exists whether this is a new project, or a repeat occurance is ANTICIPATION. You may think it’s easier for Rich to get eyeballs on his new report due to his history, but in reality, he may have to work harder to convince you that this is something new (oh, and it is!)
so you have to create a ‘what will he think of next’…
For those of you who are new to my blog, new to Rich Schefren.. check out how I personally, if unintentionally, helped build up anticipation for his last report. (Yes, this is my easy way out for having a new video today )
WOW! Rich - Can you believe this video was ONLY 9 months ago?? A lot happened since
This time Strategic Profits has done an excellent job from where I left off. .. and have their own video creating anticipation for the new report. It’s right here.
Bonus for anyone who has read this far: When I clicked to watch the video, Andy Jenkins from Stompernet introduces Rich. My 5 year old was playing and hears ‘Rich Schefren’.. For those of you who saw the video above and the other, well several… this is a household name! He said ‘Rich is a REAL PERSON? Yeh, Mommy, he is REAL??’ .. this if from a kid who has never heard of Hannah Montana, so I think someone here should be flattered.
HOW CAN I BE SO CERTAIN That This is Why I succeed…. and my be why YOU have not? (sorry if that sounds harsh)
Simple…. because
the areas I have a harder time succeeding are where my knowledge ends and someone else’s begins. Put simply, YOU (and I) just do better at what we know. Even if it means asking someone else to do it.
What do I know that you MAY NOT?
Watch this:
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
(PS – we will be conducting an interview with Jason soon. Basically stripping him of everything he knows. for YOU. Should be fun)
This is what I know. How to create a simple website. How to FTP. How to make a table, add an image, yada yada.. I can tweak, edit, and shift things around a webpage without having to make a phone call, or pay ridiculous maintenance retainer fees to web design companies….
and you know what?
It took about as LONG to learn all that as it did for me to figure out how to put this Flash Video on this blog.
So now YOU (and that means you too MOM) can learn along with your 8 year old children / grandchildren (who learn this as a matter of course in Elementary school), and build your OWN website. (yes – the text before this is underlined for a reason – it means it will take you where you NEED to go to learn how to tie your shoes, excuse me, I mean build a website!)
I am trying to imagine a difficult task for an adult to equate the difficulty required to Create a website. This is what I came up with:
If you can fill up your own tank of gas (self-serve), or manage to cook a recipe by following the list of ingredients, you can build a website.
It has nothing to do with taste, geek stuff, art (I cannot draw a stick figure), digital cameras, fancy expensive software, or how many degrees you have.
It’s just a matter of getting something to happen at Point A
and making sure it appears at Point B.
I know there are ways to make money without a website. BUT not If you want a Business that will LAST, which others will take SERIOUSLY, and that YOU control.
Great. I knew you were.
Here is your ACTION PLAN:
Check out the Web for FREE resources. However.. be warned.. you can find everything under the sun for FREE on the web, but it will NOT provide you with what a complete product should look like. You will have to be the Master of the Outcome, and fill in all those pieces that are left out based on not knowing YOUR needs, or YOUR skill level.
I prefer to PAY to save me time and energy of the learning curve. Especially when you can find what you need so affordably.
Check out Jason’s 7 minute Set up. It’s amazing how many Marketers took YOU knowing this for granted, so thank you Jason for creating this important product!
I am only a member of 2 memberships now. This is one of them. They offer a complete Website Builder as just one part of their extremely robust membership package. Sort of like building blocks, you build your site.
If you are VERY new, I strongly recommend Jason’s product, as this membership site could be (will be) overwhelming. If you have been around for a while, and could benefit from knowing Web design to enhance your other knowledge, I cannot recommend this membership site enough!
Tell me.. What do you know? How did you learn it? Has it benefited you? or..
What do you NOT know… and has it HARMED your business?
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..
Listen here to a full length call with Ben Shaffer, as we divulge some of our secrets and tips to successful outsourcing. This is a FREE listen. And a MUST.
Enjoy working hard? Then Work SMARTER and just earn a heck of a lot more!
Next.
Here are the companies I use for outsourcing:
1) RentaCoder – Excellent for sophisticated, more expensive projects
2) Scriptlance – Excellent for small fast projectsThere is a LOT of great information BELOW the video. Make sure to scroll down .
The 3 BEST WAYS to Earn from Outsourcing
1) Arbitrage
Although it’s origins are related to ‘finance’, this term has been adopted to refer to any way you effectively manage to pay for something and sell it for more. Buy Wholesale, sell Retail. It is the basis of how most everything is done in this world! We WILL talk about it in future posts (as I am sure we have in the past), because we HAVE to.
Outsourcing Arbitrage? Here you purchase work from an outsourcing company and resell it for a higher value. Articles, Graphics, Ebooks, Websites, even major development projects. Find a few good resources at the companies listed above. You may find some duds along the way, but if you listen to our call, you will find out how to quickly weed out the losers from the keepers.
2) Tedious, Repetitive Tasks
Time consuming tasks done on the cheap. Although you had me at ‘DONE’. Want to write 50 articles in 2 days, comment on 100 forums, or collect leads for a potential JV? This is where outsourcing becomes a DREAM come true, as you are able to move forward with other tasks, while someone else is putting food on THEIR table, doing tasks you would rather poke yourself in the eye with a knife than have to do. Well, maybe thats just me.
3) Recognize your weaknesses. Hire Strengths.
The Ultimate Outsourcing Plan. You manage. Everyone Else builds. Get that project done. You know the one. The one that you have been dreaming to do, or that is sitting half finished on your desktop.
a) Draw it up.
Write up a list of exactly what needs to get done for the project to be complete. Break it down into tasks such as:
Project Management
Content
Design
Copy
Programming
etc.
b) Claim YOUR stake and by WHEN
What will YOU be able to do? – Put your name by what YOU can / will do (if any) and put a deadline.
c) Whats left over?
Whatever tasks have no names beside them needs to be outsourced. It should be extremely clear.
Advise: If Design + Programming are to be outsourced, you will do better to create 2 separate projects as it is unlikely to find someone who excels at both. Why settle for someone who is average at all tasks, when you can find someone fantastic at each?
d) The Glue
When all pieces are complete, will you need to hire someone else to make sure all the pieces are put together, function, and placed where it needs to be to call it ‘live’? Well, this missing piece is why many people have projects that are 90% complete hanging around. Make sure to add project manager to your list of tasks needed outsourcing, although if your business warrants it, this may be a good task for a member of a staff.
You can sign up here for free access to the call..
Or read here if you want more information on what you can expect from this call
Or read here if you want more information on what you can expect from this call