Whether you are a regular reader of our blog or just finding us the first time…pay special attention to what is written here today.Â
The information is both heartfelt and 110% impactful for the hundreds of coaching clients we’ve personally assisted over the last few years…and no matter what internet business you are attempting to build, this message applies to YOU.
HOW TO GUARANTEE YOUR SUCCESS…OR FAILURE
There is only one way to fail in your quest to develop a strong second stream of income by starting your own money making internet business – that is…to never get it started!
Through our tens of thousands of subscribers, thousands of emails, tons of teleseminar attendees, hundreds of personal coaching customers and growing membership over at InfoMarketer’sZone, the most common sign that someone is heading toward IMMINENT failure is this one…
I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO…!
Have you ever said that – either out loud or quietly to yourself?
How about, I’m confused or I can’t get started because….or I have information overload?Â
In each case these are EXCUSES that will lead to absolute failure – with absolutely zero chance of succeeding.Â
CULTIVATINGÂ A SUCCESS MINDSET
What will make 2009 an incredible year where you will begin to make money online with your own internet business is to…
1. Know you WILL succeed and that what you are doing today is the first step on that journey to more money, greater control over your finances and life and a step toward a level of happiness and fulfillment that you may have forgotten was possible
2. Take constant and consistent action.
Will you hit obstacles – absolutely, but there is ALWAYS away to work around or through an obstacle
Will you hit dead-ends – probably, but know that what you accomplish and learn from taking any action will lead to improved actions in the future – you learn from mistakes, you re-use what you have done to earn greater profits in the future.Â
A successful, money-making internet business is the culmination of an ongoing committment to taking action, learning, adjusting, overcoming setbacks and constant improvement.Â
YOU MAY BE JUST ONE STEP AWAY
So often I have someone come to me within InfoMarketer’sZone with a product idea, half-finished info product or existing ebook or information product ready to completely give up on their dreams and plans…fed up, frustrated – heading headlong into a failure mindset.Â
First, the issue is once again believing they are not heading down the wrong path, but simply are finding their way to the end goal – they are following the necessary steps on the path to HUGE success.
Let me ask you this, if you knew that you had to try 5 times to make money online over a 2-4 month period after which you were virtually guaranteed to be on your way to earning a 6-figure or even 7-figure income online, would you do it?
Let me give you a few concrete examples…
1. One woman came to us with 3 info products she had created in her niche market – an aspect of relationship coaching she had practiced for years. She was convinced that her niche market was not responsive and that she had to give up and start entirely again. Within a few days we helped her re-position her info products based on the systems we outline in InfoMarketer’sZone to create a profile of your customer and within the next year she went on to entirely transform her service-based business to a leveraged info product marketing business.Â
2. Another great story occurred when a “serial dreamer” came to us asking desparately to help him turn just one of the many ideas he had rolling around in his head into a product that was actually making money online. This person had been in “dream” mode for almost 4-years, never taking action on his ideas. When he discovered that he could start with a simple report or mini-ebook as we explain in our InfoProduct Marketer’s Private Site...he had his first product finished within 7-days! Turns out the prospect of sitting down and writing 150-pages of content was totally overwhelming to him placing him in a constant state of paralysis – remember, inaction is the only way to fail. Within 2-weeks we had him up and running his own info product business, seeing initial sales drove him to develop additional products and services and now he makes a living with his online businesses.Â
Well, the law of averages shows that most people will try between 3-5 times, then really figure out the ropes to making profit with their own internet business – yes there are some that get it on the first or second try and there are those that need to try 7 or 8 times, but they are the exception to the rule.Â
So, instead of thinking “I’ve only got one chance at this and if I fail that’s it – this business just doesn’t work or it isn’t for me”…change that thinking to “I’m going to take ACTION and will probably not reach my ultimate goal the first time, but will learn valuable lessons on exactly how I can improve to ultimately reach my internet business goals.”
The only difference between your current results with your online business and someone who is sitting atop their market, earning 7-figure income from their internet marketing business is that they took ACTION – and not just once, but continued to take action for the days, weeks and even months it took them to figure out a winning formula.
Now, with sites like InfoMarketer’sZone you can certainly get a head-start on systems that are proven winners with tools that have already been developed for you to use and ongoing support to help you work through the obstacles and questions as they arise – but ultimately, it’s up to you to take ACTION based on having the Success Mindset.Â
Here’s a terrific Tony Robbins quote from Personal Power – “If you let your learning lead to knowledge, you become a fool. If you let your learning lead to ACTION, you become wealthy” – if you are spending your time trying to “learn” THE best way to make money online, to market information or to improve your life in other ways, then you will be disappointed – BUT if you turn that learned information into action you will be rewarded.Â
Here’s a great way to get started…make your first ACTION placing a comment to this blog posting.
What should you put in your comment?
- A question you need to have answered to move ahead
- A declaration of what action you will take consistently – starting right away – to get things rolling
- An example of how good things happened when you have taken action in the past
- Areas of your life you are transitioning into an ACTION mindset
- Examples of excuses that you may have used to put-off taking action in the past, so others can recognize those and avoid them
- Anything else you can think of that will get you taking action toward your dreams and goals
Taking action is infectious – so go ahead and leave a comment and we’ll make that step 1 on becoming more Action Oriented right now.Â
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
How common is it for Clickbank publishers to DECREASE commission for their affiliates? I was promoting a product via CB (in a very small niche market), and 3 weeks ago, the publisher *decreased* commissions. I have never seen this before. Typically, CB merchants INCREASE commission percentages to encourage affiliates to promote the product. He decreased the commission by 9%. This is awfully discouraging. I contacted the publisher, asking why were commission rates cut. To date, I have received NO REPLY in response to my question. Sad. Unfortunately, in this tiny niche market he is one of the only publishers with decent sales copy. So, I’m limited in terms of other affiliate products I can promote. Guess I need to create my own product, huh?
M
Looks like you answered your own question 🙂
The methodology we outline in our various courses on building online businesses always talks about using affiliate products as either 1) A way of testing new markets (similar to what you have done here) or 2) A second or third income stream to support your primary income stream which should be products and services under your own control
The reason is control – if you only market affiliate products your income stream is completely in the hands of others – and as you have found out, that can be frustrating.
My suggestion is to continue to promote their product for the time being (if there are no alternatives – have you checked other affiliate directories such as CJ.com, Linkshare, etc…) – make sure you are building a list (by sending traffic first to an opt-in and then to your affiliate product, and design a product that will improve on the one you now offer…this can work wonders and then you will own the business outright, including future sales as you develop additional back-end products.
Jeff
Jeff, thank you for this post. I had asked for more real life examples and you have delivered. You come across as really understanding what us newcomers are needing. So I am pleased to share that I am transitioning into an action mindset by working part time instead of full time and devoting every other waking moment to creating written materials to become a highly successful infoproduct marketer. I hope to see you inside your InfoMarketer’s Zone as soon as possible.
Great to hear Sue – and remember, the process is incremental, each step along the way you will learn valuable lessons. Setting up your website, blogging, watching your traffic stats, generating content, building a list and launching your different info products will all teach you exactly what works and what doesn’t – when it doesn’t, sometimes that can be more valuable than when it does…leads you to improve and really get things right.
Jeff
Great post Jeff – here’s another catch phrase for any business “procrastination is not a form of advertising” – just do something to get your name out there every day, and you’ll get better and your name will get more well known. Learning is great – as long as you apply some of it!
Right Gary – and sometimes doing something is learning, but it’s specific learning aimed at discovering how to do something very focused that you then take action on.
So, instead of saying – “I want to learn about internet marketing”, it’s better to say “I’m going to find out the top 3 business models on the internet and pick one to get started by tomorrow evening”
That way – you are looking for something very specific and don’t get lost in the sea of information AND you are less likely to be distracted and more likely to take meaningful action.
Thanks for your comment.
Jeff
Great post Jeff!
I am by no means new to marketing online anymore, but I certainly remember that feeling of total shock and awe…like a deer in headlights! This magical new world of Internet cash opening up to me…just press a button and get rich! :-0
Getting started can certainly be hard, that is for sure. There are no shortage of methods out there to make money online, and it seems that many times, when someone comes online looking how to generate some income, they are doing so because they need it now!
(It is human to wait until the last minute to make a change I guess.)
This causes people just starting out in the industry to focus on “the money” and not on the actual mindset needed to make that money in the first place.
I know how this goes as I had nothing but an expensive “hobby” for many years online before I “got it.”
Although for me, once I DID get started I found the only way to fail was to quit. 🙂
Thanks for the great article. It is jam packed!
Adam
Hey Adam, thanks for sharing. Your story is inspirational in itself, people can see that everyone of us starts at the same place – confused, overwhelmed, uncertain, even frustrated at times.
It is through taking action that we can turn the negative emotions into positive emotions.
Still to this day, each night before I hit the hay, I ask myself, what did I learn today that will further progress toward my goals.
Sometimes it was a setback, but I still know it taught a valuable lesson on the way to reaching my ultimate goals.
You are so right – the only way to fail is to quit.
Jeff
Jeff,
I have written an ebook to distribute on a sales copy page that I haven’t done yet. My concern is that a lot of the information in my ebook that is also on other websites, including .gov sites and other similar ebooks. My ebook is really a collaboration of a bunch of information from all over the internet that may have copyright laws on them. If my content is not 100% original in my ebook, will I be setting myself up for some big problems?
Also, I do not care to stick to a certain genre. I would like to write ebooks about a huge variety of things to sell. I read the ebook, desperate buyers only, and the author explains not to stick to one type of information. How do I go about consistently pumping out ebooks and not confusing people where to go when i have 20 different books out there?
thanks for your help Jeff!
Not being original – in the sense of ideas is ok, making information easier to find is the #1 way to make money with information products.
But…I sense that you are talking about content that has been directly copied – that will get you into trouble.
I am not a lawyer – but recommend that you either put the content in your own words or that you validate with the different website owners that you can use the content.
Regarding how you build your ebook business…there are two models that work..
1. Is to focus on one main market and build it deep – many info products – a range of prices and you become an EXPERT in your main market.
2. Another option is to develop many info products across markets where you “franchise” your method of researching markets, develop high-demand ebooks, attract traffic and crank out sales. I do know people who make between $1K and $5K per month with a single ebook and then replicate this over many ebooks – though not all ebooks would make this much, some may only be $500/month businesses.
Either approach is possible…the methods inside of our Info Product Marketing Training Site will help you with the exact 45-day system, checklists, tools and support to accomplish either.
Jeff
hi jeff,
thanks for all your help in trying to educate newbies.i have what you called information overload.i was writing an ebook on stocks for beginners but had to pause.i have decided to start with affiliate programs but have some obstacles.
1. clickbank and some main companies dont accept nigerians,dont think thats fair,ther’s no country you dont have dubious characters.
2.how can i get and incoporate an opt in form to generate my list
3.how can i benefit from your membership site especially with my limitation.i desperately need financial freedom and need to act now.i really need someone to hold me by the hands
thanks
Thank you for all your information. I really appreciated the thought; find 3 business models and then choose 1 otherwise it’s overload!!
I have a question about copyright. If I give credit to the author right on the page do I have to actually contact them for approval. I thought if you said… so-and-so said “..” that covered copyright?
Hi Sue – it is always good to give credit when using a clip or excerpt, but technically they can deny you permission to use it, so it’s safer to get their permission.
Jeff