Making
"Rock Star" Internet Profits
In
This Issue:
*
Start An Internet Business? - Are You Crazy??
*
How To Make Money Online Like A Rock Star
* The Secret: How I Made "5 Figures A Month" While
Most Web Designers starved
* Boot-Strapping Your Business Starting With Nothing
Hello
Friends;
This
is a very special newsletter issue, because I'm going to
focusing on the crucial step to success that most people
ignore - THE FIRST ONE. Here's why:
1)
Sometimes "regular folks" may not feel inspired
by the claims of "super achievers" because they
don't think it could ever happen for them. (wrong!)
2)
When you're just starting off in a business without much
success, all this talk of "million dollar deals"
can be overwhelming. You may be thinking, "Great, but
all I want starting out is a few hundred extra dollars a
week to supplement my income - where does that leave me??"
3)
Everyone talks about establishing credibility - using testimonials
- proving that your product/service is reliable, in demand,
well received, etc... But if you're just getting started
with a brand new product, it becomes the old "chicken
and the egg" dilemma: It's hard to sell a new product
or service without testimonials and proven results, but
you can't get that kind of feedback without selling some!
Well,
guess what - Not so long ago, I was in that exact situation...
I started my own "web design" business, with no
contacts, no leads, and no experience. (Does this sound
familiar?)
I'm
going to tell you exactly how I went from not being able
to convince someone to pay me $100 to build them a website,
to charging up to $4,000 or more apiece, and actually having
to TURN DOWN business.
First,
let's look at the realities that we are facing here with
"internet commerce"...
IMAGINE
IF A FRIEND CALLED YOU UP AND SAID:
Friend:
"Hey, I've got this great idea for a new business and
I want you to be partners with me!"
You:
"Give me some details."
Friend:
"Check this out... it's in a market where the vast
majority of people fail, and there are untold thousands
of other products that will be in direct competition with
ours. Our competition will always be able to know exactly
what we do at all times and copy us at will. They'll be
able to undercut our price, and there's nothing we can do
about it."
You:
"Geez, any more good news?"
Friend:
"Well, there are virtually no barriers to entry, and
people from practically every country in the world can compete
with us on an even level, even if the currency exchange
makes it worthwhile for them to sell their products and
services for a fraction of what we'll be charging."
You:
"I think I've heard enough, I'm not going to..."
Friend:
"Hold on, it gets better! Not only will we be competing
with some of the brightest entrepreneurial minds on the
planet for every dollar we try to earn, but there are huge
corporations with enormous funding who will do their best
to pick us bone-dry. They'll be running television ads for
their products, while we won't hardly be able to afford
to advertise at all!
You:
"If you think I'm going to waste time and money on
this ridiculous plan of yours, you've got another thing
coming! I'd never..."
Friend:
"Wait, wait, you didn't let me finish! This is an INTERNET
BUSINESS I'm talking about, we're going to put up a WEBSITE!"
You:
"Oh, why didn't you say so before?? Sounds great !!!!!"
<smile>
When
you look at it in those terms, it doesn't sound like too
much fun, does it? But listen: It can be done, and if you
keep your eye on the ball and follow the proper course of
action, NONE OF THE ABOVE MATTERS. Here's why...
How To Make Money Online
Like A Rock Star
Let
me back up a step:
I'm
a musician by trade. I invested the bulk of my '20s in working
at getting a record deal with my band in Los Angeles, California.
(Even then I was studying direct mail on the side, developing
info products, testing ads, etc., to earn extra money.)
The
same hypothetical "conversation with a friend"
from above can be applied to wanting to become successful
as a musician as well, because the same principles and economics
apply. (The odds are against you, lots of competition, corporations
would prefer to develop talent from the "inside",
etc.)
Let
me ask you something: Do you think that music companies
WANT to have to give record deals to unpredictable, idiosyncratic
rock bands that they don't have much control over?
No
Way!
The
music industry would like NOTHING BETTER than to be able
to develop all their own talent in-house, and develop their
own "corporate acts" that they can control. They
only have one problem... THEY CAN'T DO IT!
- Because what consumers want is "flashes of genius",
individuality, something different, something "cool".
-And the music industry is notoriously BAD at predicting
new music trends. To find new talent, they MUST DEPEND on
individual bands, singers, and songwriters.
Guess
What - Marketing On The Internet Is Exactly The Same!
If
corporations were good at innovation, start-up entrepreneurs
online wouldn't stand a chance. However, most "big
business" on the internet doesn't know what they're
doing, they're not even profitable! Can you imagine a typical
dot-com corporation trying to sell a "How to make money
on the internet" book?
What
would the chapters look like?
*
How to spend $1,500,000 on a Superbowl ad to increase "brand
awareness". * How to lose money on every product you
sell. * How to burn through your start-up capital by buying
unnecessary luxuries. * How to pay $80,000 for a website
that could have been built for $5,000
...You
get the point. So if blowing tons of cash won't guarantee
a web site's profitability, and having a board of directors
won't help, and spending $80,000 on a website won't help,
what will help??!!
ANSWER:
Developing a niche product, and having the mind of an entrepreneur,
not a corporation.
Through
my business dealings with Internet clients and friends running
online businesses, I can tell you for a fact that there
really are a lot of seemingly "regular" people
earning a very successful living on the 'net.
-That
doesn't mean it's a piece of cake. -That doesn't mean you
can't fail. But it DOES mean that you PERSONALLY have an
edge over those corporations blowing money right and left
on worthless television ads and ineffective banner ads.
- Just like a future "rock star", you've got the
power to have those flashes of inspiration, you can come
up with unique angles and approaches to make your product/service
appealing... and that "big business" would never
think of!
Starting
With Nothing To Build Your Business
So
there I was starting out, a competent web designer with
a background in direct mail and copywriting, not even able
to get people to pay me $100 to build a website in the beginning.
I
could have given up. I could have just said, "The market's
saturated, it wasn't my fault." But that's a cop-out.
So, what would you do? Here's what I did:
I
worked on web sites for free!
-Or
I told potential clients that it was free unless the work
I did increased their sales, in which case they could pay
me an optional $100 (or whatever).
Does
that sound stupid? Crazy? Well, I want you to know I didn't
just work on ANY web site... I did everything for a reason.
My requirements "checklist" to do this were:
1)
Their existing website was obviously flawed, and I had ideas
on how to easily fix it 2) The product looked good, but
there were obvious problems with the sales letter. (I.E.,
no headline, bad guarantee, lacking basic sales letter techniques,
etc.) 3) There was substantial traffic to the site. 4) They
already had hits-to-sales ratios determined, so it was simple
to judge whether sales went up after I worked on it 5) They
agreed to give me a testimonial if their sales increased
after I worked on it.
When
a website matched the above criteria (which was often),
it was a "no-brainer". In fact, I don't think
I EVER didn't get a testimonial! At that point, getting
a testimonial about the increase in profits I created for
them was worth more than charging them a few bucks anyway,
AND I was automatically getting more experience as I went.
The
Bad New: It was a lot of "work" - but I enjoyed
it! (I only did a few "free" websites, but the
testimonials I got from them were INSTRUMENTAL in building
my success. Without them, the later "good paying"
jobs would probably never have come.)
The
Good News: Before I knew it, I had some VERY IMPRESSIVE
testimonials from these "freebies" stating actual
dollar amounts and % increase in sales directly attributable
to me. -If you know anything about stereotypical "web
designers", most don't have testimonials about how
much money their clients earned because of them, because
they're not copywriters and wouldn't know how to do it!
Then
a funny thing happened:
With
my new string of testimonials, it seemed like people couldn't
wait to give me their money! I'd built up my credibility
so much that I was getting email from potential clients
saying they'd shopped around and I was the ONLY PERSON they
wanted to have work on their website.
Once
you've got people saying that, what you charge really isn't
an issue, because you're MAKING them money.
HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO YOU?
If
you don't have any testimonials for your product and aren't
really selling much yet, give it away in exchange for a
potential testimonial! Give it away and ask for payment
only if they're happy with it after they try it out.
Lessons I've Learned
I've
learned a LOT working on the Internet over the past years.
And one of the most important things is this: JUST DO IT.
I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and if it was up to me I'd
"tinker" endlessly with things trying to get everything
just right, even things that don't really matter much.
Well,
I was "cured" of that. Here's how:
While
I was still in the process of building my first e-commerce
subscription site (there were still bad links, unfinished
sections, etc), we started taking membership signups! To
be honest, I was a little panic-stricken. (smile)
Here
was the reasoning:
I
could spend weeks fine-tuning and troubleshooting everything
by yourself, or we could start letting people in and get
some instant feedback."
So,
calling them "beta testers", we started signing
people up, but with this no-risk twist: We took their credit
card information up- front, but promised not to charge their
credit card for a full 3 days. That's right, if at ANY time
within 72 hours they changed their mind for any reason,
we simply wouldn't charge them.
The
result? The website got done MUCH faster than it would have
because it "forced the issue", I got some very
useful feedback from our beta testers who let me know what
links weren't working, and we were in business! (If you're
curious: If you're worried people might "rip you off"
if you let them have your product before they pay you, out
of all the beta testers we signed up, only one or two cancelled
instead of having their credit card charged, even though
they could have easily.)
====================
The $100,000 Letter Book
====================
Even
after reading this newsletter, you may still feel "in
the dark" about how to approach potential customers,
clients, or partners about building YOUR business. Well,
I've got good news! I've actually gone back into my "email
archives" and put the actual contact letters that are
responsible for generating well over $100,000 in business
for me, and put them together into a complete resource book.
That's
right, the actual letters and correspondence I've had with
potential clients and customers that created the interest
to get them to pay me.
It
includes:
*
"Cold Calls" -Completely unsolicited letters I've
sent out to potential clients that has resulted in many
tens of thousands of dollars in business.
*
Complete Web Site Reviews - Learn how I establish trust
and "prove my worth" by critiquing potential clients'
sites in such a way that they're almost compelled to hire
me.
*
Follow-up emails - Continued correspondence to "seal
the deal"
*
My complete lead-generating strategy - Why I had to actually
start turning down business while other web designers couldn't
get work
If
you're a web designer and want more business or want to
be able to charge more, this book of letters should put
you on your way. It's the culmination of years of perfecting
my sales process. If you're looking to market a product,
these letters will STILL be of enormous benefit.
NO
MATTER WHAT BUSINESS YOU'RE IN, knowing how to approach
people to make contacts and establish alliances will make
or break your business.
Click
Here To Get The $100,000 Book Now
To
your success, Timothy A. Gross - Executive Director, Educated Media, LLC
P.S.
- I strongly urge you to check out the above link - This
could be the "key to the puzzle" you've been missing.
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