Another Newbie Question - Looking for Direction

Hi,

Add a link to your warrior forum signature.
Put up a simple wordpress blog.
Add basic social media accounts, like facebook, linkedin, etc.
Find a comprehensive wso starter course on a subject, say info product creation and selling. Follow it. Do it. Then you'll know whether you like it and are decent enough at it, to keep doing it. This will also help you decide what you like to do best. The only way I've learned to decide what to do is by having tried several methods.
You just have to explore yourself, and personally discover what you like and what you don't like. Then, with time, you'll find your niche, that you prefer.
So you just have to start somewhere, and begin to eliminate what doesn't fit for you.
It's a personal process of doing something that leads to discovering your internal voice and personally comfortable niche/method for creating residual income.

Also, a mentor can be good. Someone to check in with regularly to keep you on track and moving. Lots of good coaching/mentoring offers here on the forum.

Finally, keep a long term perspective. Look at 2015 as a learning and growth year. What skills do you want to develop this year? What methods will you start with? Where would you like to be in 2-3 years from now? It's takes time and commitment to develop an online biz. Don't be fooled into thinking that a few weeks is enough.

Best of luck.

From my perspective, not quite: the time-period is a bit too short; on a brighter note, the income target is also probably a bit too low.

That's my perspective only because it's what happened to me. I earned nothing for my first 4 months, but after another 2 months I was earning significantly more than your target. But that was mostly about the business model I adopted (which suited my own existing skill-set) and all the mistakes I made (because I knew nothing about internet marketing and had failed to appreciate that most "forum information" is misguided and misleading, let alone to understand why that's so).

Here's the point: asking people if they think your target is realistic is of value to you only when you collate the responses from people setting out with more or less the same business model as yourself. But you haven't chosen a business model yet. So be careful interpreting the replies! That's not a criticism at all - it's just a reality-based observation.

You've asked it rather more articulately, and given a little more information, than many people do, anyway. (But that doesn't necessarily make it any easier to answer helpfully and constructively!).

Becoming location-independent, once you're reached your income-target, has almost nothing to do with your IM business and almost everything to do with the other factors in your life, of which we know nothing.

Most IM businesses are themselves, in principle, "location-independent".

It's their owners who may or may not be.

(Again, just from my own perspective, my business and I could have been 100% location-independent right from the day I graduated from college, apart from the limitations imposed by my increasing dependence on medical facilities/services.)

That doesn't matter. It limits your choice of business models, of course, but it still leaves you plenty of choice.

The financial entry-barriers to a successful IM business are astonishingly low. But the skills/education entry-barriers aren't, at all!

I set up my entire business for about $60, and (although I didn't know this at the time and am saying it "only with hindsight") there was never a point at which having any more investment capital available would have made any of my income any faster, bigger, better, more secure, more reliable or more rapidly-growing. (That wouldn't be true for someone intending to use - for example - pay-per-click advertising as their major traffic-generation plan. But I didn't.)

That's the issue here, it seems to me. You have a big learning-curve ahead of you, to increase your success-chances. And perhaps even to understand enough to be able to select a business model.

It's not about "taking action". It's about setting off in the right direction, and that requires learning.

Yes - all true.

Well, start by excluding anything that resembles a get-rich-quick scheme. (You knew this already, right? ).

No - I don't know nearly enough about you to be able to answer that helpfully, and neither can anyone else who replies. Again, an "observation" rather than a criticism.

If it helps/interests you, here's what I do, myself ... I started doing it with less knowledge than you have, of IM (I know this because I'd never have been able to formulate a post like yours, above, when I started), but I did have writing skills before I started, and that was very helpful to me: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post9267905

You're also fluent in two widely-spoken languages, I think? That might be a big help, too.

Good luck!


.

I think your goal is realistic simply because I've achieved it in about that amount of time doing affiliate stuff. However, I had already had quite a bit of knowledge and technical skills at the time.

You just need to pick something that you know for a fact works and will get results and focus on that each day.

The beginning is always tough and seems slow, but you have to stick with the plan and crush any roadblocks that come your way.

Hi Boris,

Based on your experience, you actually have a wealth of options here. It's one of those situations where I hardly know which one to recommend, since so many are appropriate. However, given the mentioned areas of interest, I believe I can give you some relevant direction.

Home Business Possibilities:

1. Product Creation.
2. Video Marketing.
3. Domain Flipping.

I could list more, but I would only inundate you with ideas. In your shoes, I would seriously consider combining the 3. Do so and your financial goals are easily achievable.

What I'd suggest you do at this point, after having weighed up the possibilities given to you by other members here, is devote a little time to overview the suggestions. The implication being: don't jump in right away. Once you feel you have, I would say, 2 to 3 areas of interest, I would dedicate yourself to learning them, putting together a business plan, and taking action.

I'm a firm believer in not putting all of my eggs in the one basket. So, while concentrating on one method alone is sound advice generally, I do prefer to devote my energies to more than one business at a time. In my current situation, this has lead to me having a team, but to manage 2 to 3 endeavours, you can do this without any assistance for now.

Whatever you choose to do, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post and I wish you every success.

GRM

One thing's for sure: The formula is out here on Warrior Forum! Yes, there are some get rich quick schemes that do work! What if you had some $50,000 or more just to flip around? Your game would be riding a serious Horse-Power and You could be raking profits in a range close to the get rich quick schemes, so do not limit yourself! "If only you can magnify it, and you can systemize it, and you can satisfy it, then you can optimize it, then you can maximize it, and beautify it!" - Anonymous
Change is fundamentally mathematics. I know personally know a few affiliates who rake in substantially per month! If only you're doing what they're doing! Just be sure you tried it, then you failed and KNEW WHY YOU FAILED. If you knew why you failed and there is a solution for it, then... It's been the golden formula for all the ages my friend... Don't be afraid to see failures after you take action, be afraid if there is no remedy for why you failed, which is less likely these days with Google... So put yourself to the test my friend... It's not about the money you invest or time you expend it's basically about what you do to you...

Clarity is a HUGE part of IM success. I hope this post brings some clarity. It's so simple when you know it -- and darn difficult when you don't! I owe my mentors a world of thanks for bringing this clarity.

IM is actually pretty simple: you can sell only one of two things:

1. Products
2. Services

That's it!

And selling products or services online happens in the same basic way for everyone, no matter what they're selling:

Traffic > Opt-in page > Autoresponder series (or e-zine) > Sales page

That's it! It's just that simple. (We IMers tend to overcomplicate things.)

But no matter what your niche is, or whether you're selling a product or a service, do you know what your business model is?

A business model is the framework or skeleton of your business. Essentially there are three types of online business models:

1. Membership-based model

A membership-based business model allows you to build a community of people (your members) who are as passionate about your subject as you are. Your membership fees can be monthly or annual, but either way, you're building recurring, passive income.

There are a lot of resources and information out there to help you build a membership-based business if you're interested in doing this.

2. Product-based model

Selling products allows you to maximize your time and effort by selling items over and over again. This can be hard goods or it can be information products. Information marketing is it's own business model under the product-based model. Information marketing allows you to take your brain to the bank by creating a product ONCE based on what you know and selling it over and over again.

3. Service-based model

Selling services can be great for 1) generating quick cash (as in the case of article writing or video producing) and 2) establishing your expertise and getting testimonials.

However, in the long run, your goal should be to offer services at a PREMIUM. The biggest advantage of IM is LEVERAGE. You're able to leverage your time, money and expertise exponentially online. We all have just 24 hours each day. Time to get ruthless about what you expect for those hours you spend in IM each day. Expect more of yourself and more from your business friends, clients, partners, etc.

What results are you getting for those hours you spend online each day? Ultimately, your services should be at the bottom of your funnel and cost the most since they involve your time and personal attention. (We all have a limited amount of time each day.)

The fun (and confusion) comes in with all of the endless mix-and-match possibilities of the above models. If you're just starting or still struggling to make money, keep it simple:

Affiliate marketing falls under both models. You can choose to market either products or services as an affiliate.

Pick just ONE!

1. Pick ONE niche. (Something you're interested in and know something about.)

2. Pick ONE target market for your product or service. (Who will buy what you're offering? The more specific you are, the more you narrow it down, the more successful you'll be.)

3. Pick ONE business model.

Now that you're clear about what business you're in, FOCUS! (And stop buying any info not related to your niche and target market, period!)

F -- Follow
O -- One
C -- Course
U -- Until
S -- Successful

And remember: build a list, Build a List, BUILD A LIST!

In IM, it's easy to put the cart before the horse. Take a deep breath, step back and consider what type of business you REALLY want. Don't worry about getting traffic or buying that expensive traffic product until you know 1) what your business model is, 2) what niche you're in and 3) WHO your target market is!

Successful business people will tell you that MARKETING is more than half the effort that's needed for success anyway. So pick a niche, target market and business model. Then spend most of your time and effort marketing it.

If you DON'T have a solid plan or system, THAT'S when it's hard. A good system will shave YEARS (and save you big $$$) off of your learning curve

That's why I recommend investing in at least one good, comprehensive IM course (or mentor who will give you such a system) instead of jumping from one $37 e-book to the next. A lot of people here complain about not being able to make any money. But neither are they willing to invest in their business. (Buying a random bunch of $37 e-books doesn't count.)

The best thing I ever did was invest in a comprehensive IM course aimed at REAL business owners, not just other IM wannabes. Yes it was $1500. (It's no longer available.) But it was truly some of the best A-Z IM info I ever bought. Everything else I've learned (from the $37 e-books) since has simply been plugged into this system.

My two best recommendations for phenomenal IM training programs are Ali Brown's Elevate program (ElevateBizTraining.com) and Jeff Walker's Product Launch Formula (ProductLaunchFormula.com)

Get a solid plan or system and then work the plan!

Hope this helps!

Michelle

Its simple concept really:

Supply and demand!

Build your list to provide more supply to their demand and build brand/authority relationship.

Start taking action by setting up a domain, hosting and autoresponder.

From there you can do affiliate marketing, cpa, cpl, networking, build a store etc (hundreds of ways)

Pick a niche and focus on giving value to people and build your brand authority.

Joe

Hi and thanks for your question. In order to achieve your realistic income goals in as short a time frame as possible, I'd make one suggestion.

Get a coach.

I'm not one and am not offering these services. But I've used one and it was the best decision I ever made. Almost overnight you'll achieve focus and be taking action on the things that it will take to move you towards your goals.

Best wishes,
Mark

That's definately a goal that can be achieved in tha amount of time, but you shouldn't fall in the trap of trying to do a dozen things in order to achieve that.

Just make sure you focus on one method and stick to the basics:
-> Build an email list
-> Learn how to set up a sales funnel
-> Learn how to drive targeted traffic to your sales funnel
-> Test, test and test some more...

These are the basics which haven't really changed a lot, so if you can master these things you're well on your way to achieve your goal.

Good luck!

I am looking for two points of advice:

- Is my goal realistic from your perspective or would you recommend adjusting it to allow more time?
- Considering my profile is there any recommendation you could provide me with, which direction to go to?

I think your goals are very realistic. You will have to put in real work to get there but completely do able.

I think the best bet is to get a mentor. Someone that is getting the results you want and model after them and follow their lead. This will help you with analysis paralysis because you are following someone who is getting results.

The last thing is picking one traffic method and stick with it until you are getting some results. Then add more traffic sources as you go

I would advise as has been said before , that to get you focused in this game you need a mentor ! Even the big Gurus have coaches , so to be honest this is Really the best way to go !

If you're looking for a consistent income, Internet marketing is definitely something you want to avoid. You need to have a steady job until to support you while doing this. It's not a guaranteed way to make money.

Not even close to true.