24 replies
started out with less than $100 with no prior knowledge of IM and is now successful at what you're doing?
  • Profile picture of the author XponentSYS
    Originally Posted by Knightsofusa View Post

    started out with less than $100 with no prior knowledge of IM and is now successful at what you're doing?
    Here's how I started.....

    It was 1995 when I first got interested in "direct response" marketing (not Internet marketing mind you) and tried my hand at selling 900 numbers and "tracing" services. For a few years, I tread water there. I stayed afloat but made no real splash.

    There was more VALUE there in the education than whatever earnings I was lucky enough to manage.

    In 1998 I started to venture online with my new found DRM skills looking for ways to apply them online.

    I found the process through which I'd apply these skills in something called "Beginners Central aka Cookie Cutter Marketing System". I'm sure some old timers around here like Willie Crawford may remember BC/CC. This was 1998/1999.

    All went well and I ended up becoming one of their most successful students - making about 10 grand a month doing nothing but "ezine advertising" (the main traffic technique taught in BC/CC.

    That ride lasted until 1999/2000 - when the FTC decided it was an uncool business model because it was "self replicating" and shut it down (the same model that got Frank Kern in hot water). Even though it got shut down, it's where I cut my teeth in IM.

    After that, I did "local/offline" for clients around town and then used a series of JVs to build a mammoth "offline information marketing" empire that services medical private practitioners. That is a business I still own today and the whole thing was built up using JV agreements with advisors in my chosen spaces.

    I've used a portion of my earnings from the above business to build my internet marketing and coaching businesses that I also still have today.

    It took minimal capital to start my first business because I did it with JVs. What I didn't invest in capital though, I invested in TIME. Now since I have loads of capital, I buy my traffic and convert it - but it hadn't always been that way - and doesn't HAVE to be that way. It's my choice.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
    I started out a little over 20 years ago. I had money, but it didn't require investment back then; not initially, to get the ball rolling. Nowadays, you can get started cheaply enough, though: domain, hosting, theme, plugin.

    Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author gamestoenjoy
    I started five years ago without any money and no knowledge at creating websites,
    and managed to build a successful game site with 5,000 daily visits.

    Now most of my earnings comes for this site
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    • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
      Originally Posted by tristatemedia View Post

      ok, with all due respect. the ones that started many years ago was alot easier
      Depends on how you look at it.

      20 years ago, everything was new. No information, in other words. You had to figure it all out yourself. Nowadays, the newcomer has everything they need to learn and - let's hope - earn.

      Tom
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      • Profile picture of the author C. Sierra Love
        I started at the ripe old age of 11 selling cinnamon flavored toothpicks in school.

        Then graduated to mlm network marketing by the time I graduated high school. I call the following decade, the lost years.

        Because I went from company to company, program to program...believing the hype that never lived up to it's promises.

        Eventually, I wised up and started paying attention to what the gurus were doing instead of what they were pitching.

        I got a coach and things rapidly changed.

        Some saw it as an over-night success; but the truth is, those ten years weren't lost. They were just not focused. I learned a little here, a little there...and when I started focusing on the right things, success was simple.

        (Not easy, simple)

        Unfortunately, I didn't understand that success is a process that's different for each individual so when -- no matter how hard I tried -- the majority of my people kept failing, I didn't have the stomach for it...so I got out.

        Fortunately, marketing is marketing and my hard-won skillset has transferred to premium offline marketing, coaching and book publishing.

        However...

        I think the heart of your question isn't so much about my journey as it is about the money to get started factor.

        The bottom line is:

        "If you can't make money without money, you can't make money with money." DK

        Meaning, you can burn through a whole lotta moolah trying to figure everything out. Throwing stuff to the wall to see what sticks.

        There's a better way...

        It's best to test small. Fail small. Get data. Test some more. Fail some more. When something clicks, test bigger. When the bigger works, roll it out and drill as deep as that oil well can go...all the way to the bank!

        (Rinse and repeat)

        R
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      • Profile picture of the author Altered State
        Originally Posted by tristatemedia View Post

        ok, with all due respect. the ones that started many years ago was alot easier
        Originally Posted by Get Rich Methods View Post

        Depends on how you look at it.

        20 years ago, everything was new. No information, in other words. You had to figure it all out yourself. Nowadays, the newcomer has everything they need to learn and - let's hope - earn.

        Tom
        Maybe what tristatemedia should or intended to say is that the views of how people started 20 years ago are probably less interesting for noobs than the views of people that started last year from nothing and are already making money.

        Don't misunderstand me, obviously people who started earlier, will have better knowledge, but someone who started from nothing in 2013 and now makes a living might be of more help to people that want to start from nothing at 2015 than people who has been already knowing the business from the 90s. Probably the best way of learning IM today is completely opposite to the best way of learning 15 years ago.
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        • Profile picture of the author XponentSYS
          Originally Posted by Altered State View Post

          Maybe what tristatemedia should or intended to say is that the views of how people started 20 years ago are probably less interesting for noobs than the views of people that started last year from nothing and are already making money.

          Don't misunderstand me, obviously people who started earlier, will have better knowledge, but someone who started from nothing in 2013 and now makes a living might be of more help to people that want to start from nothing at 2015 than people who has been already knowing the business from the 90s. Probably the best way of learning IM today is completely opposite to the best way of learning 15 years ago.
          I'm I get what you're saying to the point that PROCESSES change. You're right here n that they DO..... and HAVE.

          Check this out though........ processes may disappear, develops and change but the FUNDIMENTALS OF MARKETING never do. They stay the same, and have been for decades (centuries).

          The FUNDIMENTALS of marketing are largely based on psychology which is a by they don't change. Psychology stays the same.

          It's a "boring" point...... but one worth bringing to the forefront.
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      • Profile picture of the author XponentSYS
        Originally Posted by Get Rich Methods View Post

        Depends on how you look at it.

        20 years ago, everything was new. No information, in other words. You had to figure it all out yourself. Nowadays, the newcomer has everything they need to learn and - let's hope - earn.

        Tom
        Yeah some might say that now it's easier.

        Remember, some day TODAY..... will be "a long time ago". You've got to start somewhere, so just START.
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  • Profile picture of the author NeedBucksNow
    Sounds like me. I started out about 10 years ago with internet marketing but never had much success because I didn't realize that having your own website makes all the difference in the world. I spent WAY too much time skipping from product to product when I wasn't making any sales. I would have to say that since joining the forum, I've learned more in a couple months than I ever did in 10 years of trying to do it all myself. It's cool to see that there are real ways to make a living online & be successful with a little hard work, dedication & using the right techniques
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Knightsofusa View Post

    started out with less than $100 with no prior knowledge of IM and is now successful at what you're doing?
    I started out with a bit less than $100 and no knowledge of IM at all.

    I started by writing articles for others (I'd done some offline writing before). I had no idea about prices/values/marketing and started writing articles for $25 each, but quickly realised that this was an "in-between" kind of price which many people thought was "too high"(!), while others were willing to pay much more.

    In my naivety, I didn't even know, at the time, that they were two distinct groups of people using "content" in two very different ways.

    Anyway, the people who paid my prices and bought them kept coming back for more, so I increased the price very quickly to $50 each (my first sensible move!) and then more gradually to $75.

    After a few months of that, I decided to investigate how and why my customers were using them and always wanting more, and I quickly realised that it was much better to be "the marketer" than "the writer", so I stopped writing them for other people and started learning how to use them myself. Which was how I became an "article marketer", just by being my own only customer.

    I'm still doing the same thing today (and haven't written a word for anyone else for 6 years, now). And my timing was bad, because it's actually a little easier to get started in article marketing now, in 2015, than it was when I started!

    When I first got going, of course, I made a whole series of mistakes because I had very little idea what I was doing. But got there in the end.

    And the wisdom of Ben's point, above, about the fundamentals of marketing being unchanging and psychology-driven are actually very well illustrated by article marketing. It's a timeless business model, which existed long before the internet (some say centuries before) and can be done online, just as offline. Article directories (which have almost nothing to do with real article marketing at all) can come and go - and they do - but the fundamentals of article marketing are unchanged.


    .
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    • Profile picture of the author AzzamS
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      I started out with a bit less than $100 and no knowledge of IM at all.

      I started by writing articles for others (I'd done some offline writing before). I had no idea about prices/values/marketing and started writing articles for $25 each, but quickly realised that this was an "in-between" kind of price which many people thought was "too high"(!), while others were willing to pay much more.

      In my naivety, I didn't even know, at the time, that they were two distinct groups of people using "content" in two very different ways.

      Anyway, the people who paid my prices and bought them kept coming back for more, so I increased the price very quickly to $50 each (my first sensible move!) and then more gradually to $75.

      After a few months of that, I decided to investigate how and why my customers were using them and always wanting more, and I quickly realised that it was much better to be "the marketer" than "the writer", so I stopped writing them for other people and started learning how to use them myself. Which was how I became an "article marketer", just by being my own only customer.

      I'm still doing the same thing today (and haven't written a word for anyone else for 6 years, now). And my timing was bad, because it's actually a little easier to get started in article marketing now, in 2015, than it was when I started!

      When I first got going, of course, I made a whole series of mistakes because I had very little idea what I was doing. But got there in the end.

      And the wisdom of Ben's point, above, about the fundamentals of marketing being unchanging and psychology-driven are actually very well illustrated by article marketing. It's a timeless business model, which existed long before the internet (some say centuries before) and can be done online, just as offline. Article directories (which have almost nothing to do with real article marketing at all) can come and go - and they do - but the fundamentals of article marketing are unchanged.


      .
      I don't fully follow Alexa (although followed your stuff for a while) What is it that you do that you only write articles for yourself, I always thought of you as using this forum as a medium to get more clients?
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      • Profile picture of the author discrat
        Originally Posted by AzzamS View Post

        I don't fully follow Alexa ,I always thought of you as using this forum as a medium to get more clients?

        Nope, some people do actually come here without any self serving purposes and just add value
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Literally, Zero dollars I started out with nearly 7 years ago.

      Did the Free Blogging thing with Adsense and CPA and built it up from there.

      But literally nothing at first.



      - Robert Andrew
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  • Profile picture of the author AzzamS
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by AzzamS View Post

      I always thought of you as using this forum as a medium to get more clients?
      Not at all. Can't imagine why you might have thought that: I'd actually stopped writing for others before I joined this forum. I've never had anything to promote, here, at all. I'm just here to chat, learn, gossip and worsen people's indigestion.

      Originally Posted by AzzamS View Post

      What is it that you do that you only write articles for yourself
      Article marketing. As the traffic-generation method of my affiliate marketing business.

      .
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      • Profile picture of the author teeowl
        Hello Alexa, please how do you scale up article marketing?

        I just discovered the difference between article marketing and article directory marketing a few weeks ago. For now, I can write 7 - 9 quality articles a week. I wanted to know how do you scale up your article marketing results without working more than 10 hours a day?

        When I can afford it, I am thinking of hiring ghost writers and a virtual assistance to get websites and offline publications where my articles can be published, do you have any framework or ideas on how to scale up article marketing to get more results.


        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        Not at all. Can't imagine why you might have thought that: I'd actually stopped writing for others before I joined this forum. I've never had anything to promote, here, at all. I'm just here to chat, learn, gossip and worsen people's indigestion.



        Article marketing. As the traffic-generation method of my affiliate marketing business.

        .
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      • Profile picture of the author AzzamS
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        Not at all. Can't imagine why you might have thought that: I'd actually stopped writing for others before I joined this forum. I've never had anything to promote, here, at all. I'm just here to chat, learn, gossip and worsen people's indigestion.



        Article marketing. As the traffic-generation method of my affiliate marketing business.

        .
        I am probably thinking back to some conversations we shared when ezines were hit with Google and that kind of stuck as well as your frequent contribution to article writing related topics.
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Originally Posted by AzzamS View Post

          I am probably thinking back to some conversations we shared when ezines were hit with Google
          Ezines were never hit by Google. Ezines are electronic-magazines - they're sent out to their subscribers by email. They're basically targeted email newsletters: they're not websites.

          You're perhaps thinking of article directories?

          Those were hit by Google, regarding the value of their backlinks, but that's never had anything to do with article marketing anyway. (The Panda updates actually helped us article marketers ).

          The purpose of putting articles into article directories is simply for potential publishers to find them there, when they're looking for content to syndicate: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post5068872


          .
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          • Profile picture of the author AzzamS
            Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

            Ezines were never hit by Google. Ezines are electronic-magazines - they're sent out to their subscribers by email. They're basically targeted email newsletters: they're not websites.

            You're perhaps thinking of article directories?

            Those were hit by Google, regarding the value of their backlinks, but that's never had anything to do with article marketing anyway. (The Panda updates actually helped us article marketers ).

            The purpose of putting articles into article directories is simply for potential publishers to find them there, when they're looking for content to syndicate: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post5068872


            .
            Trailing through some of your old stuff to refresh my memory and it was indeed the discussions about Syndicate/Duplicate and when Article Directories were hit. Seems like a lifetime again, although I am sure the topic is relevant to many still now and some get contribution from yourself on this subject to bring clarity to those who want it.
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  • Profile picture of the author TaniasMoney
    I started out with $2 EXACTLY!

    Glad i invested that, not making a full time income yet but definitely a part time guaranteed income for now.
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  • Profile picture of the author sharpturn
    When I very first started my payment was time....lots and lots of my time!
    I didn't start spending until I got into building websites.
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  • Profile picture of the author salmanijaz
    I started 5 years back and my investment was time ... LOTS of it ...
    I had no money to invest ...

    I JVed with designers and developers and thats when i had success ....
    i am still running this model and its scaling very well for me
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  • Profile picture of the author missmystery
    I have spent a lot of money on IM, but there are free methods I've implemented and made money on.

    Zazzle and CPA. I've also made money through forum advertising and private label programs.

    Although a good model is try one thing and stick to it, I don't see anything wrong with trying as many methods as possible, grow your knowledge, and find something that works for you. Most things work, I am not disputing that. But does it work for you?

    Find something that does then stick to it.

    For me, providing value is the only thing that has gotten people's interest for a longer period of time.
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  • Profile picture of the author seoboyz01
    My biggest expense was time and not money starting out. I read everything I could about internet marketing, SEO and anything related to earning money online. And, yes like many I made some mistakes. That's part of the process. I didn't have $500 or anything near that to start with. Over time, I found my passion, my niche and started working in that. And, it's something that still earns very well for me today, despite Google's ups and downs and sideways moves. And, I plan on sticking to this path for a long time to come.
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