Eric's Newbie Tips For $

[Eric Louviere]

Nothing extraordinary here in this post, but I do remember when I was getting started and these tips would have been greatly appreciated by me back then. (damn, it seems like a decade ago)

Ok, here we go...

Tip Number Uno

Get started even if you are not ready. Too many newbies wait and wait and wait to sell something online feeling they have to be some expert before they are worthy of selling stuff. Not true. sell now and sell always. always be selling. sell, sell, sell!

Your niche does not need to be the best niche in the world and dont take too long to pick one and get rolling. If the IM market is your passion and you're dead set on selling IM stuff to other IMers, then fine, but dont wait. start selling now.

you dont need to be an expert or guru either to start now. You can leverage other people's expertise. Interview others, gain valuable insights/knowledge/techniques and sell it. Or give it away free to build a list. Over deliver too. As long as you provide much more value than what the price tag is asking for, you're fine. And, just make sure when you pick a niche market that it's one where people are buying stuff. Sell what people are already buying. in other words, dont sell crap people are not already buying.

But, dont wait. get going now. Most out there wait and never pull the trigger. the faster you start selling something --- anything --- the faster you'll get to where you want to be.

Also, i've come across PLENTY of marketers who have been at this game for many years and still dont make squat. so, it's not the knowledge.... not the insights... not the secrets... not the techniques... not the tricks... NONE of that is what truly makes you the real money... it's selling stuff -- that makes you money.

and, most dont make money because they have no site.... and they are not selling jack sH&* right now. They have nothing for sale. They are not constantly driving traffic or working on conversions. They never get any good at traffic or conversions because they never have anything for sale. Sell, sell, sell!

...even if you are not ready.

Tip Two

Focus on traffic and conversions. Most spend all their time and effort focusing on everything else except what truly matters most --- traffic and conversions.

Tip Three

Trade time for money if you can. Most never do and forbid to because they see it as work. And, most are in this to escape work. They want automated riches and passive income over night. And although passive income that produces riches is very possible, most never reach it because they give up too soon.

In other words, what most out there do, is focus on "get rich quick" passive income. But, after 3 weeks of crappy results, they move on to something new. And, they never get very good at anything. So, the passive income takes forever to achieve --- even many-many years.

But, those who trade time for money, while building passive income, or "how to drive traffic" and "how to convert" traffic always make a good living while building wealth. Of course, you dont have to trade time for money and most out there will frown on it, call it stupid and continue working month after month without any income. (remember, I'm talking about newbies here)

Tip Four

Mindset. Most out there ignore mindset and really just dont want to "hear it". They say, "dont give me mindset stuff, give me the meat and potatoes... the real secrets!"

Well, guess what. It's 90% mindset... not techniques or secrets. The secret is........ It's YOU! Yes, it's you. Your self belief... your self confidence... your ability to focus on one thing and not get constantly distracted... your determination... your dedication and commitment... your burning/obsessed desire... your positive thinking... your ability to take bold action... your aggressiveness

not secrets.

So, dont ignore you.

Tip Five

Relationships. Most millionaires did not do it alone. They built relationships with others. Almost all businesses are really just "people businesses". Business minded people understand that they need others. they need people. without people, it's hard. It's limited and it's slow. real slow. too slow for most to make it through the long haul of going solo.

Spend some of your time building relationships. It'll change everything, including your bank account.

Tip six

Think big and have HUGE, BIG goals. Most want to grow just a tiny bit, then a tiny bit more, then a tiny bit more than that and so on. So, maybe they want to go from 100 to 200 to 500 and so on.

No sir. Go from 200 to 6k per month, then 20k, then 80k. Get big fast. That's how it really works. I know nobody who grew slowly like that. they usually go from zero to a good income, hang around that income for a while and then make a big change and quadruple it practically overnight.

Go big and go now, dont wait.

Alright, there's my contribution to the newbie cause. Now, someone go make us proud... fast!

Eric Louviere
Million Dollar Marketer, copywriter, and
all around kick ass dude!

PS - feel free to add in your newbie tips as well

[Duff]

So, so true!

Originally Posted by Eric Louviere

Get started even if you are not ready. Too many newbies wait and wait and wait to sell something online feeling they have to be some expert before they are worthy of selling stuff. Not true. sell now and sell always. always be selling. sell, sell, sell!

Great tips Eric, If know for sure that if i had of followed this first step when i first started out i would not have wasted as much time as what i did!

[Ron Killian]

Awesome tips Eric!

Along the lines of Tip 1, my two cents. Don't worry about getting it perfect, just get it out there, you can always improve it later. I know this one because I suffer from it far to often.. Far to many people wait until they have it just right before releasing it, which might be never.

[Will Edwards]

This is great advice for a Newbie Eric - perhaps some folks here may take note of your great tips and actually get going.

Will

[BIG Mike]

Eric, you da man bro! You just summed up the forumula for succeeding riight out of the gate for newcomers (and even some "Experts) in IM

[John Taylor]

Great post eric.

I'd add..

Focus on your plan and invest in the right resources for your business. Don't get sucked into buying the latest big thing, investing in the newest big idea or stuff you don't need.

Automate as much as you can as soon as you can. Centralise you administration, your payment processing and your customer support.



John

[opoqo]

Simplification and Organization in everything

[JasonKing]

Great post Eric. High value.

[Rich Muir]

Awesome post Eric, Several points you made I can definitely relate to.

Rich

[Kevin Riley]

Tip Three get the big thumbs up.

I just had a new Warrior PM me. This person paid $1000 for a program and, of course, is no further ahead. Why? As they told me, "Again I went after the big killing!"

My answer -- as I continually drum into all who get the PCL newsletter -- "Forget about the 'big killing'. Instead, focus on building a real business that will provide you with a steady long-term income".

How I wish more would listen!

I did not get where I am by chasing after the 'big killing'. I did it by applying elbow grease and building a solid business -- with a solid product line.

And ... that work did not kill me. So ... to those who are still chasing after the big-bucks-for-doing-nothing, I say this -- "Get off yer lazy backsides and roll up your sleeves. Yes! It's work, but you're not working for someone else -- you're working for yourself."

[Ben Clemons]

Where were you 3 years ago? lol. This is the exact same thing I tell everyone else who is struggling online. You just have to dive in! Otherwise you will never know. Taking action is #1 ! You can always test and tweak conversions, and its good for the learning experience. (more so than buying 500 ebooks)

[JayXtreme]

Great post Eric...

90% mindset is so true... and quite often it is a poor mindset that stops people initially seeing that it is 90% mindset and this perpetuates a vicious circle

Peace

Jay

[Steven Wagenheim]

I will back up what Eric said about going big fast. I went from 12K to 45K to
100K. Those were my leaps. It took me 4 years to do it though because I
just hung around the lower incomes too long. I got lazy and didn't move on to
the next step.

I am now working on going to 200K by doing what Eric said, building relationships.

Eric's post is dead on...Listen to it.

[Helen Doherty]

I've been at it a few years now (internet marketing that is) and I know my mistakes have been lack of focus, no plan, jumping from one idea to the next, without fully completing it and information overload. My hard drive is a graveyard of half completed projects and ideas.

But now thanks to advice like yours I can stop, restock my thoughts and carry on down one route, not many routes - one route. And I need to give that one route my full attention.

This is where I have been going wrong.

For all I know I could have that $1,000,000 idea or product sitting on my desk top right now, but I won't know till I concentrate on getting one product/idea completed at a time and out there on the net, instead of gathering cyberdust.

[James Turner]

Good solid advice Eric.

When I first started online a few years ago, I made a lot of mistakes. It took me a while to get clear about what I wanted to do. Once I got my plan together, it was much easier to build the foundations of what today is a six figure business.

James

[threeg5]

This is dead on especially tip 1
Folks, those of you that read this anyways this is how it works period!
Start selling something or giving something away, either way either be making money or creating a list those are the 2 things that should always be the end result of your efforts.
Good Luck to All

Mike G

[jhongren]

Tip Four

Mindset. Most out there ignore mindset and really just dont want to "hear it". They say, "dont give me mindset stuff, give me the meat and potatoes... the real secrets!"

Well, guess what. It's 90% mindset... not techniques or secrets. The secret is........ It's YOU! Yes, it's you. Your self belief... your self confidence... your ability to focus on one thing and not get constantly distracted... your determination... your dedication and commitment... your burning/obsessed desire... your positive thinking... your ability to take bold action... your aggressiveness

not secrets.

So, dont ignore you.

Excellent tip, Eric.

Today I just read from one of John Maxwell's books and it says "success is aboout 90% attitude and 10% talent"

I totally think so as it is ok to know little but we are determined to learn it and be successful vs someone who knows alot and think that he is too smart to continue learning.

Cheers,
John

[jbolte1976]

Thanks Eric. Those are great tips. I'll keep those handy to keep my focus where it needs to be

[bauger]

Good solid tip there Eric

I think a lot of new marketer don't have the right mindset when they start out. Most times its clouded by fast success which is hardly the case when doing stuff online.

[tomm]

Hey Eric, have you looked at this:
Warrior Forum Live Event DVD's

[Eric Louviere]

Originally Posted by tomm

Hey Eric, have you looked at this:
Warrior Forum Live Event DVD's

nope, have not seen that. All DVD's have been shipped though and I have not heard anything from anyone other than Johnny for a long time now. And, hopefully he got his DVD's by now.

+++

It seems a few in this thread are really taking the tips and running with them. That's awesome. Thanks for the positive responses.

Eric

[SusanUSA]

Hi Eric,

I love this post! I still consider myself a newbie even though I was blessed with great success out of the shoots! Part of the reason was that I HAD to succeed. I was out of money and the bottom fell out of my field (investment real estate). Fear of not being able to pay bills has a way of making one have laser focus on success. I didn't have the option to learn several strategies or bounce around and not take action.

Now that I'm not so much against the wall, I play tricks on my psyche to keep up the focus. I think two things work best for me so I will add these are my points of advice: 1) I carve out big chunks of time to stay focused on one project -- like a week to complete a big project or a couple days to complete an ebook. I dig into it and stay on it until it's done.

2) I try to write a daily list of the six things I want to accomplish. This is not my idea, but rather one used by many hugely successful business people. I list no more than six tasks and then try to get them all done. I become a slave to my list and don't do anything else (no Warrior Forum :-) ) until my list of six tasks is completed. When these six items are complete, I have a choice to either do more work, study the business, or whatever . . .

These two strategies help me get my work done and then reap the rewards of the focused efforts.

Eric, thanks for starting this thread. I am eager to use your tips.

[Eric Louviere]

Very good Susan. I surely know where you are coming from with your post and experiences. I tend to do a similar type of thing with my days, make lists and all and try to keep it to a minimum. Sometimes, I only have one major thing on my list to complete -- and no matter what, that's the main thing to do.

I think for many out there, even if it was just ONE main thing they needed to complete for the day, or week, then much more would be completed and therefore, results would appear.

I'm glad to hear of your laser focus ability. The ability to laser focus is quite important to success and results and far too many people struggle with that.

One other quick tip is this... most people out there hate the thought of failure, so they refrain from doing many of the things that could bring upon any kind of failure. However, failure is quite critical to success as well. Failing is another opportunity to do it again and again, but better each time around.

We've all heard about "being a friend of failure" before, but most still let the fear of failure defeat them and prevent them from taking bold action. Instead, people should fail fast, get the results fast and know how to adjust and get better and better results. It's a stepping stone and it's a prerequisite to success.

In fact, to elaborate on this a bit more... I have told people before that when you find yourself tweaking, tweaking and tweaking stuff all the time --- you know you're "in the game" and doing the right things.

I mean, before I made great money, I never tweaked anything. But, once I found myself on a daily basis firing up my computer and tweaking stuff, I was in the money. So, if you find yourself tweaking your stuff all the time, you're on the right track and money should be on it's way. Tweak your ads, your sites, your AR emails, your headlines, your offers, your up-sells and so on... (test and track and tweak constantly). It's a game. And, to win that game, you need to be aggressive and have that killer instinct to win.

Hope that helps some more...

[Mr. Orange]

Great Tips Eric!

I especially agree with #4 - mindset. That is important in anything you do. If you think you can, you will. if you think you can't, you won't.

[Joseph Park]

Eric,

I'll just add one more tip to your wonderful list of newbie tips:

- Focus on one project at a time. I've made mitakes too often by working on 3 or 4 projects at the same time. They were all great projects to profit from but since I wasn't able to focus on one thing at a time, I ended up spending and wasting more time and energy without launching any of the projects in time.

So there you go. : )

[Joseph Park]

And also outsource as much as possible. RentACoder.com, Elance.com, etc are good places to start. And all you have to do is marketing your product.

Hope that helps..

[LivingCovers]

Originally Posted by Joseph Park

And also outsource as much as possible. RentACoder.com, Elance.com, etc are good places to start. And all you have to do is marketing your product.

Hope that helps..

Outsourcing reduces the amount of time and energy that can be expended on a
particular project. Instead you focus your energy and time on goal-oriented objectives
that will bring out the most result.

[Peter_J]

a tip I would recommend, especially for newer IMers (like myself) is to take at least one day a week away from the internet.

I went on a 3 month road trip recently and there was much less net access than I'd been told there was.

at first this drove me batty but after a while I realised there were positive benfits.

I was able to get rid of all my duplcate plr, and because I wasn't being distracted by the net I was actually able to formulate a plan, something I don't think enough newbies do.

I'm not suggesting that people should take 3 months off but if they could give one day a week to their business plan and not be distracted by offers and talk of the latest new thing before they've got any benefit from the last 'new thing' that they bought they might get a lot further.

I've returned with a new sense of purpose and an actual plan which I'm sticking with. As a result I've started to slowly make profits - now I need to refine the plan in light of these results, hopefully some tweaking will bring further gains.

[Angela Neo]

Eric, your post just came in handy... it's a very good reminder to just get the projects going instead of planning it to "death"!

[Kate Carpenter]

Not just a great post...a great thread!! Lots of inspiration and a kick in the pants!

Thanks!

Kate

[GlynisG]

Focus and action are bothe very important.
But with Im this is kind of difficult, especially for starters, because there is a great amount of information you get everyday about the next best way to make $$$ in no time.
I totally agree with Eric that you just have to start selling. Consider it on the job training.

Glynis

[Kelly Verge]

Originally Posted by Eric Louviere

One other quick tip is this... most people out there hate the thought of failure, so they refrain from doing many of the things that could bring upon any kind of failure. However, failure is quite critical to success as well. Failing is another opportunity to do it again and again, but better each time around.

We've all heard about "being a friend of failure" before, but most still let the fear of failure defeat them and prevent them from taking bold action. Instead, people should fail fast, get the results fast and know how to adjust and get better and better results. It's a stepping stone and it's a prerequisite to success.

In fact, to elaborate on this a bit more... I have told people before that when you find yourself tweaking, tweaking and tweaking stuff all the time --- you know you're "in the game" and doing the right things.

I mean, before I made great money, I never tweaked anything. But, once I found myself on a daily basis firing up my computer and tweaking stuff, I was in the money. So, if you find yourself tweaking your stuff all the time, you're on the right track and money should be on it's way. Tweak your ads, your sites, your AR emails, your headlines, your offers, your up-sells and so on... (test and track and tweak constantly). It's a game. And, to win that game, you need to be aggressive and have that killer instinct to win.

Hope that helps some more...

"If you want to succeed faster, double your failure rate."

[Chris W. Sutton]

Eric... you da man! you da man! I hope I can grow up to be just like you someday!

I tell you one thing... I don't even CARE if I'm stuck up in the air on the teeter-totter with you! You da man!

[GlynisG]

Another important thing is to work both on a short term and a long term plan. Failing to plan = Planning to fail.

Glynis

[sashas]

thanks for the tip Eric

Its amazing, but it can be really hard to keep yourself motivated when you're working from your home. I got lucky in my first year working online. That made me simply not want to work, to think that the "money will take care of itself". Profits took a huge hit, right around the sub prime crisis.

But here I am again, determined to exceed my previous year by at least a 100k

Thanks!

[edcen]

Your tips are very interesting for newbies.....

[SusanUSA]

Originally Posted by GlynisG

Focus and action are bothe very important.
But with Im this is kind of difficult, especially for starters, because there is a great amount of information you get everyday about the next best way to make $$$ in no time.
I totally agree with Eric that you just have to start selling. Consider it on the job training.

Glynis

One thing I discovered about reading too many how-to books and studying too much -- is that it's actually another form of fear-of-failure. We can trick ourselves into thinking we are "working" when we are really avoiding getting into the game.

When I first got into IM, it wasn't because I wanted to make a little extra money on the side. Instead, I was up against the wall and scared spitless (that's becasue tears had taken up all my available fluids) about how I was going to pay my bills. I couldn't take the time to study or read multiple how-to books our programs. Fear forced me to take action.

I bought two eBooks and then did everything the authors told me to do . . . I worked from dawn to late into the night. Like Eric mentioned, I tweaked . . .

The great news is that I had a great micro-niche so my results were outstanding! But even with a less hungry audience, I know I would have had good success.

So, what am I trying to say? Get started! Just do it! Cook or get out of the kitchen. That's what I had to do! And it paid off. I am now a fulltime internet marketer. I haven't yet reached my number in the sky goal, but my business pays my bills and keeps the bill monsters from keeping me up nights! :-)

[Lloyd Lopes]

Yep...Eric you are indeed da man...

An addition to tip 1 .... When you actually pick something to sell...then stick your head in the sand , say %$#% everything else and crack on. You may miss some mind blowing opportunity , but thats the point...

I struggled with that one for a while...

[Peter Thompson]

Hi Eric,

Fantastic post. Rings exactly true to me. It didn't take long for me to learn the number one aspect of Internet Marketing . " Taking Action " Actually doing something with the knowledge you aquire. The best cure for information overload is " Taking Action ". Information alone is just information but until you implement wha you learn it does not become a useful tool.

My biggest problem is this. " Time " . I am sure a lot of other Internet Marketers can emphasise with this. I understand that getting the ball rolling takes time and I am in for the long haul. I have seen my returns grow every month but they still are well short of where I need them to be.

This brings me to your TIP 3 ( Trade Time for money ) . I was wondering if you could expand on this a little. Do you mean freelancing your skills or doing jobs offline. I have a reasonable grasp of dreamweaver and seo , I can use photoshop to create banners and basic graphics ( I would not say I am a graphic designer ) and I am pretty good at research. Could I freelance and how would I go about it. Is it worth it.

Thanks in Advance

Peter Thompson

[napoleonfirst]

Ok, newbie. Get a .com and use a Wordpress blog in the domain. Then get Trackboost to get traffic. Remember to get a hot niche like Weight Loss and Water gas.

[Eric Louviere]

Originally Posted by Peter Thompson

Hi Eric,

Fantastic post. Rings exactly true to me. It didn't take long for me to learn the number one aspect of Internet Marketing . " Taking Action " Actually doing something with the knowledge you aquire. The best cure for information overload is " Taking Action ". Information alone is just information but until you implement wha you learn it does not become a useful tool.

My biggest problem is this. " Time " . I am sure a lot of other Internet Marketers can emphasise with this. I understand that getting the ball rolling takes time and I am in for the long haul. I have seen my returns grow every month but they still are well short of where I need them to be.

This brings me to your TIP 3 ( Trade Time for money ) . I was wondering if you could expand on this a little. Do you mean freelancing your skills or doing jobs offline. I have a reasonable grasp of dreamweaver and seo , I can use photoshop to create banners and basic graphics ( I would not say I am a graphic designer ) and I am pretty good at research. Could I freelance and how would I go about it. Is it worth it.

Thanks in Advance

Peter Thompson

I just mean that MOST folks out there are looking for the quick, FREE, easy, simple, effortless way of striking it rich via some scheme or trick (which if found is usually temporary anyway) and that because of that, they keep jumping around from one thing to the next, never getting very good at one... specific... thing. They are 10% good at a bunch of things, and never 90% good at any ONE thing.

However, on the flip side, a small minority of people out there get very good at ONE thing, such as copywriting... or PPC... or graphic art... or programming... or ghostwriting... or affiliate management... or virtual customer service.... or web design... and so on!

Most out there never get good at one thing, or build up a foundation. If one person focuses strictly on being the best at press releases, that person will surely make money. Or, if one person focuses on copywriting, that person will surely make good money.

So, if you look at MOST people out there, they want it quick and easy (without work). AND, if 99% of the folks out there are of the mindset to refrain from "work", then guess what? That means if you are of the 1% -- willing to "work" and "trade time for money" and do the things most dont want to do... because they are caught up in the "quick and easy treasure hunting lottery mindset", then of course, you should have a huge advantage of building up a service or something that'll provide a solid income foundation.

that solid income foundation can allow you to work from home, quit your job, earn more than you ever have before, but MOST importantly... focus more on building a business -- than chasing pie-in-the-sky pipe-dreams. that's an advanatage, and a real one at that.

building a real business will get you the business skills most marketers will never have.

Lastly...

There are 11 things I've learned about making HUGE money online. these 11 things are the true gold, the all time best ways of making big money... you'll never hear secrets like this ever again... I should charge 18k for these secrets... and here they are:

number one: Generate targeted traffic

number two: convert that traffic into buyers

number three: I forgot the other 9

If you want it bad enough, you'll get it. So, maybe upgrade your "want it bad enough" mindset.

Later

Eric Louviere
Stud Marketer, Da Man,
and 2 and 0 in fantasy
football thus far!

[MikeHumphreys]

Great post Eric (as usual)

Peter's question relates exactly to what I wanted to add.

Originally Posted by Peter Thompson

This brings me to your TIP 3 ( Trade Time for money ) . I was wondering if you could expand on this a little. Do you mean freelancing your skills or doing jobs offline. I have a reasonable grasp of dreamweaver and seo , I can use photoshop to create banners and basic graphics ( I would not say I am a graphic designer ) and I am pretty good at research. Could I freelance and how would I go about it. Is it worth it.

Thanks in Advance

Peter Thompson

Peter, the internet right now is very similar to the California Gold Rush in the mid-1800s. Alot of people headed out seeking their fortune. Some found gold. Many others didn't. And the smart ones made a fortune selling what the gold miners needed like food, mining supplies, banks, and so on.

If you have -- or can develop -- a valuable skill that internet marketers need, then you can make a full-time self-employed living just from that skill. Things like copywriting, graphic design, SEO, article writing are just a few of the many things that internet marketers need help with.

Then take a portion of what your freelance business produces and use it to build your own info product business.

The other part of trading time for money is don't waste time learning things that you can easily outsource...especially if it's a task that costs you less than you make with your freelance skill/business. Case in point, I rarely install a script myself. I do know several people that I gladly pay who will install it for me and they'll do it faster and easier than I could. My time is better served writing sales copy.

Hope that helps,

Mike

[Bruce NewMedia]

Eric your comments about 'tweaking' are soooo true.

I've worked with people who've set up ONE SITE, never touched it after that. Their site doesn't work and they basically give up. Often, if they would just start making intelligent changes, step by step, they might be closer to success than they realize.

Without the tweaking and constant massaging of these sites, offers, emails etc. its hard to make any progress. ....When you are tweaking you are really in business, imo.
________
Bruce

[AllAboutAction]

Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim

I will back up what Eric said about going big fast. I went from 12K to 45K to
100K. Those were my leaps. It took me 4 years to do it though because I
just hung around the lower incomes too long. I got lazy and didn't move on to
the next step.

I am now working on going to 200K by doing what Eric said, building relationships.

Eric's post is dead on...Listen to it.

Are these figures on the same scale as the OP... i.e. Monthly?

[Kim Standerline]

I agree.

My Mantra to anyone, just get it up there no matter what it's like. You can tweek it to your hearts content later

Kim

Originally Posted by Ron Killian

Awesome tips Eric!

Along the lines of Tip 1, my two cents. Don't worry about getting it perfect, just get it out there, you can always improve it later. I know this one because I suffer from it far to often.. Far to many people wait until they have it just right before releasing it, which might be never.

[Frank Donovan]

Oops. I thought Eric's OP looked familiar - then I realized it's over a year old




Frank

[AllAboutAction]

Originally Posted by Frank Donovan

Oops. I thought Eric's OP looked familiar - then I realized it's over a year old

Frank

Oops, I didn't pay attention to the year either.

[Nicholas Ho]

Tip 5 = Awesome.
It is who you know that matters.