Are Your Mind And Your Profits Limited?

2 replies
Hi Again,

While I've been selling some gadgets on Ebay I've been bouncing into the forum all afternoon and seeing some interesting threads on peoples perceptions of what IM is about and what works.

It reminded me of some coaching clients and IMers that I've spoken to who have some very limiting beliefs about some aspects of success, business and money.

I've some Warriors displaying similar symptoms and although I have the opinion that no-one is in the perfect position and able to judge another person, we can all learn from each other and perhaps the discussion of some common limiting beliefs may save some fellow warriors a lot of wasted time and money, and even give someone an 'ahah' moment that can change their results for the better.

If that all sounds like gibberish and you're wondering what the hell I'm on about, here are some examples of things which I've encountered before that may explain:

Scenario 1 - Memberships are complicated and resource intensive to run.

This is a classic believe that many people in IM have.

I have a simple way to look at this (maybe too simple - you decide)......

"Your aim should be to set an expectation that you are comfortably able to overdeliver on"

So, if you're thinking "I'd love to have a membership site but they're complicated, expensive and I don't want all my time tied up looking after the members and answering forum questions".

Consider this:

If you set the expectation that for the $5 a month (or whatever) you will provide one audio interview with an expert - THAT is what you have set the expectation for.

No-one says you need a forum.
No-one says you need a 'vault' full of free stuff.
No-one says you have to provide a ton of other stuff that you didn't tell them to expect.

A membership can be as simple as a password protected directory where you email the new password each month - you can do this for free.

So, to summarise, in this case you can run a membership site for no cost and 1 hour of time per month.

(how many members can you service like this? how much extra work is it for each new member? how many times could you repeat this with the time you have for your online business?)


Scenario 2 - I can't do a JV, they're not easy to get as I'm not a Guru and don't have a big list.


This is a classic IM myth.

If you visit your bank manager to get a loan, what does he care about? (I'll save you having to think - Can he clearly see that he will get his money (and more) back?)

This particular myth comes easily to people who are natural victims of the world or have been putting their effort into things which don't suit them. At some point even the best people get discouraged when they're not seeing good results.

While it is true that you can't just naturally expect a JV with any particular person, it's not right to generalise that right up to the point where you don't believe you can do a JV - You can!

The way to reframe this limiting believe is to stop thinking about lists, money and status and get back to basics - VALUE.

What is value? how is value calculated? who decides value?

The simple point here is that YOU do NOT decide what value you have to offer.

Value, like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

(If you've ever tried to sell a house you'll really understand this - the house does not have the value you give it, it has the value that buyers assign to it. No matter how much you value it, it's "worth" what someone will pay - maybe that's more than you would)

So, what does all this mean?

It means that you can stop putting yourself down and start looking at how you can help other people. The more you can help someone, the more value you have to them.

Like with the bank manager, if you make it obvious that you're going to make them money - getting a JV is much easier.

This principle actually applies to a much greater extent and in many areas but for the sake of post length (yeah, I do care about it despite what you might think ) I'll leave that there for now.


Scenario 3 - I don't have enough money to be able to create products and outsource the stuff people keep telline me I should

Problem - See scenario 2 - value.

This applies to many situations but I'll frame it within the context of a membership site since we're all familar with that concept.

So, let's say I want to start a membership site but I have hardly any money and I don't consider myself an expert at anything special - can I still do it?

Of course!

No-one says that YOU have to be the one with the marketable skill/knowledge - but if you can facilitate someone who is, you can create a significant business.

Here's one way to approach this:

1 - Find a market that's after something that would suit a membership model.

2 - Find at least 6 experts (or people with enough knowledge to address the markets various needs)

3 - Find out how many experts those 6 could also put you in contact with.

4 - Interview as many of them as you can and record the interviews.

5 - Find someone with enough techy skills to set you up with a membership facility and some graphics for your niche and arrange to bring them in to your project in a way that they take care of the techy stuff and get a percentage of the revenue from the site.

(if you like, you can break the niche into sub niches and gradually build up your empire one small niche membership at a time -but just make sure you're building by following a bigger picture than just picking niches and doing them in isolation)

6 - Build as many win-win relationships as you can with people who are interested in creating content, sharing assets, contributing and be prepared to make it worth their while.

Note: I've done this before where I've been the techy and ended up with $8k a month for simply updating the resources that the others created. We all did well. I've also done this where I've created the resources and other people have done the techy bits and graphics.

Be open to working in whatever way gets you the results in a win-win arrangement for everyone involved.


Scenario 4 - I'm too stupid, or too non-technical to be a good IMer.

I hope you realise how wrong this is.

After everything I've already said - you should now realise that you don't have to be the clever one, you don't have to be the expert and you don't have to be the techy. You just have to be able to play a useful part in a mutually beneficial opportunity.

If you're not creative -just look for people that are and see how you can help them. Creative people are usually very lazy and would love someone to do the simple things that drive them crazy (I know).


Anyway, this post is getting rediculously long now so I'll leave it there and hopefully I've made the point I was going for - Don't put yourself in a box that results in reducing your options for success, it's probably not a real box.

Andy
#limiting beliefs #marketing #myths
  • Profile picture of the author Peter Bestel
    Spot on post Andy

    Limiting beliefs can be the death of, or even the failure to start of any new venture.

    I hope people can see themselves in your examples but it sometimes takes a degree of self-awareness that's simply not there. It's all to easy for some folk to read your examples and say to themselves, "Yes, but my problem is..." and conveniently find a reason not to act.

    There are some things within IM that I've held back from committing to, not because I believed it was impossible for me to do, but simply because I was aware it was outside of my comfort zone. Over the years I learned that when I get to the edge of my comfort zone, instead of getting nervous and retreating, I now get excited with the prospect of learning something new.

    This forum is great for seeing what is possible. I truly believe that if it's possible for one person then it's possible for anyone - including me.

    - Peter
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    • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
      I agree,

      Your comfort zone can be the killer in your business - going to the edge and getting excited is where all the best juice in life is to be found.
      Signature

      nothing to see here.

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