A THOUSAND THANK YOUS to you :)

So, I just want to thank all of you a thousand times.

Oh, my! Looks like I already did!

Hmm. So what else could I do here. What do you want to know. What would make you feel appreciated, and thanked just for having graced this thread.

What ever could I do?

(she pours a drink, and ponders a moment)

(ok, maybe it is her 2nd drink)




Ok, yes, I have some ideas now.

KIS APIS

So, lol, I just had to look up Apis, which appears to be a bull, but this is not what my letters stand for. So, no, you don't need to kiss a bull. You can if you want, but it is not necessary.

It is "Keep it Simple, And Play It Smart."

So, what does that mean. Well....

When I first got my IM bite - like a vampire had taken my blood and turned me and I realized this was a direction I wanted to go into - that first campaign was really simple.

I was a total noob. I put up the most hideous site with spelling that would have laughed me out of the spelling bee, but that is not what sold what I was selling.

It was the technique I used to sell the product, and some lucky timing as well.

It was being in the right place at the right time - but more importantly it was my actually following through on a technique that I bought in an ebook. I got it, I applied it, and it worked. The actual implementation of that technique took me less than 4 hours total. That was NOT an IM product. It was NOT low hanging fruit - although it was a very hard niche.

I had a bite, and I got the surge, and I got the big money - and FAST.

And I would not change that experience for the world, but it was all wrong.

It was good, but it was not ultimately not what I really wanted.


It worked, but some issues came up and I had to stop what was happening and that haulted my cash flow. It was not an easy choice at the time. It was unbelievable what I was dealing with and what took several years to go through, but it has all been part of the ride.

But I took the plunge, and I did it.

Going back now in retrospect - what would I change? I think this is really important. This it what I want to share and hopefully drive some of you out of a really crazy cycle. It can be really easy to look and explore lots of things and spend lots of money and just really drive yourself nuts. I know. I am nuts.

Figure out what you want

So, you don't need some crazy giant business plan, but you just might.

Decide right up front - is this just some extra cash or do you really want to run a real business on the internet?

Many people don't get this. It is real money that goes into your account. It can be a real business - and if it is something you want to take on as a full time endeavor, then it needs to be treated as such.

What or where have you worked before? What did your boss have to deal with? Or the owner of the company? Did they get there with no money or contacts or knowledge? Hell no. They had to devise a plan. They had to come up with some funding. They had to have support of friends or family or aliens - you decide. They had to most likely get their hands dirty in the beginning. Look at those who made computers in the garage and sold stuff to do what they wanted to do. They were not rich in a week or two or what ever. They had to actually plan what their goals were and they had to hustle.

So, you can have the weekend tag sale and make a few bucks, or you can choose to create a real company with a big service or product that can take you down a longer road. Figure this out. What do you want?

Once you figure out what you really want, you are going to have to give something to get it.

Could be time, money, knowledge, but it does not come completely FREE. And I'm not talking here about paying for some 5 dollar WSO and you thinking that is all you need to do.

You need to actually implement and test and track and you need to have solid idea of where you are going.

Someone last night was on a chat, and I was falling on the floor laughing as they were telling a story and kinda got 2 stories mixed up in one, but their point at the end was brilliant.

They were discussing Alice in Wonderland ( which I have never read, only seen movies) and it kinda got mixed up with follow the yellow brick road (lol) but here was the point.

They mentioned that Alice got to a point in the road, and there were a bunch of sign posts but they were all blank. So the cheschire cat came in and he was like "where do you want to go" and she was like " I have no clue what to do here - there are all these blank signs and i have no clue where any of these roads go" and so he left her sitting there with all the blank signs.

And then it came to her.

She wanted to go HOME.

So, suddenly, one of the sign posts said "home" on it, and she knew exactly which path to take.

Home could be a lot of things in this analogy. It could be your niche, it could be your ultimate life style, it could be the amount of money you want in the bank.

Figure out what home means to you.

Once you know where you are going exactly, you can then figure out the map.

The map is huge. The map of your trip.

And I know that google maps are all kinds of f'd up. I know because at one point I was in Tennessee and this road was supposed to have a bridge, and we got to it and no bridge was there, and we had to turn around and find another way to get to where we wanted to go.

So the map will/might/can change, but the destination should remain a constant. It may take you longer to get to where you are going, but if you know where you want to go you will find a way to get there.

The destination needs to be important to you. But here is where the play it smart comes in.

It needs to be important to others too.

What ever you are offering needs to be important to others. It needs to be something that will help them - not just you.

Keeping it smart also means you need to research and do things the best way you can.

Give those people who will be giving you money reason to trust you. Build your reputation. Be somewhat personable. If you can't be personable, then pay or hire people who can be personable for you.

We have some great people on this forum, but be advised there are some who might have some business sense but when it comes to handling people they are clueless. Lol, I won't go into where that tangent came from (some will know) but building the right people skills will be imperative to your long term success. You don't need to know everyone, but if someone pops up and says something and you have a way to look up who they are or where they have been, then take the time to do so.

Try not to get emotional over a 5 second experience of reading someones reply to something. Do your best to understand your potential customers. Nuff said on that.

Be smart. Understand the medium which you are using to sell your business.

Yes, you need disclaimers and FAQ and some legal stuff, etc. It is a business.

Understand how the internet works in general. It is not that hard. It is a web and links and people point to things with links and recommend what they think is important, and you don't need to rank #1 in google to make money. Really, you don't. I know that for a fact.

If it is just a tag sale quick WSO and run out the door, then fine. But know where you want to take it.

If you are building that real business then do it. But treat it as such.

You don't need a bazillion dollars to get going, but you do you need to plan and you need to write it down, and you need to trouble shoot, and you need to do it yourself.

Support from others on a question or two is one thing. Expecting everyone to give you every answer without you at least trying to apply yourself is completely another.

I have personally spent DAYS trying to figure out some issues before asking for help. I learn lots on the way - but I am not here to suck everyone dry and be spoon fed on every last detail on my business. That is just wrong to do. And it will not really help you. People want to know that you are somewhat self sufficient to finding things. This is how you build that trust. And at the same time they are forgiving and realize you are just one person and if you are honest with them they understand that you may not have every last answer for them.

Now, I could give you some spectacular marketing plan at this point, but honestly the map and our homes are all very different. If nothing else, I hope this is something you realize from this post. Figure out what home is, be smart about how you are going to get there, write stuff down, be prepared to change course when the path is not a straight one, and stay focused on the end goal.

Hopefully you can ponder a bit on what home is to you and find it a bit more quickly. It is really simple once your direction is clear and you know what it is you are actually looking for. (not to be confused with finding it over night )

Again, a thousand thanks. You have all helped me in more ways then you will ever know, and I'm looking forward to the next thousand thanks I can give.