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Dear _____, I made this post for you.

by E. Brian Rose
13 replies
I wrote this letter to an online buddy earlier today, but it might also apply to you.


Dear ______,

We have been online friends for a while, so I wanted to come to you and ask about a few things in your business plan that I have found disturbing.

I know that you are making strides in Internet marketing, but I also know you still have a lot to learn. With that being said, why are you so stuck on selling WSOs and other make money online types of products?

Your WF sig file says, "Guaranteed Way to Make Thousands Per Week Online!" Can you honestly say that you are using this method to make that money? If not, then why not? Does it not work? If not, then why are you trying to convince others that it does?

You don't build your reputation on sales pitches. You build your reputation on results.

I have never been a fan of people starting out and then moving directly into the teaching online marketing strategies. There are thousands of other niches that are MUCH easier to make money with. Niches that include customers who are not jaded and blind to exit pages, downsells, and other tactics that work 100 times better than they do in the IM niche.

The Warrior Forum is filled with fantastic advice and people you can turn to for marketing related questions, but it looks pretty silly when you are asking basic questions, while telling people in your sig line that you are some guru that can change their lives with your whiz bang product.

Surely, there is something you have an interest in that you could turn into a money making product. Can you build a birdhouse? There are an enormous amount of people looking for tutorials on how to build a better birdhouse. Maybe you are a cross-dresser and can make a list of the best places to by size 14 stripper pumps.

The point is, there are many EASIER ways to make money than trying to be somebody you're not. Fake it 'til you make it only lasts so long. In your case, you never got it off the ground, yet you still keep trying. I don't understand that.

My suggestion is to start looking for profitable niches outside of the make money online circle. One place to start looking for them is dummies.com. If there is a book about it, then there is a market for it. They've done the research for you. Find a niche you have an interest in, and start building on that interest. You could start with a simple squeeze page that gives away some PLR that you found and then market other peopl's offers... or you could create your own products for that niche.

Creating products that people will love isn't brain surgery. Start with a simple ten step process to solving a problem and build from there. Turn each step into a a few paragraphs and you've just created an eBook. Record yourself reading the book out loud and then match your audio to a powerpoint. Now you have ten videos, one for each step. Keep building on the value with checklists, mP3 files, mind maps, etc. Before you know it, you will have a very high quality product that you can be proud of, affiliates will want to promote, and customers will be happy to give positive reviews.

It's not brain surgery.

I know you are probably thinking I am acting like a know it all, but I want you to know that I wrote this letter to you because I care. I hope we can still be friends after this, but most importantly, I hope you gain something from this letter and shift your business towards something you can tackle and call your own.

Have a great Fourth.

Your friend,
EBR
#dear #made #post
  • Profile picture of the author RossVegas
    I struggled with not branching out or getting creative with niches too when i first started IM. I think it's because It seems so logical to sell others on what you're being sold on.

    It took me a while to realize that the easiest place to make money is the place where others aren't.

    There is a huge lack of creativity in selling WSOs that all promise the same thing... nor do I find it as challenging or fun.

    pick a niche that's uncharted!

    Excellent, lengthy post. thoughtful read.
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    • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
      Originally Posted by RossVegas View Post

      It took me a while to realize that the easiest place to make money is the place where others aren't.
      It's like Annie said in Bull Durham: Hit 'em where they ain't!
      Signature

      Founder of JVZoo. All around good guy :)

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      • Profile picture of the author fluffythewondercat
        Your WF sig file says, "Guaranteed Way to Make Thousands Per Week Online!" Can you honestly say that you are using this method to make that money? If not, then why not? Does it not work? If not, then why are you trying to convince others that it does?

        What saddens (yes, saddens) me about this is the newbies who do it assume successful IMers are cheats and con men. And the newbie thinks, "This is how I get to be a cheat and con man, too."

        fLufF
        --
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        Fiverr is looking for freelance writers for its blog. Details here.
        Love microjobs? Work when you want and get paid in cash the same day!
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  • Profile picture of the author Darren Hodgson
    Great advice Brian, I think one we all need to take Nike's slogan to heart, just do it! I know this is a bit cliche but it's true. Stop looking foe the next big thing and just do something, anything but something.

    Find a big money niche, find a sub niche within it and go after full on. Create your product, get your website up and start driving traffic to it. your going to make mistake no matter how much you learn so you might as well learn whilst you're dong it and make some money now rather than spend and information and not use any of it leaving you out of pocket.
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  • Profile picture of the author PhilippaWrites
    There is so much truth in this letter, especially about people with "make millions!" signatures asking very basic questions.

    I hope it gets widely read!


    Posted from Warriorforum.com App for Android
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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    It is challenging to know where to begin when one decides to try to make money online.

    It is kind of the fault of our choices about the people we hang out with online. When we only go to the forum, the only successful people we see are generally in the MMO niche. The others that we see here in the forum generally don't tell us what niches they are involved.

    So this closed loop of people spend most of their time talking about MMO, so folks assume that is where the money is at online. As a result, they try to compete in markets they know little about, in the belief that this is the most lucrative niche online -- even when it isn't.

    I understand that folks are desperate to make money online, and I can understand that most that come to forums like this one will assume that the MMO niche is where they need to go in order to be successful online in the shortest amount of time possible.

    Unfortunately, most people who fall into the trap of believing MMO is the way to go will have to "fake it until they make it," but they don't know how else they should proceed.

    These decisions are led mostly by desperation than a desire to deceive. Unfortunately, they do end up deceiving some people, and the deceivers justify the activity, because desperation pushed them to desperate actions.

    In the end, for many it will be a decision they can live with, because if they are successful at making the money they needed, they will learn to justify the means to reach an end.
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    Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
    Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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    • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
      Originally Posted by tpw View Post

      It is challenging to know where to begin when one decides to try to make money online.
      They need to understand that most successful business ventures start with people that are doing what they love to do. All you have to do is ask yourself what interests you and build from there.
      Signature

      Founder of JVZoo. All around good guy :)

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      • Profile picture of the author tpw
        Originally Posted by E. Brian Rose View Post

        They need to understand that most successful business ventures start with people that are doing what they love to do. All you have to do is ask yourself what interests you and build from there.

        This is correct.

        It is the reason I started as a writer, and I continue to earn money by teaching other writers how to be successful.
        Signature
        Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
        Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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  • Profile picture of the author Resale Rights Ninja
    Well I believe you have to keep it real. Telling people that they can make thousands when your not doing the same is unethical.

    I also agree that there are other niches that are very easy to make money in. Makes total sense to first succeed and then enter the IM niche.
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    PM Me Now!

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  • Profile picture of the author J Bold
    While I think it's an awesome post from EBR, there are also people who can work in the IM niche but not selling make money online products.

    You can sell software, wordpress plugins, services such as graphic design, writing articles, etc. Not everything you could sell as a WSO or elsewhere in the IM niche HAS to be about you making bajillions of money online, but it can be tools to save people time in their quest to do this, or tools that will help them build a list, get better conversions, etc.

    I think EBR would agree, as one of the best-selling WSOs with JVZoo was an ingenious pop-up software.
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    Not much more to say than great post EBR.

    I agree with everything you said. I especially agree with this...

    "most successful business ventures start with people that are doing what they love to do."
    Maybe I should be in the porn industry?!
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
    Good post.

    The last couple days I was directed to a guy who is making $60,000 a month and he describes in detail his every move - keywords, how he gets traffic, which affiliate programs pay him and how much, etc.

    This fellow started out with a need (not IM) and learned a bit about traffic and such and started making some online profit. So he did it the "right" way.

    But now if you look at his detailed income report, he makes about $40,000 of that $60k off his MMO site. His starter site still makes a couple thousand a month but it is no where near what the MMO site is making.

    Now you can say he earned the "right" by doing it right. But in the end his passion makes nowhere close what teaching MMO makes him.

    Then you have very high profile "gurus" (long time respected types not WSO fly by nighters) who flat out say the first profit they ever made online is selling an MMO product. Are they wrong? Are they fakes? Are they now not worth listening too once they confessed?

    So I agree with your post but also with Bill.

    The problem is that we teach here that with $40 plus a War room membership we can make money TODAY. We say that you can join JVZoo as an affiliate and start making cash by sending out emails or writing blog posts about products in the directory. We talk about putting a little ad here and writing articles if you are desparate and you can have enough to put gas in your car in a couple hours. On and on and on.

    But we don't say how you can make that kind of immediate cash in the dog business, love business, talking parrot business, diet business, etc.

    So you say to go find your dream - your passion and start there. But no one tells you how with specific details for the most part (supposedly because no one wants to pollute the dog training business with new competitors but likely because there aren't a lot of real big successes who are also teachers in the dog business).

    In the case of the guy who is very transparent about his earnings and detailed his path, his first site was something that 99.9% of us would never be interested in, need, or even know about (from what little I understand about the niche).

    Show me someone who is very successful in the online dog business who is going to show you the keywords, how to get the traffic, how to build a site, etc. in detail enough for someone else to do it. Where is the "dog room" to join (one button) and the DSO (dog special offer) forum and button that I can put my ad on?

    You can say there is a lot of PLR with keyword lists about dog training. Is that from people who are in the business, making money, know whether the keywords or content is any good or just from someone who did some research and put together some rough guides? There's a huge difference.

    Good discussion. Hard decisions. No easy answers.
    Mark
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  • Profile picture of the author contentwriting360
    Banned
    May this letter/post serve as a wake-up call to those who fake it till they make it. In this IM business, most of us, if not all, has learned that good results will do the talking for us. Hype is good. Make it better by matching it with real-life results and truths.
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