It Finally Clicked: Taking Your Profits to the Next Level

Warriors, I’ve been doing this a LONG time. I am a great student of learning – I’ve absorbed tons of strategies (eBook creation, Kindle, Blogging, Squidoo, Hub Pages – you name it).

I was doing what everyone says to do: Take action.

I make 6 figures.

By my account, I’m a success story.

Only something was missing to get me to that NEXT level. There’s always a next level.

First I was “just” a ghostwriter – capping out around $65-70k because when you ghostwrite, there are only so many hours in a day to do a service. Still, I was at the top of my game – reached the ceiling, etc. And yes, I know many ghostwriters earn more, charge more, blah blah blah. But for me, ceiling reached.

Then, I became a marketer. Created my own products, launched a successful blog and hardcore loyal list with 25-30% conversions. Success again.

Ceiling reached, I felt.

It just struck me recently after a coaching call with my mentor (Craig Desorcy) that my focus on allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll of these “strategies” and “products” and “tool” and “actions” are keeping me stagnant – preventing me from going to the next level.

I’m very lucky I happened to achieve the success I’ve gained so far taking the approach I have, because now, looking back – I really should have failed.

If you look at people we Warriors admire – the gurus – let me ask you this – do you picture them sitting there backlinking, writing, etc.? They might do that stuff early on, but what you picture them doing is oozing leadership.

When you watch their videos, you’re not thinking, “Man he knows the technical steps to make a video!” You’re thinking, “Damn he’s good. He’s affecting me – motivating me to take action and persuading people to buy stuff.”

So you think, “Well I don’t have that cool surfer vibe that would attract people like that. He just has charisma. He’s lucky.”

No, he’s not. I’ll bet he’s worked on developing his leadership skills quite a bit. Maybe even more so than his technical “what works in IM to make me money” skills.

Tony Robbins – another expert. You think Tony studies how to make a DVD or what the best backdrop is to use with his green screen? Maybe – but I’ll bet he works HARDER on leadership skills, convincing people to follow him, and setting himself up as the flame that attracts all of us moths.

That is NOT something people “just happen to have.” Every successful person I’ve ever met or known about has literally studied leadership.

In Internet Marketing, whatever niche you’re in, you should be learning how to be a niche leader and persuade people. Do you even STUDY that? Have you bought even one success or leadership book lately?

Or are you so wrapped up in the fastest, easiest way to make the most money possible in the shortest amount of time that you’re just pursuing those short term spurts of cash rather than really picturing yourself as the DOMINANT leader in your field? (And for some of you, that scares the crap out of you).

What clicked for me, as I work on learning Podcasting from fellow Warrior Robert Plank’s course, is that tools and strategies are GREAT – we NEED to learn how to use them … but we’re learning to use them BECAUSE we need to get our message out – the one that positions us as THE go to person in our niche.

THAT, my Warrior friends, is when the money gushes in. That’s when the JV offers come at such a fast pace you can’t even read them all. That’s when you develop a team of “grunt workers” to handle all the tasks you’re currently struggling with now.

Yesterday I bought so many things to take myself to the next level. $128+ - a price so many Warriors scoff at when considering buying a product, period – can you imagine what they’d say about a book that teaches an intangible concept like leadership?

And I always previously felt like this kind of stuff was “hokey.” Like you either had it or you didn’t. I was so wrong.

I bought:

* Effective Coaching
* Strengths Based Leadership
* The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader
* Motivated Magazine
* Success Magazine
* The Power of Story
* Time Warrior
* The Only Way to Win

If you can’t fathom the thought of spending money on yourself like that, consider it a tool for your customers - because you being a better leader is better for THEM. It means you’ll find answers for them – cutting edge stuff, not rehashing the same advice or promoting something because your keyword tool told you it had high search volume and low competition.

Someone in another thread today said “learning without doing” doesn’t get you anywhere. And I replied that the opposite is true, too – “doing without learning” isn’t going to take you as high as you want to go.

Think of a way today that you can invest in resources that help you become a better niche leader with those skills, not just action steps you do with tools and websites.

Tiff