A question to those of you who have "made it" in IM.

Giving myself permission to just freakin' *do it*.

ie,

Create small profitable 1 problem/1 solution reports

Give 75-100% affiliate commission to encourage others to promote

Create an upsell with 50% commission for me to make some money.

Engage my list and sell as well.

Rinse and repeat.

It's not that difficult.... but you have to give yourself permission to make things happen.

Best of skill!

I started in 2001. Back then, I did what I could to learn HTML, how to buy a domain, get hosting and upload my html.

Back then, there was very little in the way of cheap training (that I could find) and I started this while being deep in debt. I always tell people if you have the money, hire people to get you through what you don't know.

But, I couldn't do that. And after about a year of learning, struggling and spinning my wheels, I discovered the number one skill to master...

Networking. Making friends. And bartering. In my case, I learned how to get a reseller hosting account, and traded free hosting for services or products I needed. That worked very well for me. I also learned how to install scripts (which back then were much harder because there were very few php scripts with auto installers). So now I had another skill to trade off on.

There's no instant answer (unless, like I mentioned, you have the money to hire everything out...). Hard work and networking worked wonders for me. It's an internet business. But it's driven by people.

#1 Skill: Self discipline. Take action! Stop making threads like this trying to find the secret hidden trick .. there is none.

Get out of the research phase and take action is the first step.

Stick to one IM area to start off with be it offering services, products, affiliate marketing, domain flipping whatever...learn and implement it inside out

When you fail...and you more than likely will, tweak and try again until it works

The main thing is taking action I wasted around 6 months in the research phase before getting my act together and starting my first site.

Good luck

The most important skill needed in any online business is getting traffic.
All other aspects of IM such as technical / designing etc can be hired out but not getting traffic.
I am 100% non technical person (even though dont know html / wordpress) But I am sort of good in getting traffic which helps me make money.

The first and foremost is learning traffic other comes later.

I learned to research problems that people were having and then build software solutions to solve those problems. There's lots of free programming languages out there and forums where you can get support, if you are prepared to put the work in and not expect others to do all the work for you.

For me -- Creating, implementing or improving online marketing campaigns is just one of the ways that a company can do so as to widen market reach, improve brand and product positioning across target market segments, reduce overheads, increase sales margins and promote repeat business...

I believe these are the essential things that I needed to learn so as to build from scratch and continue to widen and expand the market reach of our now 9-year old ICT company = Business development, product development and advertising / marketing campaign fundamentals. Then, strategies. Next, techniques. Then, tactics. Afterwards, improvisation through the effective synergy of these fundamentals, strategies, techniques and tactics...

It's like learning how to play guitar = Start out with the fundamentals, which are chords, chord theories, basic rhythmic patterns, scales and scale theories. Then, learn strategies, such as finger positioning, left and right hand muting, walking bass patterns among others. Next, learn techniques, such as pull-offs, hammer-ons, string bending, slides, artificial and natural harmonics among others. Then, learn tactics like bass / treble tone combinations, volume modulation and so on. Afterwards -- Improvise by using your interpretation of what good music is all about...

There is no such thing as made it in IM. At least for 99% of IMers. What worked 2 years ago is obsolete today ? Lots of gurus are making money selling ideas of how they made money in 2005. There is no fixed rule. It depends on what you can offer and how do you connect to those who want your products/services.

Just never give up. I spent 3 years to finally earn income from IM, but still I cant say 'I made it'. Always be in the 'learning state'!

1.) Choose 1 thing and become a Master in it be it Amazon,SEO,service provider,PPC Ads List building, whatever you choose, pick 1, and stick at it and learn and much as you possibly can about it. Buy everything about that subject and make yourself an authority in it.

2.) While doing #1 start networking and getting to know other marketers in your niche and those that have lists what are in your chosen subject make them take notice which you can do by buying their products and giving them an honest review video for them to use in their marketing efforts, or even better make some sales for them. I have yet to find a successful marketer that is not connected with other marketers who will help them when asked.

Attend Internet Marketing events this is one of the very best ways to meet fellow marketers and i can tell you Millions of dollars in sales are seeded at these events and anyone not attending them is missing out on PRICELESS contacts.

3.)Learn to build a team you dont have to know how to build websites or program software or build sales funnels etc but you need to know a man who does. It always helps to have an idea but you have to determine where your time and skills are best served.

4.) NEVER GIVE UP the path to success is an up and down journey and there will be many downs before you finally stay up the key is when you get knocked down you get back up, dust off and go again.

#5 SEE NUMBER 1 AND 2

Gaz Cooper

Basically learning to write an email that causes people to pull out their credit cards and buy right now

the skills I learned are very simple.

Setting up a lead capture page with a simple software like lead pages

Driving traffic both free and paid

Then sending an well crafted email everyday to drive sales. that's pretty much it

Niche selection & research
Copy writing
Product creation
Tracking & measuring
Split Testing
self discipline
making money

The necessary skills vary from project to project. Some things you need to master. Others may be on a need to know basis.

What kind of things are you interested in doing online?

That's not really how it works, sometimes you just get things right the first time... Some guys hit a winning campaign then spend the rest of their lives chasing their former glory.

Targeted traffic generation. Not (sometimes) *false* solo ad traffic that gets recycled... i mean fresh prospects everyday looking to market their site online.

What skills do you need? It depends. When you want to master the complete path from beginning to end, here's a list of things that you would need to master (just writing a book about it , so that one was easy)

• Marketing expert
• Computer expert
• Graphics master
• Website builder
• Accountant
• Sales
• Writer
• video expert
• manage projects
• take risks
• doing keyword research
• understanding SEO
• Know about podcast
• Blogger
• Know how to recruit
• Know how to outsource

If you have all these, you WILL succeed. If not, then you're just like everybody else over here . Fortunately, the bits that you DON'T master, you can outsource them (after a while).



That's where the power of internet kicks in, compared to a traditional business. If you have bootstrapped the RIGHT path, you can scale it up with little effort. Something which is almost impossible (at a reasonable cost) in traditional business.


And as in every profession : Keep learning. You will NEVER know EVERYTHING. Get started with something, and you'll learn A LOT.


Keep up the good work