The Million Dollar Question

How should a newcomer to IM get started?

That's a good question, and the answer will be different for everyone.

This is why getting personal advice from someone who can help you get these answers makes sense. No-one can tell you these answers from an impartial perspective without understanding more about who you are and what's right for you.

For one person, spending all their time writing might be their idea of heaven - for someone else it might be hell.

There are only a few core questions that you need to answer (in my humble opinion):

1 - Why are you starting an online business?

This is not referring to 'to make some money'. Money is just a token that lets you get something else - it's that something else that is the 'why', and it's that something else that will keep you motivated when things don't go well. You need to know why.

2 - Are you clear about who you're trying to help and why?

If you're not even sure why you're in the business you're in - you need to stop and think about it.

3 - Are you clear about the value that what you're doing has to your target market, and how you can reasonably expect them to pay you what you're aiming to make?

If you're not sure what value you're bringing or why you can expect to make the sort of money you're hoping for - time to think about it.

4 - What's different about what you're doing that means you can expect the outcome you desire?

Copying others might get you started but unless you're doing something different, you'll get the same (if that) results as others - which is usually not great. What value are you bringing to the table that makes you think you stand out?

5 - Do you have a scalable and systemisable business model?

There's only one of you, so you'd better be clear about how to scale up your business without it meaning more and more of your time.

(this is where membership sites rock, same work but you can supply more and more members)

6 - Are you building a solid business with high ticket back end products and recurring revenue opportunities?

This is where most of your potential revenue is, so don't jump around on the front end trying to get rich selling ebooks.

7 - Are you cultivating relationships that support your goals?

Don't do this on your own, it's less effective and less fun.

8 - Do you still have sensible priorities?

Don't put this stuff before your family.

Despite what people say about needing to work hard - you can work smart and build your business without sacrificing the important stuff (relationships and family) along the way. You don't want to end up the richest person in the graveyard because you worked yourself into an early grave and didn't enjoy the journey with your friends and family.


I don't think there's more to it than that.

When you get down to what works - it's always simple. Find a market and feed it, plus don't build a business based on a model that you don't want to be stuck in if it succeeds (i.e don't have it based on you and your time - especially if you don't want to end up spending all your time doing whatever is the core activity. Build your business so that it doesn't need you).

And that's just about my perspective on the matter.

Andy