The MONEY Is Just A Side Effect Of A POWERFUL Daily Routine...

Yes it is an excellent post.

Mindset is more than just a mental attitude, it's having a DMO (Daily Method of Operation) that you consistently preform. You set your mind to do it and the doing trumps attitude.

Cheers,
Steve

Most people don't have many "Buy Buttons" working 24/7 ringing up cash sales for them. That's why very few people ever make money online.

The daily routine of most people involves trading time for dollars and then they stand in front of cash registers buying how to do it WSOs and magic solutions instead of setting up their own Buy Now Buttons / Cash Registers.

Like you say, there are many more details to figure out but if someone gets bogged down in the details and waits until they feel they have it all figured out before taking action, they will never gain experience.

Real learning comes from the experience of doing it... not just from reading about how to do it. If how to's were enough, we would all be skinny, rich and happy.

Cheers,
Steve Ski

Nah. All those are just tactics, the fine print, the nitty gritty... The kind of stuff that coaches (who have never sold shit on their own) talk about in order to make their role feel significant towards the coachee. But the truth is that none of that is what makes/breaks an actual living, breathing business.

Sales and cashflow are the only things that matter. Traffic -> sale -> repetition -> speed . Game over.

I think you missed the point :-)

This wasn't meant to be a "how to" manual on IM, and, for a quick brain-dump it offers some good value!

Here's some points I'd like to stress.

I was very lucky myself. My first at bat was a homerun, back in the early and middle 2000's...but then 2008 came and I was NOT prepared at all, like many. By late 2010, early 2011 I had checked out. Many problems all came together creating a perfect storm and I paid dearly, financially and personally. I was highly leveraged, high risk investments plummeting, still over-staffed, a huge JV deal falling apart after $100k in, property and asset values shrinking, sales way off, on and on.

BUT, now, after a four year hiatus, focusing on my family and me getting clean and sober...I'm back!

That said, it's an understatement to say that everything has changed while I was away...BUT most of the key principles have not changed and never will. Yet, most are over-looked, nowadays, like I've never seen before! All this quick fix, fast easy money, SELL, SELL, SELL, bla, bla, bla...bullcrap is out of control!

This is why I know, without question, I'll build it back up; just stick to the key principles that matter, and everything else will fall into place.

Trust me, I know the deal though. What other choices are there, if you choose to forge ahead without the key principles? ...Just screaming from the rooftops louder than the next guy, waving your hands in the air...HEY, OVER HERE, LOOK AT MY STUFF, I CAN MAKE YOU RICH, I'M DIFFERENT THAN EVERYONE ELSE!!

Michael Dlouhy mentions, "The competition for your prospect's mind is fierce. The average mind gets about 9 hours of TV, radio, internet, newspapers, magazines, books, & videos a day. That's 40,000 words a day, 280,000 words a week and 14 million+ words a year. Over-communication is rampant. To get through, you must focus to a pinpoint."

Now with mobile technology on us 24/7, couple in big data...and we're ALL in a HUGE battle, again. This time it's for our most valuable resource of all, our TIME, and most don't have a clue. 60 secs turns into 15 mins, then quickly a couple hours, and before we know it the day’s over and gone.

Only a VERY few, truly value TIME as much as they should. I swear it's the most taken for granted asset on the planet STILL, when it really should mean more than gold, especially with all the planned distractions and interruptions we deal with today!

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First, here's some fantastic groundbreaking insight by Daniel Goleman, a psychologist, science journalist and New York Times Best Selling author.

He clearly explains both sides of the distractions that, ultimately, put our focus and performance at peril. One is our internal emotions/thoughts and the other is the external war for our attention.

"Our attention is under siege more than it has ever been in human history, we have more distractions than ever before, largely because our technology is so clever at seducing us away from the things we are supposed (or intended) to be looking at," said Daniel Goleman.

He also mentions that in 1977, Nobel Prize winner Herbert Simon wrote, "Information consumes attention, hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention."

Daniel Goleman on "Focus: The Secret to High Performance and Fulfillment"
It's over an hour, so watch it during a late night, it's worth it!

Daniel Goleman, "Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence"
(A little shorter version at Talks at Google.)

All the technology tools we use are designed to interrupt us, seduce us, to draw our attention from this to that, then ultimately SELL (or collect more data for later). Now, when you add big data into the equation the process is nearly perfected.

As you may know, there's as much information created every 2 days now, than was created in total, prior to 2003! Most people know this, but very few understand to what extent that this rigs the game. Literally, all our desires, dislikes, weaknesses, triggers and buying habits, etc. are all profiled, categorized and worn right on our sleeve every moment we're plugged in.

In other words, they know EXACTLY how to get our attention; what we love, what we hate, what we're curious about...on and on.

Half the battle is simply to be AWARE of this! Then you must diligently practice…always being present, on task and working with intention, especially during the times set for your business and really even your personal life if you'd like to improve your relationships there too.

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It's funny the OP mentions...The 4 Hour Workweek, though don't get the book just find a summary because most of it is either obvious or unrealistic. Tim Ferriss talks about the 80/20 rule and cutting as much of the 80% of your daily activity that doesn't directly get you to your goal or make more money, better relationships, etc. The only other benefit were some decent stuff on utilizing contract work or outsourcing, but more up to date info can be easily found online.

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Spend WAY LESS time improving your weaknesses, (incl. fixing under-performing campaigns, offers, products, etc.) and WAY MORE time getting better at what you're really good at, your strengths.

E.g. When a niche or campaign really takes off, it should get shoved to the most important priority! You should focus a TON of your energy and time into expanding on it, improving it, and maximizing it's potential. Instead, and I have NO idea why, the tendency is to quickly move on to something else, nowhere near the same potential at the moment. I've read where some people really are afraid of REAL success and maybe that plays a part.

Focus on building your strengths, outsource your weaknesses!

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So, what's missing? What is IT? (Probably the most common question I got over the years.)

Well, there was a lot of small factors why I was able to go from a broke, massively in debt, struggling entrepreneur that couldn't even shut off a computer properly in 1998...to building and running a small multi-million dollar software and lead gen company.

It wasn't because I was smarter than most. Sure, I had a burning desire...and when things get real tough, that why or whys will be called on to keep you going. Yes, I had to believe I could do it with some confidence. I did have a good work ethic and a strong curiosity about people and anything new. I also had solid conversational writing skills and that did help too.

But, it really did come down to ONE thing…The ONE thing that is sorely missing today and often the ONE reason that the average IMer's success is so short-lived or never really takes off in the first place.

It's also the very same reason that after almost 4 years, I was able to step right back in, earning a full-time income in just a couple of months. Granted, nowhere near where I was, but it's taken a TON of time and energy to get reacclimated with a huge amount of change. Wow.

Before I get to IT, which for some of you is so obvious you've already figured it out, the other thing I did differently was how I thought about THE PROBLEM. Everyone else just looked for a problem within a niche that they felt they could address, then tracked and tested THE SOLUTION, until the numbers worked. I gauged another aspect of THE PROBLEM... How well the marketplace was doing at providing THE SOLUTION. Not how much competition there was, but how well they were doing at solving the problem and satisfying the client.

Today, almost all niches have more competition than we can fathom. It's to the point now that…”build a better mousetrap now...and so the hell what”? Your client can get 10 different Xs right now, cheaper, faster, with more addons, more bonuses...sorry.

So, how in the hell do you compete with that??? Jeez louise, just search Amazon next time you're considering a purchase, of just about anything. Unreal.

Well, it goes back to old-school; really old. Now, one positive from the MASS of information and time stealers is that people are getting fed up of all the time they're wasting and they just want to, like the old days really, find a few companies or people that they can TRUST and even like. Hell they'll even pay a little more when they know, like and trust someone.

Hey, here's a friggen novel idea. At LEAST test asking for a damn phone number. You don't have to make it a required field, but ask for it. Then, if you get it, give them a quick intro call. DON'T SELL ANYTHING. If they answer, welcome them and tell them thanks! If you really want to go out on a limb, ask what problems and issues that they’re having. Then you can follow up by email, insuring they're getting the right message series at least. AND FOR GOD'S SAKE...CALL YOUR BUYERS, THANK THEM, ASK HOW YOU MIGHT HELP THEM GOING FORWARD, etc.

So, there it is, in ONE word...RELATIONSHIPS. Take time and learn the skills that will help you build and nuture relationships. If you aren't sure, research and study. Now, it will help A LOT, if it's real. It's SO much easier and more fun, when you really do care about others and have a burning desire to help them.

It's just not enough, anymore, to find a problem in a niche and email them potential solutions over and over...and over... Well, I won't delve into the plethora of issues (not all, but mostly self-inflicted) plaguing affiliate marketers today. That's for another time.

I'll leave you with an adaptation of my mission statement:

I have an unrelenting passion to "Inspire, Teach and Empower" others to live life by design, on purpose and with intention. I've had the pleasure of helping over 10,000 inspiring entrepreneurs, since 1999, become more efficient and effective at developing the most crucial aspect of their business (for sustainable long-term success)... better, stronger relationships, while using less of their most valuable resource, TIME.

I hope this helps!

Peace,
Mark

You just did what most news media outlets do which is to take a sound bite and make that seem as the base of the whole thing, let me attempt to explain:

Many internet marketers know and do those technical things you mention yet still see no success because they do not have the ideals spoken of in this post ingrained in their mindset.

It's almost like knowing exactly how to drive a car yet because your mind just isn't focused and is instead distracted -or even worse in a drunken state- you'll tend to have many accidents along with traffic ticket fines you'll end up having to pay.

If one cannot see the whole picture then none of those little pieces of details (or parts of the puzzle) will ever connect and lead to something fruitful.

In manifesting a thing it needs a physical vehicle and the right energy to run it effectively and in our case that "right energy" is the ingrained mental outlook NCmedia passionately posted about here.

Cheers on the responses, highlighting important things in each:

^ This.

^Very powerful point. Just like choosing toothpaste until you find the fit for you, foods, partners, we split test daily and not even know it. Now consciously think: When is the last time I split tested my business approach? OR maybe I should stop split testing the same crap and start brand new never explored tests yet, or revert back to what once worked and tweak tweak tweak it.

Someone below responded to you beautifully, all I can add in addition to saying he is right, even the newest of noobs VERY quickly figure out biz when something starts to work in a big way... things start happening like "Oh crap I have no backend, or I only have one upsell, or I need a mailing list damn I'm leaving money on the table.." < You become reactive when something works, and you learn new things no matter how much experience you have before hand.

With success comes a LOT of new learning and a lot of responsibility - you'll never truly figure out all of what is needed until you reflect in the future and can analyze (luckily for me, my big winner showed itself at about 30 products in out of the 50, so I had a good formula, but I still learn new things daily).

I might be wrong, but I assume you are a fellow Polak with that name, if so - dziendobry! And well said .

Well put in short, no it's not easy, but you'll find the winning formulas in most biz is actually quite simple. Here's your doughnut, thank you for your dollar, see you tomorrow! < But online - Of course we go through all the necessities of front ends, packaging/branding, competing, marketing, influencing, hitting emotions with our pitch, blah blah blah but in the end, I have product, that is popular because it works and because it is fairly priced and beats the competition and is actually priced higher - the rest is extra/gravy/bonus money (I used to have one product, at $29, it is now $39, with 3 upsells, a monthly rebill on one of them, and 90+ other products with 3 other sites all tying into each other/upsell flows triggered everywhere.

Very 'complex' but still 'simple' if you were to translate it to a well thought out store on how they influence you to walk through it by design down to the last minute cashier stand with gums, magazines, upsells, loyalty card options, etc.. you got me typing!

Cheers, I've never seen a sticky here, but sure grab it and share it, I don't need the credit but thank you as long as you pull from it.

Yep, your mindset should still be "I want to help enough ppl to get what they want that I may get what I want" - Value, customer satisfaction, volume.

Speed to market is insanely important imo. In my peak, I was doing a product every 2-4 weeks. I TOTALLY BURNED MYSELF OUT and can't imagine doing that again, after 20 products or so though, I had a beautiful portfolio of tests that I could now play with and pull a winner(s) from, and I did while I launched more and more however they became more and more laser focused to WIN each time (perfect practice makes perfect and all that)...

Some of them were absolutely stupid ideas, some were winners that totally surprised me, all taught me a lot but my original thinking got changed from "If I launch a product every 2-4 weeks, in a few years I'll have xx products all making money!!" to "If I launch 50 products, and pull a few winners out of them to expand on, it'll be like one huge split test!".

Beautifully said.

It's always going to be about money at the end of the day, it's just cart in front of the horse mentality that I encourage to avoid, the money is the end goal, and even then there is more once you actually have some/a lot - money can ruin you faster than being broke can, if that makes sense.

I consider myself extremely successful but not just because the amount of zero's I haz - in short I think ANYONE THAT IS 100% IN CHARGE OF THEIR TIME can also say they are extremely successful. I do music, and in one of my tracks I say "The monetary system of life - it breeds hate - the honorary victims of the hype get raped, there's only one true success in this life mates, and that's to spend your time eternally free - in your own way" < If you do what you want on a daily and don't have to check price tags when you shop for food - you've made it 90% of the way.

Your time is the most important asset you have, once it's all yours, you become a dangerous breed (having time + some money puts you in a position to be a power player faster and faster while getting bigger and bigger). This is why it's so hard for the part timers, only sparatic patchy attempts and constant lost focus. Those of you who are in charge of their time but not making it yet, you don't realize how good you actually have it - some day you won't have all this time because life happens - so use this time wisely daily.

Then change, asap, chances are you have enough knowledge to launch a website right? You know how to setup aweber/emails, you understand marketing so SOME degree, you just lack the balls or money to try 101 things properly until something works that you then scale.

My daily routine has morphed over the years, now is very passive and I can work or I can go skateboard/travel/spend time with friends. I'm also in a unique position where I know I can start x more projects, and have at least a bit of confidence that they will work, however I don't - because now I KNOW what happens when something huge WORKS, it takes over your life and consumes you and you have a whole new (GOOD) set of problem solving to do in life. There is such a thing as wanting the money too much, and not having a life to balance. I would consider my route rather unhealthy, 50 websites, hundreds of all nighters, thousands of assets, lost a great relationship to this, sacrificed a bit of my health for this, have bags under my eyes from this, but I damn well respect every single bit of this because the rest of my life is mine now, and I don't know any other way - the hard way is my way - most successful ppl will tell you it came with tons of sacrifice and still does .

/BrainDump#2Complete.
NC.

Nice metaphorical example ! I think it holds true. Focus on one thing. Be the best at it and do not give up til your the best at it


- Robert Andrew

I agree with this completely. Take losing weight, for example. Many people who want to lose weight already know what they have to do: Exercise, eat healthy, take in less calories than you burn, etc...but most do not want to do that because it takes discipline and commitment. So instead, they search for a magic pill or easy path to weight loss and it always backfires. IM is no different.

That's why I believe its important to figure out WHY you are doing the things you do, or what you want to do with the money that's made, because I also agree that money is something that is not very much thought about when it comes to what's going to be done with it after its made.

Hi RudyMan,

There are too many variables to consider with traffic and the source that would best work for your offers.

From what I've heard, Traffic Black Book by Chad Hamzeh came highly recommended.

But as for me, with limited budget, I'm putting it into one or two sources and testing, testing, testing.

Overall, I think NCMedia has given some fantastic advice to take and run with.

A book that overall changed my mindset towards business was 'The Millionaire Fastlane' by MJ DeMarco. The other thing that changed my mindset and stopped me from chasing new systems and ideas and courses was this blog post, and I hope it helps everyone who reads this thread - You: The Best Guru EVER | FrankKern.com

All the best.

My take on your beautiful post is this:


#1 FOCUS: eliminate chasing after a multitude of different so called "shiny objects".
#2 DO WHAT YOU KNOW OR LOVE: Whatever you create should not be a duplication of someone else's product. Use their success to INSPIRE you to create something that is your own.
#3 Find your WINNER, and expand on THAT in multiple ways.


I think that for many people the challenge is to pinpoint what they know, love or excel at, and to have the courage to create from there.


And then the next hurdle is to allow yourself the time required to find your sweet spot or your WINNER. To have it proven in the market.


Take the time to find what you love to do or are naturally gifted at, then find a way to empower others through that. It may not always be Internet Marketing or WSOs, but it will be fulfilling and it will be something that you will be inspired to keep pursuing. This is where your excellence will become obvious, and you will attract success, fulfillment and most likely financial reward.


DO WHAT YOU LOVE! - Share it With Others in Ways That Empowers Their Lives! - Find Your WINNER and Stick With It, in as many ways as you can.

Great first post! and I agree with you its all about refining and how you apply the recipe you mentioned; discipline, focus, and perseverance.

I also agree that you need to be providing value as well as making money if you want to succeed doing this long term. If you don't provide value, you won't have that sense of accomplishment and self worth. If you don't earn any money you won't eat lol.

Cheers,

Great questions and I'm sure you'll get different responses from those with different levels of experience. Yes this advice stands true for anything in any marketplace/vertical including on/offline or hybrids.

I suppose from my end, to wrap all this up into a simple set of answers: It all depends on your budget and time thresholds. The more you test, the more extensive the tests, and the longer you test, all equate to better and better data to analyze and maneuver with.

You're right in the sense that you probably won't know if it's your marketing or your product that is working/failing, but if it's failing period then you need to change up - fast.

Thinking back to my failures and knowing they were duds, yes it did come with experience and having many duds and kinda showing a pattern for me (example being after 10,000-50K laser targeted uniques, on a random week/month to a good split test or two/three, would show me good data from price point splits to design splits, to seeing if I can sustain profit/grow or if I missed my mark). If I couldn't sustain profit or get better than a x% conversion, I knew it was a dud and my affiliates wouldn't touch it or would bounce once they saw they couldn't convert either.

You might have different thresholds but the end game remains not to build a biz around untested offers. I'd put more money/time into testing great front end/branding before going all out with the rest of the biz or a formal launch on any. Sometimes even a good 'pre-order' or interest optin form split test will give you good enough data to then take it to actual branding/labeling in print vs just screen mockups etc. so it all depends on how meticulous you are with your approach/planning before testing (aka your own site/test a lot with pre-vis before touching amazon/other dist.).

.02.