Warriors: Do You Want To Make Money Or Make Excuses?

FAIR WARNING: This isn't a rant (really, it's not...), but I'm not going to hold back here either...

Since this post is aimed primarily at folks new to the forum, I should probably tell you, at the very least, a little about my own WF history - so you can briefly set aside your skepticism and trust that I only have your best interests at heart with this post...

I've been a member of the Warrior Forum for well over a decade now, certainly longer than the "join date" this username indicates.

I was as a moderator of the WF Copywriting sub forum for years (until that one morning all of us non-Freelancer mods discovered we had been unceremoniously made Freedmen.)

I was the organizer and host of the 5 now infamous Warrior Live Networking Events held between 2011-2014 (along with my Warrior Event partner Sam England) where hundreds of Warriors flew in from across the globe each time to network and learn from each other - and where JVZoo was born.

All of this just to point out, I have a deep understanding of the culture, dynamics and desires of this forum, far better than most...

The Warrior Forum has hundreds of thousands of members - it's no different than the population of any similar sized city - the citizens come in all sizes, shapes and stripes.

• We've got seasoned marketers who've earned millions online.
• We've got dreamers and schemers in the middle of a passing fancy.
• We've got whiners and rage-a-holics who obsessively seek new targets for their anger.
• We've got supportive peers and colleagues who jump in to lend a hand to strangers expecting nothing in return.
• We've got dirtbag criminals who prey on the new and unsuspecting for pocket money.
• We've got good, honest people sincerely seeking a way earn a living income using the internet to sell goods and services of value.

And everything in between... including an awful lot of very smart, very experienced marketers who rarely, if ever, post anymore.

At the risk of sounding like a pompous, self-congratulatory ass, I'm one of them...

It's now been a little over a year since Freelancer.com purchased the Warrior Forum from Allen Says.

What a difference a year makes...

Some of the changes have been irrefutably positive:

• A complete overhaul of the technical reliability and speed of the forum.
• Tackling very thorny compliance issues in the WSO section head-on.
• A 100% free series of livestream events featuring some truly world-class marketing experts.

Those are just a few of the big wins for the new owners...

However, the elephant in the middle of the room is not so sweet smelling...



You'd have to keep your head firmly planted in sand not to notice and be affected by the decline in the overall quality of the discussion here nowadays.

The changing complexion of the Warrior Forum goes much deeper than just difficulties with language barriers and challenges with cultural differences - although both have become epidemic.

Gone is the sense of community and participation in an ongoing conversation - threads regularly go unreplied to or in single digits when they are.

Gone is the predictability of popping onto the Warrior Forum and finding interesting, useful insights that help you make more money or think of new ways to approach your marketing.

Gone is the sense of respect for the history and craft of the business we're all supposed to be in.

And when those disappear, so do the most experienced members with the most to offer...

IT'S INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO PARTICIPATE HERE,
SO ONE FINAL SHOT ACROSS THE BOW FOR ME.

I'm not pulling a "noble exit" or anything - but what I am is BORED... and I'm far from alone.

So, today I thought I'd post one last value bomb here and just let it ride... let's see if there's still fun to be found here or not.

Which leads me to the main point of this post - and a direct question for new members (and even some of the perpetually struggling long-timers) here:

Do you want to make money online
or do you want to make excuses about why you're not?

You can't do both, so you need to choose...

"But McLeod, you don't know my situation... things are different/harder for me because (insert reason why you're special here)"

Sorry... you're not special.

Everyone's got their own personal brand of unfortunate circumstances to deal with.

For some it's money. For others it's family. Still others have health problems, relationship issues and any of the myriad maladies that have plagued humans throughout history.

As the song lyric goes, "Everybody got their somethin'..."

Handle yours - or don't. It's always a choice.

Even failing to decide is it's own decision - just one that gets made FOR you, instead of BY you.

Whatever you do - accept that your outcomes are direct reflection of your output.

You get out of this business exactly what you put into it. There are no shortcuts and there are no secrets. You learn, you do, you get.

• It takes determination to learn what you need to know and acquire what you need to have to be able to do what you want to do.
• It takes responsibility to become self-sufficient for your own success or failure without shifting the blame onto some other external force when things aren't working.
• It takes consistency in your thinking and your actions - success is not a singular event that happens and transforms you, it's a series of small victories that accumulate over time.

As predictably as the sun rises each morning, the same types of questions pop up here from raw rookies looking to cash in online without any understanding of what they're even trying to accomplish...

And on and on and on... ad nauseam.

REALITY CHECK: If you're asking these types of questions, you're the internet marketing equivalent of a dead-man walking - you just don't realize it yet.

Truthfully, you don't even know "what you don't know" yet.

At the top of this post, I said this wasn't a rant - and I meant it.I'm not one to offer criticisms or point out flaws without offering a solution.

So, let's shift gears to the "do something about it" part, shall we?

FLIP YOUR SCRIPT - SEEK TO SERVE FIRST

The single most important marketing question (from the perspective of the customer):

What's In It For Me? (W.I.I.F.M.)

Over and over again, you read pleas for help here and the obvious solution is staring them right in the face - the confused marketer is only concerned with themselves... "I need...", "I want...", "Why isn't this working?"

If you're failing or spinning your wheels and getting nowhere fast, chances are you've been doing everything completely ass-backwards - so, little wonder why your results reflect that.

You WILL FAIL when your focus and marketing approach is all about getting what YOU want.

Marketing isn't something you do TO people, it's something you do FOR people...

1. You identify an audience seeking a solution to a problem they have.
2. You create value by figuring out the best way to help them solve their problem.
3. You offer your superior solution to that audience.

Don't make things harder than they need to be (or they really are...)

Here's what millionaire marketers ask themselves about how they're serving their market:

• Who is my ideal prospect (and who is NOT?)
• What keeps my customer awake at night, and how can I best help them solve that problem?
• Is what I'm promoting the best solution for their problem, or just an opportunity for quick cash?
• How can I create unique, new VALUE for my audience?
• How can I amplify or multiply the effectiveness of what I promote?
• How can I speed up the process or make things easier for my customer?

The Good News: People will gladly spend money with you when they trust you to deliver a result or outcome they want.

The Bad News: Those same people will run the other way when your transparent attempts to reach into their pocket are obvious and self-serving.

Serve your market by creating unique value and they'll reward you with MONEY. Simple as that...

If you found this post valuable, take second to reply below, hit the "Thanks" button, or share it with somebody that needs to read it.

Wishing you only success,

Brian McLeod