Can you make it big in IM without "belonging" ?

Hi Boris s,

Interesting question.

Here's another way of looking at it.

Before Yaro Starak got 'big', the 'club' was already there. (I observed Yaro's 'rise', and the 'club' - before 'Yaro'.)

He got big off his own back and hard work, by following his plan.

At a certain point in time, from the outside, he appeared to 'join the club.'

What actually happened, and why? Think about it, answer those questions and your query is solved. It appears that aspects of this path to success (people 'connecting') are almost unavoidable.

Part of the conundrum is that perceived authority acts a bit like (old fashioned) google page rank. It can be 'passed' by large amounts of low authority links, or small amounts of high authority links. Then add in the system of 'link-wheels'...

Example - if someone grows their brand/reach to a certain size in one of these niches, they actually put pressure on the club to open it's doors, because if the existing members aren't connected to the emerging leader, they lose authority by not being connected. And once one of the club members connects, they are all compelled to do so, for fear that the new 'branch' will outgrow and dwarf/overwhelm them, by putting them in the shade.

If someone becomes flavour of the month and is creating buzz, everyone wants to emphasize their connection with them, so that the buzz bleeds down (like page rank.)

Yes....

Those "clubs" make money from other people who are desperate to get into one of those clubs...

Do your thing outside and the same amount of money (more in a lot of cases) is on the table for you...

Get to it!!

Peace

Jay

Absolutely. Everyone starts as an outsider. The successful entrepreneur will network effectively as their business grows. These groups that you talk about are a natural progression of this networking.

How you define "big?" There are quite a few very prosperous internet marketers. They're not trying to be famous or public figures. One of the benefits of going for visibility is that you can eventually use that alone to make money and work deals.

If you're talking about selling non how to make money stuff, you don't need to belong to any groups to make a good living online.

If you're talking about making it big in the "how to make money niche"...

... then it really helps if you come up with a product that lots of people ( with lists ) in the niche what to promote, build a big list & make your/some money off the promotion...

...and then do what most other people are doing that have big list in the how to make money niche - which is email your list 2 or 3 times a week with other offers.

Either that or discover a low cost source of visitors.

Hope This Helps!!

TL

The perception that all the successful people are in a 'club' is far more apparent from the outside than the inside!

I guess it is propagated by the habit many marketers have of calling everyone whose product they are promoting their 'friend'. The truth is that in many cases, these 'friends' have never met and may not even have exchanged a single email!

That's not to say that friendships don't exist - but this Internet world we inhabit is nothing if not a level playing field: we almost all enter it knowing nobody.

What you find is that several things happen.

As you attend seminars and other networking events, you get to meet successful people. What you almost always find is that they are regular guys who are more than happy to sit down and chat about movies or football over a few beers in the bar.

Yes, they'll talk Intenet marketing too, but too much work makes us all a bit dull!

Then, as you get a bigger list, or start to appear in the occasional affiliate top-ten, or learn how to drive traffic, your name will start to mean something.

Successful people will start to notice you.

I would never deny that there ARE 'clubs' out there (to coin a Paul Simon expression, a better description is 'loose affiliations of millionaires' although many have yet to reach the 'aire' status) but they are almost never exclusinve in the sense that you won't be able to get in.

Heck, if you've got a responsive list and know how to do business, getting in will be the least of your problems - deciding which of your new-found friends products to promote will take up all your time!

There also many different 'clubs' or affiliations. at all different levels.

Even out and out newbies can get to know other complete beginners and do a bit of cross promotion.

There IS no exclusive band of brothers (or sisters) - just a relatively small marketplace of marketers who are all on the lookout for the next best thing and the next buck to make.

Martin

Hi,

I'm with Martin on this (we do agree on some things )

There really is no club and you certainly don't need to be in one to be successful.

The perception usually comes about because of the promotions you see, and while there certainly are particular people promoting the same other peoples products - that's only to be expected since they're in the same niche (IM) and have an easy way to cross promote.

As Martin said - there really is no secret to getting 'in' the club, these things tend to be organic and if you create something that is very successful and others see you - they'll approach you and want a piece of your action.

If you have grown a massive and very responsive list - other people will want that. If you do something that makes someone money - they'll want to do it again.

The main difference with IM compared to most other businesses is that the mentality of many people is different and they will tend to work with people they like rather than just anyone in the niche.

I'm a classic example I suppose. If Martin told me he had something new and wanted me to spread the word - I'd do it, just because he's a good guy and I like him and would want to see him be successful. If some random IM person asked me (no matter how successful they were or how good their product was), I probably wouldn't be interested - because I don't know them and have no intention of promoting anything just for the money.

So, while I've made what most people would consider great money in the IM niche, I've never really got into massively promoting other peoples stuff because I take my own business personally and don't associate with people I don't like/respect - regardless of what anyone else thinks of them or their stuff.

So - yes you can be successful regardless of anything or anyone else - but no, there's no club, just like minded people seeing mutually beneficial opportunities.

The best part is - you get to choose how you do your business and who you do it with. That's not always the case with most businesses.

Andy

I don't think a person can be successful in ANY business on an island all by themselves. In Internet Marketing, big money is driven by joint ventures, and if your market is "make money with the internet", then it stands to reason that one would need to partner with the players with large distribution channels.

Hence, the appearance of "belonging to a scene".

You can.

In fact if you do things very well as an individual the club will seek you out.

When you build your business to be very profitable without the need to compromise your schedule or list (JV) then you will have an extraordinary business once you do have others promoting for you with JVs.

I became very successful completely on my own, not even knowing about warrior forum and thought a guru was a guy from india who would bless you and take you money.

only after I found success on my own, to the point where I left my day job, did I even realize there was a whole community of folks attempting to do the same thing and ghast! people that would take your money to teach you how to do what I just spent that last year figuring out on my own.

So that is proof. You don't need anybody or anything or any community to be successful.

Not to say that it wouldn't hurt, or possibly help. But that depends on the temperament of the individual as different people require different methods to find their success. Some need to be left alone to fail and succeed in the cold on their own (like me) and others require the support of a community and mentor to reach their fullest potential.

Each path has equal margin for success and it just depends on the individual case.
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ABSOLUTELY!

I avoid the IM club and choose to separate myself from that group. Now your criteria for "making it big" may be different than mine, but I'm extremely content earning a solid six-figure income online and taking on or passing on projects and ideas as I see fit. Most of all, I'm having fun and earning a substantial living at the same time. To me, that's "making it big".

No, because long before you "make it really big" you will be invited to join one - and there's too much money there to walk away from it. You'd be stupid not to join.

JVs are a great way to make that leap from "doing okay" to "doing well," and the "make it big" step is a little farther along. If you don't start leveraging your connections, the "make it really big" step will probably be out of your reach. It can be done, but honestly, going it alone simply isn't smart.

You know, as a newbie myself to the IM world, I would say it is a definite advantage to belong or venture with someone in this industry. I've been building web technologies for 12 years now, run my own internet company and I still find it difficult to build a viable group of my own in this market. Like WordPro said
"Successful internet marketing is all about networking, working with others, leveraging the efforts of other people to help you to get to where YOU want to be."
I totally agree with that statement.
Best of luck to you

DR.

Never wanted to be in the club or an "insider" of anything. I'm too busy working to worry about being famous.

Everybody starts somewhere

It's often the creative entrepreneurs who come out of nowhere and rise to success that are long remembered. So go out there and get all maverick-y on those "clubs"!

Abso-freaking-lutely!

Sheesh, if Kevin Riley can make it anyone can.......

RoD

Look up Jeremy Palmer.

This guy made it on his own selling affiliate products. No need for a club. No need for a list. Just PPC marketing. There are THOUSANDS of people making big money that you have never heard of. You don't have to have some big product to make the kind of money you are talking about.

So, the answer is YES! 100%. Absolutely you can make it big without belonging. There are many paths to success.

There are a lot of guys making money without being part of a clique. However, it certainly seems that the "gurus" of this niche are all in something like that. I'm sure it doesn't hurt...

HI, I made it big for years online, did it on my own websites,learn and created methods of making money online that no one here has yet to learn about.
By being alone you can learn to become 100% original, you learn to dig deep and create new money making methods that can beat or destory the old methods online. I have developed secrets codes that I will not share , but I can use these to attract millions of people to my websites across the Internet.It gives me a huge advantage over others marketing online. I look for new ways to do things better. I don;t depend on others and I make more money online than anyone I ever met. BUt I have my secrets. Not belonging to a money making club allows me time to do reseacrh and study new creative idea's

P.S. I am not bragging stating only fact........I am only online to make money and make EZ-Money Fast doing what I do best

Here's my opinion... YES!

The first product I bought was from a guy in London called Jonathan Street. Down to earth, honest and likeable.

Never had one "guru" promoting him, yet his stuff is really good. He made over $200,000 in one weekend and had two $30k days!

Although I do think it's possible to make money without belonging to the "brady bunch" I think if you make a name for yourself it's wise to try and "associate" yourself with them.

Many of them, and I know a couple personally are actually really nice guys and I've never bought a product from any of them which wasn't fantastic.

People think they're just out to make money, which is true. But they are also here to help people and that's where the satisfaction comes from when you've reached their level.

The thing I don't like... is how your inbox is filled just about every week Tuesday through Thursday with promotion after promotion from the "gurus".

Whether they're quality products or not I think any new subscribers to their lists are gonna be put off. Imagine 2 days after joining you get a promotion for a $5000 course.

There are better ways of doing things, I think. But it's all a bit contradictory and who's to say whether what they do is right or wrong. I just think they could go about "building relationships" better than they preach.

Connor