Do You Have 1 Subscriber Yet?

I was browsing through the WSO's recently, and it seems that it is just flooded with posts that say "Make $1000 in a day," or "In just 2 weeks your could be making $1000 every day on autopilot," or really anything else that sounds a little ludicrous.

Now I don't doubt that someone, somewhere has made over $1000 in one day when they were totally wet behind the ears, but the results are not typical and I think a lot of newbies get led off the deep end by such claims. Even worse is that I haven't seen one WSO like that with a testimonial that shows someone who bought the product actually made what was claimed is "easy."

Don't get me wrong, I know people still make these products because they sell well, the old magic push button riches is very tempting for lots of people. I've even bought a few myself. One of the big problems though, is it seems some of these WSO's promote the whole "fake it til you make it" theory that is just ridiculous.

I don't know about you guys, but if I am paying money to learn something, I would like to learn from someone who has actually done what I want to learn. I recently bought a WSO that suggests you go get some PLR, put your name on it, then post it up in the WSO's with a big catchy title like "This Will Make Your $500 EVERY DAY."

I don't make $500 per day in IM, so if I posted that in the WSO section, I would be LYING, not marketing. At least that's how I see it.


Anyway... I have recently made the decision to keep my business as simple as possible so I can actually work towards one goal at a time. And if you're new to IM, I would suggest you do the same.

When you start browsing through the WSO's or anywhere else that has a ton of offers and good marketing, it's tempting to start buying stuff with promises of quick riches, but don't! The more you buy and the more you read, the more confused you will get and it will seem like making money on the internet is harder than it really is. That's pretty much my life story as far as IM goes.

Plus you must view this is as a business if you really want to be successful. Making a living on the internet is not a get rich quick and get out scheme (at least it shouldn't be). Whether you're in the IM niche or some other niche, you should aim to create a business (whether you're selling info products, software, mentoring) that really gives value and helps people solve their problems.

Then once you know what you're going to do, focus on building your client base, just like a brick and mortar business would (with IM tactics of course). In my opinion, the best way to make a living online is to start building a list of loyal readers/customers that like you and want more information from you.

So start by getting 1 subscriber into your aweber account. Create something of value that you can give away, then put it in front of as many people as possible. If you make it easy for your subscribers to share, then you'll grow even faster.

Do this before anything else! Don't worry about your upsells, backend, one time offers, continuity programs, coaching programs, audio, video extras etc. Start by getting that first subscriber, and work up from there. Having the biggest and most planned out marketing funnel in history will do nothing if you have no one to buy it!

Once you start building your list up, it will become easier to make money by promoting affiliate offers, JVing with others, launching your new products to your list, and everything else can fall into place later.

I've been off and on in IM for a few years, and I don't make a ton of money like the gurus, but I've been building a subscriber list and it is starting to pay off. I am writing this to myself as much as anyone else that cares to read it. I struggle greatly with getting distracted and losing focus. So today I am writing out my main goals to focus only on activities that will build my business, without getting distracted by all the "too good to be true" offers out there.

Here are my 4 things I'm going to focus on and a good place for you to start:
1. Create an extremely valuable info product that will help my customers solve their problems (audio, video, pdf, whatever)
2. Create a squeeze page that gives it away in exchange for an email address
3. Drive a TON of traffic to that one page ONLY (I get easily distracted )
4. Write an autoresponder series that provides value, doesn't stop being sent out for months, and promotes the BEST programs in my niche.

I'm not sure if this will help anyone, but I think posting it publicly will motivate me to stick to my guns and build a solid business this year.

How about you?