Makes a lot of sense. At the end of the day it is all about mindset and following through on what you believe is possible for you.

Good post.

Hi,

Good post, however I believe the point of the gurus probably trying to make is that $100,000 is not such a scary number. A lot of people seem to get scared by that number, especially if they are not in that position, and instead of approaching the business, they decide not to approach it at all. If I was trying to teach someone, the reason I would use $275 a day is because it's easier to identify with. Probably most people looking at this program, haven't yet made $100,000 in a year. However, they've probably made $275 in a month, in two weeks, in a week, or even a few days from the 'regular' paycheque. So they're able to focus and identify with what it feels like to make $275. Once they get that in their mind, and they can make $275 in one day, then it becomes easy to repeat that process.

Of course it is a great idea to think big. However for some people, it's too scary, so starting with a smaller number, is much easier.

That is solid advice. I am a firm believer in the limitations we set on ourselves. Who tells you that you can't aim high? Probably you - Stop it and go for it!

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Hi Ken,

When I was a carpet cleaner I worked for as little as $7 a room.

The state of California paid me to train a guy on welfare how to clean carpets so he could get off of welfare.

I taught him everything I knew or so I thought.

I saw him a year after his training and he was driving a big new van with state of the art carpet cleaning equipment.

I asked him, "How did you afford all of this?"

He said he only worked for the richest of customers and only charged very high prices.

I exclaimed, "You can't do that!." "You have to start at the bottom and work your way to the top."

He just looked puzzled and said. "George, you never taught me that."


George Wright

George, that's priceless.

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the thread, really helpful. I will go get'em now

Thanks,
Dan

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If you have the confidence, creativity, and ability to create a product that people will buy - always do a launch for it. It doesn't matter what niche you're in, a product launch will give you a surge of cash up front and huge momentum for your business. Heck, I'd say launch it and then relaunch it if you can.

Who says that you have to limit your product to a certain quantity? You can use scarcity just as effectively with a price discount based on quantity or time. Then you can keep selling the product at the regular price.

It's also a big misconception that launches are mainly an IM niche thing. I've done many launches in 8 years online but only one small internal launch in the IM niche (so far). I know many others who do launches outside of the IM niche as well to jumpstart their business.

I don't think there is any argument that you will make more money if you leverage the efforts of many (affiliates) instead of just relying on your own efforts.

For those who don't create products, there is nothing wrong with setting a daily goal for youself. In a way I guess you have to because it's not as likely to see a large surge in orders as an affiliate or content site as you would with a product launch.

I think what can be learned from all this discussion boils down to 2 points.

You can think about hitting your money goals online 2 different ways:

a) Make a lump sum of dough by creating waves of influxes of cash, whether that's $100 or $1 million, by product launches on a cyclical basis (like the IM gurus)

b) Make an ongoing revenue stream, by setting up marketing/advertising systems that give you an continuous stream of incoming leads


I don't think one's better than the other, it's just a matter of which method suits your industry and also your personal style.

If your niche is like IM, where new information gets old fast (in the eyes of the customer, at least), and/or you yourself get tired in a niche fast...

Then don't set an expectation of x dollars per day.

If your niche can be drilled for complexity, and you like the idea of supporting that niche longterm on the backend... then you can goal set by means of making x dollars per day.


The bottom line is, both ways of thinking are making people big money... why restrict a person's options by saying one is better than the other?

They are both successful money making strategies...

Yall just gotta pick the one you like and run with it.

Actually, I would caution against thinking that the big time earners focus most of their time on one day. Sometimes when we're hearing about all these product launches in the internet marketing niche, we tend to think that's the only way of making money. The majority of the most successful businesses that I know of make good money every single day and don't focus nearly as much on that initial first launch day.

I know a lot of internet marketers and can tell you that many are looking for ways to get into more of every day income instead of just relying on the big launches.

And as a side note, I think we sometimes focus too much on "the big launch" instead of what you can do by yourself without any JV partners to sustain a long lasting income.

Just some food for thought.

Brian

No offense to the original poster, but one of the biggest problems newbies face is that so called "experts" go around spouting things as facts when in reality they are not. There is more than 1 way to skin a cat.

Product launches are just one way to make "big" money. I'll give you another...

There are plenty of "under the radar" CPA marketers/affiliates that make millions a year by grinding out $5-20k a day (or more) in profits. Every single day. The exact opposite of what you're saying.

And the absolute truth of the matter is that most of these underground "elite" marketers make more than your gurus doing their over-hyped product launches.

So you are right that product launches are one way to make a lot of money. But you are wrong to say it's the only or even the best way to make a lot of money online.

CPA and lead gen works for me. Once you have a system in place it can be 98% automated (which product launches can't), and it's actually a lot less work then creating products and doing product launches.

[DELETED]

I agree with Ken that most beginning marketers think too small and that limits their success.

But I think the golden nugget in his post has nothing to do with product launches. It's to pick a niche and look at your successful competitors. They're the key to your customers, to your product, to your marketing, and to your sales.

Before starting a business, if I had to make a choice between surveying my customers or having a complete analysis of my most successful competitors, I'd take the competitive analysis any day. Because the customer information is already built in.

In my opinion, that's the place to start when you want to build a successful, extremely profitable business. Don't confuse the path to profitability with techniques like product launches.

You need to know what to launch and to whom to launch first.

And that's exactly why there's a crappy overpriced launch every week. Because the "big boys" are product launch addicts. They don't have a business, they have 'paydays.' But cash runs out (usually very fast). On the other hand, if you have $xxx/day coming in like clockwork you have an ASSET that you can sustain and grow.

[DELETED]

I did read your "stated-as-fact" original post. The jist of it was your claim that:

Maybe that's your personal experience, but my point is that REAL marketers, people that sell real stuff and not just "how to make money online" junk, generally don't do what you're talking about.

They build real businesses that generate consistent and usually growing daily profits, and don't count on over-hyped "one and done" product launches to make their money.

Could any of these "gurus" that rely on product launches sell their "business"? Are they even building any valuable assets, aside from maybe their customer lists? Generally speaking the answer is no. They can't sell their business because 1) they ARE their business, and 2) they don't have consistent and scalable revenue streams. Can you name a single IM "guru" that could actually sell their "business" for more than the value of their customer list? Doubt it.

The guys I run with get buyout offers all the time, because we build site and real businesses that generate ongoing consistent profits, without anyone even knowing who we are.

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Hi Roger, I find it mind boggling that someone can train thousands of people. Unless it is some sort of corporate box lifting workshop, I just don't see how anyone could have the time.

Well, after reading this thread a few things come to my mind.

Firstly, another thread: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/43057-would-you-work-all-year-make-100-000-day.html

Secondly, This will not be best for everyone, no one plan ever is. But I believe in making a little per day, as a sideline income, in addition to my work toward the big paydays.

If I make $20 a day on average from one project that takes me 20-80 minutes a day, averaging about 50 minutes, then that averages to about $24 an hour for that project, or about $7,300 per year from that project.

If I have a second project that makes about $220 a week on average, taking about 2-3 hours per week, that is as much as $73 to $110 an hour for that project, or about $11,440 per year from that project.

With 4 such projects, I can maintain a reasonably steady income of about $40,000 to $50,000 a year, which is 'keeping the lights on' money, and leaves me several days a week worth of time to work on the big paydays, where the real money resides.

Some people will work best strictly on the 'big paydays', but I'm not comfortable putting all my eggs in one basket, to use an old cliche. If I am operating only on the big paydays, and looking to get $50 or $100 thousand from the one payday, and it fails for any reason, I'm likely to be hurting financially.

Other people will be better served by the 'achieve and maintain' approach where they see income daily or weekly, and can continue to adjust their efforts to maintain or grow that amount.

This is why my efforts are split as they are. It's what works best for me.

This is a great post Ken. Here is my two cents.

I have a background in traditional "offline" businesses so my mindset may be a little different.

When asked how to make money online I have often told people to sign up for as many of the guru's lists as possible, dissect what they do, and replicate! However, I had a slightly different kind of plan when I got into IM.

I knew about product launches and I thought about the big paydays but I didn't like the gaps of no income in between product launches.

So, I decided to make a comfortable "base" amount to live off of. I wanted to see a steady income stream where I made around the same amount every day/week to give myself a feeling of security. I did this with affiliate marketing and building ecommerce stores and membership sites.

After reaching my goal of having a steady income stream then I would start doing product launches (which is what I'm working on now).

Why did I plan it this way?

I needed to have the peace of mind of knowing I will get paid no matter what. I was comfortable with money from a job. I knew when the paycheck was coming. So with an online business, I wanted to see the same thing.

People may argue that I could make the same amount of money per year with a really big product launch. While that is true, I would not have that feeling of security I'm used to. So, maybe the $275 per day approach gives people a more secure feeling along with sounding more attainable.

I incorporated it into my goals along with product launches. You see, now whatever income I bring in from a product launch is just a bonus and I will still have that security long after the launch is over.

-Travis

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Hi All!

I'm fairly new in the forums (in terms of activity, anyway!) so still finding my feet. What I don't understand about this thread is that the OP simply offered us a different perspective of how we could potentially look at our Internet businesses. For some reason, it seems to have degenerated into a personal attack on the poster!?

Have I missed something here?

Surely, if we don't like something, we don't read it. If we don't like a particular member, don't read their posts. I think I even read somewhere that we can block certain members so that they don't bother us.

Am I being naive here???

-John.

P.S. Please don't have a go at me too - I'm only asking....!

Based on your above "resume" your experience is wholly in the Real Estate Investor niche, which is pretty damn easy to make good money in. If you are to hold your previous experiences as proof of your expertise then, in my mind, those detailed only qualify you to sell real estate investor programs.

You can't have it both ways.

Further, we can clearly see that you've attached a lot of self-help mumbo jumbo and downright bunkum to your pitches ie, "Soulionaire" being a front for Coaching Cash. But this kind of approach doesn't work with real business people. Only the naive and the very desperate. Hence the mild distain many more senior Warriors have for your views.

Thomas

I do it both ways. When I first started, I could only make a little money here and there. I was looking for the big payday. After a while, I decided to focus on achieving a daily number that would add up to my goal. Of course you rarely get the same revenue every single day, so I worked on trying to get an "average" daily income.

That gave me a goal I could wrap my arms around and reach. These days, my internet-related income provides me and my family of four a very, very nice living. But it took me quite a while to get from where I started to where I am now, six figures per year.

Now I maintain a steady stream and mix in some big paydays.

I teach beginners to focus on a simple, easier to achieve goal. It allows them to build up their online business without losing faith that they might by focusing only on the big number.

It's like when I joined a bowling league when I was in my 20's. I was teamed with a guy like me who averaged about 140 or so and another guy who averaged over 200 a game (he actually bowled a 300 one night during our league). Anyhow, to make a long story short, I couldn't consistently get the ball where I wanted it to go. The big bowler on our team took about 30 seconds and analyzed my problem and solved it. He asked me:

"Are you looking at the marks on the floor of the lane or at the pins?"

Of course, I was looking at the pins. He made me instead focus on the little arrows that were right in front of me instead of the pins that were so far away. My average improved immediately -- it was all a matter of where I was focusing.

Steve

Sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees and it takes a simple thing like changing your mindset to put things in perspective. It truly is just as easy to make big money as it is little money and usually takes no more work. So whatever it takes to put yourself in that mindset; Go for it!

Sorry for the cheap "self-help mumbo jumbo" jibe. I see you're making good use of it. Any more credits and I'll be able to rejoin the Writer's Guild

I have a lot of faith in self-help, but I think that it is misused and miss-sold. It's misused, increasingly so in the MMO niche, as yet another magic button. Think yourself rich as well as buy my millionaire maker system priced $97. Ask the universe for a million dollars and along with purchasing my $7 WSO, you shall receive. Etc...ad infinitum.

It doesn't work this way.

For people to believe in themselves and their capabilities, they often need a paradigm shift. This generally can only come from a conscious choice to change or through positive results, no matter how small. Little victories that compound and propel people in their business activities or any other pursuit of any other goal, by building emotional momentum.

Tony Robbins and the like ain't gonna save anybody. Many commentators say that these guys open the door and that their *customers* simply have to walk through it.

This is not the case.

These guys simply point out that such a door exists. It's up to the individual to summon sufficient motivation from within themselves to open it and make a conscious choice to expend the required energy to step through it.

A trite but appropriate example would be; why do you think there are so many smokers on programs, with a mentor, a councillor and a support group who want to but can't quit their addiction, whereas others simply say "enough's enough, today I'm gonna quit" and do so?

Nobody can motivate anybody else. A paradigm shift based upon a conscious decision to change really can only come from within. No amount of mentoring, coaching, leading, badgering or bullying will make a blind bit of difference.

The irony is that those who feel they need (and often really do need) to change, rarely do and often become self-help program junkies!

You're right about our mutual passion for helping people. However we do it in different ways here. I don't really believe in selling in an educational environment and so I do not sell anything here. Nor do I have anything ready to sell that I think would be of real benefit. This may change, however, as more and more I see a need for certain types of crucial business and growth fundamentals as well as advanced strategies simply not even being discussed here. I'm also more and more motivated to do this in line with the next sentence...

As I have written many times, by the end of this year all of my existing and planned business activities will fund the launch of my human trafficking charity in Eastern Europe. All operating profit. Everything I have will go into this. It's something close to my heart and an all too overlooked global problem. I just want to do my bit.

You're right about one thing though, if you want something to be big, plan it so from the outset. This is why it will have taken me almost two years by launch day.

Thanks for the kind words. That's why most of us are here. Simply to learn from one another, without the presumption of being teachers.

Thomas

Great post Ken. I have seen other posts of yours and you always seem to give quality advice. Keep up the good work!

I think that the mindset goes farther than just creating big paydays...

It has to do with WHY you want to create that wealth... Is it for YOURSELF? Is it for OTHERS? Is it for BOTH?

Then you go further down that rabbit-hole:

WHY are you making that website? Why are you going into that niche? Is it just because you think it will make you lots of money?

If you aren't interested in it, you wont follow through with it 99 times out of 100...

Just a bit of stuff I have seen in doing IM... its the people who have that goal, not just for themselves, but for their family, their friends, and others in the world that seem to thrive... it is the people that follow their passions, and not just what they think will make them rich, that seem to thrive



Never let anyone tell you that you cannot accomplish something. Never let anyone tell you that the only way to accomplish it is by following somebody elses passion.

I think Scott Burton has the right idea.

Do both.

The bigger the thinking, the greater the risk (or, the smaller the likelihood of success). Like buying a lottery ticket.

The reverse is often true too. The lower the goal, the more likely (or the easier) the success.

Therefore, create some 'bread and butter' low-level systems to make a living -- while SIMULTANEOUSLY hunting the big whales.

That way you have the security of day-to-day living covered, and you're consistently buying lottery tickets ALSO!

-- TW

I think some of the issues here may have to do with the imperious verbiage, such as:

"In order to be successful, you must do X"
"This is how it's done. There are no exceptions"
"I tell all of my thousands of wildly successful students who are now fabulously rich (hint: you could be successful too if you just become my student. click here for details) do Y"

Sorry, but that's rubbish for anyone but you. Don't mistake your shortcomings as universal issues.

Yes, mindset is most important.

It's only when I see someone trying to convince novices that all that they need is some reprogramming to become wildly rich, whilst offering a coaching program in order to do just that, that the red flags go up ... and they go quite high.

I really enjoyed this post. Lately I've been reading all of Ken's posts mainly because he was successful in a niche that I just started marketing to.

I did some research on Ken prior to this post and there is no doubt that he made money in the real estate niche. Lot of life changing information in his posts. I just hope he doesn't stop making posts like this.

BTW Ken are you accepting free students?