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Contrarian Advice Enclosed: Don't Read If You Don't Want The Harsh Truth

by Brad Spencer
9 replies
Hey,

Just got a couple skype messages today that got me thinking.

Obviously it's the holiday season and people are wanting cash.

Second...people are really struggling with the amount of layoffs.

So a lot of people are coming into our tiny little marketing
community wanting help, needing help, even just a little bit
to put food on their table.

Now...I'm not sure why people think that starting a business
is the thing you should do when you're broke but this is lunacy.

I just sold a small restaurant back in September and it seemed
like I was always writing checks for a few hundred bucks here
and few hundred there.

Money was always going out...

Now...fast forward to being a solo entrepreneur with only
one business (Note: I ran my online biz, small restaurant
and cruise sales operation all at the same time), I think back
to those days when we opened the restaurant.

I would never imagine opening a restaurant with a shoestring
budget (Note #2: this is why most restaurants fail...lack of
capital to survive slow weeks).

So why...may I ask...do people think that opening an
internet business is any different?

Yes it doesn't take multiple hundred or thousand dollar
checks.

But it does take cash...

$10 a month for Hostgator hosting
$10 for a domain
$20 for Aweber
Varying amounts for software.

And let me tell you this...

You Need Money To Run A Real Internet Business

All the above are required to run most
IM business models.

More software= more time to scale

Scale= Cash Flow

Cash Flow= Take Care Of Your Family

So...logically...

More Software= Take Care Of Your Family

So...if you don't have capital to run/grow
your business. Here's what you do...

1. Go Get a Job at McDonalds or a
restaurant (always hiring)

2. Take cash and care for your family

3. Freelance for experienced marketers
to raise capital for your internet business
while learning a skill.

4. Quit chasing all the shiny bull****
out there and produce value for someone
else's business so you can grow/learn how
to run your own.

In the spirit of holidays...please do what
you know is right. Don't fall for the hype/dreams.

That is all.

Cheers,

Brad

PS- I wrote this post in a flurry so I'll be editing
it as people comment...please share your thoughts.

Hopefully this inspires at least one person to take
the logical rather than emotional steps we so often
see new marketers/business people taking
#advice #contrarian #enclosed #harsh #read #truth
  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    Originally Posted by Brad Spencer View Post

    Freelance for experienced marketers to raise capital for your internet business while learning a skill.
    This is key. Don't freelance for money; freelance for experience.

    Writing keyword articles, blog posts, and short reports for other marketers taught me more in six months than I could have learned in three years of undirected floundering through posts on the forum.

    If you want to know what really works, find out what real marketers with real businesses are buying. They might do something themselves "just to see what happens," but they're not pulling out the PayPal account to dick around with ideas. They pay money for real, proven tactics that really work.
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    "The Golden Town is the Golden Town no longer. They have sold their pillars for brass and their temples for money, they have made coins out of their golden doors. It is become a dark town full of trouble, there is no ease in its streets, beauty has left it and the old songs are gone." - Lord Dunsany, The Messengers
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  • Profile picture of the author NicoleBeckett
    Unfortunately, most of these people don't see internet marketing as a business. Instead, they see it as a quick way to earn some easy money, while they surf the 'net in their PJs (after all, that's what the gurus and the sales copy tell them!)

    If you told these people to go out and start a brick and mortar business, they'd say they could never do it, or they'd list 100 reasons why it was too hard, or they'd tell you they didn't have the start-up money for it. For some reason, they see the internet as being exempt from all of that. And, sadly, that's why they fail... because they're not looking to build a business. They're looking for a quick fix.
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  • Profile picture of the author nm5419
    Originally Posted by Brad Spencer View Post

    Now...I'm not sure why people think that starting a business
    is the thing you should do when you're broke but this is lunacy.
    I suspect it might have something to do with the news media and popular social media/tech sites spouting that it's "the thing to do" during a depression. They'll go so far as to quote 1 or 2 successful case examples. But you're right - it is a bad idea for most people.

    The problem is case stories don't always tell the whole story, where the 'single mom of two who struck it rich selling multi-colored shoe-strings' actually took out a 2nd mortgage for marketing and advertising, or funded her little project with 3 additional real-world jobs. They don't tell the real back story behind the man who got his start-up money by dating a millionaire's daughter for 6 months.

    They just say, "Hey these people did it - You can too!" They're as bad as used-car salesman. But even the low-down pimp knows it takes money to make money. That's why their 'ladies' always 'look fine.' Some people just don't have any common sense, and they make the perfect audience for this type of misinformation (CNN endorsed or not).
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    • Profile picture of the author Beetlesales
      Ok, so the point of your article is: "It takes capital to make capital." Why didn't you just post this instead of wasting an hour of your time typing useless jibber-jabber?
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      • Profile picture of the author nm5419
        Originally Posted by Beetlesales View Post

        Ok, so the point of your article is: "It takes capital to make capital." Why didn't you just post this instead of wasting an hour of your time typing useless jibber-jabber?
        Dude made his intentions clear at the bottom of his post. I take it you didn't get that far. Here it is again ('specially for you):

        Hopefully this inspires at least one person to take
        the logical rather than emotional steps we so often
        see new marketers/business people taking
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        • Profile picture of the author Beetlesales
          Originally Posted by nm5419 View Post

          Dude made his intentions clear at the bottom of his post. I take it you didn't get that far. Here it is again ('specially for you):

          Hopefully this inspires at least one person to take
          the logical rather than emotional steps we so often
          see new marketers/business people taking
          Oh! I see now! Sorry I missed that
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  • Profile picture of the author jgant
    I too started with an extremely short-term view (month-long) mindset to generating revenue in IM.

    The longer I'm in the IM industry, the longer my outlook for my websites and lists. I set out multi-month plans to execute offerings, write articles/article series, plan list building endeavors, etc. I also have a year and multi-year outlook for all projects so I know where they're going.

    My sites are definitely businesses, and decent ones at that. Little overhead, leveraged, earns 24/7, and have almost unlimited potential (my main earners are broad-topic sites).

    Having a longer-term view of my projects gave me patience as well. At first I was impatient to generate huge revenue. Now I don't mind waiting for something to pan out. I'd rather plan it carefully and execute it well than shoot from the hip.
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    • Profile picture of the author Don Luis
      Banned
      Can you harvest wheat (money) if you don't buy the seeds (capital/investment)?

      Of course, you can harvest wheat if they're not yours and you're just a helping hand. It's like offering a service to other people who are running a business.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kal Sallam
    Agreed 100 % its only when I started to outsource and Pay for traffic is when I started seeing some real Money!
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