4000th Post - Stuff and Nonsense
Hello my Warrior friends.
Here I am at my 4,000th post and so it's time for me to take my traditional look at stuff. You know, the old where I am, how I got here and where I am going routine. So here goes ...
Where I Am
Well, I feel I ought to be celebrating my current position. It is where I wanted to be when I started on this great journey we call internet marketing. I am self-employed, doing what I love (writing) and without any money worries because I have built a business with a large passive income component. I have moved to the seaside and I live in a lovely Arts and Crafts, 1920s house in beautiful Exmoor where I can walk the dog, enjoy the wildlife and savour the moment.
Despite my success, in some ways I feel as if nothing much has changed. I still have not achieved my 6 figure income goal, for example - though I do make 5 figures and I also recognise that the road to 6 figures passes through these parts. I still do a lot of research, a lot of writing, a lot of reading and a lot of thinking. One thing that has changed for me in between 3K and 4K posts is that I am very unlikely to ever buy another WSO. Don't get me wrong; I have bought good WSOs in the past, but now the hit-rate for finding anything actionable for me is too unfavourable.
Another thing is that I am largely out of the PLR business now. It is not the way forward for me, though for a time, I did make a fair amount by selling the rights to products I paid to have created for me. It is a business model that many newbies should consider. Write or create something good – really good – and then sell the rights to other people to market it. The market is littered with people who produce excellent marketing materials and poor quality content, so that means there is an opportunity for people to differentiate themselves by providing quality content.
There are very many marketers right here who would love their niches to be served by people who can produce quality white label video and audio content. Quality, both in terms of production and content. Again, there are very few people doing this!
Something I have come to realise is that finding the way forward, at least for me, has often involved taking a step of faith. I often come to a place where I feel as if I should do something and it seems that, after I have taken that step, other things open up; things I could never have contemplated from my viewpoint prior to taking that step. Maybe that's true for you too. Perhaps that thing you have been thinking about requires you to actually take a step before you see how to go forward from there.
How I Got Here
As many people will know, I got here without a plan. I don't think that's a great approach and I am certainly not recommending it, but the truth is, I just didn't have a plan. What I did have was vision and I also had the qualities of persistence, determination and single-minded focus. I tried many things along the way and evaluated many others to see if I felt they could be incorporated into what I do. One thing I did right was that I never gave up on my primary project. Yes, I did start others along the way, but I never lost focus on my main project. As Zig Ziglar once famously said, "you have to keep the main thing the main thing; that is the main thing!"
The principles that I have followed have involved cooperation based on forging win-win relationships, deals and agreements. I am always looking for ways to find synergies between what I do and what others within my market are doing. Considering it is within the personal development space that I operate, I am always amazed to find so many people who do not appear to walk their talk. But personally, I think that has been a big factor in my success. Every time I find a good partner who shares my view that together we are stronger, it reinforces my rising dominance within that market space.
Another principle I believe in is to help others along the way. I may not be any kind of guru, but people get replies from me when they PM me or mail me because I know what it feels like to be starting out busting your gut trying to get something to work for you, buying products that over-promise and under-deliver and wondering how to really get a foothold. Sometimes, I think, those little pieces of personal help and advice can make the difference for someone. I have to say too, that other experienced Warriors are very generous with their time in encouraging newbies here at the forum. Well done to you if you do that – it is an important part of what makes the Warrior Forum such a captivating place for us all.
One other principle I should mention is that I have always tried to do my own thinking. That doesn't mean I don't listen to what other people say. On the contrary, that's a part of why I visit here. But, bottom line, I think for myself. I have tried to cultivate the art of thinking like a search engine (or at least, a search engine programmer). Any tactic that I deem to be working against what I would call 'the spirit of the web' I completely avoid. That very often means ignoring the popular trends, and thinking how I can maximise the return on my own efforts. As I have said here before, if 95% of people who start out to make their living online are actually failing, then 95% of people are providing an object lesson in what not to do.
Where I Am Going
Well, from where I am now, I can see why I was previously unable to move forward quicker. As I said, you sometimes need to first take a step in order to see things differently. What I can now clearly see is how unattractive my main product offering is to the majority of ClickBank affiliates. From the marketplace listing, they cannot really tell how well it sells for me. They have their own criteria for selecting products. They want high commissions and recurring income and I don't blame them either. Now, I do offer high commission – the maximum 75% allowed by ClickBank - but until now, I have not offered recurring commissions, so that is exactly where my current focus is.
At present I have three front-end offerings and I am working on providing backend, recurring commission offerings to each one. Until I have what I believe to be the absolute best offering within each of these three niches, I will not be actively recruiting affiliates. Of course, they do find me (and will continue to do so) and some of them do very well too. But I know that transforming my products into unbeatable offerings within their niches with a particular eye on the affiliate requirement represents my way forward to significant growth.
In conclusion, wherever YOU are - right now - my friend, know that you won't remain there forever. If you can follow the principles I have outlined above, I believe you can get ahead of the pack. You can carve your own place if you will simply learn that people need help and YOUR role is to identify what help they need and then be the provider of it. If you can position yourself as the natural provider of a unique solution, you will be well on the way to outstanding success.
Good luck to you.
Will
Here I am at my 4,000th post and so it's time for me to take my traditional look at stuff. You know, the old where I am, how I got here and where I am going routine. So here goes ...
Where I Am
Well, I feel I ought to be celebrating my current position. It is where I wanted to be when I started on this great journey we call internet marketing. I am self-employed, doing what I love (writing) and without any money worries because I have built a business with a large passive income component. I have moved to the seaside and I live in a lovely Arts and Crafts, 1920s house in beautiful Exmoor where I can walk the dog, enjoy the wildlife and savour the moment.
Despite my success, in some ways I feel as if nothing much has changed. I still have not achieved my 6 figure income goal, for example - though I do make 5 figures and I also recognise that the road to 6 figures passes through these parts. I still do a lot of research, a lot of writing, a lot of reading and a lot of thinking. One thing that has changed for me in between 3K and 4K posts is that I am very unlikely to ever buy another WSO. Don't get me wrong; I have bought good WSOs in the past, but now the hit-rate for finding anything actionable for me is too unfavourable.
Another thing is that I am largely out of the PLR business now. It is not the way forward for me, though for a time, I did make a fair amount by selling the rights to products I paid to have created for me. It is a business model that many newbies should consider. Write or create something good – really good – and then sell the rights to other people to market it. The market is littered with people who produce excellent marketing materials and poor quality content, so that means there is an opportunity for people to differentiate themselves by providing quality content.
There are very many marketers right here who would love their niches to be served by people who can produce quality white label video and audio content. Quality, both in terms of production and content. Again, there are very few people doing this!
Something I have come to realise is that finding the way forward, at least for me, has often involved taking a step of faith. I often come to a place where I feel as if I should do something and it seems that, after I have taken that step, other things open up; things I could never have contemplated from my viewpoint prior to taking that step. Maybe that's true for you too. Perhaps that thing you have been thinking about requires you to actually take a step before you see how to go forward from there.
How I Got Here
As many people will know, I got here without a plan. I don't think that's a great approach and I am certainly not recommending it, but the truth is, I just didn't have a plan. What I did have was vision and I also had the qualities of persistence, determination and single-minded focus. I tried many things along the way and evaluated many others to see if I felt they could be incorporated into what I do. One thing I did right was that I never gave up on my primary project. Yes, I did start others along the way, but I never lost focus on my main project. As Zig Ziglar once famously said, "you have to keep the main thing the main thing; that is the main thing!"
The principles that I have followed have involved cooperation based on forging win-win relationships, deals and agreements. I am always looking for ways to find synergies between what I do and what others within my market are doing. Considering it is within the personal development space that I operate, I am always amazed to find so many people who do not appear to walk their talk. But personally, I think that has been a big factor in my success. Every time I find a good partner who shares my view that together we are stronger, it reinforces my rising dominance within that market space.
Another principle I believe in is to help others along the way. I may not be any kind of guru, but people get replies from me when they PM me or mail me because I know what it feels like to be starting out busting your gut trying to get something to work for you, buying products that over-promise and under-deliver and wondering how to really get a foothold. Sometimes, I think, those little pieces of personal help and advice can make the difference for someone. I have to say too, that other experienced Warriors are very generous with their time in encouraging newbies here at the forum. Well done to you if you do that – it is an important part of what makes the Warrior Forum such a captivating place for us all.
One other principle I should mention is that I have always tried to do my own thinking. That doesn't mean I don't listen to what other people say. On the contrary, that's a part of why I visit here. But, bottom line, I think for myself. I have tried to cultivate the art of thinking like a search engine (or at least, a search engine programmer). Any tactic that I deem to be working against what I would call 'the spirit of the web' I completely avoid. That very often means ignoring the popular trends, and thinking how I can maximise the return on my own efforts. As I have said here before, if 95% of people who start out to make their living online are actually failing, then 95% of people are providing an object lesson in what not to do.
Where I Am Going
Well, from where I am now, I can see why I was previously unable to move forward quicker. As I said, you sometimes need to first take a step in order to see things differently. What I can now clearly see is how unattractive my main product offering is to the majority of ClickBank affiliates. From the marketplace listing, they cannot really tell how well it sells for me. They have their own criteria for selecting products. They want high commissions and recurring income and I don't blame them either. Now, I do offer high commission – the maximum 75% allowed by ClickBank - but until now, I have not offered recurring commissions, so that is exactly where my current focus is.
At present I have three front-end offerings and I am working on providing backend, recurring commission offerings to each one. Until I have what I believe to be the absolute best offering within each of these three niches, I will not be actively recruiting affiliates. Of course, they do find me (and will continue to do so) and some of them do very well too. But I know that transforming my products into unbeatable offerings within their niches with a particular eye on the affiliate requirement represents my way forward to significant growth.
In conclusion, wherever YOU are - right now - my friend, know that you won't remain there forever. If you can follow the principles I have outlined above, I believe you can get ahead of the pack. You can carve your own place if you will simply learn that people need help and YOUR role is to identify what help they need and then be the provider of it. If you can position yourself as the natural provider of a unique solution, you will be well on the way to outstanding success.
Good luck to you.
Will
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