5 Pieces of Advice I Wish Someone Gave Me When I Started...

Very solid advise thanks mate....

Those are good, the one I wish I had learned earlier was the same one I pound into all my clients heads now. It really isn't IM focused, but is a foundational point that I feel applies to all forms of business, IM-based or not. And, that is:

Spend real time learning about your customer. Learn his/her pain points, learn what their needs are, learn what their wants are. Design your company around the customer first, and yourself second.

I couldn't agree more with all of things mentioned above!
I used to remain myself to keep focus, persistence, patient

Cheers,
Amanda

I agree with your tips.

I guess you want to see everyone add something to this list, based on their personal experiences.

Here is something I wish I knew from the beginning:

* Not all niches are the same. What works for internet marketing doesn’t work for other fields. You need different strategies when you deal with different conditions.

Thanks Phil,

That's an excellent summary of how you should think and approach the business. I think that the biggest failing for most people is #1. It's way too easy to get distracted by something new before you've mastered any single strategy (especially when starting out).

I suppose in an off-line world you could compare it to opening a bakery, but before you've even mastered how to bake cakes and bread and generate a profit you decide that being a fitter & turner looks a better opportunity and abandon the bakery, and so on, and so on.

Chow chow,
Kevin

could not agree more with the keeping focused and having a daily routine. it is extremely easy to fall into looking at the next thing in line and saying "yeah i could do that!"

Great Advice!

I have always wanted to try something new. I wish I had more advice on if I should be finding what everyone needs and solving that or Doing something unique and getting people to like and want to use it.

Here is an example: I can find keywords which are searched 1000's of times a month and customers will find me.

Or

I can create unique and cutting edge which is useful and spend alot of money marketing it to customers but no one is looking for it.

Sage advice...especially point #1.

It's like learning how to ride a bike.

People want to learn. Get on a bike. Fall a few times and
scrape their knee...and say, "screw this. this is to hard...
I'm gonna learn how to ride a motorcycle."

Thinking a motorcycles easier to ride because it runs on
gas...they don't realize the responsibilities are increased...
and...the danger is more real.

They fail at that and say, "screw this, I'm gonna learn how
to fly a plane"...thinking it's easier than learning how to ride
a bike or motorcycle because you reach your destination
quicker...they crash and burn the minute they take off...

In trying to learn how to master ONE skill...they master
none.

Point is, if you're going to take on a skill...don't be so
naive as to think it'll be a walk in the park *at first*.

If it's your first time doing ANYTHING...you should
expect to make mistakes and EXPECT to bounce back
from it. It's natural...put people beat themselves up over
making mistakes.

In contrast, I don't know ANY kid who gave up learning
how to ride a bike no matter how many times they fell on
their ass...because eventually they knew they'll get it...and
they ALWAYS do...as most of us have. It just *clicks*.

...that's the fun part of learning...yet people make it out to
be the enemy.

Success is fun...but know this...the journey is far more
exciting.

I enjoyed LEARNING how to ride a bike and the THRILL
of finally GETTING it...than I do just *riding a bike*.

If more people take that mindset they've had as a child...
curiousity...there would be LESS quiters and more WINNERS

thanks for the advice indeed!

Very useful advice for beginners.

good advices my friend

Let me break it down...

You nailed this one hard. I see too many people out there fail at their businesses simply because they want to be Superman and do everything themselves.They want to do their own funnels, design their own website, do their own sales pages, do their own follow-ups, program everything themselves and focus on every single marketing strategy all at once and getting burned out way before they make their first dollar.

I totally agree and I live by it actually. I only focus on one thing and one thing alone and do it beautifully. The rest, I leverage off a system that does the rest for me, especially the things I suck at.

Absolutely. Remember Frank Kern's two commandments for making lots of money online. One of them was "Thou shall not be a pussy". A lot of people out there like to spend money on course after course, product after product, but when it comes to investing money on say, a PPC ad or something. People are afraid to fail, which is why they are afraid to spend money. The truth of the matter is, failing is part of the process. There's always a chance you will lose money. But without that chance, you won't make any either.

Yup, another gold nugget here. I remember when Google PPC was the hottest thing back then and drew like hundreds of leads a day for about less than .50c each. Then people got booted off. Then people were spinning and spamming articles to directories using automated software to get backlinks. Then the search engine updates came along. These are just examples (some of these methods may still actually be working today) of stuff that are getting 'old'. Always keep your head in the game and stay ahead.

YES YES! It's so easy to get distracted by a lot of random things, especially in an industry where there's always tons of product launches after product launches and so much 'noise' in the industry to stay focused. But a clear, concise, daily action plan makes sure that you get s*** done before you even get distracted. HABITS determine everything.

Of course, that's pretty much the best way to stay engaged. When you enjoy the actual process. I love creating content. It's like stroking my ego to millions of other viewers. I get a kick out of creating content and funnily enough, I make money from it.

That's kinda also why you got turned off MLM. The methods you were taught probably weren't sexy. Cold-calling, prospecting, hotel meetings, and home parties probably isn't the lifestyle that you got sold into but it's probably what you were taught, I gather? It's natural to quit doing something that you think that sucks. But there are tons of people who are having success with MLM. Why? Because they use other methods that are more appealing to them. There are ways to build an MLM that are a lot sexier (and easier and more fun) than stupid cold calling, prospecting and wandering around like a retard.

That's why people don't do business with people who generally hate what they do. Because they know that if they do it too, they will also hate it.



In short, these 5 lessons you posted are more than enough to have someone keep it posted somewhere they can read it all the time. I hope I can borrow this for a blog post with your permission?

In any case, thanks for the share!

Very good/helpful/wise post. Thanks!

Well done Phil, I congratulate you!!!

It is true that you have to take action and stick with it until you see the results.

I know it isn't the usual "make $275 in 2 hours" we see crashing in our inbox's everyday kind of information but it is the truth.

Those emails we do see are true in most cases but they do not explain that reaching these incomes take a lot longer and require consistent effort in order to produce them.

Also a lot of them do not even show you how to build a system that works once you have bought their product.

This is a massive shame and results in making our jobs as marketers that little bit more difficult.

Take this advice from Phil on board as it is honest and to the point.

All the best everyone and have a fantastic day!!!

hey man...yeah this is a pretty good list for sure...

...I would say the biggest problem that most face online...even experienced marketers...is trying to stay focused...and keep your attention on 1 thing...and not jump on every launch that comes up.

...someone coming into the game as a newbie....I believe that they must fail and make mistakes ....though...as this is part of learning....

...there is no way that a newbie can just come right in and hit a homerun their first time at bat....

good list thanks

This is where I went wrong when I first started. I tried to do too many things. Email, flipping, site building, domains, service sites, clone sites, MFA, twitter, facebook, etc etc etc.....I just about lost my mind and my will to do this anymore. I never had a big success because everything I did was sub par and stretched out way too far time wise. I lost a lot of money. You've got to get FOCUSED FOCUSED FOCUSED!!!

Don't waste time doing activities that are not making money. That's key. Many people go out there and just spend hours looking at stats over and over, going to forums and just posting and reading random posts and wasting time. Ask yourself this question at least once a day: "Is what I'm doing going to make me money?". If the answer is no, then STOP DOING IT!

Yeah, this is a very good one. The thing is, the internet is changing by the hour, and what was working last week, may not necessarily work anymore, because Google has all of a sudden implemented some new something that does not allow that process/technique to work anymore.

I am a newbie here, and thank you so much for your advise.

I know some people are got to said maybe dificult but the truth is that now at least we got more tecnology and is faster for some one to make some Good Cash lol...My opinion

Ah just 5? Hmm ok I’ll pick the most important ones that I wish I had.

1. Don’t keep buying one shiny new product/system after another. Believe in the 1 investment you had made, and make a return on that before you go try something else. If you haven’t mastered one method, why would you jump to another?

2. Stop chasing after material things (money), and focus on building a real business that can help somebody/other people. Instead of trying to take everyone’s money, try to give something back to people. This will enable you to build real value in your business, and provides a plethora of benefits for you. All of the effort of helping people achieve a need (Whether its information/a product) will yield great profit.

3. Manage your time wisely. Always focus on the most important things. The most important things are usually those tasks that you tell your you will do later on. Kill the ugly bug first, then move on to the not so important stuff (looking at new WSO products, looking for easier ways to do things, checking emails, sending tweets, etc.)! Procrastination is a common cause for never getting anything done in this business. Write down your daily tasks, and then tick them off as you get through your day – THIS HELPS SO MUCH. DON’T FOB IT OFF FOR IT’S SIMPLICITY! KISS KISS

4. Make a plan. “Failing to plan, is planning to fail”. If you were going to open a Pizza Restaurant, would you do it without a business plan? Hell no. So why would you set up a business on the internet without a business plan? It is Ludacris to think that you can approach this and not treat it like a real business. This is a real business! Treat it like one, and watch how much better you perform.

5. Have fun. Think this has probably been said lots, but it’s so true. Don’t hit yourself too hard if things go wrong. Why? Because things are bound to go wrong, now and again. Your attitude is what will determine your success in these instances. Don’t let the shit stuff turn you off. If you can fight through the pains, you can enjoy a real lifetime of happiness.

Hope the newbies can take this advice with an open mind and take it on board.

Cheers

Joey

very useful .. Thank you

I didn't real all the posts, so this may have already been mentioned, but if you are going to be a marketer remember to Build A List. I am VERY happy someone told me this when I got started

Solid advice from someone who undoubtedly has been there..!!

I don't see this one mentioned very much but was one of the major factors that held me back to begin with.

I was always in "cash conservative" mode when in reality you need to invest some money to build a real business.

If you have a job you should open a separate bank account and transfer at least 10% of everything you earn into it for investing in your online activities.

very nice thread.

Thanks for share! the point i like most in your thread is about Enjoy your work. this is a very good point, when we start enjoying our work we can spend more time to work. doing anything with happiness increase efforts to work.

very nice thread.

Thanks for share! the point i like most in your thread is about Enjoy your work. this is a very good point, when we start enjoying our work we can spend more time to work. doing anything with happiness increase efforts to work.

very nice thread.

Thanks for share! the point i like most in your thread is about Enjoy your work. this is a very good point, when we start enjoying our work we can spend more time to work. doing anything with happiness increase efforts to work.

very nice thread.

Thanks for share! the point i like most in your thread is about Enjoy your work. this is a very good point, when we start enjoying our work we can spend more time to work. doing anything with happiness increase efforts to work.

Tips I would give:
Don't purchase every system under the sun promising to make you rich, a lot of what you need to know can be found for free on forums like this one.

At first don't buy software to automate everything because then you'll never learn how it's done. Take time to understand the processes involved and how things work, then when you understand make your life easier by purchasing software.

6. Pick a niche and try hitting it with everything you got. You won't make anything, but your learning what you need to make something later.

I would say begin with the end in mind
Make a business plan

How long ago were you in the game?

An ebook that sold for $80 is now free?

Solid advice!!!