What's wrong with starting out big?

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If you look at recent posts, I've been criticized for asking a few questions about IM and offline success. I don't think I did anything wrong, but for some reason people were annoyed.

I simply want to ask you all, what is wrong with wanting to start out big? Most people feel that there is an unwritten rule that states a noob should start out small, waste some money on eBooks, hit countless roadblocks, get frustrated and then maybe succeed.

Why does it have to be this way? Why can't a noob just decide that he or she is going to emulate someone's success without having to waste five years and countless of money on countless of eBooks? Even though I'm asking these questions, I know and have seen many individuals who one day decide to become Internet Marketers and with good dedication and discipline, they end up starting out BIG.

I just want everyone to understand that I don't believe in having to go through frustrating times as an Internet Marketer to make it big. I believe in sitting down and learning everything there is to learn about a certain industry and then implementing a business plan with discipline and passion.

How do you feel about this?
#main internet marketing discussion forum #big #starting #wrong
  • I doubt many people are advocating you spend all your money on ebooks but it is wise to learn to walk before you can run. It's good to see that you plan to learn everything about a specific topic then creating a business plan and being disciplined in following it many people jump in head first with no idea what they are doing.

    Best of luck mate.
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    • Well, I've learned the hard way a person shouldn't try to work on five different projects all at once. I may be interested in making money with five different techniques, but for me, deciding which technique I'm gonna go with is part of the research. To others it may appear like I'm all over the place, but I'm simply figuring out what IM or offline marketing technique will best suit my situation. That's all.

      Good luck to you too friend.
    • What exactly to you mean by 'Start out Big'?

      Really and truly, if you have a lot of money to spend you can start out spending a ton on advertisements and get results even faster than an average person would.

      The reason why most marketers recommend newbies to start out slow is so that they can learn the art of marketing, testing and tweaking to see what works before then put in a lot of time and effort only to end up with little or no results for it and then quit.
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  • Not sure why people would get upset with your statement, history shows that people can start successful businesses in different ways...some start slow and take many years, others get there within months throwing everything they have at it and being rewarded.

    Couple of points from my own experience:

    1. Typically the only REAL learning comes from trying and either succeeding or experiencing a setback (feedback of some type) - so to think you can sit down and read or study and come out with a 100% success plan is flawed. In my experience going BIG and speeding up success means having a strategy and throwing everything you have into execution, quickly determining the 20% that is working the best and moving your strategy in that direction - then scale your execution to really go big.

    2. I do believe that far too many IM'ers do start out too small (in thinking and planning that is). The whole benefit of being able to start IM with next to nothing, on a part-time basis with low risk is seen as a positive but in reality ends up killing many attempts because people's backs are not really against the wall and so they don't give the 110% that is required to succeed at business. I'm not saying they have to throw everything away recklessly, but there is something to be said about putting yourself in a position where you can't fail...that breeds success.

    Jeff
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    • You hit a home run Jeff. Bravo.
  • I think just getting started is the important thing. If you have the knowledge and know how to hit a home run out of the park on day one... GREAT! If it doesn't work out quite that way what's important is to not quit.

    The reality is that most people that say "I made a bazzilion dollars in a day" in a hyped up sales letter are not saying that it took some time to scale up to get to that point.
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    • Most people who get started in IM don't have much startup cash so it leads to many painful stories of failure but through those trials, they learned what to do and what not to do.

      With knowledge, you now know what you should throw your money into...

      You get thoughts like "Man if i just had 10k, I'd hire a copywriter for my email list, pay for advertising from so and so, get leads, make money, repeat the process"

      If you're a newbie and just throw money at it, it could end up being very costly...

      Say for instance... you learn that backlinks get you better rankings in google so you find some guy saying he'll get you 10,000 backlinks for $5. You buy $100 worth. you made his day while at the same time damaging your site forever...

      You do some social media stuff and think logically the more fans/followers you have, the more likes and RTs you get...

      Find a guy that will get you 100,000 for $25. You buy $100 worth only to later find that they are only for social proof and don't provide any real value..

      and the list goes on... It takes starting off slow in my opinion, to learn the true skill of internet marketing...

      If you insist on starting off big, you need to either join a proven program with proven strategies and results or hire a mentor....

      None of the "$345 a day in the next 10 days" stuff.. Building an online business takes time.

      I learned that the hard way too.. Focus on one thing, master it, then move on to the next....

      yea Internet marketing is an art form... I've come to learn that most people don't know what's best for them. you have to learn how to show them what's best for them. Effective internet marketing skills allow you to do this with ease but it's not something that can be bought personally but it can be paid for in a business...

      That's where most people mess up at. They get book after book but never take action..Gotta get out there and create a story..
  • Why couldn't an acorn emulate what a big centuries old oaktree is? Why should it waste all these years on growing?
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  • Yeah good to hear this. Most people are timid and scared and risk-averse, so therefore, they want to test stuff for free, try it out and just simple stick their toes in the water to see if it's too cold.

    I like the fact that you're mindset is that of "swinging for the fences" shooting for the moon and starting out big, which means you want to be a big baller and play with the big boys.

    There is nothing wrong with that, and don't let anyone tell or persuade you to think anything different.

    Usually, you get what you expect in life. So most people only want just enough to pay their bills and maybe have some left over for savings. Ugh! This is the mindset of mediocrity and is absolutely pathetic if you ask me.

    Good for you, and keep aiming for the stars!
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    • Wow. Thanks. Such a morale booster to know there are people like me on these forums. Thinking big is the key.
  • I say just plug into a system that is already proven to crank out major cashflow.
    That save you years of trial and error I had to go through if you are a newbie.
    There are systems out there right now that people can join and have the marketing, sales closed, list built for them. You just have to find the right one for you.
  • In all truth, trying to start out big can lead to some really irrational actions. It becomes easier for the greed emotion to kick in. It's not unusual for some to quit shortly after going into business because their dreams of going big quickly didn't quite pan out (despite the fact that they're doing okay). IMO, there's a lot wrong with trying to start big.
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    • Well I look at it differently.

      If you research a campaign and do a small test and its profitable and you are 100% certain that you will double your investment. Would you spend $20 on ads or $1000 a day if you have the budget?

      We often think it is not smart to go big but that's because we probably don't have the capital to do so.

      On the other hand, you have people who can spend $1000 a day on ads and every if the lose all of that it means very little to them.

      I say once you've done the right market research and you have the capital to invest then why not go big. You may lose at first but at least you'll have a lot more stats to work with and get a winning campaign in no time.


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  • If you want to swing for the fences, go for it. You might strike out a lot, but you might hit a homer really soon too. Do what you want to do.
  • "There's nothing wrong with wanting to make it big from the start its just that it takes a bit of learning curve and resources to get it right from the start. That's where a lot of persons fall short."

    absolutely right !!
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    • Banned
      Well, arguably the fact that "starting out" is inevitably a learning-curve, and you tend not to earn much while negotiating a learning-curve?

      That, and the fact that setting too-high targets can be pretty dispiriting, to some people, when (understandably) they don't achieve them.

      And the fact that almost everyone greatly overestimates what they can do quickly while significantly underestimating what they can do slowly. Which is related to the fact that with IM, typically, the earliest stages represent the most work and the least income, of which many people starting off tend to have little personal experience.

      Yes, but only by me, and nobody ever takes any notice of me, and you know me well enough to know that I never mean it personally anyway.

      I could write a book (but nobody would read it) ... I do hear you, but the reality is that "starting out big", to many people, means spending real money. I don't suggest that there aren't business models with which that's realistic (media buying, maybe?), but the reality is that for most people, it's much better to learn and get experience first, and then (if at all) spend money. I started my whole business for under $100 and there was never a time when spending $5,000 extra would have helped me, with hindsight, or made my income either any bigger or any faster.

      The reality, for me, was that I spent 4 months learning and earning almost nothing. And I think that's quite common?

      I think a little bit is wrong with it, to be honest.

      People starting out usually have no conception of how swingy the income can be. They don't begin to understand that there's effectively no such thing as $300 per day: there's just "an average of $10,000 per month averaged out over 3-6 months". (And for me, there wasn't even that: my income jumped from a long, consistent $0 to about "$3,500-per-month" in not much more than one month, and later jumped again quite quickly to $6,000 in a month. These daily averages don't mean a lot, mislead many people, and are entirely unsuitable "targets", I think).

      No, I agree with that part, but that's significantly different from many of your other comments, n'est-ce pas, mon ami?

      Indeed ... but those are people lacking what one might call "education and understanding", who are taking action without having set off in the right direction by first learning how article marketing works, aren't they? I did exactly that, myself. I was one of them.

      Because doing that is - for most people - further stacking the deck against yourself in a business in which the proportion of people who "really succeed" (however you define that) is pretty low in the first place?
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  • It's all about risk management. If starting up big means you have to take a big risk - be sure you can afford losing what ever it is your are risking.
  • THINK SMALL.
    Thats what the smart people do imo. The really smart people.

    The best way to make money, no matter how you look at it, is by investing MINIMUM time in order to reach MAXIMUM benefit.

    This is why people microtest. This is why people target less competitive niches, instead of trying to compete with geico/allstate orrr pepsi/coke.

    I have personally done well for myself by dominating niches that NOONE ever talks or gives a damn about on this forum. And although it took a bit of time, it would have taken 10,000 times longer if they were larger niches. And I don't even think I'd be making as much money as I do now, because there is so much more competition.

    Thinking small is what the pros do imo.
    They always want to sell the least amount of products, for the maximum gain. Look at Frank Kern. You don't see him pushing $20 ebooks... but $2000 courses.

    He's in a super competitive niche... but guess what? Thats not where he started! He started selling dog training programs/ebooks. A much smaller niche. The problem however, he had no experience in that niche. If he worked at a petstore for 6 years like I did, he would have known there was no money in that niche. Most people won't train their dogs if you hold a gun to their head. A better idea would have been selling designer doggy apparell.

    Anyway, thats not the point. The point is you need to figure out how to wreap maximum rewards for minimal investment. Thats always the key to success no matter how you look at it. Its why people automate things. A business that doesn't run itself is not a business but a J-O-B. There is a period where you need to get things off the ground. Like my friend who spent 2 years getting his business of the ground (selling paint brush covers online). But once he had all the parts in place, all he did was automate the process. Then eventually home depot bought out his idea. And now he does absolutely nothing and collects royalties. But this is one of the laziest people I know. Very intelligence, but very lazy. And he's doing great for himself.
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    • The other potential "hidden" issue with "going big" initially (although, generally I am an advocate of "going big"), is that there is a "feel" to IM as well as all of the technical aspects that need to be considered.

      Unfortunately, the only way to develop the "feel", is to spend time learning, testing, failing, trying, etc. Just like in any occupation. Two doctors have the same education, but one becomes a renowned surgeon, and the other a general practioner. The difference, many times, is that one develops a "feel" for things, based upon all of the knowledge they've gathered, over time.

      Same with IM. As time goes by, you can glance at a niche, or a linking scheme, or some other aspect and immediately have an understanding of it, or be able to determine what is right or wrong. That only happens with time.

      So, while I believe someone can be very successful and make a lot of money early in their IM career, I think it would probably be limited to one particular niche and technique that can be methodically applied to bring in serious money. IM in general is a never ending education and this "feel" I'm talking about, takes sometime to develop...
  • There is no problem starting out big, but more times then not you will usually fail. To succeed in Internet Marketing - you need to learn some necessary skills before you see results.

    The quickest way to success is follow a proven system until you see results - don't hop skip from one method to the next, or you will surly fail.

    But I might also add take is slow and easy - internet marketing is not race, but more of a marathon. You wouldn't expect to become an expert chef when first starting out would you? Same goes for internet marketing

    Congrats though on dreaming big, and my biggest tip I can give you is over deliver value to your customers and you will the kind of results you want.
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  • We're not saying it takes time to discourage you; the opposite is true. We don't want you to give up when the first setback comes along or when your first plan needs some adjustment. This is what most people do. They spend a lot of time creating a huge dream in their head and when they're not there in a few months then they quit.
    There are a few people who make it big very quickly. They usually had some cash to use up front or got lucky.

    OR they're one of those over-night success stories who worked for a long time before they struck it rich. Then everyone thinks it happened quickly because they didn't see all the work that happened before.

    But it all boils down to this. If you can start out big just do it. Then come back and have a hearty laugh at all us naysayers who had to build slowly.

    Rose
  • What do you mean by big?

    I'll assume you mean creating some massive product/membership/service that makes $XXX,XXX or more per year for your first product in a relatively short amount of time.

    I think most people assume that the average newbie IMer has very little in terms of capital funds to invest (likely they have more time than funds). So the first part of going "small" (henceforth, I will not use quotes) is simply an acknowledgement that without a massive amount of funds, you are immediately limited in your reach. You can't outsource so you end up doing most, if not all the work yourself. You can't advertise because you'll need to spend quite a few $$$ with advertising in order to test/tweak.

    A second reason people likely harp on folks about starting small is that the average IMer is impatient. If you take on a big project and expect big results quickly and it doesn't come, the average IMer probably will give up on that project quickly (even if it really did have a chance for success).

    Small wins propel. What I mean by that is that if you start small and have a taste of success, it can motivate you to take the next step that gives you even more success. Then it becomes a virtuous cycle.

    I think the most important question is really -> Do YOU feel you can start out big? If so, then do it. There is no need to get permission on the forums. You don't even have to tell anyone you are doing it. Just do it.
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    • "In response to those who say to stop dreaming and face reality, I say keep dreaming and make reality."

      - Kristian Kan, Rich By 25
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  • Banned
    if only everyone one else in this industry was like you. Education is key to everything in success. However giving yourself time to practice and apply what you learned over a few months will allow you not to forget what you learned. I started out the same way only to realize that when i finished 3 - 4 200 - 400 page books on the subject, i caught myself just having to go back and find answers to questions i already "read". Have you studied about accelerated learning and memory techniques? it will help allot when you are trying to read allot and not implement anything for a while.
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    What's wrong with starting out big?

    If you look at recent posts, I've been criticized for asking a few questions about IM and offline success. I don't think I did anything wrong, but for some reason people were annoyed. I simply want to ask you all, what is wrong with wanting to start out big? Most people feel that there is an unwritten rule that states a noob should start out small, waste some money on eBooks, hit countless roadblocks, get frustrated and then maybe succeed.