Total newbie looking for advice on carving a career

Yes the Chris Farell course is free on Alison learning and is great for a beginner.

Thank you for your advice but what your opinion on the other two options and do you recommend anything else that I havent mentioned?

I have not heard of cash flow or the book you mentioned.

Ok thank you once again. If you dont mind me asking how did you start? What route did you take?

There is lots to learn for sure. Just read everything you can get your hands on about Internet marketing. All the info you need is free scattered around the internet.

No one article is enough but if you read 100 then you can piece it all together the steps you need to take. Lots of good info on here. Read lots of threads and you will learn a lot.

If there was a fail-proof method of starting in internet marketing everybody would be doing it and everybody would be successful. Unfortunately there's no way of starting/learning without failing. You are going to fall for scams, you are going to think you're making easy money, and then find out all your work isn't even going to get paid for. When I started, I just had what I knew from university and my first two jobs that were related (though very loosely) to IM. So, basically, you're going to have to risk it and learn by making mistakes.

You both make a lot of sense and I agree that reading as much as I can will help but my concern is that im overloading myself and just making things confusing. Hope my concerns are valid. Out of interest would you recommend me focusing on a creating a great website with a topic that interests me or do I go dowm the route of doing a splash page with links to offers. Like I said im not naive to think im going to get rich fast I just want a steady income.

Hi Owen,

I agree with Ron, read everything that you can!

I am a fellow uk rookie looking at a new career rather than a get rich quick scheme and I am slowly but surely educating myself by reading all the free ebooks that I can get my hands on. There is so much quality information available for free if you know where to look.

I will spend a couple of hours online every week searching for IM blogs and downloading any and all free e-books on offer. I then spend the rest of the week reading them. Some are obviously better than others but the quality ones stand out and I dismiss the others.

This also gives me the opportunity to study the auto-responder series set up by these IMers. I find many of these to be quite spammy but again these are easily dismissed by unsubscribing. It is very insightful to see other people's ACTUAL funnel.

Finally if you have money burning a hole in your pocket then I would join the War Room before signing up for a course. Its well worth the money ($37 from memory) just for the expired WSOs and other free treats.

The first thing I did when I joined is scanned through the last 12 months of posts and downloaded any .pdfs that were being given away in 5-star rated posts. I've had more than my money's worth already and I only joined a week ago.

Ed

A topic that interests you is for sure the best start as you will be motivated and knowledgable and it will be easy for you to write articles or research the subject.

Yes, info overload is a problem for beginners. There are so many things to learn and so many ways to do them so your head just spins. lol

But after you immerse yourself in learning after awhile you will see people mention some of the same things over and over and know those are good things and also pick up good tips you didn't know.

Hi Ed, have you started a website or used clickbank yet?

First of all you should spend your time here and read many posts, everyday. When you will learn the basics, you will know what to do.

Your advice have been valuable. Im definitely taking your advice and putting into action. As I stated before I dont want to be rich or expect to get rich quick. Im exploring this profession because I want to be able to give my family a better quality of life but more importantly I want to spend more time with them as my retail career wont allow me to do so

Hi Owen,

The other Warriors have given you some great advice. And Glen is SO right, but I'd find a niche your passionate about first and then figure out your WHY - you'll find it much easier that way.

I started online in 2010, I've invested tens of thousands of dollars on coaching programs and mentors. And just like most newbies, I fell for LOTS of scams and just started buying anything and everything that promised results.

You mentioned Chris Farrell in your question. I was a member of his training a few years ago and I can highly recommend him IF you're a complete newbie who needs to learn the basic skills, it sounds like that's the case.

Whatever you do, don't be tempted to join a high end coaching program until you have some experience and you've mastered the basic skills because it will just overwhelm you.

And whatever niche you decide to enter, or business model you decide to follow, it all starts with a blog to help you build an audience and gain some credibility. So start there and then keep learning and implementing as you go.

Hope that helps!
Kerry

Thank you Kerry.

A topic that interests you is for sure the best start as you will be motivated and knowledgable and it will be easy for you to write articles or research the subject.

Sound good to me. Is wordpress difficult to learn? I dont have any coding or programming skills, well not anymore since I havent done it for 18 years

Hey Owen,

Very smart of you to be asking for advice!
What I can tell you is that it is not about the product but about the way you market. Always build a relationship with your followers and let them reach out to you. If you do this they will trust you and buy from you. Also, make sure you find a great mentor who is going to help you throughout your journey - in other words make sure they are accessible after you buy their product because you will need some hand holding to start off online. There will be times when you want to quit so make sure your mentor will be there to kick you in the butt when you need it Also, re-invest any money you make so you can scale fast!

Best of luck in your online journey! Pour all your passion and energy into this and you will get there

The best advice is that there are no guarantees. Understand first, that whatever you do, it's a business. It's not a program or a system. It's not "done for you" on autopilot. Forget the shiny object promises. It's a business.

That means that before buying any books or courses you need to concentrate on finding out what you like to do. Lots of people get this wrong in the beginning and they gravitate to stuff that's highly profitable first. That's most often a mistake. When you choose something you're familiar with and that you like it makes the time you spend learning the business part of the equation much easier. So many people who shoot for big profit find out they hate what they're doing. Make it easy on yourself because you are going to be in close quarters with your market, product(s) and customers.

The rest is simple. Identify a need and fill it. Find a product or service that people want, need (in that order) and can afford and deliver it to them with a smile, meaning provide excellent service.

That's the framework. Until you get that firmly planted in your head spending money on courses will be a waste. It might not be a complete waste as no learning ever goes to waste. But unless you're ready to apply the knowledge it will only be vaguely relevant.

I write something like this every so often for people just getting started but they're more interested in chasing shiny objects. Look at it this way. It comes down to mathematics, statistics, actually. You're chances for success are far better if you first figure out what you want to do and then follow that with learning how to do it.

You appear to be a pretty decent writer. You might want to look at writing related opportunities. Good luck.

Wow so many books already for you to read. This is holding you up from starting so I'll keep it quick.

Find people who are willing to help you learn the basics. I can teach anyone the basics (technical knowledge or not). Most people aren't willing to give their time. I am. It's what I do.

I have 2 books (I only read personal development since my knowledge is gained by application, trial, and error) I'd bee willing to give you. Reach out, let's talk and get you up to speed.

-Mike

Wow im so overwhelming with your support and advice. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Is clickbank worth it?

I think if you want more information you can start right from here. Search the forum, there are numerous threads that talk about exactly what you are interested in. Take your time and dig a little deeper.

Owen, We have the same question multiple times a week. First DON'T quit your job, especially if you have a family. DON'T EXPECT MORE time with your family for at least the next year. You will be working full time to pay the bills AND what you need to start and run the the business UNTIL you have enough to quit. Have the support of you spouse and children...They will not see you a lot for at least a year. ALLOW yourself the luxury of screwing up...success is not a straight line up, there will be hiccups. If hard work was the only ingredient to success, we would all be millionaires.

What are your hobbies/interests/skill set. Success is easier when you do what you are good at.

WF is here to help...good luck,
Serry

First and foremost, you will be in information over load. There are so many ways to make money online with SO many platforms. Find just one, read everything you possibly can about it. Then make it come true.

Hello Owen, visit my site in my signature and download 7 free ebooks worth $329

Well sherryjw, my hobbies/interests consist of the following...

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER....
Family life
Technology - Video Games, Mobile Phones, Computer system
Films & TV's.

In regard skills - Not sure the following counts

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER....
Great at time management
Self motivated
Excellent people skills
Creative thinker
Adaptable

May i ask why? LOL Not that i really mind.

Hope this helps.

Thank you this iz great

Firstly, an idea of what internet marketing is needed and how to be able to structure yourself to work around it and make success out of it.

So to get these, you can google and search and you will come up with tons of material which will overwhelm you.... so i can recommend you first read these two materials before taking any major moves.....

"How to REALLY Make Money on the Internet" by Michael J.McGroarty

"The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime" by MJ DeMarco


They are not perfectionist but a very good start for your internet marketing journey

1) Come read the warrior forum most days

2) This is most important step - Implement what you read

3) Record the stuff that is working and making you money. Write it down.

4) Then simple. REPEAT STEPS 1 - 4 AGAIN! :-)

That the thing I dont really want to make a lot of money off just enough to cover my overheads. My plan was to build a reputation first as somebody they can trust and then build smaller sites related to my niche which they buy off me. When im starting this up I will support myself by doing small campaigns that will generate a small income. Am I going about the wrong way? Do I need to rethink?

Owen - It is pretty awesome that you're willing to ask for help. I wish I had done that, years ago when I started, rather than thinking I could figure it all out myself (I'm stubborn like that, still have to fight it lol).

The other thing I wish I'd done, and the first thing...the very first thing...I'd recommend you do - while you're reading all this other good advice and mulling over all your options and choosing books to read and courses to take - is this: START BUILDING AN EMAIL LIST.

To do that, you should have a few basics in place: 1) a domain name 2) website hosting 3) an autoresponder service, and 4) some packaged content that you can offer in exchange for a visitor's email address.

For 1 and 2 you have many many choices. Pick one and move on.
For 3, you have many choices, too. I use aweber, but there are many others: icontact, constant contact, mailchimp... Cost about $20 bucks American per month.

For 4) the packaged content, it "should" be related to the long-term vision you have for your online business. But don't sweat it. Let's go with your family interest as an example - not even yet knowing HOW you will make money off family interest stuff.

Create some content around "family" - maybe an ebook about great family vacation tips, Top 10 Family Vacation Photo Ideas, Top 5 Ways To Document Your Family Vacation...something like that. Something that a visitor who is also interested in family stuff would find worth reading. There's probably lots being offered out there already, and that's fine, those are ideas you can borrow from and make your own. Lots of ways to create content, but easy one is just write it in MSWord, convert it to a pdf...voila, instant ebook, authored by YOU.

Then, before you even have a full-blown site, which will you take you some time (learning WordPress, shuffling through 6 bazillion themes because there's always a better one...lol), put up a simple webpage - could be built in WordPress, maybe just a simple HTML page, doesn't matter, just get it up there online. The webpage offers your valuable ebook for free. All a visitor has to do is put in their email address to get it.

"Hi, I'm Owen. I put together this guide to north county cities because I love taking my family on vacation. But it was always hard choosing knowing which cities are toddler-friendly..." Or whatever "Download my ebook now and make your next family vacation your best one ever!" yadayada...

Now you're in business. Not money business, yet. But you have something you can promote. Go online, twitter, facebook, family forums, here, there, everywhere you can and promote your offer. Start collecting email addresses. You'll know they're interested in stuff you're interested in. Start communicating with them via email. Like person-to-person. Maybe once a week email, nothing complicated or fancy "newsletter." Just "Hey, it's Owen and I was driving past the farm today when I thought about farm adventures for families. So I looked some up! Here's 3 farms that take families in for holiday..." etc etc etc. Start giving your email subscribers a reason to look forward to your emails.

Once you get your full-blown site up, and once you connect with things you can SELL to families, you'll have an audience of people who know, like and trust you.

Do that first. Build an email list and communicate with them. There's my 2 cents. : ) Cheers!

OMG that is what im talking about. Thank so much for advice.

I have already got the following today....

Domain - GODADDY
Hosting - HOSTGATOR
Autoresponder - AWEBER

Plus I will sort out Wordpress today. Just a few quick questions......

1) Is there another market i should explore other than family?
2) Are my selection of domain and hosting reliable?
3) Would you recommend me having another website with a different niche running at the same time? A niche that is more profitable.

If you want to start a career online, I suggest you
pick ONE thing and specialize at JUST that one thing.

For example, get good at copywriting. And JUST focus on that.

Otherwise, you will be hopping from one opportunity to the
next, spinning your wheels and never getting anywhere.

If (for example) you were good at copywriting, you could start
demanding higher fee's from clients, take your skills to multiple mediums,
and use that skill for your own projects ect

Hello Owen,
Let me start by wishing you good luck on your new enterprise and by stating the obvious: it's a hell lot of hard work ahead of you so buckle down. Read EVERYTHING, up to the point where you can decide for yourself on whether or not something is worth doing or not. This is a one-man job and you will be met with decisions every little step of the way. Best way about it is to learn how to make them and where to look for answers in general. Also, find a niche and try to be creative. You need to invest a lot of time before you get results and you have a lot to learn and to keep up with along the way.

Owen, congrats! Get to know a few mentors who feel trustworthy. Skip the hype, focus on authentic types. When you buy in to their program - by trusting them - you will find the right career path.

Great to see so many UK member helping out in this thread! How's it going Owen?

So far you have had some good advice and a few links to useful content. Even after being the game for over 7 years I still remember my head spinning when I first started out. So many new terms, methods and techniques to learn.

I would suggest your first step is learning all you can about setting up your own self hosted wordpress site because even if you do not use it straight away it is a skill you will need in the future.

Next knowledge is power in this game. Yes read as much as you can on as many subjects you can but a huge mistake newbies make is taking advice from out of date content. The online world moves so fast that a method that worked even last month may now be closed. Always check the post date of any article or ebook you read!!

It seems you have the right mind set... do not expect over night success and let me tell you from experience it is very hard work for the first few "learning" years. You have to look at IM as starting your own business. Let say it is a shop in your local town/city. For your shop you will need a product/service to sell which make a return on your investment, taking in to account overheads and customers.

How do you get people to visit your shop and not another one similar? Make it better, cooler, cheaper or just better advertised?

The same mind set has to be used online. Firstly the product for your shop (website, landing page, facebook page, social account...).... Most people start out as an affiliate. As mentioned pick a niche you can have fun with, know something about and find a product to promote/sell with a decent commission rate.

Now the hard part! Getting customers to your website and converting them into sales. This is where people get overwhelmed. SEO, Facebook, Build a list, Solo Ads, Twitter, Paid traffic, Pinterest, Youtube....... the list is endless!

My biggest tip would be pick one and spend as much time as you can reading up on the technique. Work out how much money and time it would take to test and how much return you would expect from the test. Then go for it...... Once you understand the basics of how to drive traffic with one method look for tweaks and loop holes to make it better and more importantly your own. If you always rely on other peoples tips and tricks you will constantly be playing catch up. Also when a huge amount of people use one technique it usually gets patched pretty quick.

Do not be scared to fail at least a few times because that is how we learn.

I run a private UK group for marketers where we all help each other. Join if you need a bit more advice or just to read the ebooks we have, use the plugins and themes. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ukwarriors/

All the best dude.

Hi Owen.

First and foremost, do not leave your retail career as it takes time to succeed in IM - if you do finally succeed.

I use the word IF - as it takes a great deal of time and patience to succeed in IM - and the worst part is that there are so many scams online.

You may think that you have found a real good course, but do not jump into it, just because of what a few random people are saying or because of a few reviews. Most reviews are fake as they are written by the same person or his/her friends.
So, take it slow and be sure of what you are getting into.

All the best. Regards.

Originally Posted by oWEN tEBB Hello, my name is Owen and from the uk. I really looking for some sound advice as I would like to leave my retail career behind and have a go at the internet marketing industry. Im a hard worker and willing to put the hours into learning but would like some direction from established members like yourselves. I have been on youtube, searching the internet for weeks and the opportunities for success looks great. My concern is that I don't want to be another statistic nor do I want to be another person who falls for scams. I'm a realist, im not looking for easy money nor do I expect to get rich fast. I was recommend by some individuals to try cashflow fanpage as its a great place to start. Is that really true and how much would I need to invest. I was then told to check out Chris Farell course and after reading the reviews I must admit im interested, however would appreciate some other opinions. Then the last piece of advice, I was recommended to try reading a book from a lady called Christine Clayfield. I have read the reviews on Amazon and they are great but are they worth the cost for a person like me? TOTAL NEWBIE who so confused. Thank you for taking time to read and I would appreciate some honest advice. Have a good day Owen

Hi Owen,

I can understand how you feel. For I went through exactly like what you did 4 years ago.

With that said, your first priority is to build your email list. Because having a list realistically is where most successful marketers made their $.

Here are my steps to help you.

1. Find a niche which you have a solution to most people's problems or passion for something which others also have passion and most importantly are willing to spend $ on it.

Can be things like baking cakes, cooking, drawing, design, playing musical instruments, health and personal development besides just making $ online.

2. Go to relevant forums and Facebook groups related to your niche. You can find them easily on Google and Facebook. For Facebook, you need to get an account and upload your photo.

3. Introduce yourself, learnt to connect and see if you can help others like this forum. Another reason is to find out what they need, want or are having problems with.

4. Once you get hold of those, write at least 4-5 articles providing helpful tips using Open Office or Microsoft Office. Then upload them as PDF.

5. Sign up for Clickbank and relevant affiliate programs.

6. Get a domain name at Namecheap, Hostgator web hosting and build a squeeze page addressing the main points of your report on what your prospects get before signing up as your subscribers to get your free report.

You can build a squeeze page at either Free Squeeze Page Generator you can find through Google search or paid Optimize Press by James Dyson for $97

7. Sign up at Aweber for your autoresponder to connect with your subscribers through emails.

8. Drive traffic to your squeeze page using forums, Facebook group and other methods like article marketing, blogging in sites like Blogger, Hubpages and Squidoo, classified advertising and Youtube video.

9. At the same time, create a Wordpress blog sharing information on how you get started in your niche as well as helpful tips to your subscribers through emails.

You don't want to give your subscribers the impression of spamming them by constantly sending them affiliate links to offers.

With that said, this is the basic foundation of how you make $ online.

By helping people to get what they want, they will give you what they want.

Can anyone help me how to make money online without any investment.

Hi Owen. I understand starting from scratch can make you sweat a little bit, but once you get the hang of it it's like a daily routine already and it gets better if you're already earning. So I think you can start by profiling your self, like think of the things that interest you, make a list of it and determine which one you want to spend more time with.

iqbalahmed, Im sorry but i think you need to invest a little go make some kind of money. Don't get me wrong you could do it for no inestment but ask yourself what you want to get out of this industry. Im not talking a lot. I have only spend about $120 dollers and im almost ready to unleash myself on to the market.

Hello Owen ,
First Of all I would like to say that you need a few Steps to start correctly in the IM Industry :

1.Know Your needed Business tools and cost.
2.Find a trusted Course for a newcomer.
3.Put what you'll Learn into action

for the [Tools] I have just written a Free report that shows you what tools you need to get started. You can find it in my signature.

for the [Trusted Course] : I can say Chris Farrell's Course is great for a beginner.

for the part of [Taking Massive Action] : here is your TURN.

if you have any question just ASK.

- Oliver

What the top 3 suggestions to drive traffic to my site without a blog?

Hi Owen, it's good you're a realist and hard working as you'll have to be since 97% of people online fail!!

Sorry but you need to realise that.

That said, welcome to the World of Internet Marketing (IM).

Here are some sound tips off the top of my head:

• Start with all the free stuff you can get your hands on - there's a ton of it and you REALLY can make money from it, but the main reason I say this is so you'll get plenty of experience doing this without getting ripped off by the get rich quick cone men on the www, of which there are many!
• Get into some marketing or online business groups on Facebook and team up with some of the guys and ask all the questions you can as they are a great bunch - but that again still watch out for sharks!
• Choose a niche you have a passion about - that way it makes selling more easy and your passion will come through
• Stay focused - avoid each and every shinny thing that is offered to you unless it's free - even then be selective and be careful
• Take massive action everyday
• Set up a blog and write regularly about your chosen niche - post an article 1x/week
• Remember people buy from people but first they have to get to know, like and trust you so build relationships with your clients - give them freebies, advice, info products and avoid the hard sell
• Finally remember this because if you get these 3 steps right you'll be successful online but get them wrong and you'll be in the 97% Club for life

• • Get targeted traffic
  • Convert traffic into customers
  • Make sales, sales, sales

This is the success metric, not many people will tell you this!

OK, I hope this helps, if you need more just hit me up, I'm online in the UK and I love to talk and teach newbies!!

Cheers Keith. Its been a while since I checked this thread out. Your advice is great and since I started this thread a while back I have learnt so much and like yourself I have shared my knowledge with newbies and anyone who requires it.

Im making money now not a lot but enough so I can quit my job. Its coming from the ILN. Ever heard of rgem? The money i make i plan to use that to fund my next big project. Thanks to ILN im probably going to be able to do this a lot quicker than expected.

Will like to hook up with you buddy.

Owen

First figure out which way you are going to proceed making money online. For eg. I chose blogging when i started my career back in 2007. Now I am into affiliate marketing after gaining some experience.

Well I got a game plan and at the moment things are working. I would like eventually to build a family based network where I can offer a huge variety of family based services but of course that going to require a massive budget and right now I don't have those funds available right now. Thanks to the ILN I will achieve it faster and because of them my dreams will become reality.

Hi Owen,

Although you've already gotten a lot of good advice on how you can begin your career in internet marketing, I would just like to add one thing that I hope will be helpful to you, not only in your career path but in life as well.

Before you start on your journey you first have to make sure that you already have the right mindset. It's easy to say that you want to be an online marketer and you will be committed to learn, but without the right mindset you'll have a hard time achieving your goals, especially when things don't go according to plan.

Aside from learning about internet marketing, try also reading books on mind setting, to get your mind set right. To be successful the battle to be won should first should be the battle within, after that the outside world will follow.

Mind is ready, my soul is ready. God believes in me, my family believe in but more importantly I BELIEVE IN MYSELF!!

I'm making money, enough to quit my job last week but it's not just about that. It's about creating freedom. Freedom to live my life how I want, freedom to never miss a single second of my daughter and soon to be son life, freedom to help others and help them live the lifestyle they want.

Thanks for everyone in this forum and ILN

If you are a hardworker and fast learner, don't buy courses. The best methods are available for free. Just be willing to put in time and figure what interests you most. Then pursue your passion. You think all successful marketers were reared in course sellers' homes? Having said that courses (legit ones) give you a direction to move in....not necessarily one that you'd like after paying the course fee.

The only 2 things i have invested in are the Chris Farrell Membership - he taught me so much about the basics and the ILN - this is where I make money to pay for my nice things for my family who means the world to me.

Chris Farell is absolutely fantastic for beginners

The guy is a legend and an inspiration!!!

Forget about "learning" per se. You want to spend as much time doing.

Nothing happens without a sale.

Your first step should be the following:

Find something 1 person wants and sell that to them. That's all you need. If you can sell something to 1 person and make a profit then you can replicate that (and at a more advanced level you can sell for a loss and make money on the backend).

It needs to be a MANUAL process at first.

How to find something to sell

I would start with a service at first. It costs less money (read virtually none) to start up and you can always productise that service later in order to scale.

Three main ways.

1. Examine your existing skills

What skills do you have that people are already paying money for and do you have proof that you can do it.

Forget about finding the next big thing - just find something people are already spending money on.

Could be anything from technical skills to basic labour like walking dogs or painting a house.

Do an inventory of what you can sell and what proof you have of it. Don't knock "boring" or unsexy ones - they often have the biggest potential.

Do you realise how many multi-millionaire builders for example there are out there - a LOT. And they all started selling their services in a non-scalable way.

2. If you have no skills but are willing to learn

Choose a skill you want to sell. Learn it. Get proof you can do it. And then use that proof to sell it to people.

How to find a skill to sell? Just read the big marketing blogs in each of the specialisations. You will find a ton of "how to" articles. Take one of them that appeals to you and implement for yourself or someone else for free to get a track record and proof. Then you can sell that service.

Ask people what they want

This is a great way to set up a business. You get pre-sold clients and there is no guess work involved.

You need to start speaking to a demographic you would like to serve and ask them questions like:

- "what are the most painful tasks of your day"
- "what activities must you do but take a lot of time in your day"
- "if I could take anything of your plate this week, what would that be?"

This is how, as an event producer, I created several multi-million pound events in several different industries. It is very effective, it just requires a lot of work before you even get round to selling anything.


How to Sell

If you use method number 3, by the time you come round to creating something to sell you will already have a list of high quality prospects that you researched with. In that case you just reach out and tell them you've got what they want and the price is X.

In the other methods the best and quickest route to market is direct contact.

Cold calling is too intrusive and if you aren't used to it you will become dejected with all the rejections.

Cold Email

Cold email is a good way forward. The key to cold email is make it focused on THEM.

If you are selling a "increase twitter" followers service for example, you would need to focus on people who are likely to want and need twitter followers but don't have the time to build up their own following.

People such as independent consultants or bloggers who work by themselves might be good targets.

Your pitch would focus on how you could save them TIME, not on the features of your service.


Conclusion

This is barely scratching the surface, but if you only take 1 thing away from this it is;

Focus on selling 1 thing to 1 person and then go from there.

Oh, and don't get sidetracked by "passive" income. If you really want to make money and continue to do so for a long time, then you need to work. Hard. Constantly.

Passive income is for people who work their butts off for 3-5 years, build a successful business and sell it for several million.

You can get it, but don't think you can shortcut the process. Tim Ferris may have written the 4 Hour Work Week but he certainly doesn't work 4 hours a week.

Hey Owen ~ do you mind sharing the rough outline of what you did in terms of your business? I am trying to figure out how to jump in.... I have lot's of interests but honestly not sure whether to go with a blog, dropship model or something else. Thanks.

That's awesome thanks. I'll tell you what I'm working on to get thoughts too.

Clarity is a HUGE part of IM success. I hope this post brings some clarity. It's so simple when you know it -- and darn difficult when you don't! I owe my mentors a world of thanks for bringing this clarity.

IM is actually pretty simple: you can sell only one of two things:

1. Products
2. Services

That's it!

And selling products or services online happens in the same basic way for everyone, no matter what they're selling:

Traffic > Opt-in page > Autoresponder series (or e-zine) > Sales page

That's it! It's just that simple. (We IMers tend to overcomplicate things.)

But no matter what your niche is, or whether you're selling a product or a service, do you know what your business model is?

A business model is the framework or skeleton of your business. Essentially there are three types of online business models:

1. Membership-based model

A membership-based business model allows you to build a community of people (your members) who are as passionate about your subject as you are. Your membership fees can be monthly or annual, but either way, you're building recurring, passive income.

There are a lot of resources and information out there to help you build a membership-based business if you're interested in doing this.

2. Product-based model

Selling products allows you to maximize your time and effort by selling items over and over again. This can be hard goods or it can be information products. Information marketing is it's own business model under the product-based model. Information marketing allows you to take your brain to the bank by creating a product ONCE based on what you know and selling it over and over again.

Affiliate marketing falls under both models. You can choose to market either products or services as an affiliate.

3. Service-based model

Selling services can be great for 1) generating quick cash (as in the case of article writing or video producing) and 2) establishing your expertise and getting testimonials.

However, in the long run, your goal should be to offer services at a PREMIUM. The biggest advantage of IM is LEVERAGE. You're able to leverage your time, money and expertise exponentially online. We all have just 24 hours each day. Time to get ruthless about what you expect for those hours you spend in IM each day. Expect more of yourself and more from your business friends, clients, partners, etc.

What results are you getting for those hours you spend online each day? Ultimately, your services should be at the bottom of your funnel and cost the most since they involve your time and personal attention. (We all have a limited amount of time each day.)

The fun (and confusion) comes in with all of the endless mix-and-match possibilities of the above models. If you're just starting or still struggling to make money, keep it simple:

Pick just ONE!

1. Pick ONE niche. (Something you're interested in and know something about.)

2. Pick ONE target market for your product or service. (Who will buy what you're offering? The more specific you are, the more you narrow it down, the more successful you'll be.)

3. Pick ONE business model.

Now that you're clear about what business you're in, FOCUS! (And stop buying any info not related to your niche and target market, period!)

F -- Follow
O -- One
C -- Course
U -- Until
S -- Successful

And remember: build a list, Build a List, BUILD A LIST!

In IM, it's easy to put the cart before the horse. Take a deep breath, step back and consider what type of business you REALLY want. Don't worry about getting traffic or buying that expensive traffic product until you know 1) what your business model is, 2) what niche you're in and 3) WHO your target market is!

Successful business people will tell you that MARKETING is more than half the effort that's needed for success anyway. So pick a niche, target market and business model. Then spend most of your time and effort marketing it.

If you DON'T have a solid plan or system, THAT'S when it's hard. A good system will shave YEARS (and save you big $$$) off of your learning curve

That's why I recommend investing in at least one good, comprehensive IM course (or mentor who will give you such a system) instead of jumping from one $37 e-book to the next. A lot of people here complain about not being able to make any money. But neither are they willing to invest in their business. (Buying a random bunch of $37 e-books doesn't count.)

The best thing I ever did was invest in a comprehensive IM course aimed at REAL business owners, not just other IM wannabes. Yes it was $1500. (It's no longer available.) But it was truly some of the best A-Z IM info I ever bought. Everything else I've learned (from the $37 e-books) since has simply been plugged into this system.

My two best recommendations for phenomenal IM training programs are Ali Brown's Elevate program (ElevateBizTraining.com) and Jeff Walker's Product Launch Formula (ProductLaunchFormula.com)

Get a solid plan or system and then work the plan!

Hope this helps!

Michelle

Thanks Michelle,

Its been and will continue to be a long journey, however the samll success that I have had so far has only motivated me more. I have a long term goal and because I have the residual income im making each week, that goal will become a reality sooner rather than later.

You need to learn sorts of stuffs about internet marketing first. If you think you acquired already enough learning, then it's the time to apply what you had learned. Learn - Work - Earn

Why don't you get something started and go ahead and start a blog on something that you love !
Post on it like its a job like 3 days a week or everyday but whatever you choose for the amount of times you post a week just keep it the same.

What this will do is build you up your own traffic source along with a niche that you love so you will be able to relate to your visitors and later on down the road will be very easy to monetize when you have traffic coming in ..

As far as course go !
If you feel that you will learn something from the purchase of a product or a course ? Well then the money is well spent if you walk away learning something !

The name of the game is marketing and sales >
So start reading up on writing sales copy, you will use it in almost everything that we do online..

Best of luck and I hope that I inspired you and helped you on your journey.
Its the best lifestyle in the world and I wouldn't trade it to do anything else.

I have bought thousands of products of the years and it took me a long time to quit my job . Lots of struggles but if you set it in your mind that you are not quiting until you succeed ..
Then that is what you will do !

I wish you all the success in the world ...

Just to update people. My ILN adventure going well and it gave me the chance to quit my job and work as full time IMer. Still a lot to learn because all successful people strive to self improve. Thats me. In fact im in the the process to launch a new amazon a store which will work well with my niche. Hopefully it will generate an extra £500 on top of my £2100 monthly residual.

Keep the faith people.

Owen

The one suggestion I can make is that once you find the path you want to take, stick to that path and don't get diverted. There are so many temptatioins in IM that is is easy to get side tracked. The free book in my signature may be of some help.