Why IM being hard is a GOOD THING!

Exactly why forums like this one should be visited. Solidify your mindset then get to work, only then will you be successful.

Absolutly true, i advice to people who don´t make money a day job because who work hard will win at the end

"So quit whining about how hard this is and realise that because it's hard, that's whats gonna make all this even sweeter when you do make it in the end." - Well put! It has potentially high risks and has large potential rewards.

"And for people who think this is too hard, the way I look at it is like this.
You have 2 choices:
1. Work hard at IM
2. Work hard at your JOB"

I disagree. One work in their spare time to develop an income from online sources to be their own boss. One can work hard at both!

It's not that its particularly hard, yes it does require a significant amount of work. But not really that much when you compare it to taking a 4 year degree or years of training. And the rewards are huge in comparison to the work required.

What doesn't help newbies are all the "get rich quick" and "easy button" schemes that are constantly shoved at them.

Which is simply markers filling a demand. Once these newbies get real and figure out what works then they mature and can become successful. <Hopefully!

haha
I think that ,it is all abt the mindset
The required mindset would keep one focused until you achieve your goal

Since IM is hard, it obviously results to great life lessons on your way to success
If it were easy, then very little will be learnt

The work is easy. The focus and commitment is hard.

It is unfortunate that so few people have the ability to focus and commit. They are hoping for the easy way, for someone else to do it for them, or for some mystical event to occur that will, for some unexplained reason, make them the "popular" marketer who everyone flocks to to buy things.

But they are not willing to study the business, learn the business, apply the necessary steps and stick with it until it starts to flow on its own. They will forever be chasing their tails until they settle down, focus, commit, and apply themselves.

GT

Great dude,

I truly agree with you. Why people have not realized yet that it takes time and money and experience to make good money. Well, I strongly believe that we should keep this saying in front of us while working in IM. " Slow and steady "

The result of an entitled generation where you just show up, and people just give you money. Wake up! No matter where you work, every single one of us is self employed. You are always competing with your competitor or your coworker.

It's not that hard (comparatively speaking). You just have to have a solid plan/strategy and get on with it.

When you're passionate about what you're creating for people, everything becomes much easier IMO. Focus on creating value for people- initially- and the money will come.

IM is simple. But it is not easy. Meaning that a lot of people know what to do to become successful but not many people follow through with it. Good post. Thanks for sharing!

Law of the harvest - you plant something, nourish it (water/weeding/trimming), wait for it to grow (time), and then reap the harvest once all the previous steps have been completed. Oaks trees don't grow overnight.

It takes commitment and time, and effort, and for some when you use the word effort then they fold, . I for sure rather work hard and put the effort in for me and my family.

The cool thing is, its not really "hard", its all about perspective and attitude.

Its hard in the respect that it requires a massive investment upfront. Either with time or money. But if you have even the slighest idea what you're doing, if you pay close attention to detail, to your competition, if you're an opportunistic person, you can definitely succeed and do well for yourself.

I've been here a little bit over a year, and have tripled my income. For about 6 months I worked my ass off, commited to 1 main thing. Results came in slowly, things were extremely difficult, and everyday I felt like I was wasting time. It always feels hard when you're not producing results. But you have to be confident that things will change in the future. And you need to be that much more confident that you're on the right path. Otherwise, you will keep trying to walk in another direction.

Between months 9-12, I got extremely lucky, and made a small fortune for myself. I basically became effective at generating home improvement leads, 1 month before a major hurricane hit. The largest hurricane to ever hit our state.

I keep thinking even today, as bad as the hurricane was, it was one of the best things that has ever happened in my life. Almost like a sign from above. If I decided to give up after 6 months, I wouldn't have "made it". But those last 3 months, I started working harder, I had a blind form of optimism and couldn't be stopped. Leads were coming in slow, then a hurricane strikes out of nowhere, and my new business explodes. All a sudden I'm turning down clients and trying to find more crews. I was so confused. One side of me was so sad to see our state destroyed, another side of me feeling like I was reborn.

Now for once, I have a nice chunk of money in the bank. I have been reinvesting a smaller amount back into my biz (as wisely as possible), and things are begining to stablize. Although the rush of business slowed down and I hit a lull, I was able to invest intelligently to bring things back up to a baseline. I finally had the money I needed to run my business like a real business. In a weird way, the hurricane became a "loan" from the clouds.

If I ever thought 2 years ago, that I'd own my own successful business, I wouldn't have believed it.

Its weird how back then, everything seemed really "hard". But now, our company has been on tv (CBS), I have money and I'm afraid to spend it, so every dime goes towards bills or is reinvested back into my business. But no longer do I have to stress about paying bills. No longer do I have to stress about finding something to do that I love. Finding something to wake up for every morning.

So if you're out there struggling, don't give up! I always use to hear stories about people "getting a break" or "getting lucky", and I would immediately think "those lucky assholes". But trust me, you have NO IDEA what the future holds in store for you. I still don't believe in luck. But I sure as hell believe that people can create luck. Because if I hadn't tried in the first place, I would have never got "lucky" in the end.

-Red

What's been hard for me over the past year trying this is all the info you gotta learn.

I just found out about how to do A B testing a couple hours ago and been having fun playing with that....sorta. I mean I have an experiment set up I don't know if I did it right though.

I signed up here so I could have a place to come to with my questions.

Lots of people on here doing what I consider nasty ways of making money online though. (promoting crap products, lying in testimonials, encouraging others to do 'blackhat' stuff, selling 'get rich online quick and easy' stuff) and the guys who actually know something seem to look down on young newbs like my self.

But, I've met some real cool people here and gotten a lot of help so it's not all bad. It's just a little more harsh than I expected.

But really I love this stuff. I love fiddling with my site, and now that I'm starting to know how to use the numbers I'm even more excited.

Are there any college programs for this stuff? Probably not huh?

I guess I can probably learn everything I need to know to be successful without a college diploma anyway. It's just up to me to find the exact knowledge I need and acquire it, then learn it. And most importantly after learning it, apply it.

/\ Hey man,

Just so you know, you have a better business model than 90% of the people on WF.

I've been doing sound engineering/production as a hobby for 12 years. And most music artists will try to promote a track and become famous, which is something that you have like a .000001% chance of succeeding at. Or they'll post tracks on beatport and try to make a living, which is virtually impossible for most artists.

But you are selling samples which is very smart.

You are targeting the 1 group in the music niche, who has no problem spending a lot of money on equipment and sounds. I've personally spent over $14,000 for a bunch of crap I don't even use in my studio. I always just use my sequencer and the virus ti, everything else just sits around collecting dust.

I have a friend who sells sample packs for the Access Virus TI and does very well for himself (he sells other samples packs as well).

What I would do if I were you:

1) Redo your website design (I'm sure you know this already, but compare it to successful sample sites online to get an idea).

2) Register a bunch of accounts online, and make a virtual portfolio in 3rd person. Like someone else wrote it about you. Also make a wiki page too.

3) Start giving out free teaser packs of samples on various forums. But when you do this, don't screw around. Its would be smart to test this privately, before going public on forums. Like have people join a private yahoo group, then have them take a poll after downloading the pack. If you release 1 low quality pack, with unoriginal sounds, if the sounds are thin, if they're over compressed, if they're not leveled properly, you will make a bad first impression. And first impressions are very important in this niche. Even if your second pack is amazing, people will ignore it just because your first one sucked. And you should always use these free teaser packs to grab more members.

I know from experience, all it takes is for 1-2 threads to "stick", and you can wind up with a ton of people joining your site/buying your samples. I have 1 thread that grew up to 56 pages, over the course of 2 years on 1 music site. That drove people to ebay to buy my 1 sample pack.

I would release the BEST free sample pack you possibly can. Keep it short and of the best quality possible. Release it on all relevant music forums.

Your entire "sales pitch" will be in the quality of the sounds. If they are great, it won't even matter what your website looks like. You really need to work on branding yourself as an expert. If you are unsure about putting a certain sound in the pack, don't put it in.

9/10 people who have tried to sell sounds, have failed. They rush the sounds, or they don't make them easy for people to use.

You need to get people on forums saying "so and so has an awesome soundset over at yourwebsite.com". If you can create that type of effect, you'll be golden.


G/luck - Red

ps. Here is a tip. One thing I did was contact a local "famous" producer, who wasn't famous to the point where he wouldn't respond to my emails. He was really just well known. I sent him a message on youtube, and offered to pay him for an ableton project file, for a track he produced that many people loved. I would basically post comments on his channel at first, stuff like "this track is incredible! PLEASE I WILL PAY YOU FOR THE PROJECT FILE NAOW!" Then eventually I started sending him more civilized emails. Trying to act more serious about it/less excited. Like it was becoming an addiction basically and the emails wouldn't stop anytime soon. The guy wound up giving me the project file for free, and I added it as a "bonus" to my first free teaser pack.

Search for producers on youtube, that have a huge subscriber base, in your genre, and ask them if they will do the same. Its an awesome way to gain tons of attention really fast, because if there is one thing producers like more than sounds, its project files from experienced producers.

BTW I did this before I learned a thing about marketing too. I don't even think marketing is as important as most people think. If you truely understand your niche, and what type of stuff people go for, what they consider REALLY valuable, and you give it to them, they will be hooked. Music is a drug for many people, ESPECIALLY PRODUCERS.

If you put all your eggs in one basket?

I read an interesting fact, did you know in the 1800's MOST people earned at least part of their income via self-owned ____ stuff.. IE -- They bartered, and traded eggs, chickens, food, crafts, tables, furniture, etc... or they grew their own food, made their own clothing, etc... It wasn't till the 1900s that everything became mass produced requiring mass employment. -- Now with technology, robotics, etc- more and more jobs are disappearing forever. We will need to go back to an economy where most people are business owners of one form or another.

I agree. IM being hard is a good thing. I have 2 sons that will spend over $100,000 getting 4 year college degrees. It took them 4 years to do it. Their reward is a crappy job market that is very competitive.

Online, people cry about spending 1 week and $100 and they are not making money. To that I say get some perspective and be prepared to invest some time and some money to make money. Just not as much as getting a 4 year college degree.

I see you there Mr. Red Shifted Caught you being nice again

Thanks for that reply, Red.

I have a decent following of producers that "look up to me" and a placement with a "famous" rapper named Lil B. So I have a tiny shred of credibility.

I had released one of my "drum kits" before and everyone fell in love with it.

I just found out today that someone actually was trying to link to it on some totally random forum I've never been on. Shame, I moved and redesigned my site so it's a 404 error now, lol!

I want to spruce the site up for sure. I'm still working on it and everything. I been up for more than 24 hours now, but I been relaxing the past few. About to hit the sack soon.

Thank you so much for your long, thoughtful, detailed reply.

New Comer, when you shift stuff around you should use 301 redirects... that way those links from your fans will keep taking people to the right place

That's right Jerome, people think IM is a quick money making scheme. They forgot it's business and it demands skills, time, knowledge and wisdom (and Money).

IM is not for everybody who wants to make quick bucks online. And that said, you have to invest a certain level of dedication to be successful!

That's the funny thing. People will put in 8 hour day after 8 hours day of work they hate in their normal jobs for years and years and not complain. Or they'll go to school and puts in dozens and dozens of hours studying something they'll never use in college.

But then they try IM or any entrepreneurial venture and they give up or complain every minute of the way.

The good news is that that mindset and perspective is a choice and the people who put in the effort and hard work required and the ones who make things happen as an entrepreneur!!

IM is extremely easy once you realize that you're not a "marketer" or an" affiliate" or whatever you want to call yourself. YOU ARE A SALESPERSON. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. If you can't sell, you're done.

Marketing is attracting attention. I don't think the reason people fail is because they can't attract enough attention. The reason why people fail is because once they get a little attention they can't sell anything.

That's why people spend $100 on Adwords and see no returns. If they learn how to sell they'll get returns.

and there is no easy money in IM. You have to work hard to earn from it. That's why we have the term hard-earned money right? If IM is very easy, then every internet marketers are probably billionaires now! Unless you know how the IM works, and you’re a genius, then maybe you can earn easy money. I have an advice, work smarter!

Having a Plan and sticking to it without diverted attention will help you out...

It's hard until it's easy... or easier! Just make sure you have your reasons WHY and they are solid. And stay plugged into motivational webinars, trainings, or personal development. You only fail when you quit!

Excellent... we Always have to work Hard... for our jobs or for our business... the only difference is that the return of money is always different.
Nothing is easy in life...
best regards

If it was easy, you probably would not want to do it. You are building a system for yourself and that takes time, money and EFFORT! You can not use a $100 ad credit and think you are going to become a millionaire overnight. You have to spend large amounts of time to build a system that you can then leverage and make money from later.
You may not make money online today, tomorrow or even next month, but if you stick to real principles and build a sound online business: You will make money!