Who here actually sells products/services on regular basis

Yes, I have been selling Internet and Social Media Marketing services to Business Owners full time since 2007. I have been doing more consulting this year that fulfilling contracts.
Do you want to see what a sample contract looks like?

We are both full time from home selling products/services online and offline. Consistent enough to fire our bosses... I (Miles) have been full time since 09, Melanie just got rid of her last part-time gig about 4 months ago... Our active income has grown by over $1000/mo and our residual income has grown over $500 per month in the last 2-3 weeks, alone.

It didn't come easy, tho... And it still doesn't. Trial and error has been our ultimate teacher. WordPress skills are definitely at the core of just about everything we do... And we built our first wordpress site in 2008.

Melanie has a list with over 10k organic subscribers and a platform that gets over 1000 visits/day... She launches a product and makes a grand each time about 8 times a year. Then twice per month she launches smaller products and makes between $250 and $600... Then there are the Kindle publishing royalties and Kunaki cd royalties that show up each month.

I do SEO consultations and often find myself focusing on keyword research + content via Wordpress for clients.... And I outsource 80-95% of it to people all around the globe!

There are a ton of local businesses everywhere who could use someone who gets SEO, WordPress and Keyword Research... But dealing with clients isn't exactly 'residual income' nor is it all that enjoyable for me anymore, so I'm trying to phase that out.

Our newest venture is growing by about 5 teammates per week on average right now and offers leveraged residual income... Again, 100% WordPress marketing as the back-bone.

With all that being said... We are both online busting our humps about 10 - 16 hours per day, 7 days per week, knuckles-to-the-grindstone, making it happen.

You gotta want it.... You gotta want it so bad it keeps you up late... You gotta want it so bad it wakes you up early.... This video sums it up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=5fsm-QbN9r8

What bothers me is that yes are there a lot of people who make up methods and sell them without testing them.

But there are a lot of good product creators out there, Mark Helton, Brian Anderson, Mario Brown etc etc a list of over 100 that actually do the consulting or have done the consulting in the past and sell products that explain the methods they used.

In my opinion it doesn't take a genius to be able to tell one from the other. I mean anyone should be able to tell an honest affiliate/product vendor from a crap one fairly easily. At least people with business experience. I guess if you don't have any business experience maybe it's difficult.

It's just frustrating to see people generalize a whole group by one of it's subsets.

Also if you go into the WSO forum and just buy products yeah that's not going to turn out well.

Find out who the authority creators are out there and buy their products and the products of people they trust and support.

I actually totally give away one of my best ways to get more internet marketing clients. You're more then welcome to check it out here:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Offli...27089034046612

I'm on the phones 8 hours a day, g.

I make between 60 and 100 calls and close between 2 and 5%.

Recently I've been calling warm callbacks from my team of TMs and the conversion has lifted. I sell what everyone else does: web design, seo, sem, etc..

I've been a cold caller for 5-6 years.

It's not that amazing. I'd agree with you about other parts of the forums pushing crap and BS but the people in the offline section are generally solid experts in their subject matter.

Instead of prejuding it as BS why don't you pick up one of the many scripts here and try it yourself.

I am doing it. Lost my job, and needed a solution. Been messin around with web marketing for 15 years, so I thought I would try to make ends meet with something I know and love. I'm selling mobile websites with so-so luck. Get a client or two per week. Really need to be getting 4 or 5 a week, but its a start. I've tried email and some direct mail - but only cold calling has worked for me. Since I am selling and building sites I am running into some time management issues, but we are getting there. It's a tough road. Not sure how to take it to the next level, but I'm working on it.

This is a full time business for me. Here is my free course

1. Find a niche you want to service and see what problems they have that you can solve
2. Develop a value proposition and some marketing materials around your solutions to these problems
3. Talk to people in your niche about about your solutions
4. Deliver on your commitments to the people that become your clients

It is simple, but not easy. You can pad out all of these steps with the information and techniques offered by others on this board.

Honestly there are ideas posted here for free almost every day of the week that will make you thousands if you apply them. As a business owner or entrepreneur you are always the weakest link in your business, ideas are cheap but action is what will make you money.

I write and proofread regularly. It is not what you call a full-time job as I also am on a Disability pension but I earn enough to cope....but could always earn more if anybody else needs my help.

How successful people are depends on so many variables. You'll find many who claim to do better than the reality but it shouldn't bother you because your success is your concern, not that of others.

I'm doing it day-in day-out. I own a marketing/design firm and a remodeling company, which allow me to not only create and offer marketing strategies but also to test them myself constantly. I've had plenty of things that I thought would work amazing in theory, only to find that once I tried them out, failed miserably.

Unlike most people here, I've almost totally gotten away from offering internet marketing services to my clients, simply because it's a pain in the butt. I don't want to compete with a million other SEO/Social Media/Web Design weekend warriors out there either lowballing everything or offering better services than I can. I don't want to deal with unreliable outsourcers or have to stay ahead of every little change that could crush me if I don't. I also don't want to take large amount of money from clients and not have them see measurable results.

I focus on providing services involving printed material & direct mail, and direct response marketing assistance. The relationships I've made and the name I've made for myself in my local community is in my opinion, only possible from the fact that I've separated myself from other marketing people who push internet services they learned in a weekend.

Underground,

You're right... more than 80% (or more) of marketers here, or anywhere, really... make REAL money.

When I say real, I mean enough to live on comfortably, without working for someone else.

On Clickbank, it's 80-20... or somewhere around there. Only 20% of the businesses listed there make serious money.

It just is what it is... no matter where you go... it's around 80-20.

For me, I started in 2001 with an online business that sold fitness products. I had to learn everything along the way... as I went.

and as I grew the business... my income grew, my knowledge grew, and so did my love of marketing and copywriting. That's the only reason I sold that business to get into copywriting.

Thankfully, because of my past online success... I was able to make a six figure income from consulting/copy/coaching since then.

But if I hadn't had that previous business experience... I wouldn't have been nearly successful.

So, it's pretty easy to find out who is making decent money online... at least you can get a rough idea with all the analytic tools available today.

But as with any venture... most people fail and a few succeed... the forum is no different than any other place where people meet/do business. it just is what it is.

Im doing this everyday Im averaging roughly 1 new retainer client every 1-2 weeks, slowly growing, but its a lot of work.

I can give you a couple of examples of testing different approaches to find the ones that work (for me)...

I wrote 6 books in 6 weeks and got all 6 to top 10 and 5 to #1 download for their
genre on Amazon Kindle.

[IMG]http://api.ning.com/files/jnGKJh3gfccK7Xu0Q4zZPmdaf0Zpd6ZjkJr7R85FDOEqRR-2zK1kU20icAJL*dmIKicqtYt9N8LMQSkS7AwhCEQRnCMt2iX4/KB3MA.png[/IMG]

[IMG]http://api.ning.com/files/kbqfPOG1yinaHFcyRhqAh-YnX*q8toBfJkhaELJNRv*-32t940o4BW96aTBcDPmNdDl5CFbvWKupUbCNAnx6N1d4fpK*J-CO/50shades002.png[/IMG]

I maximised the FREE offer period recommended by Amazon's KDP programme.

However, since then I've generated -

A year long coaching client, now in discussions with a tv production company, and (2 consultancy gigs value in excess of $10K), and now have a passive revenue stream dripping through which I can build on with more titles coming...

I also via social networking picked up a $15K client who I've never met, from a country I've never visited that speaks a language that I don't even know a single word of.

I also use SEO - on various digital assets externally from my site to pre-qualify visitors and to pull them to me in due course. This one has a top 5 listing on google, (slideshare doc) has had over 28000 visitors to the page, and approx. 2000 downloads of which 10-15% have gone on to upgrade to one solution or another ranging from $50 - $5000+

I have over 400 testimonials on the UKs oldest social network, and had some fun with a vertical learning curve on LinkedIn, and it serves me well to pre-qualify profile visitors and educate them to what I offer.

Here are my results from yesterday -

[IMG]http://api.ning.com/files/jsqU1mHWkLicXwKMXdfT3JEq-qjL*oalJ3551wQBEV-HdIhOyjJjZ8Tvf3dfA9AKkCFcKp2zT7muNRUktVx4hoA9Cwzc2 bC9/linkedin04.png[/IMG]

I documented my learning curve on LinkedIn and share the journey in my book on amazon.

In the words of Colin Powell..."There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure" and by heck I endorse and live that to the max.

I test. test. test. I document my failings, my stresses, my frustrations and then amend until I start generating the results I want. I then share what works in my coaching programme and with members of my Grow Your Business Club.

I think far too many people fall in love with, and get overwhelmed by the technology, for me its about finding an approach that works then consistently applying and executing it even if that means putting in the time and effort regularly. Far too many people are lazy, and simply don't apply themselves.

I think I'm consistent in consistently testing new approaches and demonstrating my expertise by documenting my own learning and then applying and sharing it. There's far too much spin out there as you say above, and people want "social proof" of performance.

Consistency of execution creates consistency of new business production every month. Conversion rates vary from channel to channel, and whilst I got over 300 videos on Youtube, I haven't really cracked it yet from a conversion stand point. :S

We mustn't stop learning (& applying) each day, and that includes me.

hey ho, onwards and upwards ;

Hope that helps.

I went full time around 2004 although I was making some
part time money selling services to businesses before then.

I haven't had a job since then and some years when I've put
in some serious effort I've done very well.

Keep in mind that the small to medium sized business niche is
probably the largest single niche in the world so there's no
shortage of prospects.

And most will invest money if they think you're going to bring
them in a positive return.

So there's no shortage of money in the niche.


I've helped clients make thousands and tens of thousands of dollars
in extra sales...often in quite short time frames and often what works
will catch you by surprise.

I think the main things to focus on if you really want to do this are
being genuinely committed to making the businesses you work with
real money and to genuinely care about them.

That will come across in all your dealings.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

I make money in my offline biz on a consistent basis. My system is three-fold.
- I email potential customers to try to warm them up and then follow up with a 2nd email one week later.
- Phone sales (using a cold call script)
- Personally call on 10 - 12 potential businesses 5 days a week
It's like fishing...The more often you cast your bait, the better your chances are to land a big one! BTW- I'm an Internet Marketing Consultant.
Tom Miles

Allright Underground... Looks like you've got a number of 'real deal' folks coming out of the woodwork at this point! Feel better?

In all seriousness, though... I'm very curious what you've learned at this point through the thread or if your sentiment has changed at this point. Are you still super-skeptical or are you a believer that it is possible for real people to make real money online and offline at this point?

The big pattern and reaffirming value I have received from this thread is that it appears most people have figured out a system that works for them through trial and error... Just like we mentioned in our original post... "Trial and error has been our ultimate teacher."

Persistence and the willingness to keep going after repeated failure really seems to be the key, not just for us but for many people who spoke up here. In that regards, it seems like building an empowered mindset through personal development is just as important as the core skills and techniques.

I have been cold calling for a little over 10 years. In 2008 I started selling internet marketing for a fairly large internet marketing company and managed my own team, but the company out grew itself and didn't have the best business ethics so I decided to leave and look elswehere after 2 years at the company. Well that was a mistake as I tried some different industries. I was very burned out of the internet marketing thing as I had a bad taste after the company as I was at. Well that was a mistake and I realized how much I missed it. In October of 2010 I decided to get back into it and set up my own biz selling SEM to businesses. I turned our guest bedroom into a home office and worked from home for the first year. I treated it like a real job, I got on the phones at 8 am sharp and would work until 5 pm and sometimes later.

I am good at cold calling and building repoire with clients. Trust me I've bought some CRAP WSO's claiming ninja tactis, gangbusters, and GAME CHANGERS hoping to ease the cold calling. Trust me, the phone gets very heavy some days, but I have a family to feed and it's all on me. I have tried Craigslist and received a few new clients, but at the end of the day cold calling is what has always worked for me. I think I could leverage Craigslist better, but haven't figured out the secret sauce yet to master it. My clientele is small to medium size businesses and I would to start targeting larger clients. This week I only got 1 new client while last week I got 4 new clients, but my weeks generally are at about 2-4 new clients.

In my first full year I was able to produce a full time income and I am very proud of that as I was a bit scared going out on my own.

It's hard work, and thats it. You have to work your ass off at the beginning and things will come. I agree with all of you how people get into this thinking 1 WSO will allow them to work 20 minutes a day and allow them produce $1,000's. Now that things are rolling I admit some days and weeks I can take is a little easier, but I always pound the phones setting myself up for appointments to make the end of my weeks a little easier.

Great thread Underground, we need more of these discussions as so people can see what really does and does not work.

I wrote 11 life insurance applications for somewhere around 5000 in gross commissions before lead costs this week.

I can typically do 3000 to 4000 in gross commissions a week with 5 to 7 applications written weekly using my direct mail lead system on a somewhat part-time basis.

I also inked 4 deals last week at my daytime business-to-business sales job. All 4 were generated either by cold calling in-person or over-the-phone.

Ive been working from home for over 12 years. I sell lots of services. and products i make and own. Its not a myth you can really make real income from the internet just ask MikeLantz who owns this forum.

I think in order for you to sell your product or services regularly, you must also work on your promotion on a regular basis.

I sell physical products offline by phone. I was doing it for years for a couple other companies before, but got burned out, tried something else and then decided to do it again on my own. I was doing great from 2001-2003 until the war in Iraq started and then things went under almost overnight.

I started it up again around 15 months later and worked it until the recession finally took its toll in early 2009. However, I'd started doing IM part time by then and was making good money doing "Bum Marketing", "Google Cashing" and promoting CPA offers.

Once Google slapped most of my sites down with the Panda update, I sold everything and lived on much of the money for around 5-6 months in 2011. After that happened I started looking at going back into the supply business again on the phone and did so last summer. I've now been doing it again for just over a year.

I cold call, but I build relationships and regular customers that I can call back every 30 days. Customers buy anywhere from 2-6 times per year, depending on their needs.

My goal over the next two years is to acquire 500 BUYERS that spend an average of $1000.00 per year with me. That's VERY realistic and would make for a great income.

That being said, what I do isn't bulletproof. The economy has knocked me down twice, so I'm putting together a package to do offline website, SEO/traffic generation, services, etc part time so I'll have something extra to fall back on if things decide to go sour again. Businesses will ALWAYS need advertising!

Yes, it's real. You just have to really want it. My day starts at 4:00 AM and I'm on the phone by 4:30. I usually cut off at Noon, take a short nap, grab some lunch and then work other projects (IM recently, but I'm moving away from that) in the afternoon.

You just have to find a plan that works for YOU and then go do it.

HTH,


Joe