Incredible ADD Poetry Slam!

Learning Internet Marketing vs Going to College

I heard a pretty good perspective on internet marketing lately from a guy who started 4 years ago 30,000 in debt and made 2.4mm last year with nothing but affiliate marketing and pay per click.
Point is he said of course none of this happens over night.  He said a lot of people start off and work one campaign for a couple months, give up, start another, give up and finally go back to normal life.

However, he compared it to college.  He said most people go to college for four years and spend about 100,000 or so to get out and make $60,000 a year or in a good case, low 6-figures.  Which he looks at this as a terrible return on investment.  He says if you view what you’re about to embark on like a college education, you realize that it may take a lot of studying and several years (probably not near 100,000) and the upside is high 6 figures and in many cases 7 figures a year.

Gives a more realistic perspective than the get rich quick, it has to work out of the gate attitude that many in the industry portray.

Fortunately, I believe if I spend the next 3 years busting my ass on this and investing in myself I’ll be in the 7 figure spot as well.

Just my two cents before I go to bed.

Niche Selection

Here’s an interesting tool I’m playing with for niche selection. One tool of many and it’s free.

It’s called www.pickii.com and it lets you view top rated and reviewd lists from Amazon.com.  Not necessarily the hottest product, but the best reviewed.  I’ll let you know if I figure out how to really use it to capitalize.

What I’ve Learned In the Past Year

It’s been a year since I read the 4 Hour Work Week and decided to act upon it.  I actualy acted upon it with my own website about 9 months ago, but one year ago I got the resolve.

I’ve learned:

• I’ve taken the hardest road to success which is product creation from scratch.  If I had to do it all over again I would definitely start off in affiliate marketing and focus on niche selection and traffic generation.  Those two aspects have such a vast array of knowledge you need to learn anyway, trying to learn it on the fly while learning product creation, ecommerce set up, digital delivery, membership site creation, affiliate recruiting, copywriting and conversion, etc takes a toll.
• There are some great tools out there and there are other tools that just have great sales copy.  It’s hard not to buy the next best thing that comes on the market.  I’ve been spending a lot of money and some of it has been better than others.

One of the best traffic driving tools for me so far has been Traffic Geyser.  I really believe in video marketing and am trying to do more of it.  Starting over I would pick a niche, use Traffic Geyser and PPC to drive traffic and analyze that niche to see if I want to eventually develop my own product for it. I think if you master just those aspects up front you can dominate.  Once more I’m taking the long way around but it’s working out.

I’m hear that people with ADHD/ADD have the ability to hyper focus.  I’m glad I can do that.  The key is learning how to turn the hyper focus “on.”

Cool Qutoes

[1:38:41 PM] Dale Hensel says: Quotes:

The greatest revolution in our generation is that of human beings, who by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.

~Marilyn Ferguson

The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created–created first in the mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them, changes both the maker and the destination.

~John Schaar

As long as you know what it is you desire, then by simply affirming that it is yours — firmly and positively, with no ifs, buts, or maybes — over and over again, from the minute you arise in the morning until the time you go to sleep at night, and as many times during the day as your work or activities permit, you will be drawn to those people, places, and events that will bring your desires to you.

~Scott ReedCo

Our First Site is Launched

On June 2, we officially launched the PUMA.  It was a great feeling that the past 4 months of work finally paid off.  We had several sales the first few days and we officially claimed our place as internet marketers making money on the internet.  We weren’t profitable yet but we were on our way.  Now the real fun began.  Testing, tweaking, changing, crying, tweaking, laughing, crying, rinsing and repeating.

There really isn’t a better feeling though than working hard on a project and watching it come to fruition.

But it’s not all roses.  The past month and a half we’ve been trying out different back end systems to see what works best.  The first one we tried isn’t working out that well so we’re changing to a new system as I type this.  Very stressful and delaying everything but it’s better to change it early rather than while we’re doing big things…it gets more complicated there.

Just know that at first, there is no 4 Hour Work Week.  It’s more like a 400 hour work week…but I can see the light and it’s close.

Keeping the Sanity

So far it’s been pretty crazy. When things are going well and starting to take shape you start riding a big high, then invariably you run in to a stumbling block at hinders your progress and stops all forward momentum.  That can be summed up by one word…”technology.”  Something always goes wrong or you don’t understand what you’re doing enough to move forward.  I can get like a pissy little girl with PMS when that happens (ask my partner).  In cases like this it helps to down a fifth of tequila and start smashing anything you can get your hands on.  I never did that, but the thought of it sounds strangely therapeutic.

Having a partner in these endeavors helps because when one is going crazy, the other one can bring you back down to earth.  Also, state management and the ability to see other perspectives helps alot.

I’ve been training in NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) for the past year and it’s helped a lot.  I’ll talk more about that in subsequent posts (but you can link to a great teacher in my blogroll on the right column).

The best medicine though is to step away a while, clear your head and don’t be afraid to ask for help.  With most tech issues these days, help is a mouseclick away.

The Blind Leading the Blind

…(continued form prior post)

Neither my partner nor I were technically proficient with websites, html or anything like that.  My partner, was good at Photoshop and graphic design but was definitely not a web designer (yet).  I could barely stand the thought of looking at html or opening Dreamweaver to create a site. I wanted it all done for me.  I’m a big picture guy and usually hate the details.  Fortunately my patient partner taught me slowly what I needed to learn and as I played around with it I realized it wasn’t nearly as intimidating as I had thought.

Everyday we seemed to be learning a little bit more until we had a good grasp on what we were doing (or so we thought).  We went through a lot of trial and error til we figured out what would work and 6-7 months later we’re still doing the same thing.

By the way, patience really pays off in this business.  Moral of the story, we didn’t know crap and now we’re probably considered experts by the majority of the population (not the majority of successful internet marketers…we’re still rookie retards compared to them, but we’re learning…an no I’m not apologizing for using the word “retard.” I love that word and not as it applies to mentally handicapped people, just as it applies to the fact that the word is funny as hell…if you’re offended, please see my other site, pig-tones.com for my stand on political correctness).

Bodies in Motion Tend to Stay in Motion…

Here’s my attempt to make up for the past six months of putting my plan into action

February:  Teevee and I come up with the idea for our site after much introspection and deliberation.  We had no real idea where to begin so we started at the beginning and just did “something.”  We knew that it’s all about positive momentum and even if we made a mistake and wasted money on those mistakes it was worth it because “bodies in motion tend to stay in motion.”

We registered the URL and started filming the videos that would be the core of our content.  We tried to stick to the Blueprint as much as possible but it was a struggle because we both tend to jump all over the place (ADD, remember).

One important thing we kept in our mind and still do is that even if it isn’t perfect and things go wrong, we’re learning the system.  It’s a project.  There is a presupposition in NLP which states “No Failure, only Feedback.”  We were bound and determined to keep moving along despite the times where it got tough and we couldn’t see the top of the mountain for the clouds half way up (if that doesn’t make sense, please read my post on Mt Everest and Internet Marketing.”

I love Mark Twain…

A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.

Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.

There are lies, damned lies and statistics.

There are several good protections against temptation, but the surest is cowardice.

Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered – either by themselves or by others.

Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.

To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.

What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

Necessity is the mother of taking chances.

Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.

All generalizations are false, including this one.

All quotes by “Mark Twain”…unless he stole them.