Online Rule

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Kevin Fahey IM Checklist Review – Affiliate Edition

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Here’s a quick review of Kevin Fahey’s IM Checklist – Affiliate Edition

The highlights:

  1. useful for affiliate marketers at all levels (watch the last 2mins of how I *should* have used them when recommending Sphere Of Influence😉
  2. it’s Kevin’s core (and ‘one and only’) business, and as a result the checklists are the result of ‘actually doing it’ (himself, and his students)
  3. they’re a great reminder how to structure your campaigns properly to maximize the results for your efforts (and how to identify bottlenecks/weaknesses in your approach)

Launch Already – Instead of “Bootstrapping” at the poverty-line for the rest of your life

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over the last couple of days I got into a bit of an email conversation with Phil, who is a VLTS (very long time subscriber).

Now, Phil has something awesome to offer to the world (very different way of thinking, as is clear from pretty much all his emails to me) … and yet, he hasn’t made it available to the world (yet, but we’re working on that).

And the reason for it, in my opinion, is a couple of mindset issues.

Which I’m covering in this quick case-study:

 

Here are some resources you may find helpful

  1. The BBC article on Snakes and Laddersthis is a few years old, but still worth revisiting from time to time:
  2. my post on this blog called “The Entrepreneurial Divide”
  3. My related videos on Youtube
    1. “Product Launch Formula vs Sphere of Influence“: a comparison of Product Launch Formula and “Sphere Of Influence“
    2. Review of the Sphere of Influence

“Get off your butt and start your own online passive income streams”

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well, that’s me messing with a quote by Robert Kiyosaki as you see in this video:

which I watch every now and then to remind myself of Robert’s explanation of the idea of “financial IQ” and what you need to do if you want to change your situation:

ignore your life-long programming to be a “good employee” and start a business

(watch his bit on “Financial IQ” and how smart you are at solving problems! Most people “work harder”, get a 2nd job … whereas the real solution to your problems is to start a 2nd business)

For me, it’s not even about the tax-side of things, but in a job, you’re basically limited to your personal capacity to do work.

But, when you take this online, that limit suddenly disappears.

The Internet, or Online Marketing has given us probably THE biggest opportunity so far in human evolution at LEVERAGING our own talents.

Create something once, then sell it a thousand/million/bazillion times over.

Writing a good email takes somewhere between 1 and 2 hours. Sending it out adds another 1min until you’ve pressed all the right buttons.

And that time does not change no matter if you’re sending it to 1, 10, 100 or a million subscribers.

Your results do though. (by factor 10, 100 or a million!)

Now, what’s even better:

if you’re willing to look at the results you’re getting, and learn from them … you can re-deploy something that works over and over again.

And now, suddenly, you have yourself an asset.

Again, watch Robert’s video for that brilliantly simple explanation of what an asset really is – because most people get that completely wrong:

Turns out, an email list by itself is not an asset.

Neither is an email list combined with a great relationship.

Nor is a big authority site … if there’s no traffic to it.

Nor is “the perfect product” an asset when nobody buys it

and so on

What is an asset though is things like:

  • evergreen autoresponder sequences (tested and proven to convert of course)
  • stupid simple mini-sites/pages/properties that provide enough value for someone to say “yes, I’ll give you my email address for that!”
  • and if you’re not into email, of course stupid simple mini-sites/pages/properties that get people to say “yes, I’ll get my CC out for that!”
  • and that could be something where you either convert paid traffic profitably … or of course the biggest prize of them all: organic traffic
  • now in its simplest form, the asset could be something that has a flow of visitors to it … and then monetize it with the most passive forms of monetization: Adsense.

the possibilities are literally endless. (see this brilliant article on Tiny Asset Engines for further suggestions, opens in a new tab)

And yet, rather than build out one at a time and then STICKING WITH IT until it works … most people give up just before the final hurdle.

(and yes, I’ve been there, done that)

And I reckon, it goes back to the “financial IQ” Robert mentions in the video:

we are so brainwashed into “adding another job” when we’re in a tight spot, that the immediate reaction is: “ok, this isn’t enough, let me quickly do something else“.

Sadly, experience shows: this “tight spot” … the question: “is this really going to work for me” usually happens literally 1 step before the darn thing finally gets to escape velocity!

End-result:

you’ve got yourself a job manually slogging away … and if you were to count the hours and the income generated, you’d probably end up with a lousy hourly rate at best … and with a liability at worst.

So, my take (and the reason I keep watching the video, because I’ve been brainwashed all my life too, thanks mum….), and I guess my ‘recipe for improving your financial IQ’:

  1. acknowledge that you’ve been conditioned to “work harder” …
  2. … and one of the consequences is that you end up focusing on too many things, and getting none of them to where they actually spring into a life of the own (as in: they’re not only self-sustaining, but an asset for years to come)
  3. and then use all the focus and will-power you can muster to F.O.C.U.S (follow one course until successful) with just one tiny asset.

Sure, the first one is (in all likelihood) not going to be at the same level as Robert’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” … but if you finish one and let’s say it makes you anywhere from $20-$100/day … then start the next, finish that, start the next, finish that … that does add up over time!

And to quote/paraphrase Robert one last time:

it’s not the school you went to, it’s where you focus your energy on

Get off your butt and start your own online passive income streams!

Veit

PS: I hope the subject line makes sense now: there really isn’t much of a (if any) difference between ‘passive income’ and ‘assets’. Our big advantage is that we’re effectively creating businesses … and they can be leveraged a whole lot further than the interest you’re getting on your deep-frozen assets like money in the bank, or gold-bullion under your bed. Heck, over time, I’m pretty confident they even out-do Bitcoin;-)

Business Hyper Growth Activity #3

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This is part 3 in the 5-part series on the main ‘activities’ you should devote your time to when building an online business.

Part 1 is here.

Part 2 is here.

Today’s topic is going to be super-popular (;-)

Hyper Growth Activity #3: Make some darn sales!

If you’re the kind of person who avoids ‘sales’ and ‘being salesy’ at all cost, well

  • you’re not alone (apparently, about 10% of the population find sales ‘natural’ … weirdos;-)
  • the ‘at all cost’-part is costing you a LOT!

it’s so very easy to ‘build the perfect site’ (“and then they will come“), …

… draft the perfect webinar …

… strategize the ideal ‘funnel’ …

… or even design the perfect flyer (and then only display it on your OWN bar-counter – see Part 1 of the series!)

Fact is:

(especially in the beginning), until you have designed, tested and implemented predictable, repeatable marketing & sales-SYSTEMS, you need to go out and actively ‘sell’.

If you want some inspiration, check out this BBC article ‘from working class boy to $1BN business’ – and look out for the ‘get loan for car, and then …’-part!

That article also contains a great quote:

It wasn’t really about building a business – that comes with time and maturity. But the crash brought that along. It was a good learning curve.

And that’s precisely what I’m trying to give you here:

the notion that the sooner you start building a business (instead of chasing the next big fix) the sooner you have something robust and predictable.

So, back to activity #3 – ‘selling’, here are a few ideas:

Make it your business to spend a little bit of time every day:

  • mailing/sending out an offer. (no, not a convoluted “hey, sign up to my list, and then, and then, and then …“, but a straight: “here’s something of value, if it’s for you, please give me some $” )
  • arrange a joint-venture (with the objective of the stuff in brackets in the previous line;-)
  • set up a webinar (with, well, you get the idea)
  • send out some cold emails (see the BBC article, THAT right there is why I’m really recommending cold emails in Part 1 of the series! Because it works!) (especially in B2B people don’t want to wade through endless ‘warm-up and nurturing campaigns’. Get to the point, will ya!)
  • etc…

 

Easy? Most likely not.

Worthwhile? Absolutely!

But perhaps that’s just me

Cheers

Veit

GDPR – scary news for online marketers

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as you may or may not know, towards the end of May next year, the so-called GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) comes into effect in the EU.

However, it applies to ANYONE selling into the EU … and that includes pretty much all online/Internet marketers.

So, straight from their FAQ http://www.eugdpr.org/gdpr-faqs.html

the ‘scary’ one:

What are the penalties for non-compliance?

Organizations can be fined up to 4% of annual global turnover for breaching GDPR or €20 Million.

This is the maximum fine that can be imposed for the most serious infringements e.g.not having sufficient customer consent to process data or violating the core of Privacy by Design concepts.

There is a tiered approach to fines e.g. a company can be fined 2% for not having their records in order (article 28), not notifying the supervising authority and data subject about a breach or not conducting impact assessment.

It is important to note that these rules apply to both controllers and processors — meaning ‘clouds’ will not be exempt from GDPR enforcement.

 

Regarding the first part (the 4%): that applies to the entire company-structure.

So if you think: “not to worry, this one company that might be affected is only a small thing under my umbrella brand” … think again:

GLOBAL turnover of the ENTIRE company!

As you can see, they explicitly mention ‘not having sufficient customer consent to process data’.

Here’s where this gets scary:

look at the last paragraph I mentioned:

if you store customer information in e.g. Aweber, and they get hacked … YOU are responsible!

It is YOUR responsibility to CHECK up-front (and keep checking on a regular basis) that (in this example) Aweber are GDPR-compliant (they’re not, just checked, see below)

Now it gets even scarier:

even if you can prove that Aweber messed up and YOU checked in on them on a regular basis … it’s still the 4% of YOUR company that’s on the line (or €20 Million, whichever is the greatest).

You can then TRY to reclaim that from Aweber, but that’s YOUR job. YOU/YOUR company foots the bill to begin with.

in case you’re wondering: I attended a seminar on just that topic last Thursday, great presentation by a lawyer who specializes in just this thing.

The big take-away from this was:

obviously, the scary stuff from above.

But, probably more importantly:

Data Protection (at least for those selling into the EU) is now a PROCESS!

It’s an ongoing effort, and in order to be compliant, you will have to prove that you have systems in place!

If you don’t … that’ll be 2% or €20 Million … whichever is the greatest.

Just to scare you some more:

just had a chat with Aweber … and they think they’re safe because they US-EU Safe Harbour agreement (self-)certified.

They’re NOT safe:

https://iapp.org/resources/article/safe-harbor-and-gdpr-action-plan/

(read the Price Waterhouse Cooper article at the top)

how’s that for a lighthearted start to the week?;-)

Cheers

Veit

PS: if you’d like to sign up to my new “Drip”-list, you can do so here:

Join us in the fabulous world of “Drip”

Enter your name and email below, and see the magic of Drip in action (there’s a video with ‘first impressions’, along with demonstrations of the tagging functionality)


 

[CASE-STUDY] Back things up … in copywriting

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here’s a nice lil’ case-study illustrating a major mistake many people make when selling or copywriting:

it’s about not backing things up with ‘proof’ of some sort.

The example in this video shows you why/how:

[UPDATE] About a day into the ‘launch’

Here are the current stats – and they ain’t pretty:

Here’s why I’m pointing this out:

it’s not meant to be nasty, or high-horsey, or anything like that, but instead to highlight 3 very important points:

  1. there’s a ton of rubbish being taught out there (in this case Murat fell for the “hey, just get some PLR/Whitelabel/Codecanyon dev-right material, rebrand it, and launch it, and you’ll make $bazillions”. In most cases – like this, that $bazillions part won’t happen)
  2. Launches are inherently a rubbish model to use – especially when you get started.
    They work just fine for Apple etc because they already have a massive fan-base, and they already know exactly what people WANT (so they can give it to them, as in: they know exactly HOW to give it to them),…
    But if you’re an unknown, and you’re marketing a product where it’s an unknown HOW to market that product to whom (or if anybody even wants it), then the odds of “$bazillions” once again, is very slim.
  3. The main ‘mechanism’ by which the 2 previous points work (and are sold to you) is using pressure cooker tactics: it’s all about urgency, scarcity etc. And that sucks, (for me) mainly from an ethical point of view, but also from a business perspective:
    1. it constantly adds to the ‘marketing noise’ (because everybody is shouting, you need to be shouting louder) – and that’s INEVITABLY driving the whole process/approach into a dead-end (want proof? Look at where the WarriorForum went. The JVZoo-world is on a similar trajectory right now)
    2. a ‘pressure’-based launch model is a churn-and-burn model: you do everything to get a buyer through the door, no matter what. And that more often than not leaves a bad taste in people’s mouth. Not good for building Know-Like-and-Trust, and definitely NOT the basis for building a long-term, mutually beneficial business-relationship where you keep getting paid for continually solving people’s problems.

 

To return to Murat and his launch:

I reckon (this is based purely on what I’m observing, I don’t know Murat, haven’t done any business with him before) that Murat was in the typical position of “wanting to earn $ online” and not knowing  where/how/in what form/whom to he could provide value to. (as in: he was clueless)

And when you are ‘clueless’ … ANYTHING (and I mean literally ANYTHING) that says “with my method you can earn $ online” WILL look appealing to your brain (your brain’s main mission is to filter IN the information you are looking for, and filter OUT the information that’s not relevant to you at this point).

And when you’re looking for a general objective like “make $ online” … that’s precisely what your brain will highlight with a big fluorescent marker pen.

And, as Murat (probably) didn’t have any basis for making an informed decision … the idea of just relabelling something and relaunching it seemed like a plausible thing to do.

(and thus he wasted time, energy and money setting it all up … for very little to no reward whatsoever)

if you find yourself in the same boat as Murat (not exactly sure where/how/in what form/whom you could provide value to (and get paid for it)), then you’ll like my upcoming

“Pick Your Path” Course

Which

  1. helps you pick the online business model that suits your personality style, your strengths and your background best
  2. is free, and best of all:
  3. is given to you without any pressure cooker tactics whatsoever;-)

if you’re interested, have a look here

(in my email I suggested there would be an email signup form. Well, I got busy and created the first module of the course, and you can access it by creating your account on the next page)