Archive for Attitude
Focus on What Works
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I’ve talked about membership sites, affiliate marketing, IT consulting, work at home and various other methods of having the lifestyle you want.
The sad reality for me is that selling online has not worked very well in the area of guitar lessons. I have had sales in each area but wasn’t able to get it to a significant enough level. While there may be reasons for this, every once in a while it’s good to look back and see what has worked in your life.
For me, this has been IT consulting in the niche area of integration. It has allowed me to get good hourly rates and work at home. I had to ask to work at home, it is not often available and sometimes even frowned upon. But since I’m in a niche they often have no choice.
It might make sense for you to persevere if you have a lot of passion but after many years of trying you might have to re-evaluate the situation. It’s a tough spot to be in.
By getting high rates and working at home, I’m able to have a great quality of life. I also take months off in between contracts (which I’m doing right now) so although I haven’t been able to realize my dream of selling online products exclusively, it’s the next best thing.
So take a minute to think about what’s working in your life and do more of that.
Making Bad Choices
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In June I moved from a fairly large city of over 1 million to a small town of about 1000. I’m on a few acres in a beautiful country home surrounded by trees so I don’t see my neighbours. It’s so beautiful out here. After 3 months of swimming with my wife and dog and having fun I obtained a 3 month work from home IT contract. I’m now practicing guitar and studying french during the day. I just turned down an employment offer. So why do I tell you all this?
Because I continue to be amazed by people that continue to make bad choices that complicate their lives. Some of these choices are:
-getting into debt. Nothing keeps you down like spending more than you earn. Having savings means you don’t have to work somewhere you hate. Being dependent on income is very apparent during interviews and other situations because it diminishes your power. You need to be able to walk away from any negotiation.
-not getting an education. I see many people especially in this small town who never got an education. They are paying the price now working many hours for low pay, sometimes more than one job, and even working the night shift.
-accepting low paying positions. Due to fear and insecurity many take low paying jobs and are miserable, plus they have half their pay removed from taxes and other deductions.
-accepting long commutes. People will drive an hour or more to work and be absolutely miserable and waste many hours of their lives each day. They’re afraid to move closer to work, only accept remote work, etc.
At the core of why we do this is fear in my opinion. Fear of what will happen if we set higher standards and don’t get instant results. And the fear is that we won’t be able to pay our bills or support our family. So the financial aspects have to be resolved. With savings and low or no debt the freedom is liberating!
Feel free to post your excuses as to why you can’t do this below! 
The Power of Leverage
Posted by: | CommentsI don’t think many entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the true power of leverage as much as they should be. You can leverage attention, technology, the influencers in your niche, existing communities, other people’s knowledge, affiliates, customer data, by taking advantage of what they’ve already accomplished (a large following, loyalty)
Leverage Attention
People used to read newspapers. Then they watched a lot of TV. Then they went online and searched. Now they spend hours on social networking sites. That’s where you need to be because that’s where your customers are.
Leverage the Technology
There’s an incredible amount of technology that you can use to help get exposure for your business. Facebook fan pages (to build a community and interact), WordPress blogs/websites (to create websites, receive comments on your blog posts), Twitter (to post links to useful content, engage with your customers), Ustream.tv (to do live video streaming), YouTube (to post videos educating your customers), etc. There’s never been a better time to build your brand and get awareness of your company.
Leverage the Influencers
Other bloggers have spent years building a large and loyal following. Can you leverage that following and also provide value to the other blogger? For example, offer the blogger a commission on sales of your product if he interviews you via audio/video and records it, or sends emails to his followers, tweets about it, etc. I see this all the time on teleseminars and blogtalkradio.
Leverage Existing Communities
There are many forums, Facebook fan pages, groups, Linked In groups, and so on where your customers are hanging out. Other people have built these groups and managed to get a large following of engaged people talking about your niche. Go there and be helpful to these people.
Leverage Affiliates/Joint Ventures
There are many affiliates who sell other people’s products online. They’ve learned how to sell, how to create landing pages, how to create Google ads, how to build an email list and so on. Why not leverage those affiliates for your own products/services? You could post your product on Clickbank or create your own affiliate program. Partner with someone who can do more marketing or create the content split the work and the profits/risk.
Leverage Customer Data
You can leverage the information that sites like Facebook and Google have acquired over the years. And yes you can still benefit from advertising. Some of the newer technologies can target what people are searching for (Google Adwords) or Facebook ads can target people with specific interests, ages, geographical locations and so. You can also see what people are buying by checking top selling Amazon, Ebay products.
Leverage is about taking advantage of existing communities, influencers and technology to make faster progress than you can by yourself.
If you can think of other categories not mentioned above please post them in the comments.
The Dot Com Lifestyle
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s a great video by John Chow. The Internet provides a way to gain freedom, it’s not all about the money! I myself am sitting on my deck right now writing this – the community is quiet as everyone’s downtown working!
How To Take Consistent Action
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’re having trouble taking consistent action to get results for your business or any other result you want, watch this great video on how to take massive action with Frank Kern, John Reese and Tony Robbins.
Pursue Passion…or Profit?
Posted by: | CommentsAn interesting video about pursuing passion or profit.
To learn how to start making money teaching online you need to check out Teaching Sells.