Golden Nuggets- Tips, processes, & How To's

[theBiz]

zen what is your background if you dont mind me asking, you seem really well rounded in business, have you been involved in lots of different businesses both online and offline?

 

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[DeletedUser2]

the person was hell bent on delivering a pdf, and was half way through writing it.

I was trying to show her why she should test first.

she did end up giving out some tips, but the exercise was more for her to understand the concept of testing, small, and fast.
we deleted the list as well, since the responses were so small, it was not worth pursuing.

but that was the point i wanted her to see, was to test a market. in the purest sense did we over deliver on a promise? nope,
did we send them something ? ya some tips.

While I don't advocate lying, in your tests, I do think its better to test a good idea, or a headline or something before putting alot of effort into it. (she was already 2 weeks of work int a book that no one cared about) so the couple people on the list were deleted.

the exercise was more for her, and the mechanics of it, rather than the audience. so while I can see your point, I was showing her that i t could be done quickly and cheaply.

she has gone on to create a couple kick butt products and rolling out an amazing process now. so it worked, and that was the point.

 

[DeletedUser2]

Thank you for all the useful information!!! how do you suggest getting the 20 credit cards? prepaid gift cards? Thanks again!

We used to buy around 100 gift cards at a time. for employee gifts, and rewards. you can go to wallmart, sams club, wallgreens ect to get prepaid visa/mastercard/amex type cards. they spend just like a credit card. you have to pay cash tho. as part of a test about 4 months ago, I did one for 20$ bucks. used it to open a new adwords account, and get 15$ in adspend (first 5$ went to open the account.) hope that helps.

Z

 

[Laverdure]

okay guys,

I followed zen******* advice and he's helping me really hard and I have to say that is advice and coaching worth gold!

He knows a lot, he gives awesome advice and also he's changing my perception of this fastlane road!

Thanks Dale!

Cheer guys!

 

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[DeletedUser2]

I posted this on another thread,

So im adding a link here to it.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/insiders-forum/46316-finding-mentor-post281133.html#post281133

 

[Michael W.]

cash is the lowest common denominator. if you only rely on cash to get things done, your just not creative enough

Z

I have to work on this mindset. Oren Klaff talks about cash being a commodity. I'm definitely not creative enough.

 

[100k]

Cool. I understand what you are saying. I just feel like someone that might not be good at internet marketing could make a shitty landing page, do wrong demo targeting, use bad ads copy and images and then kill of a good idea that someone else uses and makes a killing.


Can you share what sort of metrics you look at to determine quickly if you have a good idea (after testing) and it might just need some more testing (investment in time/split testing etc. different source of traffic or target demo) VS. its a straight up bad idea and there is no need/market for it. Are there anything in particular signs that you should watch out for?

BTW; thanks for your time and creating this thread. Been soaking in the information all through the night.

 

[Blueskies4me]

I'm currently looking for rental property #5 and until I read this I was actually excited about it too. You are the f'n man!

Yeah... Zen definitely worked REI in the fastlane because he was working the economies of scale here. In that day we all were moving a lot of paper which is really all that a tape of bank owned properties is until they get parked in your back yard. In a lot of ways what we did back then and even now is a lot easier than buying one at a time and managing the headaches with being a landlord. Get yourself up high enough the problems down at the individual level will seem a lot smaller. Making a mistake at the individual level can hurt more than at the en mass level because you're talking 1 of 1 instead of 1 of 300.

 

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[KC Dash]

This "Golden Nuggets" thread should be officially tagged as a Gold Thread already!

 

[Coalission]

So can anyone explain how then? Because from my point of view, you get 2k of advertise. You must have a product or a service with a website to advertise it. You spend 2k on advertising. You get the traffic from google, the revenue you are getting is from people stepping in to your website and buying the product or service. Other option is to get affiliate banners. Then you get the revenue from the companys you advertise on your site, and since the traffic is big you get quite a good profit i guess.

The whole point of his method is getting the $2k worth of Adwords advertising for much less. What you do with the advertising is irrelevant, whether it's for affiliate marketing or for your own business, the monetary benefit is still there.

 

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[RadioActive]

a $100 doctor! i'd want to leave too.

I dont know why, but i cant stop laughing at this response!

 

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[JAJT]

Since no one has asked in this thread, what exactly are you looking for in a mentee?

Here's a nice thread on what he's not looking for:

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/how-to-piss-off-a-mentor-pro-version.42445/

 

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[DeletedUser2]

We were trying some black hat seo stuff a couple years ago, and ran off shore servers for testing.

we also like to make sure we are not subject to any single countries crazy making, (ie PIPA and SOPA)

 

[DeletedUser2]

zen******* thank you for the tread can i ask you a very basic question?
you talked about "Create small “mini sites†sells 1 product"
For each mini site will be need a domain or can i just use free domains or worldpress?
Thank you i am doing my best to learn this new way of business thank you again for your time.

really, 10 bucks for a domain.....

get a domain. free ones suck.

 

[DeletedUser2]

Some great information, thanks for sharing. I am buying domains for niche affiliate sites, in your opinion can you make good money with this method.

depends...

 

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[theag]

why do you hate SEO?

I can't speak for zen*******, but I think its for the same reason that many people hate SEO: unpredictability.

 

[Rerun]

Speed+++ for sharing.

I've done similar and had great results at AdTech and related conferences, but just going at it solo... not with a team like you. I'm sure you were able to make way more headway than I could in a single day.

When you setup your meetings did you have a product/business in mind for a particular space you were trying to enter, or did you more or less make the discovery through interviews with advertisers in various categories?

 

[Eskil]

Very powerful to be honest. Maybe I am biased to say so, because my own grandmother who I loved very dearly - died from this a couple of years back. It runs in my family and it is one of the reasons I am personally passionate about having my supplement made available.

 

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[Tom.V]

Holy Christ! Definitely didn't know this thread existed, but to my next point..

Why is this thread NOT STICKIED?!

I'll sponge it up later today, huge thanks Dale.

 

[Mike Kavanagh]

The key is to be a leader not a boss

So many people fail at this. The first supervisor I liked gave me one of my main principles I follow to this day.

"Don't make anyone do anything you wont do. Just do it yourself, it will get done faster and people wont hate you."

 

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[DeletedUser2]

read a little closer

If i'm reading this correctly, you'll be taking the cash you make from flips and buying rentals with it? That's how you get enough CF to ditch the night job? We averaged a 15% net profit on our flips. Average ARV is $225K. I anticipate slightly lower margins for my first few flips on my own, but how does one finance multis/commercial investments without 2 years of verifiable income? I take it that a lot of that "few million in RE" would be in the form of debt?

the commercial game is entirely different than the RE game.


also, don't use your own money, that was indicated in the post as well. or you can go listen to my INSIDERS call on how to raise money...



Z

 

[DeletedUser2]

uh, thats like asking me what girls you should date....


Depends?

maybe the start would be good for you
Z

 

[DeletedUser2]

How do I get access to this particular INSIDERS call?

become an INSIDERS. Pay this site some money, (subscription) it will be shown there on the new forum as "INSIDERS calls"

Z

 

[100k]

Just another Nugget

So here is another question I get.
How do i know if the product will be successful.

While it was talked about in the 4 hr workweek, some people needed to see it in action.

This is an actual test we ran on a product Idea a friend of mine had. While I said, it may not be worth it, she vehemently disagreed, so I showed her how to run this test, and we did it pretty quick

in the end she saved months of work, for a product that would not have made her enough money.

she ended up focusing on something that would and that's why you test. To kill bad ideas fast.
so you can really work on ones that are truly great.

The Test...
2011-05-19_2157 - xendolphin's library

How can you be 100% sure that its a bad idea though?

You spent 20 min. on a lander, looks like you used a pre-made theme, did not split testing, not sure if you used a professional copywriter, did not split test your demographic targeting and ads images and copy.

There are so many variables that gotta be considers.

I doubt there are many things you can throw up in 20 min. and see 10% Conversion Rate, 1% CTR on FB ads...etc.
But with some testing, those ideas you would throw out as bad could be real winners.
Not saying that was the case with your friend's idea, but I just think you would need more data and testing before ruling out something with so little effort put into the idea.

Edit: Never mind, OP answered my question in a later post. If you are just trying to find ideas THEN do small tests, but if you are serious about a bigger project then do a more indepth test run or do re-tests until you have enough data and have all the data you need.

 

[TedM]

who would be the person or department to talk to to review old projects?

just walk in and ask

 

[AroundTheWorld]

Thanks MJ

 

[Arnold321]

so here is the short cuts. funny part is, few people actually believe it, or use it.
short cut.
Skip collage. go start a business. any business. fail at it. start another.
if you want to learn, (and you need to on a damm near daily basis) look up classes, or weekend workshops for what ever skill or info you are looking for
learn to be discerning about people who you learn from. find them. track them down, ask high quality questions and then act on it.
DO IT. what ever needs to be done, dont think about it, dont worry forever about it. just do it. regardless what others say. failure is the best lesson, and 1 good failure is worth 10,000 opinions from other people. F*ck em. they are not you, so get over what ever they say. they just dont know.
Take action. every day, towards your goals. get out of the chair get off the couch. get it done.
if you have an xbox, a ps3 or if you do pc games. Kill it for the next few years. seriously give that shit away. and read instead.
Discover your why. why the hell do you want to work that hard to make money? its 2-10x harder than a job. why work so hard? if you dont have a good why. your F*cked. find it. and use it as leverage on yourself to get shit done.
if you need someone to kick your a$$ to get shit done. pay them.
Give 10 checks for 100 bucks each to someone, and then promise to get it done, or they get to cash the check. believe me, that has worked for years.
Do it. get shit done.
dont be a pussy. stop being afraid. quit dicking around. what the hell are you afraid of? GO. DO IT.
Do things that scare the shit out of yourself. do massive things. make big plans and then push past them.
you will learn on the way. you dont need to know everything right now. you just need to find someone who needs something, and go get it for them.
you are seriously not too good to make coffee, fetch things, or do shit work. that's part of the price you pay of not having money get over yourself.
Help people for free. help those that are in a position to pay you well, and do it for free. it will come back to you in ways you never would have imagined. seriously.
leap, and the net will appear. sometimes the net will look alot like the ground. that's ok, its there to break your fall.
you will fail, you will suck, and it will take a while for that shit to stop happening on a regular basis. TRUST THAT THIS IS TRUE and life will be easier for you. (the upside is, at some point you stop sucking, and start really shining! )
ignore your friends. they will go out and get jobs, get nicer cars. go out partying, and shit like that. the parties they do now, will be epic for them later, when all they have is the memory of the parties, and the mortgages they pay. while you will be able to party for the rest of your life, with no mortgage, if you just learn to not suck
they say it takes 10,000 hrs to really master something. focus on that, and F*cking master something. and no, its not call of duty or the latest assassins creed.
learn to network with the best and brightest people in the world, and you will have all the resources you ever need only a phone call away.
Hire people smarter than you, and fire yourself as fast as possible
make your "list" of must have skills then focus on getting them. take a class, take a weekend seminar, watch youtube vids on the topic, look up open source education, and learn stuff. Learn how to learn. you will never be behind if you do that.
ok, good luck, and have at it. when you get out of school ping me again, see where your at, and we may chat then.
Z

GOLD. Thank you so much for this

 

[Jamesdoesmith]

How to make $4500/month - with NO capital.

Put your house/apartment on AirBnB. If you have a studio/1bdrm - post and see if you get reservations. IF you do - crash at the friends place or your parents place for those days.

Use the money you make to fund your new business OR as a deposit for another apartment - that you can also post on AirbNb. Just underprice your place to get the first few reservations - and after you have a few positive reviews you should have no problem with bookings. You can furnish your new apartment with cheap/free furniture from Craigslist.

This will give you extra cash with and asset you already have.

I've had a lot of success with this - full occupancy for my apartments. And am looking to purchase a multi-family unit of 1 bedrooms or bachelors for short term rentals only - you make 2X to 3X more per unit/month this way than you would with long term rentals. Given that the location is desirable for tourists or students.

Make something out of nothing .

I spoke to a man who's wife is a real estate agent and he is a home inspector. It is how they met lol perfect. anyway. They had a house and an upscale type ranch condo thingy they were renting out as a venue. Well they downsized. Put BOTH on air Bandb and the house that was at the time being rented in a standard rent/lease thing was making him about 1k a month in profit. It now makes him 10K IN PROFIT! a MONTH. and the ranch thing with land a horses RENTS FOR THE NIGHT IN THE thousands! he says he won't rent it unless it meets x night requirements and y occupant requirements. He says he has it set up so that it is cleaned easily and the doors are all automated no key to key swap, Just a code to get in and bam it is yours. He says they all have to put up a solid security deposit so there goes really all the land lord burden that comes with your average tenants. He says its about 95% passive income. THE only real gripe is he pays a hotel tax. but still. nice clean income, less land lord burden, and its grosses 150K to 200k in PROFIT a YEAR from TWO locations.

 

[458]

been a serial entrepreneur since 1991 (when I was 21)
Started and run 14 diff businesses, online and off line. (not all successful)
Bought over 250 apartments in 2.5 yrs starting with no money
Started a company, took it public, built it for 5 yrs. Raised 90M in money for it and other businesses of mine,
Was up to buying over 300 houses a week in 2007,
sold out 2007, Started online business in 2008,
buying up businesses, mostly websites now
hard money lender,
Angel Investor,
Coach for executives,
Do consulting for companies that want to raise money or go public,
Sit on a few boards of directors in a strategic capacity.
Deal Maker, and Strategic Connector.

so.... been around a bit. that's all.

I have a question, can you lay down the pros and cons of buying property vs being the lender for property?

Could you as well talk specifically on the liability side of buying vs lending and why you chose to stop buying and start lending.

 

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[Bruce]

This is a really great thread! Thanks for taking the time to post all these nuggets/tips.

Though some tips were a bit too blackhat for me
eg: Testing method and also Dropbox method.