Ideas that have been beaten by the Commandment of Entry

[The-J]

For those very few who don't know, the Commandment of Entry essentially means that what you must undertake cannot be done by most people without a significant amount of effort. Barriers of entry exist in most fields and they act as walls that prevent your competitors from getting in.

I see a lot of idea threads and a lot of the time, I see many of them are going in under the assumption "X amount of people made buttloads, I can too!"

For the following ideas, the barrier of entry is, basically, the weakness of the barriers. You have to be exceptional in your execution, your marketing and your branding in order to make it here. They've been done to death and it's pretty much a waste of time to get into these markets.

And all of these satisfy all other four commandments. They're Fastlane in every way except one.

Creative content publishing and info products: Thanks to Amazon, iTunes, and other distribution platforms, it's easier than ever for someone to build a Fastlane product. Music, Kindle books, information products, whatever: they've suddenly become increasingly easy to publish and sell. But that's the problem!

If you are a marketing whiz and know exactly what to do to build a successful Internet presence, then you can make a large amount of money from these. But, if you're not, you have nothing else to fall back on: just a product in a sea of millions of others. You're not exceptional, you're just part of the crowd.

One way to get around the barrier with info products is to get into a low-traffic, very specific niche. These niches are typically easier to become a 'big fish' in and you don't have to be as exceptional: as long as you fill the need.

Blogging: There are so many ways to make money from blogging. You could sell ad space, put affiliate links up, sell your own products, and the list goes on. Having a high traffic blog means that you suddenly have an avenue to make a ton of money, all passive.

One problem: how do you actually GET a blog with high enough traffic? In most niches, it's impossible. You will probably never be as big as Huffington Post or Mashable, if you go the broad route. Truth be told, if you wanted to get a Web site in a low-traffic niche, you'd be better off selling actual products.

Apps: I'm probably going to get a lot of shit for this, but... yeah. Apps. Specifically, games.

Why would anyone get into the games sphere? To me, games are all the same: I play them on a long bus/plane ride or when I'm taking a shit. That's literally it. I'd say I share this with about 90% of app purchasers. There are so many free games out there, why would anyone even think that getting into this space is a good idea?

Even if you create an app that solves a need, who is to say that someone won't copy you? It's so easy to do. Unless you have brand and copy protection (attorneys are not cheap!), you have zero entry protection. Anyone with $3000 can get an app made by some guy in the Philippines.

Directories: LOL why would anyone think of starting a directory? It's been done to death since the year 1995. Even when MJ had the idea, it had been done to death.

The only reason a directory would be useful is if you're starting one for your own city that doesn't really have one. And that surely will not make you a millionaire.

Anyone else have any other ideas? I think this is something that needs to be discussed because lots of people are wasting their time with ideas that have been beaten harder than the horse ever was.

 

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[healthstatus]

You are on the right track, but you have it backwards. TRAFFIC is the barrier to entry for a successful Internet business.

What I would say is that Blogs, Apps and Directories all have a large barrier to entry and it is TRAFFIC, in a brick and mortar business it would be LOCATION. Creating any of the three you have outlined and just expecting people to find them is not real smart. If you have traffic, an email list or $$ to buy traffic PLUS one or all of those, then you have a business. This goes back to my https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/internet-mobile-apps-software/41319-learning-program-stupid.html thread. if you can't generate buying traffic, learning to program is a waste of time because no one will ever see it.

Cooking a hamburger can be a business, but if you do it your backyard without a sign, nobody knows about it. You have to have the right location to make it work. You are describing the menu items, a restaurant's real business is getting hungry people to show up.

 

[wade1mil]

the Commandment of Entry essentially means that what you must undertake cannot be done by most people without a significant amount of effort.

I think it's just that it can't be done without a significant amount of resources. It could be time and effort, money, knowledge, etc.

You are on the right track, but you have it backwards. TRAFFIC is the barrier to entry for a successful Internet business.

I think he's right about entry. Anyone can build an online business for less than $20. Anyone can build an app with $1k. Anyone can make a blog for free. I would say traffic is more about scale. He's speaking of "a business" and you're saying "successful business." Once you scale your online business with traffic, you've separated yourself from the pack and made the barrier for entry taller for those looking to replicate your business. Like you have done.

 

[The-J]

You are on the right track, but you have it backwards. TRAFFIC is the barrier to entry for a successful Internet business.

Traffic is a HUGE barrier, and I neglected to mention it. I meant to, actually. It's the number two barrier to an Internet business (number one is marketing: you know, getting your traffic to actually buy from you).

If you NEED a large amount of traffic, you probably will not succeed. In this case, the barrier of entry is too HIGH, unless your pockets are deep or you're a viral marketing wizard. You can ENTER without a large amount of traffic (without any) and you can succeed in many Internet businesses without being on the front page of Google for anything. There are businesses that net about 10k visitors/month (something I achieved in my first month of business) and yet make a LOT of money. If you have a conversion ratio of 10% and are selling a $100/profit product, you're making $100k/month. If you're conversion ratio is realistic at 1%, you're making $10k/month. That's not nothing.

tl;dr you're right, healthstatus, but you don't need 750k/month to have a successful Internet business.

 

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[ChickenHawk]

There are businesses that net about 10k visitors/month (something I achieved in my first month of business) and yet make a LOT of money. If you have a conversion ratio of 10% and are selling a $100/profit product, you're making $100k/month. If you're conversion ratio is realistic at 1%, you're making $10k/month. That's not nothing.

WOW, that's pretty incredible for a month-old-site. If you don't mind sharing, how did you accomplish getting 10K visitors/month in your first month of business? SEO? Paid traffic/Google Adwords? Traffic from another site you own? Youtube video(s)? Or, if the answer is "all of the above," what netted you the most success?

 

[The-J]

I lied, I got 10k in two days.

I posted something on Reddit and it blew up. The success hasn't continued. I should have clarified that. It's not hard to get non-interested traffic.

 

[healthstatus]

He's speaking of "a business" and you're saying "successful business." Once you scale your online business with traffic, you've separated yourself from the pack and made the barrier for entry taller for those looking to replicate your business. Like you have done.

My contention is that their is only one kind of business and that is a successful business, if it isn't a success, then it's a hobby.

you're right, healthstatus, but you don't need 750k/month to have a successful Internet business.

Never said you did, my software website barely gets 500 visitors a month and at least half of them are lost and actually looking for something else. But it takes that level of traffic to sell those 4 or 5 companies a month that need that software/service to make it successful. Its a combination of traffic and business model, but without traffic nobody's business model works.

There was an ad in the early 90's about a guy with a printer, they ask in the ad how much it is and he replies $5million dollars (I think that was his #), they said that seems like a lot, his reply, yes, but one sale and goodbye!

 

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[ChickenHawk]

I lied, I got 10k in two days.

I posted something on Reddit and it blew up. The success hasn't continued. I should have clarified that. It's not hard to get non-interested traffic.

Interesting! Thanks for the info. That's a thought-provoking distinction, interested traffic versus non-interested traffic. Still, holy cow, 10K visitors in two days. WOW.

 

[theBiz]

Impressive on the 10k in two days.

You are on the right track, but you have it backwards. TRAFFIC is the barrier to entry for a successful Internet business.

That is a good way to look at things, never thought about it like that but im realizing with mine, without traffic, you can build the best thing in the world and it means nothing, but i can see with a spike the money is there.


I agree with what the J was saying, i only want to be starting businesses with high barriers to entry, even then people will copy but having something that can be replicated quickly must suck.

Look at this forum though, its a forum... anyone can start it, i remember MJ saying 10k people came in a day or week recently..... 0 dollars it cost him, search engines, recommendations, facebook etc....... that is very true what health said... go start a forum and good luck getting that traffic, he has built a forum with a BRAND, it would be difficult to copy this, and im sure it wouldn't hurt this forum even if someone successfully did copy him. So at the end of the day good ol' hard work is what made this not so new business (forum) work, good lesson to learn for all the overnight success want to bes here.

I think what MJ did with this forum was smart, he combo'd it with a book, not the first time ever done, but it definitely helps differentiate himself in the forum business, tangible + non tangible items are great businesses, more barriers to entry/harder/more time to replicate.

 

[TK1]

You are on the right track, but you have it backwards. TRAFFIC is the barrier to entry for a successful Internet business.

What I would say is that Blogs, Apps and Directories all have a large barrier to entry and it is TRAFFIC, in a brick and mortar business it would be LOCATION. Creating any of the three you have outlined and just expecting people to find them is not real smart. If you have traffic, an email list or $$ to buy traffic PLUS one or all of those, then you have a business. This goes back to my https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/internet-mobile-apps-software/41319-learning-program-stupid.html thread. if you can't generate buying traffic, learning to program is a waste of time because no one will ever see it.

Cooking a hamburger can be a business, but if you do it your backyard without a sign, nobody knows about it. You have to have the right location to make it work. You are describing the menu items, a restaurant's real business is getting hungry people to show up.

Amen.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/ge...-videos-links-etc-ebay-thread.html#post229203

 

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[oddball]

Apps: I'm probably going to get a lot of shit for this, but... yeah. Apps. Specifically, games.

Why would anyone get into the games sphere? To me, games are all the same: I play them on a long bus/plane ride or when I'm taking a shit. That's literally it. I'd say I share this with about 90% of app purchasers. There are so many free games out there, why would anyone even think that getting into this space is a good idea?

Even if you create an app that solves a need, who is to say that someone won't copy you? It's so easy to do. Unless you have brand and copy protection (attorneys are not cheap!), you have zero entry protection. Anyone with $3000 can get an app made by some guy in the Philippines.

I disagree with most of this. You can't get much for $3k with an app. Quality will be low and you won't make much money. Games also typically make more money, stats prove this. Make the game free with IAP, that is what most if not all top grossing game apps do. Sure, anyone can make a cheap app and throw it up, but it will most likely never see a penny. To make a good, competitive app, that will turn a profit, is very hard.

 

[socaldude]

Barriers of entry exist in most fields and they act as walls that prevent your competitors from getting in.

Every single feature on your product or service or every decision you make in your business should be based on barriers to entry. You make it as hard as possible for you competitors to keep up. Paul Graham gives the example of you running away from a big FAT bully(competition) and you come across a flight of stairs; one going up and one going down, you take the one thats going up to make it tough for your competitor to kick your a$$.

And also any time you wanna get venture funding the first thing the investor is gonna most likely ask is "how hard would it be for someone else to do what you do" "what is proprietary about this?"

 

[The-J]

And also any time you wanna get venture funding the first thing the investor is gonna most likely ask is "how hard would it be for someone else to do what you do" "what is proprietary about this?"

I entered a biz plan competition about a year ago and that was one of the questions. My answer was complete bullshit... much like my business idea.

When the barriers of entry are low, the barriers of establishment are VERY VERY HIGH. It's hard to build a brand in a crowded space... too hard, even.

Lead generation is also a good example. I chose my niche because the lead generation space for plastic surgeons is awful. They offer shitty leads that don't convert and I haven't seen a single one with a real brand. Most lead generation spaces are well founded with powerful brands that people could name... like hotels.com.

It seems that's what MJ was trying to get across.

 

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[theBiz]

It's hard to build a brand in a crowded space... too hard, even.

I disagree with this a bit, guerilla marketing can help defeat this belief. If you do conventional marketing it most likely will be very difficult. I think mocking the competition for their flaws while making it funny can help you break out if there is a real need in the market for your product/service. Add some 30 day money back guarantee and no risk trials of your product can really help. Also you need to become a huge contributor to your industry while expecting nothing back. People can not walk away from someone telling the truth while helping them at the same time. As a matter of a fact i think its a great opportunity in a saturated market ONLY if there is a REAL need for your solution.

It obviously goes much deeper than this with big brands like hotels.com because they tend to corner the market but if you give me free leads and they convert better/ and are cheaper i will move over with you. I will still stay with them because of their brand but i certainly will give you a shot if you can create a ROI for me, any B2B service can be threatened by another company that can offer a higher ROI/customer service, always...the problem is you most likely cant compete and offer a better ROI than these big brands.

 

[The-J]

1) Define 'guerrilla marketing'

2) If you have a way to RISE ABOVE the space, then it becomes easy. But then, by that definition, you're not in the space, are you? You're not selling what everyone else is selling. If you're selling cars, you're not selling horses and buggies.

Also, it's not impossible to succeed WITHIN a crowded space if your brand is powerful. Branding kills all. But, of course, the more crowded the space, the harder it is to differentiate yourself.

 

[theBiz]

What i mean is doing PPC is not going to help you differentiate with some splash page. You need to be very unconventional in your tactics. Again maybe you make a video mocking the competition, go interview unsatisfied users of their product, then have them give you a review of your product in the video and why it works.....because of xyz leads.com i recently performed this surgery on this client and show the satisfied client. Go get some interviews by offering free advice to get media coverage lets so on NYtimes and link that video into the story somehow. That is a few hours work.. if you keep pushing 16 hour days 7 days a week on and on everyday eventually you can break out in the market if your product does something better.

Also i believe branding is alittle less important in some B2B services that are looking for the best ROI or atleast gives you an opportuntiy, for example Credit card processors lose accounts everyday to random companies that offer better rates, they are not so concerned with branding as much as higher profit margins (lower fees).

A product like square for instance is getting a real brand out there in one of the most competitive businesses out there. They offer a simpler product with lower fees i dont think it is extremely difficult to break out if you approach your marketing properly.


Do you want to pay large set up fees to process credit cards?
Are you tired of high processing fees and long term contracts?

We are offering a 30 day NO FEE trial of square to process credit cards, now in your video shoot to people complaining about getting screwed by traditional merchant service providers with contracts, fees, then show how simple your product is and how satisfied these same people are.

also if you can get the right person to endorse your product or give your an honest real review it really starts to formulate a strong brand, nothing is easy and good companies take years to build but everyday you have to wake up and push it further somehow different than the next guy is.

 

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[The-J]

Very interesting... I've been brainstorming different 'mindshare' techniques, you know, to get people to know my business's name, but haven't taken action.

I really gotta take some sort of action. My first viral thing worked (sort of). So I might just go that route...

Anyway, back to topic!

 

[socaldude]

I would engage in esoteric(not over rated niches such as blogging or apps) niches with BIG markets.

Go for a walk at Walmart and walk through every shelf and look at some of the products to get an idea on how many niches are out there. And you will begin to see a lot of opportunity in niches that are BIG but at the same time NOT over rated and with high barriers to entry.

MJ stated perfectly that the entire Fastlane is a PROCESS.

Need: Pivoting your way to a product-market fit through market feedback is a PROCESS.
Entry: Starting a fastlane biz is a PROCESS. Filled with a LONG series of steps.
Control: Although this is more of a simple guideline, controlling your financial destiny is still a process since the fastlane demands process.
Scale: Scale is a PROCESS. First you get one customer then 5 then 10 then 1,000 etc.
Time: Building something that works for you takes PROCESS.

One of the lessons of TMF is not to do what everyone else does. So you wanna dominate a BIG MARKET niche that is not exactly the first thing someone thinks about to start to get rich IMO.

 

[johnp]

Very interesting... I've been brainstorming different 'mindshare' techniques, you know, to get people to know my business's name, but haven't taken action.

The video idea is some great advice.

I had one of my co-founders create a video contest for the upcoming halloween season. We are calling in the Helloween contest, which gives people the chance to win 1K for producing a short 10-30 second YouTube video. There are a lot of things happening here:

- She made the entire introduction video in less than an hour.
- It's a form of user-engaged marketing, which makes the action taker more committed and consistent to the brand.
- The entire Helloween contest is branded towards our brand.
- It has viral potential, which is much more effective than PPC for us.
- It is 100% free to make an the 1K contest prize can go very far for us.

 

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[Brander]

can't generate buying traffic, learning to program is a waste of time because no one will ever see it.

Please all notice he said BUYING traffic.

One itty bitty tip that changes perception: "how would I intercept someone ready to buy a competitor's product and convince them to buy mine."

 

[socaldude]

Go for a walk at Walmart and walk through every shelf and look at some of the products to get an idea on how many niches are out there.

Here is another cool fact: In order to sell shit on walmart shelfs, walmart has a guideline that requires your product to have a "viable market demand". So you can bet your bottom dollar that MOST products at walmart meet the commandment of need. for the most part. so head over to walmart for some ideas!

 

[Brander]

to differentiate yourself

While that is the "generally accepted idiom" I contend that sometimes it's more to do about being interesting then different.

"analysis of the IPA dataBANK identifies ‘fame’ as the single most effective strategy..." Peter Field (2008)

It is also a trait harder to imitate by competitors than for example feature differentiation. We are talking about consumer brands, but it can also apply online in the case where you cannot achieve technical differentiation amongst entrenched and well financed competitors.

 

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[The-J]

The video idea is some great advice.

I had one of my co-founders create a video contest for the upcoming halloween season. We are calling in the Helloween contest, which gives people the chance to win 1K for producing a short 10-30 second YouTube video. There are a lot of things happening here:

- She made the entire introduction video in less than an hour.
- It's a form of user-engaged marketing, which makes the action taker more committed and consistent to the brand.
- The entire Helloween contest is branded towards our brand.
- It has viral potential, which is much more effective than PPC for us.
- It is 100% free to make an the 1K contest prize can go very far for us.

Helloween is, like, one of my favorite bands. So, what do they do, sing a part from this song:

[video=youtube;DQGwRsMorLI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQGwRsMorLI[/video]

All joking aside, I should do a video. YouTube SEO is so ridiculously easy. I have a YT video with 50k views, dunno even how it got so many. Problem is... how and what?

 

[theBiz]

alittle off topic but...
A friend of mine opened a store recently and i am friends with the person that built the store inside. I emailed an reviewer for the publication/website, 25 minutes later i received a response from the editor.. they are writing the story now and i got both of the companies in there.

How do i get a boring construction company PR? I piggybacked off the trendy clothing store they built, they are doing a review of the store and at the end saying, the interior is so beautiful and was done by 123.com

That took me 5 minutes, literally the whole process and i killed two birds with one stone. Now its a little off topic but most of you are going about your marketing wrong and not being effective, if you get things like this done every day you are making huge jumps not baby steps.

Now give me a product that actually is better than the competition and im sure it will be much easier to get these reviews/ free PR all day long once you get the hang of it.


The-J i would like some info on how you got the views or how you ranked high for the video, was a competitive keyword or niche that was easier to rank for? I have never done youtube video marketing. Thanks


Also when i say differentiate.. i know its rare to go viral but we have all seen this, He is im sure causing problems for HUGE brand name companies for a video that cost a couple of grand. Now his business/product is not something that is going to change the world, he didnt not reinvent the wheel, he differentiated through his marketing/advertising efforts. If you applied this to many many other businesses you would have the same effect, people coming to your website or business...

A good idea + no risk trial + smart marketing/branding can allow you compete with some of the biggest out there, period.
[video=youtube;ZUG9qYTJMsI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI&feature=player_embedded[/video]

 

[johnp]

haha I didn't know that there is a band called halloween. That could make for an interesting video. The basic contest rule is to create a funny or interesting video about how you greet the people on your campus at college. The winner is selected on halloween, thus why we are calling the helloween contest.

All joking aside, I should do a video. YouTube SEO is so ridiculously easy. I have a YT video with 50k views, dunno even how it got so many. Problem is... how and what?

Yea YouTube is a great place to increase brand awareness, especially if you can find ways to make people interact with your YouTube channel/videos. Find creative ways to get people to post video responses and you will have a bunch of people out there marketing your brand for you.

In my opinion, this is all part of branding. Some products don't always meet ALL commandments of entry, yet they still blow up. Did hush puppies really meet all commandments? Did airwalks? No, not really. Yet right there you have two products that went 'viral'. Studies even show that high publicity suicide tends to lead to more suicide. There is no doubt that the commandments of entry are extremely important, but there are some cool ways to leverage the internet and the entire socialization process to help level out the playing field.

 

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[The-J]

The-J i would like some info on how you got the views or how you ranked high for the video, was a competitive keyword or niche that was easier to rank for? I have never done youtube video marketing. Thanks

Well, the video was relevant at the time. I was playing a new MMO with high rankings and I made a video about it. It was one of the first good ones made and it got featured by YouTube, who was doing a spotlight on new games (not front page). Even without the spotlight, I would have gotten plenty of views.

YouTube is about two things: tags and trends. If people are watching videos like it, chances are you're going to appear in a recommended box. To speed up this process, leave your video as video responses to videos.

SEO is more straightforward with YouTube: tags, texts, comments, likes, favorites, etc.

 

[Thrive]

In my opinion, this is all part of branding. Some products don't always meet ALL commandments of entry, yet they still blow up. Did hush puppies really meet all commandments? Did airwalks? No, not really. Yet right there you have two products that went 'viral'.

Could we get a little deeper into this? What is your opinion on who this happened?

I've been trying to figure out how to effectively create a barrier of entry, but I would like to know what others think. For example, the guy who marketed vodka bottles in skull shaped bottles (from TMF I think) would have to create barriers behind him so that everyone didn't jump on the bandwagon. How would you create a barrier on an easy to make product?

 

[johnp]

could we get a little deeper into this? What is your opinion on who this happened?

The examples that I used are not my examples. They are famous examples which are cited in The Tipping Point - The logic about why certain things Go viral "Tip" is outlined in great depth within that book.

I've been trying to figure out how to effectively create a barrier of entry,

I personally think that the answer to your question lies in the brand. Create a meaningful brand that people can identify with. Create something that people understand - ie., why does it exist? and does your brand's "why" match up with your consumer's "why"? If your product is good, then someone will try to rip it off. They might be able to easily build a better product with more features, but they can't steal your brand.

Southwest Airlines is an example of a great brand that is hard to reproduce. They moved into a competitive market and sold short flights for the 'average man'. Tons of airlines tried to reproduce their success and they all failed. Why? Because SouthWest Airlines did an amazing job of establishing a strong brand and they found a blue ocean (see blue ocean theory) in a competitive market.

I can rattle off company after company that created barriers through their brand alone. I can easily come up with a list of companies and products that tanked because they focused on features and mass marketing without a strong brand.

 

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[theBiz]

In the case of the liquor in a skull bottle... like john said, must be done through branding. Branding may mean in their advertisements they show that they get their liquor from XYZ and make it a certain way while competitors dont do it as well. Another thing would be get celebrities to endorse it, or high end clubs to carry it, and lastly, get it out there quickly.

Barriers to entry must not always be capital intensive. If i had a product that revolved around politics and it was endorsed by the president, you as a competitor, would have trouble dealing with my "branding". You can make a replica, and it would be meaningless, the president used BRAND A not BRAND B, and people are sheep.... they will follow what smart marketers want them to do.

 

[Pinnacle]

A product like square for instance is getting a real brand out there in one of the most competitive businesses out there. They offer a simpler product with lower fees i dont think it is extremely difficult to break out if you approach your marketing properly.

Not to mention the $25m in seed funding they're receiving from Starbucks or their contract to outfit Starbucks shops with Square technology. When you are noticed like this, it greatly validates your efforts.