Leaving Wantrepreneur status.

[Rudy_G]

Hello everybody, been gathering info and lurking around for the past couple months. I feel its time i make myself and goals known. I'll be posting a couple of the things iv'e found over these past couple months, so if you're just getting started on your journey, or you're just interested, please read on. You may find something of value.

I'll spare you all the long personal details, that's not whats important right now. I want to keep this as short as possible, i know were all busy.

Similar to most of you, I read Fastlane(Thanks MJ! Love you brah. You changed my view on what is possible.), got inspired, and iv'e been rolling with it ever since. MJ's book has led me to read much on these forums and many articles around the internet, and many business books. Quite frankly i'm tired of speculating and want to start something, seriously this time, which is why i'm posting here in hopes you can help guide my next move a little bit.

After reading MJ's book, i looked into a lot of things from self publishing, to web development, to penny stocks(Tim Sykes), to ecommerce, to B2B Marketing(Dane Maxwell, seriously check this out). You name it, iv'e probably considered it. I invested time into learning about all these but never really executed anything(Analysis paralysis+fear of losing funds=no action).

I didn't have much money at the time and was pretty short on ideas and i felt my options were limited. That is until i ran into Likwid24's thread about video sales letters(look it up if you haven't) and wow, powerful stuff. I remember a couple years back before having been exposed to all this i ran into a couple of those vsl's and they always had me by the hair, id watch some till the end and was always on the edge of buying. They just really knew how to grab your attention and entice you to make a purchase.

This is when finally a good idea struck and if i could combine it with good copy and a video sales letter, I think it could make a lot of money and help a lot of people. This is a very big niche and i have something to offer to it that is a little unorthodox, but just what people want. Unfortunately, this where my predicament comes in.

Basically, iv'e heard building a website or blog to confirm the need before launching any kind of info product would be best, but to be honest if i did do that i could probably give most of the information away and i doubt id gain much attention.

If i combined my offer with clickbank and had affiliates bringing me in traffic, i think it could work. I already know how to create a landing page, blog or website via wordpress, so info products look like they could be my thing since its relatively simple, for now.

Iv'e also come into some money and should be financially stable for the rest of the year(unemployment from old job) and can fund any small costs which i could not before, so the timing couldn't be better. I'm really trying to become financially independent before this runs out. I think its very possible if i use my time and resources wisely. Iv'e heard of people making a couple thousand per month 6 months in, i hope to do the same or better.

My question is, build blog/website and collect emails while giving out free information? But if i did that i could just sell an ebook/guide on the site, the problem with that, that i see is it'd take away from the benefit of having the video sales letter landing page since the information and other site would be there, wouldn't it? Should i just then launch a landing page with a video sales letter and wait till my conversion rate is solid before paying for traffic? Or just do the website and sell info products on the site? Which course would be best to take?

Also when naming this site, should i focus on the benefit, the website/brand name itself, or the product? What i mean is if i'm doing a dating site, should the site name be getmoredates.com(benefit of product/site) Guidetogettinmoredates.com(product that would be sold), or Tripleyourdating.com(brand name)? These are just examples of course, but you get the picture.

I tried to keep it as concise as possible, so if you read all that, thanks. Love this site, love the people, love the motivation. Hope to help many others once i have more experience, but in the meantime ill share what knowledge i do have to pay it forward.

Looking forward to hearing from you, I really value the expertise of people on this site.

Also if this is in the wrong section, let me know. I kind did an intro and ask advice at the same time. Also thinking about going to INSIDERS, heard its worth it. Would INSIDERS help at this point?

 

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[alexanderkjones]

@Rudy_G I know it sounds counter intuitive but you're going to want to give lot of content away for free to land the sale. Sales are based on your relationship with the client and there are several phases of interaction through out the sale but there's also the front end game before the sale and the post game after the sale.

When you look at your sales funnel it should really look like a tuba. I know weird.... The goal here is to provide incredible value for free that builds a relationship with your client and leads them on a bread trail to your product. Once you've lead them to the sale and they've bought in to your service you need to keep offering them value. You're ebook is not enough, you still need to follow up with more great content. Here's why:

Golden Rule: It costs 1000X more money to market your products and services and new customers than it does to existing client.

Think about it, how much does it cost to send an email out to your list promoting a new product? Nothing right? Now how much does it cost to drive traffic through a click bank, buco bucks if you want to drive enough traffic that converts. Certainly orders of magnitude more than sending an email.

Back to the Tuba:

So the same way a tuba kind of folds back into itself, that's how you'll want to run your business. You'll want to consistently offer free information that lead your existing clients to the next sale that will take them to the next level.

Tactics: Strategy is for the classroom

So the tuba analogy is a business strategy, but let's talk about tactics for your specific business, how are you going to implement this...

1) Drive Traffic Onto Your Email List

2) Give them Them the first 2 or three chapters of your ebook or video series over 12 emails. Help them make a real change in their dating life so they're asking you for the rest of the material. You want your client to succeed from your free content and then blow them away with your paid content. If this is a dating site, show them how to talk to girls for free. Then show them how to buy them a drink, then pitch them the book/video when they want to get to first base.

3) Once they buy the book, offer follow up support. Anytime anyone asks you a question about, "well how do I do this?" Turn the answer into a new email for your clients like, "Hey Everyone, noticed John here had a pretty classic challenge and I wanted to share my biggest tips on breaking through..." Let the clients lead the content creation. Each one of these emails get's turned into an auto responder and becomes part of your product automatically.

4) Come up with your next product, what do people need once they've mastered the skills you're teaching? If you don't know, ASK THEM. Maybe you want to start writing content about how to get a serious girlfriend, or how to start dating prettier girls, or whatever. There's always a next step, take your client through the journey, sell them the product, wash and repeat.

Caveat: This is not the most passive income

Just based on your mentioning of Dane Maxwell and others, I get that you want a business but I'm not sure if an info product is the best fit. You have to make sure you like writing and creating content ALOT. If you're looking for more passive less community focused cash generation I would highly recommend focusing on software solutions for businesses. Find an expensive problem and fix it with an automated solutions that doesn't ask you follow up questions and demand more content. Both are great strategies, just make sure you're highlighting your strengths. Would you be writing a blog if you weren't getting paid? Things to think about.... But you're on the right track!

PS, if it's valuable, checkout my post here on starting a software service

Almost Forgot, your domain name..

OK, What is the dream your selling your clients? Yes they'll get more dates but what does that really mean to them? Are you going after guys who just want to have more sex? Than yes, go with tripleyourdating.com. But if you're content is really designed for people just need to overcome their fears you might want to stand out with something like unleashthelion.com I'm joking here but you get the picture. Get into your clients psychology, what do they need? What keeps them up at night? How do they want to change themselves? Base your brand around that and deliver the dream.

 

[Mrs. BRKb]

Welcome to the forum!

If i combined my offer with clickbank and had affiliates bringing me in traffic, i think it could work.

Affiliates will want to know that your product is already converting, before they pick it up. In other words, you will need to be having people come to your site, and having the product sell well, in order for your offering to be of interest to affiliates.

I'm really trying to become financially independent before this runs out. I think its very possible if i use my time and resources wisely. Iv'e heard of people making a couple thousand per month 6 months in, i hope to do the same or better.

The standard statistic for online marketers is that 90% fail. For every person who manages to make $2k/mo in 6 months, there are dozens of others who make nothing, and some who make a little. Income is not necessarily a function of work ethic or intelligence, either. Competitors can torpedo your site. Google can do what Google does. It's the internet. Stuff happens.

Also when naming this site, should i focus on the benefit, the website/brand name itself, or the product? What i mean is if i'm doing a dating site, should the site name be getmoredates.com(benefit of product/site) Guidetogettinmoredates.com(product that would be sold), or Tripleyourdating.com(brand name)? These are just examples of course, but you get the picture.

I recognize that these domains are just examples. However, it brings up another subject. If you are going to be in any of the 'money' niches (dating, wt loss, etc), just be aware that these are big boy playgrounds inhabited by sophisticated and experienced marketers.

 

[Rudy_G]

@alexanderkjones Thank you so much for all that info. Now that you mention it, that is exactly what newsletters and sites ive signed up for do. I am prepared to at the very least try this out with the good idea i mentioned, i do like writing content, but not if its not going to gain attention or yield any benefits, which is what the whole entrepreneurial risk is all about right? I do think i can help many people with my idea, so ima give that one a shot for their sake.

Now as for the B2B, yes this is probably what i would love to do most, do you have any advice on things to keep an eye out for? Im thinking about driving around through PA and just looking at all the businesses around, there arent too many near where i live. Maybe im just not looking through the right lenses yet. How did you see so many solutions in the agricultural field? Its hard for me to even imagine software helping way out there, especially from a saving them money perspective. What are you seeing that im not?

But man, thanks for all the help. Really clarified a lot of things, and that link for ruby on rails? Gold. Id be a fool to not invest a couple weeks doing that.

For now, ill launch the page for my idea and start giving out some free content while building the email list. How fast should i update it? Once a week twice a week? New article everyday? Ill make constant improvements to the site for sure though and I already know not to send more than one or two emails out per week, ive been on the opposite end of that getting emails everyday. Haha.

The hardest part isnt event learning how to code, you can pay people to do that, its finding out how you can save someone money, so the numbers/benefit can speak for themselves.

Thanks again man, repped.

 

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[Rudy_G]

@Mrs. BRKb You are absolutely right. Why would affiliates promote my product when it has no proven sales record. Thanks for the eye opener, makes me see the order i should do things in.

As for the 90% failure rate statistic, that just means if you try 10 times you're sure to succeed right? Haha.

And yes you're right, big boys with proven records. Im still going to try just because no one has ever talked about using the methods im going to mention. And it targets a huge number of people who are just left in the dust or dont try because things look too hard. Im going to make it easy for a large group of people. Hopefully i will succeed.

Thanks for the welcome too!