No network? No money? No idea? No education? NO PROBLEM!

[IceCreamKid]

You’ve read the “Astonishing Secrets” thread, feel inspired and empowered, yet you have done nothing about it. In an effort to reduce this phenomenon, I’m no longer going to be writing short stories that make you feel enlightened. Instead, you will only be getting action steps to get the ice cream. If you are reading this and you have not shifted your mindset then go back to the other thread.

If there’s any big takeaway for that thread, it is this: The first 2 years for a newbie entrepreneur are really just made to condition your mindset. Everyone THINKS that they’ll be a millionaire within 12 months, but that just isn’t the way it works…unless you’re Jack. Consider the first 2 years to be training for the Olympics. Don’t expect to win any gold medals until after the first 2 years of suck.

I am going to be eliminating ALL excuses that you have for not making money in this life.

Below is an overall view of the plan. Every so often I will post a detailed explanation of how to accomplish each task. I don't know how often I'll update it. I'm only doing this for fun to de-stress myself and when I need a few moments to take my mind off the guppy tank.

This outline is subject to change and is comprised mainly of JackEdwards style offline angles and zen******* online creativity. A hybrid mix to make a unique flavor of ice cream.

Before you do any of this, please learn copy. Don't ask me if it works. Just trust.

1. Find the top 100 performers in XYZ niche and contact them through various methods for an interview.

2. Create a website and post one new interview per week discussing their best sales and marketing strategies.

3. Use free marketing strategies to drive traffic to your website. You are not selling anything at this point, only creating credibility and gaining trust.

4. After a good number of interviews, write up a PDF article titled, “The Astonishing Secrets That The Top Performers In XYZ Niche Don’t Want You To Know!”. List out some good info in this article. Generate an e-mail list by offering this article to potential leads on your website. “Enter your e-mail HERE and receive a FREE report!”. The list of e-mail leads is key for later on. THE LEADS ARE THE GOLD.

5. You’ll start noticing common pains that many of these top performers are experiencing. Take note of these pains for later.

6. Organize a Skype group for 10-20 of these performers who want the same need solved and organize weekly calls with the group. During each call, have them describe in EXPLICIT detail what they want the solution to look like. They will build rapport and trust with you over the coming weeks as you express that you genuinely care about solving their problem.

7. Once they have told you IN VERY DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS of what their solution should look like, get $2k-3k in pre-sales from each of them. They trust you at this point so it should feel comfortable.

8. Build the solution and launch it to your Skype group for testing.

9. After they have tested it out over the next few weeks and used it to their liking, get testimonials from them.

10. Now that your product has been tested and proven to work without bugs, promote it and e-mail some really good sales copy to the long list of e-mail leads that you’ve generated. They now trust you and see that you have credibility because you have been giving them some very valuable content discussing the best sales & marketing tactics of the top 100 performers in XYZ niche.

11. When you have some money in the bank, start using paid advertising to drive more leads.

12. Start asking yourself, "what else do my customers want?" then start building other amazing things for them.

You don’t need a network. You will learn various methods to contact the top 100 yourself.

You don’t need money. The Skype group will give you the pre-sale money.

You don’t need an idea. The Skype group will give it to you.

You don’t need an education. Blah. Real world education is far more valuable than classroom theory.

Stay creative forever…like an ice cream child.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

How do I drive traffic to my website/funnel by free methods other than guest posting/spamming??

Why not accomplish steps 1 and 2 first before even theorizing about step 3?
Find the top 100 performers in XYZ niche and contact them through various methods for an interview.

1. If your niche is more of a local thing, get on Yelp and observe the reviews. Check who has a lot of reviews or many customers then pick up the phone and call them.

2. Join associations on LinkedIn and message the movers n' shakers through PM there. It is imperative that you join associations so that you don't look like some random spammer. If you're in the same club as someone that you're trying to get in contact with then they're more likely to be open to speaking with you.

Many won't respond so it is essential to follow up. Your response rate will rise drastically by the 2nd and 3rd follow up. Thanks for this tip, JackEdwards!

The most common form of resistance that you'll receive is, "Why should I spend my time with you? You have no experience in this niche". If they tell you this, here's what you respond with: "You're absolutely right. I don't have experience, BUT I am currently in the process of interviewing 99 other people in your niche who DO have experience and I'd be more than happy to share with you their secrets of how they move their business forward."

 

[FionaS]

Tell you what, ICK. I'll do it. Just to prove to everyone that just about anyone can do this and succeed.

I have a product I'm working on, but I'll do this in the same niche, and if nothing else, it'll be great market research. So, nothing to lose. Except some fear... because I feel that after doing something like this, and actually following through, being scared just isn't as big a deal.

Because a lot of people seem to be focused on why this won't work, here are my "limiting factors" (and that's in quotes because these factors really are just small hurdles to overcome, everything is possible if you're willing to put the work and effort in):

• I'm a full time mom of two kids under three.
• I don't have anyone to help watch them or take them of my hands while I work, for at least the next two months.
• After those next two months, I lose car access and will be mostly home-bound until we can afford a second car.
• I can't 'go get a job' for extra cash - I need to stay with my kids, daycare is expensive, won't have a car as soon as my husband gets back from his assignment.
• I have no spending cash (I do have $2000 in student loans a month, though, yay!).
• I have to clean, and cook, and play with the kids during the day.
• I'm risk adverse - money is tight so the thought of losing it is stressful for me (I think this might be my biggest issue).
• My youngest gets really upset if I'm not holding her or if her brother won't let her steal all his toys (I'm writing this holding her, bouncing up and down in front of the computer).

I'm having problems thinking of more - and this is why: I chose to not view my life through limiting beliefs. If I did, nothing would ever happen. There's no denying that I'm busy. That I have two kids to take care of all day (who often keep me up hours every night). We currently don't have a bunch of extra resources. I probably can't work as fast as a lot of other people, because I am always multitasking (except when the kids are asleep).

If I only looked at the negatives, I'd be in bad shape. I decided a while ago that I would always re-frame negative thoughts and make them positive.

For example:

• I have the opportunity to spend all day with my kids, and watch them learn how to walk, how to talk, and all the other important milestones in their lives.
• I may not have car access for long, but I have a computer that's a portal into the world and on which I can do so much, as well as a phone with which I can contact almost anyone. If I had a meeting, I could always find a baby sitter and get a cab, if necessary - but almost everything is possible with technology. Skype, anyone?
  
• Having little disposable income helps me put a priority on spending and helps me create a lean, rather than bloated, business.

STEP ONE:

• Keep studying copywriting (I do about 2 hours a day, I'll keep doing so), and put together a list of 100 people with their contact information. List will be completed by the end of the day.

I am getting carried away.... I like writing too much.

TLDR; I'll do this challenge. No money down, except to pay for a domain and maybe some hosting. Oh, I think I'll make myself earn that money, too. Just to show that you really can do this with NO MONEY at all. Because, I know you can.

(Should I start a new thread or post here?)

 

[DeletedUser2]

domain 10 -12 bucks
wordpress free.

if you define the world by what you cant do, it will look like that for the rest of your life.

if you start to define the world by what do you have to do to get X, it will start to shape its self, accordingly


Z

 

[IceCreamKid]

This all makes it sound straightforward in theory, but... asking 10 people for $2-3k up-front for something that hasn't even been developed and assuming every one of them will be happy to do it is a bit naive.

Do you know that Bill Gates got pre-sale money from IBM and later became a billionaire thanks to that deal which got the ball rolling for him? Gosh, I guess he was a bit naive to believe he could pull that stunt off.

There are those who will try to find reasons why something won't work then justify their lack of action with that. Then there are those who simply will make things work no matter what it takes.

Good Lord man...I created this thread to help people move forward with taking some action. All I'm seeing is people who don't even want to try. They just want to talk and talk about why shit won't work.

Can someone please try...seriously. As in a real effort to try.

Interview 100 people then come back. Worst case scenario, you'll lose approximately zero dollars doing this. That would be so terrible to lose zero dollars. If things don't work out, I'll give you your money back in the form of a check for the amount of zero dollars.

 

[JasonR]

if you define the world by what you cant do, it will look like that for the rest of your life.
if you start to define the world by what do you have to do to get X, it will start to shape its self, accordingly

Holy shit - how did I miss this gem of a quote? This will literally change someone's life.

Read this. And re-read it, 20 times if you have to, until you get it.

I didn't think Zen could blow me away, any more.

This is one of the truest statements I've ever seen anywhere.

This is literally the key to getting whatever you want in life.

 

[SlowlaneJay]

I suppose I could post my journey, but I don’t think this forum needs another progress thread. I’ll spare you the details and cut right to it.

I'm only at step 3, so take all of this with a huge grain of salt. If you decide to do this, here’s what’s working for me:

Preliminary steps.
i. Read TMF (Wrap your head around the tuna analogy). Buy it here:

http://www.themillionairefastlane.com​

ii. Learn copywriting. Do so here: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ert-30-day-challenge-copywriting-group.50217/

iii. Discover and decide on XYZ niche. This is a great resource: http://ecommercefuel.com/downloads/Profitable-eCommerce.pdf (Credit to JasonR for sharing it with the forum)
You could also try googling ‘unusual habits,’ or ‘dirty jobs,’ or ‘weird hobbies’. Build a big list of niches and validate them using the above PDF. Then bite the bullet and decide on one.

iv. Learn how to set goals. Yeah I know. It sounds dumb. I made an Excel adaptation of MJ’s ‘One Thing’ goal sheet. It helps me stay on track and spend my day doing productive things. I suggest you find some way to track your progress or it gets to feel like a monumental task.
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/get-shit-done-the-free-fastlane-to-do-list.57691/

Liminary Steps

1. Find the top 100 performers in XYZ niche and contact them through various methods for an interview.

Pretty straightforward. My thoughts:

Spoiler

- I recommend jumping to step two and then coming back here. But that’s just me. I also recommend listening to ICK, not me. Maybe he can weigh in on why he suggests interviews first. I imagine it’s to motivate folks to just do something. Because once you get your first “Sounds like a great idea! I’d love to interview with you. What time works best?” email you feel really pumped. That said, I found that building the website helped me get more interviews. That being said, the domain name and direction for the site was inspired by my initial interviews so... do what feel right.

- Track your response rates. Improve them through rewriting your copy.

- Force yourself to send x number of emails a day.

- Look for awards in your industry. See who wins them.

- Look for huge twitter accounts. See who’s behind them.

- Get on the forums for your niche. Find the heavy hitters.

- Learn how to ask better questions: http://www.awaionline.com/2008/10/how-to-write-an-exciting-interview/

- Have a theme for the finished article in mind, before you ask questions. It’s much easier to write ‘6 secrets for being a better ham radio operator’ if you actually ask questions around a 'secrets of operation' theme.

- You can use BuzzSumo to see what the most popular articles in your niche are. Then craft your questions so that the responses will allow you to write a similar article. You now have an article idea and an expert's opinion.

- This article outlines a great method for coming up with better article themes: http://okdork.com/2014/04/02/how-you-can-create-content-that-generates-40000-targeted-visitors/

- Tell your guest that you want to post the article as a resource for other <niche performers>. Ask them to address the audience and not you.

- Ask a bizarre, "bonus" question at the end like: Who would win in a fight, Superman or the Cookie Monster? It's fun to add this to the "About the <niche expert>" column at the end of the finished article. Of course, if your niche is stuffy and uptight you may want to avoid this.

2. Create a website and post one new interview per week discussing their best sales and marketing strategies.

Spoiler

- You need a domain. Buy one at Namecheap or GoDaddy

- You need hosting. I recommend ASmallOrange. But do your research, as you should be doing throughout this whole process.

- You need a working website. You can:

a. Pay for one
b. Get Wordpress, a free theme (I’m using Pagelines DMS), and some gumption. https://www.siteground.com/tutorials/wordpress/
(If you go with Wordpress, please don't use the Lobster font. I'm so sick of it)​

- Build your pages. Bare minimum, you need a Contact Page, About Page, and possibly a “We’re working hard to fill this space” page where you will post the interviews.

- Add a copyright line to the bottom of your pages.

- NOT OPTIONAL: Get a dev copy of your site up and running. I break my site at least once a day because I don't have a clue what I'm doing. DON'T make changes to your live site. Try:

- http://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/website/wordpress/duplicate-wordpress-site-for-testing
And:

- For design: You can download comp images from stock image sites, add a 3% Gaussian Blur, and then you have professional looking hipster background images you can use anywhere. And it’s free. Cool, man.

- You can use fotor.com if you don’t have Photoshop.

- Sign up with MailCheat(Chimp) (or don’t, I just think they’re awesome) and get an email subscription box on your website. Set up a “thank you for subscribing” email.

http://blogs.constantcontact.com/create-welcome-email/​

- Get Google Analytics. Learn to use it. Get the email subscription set up as a conversion goal so you know which traffic stream is building you the best following.

http://diythemes.com/thesis/conversion-rates-google-analytics/​

- In the articles themselves, flatter your guests. They took time out of their day to do this for you. They probably see it as a marketing opportunity. Don't fail them. Paint them as the creative, dynamic, award-winning, industry-changing, titans that they are. If your article looks great, they'll share it with their following.

- Practice writing great headlines. I've found these useful

o http://pdfsr.com/pdf/my.cb.magnetic-headlines-2-2.pdf
o http://coschedule.com/blog/write-better-headlines/
o http://coschedule.com/blog/how-to-write-the-best-headlines-that-will-increase-traffic/ — Don't just use the tool, read the article.
​

- You can Usability Hub to test your headlines for free https://usabilityhub.com

- If you turn an interview into an Infographic, check out http://www.freepik.com to get free components like arrows and banners and whatnot.

3. Use free marketing strategies to drive traffic to your website. You are not selling anything at this point, only creating credibility and gaining trust.

Spoiler

- Research your niche. Find out where your audience hangs out.

- If you choose to go the Twitter route. My thoughts:

o Get Buffer: Schedule your tweets. I tweet four times a day. I hate it. But it’s driving a huge portion of my traffic, so I do it anyway.

o Get SocialBro: Build a ‘Best Time to Tweet’ report once a week (I have an excel spreadsheet that I punch all this data into). Then use the best four times (or whatever) with Buffer to schedule your tweets better.

o Get Tweepi: I didn’t use this at first, I really wish I did. Quick tip: when you mass unfollow, go through the list and click the lock button to ‘safelist’ the people who don’t follow back. This will prevent you from following them again later.

Quick tip 2: if you sign up with Klout, you can see who is an influencer in your niche. You can then follow their followers, or, and I like this better, follow the followers of their followers.

Quick tip 3: Get the chrome extension that lets you follow/unfollow 20 people at a time.
​

o When you post a link to your latest article, pin it to the top of your Twitter feed. Keep it there for the whole week and replace it when the next article comes out. Doing this doubled my traffic. (Not a great statistic. My followers had doubled at that point too. This is also based on just two tests, so not statistically significant.)​

- If you go the Pinterest route… I don’t know. I’m still figuring it out.

o In the beginning the limits are brutal. To get around the maximum following limits, you can follow and then immediately unfollow people. It’s hard to check who’s following you so these people will assume you’re still following them and follow back. But really, Pinterest is hard. At least it is for me right now, but I’ll figure it out.

o Long pins get more likes and re-pins that normal photos. Use pinthemall.net to build a big strip of photos.

o Follow a board or two with thousands of niche-related pins. Scroll down to the pins that have been forgotten (use the end key on your keyboard over and over) and start looking at number of re-pins. Find pins that have unusually large number of re-pins, follow the source, and create a new pin on your own boards. It will look you're finding original, shareable content.

o Also, get your Pinterest page verified and convert it into a business page. Use their analytics for your pins.​

- I can’t help you with Facebook or Reddit.

- (Super optional) In Google, type:

site:blackhatworld.com <Twitter, or Pinterest, or whatever>​

Check out how these guys build massive, targeted followings with out getting their accounts shut down.

- Don’t get caught up in number of followers on any of your accounts. Get caught up in number of niche-related, active, engaged followers. When you post something, you need your followers to be excited about it. Don’t fill your accounts with “Professional Life Hackers” or “Growth Hack Ninjas” or whatever people are these days just because they follow back all the time. Unless that’s your niche. Or you just think ninjas are cool.

- Email your list every time the articles go live. Be funny, be original, have fun. Don’t take yourself too seriously. At the same time, sound intelligent and be polite. You’re a professional.

- If someone asks a question on the forums for your niche, and you know the answer— answer it! And go above and beyond. Screenshots, youtube links, multiple resource links. Bonus points for answering their marketing questions without sounding like a salesman.

- Don't post constant updates about you and your website. Share valuable blog posts related to your niche. Keep your posts varied. 40% of my tweets are retweets, 40% are blog and article links, and 20% are related to my website.

That’s all I can think of right now. I'll come back and edit this post as I remember more.

Before I go, here are the numbers:

Spoiler

Time spent: 43 Days
Money spent: $80? Domain, hosting, some stock photos, MailCheat(Chimp).
Interviews published: 2, 3rd comes out on Sunday.
Twitter: 766
Pinterest: 441
Email List: 56
I've also had 3 people contact me and ask if they could interview, since posting the first article. Feels great, like really great, to know you're valuable to a community.

This is actually pretty weak. If you've read the "JasonR told me to man up" thread, you'll see what real progress looks like. You can do much better than these results. Try it.

Finally:
At the end of the day, remember that you are creating a website that is valuable to your following.

I have a feeling that one day your following will evolve into your customers.

But don't focus on that.

Forget sales. Forget making money. Remember your goal is to create content your following will love.

Do that, and nothing else. (Except like, go outside once in a while)

 

[IceCreamKid]

As I was sending out some emails to some of the top people in my blog's field, it dawned on me even further how amazing this strategy is: you literally get free information and the ability to ask ANY question to the top people in your field.

You know what's even more amazing? When it dawns upon you after the first 10 calls that there are people who actually WANT to talk to you. They're DYING to tell someone about a problem they have that needs to be fixed. By messaging them directly through LinkedIn, you don't even have to deal with gatekeepers and end up only dealing with those who are eager to talk to you.

All of the voices in the back of your mind fall away by the 10th call. I still remember those feelings. What if I'm annoying them? What if they're too busy for me? What if? What if?

What if I told you that by the 10th call, you will have begun developing a very important skill that could free you from your job? How would you feel about those 10 calls then? You literally end up freeing yourself from the little voice that anchors you down.

Keep it moving.

 

[IceCreamKid]

@KLaw:

This is just my opinion, I'm not an expert by any means - but, I think it's still valuable to learn copywriting. By just copying, you could probably create some pretty effective copy. Especially if you split test everything, track results, and figure out what's most effective over time. You would probably even be able to pick up a lot of the ideas behind copywriting by doing it this way.

However, the biggest benefit I've gained from actually learning and studying copywriting is learning the mindset - figuring out WHY things work, the mindset of customers, how to market to different groups of people, which angle to take on certain products - some people get it intuitively, but IMO it's not something most people could learn just by copying what other people have done.

You can copy a layout someone did and put in your own info, but how do you know it's effective for your market? You really wouldn't, unless you know how to analyze that information. How do you know which, out of many, benefits you should focus on? Your customers have desires that they are hoping your product will be able to provide - do you know these desires? Do you know the psychological background behind these desires? All of this changes how you write your copy.

Even though copying layouts may seem like it's saving you time, I think in the long run, you'll waste a lot less time and be much more effective by actually learning copywriting.

Basically, what she said. lol

On the outside, copywriting looks like nothing more than a bunch of catchy headlines. If you dig deeper, you'll find that it reveals to you the framework by which humans function. When you understand that framework, it is easier to identify products which could sell to the masses.

I personally don't really enjoy teaching copywriting to people because it exposes the dark side of humans...the greed, ego, selfishness, need for instant gratification, laziness...all that is exposed when you learn copywriting. It literally will change the lens through which you view the world. When you walk around and see advertisements, salespeople, etc you'll notice the tiny details about them that you wouldn't have noticed before.

There is a dark side to almost everything...the yin and the yang.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

So it's a question of how do you know what you can do with the resources you have at hand? How can you find out what you don't know?

This is a big question that I have pondered enough to last me 3 lifetimes. How do you know what you don't know? Here's what I would do:

1. Do my best to turn myself into a magnet. In other words, try to become the kind of guy that the people would want to work with. This means be an action taker, don't waste time, use your brain, and be resourceful. Oh yeah and be respectful...that's a huge one. I see to many people EXPECTING things to be handed to them just because they breathe oxygen.

2. Read books. People have laid out everything that they learned in books. $10 is a small price to pay in exchange for someone's life learnings. You can either pay for experience monetarily or pay for experience with time and failure.

3. Ask somebody for help. There are some people who have so much knowledge about a vast array of topics, it's amazing.

Bottom line, the best way to find out what you don't know is to take action. Action gives the answers that theory cannot solve. Here's an example of how action gives you the key to realizing what you don't know. This all happened over the span of 2 weeks btw.

1. Got accepted into zen*******'s guppy tank. Within 1 week I realized it's waaaay better to travel with a pack of wolves.
2. While creating my Amazon Seller account, I realized I need to set up an LLC. I didn't know how to do that because my uncle always set up my LLC's so I had to learn. Accomplished within 3 days.
3. While dealing with manufacturers in China, I found out that all of them refused to ship to a residential home so I learned that I needed to get a UPS box for $15 a month.

My point is this: if I just sat in my room THINKING about the business in my head, I NEVER would have found out that I needed all of these things...the wolf pack, how to create an LLC, what to get before dealing with manufacturers, etc.

I still don't know what I don't know and I'm perfectly content with that. Just gotta keep taking action daily. That's the motto.

People want all of the steps laid out in front of them before they make even ONE move. That's not how the game works. So if you want to know what you don't know, just make a move and everything will fall into place.

Keep it moving. Jump off the cliff and learn to fly on the way down.

Your Man,

ICK

 

[IceCreamKid]

Could you expand upon the $2k-3k in sales part? I don't really understand it, but I'm interested.

You get pre-sales in order to fund the development of the product/service/software. It is best to have some type of working prototype or presentation when pitching for pre-sales. If memory serves me right, Jack uses PowerPoint. No need to get fancy.

This allows you to start with very little money out of pocket AND it validates demand. Gotta test for demand before you spend your whole life savings on a project, bro! There's nothing worse than getting into a biz because you're doing what you love and finding out later on that the market doesn't give a damn about it.

Try to be product agnostic and just fall in love with the process. When you do that, the path you are embarking on becomes ENJOYABLE.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

what a god damn great post

It was the alcohol! The alcohol is working!

 

[IceCreamKid]

The rest haven't replied to emails. I'll need to try to contact them again. Haven't actually gotten any interviews back, yet.

If your emails adhere to industry averages, you should get roughly a 5% response rate to your first email. By the 3rd follow up, the response should skyrocket to 20%. Be encouraged by the fact that it's not super easy because that means less competition. =P

There is definitely a bit of fear, here. I'm still scared of actually picking up the phone (years and years of ingrained habits, here).

Most people are quite kind and respectful so keep that in mind when reaching out.

Another obstacle has been gate keepers

If you want to avoid gatekeepers altogether then just use LinkedIn.

I'm going to start treating these emails like a piece of copy. See what type of email gets the largest amount of replies.

This is exactly what marketing is all about. Test, test, test. Then when you find something that sticks, nail and scale.

Keep going! You're awesome!

 

[IceCreamKid]

How would you suggest to finding a niche? Is it something you're interested in?

Damn I totally forgot that I made this thread. For me personally, finding a niche is more of an art than a hard science. I look for an industry that is currently in an expansion phase. The leaders in the industry are spending lots of money on hiring, sales/marketing, and product/service production. Open up the newspaper and you'll find many articles on which industries are growing.

Although passion is an awesome benefit to have for an industry, I'm niche agnostic. Instead of being passionate about a specific industry, become passionate about helping people. Then you'll do fine in any industry.

 

[IceCreamKid]

I'm doing this. Thanks for the thread, Ice Cream Kid. Brilliant.

You're welcome. There's a reason why I'm not just pouring out all of the detailed action steps in one drop. People would see all of the mini tasks involved and not even get started because the mountain in front of them looks too large to handle.

A few steps forward daily will eventually get you to the top of that mountain.

 

[IceCreamKid]

You say learn copy. is the gary halbert challenge the best way to learn?

Nope. Just my opinion, but I think the Gary Halbert challenge is overkill. I feel like if you wish to finish that challenge on time, you have to be writing copy for 8-12 hours a day.

The #1 focus for a new biz should be customer acquisition. Locking yourself in your room all day writing copy is somewhat of an action fake. Copy is one of many tools to help you acquire customers, but simply writing copy for days on end won't directly bring in the money.

We cannot truly call ourselves biz owners if we don't even have one customer.

Finding a niche seems to be the Hard part

For me, finding a niche is the easiest part. The hardest part is customer acquisition because it's 50% art and 50% science. I think that's why you'll probably never find a step by step plan that is guaranteed to work 100% of the time. The art part of the process is the one that takes time to master and is always evolving. I'm still learning every day. The majority of my posts here were written in early 2014 and I have changed by leaps and bounds since then.

I think the biggest change is that I have a much more heavy focus on the bigger picture and how my direct response marketing fits into that.

 

[IceCreamKid]

This is in my top 5 of the best threads on the entire forum but it took me months later after chasing the next shiny object to find this out.

It takes 9 months to make a baby. I wonder how many people can stick with one biz for at least 9 months without looking at other businesses to start.

We all pretty much know what we need to do...just gotta get out there and go do it.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

What if...

In my demography folks dont read email and facebook ranks no. 1/facebook is their homepage.

Trying to be creative but unable to figure it out yet.

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2

I don't know who your demographic is, but if they don't read e-mail and Facebook is their homepage then I can only guess that you're targeting broke teenagers.

Change your demographic to a more business-minded one.

 

[robotunicr0n]

Good points. If you read this post and thought "oh well that's one way to do it but I can do it my way too" and then you don't do anything, you're failing the basic message of the post and of IceCreamKid's whole mindset. Instead of say that thing above ^, why don't you start making phone calls?

Here's what keeps me going on phone calls... What if the next number I call is the first reaction in a chain that will lead to my financial freedom? If I ever lose faith I think of that and am dialing the next number before the thought ends.

You have to want it.

 

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[SlowlaneJay]

@IceCreamKid if I hadn't given my rep to other influencers, it would be all yours. Thanks for this post. Found a niche, emailed 10 of the head-honchos so far and received some great replies. So excited I can barely type. You da man!

Edit: To anyone else doing this, a huge accelerator for me has been including a "bonus question" along the lines of:
"Who in the <NICHE> world is considered a superstar? Someone even the most accomplished <NICHE PROFESSIONALS> look up to?"
This gives you more people to talk to, and an easy referral to start your next email "I was referred to you by another <NICHE PRO> at the end of our interview"

Using that referal line in my second batch of emails doubled my response rate.

 

[FionaS]

@KLaw:

This is just my opinion, I'm not an expert by any means - but, I think it's still valuable to learn copywriting. By just copying, you could probably create some pretty effective copy. Especially if you split test everything, track results, and figure out what's most effective over time. You would probably even be able to pick up a lot of the ideas behind copywriting by doing it this way.

However, the biggest benefit I've gained from actually learning and studying copywriting is learning the mindset - figuring out WHY things work, the mindset of customers, how to market to different groups of people, which angle to take on certain products - some people get it intuitively, but IMO it's not something most people could learn just by copying what other people have done.

You can copy a layout someone did and put in your own info, but how do you know it's effective for your market? You really wouldn't, unless you know how to analyze that information. How do you know which, out of many, benefits you should focus on? Your customers have desires that they are hoping your product will be able to provide - do you know these desires? Do you know the psychological background behind these desires? All of this changes how you write your copy.

Even though copying layouts may seem like it's saving you time, I think in the long run, you'll waste a lot less time and be much more effective by actually learning copywriting.

 

[robotunicr0n]

But I dont even have money for website/domain.. I will just go back to reselling services for higher to get some starting money

You're not thinking about it in the right way. Don't consider the reasons you can't do something, consider the ways in which you could.

Have anything you can pawn? Ever checked out Amazon Turk? There are plenty of ways to make sidecash more quickly than reselling services.

Don't limit yourself with a perceived barrier. Entrepreneurs that are successful ignore those barriers as they climb over.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

I just want to make sure I understand. This definitely seems like a long game. To get to Step 5 sounds like it would take about 1-3 months work. Is that right?

JackEdwards once told me that the best businesses take the longest amount of time to throw off cash and that even those businesses have a 50% chance of being successful. So yea, I'm laying out something that WILL take time, BUT you have an extremely good chance at being successful with it if you simply put in the effort. By following the steps, you lower your risk DRASTICALLY.

 

[IceCreamKid]

George, could you give me some more details? Like a blueprint or something with steps to follow that I can't fail?

I'm confused. Did I not give you 12 steps to follow in the very first post? Or were you looking for extremely detailed directions like what exactly to say during interviews, what questions to ask, how to set up a podcast, how to set up a website?

I could probably put something together like that but it would take up way too much of my time and I pretty much have zero time right now. My current biz is expanding its product line and the guppy tank is on full throttle right now so there is very little time for anything.

I created the tutorial as a general road map to give people a little bit of direction if they have zero dollars, zero ideas, zero network, and zero knowledge.

I'll do it in the future, but for now I want you to approach it from this mentality: the fact that there are no concrete steps is a GREAT thing because that means less competition. A problem is nothing more than a solvable challenge and an opportunity to help me grow as a person.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

I'm convinced @D. Maxwell and @IceCreamKid are the same person, or simply that great minds think alike. Check out this post by Dane back in Sept. 2013. You ever see ICK and Dane in the same place at the same time? Didn't think so!

LOL I am most definitely not Dane Maxwell. For those of you who know my full name(and please don't post it here), you can actually do a google search and you'll find a podcast episode where he's interviewing me. I remember staring at the ceiling with a blank face after the interview thinking, "Shit...I just exposed some of my deepest fears and insecurities to thousands of people. How embarassing...the internet is forever once something is posted". To my surprise, it resonated with a lot of people and to this day I still get PM's saying how refreshing it was.

I was actually surprised that he posted the interview because at one point I called him out as a typical guru that hypes up stuff and charges ridiculous amounts of money for it. Anyone who's been around the forum long enough knows that I can't stand gurus because quite often they lead you down the wrong path causing wasted money, energy, and most importantly TIME. I wasted so many years trying to figure out the truth....literally years.

What is everyone using for an outbound email provider?

Mailshake. Don't blast a ton of emails at the same moment or else you run a higher risk of going to the spam folder. Mailshake allows you to stagger them every 20 minutes.

I have a LinkedIn strategy that works far better than cold e-mail, but it requires custom software for you to execute on it. It's more effective because you actually add value and build a relationship with them first before asking for anything.

In a nutshell, the software scrapes LinkedIn for people based on specific criteria i.e. industry, company size, zip code, job title, etc. Once it finds those users it requests to add them to my network. After they accept the add, they receive a ton of value that eventually builds up a relationship with them over the course of 2 weeks. It's a cool little autoresponder series that works 24 hours a day for me. If they don't accept the add because they're not on LinkedIn that regularly, the scraper then grabs their e-mail address and sends them a few messages directly to their e-mail. The e-mail address is also used to re-target them with ads on FB. Just keep adding value on every platform. It's so much easier to sell stuff to people when they already feel like you have a genuine interest in helping them succeed.

The goal here is to touch them on as many platforms as possible so that you're in the back of their mind. Rarely do you make a sale from just one touch. The more you touch the same person, the more likely they are to buy over time. Why do you think Tai Lopez is plastering his face all over multiple social media platforms?

Gosh I hope someone actually executes on this KNAWLEDGE.

Very inspirational post. Looking at this comment wouldn't they company you did the interview with be annoyed that you have posted a discussion of their best sales and marketing strats?

Nope. Hang out with enough rich people and you'll start to realize that they're actually very open with sharing their info. Broke people are the ones who tend to be selfish with the knowledge...they're quick to protect their idea, thinking that the idea is what makes someone a millionaire. 100% not true.

The way it works in the real world is that you usually get the product to the market then continuously listen to the market so that you can tweak its features until you have something the masses will love. My favorite example of this is Instagram; they started out as a full fledged social media platform that wanted to compete with Facebook. After a full year of coding and development, they released it and it was a big flop. Then they decided to remove 90% of the features and keep only the photo feature because the users seemed to like that part. Boom. Success.

Btw guys, podcasting is outrageously saturated these days. It's 2017 and I wouldn't even touch the method that I wrote about years ago.

 

[KLaw]

Here is a template I used to fill in the est hrs and deadlines for The ICK Challenge. Feel free to use as is, modify it, or laugh at it and hit delete. Thanks again, ICK.

 

[IceCreamKid]

Well sorry, I'm in a bit of rut right now. Belief system is out of whack. I may just try this approach.

Behind every failed biz there is usually an entrepreneur with a failed mental state. There's usually an unconscious emotion that's blocking. PM me if you need help with that! Or read the secrets of zen******* thread, you'll probably find a topic in there that can apply to your life.

 

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[pds]

ICK, solid post once again. I'm going to jump right in and begin the journey. More action and less mental masterbation.

For those of you that want a concrete example, Dane Maxwell lays out a concrete one on this podcast interview (start at the 52 min mark):

http://unmistakablecreative.com/epi...ne-maxwell-on-product-launches-that-dont-fail

Everyone that is reading this post. I think the point that ICK constantly drives home is to Just Do It! He has laid out a nice outline for us and it's up to each one of us to grab our balls (reverse this for the females) and take action.

Commit yourself to take action first, figure out how second.

I know we all think it will be great to have our hand held along the process, but I think what I'm starting to figure out is you will learn faster if you just commit to doing something (even if you don't know how) and believe in yourself that you will be able to figure it out along the way.

This goes for anything in life.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

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[csalvato]

@KLaw:
You can copy a layout someone did and put in your own info, but how do you know it's effective for your market? You really wouldn't, unless you know how to analyze that information. How do you know which, out of many, benefits you should focus on? Your customers have desires that they are hoping your product will be able to provide - do you know these desires? Do you know the psychological background behind these desires? All of this changes how you write your copy.

This is exactly how I look at it.

When I started writing copy I was just stealing everything. That's cool too, its actually called swiping. All good marketers have a "swipe" file where they take copy that has converted them (or that they know works for a similar market/idea) and puts them into a file or Evernote notebook. Then when you need to appeal to that idea, you can reach into your swipe file.

For example, if you are writing about an opportunity that has HUGE ROI, you can look at your swipe file for things that sell that idea. If its something that saves time, you can swipe a letter that pushes that main idea.

But you need to be able to take that copy and modify it for your needs.

Even if you don't know what you're doing you can probably get some good conversions just by stealing/swiping copy with minimal adjustments.

But if you want to blow it out of the water, you probably need to study copywriting and sales psychology a lot more to make your edits to your swipes really shine through.

My 2¢.

 

[Lex DeVille]

Its asking for questions like professional title no clue what to put there

Before someone posts the link that Googles answers for you, I'll say this:

Entrepreneurship starts with a drive for independence & self-sufficiency.

How will you run a business if you can't start without step-by-steps for your step-by-steps?

This isn't to be mean. But if you don't confront this most basic of all entrepreneurial issues right now...

You're gonna have a hard time around here.

The professional title is exactly what it says. Your professional title. What do you do?

If you want to do transcription then you put something like - Professional Transcriptionist or Motivated Typist etc.

 

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