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

[100k]

I see what you are doing there;

You are becoming Oprah (an authority) by getting access to those in the know then you build your funnel...

lead magnet > tripwire > core offer > profit maximizer (upsells) > put them through the funnel again.


Thanks for the share, I just started learning about this last week.... its such an eye opener! People always said the money was in the list, but they never explained HOW or WHY. I understand now .

 

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[RogueInnovation]

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

I know you don't actually want anyone to skip this, so I'm just gonna admire how well you nailed it in the hopes others may catch on (and to drill it into my own brain).

START to DEFINE, what you HAVE TO DO TO GET X.

Do you want the shape of the world to change? Then THIS is the action you must take. Not gagging around... Saying no... Asking why...
You want the world to change, you have to start defining your actions, breaking conventions, changing the way things happen.

People might not change, but you will, and as a result, you'll be free.
The NET that catches you, is that your frustrations never really mattered that much, that most of what you feared, didn't have to be there.

So, hone your focus, draw your eye, and look at what in this situation CAN be done.
Let the frustrations slip, your eyes open, and push harder past the walls you put up to tell everyone why you can't.

 

[Andy Black]

You’ve read the “Secrets of zen*******” 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.

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

 

[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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[IceCreamKid]

Would it be better to look at vets, trainers, day camps, pet product CEO's,.. and try to impact the entire market or would it be smarter to be more specific and work on one group within that niche?

There are many ways to dress your mistress. I'm more of a fan of trying to impact an entire market, but I believe that this strategy works more effectively when you drill down to a specific part within the niche.

You say to discuss sales and marketing techniques within the interview, are you trying to fill a need from this? Or are you as well asking them about any problems they may have within their field?

You are not trying to find a need through the discussion of sales and marketing techniques. The reason for discussing sales and marketing is so that you can provide AWESOME material for FREE to the traffic that comes to your website. This makes you an authority in the niche over time.

Asking them about any problems they may be having is for the purpose of identifying a common pain that you can solve.

But an audience looking at marketing techniques wouldn't necessarily be interested in a new type or dog bowl (or whatever the need is), right?

If this new dog bowl results in the audience saving time, money, or frustration then who knows lol they just might want a new dog bowl.

 

[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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[Andy Black]

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.

Lol... Dude... I was joking. It was an awesome blueprint. You handed it out on a plate, and anyone asking for more needs shot.

 

[jkkkjkhk]

There are many ways to dress your mistress. I'm more of a fan of trying to impact an entire market, but I believe that this strategy works more effectively when you drill down to a specific part within the niche.




You are not trying to find a need through the discussion of sales and marketing techniques. The reason for discussing sales and marketing is so that you can provide AWESOME material for FREE to the traffic that comes to your website. This makes you an authority in the niche over time.

Asking them about any problems they may be having is for the purpose of identifying a common pain that you can solve.



If this new dog bowl results in the audience saving time, money, or frustration then who knows lol they just might want a new dog bowl.

Thank you, that helps a ton.

 

[StayPositive]

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.

100% true. The first 10 calls are crucial. After them there is no more fear, no script needed, you just have a nice conversation, you make friendships. Also, after a few calls you can ask better questions (dig deeper). I record every call so I can:
1) focus entirely on my potenial customer while calling;
2) analyze the whole conversation later and make notes.

 

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[QLADisciple]

Could you give an example of what kind of solution you could come up with? I mean, there's pretty much a solution for everything nowadays... and what if all 10 people have different problems requiring different solutions? I can't code too, so I'd have to outsource the production to Elance probably. But I guess it's just bringing this altogether... it seems like a good idea but I can imagine a few months later with nothing more than INSIDERS knowledge of a particular industry, which is good in and of itself but not going to make money.

It's the end part of actually building out something that more than one more person is going to find relevant (and something that is actually unique and worth paying reasonable money for). 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. Have you done this yourself?

 

[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.

 

[rogen]

I will try it.. have nothing to lose

 

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[QLADisciple]

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

 

[Andy Black]

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

The above was a joke, so the poor OP wouldn't have to do the below.
It didn't work obviously.

OP. Awesome first post. Thanks for taking the time to write up such a brilliant blueprint.

You're spoiling us by handing it to us on a plate.

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.

 

[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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[jkkkjkhk]

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.

 

[csalvato]

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.

LOL. This is actually almost a carbon copy of the strategy that Pat Flynn is employing on his foodtruckr.com site. It's almost scary.

And he is already pulling $80k/month (not from foodtruckr.com, but just that he is willing to put in this kind of work, even when he is making great money).

Guess that's the difference between a doer and a don'ter.

BTW, I think buying traffic with ads might speed this shit up substantially - but you did say its for those without money.

 

[tafy]

LOL. This is actually almost a carbon copy of the strategy that Pat Flynn is employing on his foodtruckr.com site. It's almost scary

Has he released any earnings on his site yet?

 

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[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?)

 

[Andy Black]

Love your attitude Fiona.

I did a video I think should help those who don't have that attitude. Forgive me linking to my site... I will upload it to vimeo or youtube and embed it in a post in here.

Here's the video <link is broken!>


EDIT: Blimey... nearly 5 years later this pops up because someone liked it. Here's the video embedded in a post as promised:

• What's Your Problem?

 

[csalvato]

Has he released any earnings on his site yet?

He did an AdSense experiment last month and made like $100.

This month, I noticed, he copy/pasted his resources page from SPI and put it on FoodTruckr.com and has been blasting it with blog posts about the importance of a web site so he is clearly pushing Bluehost, Thesis Theme, oDesk, leadpages, etc....all these things that give him a kickback. Clever.

 

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[FionaS]

Love your attitude Fiona.

I did a video I think should help those who don't have that attitude. Forgive me linking to my site... I will upload it to vimeo or youtube and embed it in a post in here.

Here's the video www.andyblack.net/whats-your-problem

My son loved your son's video, he couldn't stop giggling... not sure why, but I think it was a very cute little video. Thanks, for that (and your video, as well).

 

[IceCreamKid]

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

Feel free to post here or make a thread, either way is good to me.

 

[FionaS]

I have had this little post open so that I could write things down as I'm doing them, as I really want to document this process and show just how possible this all really is. It's also serving as a bit of a brain dump to get my thoughts out, I may as well post it if it's going to be useful to someone else.

So, first thing I did was decide on the exact niche and the type of people I was looking for.

The niche - do I want to do the same niche as the product idea I was starting to work on? I'm not sure - it's a very narrow niche. I picked my current product idea because I wanted to take action, but after evaluating it over a couple days, I've found it violated CENTS - it's not that scalable.

So, I'm staying in the same general niche, but zoomed out a little bit. Not quite as narrow, but narrow enough that people visiting the website will be still interested in the vast majority of the information there.

The niche is quality children's toys. Many parents don't want their kids playing with toxic toys, toys that don't let their kids use their imagination, toys that will fall apart easily - and I feel like authorities in the field could give any readers some very valuable information - I could talk to scientists who can go into why certain toxins are dangerous, to child development experts talking about how certain types of toys help kids develop and how other kinds can hold them back, to CEOs talking about their products and the research/development that went into creating them, etc.

There are quite a few companies that have these products, but there aren't too many reputable websites with unbiased information on the 'trend'. If you Google it, most the websites that come up are the actual companies. So, there's room there for a website like mine (I think, I'm not that great at market research, so I may be missing something). I also know a good amount about the topic, as well, so that helps.

The people I'm going to contact is, in all reality, pretty important, especially if I'll be interviewing them and posting about them on the website. I want people that are a) knowledgeable, b) known (them or their product), and c) interesting.

So, I made a list of the type of people I'll be looking at (if you can think of more types of people that I haven't considered, please let me know!):

• Authors
  
• Teachers
• Scientists
• Upper management/CEO/Owner at kids' toys companies
• Child Development experts
• Psychologists
• Toy designers
• Parents (for 'in the field' information)
• Montessori/Waldorf teachers, participants, etc
• DIY toy bloggers

Anyone have any comments/suggestions?

I've started to put a list together of people - starting with companies and people I've heard of, then Googling to find other well known 'experts'. I feel very uncertain of the niche, and because of that a little reluctant/nervous when it comes to going to the next step. I don't know if it's big enough, the right type of niche, etc.

I guess that's a reason to take action now, if it ends up not working out, I'll know sooner rather than later, right?

EDIT: I'm going to spend a little bit longer looking at the niche. After looking into it some more, I think I may have posted too quickly. I don't know if this niche will work out. I'm going to do some more research and get back to you all.

 

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[FionaS]

Ok, did a little more research using Google Trends and Google Adwords.

Google Trends shows that natural toys, quality toys, and related keywords are declining in interest, indicating that this is a declining market (though it seems to be declining pretty slowly).

The niche I should be in for this would be something with a market that is getting bigger, not smaller.

Toys in general, seems to be pretty stable, with large spikes at Christmas time. It's also a large market, with lots of people in that market.

The Child/Kid Play niche is really increasing. I knew this already - there is a huge movement to education being focused on play before a certain age, more research coming out about developmental states in kids, etc. I feel like this market could potentially really grow as more research comes out and the idea becomes more common.

For this challenge, I believe it's a good niche. Lots of people to contact. There is a definite interest. And, because play centered learning and different ideas about play are becoming more popular, I think it could be fairly easy to be seen as some sort of subject matter expert within a year or two, if I keep with it.

So, for this little challenge, I'm doing this niche. No more changing, this is my final answer.

@IceCreamKid, sorry, I feel like I'm going to take over your thread if I'm not careful. :/

 

[IceCreamKid]

@FionaS don't apologize! The whole point of this thread was to get somebody to take action and you're doing it! Keep going.

 

[FionaS]

Quick update. It's just before 7AM here, I'm putting my daughter back to sleep so I figured I'd let you know I'm already doing work today. Have been sending off emails since I woke up, already have one person willing to be interviewed (I think I caught him at a good time, he replied immediately), so I'm writing out some questions as soon as I get back to the computer and sending those back to him.

Today is a busy day, so I would like to contact 10 people, and start coding the website locally (using Wordpress and the Thesis framework). I'll be gone most the morning and afternoon with the kids - when I get back I will try to contact more people and work on the website some more. I'll also be listing some things on craigslist and maybe eBay to get some cash to pay for hosting and such.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

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[KLaw]

@IceCreamKid and @FionaS
Quick question in regards to "learning" copywriting. Is it really that important to "learn" copywriting vs. learning to copy copywriting? As I was researching copywriting I came across several very similar copy examples of headlines and body content. Hell, the first "Top Ten Copy Headlines" had this at number 2: The Incredible Secrets of ___________ Exposed" - sound familiar? I guess, it seems more productive to build a mini database of the templates and just modify a bit and plug in your products. Thoughts? Thanks.

 

[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.