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Climbing Mount Profit (Starting From The Top) by John Reese I have been an entrepreneur for most of my life. I started my journey as an entrepreneur at age 11. Ironically, it was running a BBS (bulletin board system) with a computer, a 300 baud modem, and a phone line in 1981. (BBSs essentially became the Internet that we know today.) It would take me nearly 15 long years of being an entrepreneur before I would really make much money. And by that I mean more than $6,500 in a single YEAR which didn't happen until almost 15 years later. I have made every mistake in the book and invented several new ones when it comes to being an entrepreneur. I was in nearly $100,000 of debt by age 22 -- mainly from trying every business possible. I practically ruined my health by age 25 and it almost killed me. (I ended up in the emergency room with a body that was so overworked and stressed that it was trying to shutdown.) BUT... I eventually turned things around. Through hard work, faith, and perseverance. But I won't kid you, it wasn't easy. I did finally start to make a good income. I was finally able to get out of that mountain of debt. And then the best thing of all happened -- I was able to learn how to GROW my business. I was eventually able to make more money in a single month than the entire amount of debt that I had racked up by age 22. But I was only able to start having success when I learned to grasp a powerful concept that I am about to teach you. I honestly believe that this one concept can change your life, because it changed mine. No matter what stage you are at with your business, whether you are just getting started and dream of leaving your real job, or whether you are already making good money online, I have an absolutely critical question to ask you... WHAT THE HECK DO YOU WANT? Reread that question. Then reread it again. Take your time. I ask you, "What the heck do you want?" Since we're talking primarily about business, I am relating this question to HOW MUCH MONEY DO YOU WANT? Seriously, how much? When people used to ask me this question, I used to have a simple answer... "Millions!" And even, though, that honestly WAS what I wanted, that wasn't the "right" answer. The right answer is something SPECIFIC. It doesn't matter how big the amount is, it matters how specific the figure is. In other words, $5,000,000 if that's what I really wanted. But that first "big" figure should be more of your "ultimate dream" and not what you will settle for to be happy and live the lifestyle you'd be perfectly happy with. Take it from me, when I ended up making a lot of money, I quickly realized I didn't need anywhere close to a large amount to basically do and buy anything I wanted. So you need to also answer this question... HOW MUCH WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY? And don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to tell you to abandon your dreams of some huge amount of money. You can still grow your business and work towards that, and it certainly can still happen. That's not what this is about. This is about something much more powerful. So you need to decide on a figure that will make you happy. Such as an annual income that will allow you to live the life you want without having a real job if you still have a job. Or that next level of lifestyle if you already work for yourself. Whatever it is you really want, you need to be SPECIFIC about that dollar amount. For me, when I was in debt up to my nostrils, I eventually set that want at $40,000/year for income. I figured if I could just earn $40,000/year I could live a modest life, not be overly depressed about money, and "eventually" pay off my debt. Setting that goal for me changed my life. Within less than 90 days of setting that realistic and achievable goal, I accomplished it. Now how on earth did that happen when I spent YEARS trying to make money and was going literally nowhere? It's simple. I learned to climb what I call "Mount Profit" starting from the top. I wrote down $40,000. I then worked the numbers BACKWARDS to figure out how much I would have to earn per month and then per day in order to achieve that figure. Then I figured out how much my product would have to cost and how many people I would have to sell it to. (Or whatever my business model was.) It was EASY. It was very simple MATH. There was no more guesswork. There were no more mysteries. I knew exactly what I had to do to get what I WANTED. So I got to work and got it. And it happened very quickly because I had FOCUS on what I had to do. I believe the #1 problem that entrepreneurs have is that they have no FOCUS on what they really WANT. They simply think, "I want to make a lot of money." Well, I've got news for you, if you think that way, you're DOOMED and you might not even realize it yet. NO ONE just goes out and makes some mysterious amount of money from their efforts. And no one makes a million without making one dollar first. Write that down. In order to accomplish whatever amount it is that you want, you must have a specific dollar figure in mind. You must then work the "math" and process backwards to create a plan to accomplish that goal. You must work that process back to the smallest incremental action step of your path to achieve what you want. Have you ever heard... "The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." Well, business is the same way. The journey to a million dollars, or even $100,000/year, must begin with a single dollar. In order to accomplish that single dollar, you must put a 'system' in place to earn that dollar. But if I told you all you had to do is earn one dollar to be incredibly rich, you'd quickly and easily figure out how to do it. Do you realize that if you can figure out how to make $1 of profit that you are 90% of the way to making $100,000/year and beyond? All you have to do is REPEAT the process of what it took to make that $1 of profit. It's called scalability. Did you know that Mount Everest is exactly 29,035 feet high? Well, you might not know that, but I can guarantee you that anyone that attempts to climb Mount Everest knows that. And they know that before they take one tiny step up the mountain. That 29,035 feet must be the dollar amount that you want to earn. You must have a very SPECIFIC amount in mind for the next financial goal you wish to accomplish. And set that goal as a realistic figure so it is easily reached. You can always revise your goals as you go. That's why I stated earlier that the ultimate lifestyle you want is a lot cheaper than you realize. So stop falling into the trap that you are just "working as hard as you can" and however much money you make will be the result. I am trying to tell you... THAT'S THE KISS OF DEATH. That's the best way to keep from making money, if any. You need to learn to THINK of everything you want backwards. Reverse engineer what you want. Visualize what you want and "see" what the path is to get back to where you are now. Then start walking down the path towards what you want. And do it one small step at a time. Because the only way to get from here to there is many small steps. There is no other way, so why waste your time doing anything else. With Internet Marketing, it at all starts with one Web Site visitor. Then one opt-in subscriber. Then finally one order. Not 100 orders, not 10,000 subscribers, not 1,000,000 visitors. ONE of each. So stop making all of this HARDER than it really is. Start getting ONE MORE of each of everything you want and then SCALE that to achieve your SPECIFIC goals. You CAN climb your "Mount Profit" no matter how high it is for you. But remember to plan your climb by knowing EXACTLY how high that mountain is before you start your climb. You stand a much better chance of reaching the top if you aren't just climbing in the dark.
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The 'Game' Is Changing, Are You? by John Reese It's happening. Again. The Internet marketing 'game' is rapidly changing... again. Email marketing is under attack like never before... Pending legislation. Spam filters. Email overload. Internet users' inboxes are full. They are loaded with junk and they are tired of the hassle. Opt-in rates are on the decline -- and they will continue to fall. So the cries are coming from many Internet marketing circles... "Email marketing is dying -- it's only a matter of time." That's right. Many people see Email marketing dying completely. Many marketers are already positioning themselves to do business without it. Why are they preparing to do without it? Because it's just going to be too much of a hassle to get people to opt-in. And if that's not enough, it's going to be such a hassle to get around spam laws, filters, and other nuisances. Well... Do you want to know what *I'm* planning on doing? I'M PREPARING TO MAKE MORE MONEY THAN EVER FROM EMAIL MARKETING. That's right. I'm planning to make more money than I already do with Email marketing. (And I have some single lists that are generating 6-figures a year in profit -- automatically. And that's just their affiliate income; it has nothing do with my product sales.) As more and more marketers RUN AND HIDE from Email marketing, I am positioning myself to CASH IN like never before... And I'm suggesting you do the same. But first, where are many marketers running "TO"? As an alternative to Email marketing, many of them are running to start BLOGS. If you haven't heard of it yet, "blogging" is basically like keeping an interactive diary on a web site. It's another way to publish information on the Internet. Blogs ARE a good marketing vehicle. In fact, there are many people that are profiting quite nicely by running a blog. My friend, Jason Cain, is one of these people. Jason is a diehard "blogger" and he has a fantastic marketing-related blog at: http://www.goldblogger.com You should check it out. He writes a lot of great stuff and it's fun to read the "comments" that some of the readers post on the blog's site. Jason also has a great course that teaches people how to profit from running a blog, and you can check that out at: http://www.goldblogging.com But let's get something straight! Blogs are *NOT* going to replace Email marketing. It's not gonna happen. I do think blogs ARE a great publishing tool for increased exposure and can improve someone's marketing, but Email marketing still has many major advantages. Without going into a long tirade about why Email marketing is the ultimate marketing tool, I'll just put it like this... If your marketing message can be delivered to the same place that a personal note from Grandma is, it's more effective than any alternative. I'll just leave it at that. So again, blogs aren't going to replace Email marketing, but they are a great *additional* marketing tool to use. Heck, I'll probably end up with a little blog for MarketingSecrets.com sometime soon. Anything that brings you more exposure (i.e. more prospects) is a "good" thing. But back to Email marketing... As it becomes harder and harder to use Email marketing it represents a fantastic opportunity for marketers willing to put in the extra WORK. Gee, what a novel approach. The more WORK you do, the more money you make. If you haven't figured it out yet, the people making the big bucks online are some of the hardest working folks around. That "work" usually translates into DIFFERENTIATION. Being different from other marketers and competitors to separate themselves from all the "noise" online. But most people aren't willing to do the extra work, and so those that are end up making more money as a result. Email marketing is going to be the exact same way. Aside from having to comply with legislation (i.e. most likely using double opt-in methods and keeping detailed records of all subscriptions) and getting around spam filters, the biggest challenge will be getting the opt-in. Opt-in rates have been on a steady decline and it's no surprise as to why. People are just overloaded with email. In order to get someone to opt-in to YOUR list, it's going to come down to the OFFER -- the backbone of selling. The Opt-in itself has evolved a lot in the past 14 years that I've been marketing online. You used to be able to put up a simple form that just said, "Get my newsletter" with no other description and people would opt-in by the truckload. It's not that easy anymore -- and it's only going to get worse. So how do you adapt? It's easy... SELL THE OPT-IN. Now I don't mean "sell" as in charge money for it. I mean "sell" in relation to salesmanship and marketing. You need to make your opt-in a compelling OFFER. It's going to become so hard to get people to freely opt-in to your list or autoresponder course that you will really have to WORK to get them to do it. But before I go any further, I will say this. THE WORK WILL REALLY PAY OFF. Mark my words. Marketers that ARE able to successfully continue using Email marketing will CLEAN UP in the near future and beyond. (Because most marketers will stop using Email marketing because of all the work involved.) So What's The Best Way To Get An Opt-In? It's simple. It's called a SALES LETTER. And, YES, I'm being serious. Now, this sales letter doesn't have to be very long, but all the powerful elements of a typical sales letter need to be there: 1. A compelling benefit-driven headline. 2. Some descriptive text. 3. Intriguing bullets. 4. Testimonials. 5. An implied value. 6. A "bribe" or gift for taking the call to action. (Opting in.) Now all of this seems like a lot of work. And it is, initially. But once you create this page it will work by itself. Again and again and again. This page only has to be a couple scrollable pages in length. You can create a very short version of this that will be very effective. So you will have a benefit-drive headline that is related to WHAT THE HECK THEY WILL GET OUT OF joining your list. Then you will briefly describe why they should get it and also use several bullets to illustrate this. You should use a few testimonials from other happy subscribers. You need to give it an implied value. You can do this by saying, "This course is a $97 value." Then the most important part of all -- A BRIBE. Offer a free bonus gift if they opt-in right now. You might be reading this thinking I'm off my rocker. I can assure you, I'm not. In fact, I've been using this exact opt-in model with several of my projects (non-marketing related) for nearly two years now. This *IS* the future of the opt-in. Mark my words. And here's some else... You'll also find, like I have, that the more 'effort' it takes your prospect to opt-in (such as reading a little sales letter) the more RESPONSIVE they will be to offers from you. It's a FACT and I have several years of data to back it up. But the reason for this is simple -- they are more qualified by the time they join your list. Here's How You Should Be Positioning Your Marketing... Right now you are probably using pop-up or pop-over boxes to capture opt-ins -- whether on entry or on exit. You might also be using a little opt-in form mixed in with content on some of your web pages. CONTINUE to use them to collect opt-ins. Keep using them until the opt-in rate drops so badly that it isn't worth wasting that precious online real estate on your site. But while you continue using these methods, and looking into the future, you NEED to also setup a SEPARATE PAGE for each opt-in list you're building using the "mini sales letter" model I have described above. On all your opt-in boxes that you are currently using you can have links such as "Click here to learn more..." or "Click here to learn how to get a $197 gift today..." etc. etc. And those links will go to this new sales letter opt-in page -- because that page WILL "close" (i.e.get them to opt-in) some people that would not have joined from the small opt-in form you are currently using. Here's another tip. Register a domain name specifically for your list. When you send messages to your list, your "From" address, unsub URLs, and everything else mentioned in those emails will promote this domain name. If a subscriber ever wonders what list they are on or why, they can always go to that domain name. And what will they find when they get there? The mini sales letter that sold them the opt-in. This will reinforce their decision to KEEP their subscription. So don't run and hide from all the Email marketing challenges that are appearing. EMBRACE THEM AND PROFIT.
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How *Crap* Can Dramatically Boost Your Profits!
You're about to discover something that I honestly believe can CHANGE YOUR LIFE. This is a concept that drives my marketing. This concept continues to make me a small fortune. Today I want to share this concept with you. "Crap can make you rich." Don't laugh. Let me explain. The beautiful thing about marketing online is that we can achieve RESULTS for anything LIGHTNING FAST. We can put up some Google AdWords, drive some traffic, and starting getting results in a matter of MINUTES. I can essentially write a sales letter, include an opt-in form, and create a little infoproduct to sell, all in less than ONE HOUR and have it getting results. Okay, so the product may completely STINK. i.e. it's CRAP. The sales letter may be nothing but CRAP too. And even if someone DOES order, they'll be getting that product which is CRAP and most likely will request a refund. Heck, after all, I only spent an hour on the entire thing. But none of that matters. The GOLD is not in the crap itself, the gold is in the RESULTS. Everything in marketing has a "Cause and Effect" -- everything. If you put up the WORST CRAP EVER right now on a web site, something WILL happen. And those results are what eventually drives a few hundred dollars a month in profit, and eventually produces several thousand dollars a month, and can eventually create a small fortune. Okay, so maybe your conversion rate will initially be 1 out of 1,000. That's okay. With enough data that 1 out of 1,000 will become a solid average and that site will CONSISTENTLY produce 1 sale out of 1,000 visitors. Hey, welcome to a CRAP conversion rate. :-) Hehe, but seriously... The point is this. There is tremendous value in a 1 out of 1,000 visitor conversion rate -- no matter what the price of the product is. No matter what the offer is. Why? Because it's GUARANTEED that you can IMPROVE upon it. You can make it better. You CAN get MORE people to buy. All you have to do is improve your marketing. Test small changes. Try a few little tweaks. Improve it little by little. Get better and better RESULTS. Here is something I want you to engrave deep into your brain... You will NEVER, that's right, NEVER, launch a site or any marketing that will be even 10% of "perfect". You're never going to launch a site that starts pulling a 10% conversion ratio, let alone 100%. (And before you email me and tell me that a site you launched pulled a 10% conversion rate, I'm not talking about the results of a strong endorsement someone did for you. I'm talking about an AVERAGE conversion rate from ALL the traffic sources you point at your site.) So why are you spending SO MUCH TIME to get that latest project launched? What the heck are you waiting for? Know this... everyday that goes by without you launching your latest project is a day that you could be using to test and IMPROVE upon what that project produces. Yes, that means make you more money. Your project will never be perfect. You could have always made it better. You could have always done this or done that. WRITE THIS DOWN... "The biggest piece of crap ever created and launched online makes more money than an almost-perfect project that was never launched." Is my point getting through to you? The biggest mistake we entrepreneurs make is trying to make our little projects PERFECT before we are willing to launch them and see what they will do. This can be the "kiss of death" for our businesses. Because until we launch projects we don't get any RESULTS. What you need to realize is that RESULTS are the biggest ASSET to your online business. Even the CRAPPY RESULTS. Because the results are what tells us what is working and what isn't. And believe me, I've probably made MORE MONEY from the results I discovered about things that weren't working, so don't just think it's all about what works. So learn to produce projects on an ACCELERATED launch schedule. Just get the sucker to the quickest version that will allow you to launch it and start getting ANY results at all. Then spend your time IMPROVING on the results. Let's face it. Many of our projects FLOP. It just happens. People just won't buy enough of something to make it profitable. So we must move on and work on another project. Get it out there and see if that one starts making money. Repeating the process again and again. But think about what I just said and realize something. If you KNOW the reality that many of your projects will fail, why the heck are you taking so long to find out? It's probably the same reason *I've* often delayed things... FEAR. I'm AFRAID to see my "baby", my special project, fail. But since we've already come to realize that the reality of business is that some projects WILL FAIL, we just need to GET OVER IT. Put that CRAP together and launch it! Unpolished. Unperfected. Ugly. Yes, I say let the crap fly! (no, not that crap.) So get your projects launched absolutely, without a doubt, as quickly as possible. Get SOME results. Any results. THEN work on improving whatever those results are to increase your profits. If you are planning on doing JVs with people for your new product, or rolling out an affiliate program for it, the "JOHN REESE CRAP METHOD" (as I will call it) still definitely works. Here's how you use it... You put together your web site and product as quickly as possible. Go jump on Google and buy some AdWords traffic to point at the site. Start tracking the results -- no matter what they are. Make changes and TEST them. Continuously work to improve the results of the site. When you're able to get the site to a satisfactory conversion level, then and only then proceed with putting together JV deals and really rolling out the product. You know, the biggest kiss of death for an online marketer can be to launch a product with JV partners WITHOUT having first tested and improved a site's conversion. Do you think your JV partners are going to promote your next project if the initial one completely FLOPS and doesn't make them any money? Absolutely not. SO USE THE "JOHN REESE CRAP METHOD" AND PROFIT! 1. Create and launch crap. 2. Test that crap. 3. Improve that crap. 4. Make money with crap that eventually becomes non-crap. Seriously. Don't laugh. This process works. Again and again. It has made me rich. Learn it. Live it. Love it. Let crap make YOU rich.
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