The Internet Marketing Quest Revealed

It is hard to believe it has already been more than a year online…time flies when you’re having fun!

In fact, I took my first, very tentative steps online in August of 2008!

In August of 2008, almost a year and a half ago now…(wow, time flies!)…I knew 2 things:

1) The Internet was the place to be if I wanted to build my own business.

2) I needed a lot of help and/or a heap of education, and I needed it fast!

Little did I know, as I started on my journey into Internet marketing and e-commerce, my “quest” if you will, how all consuming, demanding, and completely exhilarating a ride, and an education, I was in for!

Had I known then what I know now?

Yup!

Wild horses couldn’t hold me back!

Picture this:

1) A 53 year old Caucasian male, 10 shades beyond pale!

2) 50 pounds overweight and not carrying it well at all!

3) Still recovering from, and as it turned out still fighting, two life threatening conditions!

4) Highly educated, including a doctoral fellowship to one of the most prestigious consortiums in the country…after graduating summa and bypassing the masters requirement entirely!

5) More than 30 years of entrepreneurial experience, including advertising, founding a successful health and fitness center, and an extensive and impressive managerial resume!

6) A CV and a resume that would make most recruiters beg for a chance to place me, and some did. Beg…not place me!

7) Trained successful athletes at the amateur and professional level. At one time considered taking a strength coaching position with Donald Trump’s New Jersey Generals of the USFL! Trained members of the Cleveland Browns who were given permission by Sam Rutigliano to train with me instead of with their strength coach, Dave Redding!

Did I say sick as a dog?

9) I could go on for weeks, my resume was impressive but I had some issues…and did I say I was sick?

The end result of all of the above, and much more? I couldn’t get a job delivering pizzas!

You see, part of the problem was I was “overqualified,” how exactly one can be overqualified to deliver a pizza no one really explained to me…but I was.

I was also very sick, I did say that, right?

And, because of the illness and all the complications I had a huge gaping hole in my resume, ten years to be precise.

So, I had to go into this story about almost losing my life, a missed diagnosis by the Cleveland Clinic (yes, they do screw up!), and repairing the wreckage of my life.

Yah…dee…yah…dee…yah…dee…yah!

I would get that look, you know the one, and usually from someone roughly half my age and with one-tenth of the experience.

They would say something like:

“We are taking applications all week, once we have reviewed all the applicants qualifications, we will contact you if we are interested.”

Or something like that.

Translation:

“Don’t call us, we’ll call you!”

That was the most humiliating experience of my life, I hated coming home and telling Connie and the girls that I had struck out again. I used to get calls from firms begging me to come to work for them!

But during that period…I couldn’t get a job delivering pizzas!

Then, one day I got a call!

Hooray!

The BP gas station and convenience store down on the corner called me and asked me to come in for an interview. I had filled out an application online, I figured I could work nights and perhaps go back to school or something.

It still amazes me, that combination, gas and convenience store…when did all this happen?

Anyway, I went through the interview process. The manager was a nice “kid.” To me, anyone under about 35 seems like a kid. My son is 34, my oldest, so it just feels like I am looking at and talking to my son when I am talking to a 35 year old man.

Wow!

Am I getting old or what?!

So, I passed all the interviews, the background check, etc. and was offered a job.

Yes!

Finally!

A job!

But something funny happened on my way to the gas station…I woke up. Not only did I wake up, I realized if I took that job I would probably be lost forever. Accepting that job would be like signaling to the whole world, but most importantly to myself, my self, that I had quit, thrown in the towel, accepted a minimum wage job because it was the best I could do!

No way!

I stopped dead in my tracks, did a complete 180, and asked my youngest to help me build a website.

The rest is history!

I am looking back a year and a half later. I built that first website by myself, by the way; and, it still generates business every single month! Terrible looking Yahoo, cookie-cutter website but it was my first.

And, you know what they say about your first!

But looking back, knowing I had been so right, about it all…but most of all about being lost forever if I had accepted that job.

Thank goodness I still had a sliver of self-esteem, just a sliver mind you…but it was enough.

I am now making a decent living in a number of ways online. The whole multiple streams thing, I learned my lessons well! I have explored the Internet marketing niche, and am beginning to strangle enough of an income out of that very stingy niche to pay for the top level of the best implementation programs online today, TrafficGeyser and Infusionsoft.

That, in and of itself, is quite an accomplishment! When I started I couldn’t scrape up enough money for the gold membership in Tellman’s Listbuilding Club!

How sad is that?

I had to settle for the $67 per month level of The Listbuilding Club, the $97 per month gold level was just out of my reach!

Now?

I pay more than that for my hosting account(s) for my various blogs and websites!

Times do change and perseverance, persistence, and determination pay off…big time!

Now?

I have to decide what direction I want to take most of my efforts…because I am about building something meaningful, something unique, something that is mine and reflects my personality.

I am not interested in the cookie-cutter, plug-n-go nonsense so many seem to be attracted to and so many more seem bent on selling.

I have discovered that true success online comes at a price, and it is much higher than many would have us believe, but it is worth it!

So, what can you take away from this?

1) Find something you love, something that will get you out of bed in the morning after the novelty of building your own business wears off…and it will! You will experience dips…count on it!

2) Make sure you have a starving crowd, a target market that wants what you are passionate about offering them. If not, find something else. Don’t fall in love with an idea! All you will succeed in doing is going broke trying to force the market, and you can’t force the market!

3) Opinions are the cheapest commodity online, everyone has one…like something else (to be crude…sorry)…and most are selling them in ebook format for $17!

Amazing but true!

Who in the world thinks they can learn a business by spending $17 for anything?

Anyone who thinks that…go to the back of the class and sit in the corner, you need a timeout.

At least!

4) Invest in education and implementation, preferably both. TrafficGeyser and Infusionsoft are perfect examples! The learning curve is steep and there will be times you will want to throw the computer, the desk, the cat, the dog, the goldfish, the hamster (cat’s gotta eat, right?) and anything else within reach out the window.

Wow, I did!

Wanted to, that is.

5) Find a mentor and LISTEN to him or her!

If someone is willing to give you their time, buy the things they recommend and use them.

EXAMPLE: If you decide to go to Cleveland State University to play soccer, you do so with the understanding that the coach is dedicated to making you, and the team, winners. So, don’t join the team and then refuse to do what the coach advises. If you do that, you might as well have gone to the community college and played intramural soccer. The results will be about the same with your online business.

So, if you use a mentor or a mastermind, and you should use both, USE them! And I mean use them up…be a sponge!

6) Learn the business, become a student of the business.

There is so much information available online in the form of whitepapers and because of the whole moving the free-line thing (my thoughts on this are fodder for another blog post) that you cannot fail if you simply search, research, and apply.

SEARCH…RESEARCH…APPLY!

Make sure you become an expert of the business. A student of marketing and, yes, sales! Bob Oros has a wonderful program if you are squeamish about sales. He is a gifted sales trainer!

Yes, online business is enjoyable, Internet marketing can be exhilarating! But it is not kid’s stuff, it is a business!

Learn it!

“And when you can take the pebble out of my hand…you will be ready, Grasshopper!”

I could go on and on, as I could have with the description above.

Oh yeah, forgot about that guy, huh?

Me too, sort of!

That is, until I drive by a BP station and think about how close I came to resigning my life, to signing off, giving in and up!

Now?

I am making money and helping others do the same, it is wonderful! I live Pay it Forward every day and it comes back to me ten-fold!

I am in the process of working on a second doctorate…this one in Internet marketing, with an emphasis in inbound marketing.

I love it!

And, after a year and a half, I still skip sleep, run for days on 3-4 hours of sleep a night, and can’t get enough of it!

If you have that sort of passion, combined with a burning desire, you too can earn your Internet marketing doctorate and experience real success online. It’s an amazing ride!

Best wishes…contact me anytime!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
216-539-7412 (office)
Skype; johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com
excellencepaidforward@gmail.com

Internet Marketing is NOT for the Faint of Heart or Thin Skinned Individuals!

Internet marketing has been an education by fire! Learning the nuances of an online business takes time and effort….and more than a little bit of money!

Anyone who is not willing to put in their own blood, sweat, and tears will find that they are on the losing end of a very costly endeavor…it is not for the faint of heart or those individuals with thin skin.

The fact is, Internet marketing is just like any other form of business, it is difficult, it is expensive, and it will take up most of your life…and that’s if you do it right!

Michael Gerber, in The E Myth Revisited, notes that 1 million new businesses emerge every year and that after 5 years 80% are gone. Interestingly, in the next 5 years fully 80% of the remaining 20% will be gone as well! That leaves 40,000 businesses standing of the 1 million started…and that is each and every year! 960,000 out of 1,000,000 gone in 10 years!

Still want to start your won business, any business? Then you better learn fast and you better model after the best…or you will most certainly join the silenced majority!

Online business has been sold as the be-all-to-end-all, the path to the promise land, a land of abundance, full of riches beyond measure and 4 hour workweeks for the taking!

The reality of online business is quite different. Internet business, whether pursuing a specific niche by developing your own product or by selling someone else’s, is a business and must be run like a business.

The days of throwing up a website and stepping back while the coffers fill are long gone, competition and regulation have put a stop to the gold rush of the early years.

Now?

An individual business owner must have his or her business (read: act) in order and must know his of her “stuff” if they are to succeed. And I have news for you, a $17 ebook and a stock 5 page website will get you nowhere!

Still want to start an Internet business, whether in E-Commerce or selling info products? Perhaps trying your hand at affiliate marketing or developing and marketing your own product?

Great!

Starting and running your own business is an amazing experience, liberating and rewarding if done properly and with the right  help and guidance…and the correct vision!

The help and guidance includes “standing on the shoulders of giants.” In other words, use the successful business model of an individual who has blazed the trail, an individual who has and is succeeding by doing and is now willing to teach the lessons he or she has learned, often the hard way, so you don’t have to make the same mistakes.

This is so important!

Why in the world would anyone NOT listen to someone else who is willing to share their experiences, someone who has the stripes, and perhaps the war wounds, to show for it?

Guidance is altogether different from help.

Help, as explained above, consists of an individual offering to share lessons learned, a road map of sorts that when applied will provide a template to follow, a road map to assist you on your journey.

Guidance entails actively seeking out, and then listening to (and then listening to!!!) someone who is willing to offer you their help, take you by the hand to make sure you actually get the message they are trying to convey.

The latter may be referred to as a mentor, a coach, a mastermind group, etc.

This ingredient is vital to your success!

Without help and guidance, without a clear and concise business plan, a model, and without systems to apply, you have little chance of success. And, without a mentor who is emotionally, and perhaps financially, invested in your success, your chances of success are slim at best!

Most businesses go through 3 phases and it is the transition from stage one to stage two I find the most telling because it is at this point when most businesses close their doors…it is the transition from infancy to adolescence. This transition is often defined by an entrepreneur’s willingness to seek help, to seek guidance, to cry “uncle” if need be. The online business owner, any business owner, willing to put up their hands and say “I need help!” has a shot! The others will either close their doors and continue to flounder until they finally drown.

Not a pretty picture, is it?

Then why is it that most business people find it so hard to ask for help?

Pride…Ego…Whatever!

The number one killer of small businesses, online or offline, is pride (read: ego).

I call it the “I Can Do It Syndrome!“

Have you ever watched a small child confronted by something they don’t know how to do? Have you ever watched them try to figure it out? Have you ever tried to help them?

What happens?

Yup!

They reject your help, don’t they! Even after struggling on and on, they will reject your help, claiming “I can do it!”

You watch, knowing what they are doing wrong and knowing just how to explain it to them. You want to help them so they will succeed and not continue to struggle, but they reject your help and guidance.

They “can do it!”

This is a necessary part of growing up…some things must be figured out for yourself if you are to fully learn and understand them.

What is a necessary part of growing up, a universal characteristic in childhood, is a destructive characteristic in an adult, particularly in an entrepreneur, online or offline. Yet I witness it time and time again!

“I can do it myself!” Argh!

Is there a solution? I am not sure!

If you are reading this, still reading this, chances are you know someone who fits the description.

How do you even begin to address this?

I would love to provide you with answer but I am afraid the reality is as stark as the statistic above…most simply will reject your insight into their behavior rather than focus their efforts on improving themselves and their mindset, their fatal flaw.

Ultimately, it is probably a matter for each entrepreneur, individually, and you simply need to guard against it yourself. Attempting to convert the masses is futile.

Chances are, if someone is that set in their ways, that juvenile in their approach to business, there is little hope of “saving” them, and it is only a matter of time for them.

Or?

They may be one of the lucky ones, they may be one of the “children” who, just short of quitting, gets it…figures it out and moves on. Mothers around the world are known for one phrase:

“He has to learn everything the hard way!”

Frank Sinatra had a mega hit with the lyrics “I did it my way!”

There are some incapable to asking for or receiving help, at any point in their lives, personal or business. Who knows, perhaps that is a model in and of itself!

In any case, it is crucial to recognize that, unless you have an unlimited amount of money and time, and I don’t know too many with either, help and guidance are critical, crucial to your success.

The defining combination of asking for help and accepting guidance separates those who make it from those who fail. It is entirely up to you.

Do you want to be one of the 20% of the 20% or do you want to be part of the very unsuccessful and silenced majority.

As The Internet Marketing Quest Revealed approaches its second year, and other online business endeavors have already had their first year anniversary, I can tell you this…I checked my pride at the door a long time ago, and never looked back.

I have never been sorry I asked for help and I have always welcomed the help and guidance of others.

To seek assistance is an indication of strength, not weakness.

Ask and yea shall receive!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
216-539-7412
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

I would like to wish all of my readers a happy and healthy holiday season! Mery Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and Happy Kwanzaa!

Additionally, I would like to thank you for taking the time to stop here, to thank you for subscribing to our blog and to the newsletter. Thank you too for commenting when the urge or need to do so strikes you.

I welcome and encourage you to take an active role here and to make your opinions known, they are respected and appreciated! Not only are your comments appreciated and respected, they are invaluable. The comments I receive help me determine what I am going to write about and what the focus of the blog will be from day to day and week to week, so please comment freely.

In the coming year, I hope to expand upon the newsletter and to make it highly visible, as many of you are either not receiving it or not opening it when you do receive it. I hope to resolve this challenge in order to serve you better. By more of you, efficiently and effectively, it is my hope you will feel more connected to my various blogs and visit them, comment on the posts and videos, and perhaps contribute articles of your own…I encourage you do do so!

Finally, I hope you will stop at The John Zajaros Blog and view the recent video on paying it forward! It is my hope the video will inspire you to do so, to Pay it Forward, to help just one person, family, cause or shelter in need in 2010.

By helping just one, whether individual, cause, or community we help ourselves; and, the impact will be exponential, one building upon another as we make “Pay it Forward” more than a catchy phrase or a good theme for a feel good movie, it becomes your reality and shapes or reshapes your thinking, and your life, forever!

Merry Christmas and God Bless You!

John

John and Connie Zajaros and Family
216-712-6526 (home office)
216-539-7412 (bus office)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@johnzajaros.com
excellencepaidforward@gmail.com (my personal email address)

How to Build a Social Media Presence: The Use of Autofollowers and Other Mistakes

As more and more Internet marketers hop on the social media band wagon, chasing social media riches, many focus on building huge followings using the various autofollowers.

With all the hub-ub about Twitter, and social media in general, that people would attempt to shortcut the system in order to get the most out of it, or simply because the alternative is too labor intensive, is not suprising in the least!

Regardless of the reason or reasons for the various shortcuts (e.g., shortage of time, personnel, greed, pie-eyed optimism, whatever), many people have resorted to various pick and shovel resources, the resources sold to the “gold miners” of social media, the “49ers” if you will, the men and women, even boys and girls seeking their fortune via social media.

Some of the more common ‘picks and shovels” are autofollowers, autotweet platforms, and even entire Twitter management systems. I am going to leave the numbers two and three alone, for now anyway, and focus on the auto-followers and their use…or abuse.

Twitter has been working hard to deal with the avalanche of spam complaints and much of it stems from the shortcutting enaged in my individuals and companies attempting to gain and edge.

Significantly, much of the spam and many of the resulting complaints stem from those individuals aggressively, some would argue too aggressively, building their following, connections, friends, and so on with the various “tools” being sold to the “miners” as the next-best get rich quick with social media ploy.

The ironic thing about all of this is that Twitter and the other social media platforms do not work like that, they aren’t Web 2.0 or 3.0 slot machines. In other words, you can’t simply post a link, or “link up,” and expect the Heavens to open, manta to be delivered from On-High, and gold to be discovered in “them thar hills!”

Yes, once in while someone may purchase something but it is rare and the ROI just plain sucks! The time spent posting links can be better spent writing articles, making videos, and doing the real work of Internet marketing. There are no shortcuts and a huge following without brand recognition is just about worthless…it is the connection, that’s the real power of social media!

We all want to make the most with the least amount of time and effort, the 80/20 Rule and all of that, but certain things just don’t work and linking up with every tweet or post is not only ineffective, it is the kiss of death!

Social media marketing is an oxymoron, marketing within social media, and I am talking about all day every day linking up from morning to night, will not only NOT lead to sales, it will lead to social media suicide.

Social media mugging is a concept I am in total agreement with. You simply cannot link up on the first encounter, with every link and/or in every situation. I have referred to it as the ” Psst! Hey Buddy, wanna buy a watch?” syndrome! It is just as alienating and just as ineffective.

Don’t do it!

Build your following like you are building a foundation for your own home, do it one brick at a time, one follower, connection or friend at a time. The nice thing about this approach is that, although it will take more time, you will know where all the bricks are and you will know exactly what you have. And, that is what yields results, knowing your following, not simply having an amorphous mass of strangers, unresponsive, cold, and totally unaware of you you are and/or what you are about!

Build one person at a time, review profiles, send invitations before, during and after your follow each other and you will achieve success in a way most people using the shortcuts only dream of!

18,000 followers in 18 days or 18,000 in a year? The former is useless, the latter is responsive, engaging, and fun…they are friends! 18,000 social media friends is incredible…18,000 strangers is a mess! Which would you prefer?

Thanks and contact me anytime!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy
216-712-6526
216-539-7412
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

The Viral Nature of the Internet and Success in Internet Marketing:  Using Video Marketing and Traffic Geyser

The viral nature of the Internet is undeniable. The question has always been how to maximize the effect and then how to test the viral effect. Many have talked about the various tools to aid in implementation of an effective marketing strategy but few address how to test that effectiveness. One of the most powerful and immediate gages of success is Google Alerts, it is powerful and as close to immediate as one can possible hope to get.

The video below will illustrate just how effective a combination of social media marketing and Traffic Geyser can be, demonstrated beyond all question or doubt by Google Alerts!

The blog post and article at Ultimate Internet Image will tie it all together and give you almost everything you need to start and test an Internet marketing business, whether specializing in niche marketing or building an inbound marketing consultancy. Either way, a combination of Traffic Geyser (or TrafficGeyser), article marketing, and a few other resources, to include Google Alerts, will get you pointed in the right direction.

I hope this post and video, along with the one mentioned above, help you succeed!

Contact me anytime!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-539-7412
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com