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

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• 

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

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• 

How to Succeed in an Online Business

Going from Newbie to Profitability in a few Short Months…Instead of Years!

The journey from what they call a “newbie” to profitability has been an interesting one, one that has taken many hours, days, weeks, and months. Making money with an online business has taken quite a bit more time and effort than most would have you believe while they attempt to rope you into the latest “get rick quick” scheme.

The road to Internet marketing profitability has been full of ups and downs, with quite a few moments when I simply wanted to throw my computer right out the window…and then track down each and every person who had introduced me to the computer age…to “thank” them, of course!

Sound a bit harsh? Not if you have been in the Internet marketing world for any length of time, either attempting to make money in an online business or with an Internet presence for a traditional brick and mortar business!

Before we get into the highs and lows, the strategies that work and the schemes to avoid, let’s define a few terms:

Newbie: The word newbie is a slang term for a person new to some form of online activity. For our purposes, the definition we will use applies to an individual engaged in Internet marketing and online business for the first time…with little or no experience. While in some corners it has derogatory connotations, for our purposes and in the manner most people online use the term, it is for descriptive purposes only. Of course that is not to say there aren’t those out there who won’t use it in a derogatory fashion; this is, after all, the real world and there are people like that in every walk of life. But for our purposes, it simply means an individual just starting down the road to an Internet marketing education, usually to build and online business of some kind.

Guru: The word guru, and I am using it with a small “g” on purpose, has entered the online lexicon, conferring the status of “more-than-expert” on an individual. While the original usage of the word had religious connotations and was bestowed on an individual with great authority through wisdom and knowledge, particularly in India with Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism. In much of the Western world, the term or designation of guru generally applies to anyone who amasses a number of followers, not always in the religious or philosophical sense…but in business and academia, as well. In it’s latest incarnation, the Internet Marketing and online business usage, the term guru is used to denote authority due to a particular set of skills…in this case building online businesses and marketing on the Internet.

The above terms are used in various ways by the Internet marketing crowd. Suffice it to say, they are not universally recognized or applied, often meaning different things to different people. The term “guru” being particularly problematic, as the designation of one with great authority and wisdom has carried over from the original usage and meaning; and, this use of the word has been encouraged by many Internet marketers today, for obvious reasons!

Significantly, as a beginner or newbie online, and one not completely understanding the nuances of the jargon and the history behind the evolution of the usage of the words above, this often leads people to chose to follow someone who has not earned the designation conferred or bestowed upon them…a designation either bestowed by others or, just as often, by the person himself or herself!

So Newbie Beware!

Things are not always as they appear online…but this is true in the offline world, as well. The problem online is many of the Internet marketing “gurus” are often quite adept at pushing all the right buttons in just the right way, creating a sense of desire and urgency, a powerful combination and an often irresistible force! Some of them are true gurus, at least in the sense that they are excellent marketers, fully capable and willing to part a budding newbie from his or her hard earned, and often limited resources!

So, how do you succeed at Internet marketing? In fact, who do you believe and who do you learn from if you don’t know who is a legitimate Guru and not simply a self-appointed, or self-anointed “guru”?

The best advice I can give you is to talk to other newbies. Most newbies will tell you if they have had a bad experience with a certain Internet marketer (see The Law of 250 below) and will usually be forthcoming about what works, and what doesn’t, as well.

Also, follow the conversations on social media, many of the conversations, and I am not referring to the recent unending linkfest over at Twitter, what a spamfest that has become, I am talking about reading the articles posted on LinkedIn and Mashable, just to name two excellent resources for newbies. Another wonderful resource is the free material provided by some of the more established Internet marketing firms, including TrafficGeyser, StomperNet, and HubSpot. (see the links below)

Opt-in to the email lists of the recommended programs (below), read their free material and follow the advice. When ready, they are some of the best programs on Internet marketing and they will teach you everything you need to know once you join…and they will help with implementation too, a rare combination.

The first steps to take in building your online business:

1) Decide on a niche. There are literally thousands of niches, so pick one you can get excited about. But also make sure it will pay!

2) Do the necessary keyword research and competitive analysis before jumping into an unprofitable niche. (I use Market Samurai, Google, and Wordtracker)

3) Only after the first 2 steps are completed should you purchase your own domain name. (I use GoDaddy)

4) Make sure you have a hosting company, a good one, one with 24/7 support. I use HostGator and SEOHosting (Both owned by the same company and they offer Fantastico…a must)

5) Get an email account set up, for your email marketing and your autoresponder. (I use a branch of AWeber)

6) Set up your profile for your social media image and make sure it is appropriate to and for your business model.

7) Set up an account at EzineArticles and a couple of others and begin to write a few articles. (We will get into this in an upcoming article)

Set up your YouTube, Break, and Viddler Channels for video. When ready, go to TrafficGeyser-link below-don’t try to “go it on the cheap” with the
freebie services, they all have major drawbacks and hooks! You get what you pay for, especially with implementation!

9) Find a great SEO course and apply yourself immediately. Get the SEO right from the beginning because it is huge and once everything is set up correctly, it will be your biggest asset! Get it wrong and you will pay for it in a myriad of ways and over the life of your business.

10) Find a mentor! I cannot overstate this point!!! Even Michael Jordan, Kareem, Tiger Woods, Babe Ruth, and Hank Aaron had/have their coaches and mentors. The major Internet marketing Gurus have coaches and mentors. They may not always talk about them but they all have them! Once you have a mentor? Follow their advice! If you play for Don Shula or Pat Riley or Joe Paterno and you don’t follow their advice…you are off the team! The same holds true for following a mentor! If you don’t think enough of the mentor or coach you have to follow their advice…find another one, because you obviously don’t need the one you have, or you would apply what they teach you. Lombardi, Hayes, Jackson, Paterno, Riley, Rupp, whomever…if you don’t play by their rules, you don’t play on their team. So, once you are fortunate to find a quality coach or mentor, one willing to spend their precious time on you, apply what they teach you because good coaches are hard to come by! Every Tom, Dick, and Mary is calling themselves a coach, mentor or “life coach” nowadays…make sure you have a good one, and then hold on for dear life!

11) Keep learning! Internet marketing and online business building is as fluid as any marketing and business endeavor I have ever been involved in. If you do not continue your education, and I am talking about daily, you will be left in the dust. Internet marketing is active, vibrant, and engaging. If you do not stay current, you will not prosper.

OK!

That’s a lot to cover and we have quite a way to go, yet! However, if you lay the proper foundation, if you get the bare bones stuff right, you will be on your way to profitability! Get it wrong and you will be struggling a year from now…if you last that long.

This is not rocket science! All you have to do is listen to some of the people who have made it, and made it big, to know that you can do it. It simply takes a concerted effort, application on a daily basis, constant education, and what Tony Robbins calls CANI!

Constant and neverending improvement!

If you build each day upon the one before, you will prosper. It will take time but if you apply yourself and understand that there is a learning curve and that The Law of 250 is a make or break proposition, you will do well. In fact, there may come a day when someone refers to you as an Internet marketing Guru…capital G!

One last thing…and this is the biggest of all!

Stop listening to the siren’s song and the promises of “Instant Wealth” every Tom, Dick, and “guru” that comes along is making! Get with a mentor or a quality program, learn it, stick with it, and build it! The tools are available, you simply have to educate yourself and then apply the knowledge to your Internet marketing endeavor. If you do? Your online business will be amazing, and so will your profitability!

REMEMBER: DO NOT LISTEN TO THE SIREN’S CALL!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
866-835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

PS, Here are the resources I promised. Quality Internet marketing and online business programs:

1) Video Marketing: There is only one for video marketing, the rest all feed off of this one in one way or another! Or they just don’t measure up!

2) Article Marketing: There is only one number one!

3) SEO or search engine optimization: Again, there are a lot of wannabes…but only one quality program and it addresses it all and offers an amazing Internet marketing and SEO education! I didn’t realize how much I had yet to learn until I joined this program!

4) Domain Manager: GoDaddy (see icon on side panel and type in “diggnation” at checkout for the best deal) If you are purchasing more than one domain name? Check only the .com and .info boxes (how can you not buy .info for less than a buck?). Then at checkout you will be offered the remainder of the .org .net and .us or whatever at 50% to 75% savings! Do NOT check them ahead of time…only as part of the upsell process after you proceed to checkout. Then, add “diggnation” into the promo code box for additional savings.

5) Hosting: If you are building one website and/or blog, stay with HostGator (on the sidepanel again). Purchase the “Business” account, not the cheapy ones! You will get a dedicated IP address and an 800 number free. These two add-ons are well worth the extra 4-5 bucks! The psychological impact of being able to offer an 800 number, even if you rarely use it, is huge! The little cues make or break a business early! Take advantage of this cue and apply it!

6) Social Media Marketing: HubSpot is super for social media education…they have it down to a science! Do you need their service? No, at least not at first. But you do need their education. They also have a couple of cool tools for grading your efficacy online…so use them!

PPS, There are a lot more tips and I will pass them along in the weeks to come. January 2010 watch for a new online business building tool for any niche in Internet marketing….it will be comprehensive and it will be all you need!

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• 

How to Succeed at Internet Marketing: The Learning Curve!

“If it sounds too good to be true…”

Spend any amount of time looking for ways to make money on the Internet, and you will come across many people happy to help you out – out of your money, that is!

Maybe you weren’t even actively looking for an online business opportunity…but a savvy Internet marketing guru with a clever email subject line popped into your inbox!

So, you decided, “What the heck, I’ll check it out!”

Usually it begins with a promise. Yes, in just a few short hours per week you are going to make loads of money, millions even! And they have already done most of the work for you!

While they worked on rebuilding, and selling, the Brooklyn Bridge!

Easy, right?

Plugin and play! Set it and forget it!

Just like those chicken roasters they sell on TV infomercials! [Now, just off to the side let's have an idiot card telling everyone to say "Ooooh-aaaah!" and then clap!]

Yup! They know precisely what buttons to push and when; and, it’s all scripted to one end, to gain access to your wallet.

They are very good at it, too!

Hopefully, somewhere in the back of your mind, you hear your parent’s or grandparent’s voice echoing off in the distance:

“If it sounds too good to be true…it probably is.”

Folks, I don’t mean to sound cynical, mocking or facetious here. Well, maybe a little!?

The fact of the matter is…there are no “get rich quick” formulas in Internet marketing!

The whole notion of getting rich in a matter of days, weeks, or even months in Internet marketing is one of the late great snake oil sales campaigns!

BTW, I also have swamp land on the North Face of the South Slope of the Grand Canyon…and you too can own this beach front property just a few paces from the Caribbean…or was it the Pacific! Yeah, that’s the ticket! Next to the British Army gun emplacements next to the Belize National Airport!

Sure, there are instances in which a person has accomplished a great deal and done quite well in a matter of a few months. That individual usually has a history in sales, marketing, management, and/or entrepreneurial endeavors…but it certainly did not happen overnight!

In fact, most overnight success, and Hollywood and the music industries are great for building up this mythology, takes years. Years to gain overnight stardom, overnight riches, overnight success.

Years!

I have been a student of marketing for over 30 years. A student! I have built businesses and worked in sales, marketing, and management for some amazing companies, including my own, and for some amazingly successful entrepreneurs.

I have been blessed to see some of the best sales, marketing (in Internet marketing and also traditional brick and mortar marketers), self-improvement, and personal development gurus in the world speak, in person.

While we hear of the tremendous financial success many of these “gurus” have now, each and every one of them went through a learning curve…and it was hard work.

Eben Pagan of Altitude speaks of living in a tiny trailer, writing his first ebook in his “next-to-nothings.” Close your eyes you can see him sitting in front of his computer monitor in his skivvies writing all night.

Eben picturing what he was going to become.

Frank Kern of Mass Control 2.0 speaks of going to door to door in a black suit, in the middle of a Macon, Georgia summer, selling credit card vending machines…and that’s after burying a dog collar containment business he ran out of the back of a used car office!

Yet, Frank had this belief he could be something more, he knew it!

Tellman Knudson of The List Building Club, a man currently running across the country barefoot for homeless children, had already overcome significant medical issues as a child, tried a few other business ventures, including hypnosis, and failed. Tellman found himself at the end of his rope without enough money to buy lunch one day. Humiliated, he wrote an IOU to the diner for the cost of his lunch while the eyes of the people he saw every day were upon him. The dreaded double beep, he called it…rejection and humiliation!

In spite of the terrible humiliation…or because of it…he made it! Tellman envisioned something better, something great!

Jeff Herring, The Article Guy, was once homeless on Christmas Eve. Living in a hotel lobby, Jeff had nowhere to go and, seemingly, nowhere to turn.

Even while homeless, Jeff had a belief he could and would be something more, something greater!

Mike Geary, of The Truth About Abs, was “not in a good place financially,” working a regular 9-5 job as a scientist in the environmental field, trained people every evening and then went home to work on the computer until 4 in the morning…day after day, month after month, for several years before he made it…”overnight!”

True to his nature as an athlete, and as a scientist, Mike Geary knew he could achieve something great, he had the formula, it just took a concerted effort and belief!

Tony Robbins was a 20 year old kid with a beat up car, some stories have him living in it for a time, barely a penny to his name, going from appointment to appointment, speaking to business people with more experience and more money.

Yet instead of saying I can’t, it’s too hard or I don’t have the experience, Tony Robbins made it work!

I can go on…but you get the idea…I hope!

Every one of the above mentioned individuals had one quality. Every one of them believed above all else in their ability and that all things are indeed possible to those who believe!

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve!” Napoleon Hill

The greatest service I can do for you is dispel the myth of overnight riches! The 4-Hour Workweek is probably the most misunderstood and misinterpreted work of the past few decades. Misunderstood, because the title has morphed into the entire message! The 80/20 Principle has also caused the same sort of issues, being widely misquoted and misunderstood!

Significantly, both of these books are one writer’s OPINION!

Interestingly, people often read a work and, because it is in print, has been published, and has achieved a certain amount of notoriety, it is considered fact. It has always amazed me how the written word can on one hand be relegated to the back burner by an entire generation, the video generation, and yet still hold immense power and authority.

Truly a paradox…a conundrum!

To have true and lasting success as an internet marketer, you have to become a student of the craft. To succeed online you must become comfortable with the sales process, marketing (both offline and Internet marketing), and with business building. After all, that’s what we are doing…right? We are building a business as entrepreneurs…as Internet marketing entrepreneurs.

Who do you believe and believe in? Are there reputable programs available for someone interested in making money online?

Yes, there are reputable programs out there, a few by the individuals noted above. Interestingly, the better programs available aren’t going to do all the work for you. And, the best Internet marketing programs aren’t going to do much of anything at all for you!

Why?

Well, there’s something to be said and much to be gained by taking the time to do it yourself! If you are serious about making money online, whether in the Internet marketing niche itself or in any one of the myriad of other niche marketing possibilities available to you, willing to take all the necessary steps, and don’t try to take shortcuts around the learning curve…you will prosper!

Take time to learn the real behind the scenes stories of how some of the successful internet marketers got to where they are today. They will inspire you!

Then, once you understand some of what it takes, it is time for implementation!

We will cover implementation in the next article! It is in combining education and implemetation that will lead you to prosperity in Internet marketing!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
866-835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

PS, For more on the subject of success online and in life, just click this link and go to The John Zajaros Blog!

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Many years ago I read a book titled How to Sell Anything to Anybody, it was by a car salesman who was noted in The Guiness Book of World Records as being the greatest salesman in the world.

Joe Girard’s accomplishment is really something, particularly in light of the fact that to his day people are reading his book and citing his ideas on relationship building an referral marketing.

However, all that aside, it was Joe Girard’s Law of 250 that has really stayed with me all theses years. It is the Law of 250 that is a lesson every marketer, in fact anyone who sells “anything to anybody” need to understand and realize the power of. It is the Law of 250 that will make or break you as a business person…and it is in this area most businesses, particularly today, fail miserably.

The Law of 250 states, and I am paraphrasing Joe Girard:

Everyone knows 250 people, on average, some more and some less. When you do business with just one person and you don’t treat them right they will tell all 250 people about the experience. If you alienate just one person a day and they tell 250 people? Inside of a year you will have enough people to fill a stadium, Joe used Tiger Stadium, all yelling “Don’t buy from so-and-so!”

Do the math!

That’s 91,250 people a year…and that’s if everyone who hears about it is quiet and doesn’t tell all the people they know! It could end up like that hair commercial! With 250 people telling the 250 people they know, and those 250 telling their 250…and so on…and so on…and so on!

Kind of like the hair commerical a while back!

Many businesses have gone out of business because of Joe Girard’s Law of 250, whether they realized it or not!

In this world, mediocrity has become the rule rather than the exception. Service and support is often outsourced and is almost an afterthought for many companies. In essence, many of these companies are putting out their own “Out of Business” sign…they are actively engaged in their own extinction….all due to the Law of 250!

It is up to you what kind of business you want to run and how long you want to be around. However, if you want to make it in the real world and not have tens of thousands of people all yelling “Don’t do business with [insert your name here]!” Be careful! Be diligent! And realize that support and service, like quality, need to be “Job #1!” Or you won’t be around long enough to see Job #2!

John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., PhD
216-712-6526
866-835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

PS, My sincere thanks to Joe Girard for answering my email and reminding me of some things I had forgotten, aside from his Law of 250. The Law of 250 which has stayed with me for 35 years! I met Joe 35 years ago and he is still as amazing and charismatic now as he was 35 years ago…he also knows how to make an impact. He also took the time to answer an email! How rare is that today? One of the true masters of his craft!

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Frank Kern Says A Lot of Smart Things!

I was walking late last night with TuffGuy, actually it was early this morning…about 4am, as a matter of fact! I was in one of those philosophical moods I get in every once and a while but this time I happened to look up.

There was a gorgeous full moon encircled by a ring of cirrus clouds. Just gorgeous and full, or as close to full as you can get without it being completely, just a sliver beyond but still amazing.

Frank Kern’s conversation with Tony Robbins during an interview for The New Money Masters came back in a flash!

You see, Frank was talking about his success in the Internet marketing world and his sense of positive expectancy. The sense of all things possible is something he, I, and probably many of you reading this got from Tony’s Personal Power II program…if you were fortunate enough to buy a copy and put it into action.

During the conversation Frank said something that has been playing over and over in my mind for the last 2 months:

“Anything is possible! If that hasn’t been proven repeatedly throughout history then you are not paying attention. We’ve got people going to the moon, for gosh sakes, so surely I could make a couple more ebooks!”

Or as close to that as I can remember off the top of my head.

It’s brilliant!

On so many levels, this seemingly simplistic observations hits the nail on the head. He are not only capable of great things, history bears it out. And the fact that we are only constrained by our imaginations means our future is infinite, limitless in its possibilities!

Certainly we can create a few more ebooks turned into an awesome business for Frank Kern and his model for doing business has been copied successfully by hundreds, probably thousands of marketers inspired by the laid back but thoroughly competent entrepreneur and marketing genius behind the Surfer Dud persona.

Ebooks and certainly more! But it doesn’t stop there…we are capable of great things!

That was the crux of the message, all wrapped up in a very clear and concise interview of one of The New Money Masters, Frank Kern.

On to business!

Frank is opening up his Mass Control for a limited time and he has shared the early bird link with me via email. I am NOT an affiliate, I just think Frank Kern is one of the people online you need to pay attention to…one of The New Money Masters! So, I am posting the link here for anyone who wishes to learn from one of the best. It is my understanding that their are only 140 Mass Control courses available, so don’t wait because Frank really does shut his down once he has sold out.

Frank Kern’s Mass Control 2.0

Enjoy it and let me know what you think as you write your ebook…and plan your very own trip to the moon!

John

216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ythequestrevealed.com

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I was talking to friend at StomperNet and explaining how after coming off a catastrophic illness, and all that comes with it, it is difficult to shift from the scarcity mode and mindset back to an entrepreneurial way of thinking. In other words, it’s the difference between a Rich Dad and Poor Dad outlook!

The real issue is not whether or not something is affordable, it is how we perceive opportunity and whether we think in terms of what is possible. I explore the subject of belief, mindset, and the culture of cautious optimism…as well as other success in life topics at my personal blog. I hope you will visit it and comment on the articles.

For another perspective on the meaning of life, how to succeed in business, and the power of belief, just click this link! After you watch the video, of course!

Thanks!

John

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

PS, If you want to take a look at an amazing program, probably the best on the Internet for understanding and building an effective Internet business…regardless of niche…just click here!

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I just thought I would share a moment with you. The sun was setting, it is mid-October and the clouds were beautiful, purple and billowing. I live not too far from the spot where the video I shot (below) was taken and I love walking there.

After overcoming a life-threatening and life-altering illness, one that put me in the hospital for months from December of 2004 until April/May of 2008, it is as if my eyes are seeing things for the first time, that I am once again experiencing life.

I am beginning to see the possibilities in life again, the things that make my heart beat a bit faster, and the things that don’t necessarily mean success as much as they simply make life a bit more fun. I have experienced all the trappings of success, have been known as a “success” for much of my life. To have had it all vanish, all the trappings, while fighting for my life was disconcerting but I always knew, if I could just get through to the other side, I would have it all again.

Interestingly, having made it through catastrophic illness, having beat back the most dreaded of diseases and lived to start again, my perspective has been forever altered. The “things” I once thought important are no longer so and the “trappings” of success are now viewed for what they are, impermanent and easily replaceable. The things of value, the things that really matter, friends, family, my faith in people, my faith in Something Greater have all been restored, renewed, or significantly strengthened.

Success no longer has the same meaning…but success still has the same definition!

Figure that one out for yourself….

By definition, success is a progression, an improvement in your overall quality of life on daily basis. Tony Robbins talks about CANI! CANI! is “consistent and never ending improvement.” Tony Robbins talks about the improvement in the quality of your life on a daily basis, incrementally, continually, and consistently. Early Nightingale and Napoleon Hill talk about progression toward a worthwhile goal or ideal. Interestingly, every great thinker has equated success with progress, a progression, a journey that includes never ending improvement.

If that is the definition of success…I am a success!

Every day of my life has become a success, a mural of sorts, and I thought I would share just a moment of it…me and my little dog, TuffGuy…my Higher Power is the painter, my life the canvas!

The video below will be up around the web, on my personal blog, The John Zajaros Blog, and elsewhere. It’s just a moment, a glimpse, and Martin Scorsese has nothing to worry about.

I challenge you to find your own personal place or places, your space if you will, that spot or those spots you can retreat to, that inspire you, not only your entrepreneurial spirit, if you have that sort of wish for your life, but personally and spiritually. Because those personal places are the best places to take a step back and renew, recharge, and refresh the Spirit before facing the ups and the downs life invariably throws at us daily…on our journey, our progression, our never ending quest!

This has just been a moment of personal reflection:

The Quest Revealed!

As stated, the most significant and meaningful trappings of success are no longer the same for me. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t get excited about a new Hunter sailboat, almost purchased a while back, or a comfortable houseboat for Connie and I to retire on. TuffGuy, Bart, kids, and whomever else wants to come along with us, as well! Well, maybe? But the landscape has changed, the Master Gardener has done a real job on me, I no longer yield the same produce and life on the other side of H#ll is indeed Heaven!

We are tested throughout our lives but one thing I know with absolute certainty…Tony Robbins is right! CANI! is the real “secret” to success. Only through constant, consistent, and never ending improvement, never quitting no matter what the odds, will you prevail.

Not only will you prevail, life will be amazing!

But you must demonstrate:

Faith– in yourself, your loved ones, your friends, your Higher Power (in what ever form you see it) and, most importantly, your Self!
Hope– above all, hope! Without hope, when things are their blackest, you will falter! You must have HOPE!
Determination– there were times when the only thing that kept me going was determination, that refusal to quit regardless of what everyone and everything was saying!
Persistence– just a bit different from determination, a one-two punch of sorts. Determination is the mindset, persistence is the implementation!
Goals– It is not enough to want something, you must have concrete goals and a plan of action. Without goals you are truly a ship without a rudder, blowing this way and that!
Burning Desire– this may also be called “The One Thing!” It is not enough to have goals, it isn’t even enough to have a plan of action, you must want it, whatever “it” is, with all your heart! You must want it in the pit of your stomach, it must burn within you like nothing else…it must make your soul ache!

IF you are able to define, clearly and concisely, what your “One Thing” is, write it out, burn it into the very fabric of your being, and then have complete faith in the reality that it will be yours, put the plan into action and improve upon it in some way each and every day, constantly and consistently, you will prevail!

In the words of one of the greatest statesmen to ever walk the Earth, “Never, Never, Never, Never Quit!” And you will prevail!

John Zajaros
216-712-6526 (home/business)
866-835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@johnzajaros.com

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