Making Money on the Internet is Something You Must Excel At…To Be Any Good At!

I read an interesting quote a long time ago, it was actually a line from a book I was reading entitled Hearts in Atlantis. The book was eventually made into a movie, as all Stephen King books are. Interestingly, unlike most Stephen King books converted to movies, this was a good one with a stellar cast. Anthony Hopkins was masterful, as usual, and a young Anton Yelchin, later to emerge in Terminator Salvation with Christian Bale and Sam Worthington, was amazing…perhaps the role of his life.

The quote:

“…and wishing doesn’t make it so! ”

This quote is so common, at least in the sense that it has been around forever, as to be almost cliche.

Almost…if it weren’t so true!

Interestingly, the quote has carryover power into almost any milieu and in virtually all walks of life.

There is another quote, a bit cruder, that pretty much carries the same message, albeit to a little different crowd and in a much different way.

The quote:

“If you wish in one hand and sh*t in the other…you can be certain of one thing…sh*t!

I warned you! It’s all in the delivery.

Ultimately, the messages are the same:

“Success takes effort…no amount of wishing will make it so!”

We are told daily to attract this and envision that.

Yes, visualization is crucial. But visualization and goal setting without follow-through is worthless. This hoo-haa (technical term) being peddled of late is garbage. You’ve heard the stuff (two technical terms in a row!), it’s being pitched everywhere.

Unfortunately, it is like baking a cake without adding heat…it ain’t gonna happen!

Success takes effort. Success takes real, concentrated, long term effort. Success takes getting through what Seth Godin refers to as The Dip. Very often, success takes getting through and beyond several Dips!

Success takes balls!

There, I said it!

That’s about as crude as I have ever been online or offline, at least since the Army (1972-73), but it is true and someone needs to say it.

If you can’t “grow a pair, you’re destined to fail!

Success is tough.

Success is often dirty.

Success is frustrating, tiring, and humiliating!

Success is wonderful!

Success takes concentrated effort and it is never easy.

Not real success, the kind of success that lasts, the kind of success that is meaningful, that you can share…that you want to share!

Beware of the following quote:

The Easy Path to Riches!

Do you know how many results you get when you type in that keyword phrase?

Over 1,000,000!

Many people are caught by the Siren’s Call:

“The Easy Path to Riches!”

Short term thinking will lead to long term failure. Don’t fall into the trap! It takes more than setting up a website and tweeting all day on Twitter to succeed. If that were the case, we’d have witnessed hundreds of thousands of “success stories” by now.

And that ain’t happening!

It takes more than a few articles and dozens of videos to succeed online. I takes more than creating a Facebook page and a LinkedIn profile.

It takes learning, applying, tweaking, throwing most of it out, and beginning again.

Success is never easy…but it is always worth it!

Ultimately, success means different things to different people and what you thought would define your success when you started out will be nothing like the success you end up with.

Guaranteed!

Success is indeed the journey. But more than that, success is a process, a growth process that never ends…until we do.

So, how do we succeed online? By growing, by learning, by sharing, and by growing some more. In the end, your success will be defined by your effort and by what you put into your endeavor.

Finally, I believe success has little to do with making money, money is just a measure, and not a very meaningful one. The success you achieve will define you as much as you are defined by it. So stick with it, apply yourself, ask for help, and be flexible.

Because, as stated above, the success you end up with will be very different from the success you set out to achieve.

And wishing doesn’t make it so!

Contact me anytime!

John Zajaros
The Ultimate Internet Image
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
Skype: johnzajaros1
216-712-7004 (bus)
440-821-7018 (cell)

Consulting or Tutoring, Inbound Marketing or Chemistry:

Success or Failure is Phone Call Away

I tutor kids struggling with ADD and ADHD. I also work with students who are struggling with complex issues in their lives. I have been a tutor, teacher, professor, and coach my entire life, at least part-time, so I am not about to give it up now.

I have also been in sales and marketing most of my adult life, aside from a short stint in academia.

Whether in business for myself or working as an advertising and marketing consultant for a “big dumb company,” as Dan Kennedy would call them, I have learned a great deal about how to build businesses from the ground up. Over the course of the last 35 years or so I have become a black belt of sorts, understanding not only the nuts and bolts of business but how to get clients through the door; and, converting those prospects into buyers and, ultimately, into life long clients and friends.

Incredibly, many of the same behaviors I witness in parents exploring options for their failing sons and daughters, I witness in prospective inbound marketing clients, the business owners I talk to about their business’ advertising and marketing strategies or lack thereof, usually the latter.

Whether tutoring or marketing assistance, the similarities are striking!

Please understand, I don’t see it all the time, but enough to notice similarities in behavior, a definite pattern!

The pattern goes something like this:

• Tutoring: I often get the call for help when the child is drowning. Rarely do I get a call at the beginning of the year, instead I get the call when the student is going down for the fourth and final time, often failing across the board, every class. I have been consulting and working with kids long enough that I can pull a student back from the brink, usually. However, had I been called sooner? Well, my job would have been a lot easier and there would have been a lot less stress all the way around.
• Consulting: The same is true for many of the businesses contacting me for assistance. Unfortunately, I get the call when the business has a month to live and little hope that last ditch marketing CPR is going to do the trick. I am brutally honest with these business owners and, while I have taken on a few clients in this condition, I make sure they go into our relationship with their eyes wide open.

The kids and the businesses who do the best, have the best overall results, are the ones I get when they first start having issues. Recognizing and admitting that there are issues and they must be addressed, in other words being proactive, invariably leads to a good result.

Those parents and business people who are of a more reactive mindset?  Well, it hasn’t been as easy and it is always more expensive…often at a time when the added expense is a significant factor.

It’s like the Framm Oil Filter ad campaign spokesman put it, a marketing masterpiece in its own right:

“You can pay me now…or you can pay me later!”

Happily, in each and every instance thus far I have been able to save both, the businesses from going under with a solid inbound marketing strategy and the kids with a comprehensive tutoring program; and, both experiences have been pretty amazing!

But in every instance the difficulties were totally unnecessary, had the decision makers been proactive.

Ultimately, being proactive in your affairs is necessary for long term success. Interestingly, procrastination, inertia, pride/ego, and sales resistance are the major impediments in both situations.

I often hear:

“We have always done it this way before, why should I consider doing anything different now?”

A closed mind is a recipe for disaster and is the reason why most businesses fail and why so many children fall through the cracks.

For an interesting book dealing with my people do some of the things they do, read Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior.

Sway is a must read! What an eye-opener when it comes to understanding human behavior.

If you are marketing to the affluent?

A must read is The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Rich.

Both of these books will open your eyes and add a new and often surprising perspective.

For those of you in business, those of you considering your overall marketing strategy?

Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin is a must read.

For those of you who have children who are struggling?

A must is Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. It is an excellent read for anyone with children!

Please feel free to comment or contact me any time.

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526 (home office)
440-821-7018 (cell)
Skype: johnzajaros1
excellencepaidforward@gmail.com

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