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

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!

When to Start Video Marketing: As Soon As I Take the Cat Out!

The title says a lot, I look back at my lack of sophistication on video even a month ago and it makes me grimace, 6 months ago and it is everything I can do to keep from pulling the videos from my channel and beginning again. But do you want to know something? As bad as some of those videos were, they got their message out and, not only did people watch them (not that they went viral or anything) but I made money from them!

The right time to begin is NOW, IMMEDIATELY, AT ONCE! And keep doing them because 3 things will happen:

1) You will get more comfortable in front of a camera!

2) You will get better at it and find your true calling!

3) You will stop saying Um, and Ah, and You Know!

I hope you realize I kept saying “you know” for a reason…you know?

Of course you know!

On with the rest of the article!

Video marketing is a relatively easy and inexpensive way for a small to mid-size company to get its message out there. With more than 300 million users going online as of 2008 in North America alone, the use of videos to promote products and services is fast gaining popularity. For internet marketers, videos go beyond the use of images and text and are very effective in holding a viewer’s attention.

So what do you need to get started and when is the right time to begin? The most common mistake people make is thinking they have to wait until they have special equipment to start recording and distributing videos. You’ve just got to do it. Cliché I know, but true. You do not need a high-tech video camera, special editing software, a fancy set, trained actors or expensive video submission services to begin.

You talk to people every day about your product or service. Nobody has the same perspective on it you do. Begin with an inexpensive video camera sitting at your desk or in your favorite chair. If the audio is not clear, you may also want to consider purchasing a microphone. Talk to the camera as if it was a prospective client or customer and deliver your message. You will learn as you go just like anything else.

Write a brief synopsis describing the content of your video using short and long-tailed keywords – words and phrases that people may type into search engines that will help them find your video. Be sure to include a link back to your website or blog. Your title should be also be succinct as some video sites only allow for a 60 character title. For example, a title for a video about this subject matter may be – ‘Video Marketing: How and When to Begin’ or ‘How to Promote Your Business with Online Video Marketing’.

There are numerous websites that allow you to create a free account and post your video. Start with a few of the larger ones such as YouTube, Viddler, Metacafe, Break, and DailyMotion. These sites are highly indexed by the search engines and are a great way to create incoming links to your website or blog where viewers can go to find more information about your company. Take advantage of free social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to create interest on your subject matter and drive people to your videos as well. As time allows and your knowledge and budget grow, consider purchasing a program like Camtasia to create tutorials and broadcast screenshots, and utilizing a video submission service such as Traffic Geyser.

The moral of the story here is this – if you do not begin where you are at – you will never get where you want to be.

I hope this helps you get started. I might add one thing. As you progress, it doesn’t hurt to have an assistant, even if they only work a few hours a week…it can change your effectiveness and your overall profitability. I am fortunate enough to have the best! I know, everyone says that…but she is!

If I were a small-pie kind of person, and I know some people guard the identity of their virtual assistants with their lives, for fear of them being pirated out from under them…but I am not that way and she needs more work than I can give her. So, if you wants an amazing virtual assistant, check out:

Lisa R. Sawyer
Owner-Consultant
Creative Options Media
Phone: 207-659-8987
http://creativeoptionsmedia.com
http://creativeoptionsblog.com (where you see her real talent shine through)
http://twitter.com/LisaSawyer317

I believe in giving credit where credit is due…and this is long overdue!

John

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

PS, If you want to get started in video marketing and don’t know where to begin? There is a wonderful program you can try for 30 days for $1…that’s right, $1! It is fantastic and even as I was learning, I was earning, thanks to this program! Just click this link, and begin today, you will never go back! You know?

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

Dan Hollings was brilliant tonight, talking about the Twitter marketing portion of StomperNet’s new Internet marketing platform.

As has been the case with every member of the StomperNet faculty over the past month, Dan was fantastic! The ladies and gentlemen of the StomperNet faculty have defined Internet marketing and online business success; and, they have also demonstrated the professional way to launch an Internet marketing product, with first-class information and a quality platform!

If you follow me anywhere on social media, you know that I am a big advocate of implementation. In other words, taking action using the proper tools, and to do so in the most efficient and effective way possible. I am talking about an Internet marketing business system, combining the necessary tools to make money online, along with those necessary to run a business effectively, not just in the sort run…but for years to come, should that be your desire.

I am always skeptical when I read some of the sales letters written by people calling themselves “gurus.” In some instances, these tomes are written by people barely able to keep their businesses afloat, offering this program or that, many of the words bandied about are:

Guru, and you may already know how I feel about that term as a descriptive adjective for most marketers!

Mentor, always at a prices that would make a Vegas Madam blush!

Coach, I wonder what John Wooden or Joe Paterno would say?

“Life” Coach, as opposed to what?

And many more!

Many of the people using these appellations have never built a lasting business of their own, in good times or bad, and fewer still have any real idea what it takes to be successful in the long-term. Yet we are bombarded daily with parroted advice from those among us…

“Faking it, until making it!”

Don’t get me wrong!

I am 100% behind people making a go of it online, in Internet marketing proper or in affiliate or niche marketing, because it’s all really the same thing (or is it?), they have my respect and admiration!

The problem I have is with people attempting to run before they have a good understanding of what it takes to walk…and attempting to lead others over the same cliff you may be heading for. The drop is steep and unforgiving.

So, my question is this:

If you aren’t sure of what you are doing, how in the world are you going to teach others?

The answer:

You can’t, at least not without pulling the both of you down together!

You see, sales and marketing is a lot more complex than most people maintain in their books with the catchy phrases. While many throw around names like Hill, Nightingale, Ziglar, Hopkins, Girard, and now Robbins and Tracy, they have little understanding of what drives people to act on a consistent and continuous basis, on both sides of the equation; sales/marketing; and, the purchasing-target audience/market.

Unfortunately, certain Internet marketing “gurus” have created an air of positive expectancy that doesn’t always match up with reality.

Some marketing “gurus” claim the “chosen few” will make from $10,000 to $100,000 per month in a matter of a few weeks, implying that all you have to do is:

1) Spend $X dollars for an application fee…that one kills me!

2) Spend $Y dollars an ebook…usually written in vague generalities in order to sell more, you guessed it, stuff!

AND

3) Spend $Z dollars for a monthly membership…and we get what for that? More stuff!

FINALLY

4) The heavens will open and all will be made clear from one high!

After all, their sales letter maintains…just look what Gee Willacres did in just 6 months after:

1) Having a leg removed…the wrong one!

2) Being trampled by a horse…a pony from the traveling carnival really!

AND

3) Having open-heart surgery…when he was supposed to have a kidney transplant!

If Gee can do it…well, gosh…so can you!

Pile on top of this line of whooey, whooey being a technical term I learned at the George Carlin School of Internet Marketing and Online Shenanigans Annual Conference, in suburban Tehran, the idea that a web presence (nice word for mass produced website) set up as some sort of a cookie-cutter, big scheme Internet marketing (Read: MLM) template is going to do draw the thousands to tens of thousands of victims, I mean visitors, per month necessary, based on even the best conversion numbers online, to generate that sort of income is flat out tom-foolery!

Another Carlin school term! Being a graduate, I am allowed to thrown them around!

And I am being very kind with the descriptive adjectives…sans the four letter ones!

Reality?

The reality of an individual with no clear idea of what to do and how to do it, just laid off from his or her job at Bob’s Burger Palace and Horseshoeing Emporium, a gig they’ve had for the last 20 years, and turning to the Internet in desperation is very different from the reality of an individual who has a marketing background, a stable home life, time to build a proper foundation before going full time, which includes the time educate one’s self, the moxie to network properly, and plenty of resources to spend on education and to fall back on if he or she takes a header off of one of those Internet marketing, online business cliffs!

Yet Internet marketing “gurus” seem to focus on the target market en mass…without realizing that Joe Palooka’s Internet marketing needs are very different from Betsey Homecki’s online business aspirations! Very few people (read: gurus with a small “g”) actually take the time to build any version of “Bob” (watch The New Money Masters with Frank Kern and Tony Robbins, brilliant!), and if they are, they must be way off the mark, because most of the people I talk to are frustrated, angry, disenchanted, and even bitter…tracking back to their experiences with the “gurus!” They want to make it, many want it with a white hot desire! The problem is with the delivery of information at a reasonable cost and in a way that is truly user friendly.

I don’t believe many of the “gurus” have a clue how people learn, much less what it takes to teach them! The end result is a support nightmare, a lot of people referring to “gurus” as scam artists, and a stadium full of people (Read: Joe Girard) screaming don’t buy from so-and-so! More to come on this topic!

So, getting back to Internet marketing, online business success, coaching, mentoring, and implementation!

The problem most people have starting out is not a lack of information, there is plenty of good information available if you know how to research and know what you are looking for; it’s not that there isn’t a proven template for success, there are several successful online business models available; and, it’s not that there is a lack of quality software to implement even the most ambitious strategies, there are some great Internet marketing implementation platforms available. The challenge is in knowing who to listen to, understanding what they are saying, which means cutting through all the hype; and finally, which program to invest in…in order to pull it all together…or at least start on the right path.

Who: Who to listen to and, more importantly, who to believe!

What: Understanding what they are saying. This means understanding the basics of marketing in general and Internet marketing specifically!

Which: Which way to go! There is no shortage of voices in the wilderness, some as soothing and convincing as any Siren’s call! Knowing which program to invest in has with it its own set of qualifiers and traps to avoid!

Beware!

Or better yet: Buyer Beware!

The reality…ah, back to reality…is that you can go any which way and get to where you are going. Or, as the old one-liner goes:

“You can’t get there from here!”

Ultimately, you have to put your faith, if trust is too big a word right now, in someone and something…both of them!

You must deal with the 3 Ws:

Who
What
Which

Back to Stompernet!

I have recommended a handful of programs over the last year, the ones I have wholeheartedly endorsed, and still use, I can count on one hand!

Enter StomperNet!

At $10,000 per year, it was just not in my make-up to invest that kind of money, even at $800 per month, in a marketing program, particularly at the stage of development I was in when StomperNet appeared on my radar. I have followed Brad Fallon, and he back, almost from day one of my involvement on Twitter, so I knew of Brad and StomperNet…and had heard nothing but good about both the man and the Internet marketing opportunity, because StomperNet is much more than a program, it is a complete system!

Ah, finally! The final piece of the puzzle:

System!

Like TrafficGeyser, a much more specialized system, one I endorse wholeheartedly, StomperNet is not only an Internet marketing system, it is a community, a university of sorts…in a very real way, a bit of academia on the Internet.

StomperNet is perhaps the only true Internet marketing university!

For that reason, and because I am so impressed with the StomperNet system and it’s community, including its amazing faculty, I am going to make the following offer:

If you purchase StomperNet using my affiliate link, you may contact me at any time, day or night 24/7 for the next 365 days, no kidding, for the next year, and we will work through the implementation together! I will always get back to you in short order, always!

PLEASE!

Do not take this as some sort of a “I am the greatest, I will lead you” ego trip!

I will be starting with StomperNet just like you, from the beginning! However, I do have experience with some of the components as individual products, so we will not be flying blind. What I am offering is a mastermind of at least two, open almost at your beck and call, and all you have to do is make your purchase through my link.

We will do the rest together.

In fact , I will make this even better:

For the next 90 days, we will meet online, via Skype, 3 evenings a week…for at least an hour a session…perhaps longer!

After the first 90 days we will see how things go. You never know, we may find we enjoy the mastermind sessions and simply expand upon it.

That’s my offer! I am so impressed with StomperNet, I think this is something that can serve to push a bunch of new “stompers” up all at once!

Once you get your email confirmation, and I get mine, we will set up our first session!

I am looking forward to having you as a fellow Stomper, as a colleague, and as a member of a mastermind focused solely on our collective success in Internet marekting!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., PhD
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com
excellencepaidforward@gmail.com (my very personal email address)

PS, In case you missed it, the links toward the top of the article above are for the webinar series, the ones down the page are going straight to the StomperNet main page! Either way, see you soon!

Tony Robbins has launched another masterpiece! The New Money Masters

Suffice it to say, I don’t think there is anyone who has not heard of the guru, author, Presidential confidant, and transformational speaker Anthony “Tony” Robbins.

If you have not yet read one of his many books, you most likely have seen one of his 30 minute infomercials encouraging you to use his program to unleash the power for success and happiness we all have within….The Power Within! As alluded to above, Tony has been endorsed by Presidents, actors, athletes and business people the world over.

On September 1, 2009, Tony Robbins released The New Money Masters, a monthly interview series with 12 of the most successful internet marketers on this planet. First in the series is Frank Kern, an amazing and interesting marketer/surfer dude who went from being a failed dog containment salesperson and a salesperson of credit card verification systems, to now earning a 6-7 figure income monthly, his programs responsible for generating 18 million dollars in one 24 hour period..and all as an Internet marketer.

Each month, subscribers will receive Tony’s interview with another one of these successful marketers on DVD and CD, complete with a step-by-step workbook of that marketers system; and, Tony’s very special brand of analysis, taking the opportunity to a whole new level.

This is truly another masterful piece of work by Tony Robbins, and one I highly recommend to anyone serious about harnessing the power of the Internet, as well as the power in each and every one of us! The system is the compilation of the best of the best, brought to you and synthesized as only Tony Robbins can…it is not to be missed!

As an aside, Tony Robbins is one of many authors/speakers whose works have enlightened me over the years. I can rattle off a hundred names, quite literally, and perhaps more, yet it is Tony’s work I look to when I need to reach deep within myself and “Unleash the Power Within!”

Finally, while Tony speaks of modeling others, the student has become the true master of his craft, emerging as a cross-generational Napoleon Hill, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, and Earl Nightingale in one. Routinely sought out out by the cream of society, as well as those individuals simply looking for the best strategy to conquer their fears, to remove the stumbling blocks holding them back and keeping them from achieving excellence, that is Tony’s gift to the rest of us, one that simply cannot be overstated.

It was a real pleasure to purchase this work and review it here, I have gained so much already, and this is just month number one! I can’t imagine it being any better, yet I am certain it will be. I’m looking forward to an amazing ride, ands profiting form it to boot!

Other books I recommend:

Dr. Stephen R. Covey: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People! This has been in publication almost as long as Tony’s book Unlimited Power : The New Science Of Personal Achievement, another masterpiece, lists Habit #7 as “Sharpen the Saw….carefully select your recreational activities such as what you put into your mind.” Education is clearly an integral aspect of #7, and Tony’s The New Money Masters encourages the purchaser/participant wise enough to listen and apply, in other words, take action, to prosper.

Stephen C. Lundin, Ph.D., Harry Paul, and John Christensen (with Foreward by Ken Blanchard, MD): Fish! – The FISH! Philosophy is a must if you are dealing with individuals, teams, and marketing. This entire book series is worth your time. The others in the Fish! series: Fish Tales! & Fish Sticks! Really great stuff for anyone interested in taking customer service up to a new level.

Last but certainly not least:

Marc Warnke: ONO – Options not Obligations – Family First Entrepreneurship. This is a template for how to live life to its fullest! Marc is not only one of my favorite authors, he is one of my favorite people! This is absolutely a must read for anyone involved in Internet marketing. In fact, this is a must read for every parent period, regardless of area of entreprenerial interest…this is just a great book!

I am including this video, with the hopes that those of you not into reading will get the message via a different formt. The important thing here is to get the information, listen to it, and apply it! Model it and take action!

TODAY!

Best wishes for your continued success!

BTW! Don’t miss Tony’s latest event in Chicago! See you there in October!

John

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

http://twitter.com/JohnZajaros

The question I asked myself, and the question you need to ask yourself is, where do you want to be 5 years from now?