The amazing thing about opportunity is that it is usually sitting right in front of your face, screaming at you, and you still can’t always see it! I have been fortunate enough in my life to have an entrepreneurial mindset. In other words, I think in terms of “what if?” However, I am not the managerial type, in that dealing with the nuts and bolts of the business is not my forte, so I must have a solid business manager. I can be a great technician, an individual who loves to get in there and do the work, write the articles, make the videos, build the websites, and all the rest.
In essence, I can be two of the three people necessary to run my business, any business, my Internet marketing business or my brick and mortar company. That is, I can be all those people doing all those things, and stretch to be and do a few more, if I never sleep, never spend time with my family, and never spend time doing the things I love, like reading!
Basically, I need one person to do the books and the tedious stuff I hate, the stuff that others love (go figure!), and one person to be there to apply all the ideas that come pouring out of my head. The marriage of the 3 is not a difficult one but it is difficult to find one person competent in all three areas…and that’s the rub! Internet marketing creates some amazing opportunities and there is a great deal of freedom from the traditional clock…but Internet marketing also presents some real challenges.
Enter The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber.
I recently came across The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It and all I can say is, “What an Godsend!” Whether is offline or an online business, this book should be required reading for anyone just starting out and those who have taken the plunge but are beginning to chase their tail; and, it seems most do at some point in their businesses evolution!
I thought I was lazy or that there was a serious flaw in my makeup. After all, why couldn’t I handle all three of these areas? Certainly others did! Interestingly, most don’t, and that’s why many fail. Interestingly, I am not alone. It seems there are quite a few businesspeople, in fact most of them, who fall into exactly the same category…strong in one area, maybe two, but lacking in at least one of the three key personalities necessary to really make things click.
I wholeheartedly recommend The E-Myth Revisited to anyone wishing to make a go of it long term in business, in Internet marketing, some other type of e-commerce, or in a traditional brick and mortar store. Had I read this book, and a couple of others I will review through the next week, things could have been so much easier, so much smoother, and so much less time consuming!
The irony of it all is not lost, as I am seeing myself page after page and stage after stage described by Michael Gerber. The nice part is that it didn’t come too late! I have started and run businesses before and have always done quite well, but I can see the pitfalls and the traps Michael Gerber describes emerging in my newest online venture. And, I can see them in 20/20 hindsight in all my old ventures.
Having gutted through similar experiences before, I was simply committed to gutting it out again! Had I only known what was happening, I could have fixed the problem, adjusted for the conditions, and made the necessary adjustments; and, things would have been so much simpler.
Now?
I have that luxury!
And, compared to the road I was going down once again, one full of sleepless nights and deadlines dancing in my head (no sugar plums, to be sure!), the alternative is delightful and Internet marketing is a pleasure once again! You see, I found out it isn’t a sin to be less than competent in all aspects of a businesses identity, in fact few business people are. I am now focused on building the correct business model and taking me out of the equation…at least as much as is possible. What remains should be a profitable venture that can stand alone and be replicated.
How great is that!?
So, do yourself a favor and read The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber. The E-Myth Revisited will change your perspective and change your business life…Internet marketing or brick and mortar!
I will be reviewing a few other books I have been reading lately as I try to shore up my knowledge of business building and move into the new year in high gear!
Join me as a subscriber and get ready for a monthly newsletter that is already shaping up to be something quite special!
John
Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
216-539-7412 (bus)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com
PS, As many know I am into video marketing in a big way and I have access to a FREE video that can help transform your Internet marketing business! This video is about a young US Marine, just discharged, homeless, and now making a great income online. In fact, he did it in a matter of a few weeks and, knowing what he does now, it could have been days! Check this video out and if you have any questions about how to apply it to your own Internet business, let me know, I will be happy to answer them for you. Just click here!
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
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!
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)
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!
Article marketing is one of the best ways to deliver content, drive traffic, and get links back to your site. I discuss strategies I use to succeed at article marketing in a big way. The strategies make it possible for anyone to succeed at article marketing, and to do so easily and quickly. I also recommend the use of the following software, it’s great for article submission and the upgrade is phenomenal!
Article marketing is a very effective means of promoting your own product, as well as affiliate offers. Significantly, article marketing is free! That being said, there may be some costs involved, depending on how aggressive you want to be with your article marketing and promotions. The link above and here offers an upgrade that is a few bucks but well worth it! It simplifies and streamlines the submission process, it is extremely useful and easy to use.
EzineArticles also has a Premium Membership you really need to look at, it’s that good. No, there is no affiliate program yet, I just believe Chris Knight and EzineArticles.com to be the best, the cream of the crop, and the Platinum Level, Premium Membership to be the level of commitment appropriate for those interested in making a significant splash online with article marketing!
If you are serious about immediate returns, combined with long-term organic listing (SEO) then article marketing is crucial.
Not only does article marketing provide immediate traffic to your blog and/or website, it will also help you build a key aspect of any long term SEO strategy, backlinks!
I hope the video is helpful!
John
Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com
