Hi Mike,
It's Michael Rasmussen with some practical
steps you can take to succeed online, or
be more successful if you're already doing
well.
My readers send me email all the time
asking how to start an Internet business,
or how to get past the "struggling" phase,
or how to turn a side business into a
full-time job replacement.
Those are good questions, but the answers
are pretty much the same. You always have
to focus on doing the things that will
boost your chances of success.
Fortunately, those things aren't
mysterious at all. They're absolutely
practical. And they can work for you, just
like they did for me.
Here's what you need to do...
-------------------------------------------
FOCUS ON WHAT MAKES CASH
-------------------------------------------
Just about everyone in business school at
Harvard or anywhere else learns a basic
management principle:
"Cash is king."
If you don't have consistent positive cash
flow, you're sunk.
If you do have consistent positive cash
flow, pretty everything else can work
itself out. You'll have FAR less pressure.
The best way I know of to keep cash coming
in is to focus on two things:
* Offering things with high perceived AND
actual value
* Getting highly targeted visitors to your
offer(s)
It's never more complicated than that, and
I can say from personal experience that it
works like crazy.
For example, years ago now I created a
product called Email Promos Exposed. It's
a no-cost course full of great content to
teach people how to do email marketing.
When people sign up for the course, I
offer an advanced version that isn't free.
Because the intro course is so good, a LOT
of people buy the one that costs.
The perceived value of what I'm giving
away is high, and the actual value is high
too. That dramatically increases my sales
on the back end.
Once I created that offer, all I had to
focus on was getting people to see it.
No sales happen without visitors, so I had
to build a system to get lots of people to
see my offer. I did that primarily through
JVs, since my front end offer was a great
deal that partners liked promoting.
You should look for opportunities to do
what I did.
You don't necessarily have to offer
something for no cost, although it's a
great strategy. But the key is to focus on
great offers and getting people to see
them. Success follows from that.
Cool software tools, and websites, and
marketing tactics, and graphics...it's all
wonderful.
But even an ugly website can make you
wealthy if you present good offers to a
huge numbers of people.
-------------------------------------------
KEEP LEARNING
-------------------------------------------
I can't overstate the value of this
enough.
About five years ago, my own business hit
a serious slump. It was awful. It seemed
like nothing I was doing worked anymore.
I wracked my brain trying to figure out
what was wrong, but then it dawned on
me...I was doing THE SAME OLD THING.
There's nothing wrong with sticking with a
strategy that is working. That's smart
business.
But when something stops working, it's
time to make a change.
After thinking about it some more, I
realized that I had been so heads-down
working on my business that I hadn't kept
up with what was going on in my market.
Once I started looking around and learning
again, everything got back on track within
a couple months.
The only way to succeed in the long term
is to be innovative. The only way to do
that is to keep learning new things.
That's a basic building block of success.
And here's an easy way to keep yourself
headed in that direction...
-------------------------------------------
DO SOMETHING NEW EVERY 6-12 MONTHS
-------------------------------------------
I don't care if your existing business is
humming along just fine.
It doesn't matter if your income is great
and you're feeling good.
If you get complacent, you'll end up
falling behind and eventually hit a speed
bump.
So force yourself to do something new at
least once every 6-12 months.
I'm talking about things like:
* Start up a creative new income stream in
your existing market
* Enter a new market that complements one
you're already in
* Enter a completely new market with an
entry-level product
* Create a new information product
* Outsource something you've always done
yourself
* Reach out to a new potential JV partner
with a creative proposal for how to work
together
You can see where this is going.
You need to get out of your comfort zone a
little bit and force yourself to learn and
innovate.
I'm not saying you have to be a genius,
and I'm not saying you have to turn your
back on a strong business that's working
well for you.
I'm just saying you need to keep yourself
from getting stuck in a rut. This has
always paid off big for me. Simple
example...
Just a few years ago now, I started to see
the "email marketing" world get very
crowded. So I spent some time figuring out
a new way to do it.
At the time, very few people were doing
what I call video promotions. That's where
you send an email to people and give them
a link to your own video where you
describe a product you're promoting.
I hadn't ever done one before, but I had
seen a couple and I thought I could do
something at least as good.
Within a week I had a brief script worked
up to promote a new product a friend of
mine had just released.
I worked with him to create a great bonus
for it, and I created some PowerPoint
slides to present the product and the
bonus.
My conversions for that promotion shot
through the roof. It was easily 50% better
than my last email-only promotion.
Now I do both kinds of promotions, and the
mix works well. I never would have found
that out if I hadn't done something new.
-------------------------------------------
GET SUPPORT
-------------------------------------------
It's just a fact that Internet business
can be VERY lonely.
Think about it. If you're doing this the
way most people do, you're starting your
business as a side thing while you still
have a full-time job.
That can be insanely hard. You can spend
lots of hours working on your business
after putting in a full day at your job.
It can be exhausting.
And I bet you know that you will hit snags
and failures along the way.
That's why you need support.
Find some marketing friends who can pick
you up when you're feeling down.
If your family is supportive, definitely
lean on them whenever you can.
Trying to get your business going all on
your own can be scary and wearying. Don't
be a lone wolf and shoot yourself in the
foot.
And even if you see some success and
replace your day job, you'll end up
spending most of your time as an Internet
marketer alone.
Sure, you'll have your family and the rest
of your life outside of your business, but
the business side of it can be just you at
your computer in your living room.
That's why I always suggest getting
involved in online forums or local
business groups. You might also consider
attending live marketing events.
Support and encouragement can be the
difference between success and failure.
Don't cut yourself off!
When I was building my business, I had
almost no support at all aside from my
wife (she was great, but she's just one
person).
That meant I struggled for years. Once I
started stepping out and making some
online friends, my career literally took
off.
Looking back, it was so simple. I was
spinning my wheels because I was locked in
a room trying to go it alone. Don't make
the same mistake I did.
-------------------------------------------
THE SUCCESS SHORT CUT
-------------------------------------------
If you focus on what makes cash, keep
learning, do something new 1-2 times a
year and get the support you need, you can
take a HUGE shortcut to success.
I'm not saying that's some kind of magic
formula. Those don't exist.
But I AM saying that you can speed up your
success if you do the five simple things I
just told you about.
I hope this helps.
All the best,
Michael Rasmussen
.
This message was sent by: Michael Rasmussen, 1563 Solano Ave #306, Berkeley, CA 94707
Manage Your Subscription:
http://app.icontact.com/icp/mmail-mprofile.pl?r=1048885972&l=35792&s=1OIZ&m=4508598&c=34314
