Can this year be your best year ever? I believe it can. I believe the Internet levels the playing field of business in ways that are almost unimaginable.
If others can succeed you can succeed too.
We hear success stories every day of those who work hard, apply the fundamentals and end up with a real business to call their own. These successes come from every ethnicity, every country and every economic background.
Yet so many still struggle. So many work endless hours to make money online and never earn a dime.
Most who suffer this fate do so not because of their bad choices but rather because of the bad actions of a few online marketers who know how to prey on the desperate and under-informed.
I call them Vampire Marketers.
And one huge key to success online is avoiding the vampire marketers and their outrageous offers.
Today I’m sharing the fourth article in my “best year ever” series.
If you have been following along, you know that we are covering four topics. Four keys to building a lasting success online for you and your family.
Key 1 – Mindset
Key 2 – Commitment to excellence
Key 3 – Building on a four firm foundations
And today we follow up with Key 4 – Avoiding the hype.
What I like to call avoiding the “vampire marketers”
Let’s begin with a short case study.
How bad can it be really?
To illustrate just how hurtful these marketing methods can be I want to share with you the story of Pete.
Pete is a real person (a member of one of my sites) but I’m changing his name to “Pete” to protect his identity.
Pete is a well-meaning educated guy who wanted to quit his job and make a full time living online. He meant well but fell for the hype … hard.
Pete become convinced that safelists were the way to go. Pete bought the hype that he could mail to “millions of opt in subscribers” every day by only paying a one-time fee.
To Pete the logic seemed undeniable. After all, the people on the safelists had joined up and wanted to get Pete’s email, right?
Sadly, no.
As I shared with Pete during a consulting call, the reason people join a safelist is to send email, not read email.
In fact, many safelist systems are set up to help you avoid reading the email you will receive. Some teach members to get a Gmail account and never check it but to send as much mail as possible every day.
Success becomes impossible if no one reads what you send out.
But Pete was not to be deterred. He was in, all in.
So he worked the system. He joined dozens and dozens of safelists. Some were free but many were not. And he worked them all.
Here’s the thing you need to know – Pete worked his tail off. I mean he gave it the good old college try and then some.
In fact, Pete spent 8 hours a day for NINE MONTHS using safelists. He was the poster boy for hard work.
The results? You can guess it I’m sure.
Pete made no sales, no money, built no list and ended up losing thousands. Over ten thousand in fact.
The vampires had sucked him dry.
You see, there are many vampire marketers in the land. Safelists are but one example.
Others include
- The “one click wonder” run this software once a day sites
- The “secret software” that was recently released by mistake
- The “force Google to send you traffic” sites
- The sites that use actors who claim to go from being homeless to having more money than Donald Trump
- The sites that offer $50,000 in product for only $7.88
- And more.
You know what they look like already. Of that I’m sure.
You’ve seen the slick sales videos, the fake screenshots showing thousands in sales a day and felt the pull of the false scarcity they use as well.
Enough about the problem — let’s get to the solutions.
I believe there are five principles that will help you avoid the vampire marketing methods.
Whether you have never been taken in by the slick talkers or you can fully identify with Pete, embracing these principles will help you find, and stay on, the right path.
Stop looking for instant results
The plague of the online business world is the get rich quick scheme.
Countless thousands have fallen for the lies, lost everything and are left wondering what went wrong. They were promised quick results but instead ended up wasting time, money and effort.
These good people have a need – a real need – to make money online.
Many are not our for greed or to get “rich” but to survive. To save their home. To rebuild their dignity.
But none of that matters to the scammers.
If you have been a victim of these vampires I have an important message for you.
It is NOT your fault!
No one succeeds with their “secret software” or systems but them. Just like a pyramid scheme, the only ones who earn are the ones at the top of the opportunity.
Here’s the key to getting past the disappointment and building a real business online.
Stop blaming yourself for making the mistake and instead focus 100% of your energy on finding a business you like, you understand and one in which you want to work.
This is important enough to restate it …
- A business you like
- A business you understand
- A business in which you want to work
Because the real bottom line is this – very few get rich quick. Very few get rich without hard work. When it does happen the success is often fleeting.
The world is changing in many ways. But in this way it has not changed. Those who succeed work incredibly hard, are very patient and develop skills that bring success to them.
So stop looking for fast results and instead look for dependable results. Look for something that is repeatable – something that provides a return on your investment of time and money most of the time.
I know you know it’s true. And I know you are willing to work hard. Now it’s time to forgive yourself and move on.
Let’s look at the second key …
Find something that fits you
If you want to build a real online business it is important to choose something that interests you. Something that excites you. That thrills and delights you.
That’s what I did. I love my work (it’s not really “work” to me) because all I do is help people succeed and learn more about marketing.
Marketing and people are my passions so “working” is less about work and more about sharing. That’s a win-win for me!
As I’m writing these words I can truly say that there is nothing in the world I would rather be doing than sharing this with you.
So how about you? Can you make a living doing something you love?
I believe you can. Not only do I believe you can but I believe you should make your passion your profession.
There are many ways to do this. Too many to list here in fact so let me share three with you.
- Blog about your passion
- Create a product for beginners
- Offer personal help
Time has proven that you can make money online with almost any topic. So take time to identify what really races your engine and begin making plans to monetize your passion.
If you do you will find your work has become joy.
Choose a proven path
In a recent article I wrote about building your business on a firm foundation. I offer four such foundations for you to consider.
If you would like to read that article you can click here. It will open in a new window.
When it comes to choosing a proven path here is the heart of the matter.
In business there are two paths – innovate or duplicate. It’s really as simple as that.
Innovators invent new and exciting ways to do things. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were innovators. Mark Zuckerberg is an innovator.
While it’s true that innovators are often rewarded with massive riches, it is equally true that most innovators – the vast majority in fact – take huge risks, are misunderstood and fail financially.
Innovation is fun and cool but it’s also incredibly expensive and risky.
The thing about doing business online is this – there are already so many learning curves to navigate that navigating them all successfully AND innovating a new product at the same time is almost impossible for the average person.
So what’s a person to do?
Ethically duplicate someone else’s success.
Now by duplicate I don’t mean to steal someone else’s product and then compete with the original product owner.
That’s just wrong – and it fails almost 100% of the time.
What I mean is to duplicate the methods that successful people use so you can profit from them too. That might be with a product you develop or one you are promoting as an affiliate.
Once you have identified the area of your passion ask the following questions …
- Do the people in your niche blog?
- Do they build lists and use email marketing?
- Do they work together in joint ventures?
- Do they publish newsletters, either to consumers or others in the industry?
- Do they create products for people to buy?
- Do they offer an affiliate program for their products?
- What do people in this niche need that they can’t get easily now?
These questions and more can be the starting point for your success story. The answers to these questions can uncover opportunity galore in the field of your passion.
Don’t reinvent the wheel – use the wheel to ride to your destination in style!
Make a firm commitment
I think one of the biggest mistakes I see in those who struggle to make money online is giving up too soon.
It’s entirely human to have expectations and get excited. Nothing wrong with that. But when we have inaccurate expectations we suffer disappointment.
You see, we all hit the wall. We all suffer disappointment and frustration.
What commitment does is change our response to disappointment and frustration.
When you are committed you will ask “how can I solve this”
When you are not committed you will ask “how can I get out of this”
I believe the key is to be specific with our commitments.
If you are going to invest time in a new business set a specific period of time.
If you are going to invest money in a new business set aside a specific amount of money.
If you don’t know how much time and money it will take to succeed in the business you have chosen ask someone in that business.
Knowing these things will help you avoid hopping from one business to another, feeling like you failed the business when in fact the business failed you or you simply did not have the resources for that business in the first place.
Be willing to fail your way to success
When an airplane flies from New York to London it takes a very direct route. The pilot and navigator calculate the shortest possible route, factor in wind and weather conditions and more.
To the naked eye it would appear that the plane is on an entirely straight line, literally jetting to its destination.
But the truth is different.
The truth is that our plane is making thousands of minor course corrections along the way.
When the plane encounters turbulence it corrects course.
Notice it does not change its destination … it corrects course and keeps going.
It’s the same with us. We can reach our destination and achieve success online if we stay the course and are willing to make minor corrections as we go.
Believe me when I tell you that there have been a thousand times I wanted to give up on working online. In the early years I quit my business almost weekly in my own mind. I had doubts, and plenty of them.
But I did not give up. I corrected course instead and today the results are, to me, amazing.
Zig Ziglar once said that “anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you learn to do it well.”
There is so much wisdom in that little saying. The first solo ad I ever wrote was horrible by any standards. But I kept writing them. I wrote ten a day, twenty a day and sometimes fifty a day.
They were all bad.
But then they got better. And better.
If you try you will succeed. If you persevere time will become your ally.
Be willing to forgive yourself.
Be willing to commit to your success.
Be willing to correct course as you go without changing destinations.
Be willing to learn by doing – to do things poorly until you can do them well.
If you do these things I believe this will be your best year ever.
And that would be a beautiful thing indeed!
