Here’s me looking grumpy, bored and very ill.
It was the start of a 5 night stay in hospital because of appendicitis.
But as always, if you look hard enough, you can find opportunity in a bad situation. And I did – and I thought it worth sharing.
My stay in hospital made me realise how the online crooks get away with their outrageous claims. Let me explain.
Below is a screenshot of an affiliate account I started at the beginning of the year because I needed a side line: the school fees were a constant thorn in my side.
Now bear in mind I went in to hospital on the 24th. In the next 5 nights this account sold $996.46 of stuff while I was lying in bed.
The screen shot was taken early on the 8th – my first day back in the office. By then $2,516 had gone through the account.
It really got me thinking. It’s easy to see why so many crooks are out there saying, “Earn a fortune without lifting a finger – let me show you how with my secret super duper cash making formula”.
But there’s something the crooks don’t tell you, which I will.
I hope this analogy makes sense to you.
Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, earns around $9 million a year from race fees and endorsements. Imagine him not being content with that, and he releases an ebook:
“How to run the 100m in under 10 seconds and earn millions from one race per month.”
Funny eh?
But that’s exactly what these crooks are doing when they promise instant wealth from their ‘proven secret formulas’.
Get this in to your head: there is no secret formula. It’s just old fashioned hard work and common sense marketing.
Everybody knows Usain Bolt has to live like a saint to stay in condition.
And his training regime would probably kill most people.
Then there’s the years of training and competing he’s done to get where he is.
Don’t forget the countless sacrifices he must have personally made to climb the ladder…everybody knows the list to get where he is, would be endless.
But even if you did it all, then there’s the thorny issue of natural ability getting in the way.
Get my point?
But – here’s where it gets interesting. You do have the natural ability.
I know this because you’re here. Nobody in their right minds would be reading this unless they were interested in direct marketing.
So you have the ability. We have level pegging there. So what else?
I’ll tell you. Just study – but choose your teachers wisely.
Study as long as Usain Bolt has been training – and the chances are you’ll do well. If you’re looking for a shortcut, try the lottery, but don’t hold your breath.
I’ve been fortunate enough to work alongside Drayton Bird for 9 years.
My profitable side-line is all down to what he’s taught me.
Of course I’m biased, but Drayton is the only person out there, that can boil marketing down to its simplest form. And when you can do this, you can make sense of what needs to be done.
(I bolded the ‘done’ because that’s one of Drayton’s gems – meetings and reports achieve nothing. Getting on with it does).
Drayton’s stuff works well because he cuts out all the fluff. Too many marketing folk overcomplicate the process, so business owners who “can’t see the woods for the trees” are easily taken in by their smoke and mirrors.
The truth is, it’s just not that complicated.
I can prove it too (but unfortunately you’ll have to do some work).
- Subscribe to Drayton’s “Commonsense Marketing”. It’s packed full of stuff. You’ll easily get the subscription price back through better results. If you don’t, you’re in the wrong business. Give up and move on.
- Build a list from your site. Personally, I use Aweber to do this. If your site isn’t building a list, your competitors are eating your lunch. Have a look at it right now.
- Send automated emails to your list, so you don’t have to lift a finger (do this through aweber). Rack up at least 20 or so. Any less and you’re not serious.
- Make sure EVERY single email is either helpful or valuable in some way. Ignore this and you’ll fail.
- Don’t be shy of sending emails. Your list will tell you when you’re sending too much. Find the sweet spot.
And if you’re sat there thinking, “I’m already doing that”, work out how to do more of it. It’s not rocket science (if you just rely on Google adwords and trade magazines, of course you’re going to hit a rut – what do you expect if you only do what everyone else is doing?).
Anyhow give it a whirl. Its childlike simplicity may not appeal to you. But it’s working just fine and dandy for me.
Best
Al
PS Only one thing cheered me up in hospital – the Fenton video (I guess you have to be a dog owner to find it funny).
PPS Want some tips on getting the most out of your auto-responders?
