JR's Marketing Insights

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on my own little secret project.  I’m writing my first original ebook, Productivity Power Plan!  I know I’m probably jumping ahead of where I’m supposed to be in Alex Jeffreys’ coaching program, but it’s an idea I’ve had in my head for a while and I don’t think I could wait any longer to get it written down.  There are many products out there on how to become more productive, but I’m writing this specifically from my perspective.  It should sound familiar to many of you out there: a person who does the majority of his work from home or would like to in the future.

The process of writing an original ebook has been both easier and more difficult than I imagined.  For example, I thought I would have trouble thinking of things to say, but it was quite the opposite!  I will go into much more detail in a future blog post, once the ebook is finished.  Right now, I have to concentrate on completing it, and don’t want to complicate the process!

I’ve had very positive responses on my previous blog posts on productivity, so I think I can count on my readers to give me a little help putting the finishing touches on the Productivity Power Plan.  Please let me know, what little tips and tricks do you use to stay productive?  What are your biggest downfalls or time wasters?  Do you have any questions about productivity that you would like an answer to?  If you have anything to add, please go to the link below and fill out the form with your comments:

Productivity Power Plan

Anyone who sends me their comments will be among the first to receive a free copy of the ebook when it is released!  You’ll get it before anyone else!  So please leave your comments at the site.

If you have any other comments, feel free to comment on this post.  Let me know if you think you could use a guide that shows you simple ways to maximize your productivity.

So far, I have avoided placing affiliate links on this blog.  My intention here is to provide value to my readers, not to make a quick buck.  I thought that if someone read one of my posts, and noticed an affiliate link, they would immediately assume that I was just talking up a product or service to make a sale, rather than speaking truthfully.  Therefore any link that was posted on this blog was a direct link that made me no money.

I have decided to reconsider this informal policy.  The main reason for doing so is that many of my fellow students in Alex Jeffreys coaching program have been using affiliate links within their blog posts, and appear to have suffered no negative reaction from their readers as a result.  In examining their results, I have come to the conclusion that as long as the information being provided is truly helpful, and not a sales pitch, readers will not be offended by affiliate links.

So here’s how I plan to proceed, faithful reader.  I will use affiliate links sparingly, where appropriate.  I will not be writing any posts specifically to drive traffic to an affiliate link, nor will I write about or link to products that I have not either personally used, or personally seen in use by my peers.  In other words, I’m not going to recommend a product unless I am certain it is useful and a good value.  I hope this arrangement will be acceptable to my readers.

Please let me know your opinions of affiliate links in blog posts in the comments.

• "Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the
  mind through repetition of thought.”
  -Napoleon Hill #
• got a Google Voice number, redirected to my cell phone. I just got a voicemail that was transcribed into a text message! #
• RT @MasterMindCoach "Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking." Steve Jobs #quote #
• Go grab this FREE list building blueprint: http://cli.gs/8dRq5b
  Be sure to thank me later! #
• RT @rogerloh "I believe in luck, and the harder I work the luckier I get." Stephen Leocock Pls RT #
• "Try not to become a man of success but a man of value."
  -Albert Einstein #

Staying motivated is an interesting problem.  Almost everyone has this problem from time to time, because it is impossible to be 100% driven all the time.  Eventually, your attention wanders, your priorities change, or you simply need a break to decompress.

For me, there are three aspects of staying motivated:

First you should build some downtime into your work schedule.  You need some time for yourself otherwise you will burn out quickly.  Even a 15 minute break can do wonders for your attention level and your productivity.  For me, I like to play computer or video games (see my previous post on World of Warcraft), but sometimes it’s better to get away from the computer screen and do something more active.  My kids and I have been into tennis of late, and that has been great fun as well as good exercise.

The second is to have a defined set of goals, and an actionable plan to reach those goals.  If your goal is “make lots of money,” that’s great, but without specific steps and milestones, you are going to find it hard to keep yourself motivated to do what needs to be done to get you there.  These goals can be flexible, because plans change, but you should at least have a framework for what you’re trying to accomplish.

Finally, and I believe most importantly, you need to have some specific rewards to go along with your goals.  If you have a goal to have 1500 members on your list, for example, your reward might be to buy a new computer.  Or maybe once you start making $100 per day, you take a vacation with your family.  Those happen to be two of my goals.  I am going to set up a page on this blog with my goals and my progress in reaching them, it’s on my “to do” list.  It is easier to stay motivated if you are working to get the things you want out of life rather than abstract concepts like list size.

If you have all of these things, you will find it much easier to stay motivated.  I should also mention that these steps are not something you should do once and never look at again, but something you should review on a daily or weekly basis and revise as your situation changes.

• "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
  or what's a heaven for?"
  -Robert Browning #
• Great article about a new "Google Slap" for affiliate marketers: http://bit.ly/lSHMF #
• Go grab this FREE list building blueprint: http://cli.gs/8dRq5b
  Be sure to thank me later! #
• "A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds."
  Francis Bacon #
• “Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.”
  –Charles Schulz #

Bear with me here.  I know this is a stretch, but I’m going somewhere with this.

I was recently sent a free trial to World of Warcraft by my brother-in-law.  My wife was sent a similar trial.  Apparently he and my wife’s sisters have been consumed by this game, and are trying to recruit us to join in their addiction.  I was frightened by the prospect, because quite honestly I have better things I should be doing with my time, such as growing my business.

But I did give it a test run, playing about 5 hours over the course of the 10-day trial.  That doesn’t in any way qualify me as a World of Warcraft “expert,” but I saw some interesting parallels between the path to success in WoW to internet marketing.

World of Warcraft is about gaining experience, or “leveling,” and being able to handle increasing complex and lucrative tasks, or “quests.”  In the beginning, you have weak weapons, very little skill, and you are easy to kill.  As you progress through the game, you can purchase or otherwise obtain better weapons, your skills increase, and you become more powerful and harder to kill.  Sound familiar?

Effort

Ever hear the saying “Anything worth doing is worth doing well?”  In World of Warcraft and internet marketing, you get what you put into it.  If you apply yourself and work consistently and intelligently, it is possible to find success, whether it is in achieving a top-level character or earning an income online.

At times, the work required might seem tedious or boring, but ultimately, the results will depend on whether you put forth a serious effort.  This includes putting in the time, avoiding distractions, and doing productive work, not busy work.

Tools

Having the right tool for the job is critical.  If you are trying to fight some powerful creature, you need a powerful weapon to defeat it.  If you want to develop a relationship with your prospects, you need tools like squeeze pages, autoresponders, and hosting accounts.  Without all these things you are just spinning your wheels.

Also in both cases there are a lot of tools out there that look good, but don’t really get the job done.  You want to make sure you carefully consider all your options before making a decision.

Friends

In WoW as in life, you’ve got to have friends.  When you first start out, you can’t venture very far without getting yourself into trouble.  Similarly in internet marketing you start out as a relative unknown, with no one willing to partner with you.  Things are slow going until you make a name for yourself.

On the other hand, if you go in knowing some people who are more advanced, you can quickly progress up the ranks by partnering with them.  Alternatively, if you join people who are similarly ranked, you can augment each others strengths and compensate for each others weaknesses.

…

I hope I didn’t lose too many of you with this post, but I personally found the comparison interesting.  I also thought I was being pretty creative, if I don’t say so myself.  That is, until I finished writing the above paragraphs, and decided to Google the subject of this post.  There are nearly 600,000 results!  Not quite as original of an idea as I thought, apparently.  In the spirit of togetherness with my fellow bloggers, here is a post by Ian Lurie that I found to be well articulated on the topic:

10 Ways Internet Marketing is Like World of Warcraft

• "Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the
  mind through repetition of thought.”
  -Napoleon Hill #
• The good thing about having a 3 month old is she makes me get out of bed early on a Sunday morning so i can get some work done! #
• RT @joshuabartlett New blog post video, how to easily create your own podcast in minutes! http://tx.ly/Sm Check it out #
• Go grab this FREE list building blueprint: http://cli.gs/8dRq5b
  Be sure to thank me later! #
• Yes, I'm a Lost fan: Watch the Entire Lost Panel at Comic-Con Without the Pesky Trip to San Diego! http://bit.ly/GKdMX #
• "Try not to become a man of success but a man of value."
  -Albert Einstein #

This blog has been in existence for just under 3 weeks at this point, and this seems to be a good time to write a post about my progress.  The intention of this blog is to detail what I am learning during Alex Jeffreys’ coaching program, and to chronicle my successes and failures along the way.

So far I think I have made fairly good progress, although I think I need to ramp up my efforts in certain areas.  First, the good:

I have built my mailing list from 0 to 83 people

Using mainly giveaway sites, I have offered free products to people in exchange for their contact information.  I have participated in four giveaways so far, and they work extremely well.  I have noticed that the first day a giveaway opens is usually the strongest; some have provided me with 20 signups on a single day.  I will try to increase this by learning to write better add copy for my free product listings.

I have built this blog to an average of 10 visitors/day

Not a particularly impressive stat, perhaps, but considering I had no blog and no traffic a few weeks ago, it’s still a good start.  This was accomplished mainly through posting on forums and commenting on blog posts.  I really need to increase my efforts in this area.

I’m finishing my first product

I should be releasing my first information product within the next few days.  I have been motivated by the creations of my fellow coaching students to put some serious effort into this area!  I have ideas for about four other products, but I will have to pick one or two to start with in order to stay focused and productive.

Now to the not so good:

I haven’t made any money yet

This is perhaps a little disappointing, but I’m only just getting started.  I’m laying the groundwork for success in everything I do, so it’s only a matter of time.  I may have to revise some of my strategies to improve my results.  For example, to date I haven’t used affiliate links on my blog at all, even where it would make sense to do so, for example when discussing tools that I use.  I agree with Matt Wolfe’s post here (also the inspiration for this post, by the way) that the proper way to go is to only link to products I can personally vouch for.  I may make this change going forward.

I’m not getting many comments on my blog posts

I can attribute this to two main problems, my style of posting and the amount of traffic reaching my blog.  Most of my posts have been sort of bland, “this is how I do what I do” sort of writing, that may not be terribly engaging for the reader.  My mentor suggests that blog posts need to be more personal, and perhaps less formal.  I’m working on this (wait for my next post).  As for traffic, with only 10 visitors per day I’m not having many people show up to comment in the first place.  As I improve my traffic, this should improve as well.

I hope this post doesn’t sound overly negative, because I really am encouraged by my results so far.  I think with a little more focused effort I could really improve the areas I have identified and ultimately achieve the results I am looking for.  The ball is in my hands, and all I have to do is run with it!

• Go grab this FREE list building blueprint: http://cli.gs/8dRq5b
  Be sure to thank me later! #
• Goodmorning to all the tweeple out there! #
• RT @jtmartin This is why I lost about 400 followers in one day. It makes sense now, I thought it was something i did : ) http://bit.ly/BcdJL #
• RT @TommyMcLaughlinLife is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away #
• "A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds."
  Francis Bacon #
• “Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.”
  –Charles Schulz #

Since I kind of jumped into this blog headfirst, I haven’t really taken the time to stop and explain who I am and what I’m trying to accomplish with this blog.  I haven’t even gotten a respectable “About Me” page up yet, for which I apologize.  So consider this my introductory post, only about 2 weeks late.

My name is JR Biasi, as I’m sure you realize by now.  I’m 29 years old, and I’m a fairly successful IT consultant.  I mainly work as a contractor, which in my case means I take short term contracts with large companies to work on the security of their networks.  The money is decent, but there is considerable downtime between contracts which can be pretty stressful.

I’ve been married for over 7 years, and I have three daughters, ages 6, 3, and 3 months.  We’re all from Long Island, NY (except the baby, technically; you’ll see why in a second), and we moved to south Florida about 8 months ago (that’s why).  We’re enjoying the weather and the people, although we still have a house up in NY that we’re renting since we can’t seem to sell it in this market.

So both my job situation and my housing situation caused me to seek out other methods of earning an income, which led me to internet marketing.  I’ve been trying to get somewhere for a while now without much luck.  I’ve purchased some products, learned a lot, but I haven’t really broken through to the point where I’ve made any real money to brag about.

My frustration with my lack of progress led me to join Alex Jeffreys’ coaching program.  I really liked how “hype-free” he was, and that he really seemed genuinely interested in helping others learn the ropes.  The coaching program started at the beginning of this month, and I must say that it has completely exceeded my expectations.  Not only is Alex the genuine article when it comes to his claims, but the group of students involved in the coaching are also so willing to help each other out and provide support that I’m blown away by the whole program.  I really believe we will be able to succeed with the help of this program, and I think it was the best decision I could have made for my own success.