Do you go to sleep at night and dream of a better life. A life where you do not report to a boss, where you set your own hours and where the money keeps piling in. Have you turned to internet marketing as a means to gradually carve an empire for yourself, so you can find success in a venture other than your 9 – 5 job? Do you wake up in the morning and do your research, read the next sales email in your inbox, realise that the “universe” has just delivered you your guaranteed success opportunity, so you buy the eBook and start yet another online project, despite all the others you can’t find time to complete.
I hear you. At the start of 2010 I had so many projects and purchased domains. Most of these I had put on the back-burner due to lack of time and the next idea. Yet still I was reading those horrible sales emails, looking for the next best strategy. I actually had a handful of websites back then that already were making good money, yet instead of focusing my efforts improving them, I was throwing time and money at Indian article writers, getting them to prepare content for my next AdSense website, my next CPA site or whatever the latest idea I had that was buzzing in my head. I wasn’t even looking at the content they were writing, I didn’t have time. I was simply putting their content into another template, marking it up with advertising code and launching another website. This would be followed by a half baked SEO campaign to see if it attracted traffic and made money. It was ridiculous. I had also literally paid thousands of dollars in 2009 for training courses, none of which were completed.
I woke up in 2010 and realised a number of things. These were (in order of importance)
I had no pride in what I was doing (I had not even read half the stuff I was launching)
I was not enjoying what I was doing (The hunt for cash and possible lifestyle in the future was coming at the cost of my happiness today)
I had too many projects going on so I was doing justice to none of my excellent ideas (and I do have excellent ideas)
Internet marketing was making me spend less time with my family, when I started in the industry to win more time
I had hours and hours of training programs to go through, all sitting idle on my hard drive. I may as well have thrown the money down the drain
So I made some New Years Resolutions.
I decided to not make any information product purchases in 2010
I decided to dramatically rationalise the number of projects I was working on and complete those before I started any new ones
I decided to start doing the things I love and make sure I do them well, to bring pride back into my work
Three months into the year, I can now report on these efforts and explain to you the lessons I have learned.
I love to write. This is the thing I do that brings me peace of mind and leaves me full of energy at the end of the day. I believe writing is my “art”. Writing also works really well with internet marketing, as one thing all great websites have in common is excellent content. So the biggest change I have made recently is to move all the time I was spending organising and compiling other peoples work (work that I was not even reading) back into writing. To do this…
I now have only three blogs, to put this in perspective, I have retired four others that I was getting other people to populate with content. I was spending all kinds of time administering these other blogs – dealing with spam comments, approving articles, running SEO initiatives, you name it. The worse thing with these blogs though is that they were just cash grabs. I had no care for the topics, no passion for the content. They are now gone.
Having cut them loose and freed up that time, I can now write my own content on topics I love and am passionate about. The three blogs I still own are this one, my Gold Coast Surf Travel blog and a blog I am using to track my progress as I try to achieve a long term goal of mine, which is competing in the Coolangatta Gold Ironman Race. Each post I make to any of these blogs I can spend time on, ensuring it is of the highest quality. I want to be proud of every single entry, so if anyone asks me about them, I can beam with pride that someone has appreciated my art. I know there are plenty of posts in these blogs already that I rushed, so I am also going back and cleaning them up, ensuring the rushed articles of past will be of the highest quality tomorrow.
I am now only pursuing three business models and all of them are related both to writing and to each other.
The first one is the Ocean Feather Internet Marketing business. This business combines affiliate marketing for passive income, with consulting to SMBs. The affiliate marketing side of it includes creating websites selling other people’s affiliate products as well as writing eBooks to sell on ClickBank.
With my eBooks, I have decided only to write one at a time. This includes launch and SEO. Only when I believe the whole project is complete will I move on to the next eBook. Any stellar ideas which come in the meantime must be noted in a spreadsheet, but not touched till the current eBook is complete.
With my affiliate websites, I have chosen three that were already making money and have decided to complete these before starting any others. I have over a dozen other affiliate websites in various stages of incompleteness which I will let fall by the wayside. If the domains come up for renewal prior to completing these three, I will not even renew them. Some I know I will never start again. The three left standing are Dating Down Under, Baby High Chairs and One Cup Coffee Makers. I will not start another affiliate website until each of these is as complete and automated as I can get them.
The second business I will continue is my online surfboard hire business. This is a local business I set up a while ago which is 90% run online. I have some advertising in the hotels etc but other than that, the online model lets me keep the overheads of this business to an absolute minimum. I always have ideas of how I can expand this business though and how I can use the really solid web presence I have already built, to promote other products earning more residual income. All this takes is my time meeting and talking to local business owners who may be interested in JVs and then writing about it… adding quality content to my website.
I have made a list of all these ideas and I am going to knock them on the head one by one. The online surf shop I added earlier this year is a great example of how I started on these ideas, some parts of it are already making money and there is plenty more where that came from.
My final business fits in with with the Gold Coast Surfboards website. In this website and its marketing, I am doing a lot of travel writing. As an extension to this I am going to try and became a freelance travel writer, selling articles to magazines and newspapers. This is the only information product I have allowed myself to purchase this year, it is not even an internet marketing one. I am going to put myself through the course and having had my first article published I will go professional. This means:
Register a business name
Build a website
Get some business cards
Look for assignments where I can take my family traveling
Its funny. Last year I felt like I was sprinting. Sprinting towards a goal that I could not see was getting closer, so I ran harder and more frenetically. I was running this way, running that way, still never getting closer. Now I don’t feel like I am running anymore. I feel like I am adding value. I feel like I am creating excellence. I feel like I am calmly approaching my goals. When I write and produce something worthwhile, I feel fresh and energetic. I feel enthusiastic and ready to do it again. When I check the financial side of the equation, I am starting to see the impact my new approach is having.
So the big lesson I have learned for 2010 in my business is to not take on too much. To finish this project before I start the next. I am sure these principles can be used in any small business. Lets face it, time is the one thing we always run out of, isn’t it!
There is this thing on the internet that people have been talking about, its called social buzz. You may have heard about it. This video takes you through the basics of what social buzz is, why you need it and what you need to do to get it for your website.
Many small business owners try and do everything. This tends to lead to half measures on the supporting business tasks like bookkeeping, design and marketing.
With internet marketing, every cent spent on tinkering is a cent wasted. You need to commit and give it the attention it is due. Why? Simple – its a competitive field. If you tinker, all your competitor has to do to beat you is tinker a bit more. Heaven forbid they commit to internet marketing before you do. Then you’ll be in real trouble.
If you are thinking about your next move in these times of economic turmoil, you have undoubtedly begun to think about your own business. With corporations now in the habit of laying off more employees than they are hiring, it’s a wise move to think of how you can protect yourself. Remember: if you are in control of your own fate, you are in the driver’s seat of your life. Your own business will succeed based on what you do with it.
There are millions of options available to any individual thinking of starting a business. How can you set up a company that will reflect your ideals, your goals? Perhaps the greatest solution is to start a lifestyle business. A lifestyle business focuses on what you love to do in your free time and making that a key source of your income. Can you imagine loving what you do and getting paid for it? That beautiful scenario can be achieved with a lifestyle business.
A perfect example of a lifestyle business is in outdoor sports. There is a feeling of individuality that naturally comes with outdoor sports.
Are there ideas you know would make a skiing experience better? The options are limitless: maybe there’s a type of ski you would love to see designed. If your expertise is not in design, you can partner up with someone who can help.
Do your summer days lead you to the beach in search of the perfect wave? Every surfer can think of hundreds of ways their surfing experience could improve. Maybe it’s the flexibility of a wetsuit. Maybe it’s the stickiness of wax for a surfboard. Whatever it is, your idea can lead you into a brilliant business move.
Sports are not the only side of lifestyle businesses. Abstract concepts, different ways of thinking and being, are just as viable.
Has meditation led you to success in other areas of your life? Maybe you can start a website to promote the best that meditation has to offer. The same goes for yoga. Directing the world’s yoga enthusiasts to a single website will send advertisers flocking in your direction.
In many ways, a lifestyle can be recession-proof. For example, maybe you love staying in shape and leading an active life. Fitness is both therapeutic and a way to extend your life. No matter how the economy is performing, people want to stay fit and feeling good. Why not capitalize on the moment?
If you are better in financial fields, there are plenty of lifestyle businesses suited for you as well. The idea of a lifestyle business is supporting a way of life and enjoying it at the same time. If you are a wise investor, you can direct your business from home and stay with your family for all the important moments.
Maybe you have the idea already in your head. Why not try and flesh out the concept? Maybe you need some ideas to get you going. If so, the internet is the way to research what’s going on with small businesses. You can even find some shining examples of businesses waiting for a partner with ideas like yours.
Many people ask me how to make a living with home based internet marketing businesses. Firstly, I point out it isn’t easy. You need to be prepared to work. Here is how you put it all together though.
You need to have the spirit of an entrepreneur. Be fearless when trying new ideas. The point is to TRY your ideas though, not to just have them. Too many people have so many great ideas they do not try, yet still wonder why they are not making money. So stop talking about your ideas, or thinking them up, just do something. Anything is better than another thinking session.
When trying your new ideas, test, test, split test and re-test.
Review your tests and measure the results.
Appraise what worked (as in, what made you money) and what didn’t
Discard all the ideas that didn’t make you money. Don’t waste time on them. Time is the scarce resource in this game.
Review the ideas that did make money, can you refine what you have to make it work more efficiently (on your time) or more profitably?
Turn your profitable ideas into a system
Repeat, duplicate, leverage.
Its as simple as that. Be heartless when discarding ideas that don’t work. Be ruthless when refine and duplicating profitable ideas.
You know, I continue to get email after email requesting a reciprocal link. I honestly do not know why people still do this. It is a strategy that is not very effective and to be honest, I believe it makes websites look sloppy. So I’ve basically sat down in front of my video recorder today and explained my thoughts on this issue. I hope you enjoy the video – I just hate these time wasting, useless and counter productive linking strategies.
This video also explains how to create backlinks to your website without wasting time, and mitigating the quality of your website, by using reciprocal linking strategies. You are welcome to embed this video on your own website/blog.
Many people ask me what a lifestyle business is, what I do and how it pertains to small and medium sized businesses (SMB). Here are the answers:
What is a Lifestyle Business
When I talk about a lifestyle business, it is more about your approach to business. Its all about work-life balance. Most people go to work to earn enough money to support themselves. Once they finish work, they have a small amount of time left in the day. Once they finish paying for their basic living expenses, they also have a small amount of money left. They then have the liberty to try and carve a lifestyle out of the small amout of time and money they have left after work and basic necessities are covered. Because their resources of time and money are scarce, they need to make some tough decisions – this is the opposite of the approach I am talking about.
A lifestyle business starts with what you want out of life. What are the parameters and requirements for your perfect lifestyle? A lifestyle business starts at this point and then creates a business model around these prerequisites. Time enhancement, money generation and portability typically become priorities in such model. When the business model is a success, it supports the owners lifestyle rather than consumes it.
Why A Lifestyle Business
The answer to this one is simple. Lifstyle businesses let you live your life on your own terms. You still get to help people, make a difference to others by providing a product or service of real value. But you do it on your own terms. And you do it in a way that puts the life of you and your family first, and ensures your business activities support your life values.
How Do Lifestyle Business Strategies Apply to SMB
The reason the strategies of lifestyle businesses are so readily applicable to SMBs are the goals of SMBs typically are very similar. Business owners of SMBs invariably created their businesses as they had a product or skill of real value they could market and they wanted to own their own destiny. Unfortunately and often, success in SMB means that the business owners get consumed by their businesses. They spend so much time in their business they cannot extract themselves to enjoy the fruits of their labour.
As the strategies of lifestyle businesses are all about automation and reducing time spent in the business, they are typically excellent strategies to offer the SMB business owner who cant see the end of any day, due to the burdens of his own creation.
