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- Jun 11th, 2008
- 12 Comments
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Imagine YOU live in Anycity, Anystate, USA and notice that your local shopping area is not selling Widgets!
EVERYBODY NEEDS WIDGETS!!
so you decide to take the plunge and open up your own local Brick and Mortar ‘We sell the BEST Widgets’ Store. You take another mortgage, borrow from your savings and family and open shop.
Unfortunately, if you are like the majority of small business owners… you do some business, but slowly (or maybe like a stab to your heart quickly) realize that maybe.. just maybe people don’t need widgets as much as you expected, or neglected to consider that the ‘widget store’ a few miles away is in a preferred location, with twice the amount of stock. Another small business. Another failure. Another statistic.
Over high up on my pedestal I look down on the mom and pops.. rather pity (in fact fear comes to mind too).. Don’t you know the place to be is ONLINE? Can you empathize with the hard worker who is putting his guts into this business only to cater to the people in his/her immediate vicinity? Its like being a first hand witness to the Rat Race in action.
BRING IT ONLINE
The motto could be ‘why aim to serve FEW when you can aim to serve MANY’
Typically I educate that the cost of failure when venturing online is almost non existent next to offline businesses that fail. Domain names cost $10, hosting is $120/year, free website builders abound. All you have to lose is time.
That’s if you want to make a small splash on the web. I however, plan to drop a cannon.
As I am currently positioned to dump a sizable amount of money into a website, I am faced with this thought:
Have I been naive all along?
Is there really as much difference to someone putting all their eggs into one expensive fancy website and someone opening up a local store?
Certainly the web has a much much wider market than Anycity, but how hard do you have to work to attract just the RIGHT visitors from the billions of website users, and competing websites. Will my ‘example’ 80,000 web visitors be comparable to the 80,000 pedestrians that walk into your local store? Statistically a greater %age of people who walk in a store will actually make a purchase than actions will result (even it be giving away something free!) from a visitor to a website (I made up this statistic but I am sticking with it). This actually means that you need probably triple to quadruple the quantity of website visitors to reach the same bottom line. This requires proper online promotions and staff to market the proper channels, which means ongoing costs.
Are websites becoming the new Brick and Mortar?
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- Mar 14th, 2008
- 6 Comments
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So.. the bad news..
I lost a great babysitter.
The good news? I am going to get all the juicy details about her new job.
As you know I live in Jerusalem, Israel. What you may not know - the locals are a melting pot of lots of ANGLOS, well in addition to a few other people
. If you are looking to open a Call Center, due to the high volume of educated, perfectly accented English speaking, willing to work for low pay individuals, Israel is YOUR move!!
Therefore the Call Center industry is HUGE here, the companies are just working harder to secure deals in European countries, since many of the jobs require very odd working hours .. 8 pm to 4 am is NOT uncommon.
Ok, so my Hawaiian house help, who was sticking around here for a while after meeting her Israeli boyfriend in Thailand, is currently working the following job: Jeremy Estes should pay attention, since I think you actually make money doing this even small time, so imagine the possibilities of big time.
An online ‘web’ directory is created and the focus is on specific niche areas. House painters, plumbers, electricians, etc.. The cold callers aka ex Hawaiian househelp receive a list of leads from each city, which is as easy as collecting a phone book, and approaches them with a “Could you handle more business?” the pitch continues with “We are only looking to find reputable people in the field, and if you meet our standards, we will list you in our online directory that is accessible blah blah blah..” then they say a few sentences that probably goes over most people’s heads.. “we are partnering with such and such sites, etc.”.. I am certain in addition to cold callers they do have a full time (outsourced people!!) backlink builders, and SEO specialists..
If you have the right script in front of you, and usually just ONE local business on board to start, then it should not be too hard to convince someone else to sign up! Meaning the conversion rate of sales made per call is much higher than it would be if you were sending the business to a direct sales page.
Dont be scared to work it OFFLINE to succeed ONLINE.
They charge $100/month for one LINK on their site. They do offer their callers a HUGE chunk of the first month as a commission, but this is all about continuity and the long term. It does seem daunting to be paying a base salary + the bulk of the first months earnings to your employees.. but when the 2nd month rolls around and the members are charged automatically, while your staff is generating more sales.. you are then on the road to serious business!
All it takes is ONE WEBSITE!!! and a bunch of gullible small business people who think the word Website is like what the immigrants thought of the word AMERICA!! Gold RUSH (oh and for many, America / Websites is the REAL DEAL!!)
Here is to YOUR personal Gold Rush!
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- Mar 7th, 2008
- 2 Comments
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One of the most inspirational speakers at the Rockin Conference I attended in Orlando was Gary Vaynerchuk. He has his game on 100% and will no doubt own the NY JETS one day . His passion is palpable and he literally sat there for HOURS after his speech, definitely hungry and tired.. until everyone felt that they had whatever piece of him he could give before moving on.
Some people, as Frank Kern so expertly delivered at the conference, have to do deep introspection to figure out WHO THEY ARE before being able to take over your market. You become 100% true to yourself, be 100% true to your Market, and the rest will follow.. Gary was BORN with it, and it seeps from his being. He was trying to teach it, and yeh.. some people will get lucky, and will train themselves how to market from their CORE.. but it may just be you either HAVE it or you DONT. Well let’s rephrase that. Everyone HAS something.. its just owning up to that and being great at it.
So can I make a living being a flirt lol.. I probably could.
As I went over to winelibrarytv.com to see Gary in action, I thought it was pretty ironic that the episode of the day, #422, is all about Kosher Wines. Do you know Gary that the symbol for tourism in Israel is 2 figures holding HUGE grapes! Well some of you may know where that Biblical story came from, and it didnt exactly turn out great, but the logo stuck.. - Check it out —>
I especially love how Gary says one of the wines smells like Bacon. Wonder if he knows Bacon is way up high on the NON Kosher list . So Gary, this chick from Israel thanks you and appreciates you for your appearance in Orlando, your personal time, your inspiration, and the support you gave our products today!
Right back at ya:
P.S - One thing that Gary has are FANS. TRUE fans. I dont think you would believe me if I told you HOW many people visit this blog, and READ, but DONT comment! Be a part of the conversation. It’s so much more fun for both of us, and then I can get to know you better, and maybe share with you some of my secrets hahaha.. seriously dont be scared. I know you are out there!!
My favorite Disney Picture (I was at the conference, so didnt get much Disney time therefore my Mom and Sis have all the pics!) so my ONLY picture from our trip - 2 of the kids sleeping on the plane.
Parting words of the day: Brand Yourself through Your strengths and Talents, Fans will Follow, and the rest will Happen.
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- Jan 11th, 2008
- 7 Comments
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I know I promised this video 2 days ago, but 2 things happened:
1) I got tired. Sorry. It happens occassionally. I will try not to let it happen again.
2) I decided last minute to remove all references to a report I was promoting in the VIDEO. Not because I dont find it worthy of promoting, in fact I am.. right HERE and read below.. but I wanted the video to be more timeless and well.. have the potential to promote ME :). However, instead of re-recording, I just took the same footage and chopped it up even more!
As is typical.. just as I am getting ready to do something, someone else comes along with a big bang! Andrew Cavanagh wrote a thread on the Warrior Forum suggesting similar ideas to what I mention in my video. As I suspected would happen, people were like WOW.. meaning the idea never occured to them. I did not actually see the thread in the forum. I think it was removed so he could instead pitch the idea and sell it. I advise you to check out this $19.99 product since unlike many other products where you purchase and dont know what you are getting, he has his original forum post in his sales pitch and there are no secrets.
What you are getting in this report (< -- link) are tips to approach businesses, lingo with with to approach them, how to build up referrals (which it really is all about), services to offer, prices to charge, outsourcing suggestions, and some basic SEO practices.. Basically helps you fill in the holes. Not to hype it up, but his price will only remain for a while, since that is the rules of this forum! Be expected for a serious hike in the next few days.
By the way I am quite serious about what I wrote in the video. If you go out and get the clients, I will take half (well assuming you charge them enough!), and show you how to get it done. It wont take long for you to cut out the middle man, and do it for yourself! So go ahead and click contact!
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- Sep 21st, 2007
- 3 Comments
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Recently I was so overwhelmed that I had a visceral reaction.
What caused me to feel soooo overwhelmed, when I am usually pretty lacking in the emotional department?
THE POSSIBILITIES AND THE IMPOSSIBILITY!!!
When you see the Web as I do, it is one cash vault after another…. and regardless of which direction you choose, you cant possibly leverage the web to do it ALL..
With so many Web 2.0 Social Networking sites up..
How many of you are taking advantage of them ALL to their fullest possibilities?
How many are even scratching the surface?
So imagine if you were aware of not only the vastness of all the WAYS to promote your ideas, but the IDEAS themselves were in great numbers… Can YOU imagine the feeling???!!
It is IMPOSSIBLE to Hit all the POSSIBILITIES…
Unless you are in a great groove and doing extremely well in one market.. here is a possible solution:
If you have the capital to afford, you can hire several people to each specialize in a different area and hit as many areas as you can. Most people will work for a decent price since they will appreciate the education you are providing - you could possibly even get interns! Then if one area does particularly well, ramp it up a bit, and find which works for you. Now I know this is a focused persons nightmare, but I dont know if it works anymore to JUST be doing one thing or another.
Many potential employers will ask you where do you want to see yourself in 3 or 5 years from now? Yes, we have all answered that question.. but with the fast cash being made on the latest web trends, the ONLY answer will be .. “if done right, whatever terms we make today will seem SO ridiculous in a few years from now”…. and if you are working on the web, whether as an employee, moonlighter, or BOTH, and this is NOT the case for you.. then you will have to live with all the money lost, and all the millionaires that were created while you trudged along slowly.
So what is it YOU do?
*Rat Race worker who moonlights on the web hoping it will take you somewhere
*A WAHM doing some ecommerce site/service in order to be home with your children
*An affiliate marketer with either a list, or PPC arbitrage, etc.
*A niche marketer making money off your niche via affiliate sales, product creation, etc.
*A consultant helping others get started online via specific services - IM in general, copywriting, etc..
*A web person building sites, SEO, what have you
*An adventurous on the fringe player making money with whatever is the latest trend
*A Resale Rights marketer
*An employee for a marketing company work in or out of an office
or
OTHER -
I probably listed more options than there are people reading this blog .