Working (sort of) away from home…

by Tony Shepherd on July 14, 2010

Here’s a picture of me checking my email and typing this blog, my netbook on my lap.photo

We’re taking a break up at the coast again, so I’m running things from the table in the garden, and through the bottom of a wine glass (evenings only of course, and the occasional lunchtime)

I’m still in touch with business partners and my priceless assistant is running the business for me so all is in safe hands.

We have a grab bag that contains all the requirements for ‘mobile business’ such as various leads, headsets, adapters, pen drives, passwords, spare power supplies, notebooks, access codes and other stuff that we need to run the biz.

It just gets chucked in the car whenever we wander off, along with my netbook and iphone and suddenly everything it totally portable.

We could (and have) run things like this for weeks and even months at a time.

It’s not all plain sailing though. Aweber has a weird glitch that wouldn’t let me access my account for 5 days. It let me in OK, but when I tried to write a broadcast message and save it, it just told me my login had expired and chucked me out.

Luckily I pre-scheduled all the important stuff before I left home and that’s all gone out fine.

So I feel like a gypsy in a way I never did when I was working at a 9-5.

A vacation was something that was ‘fixed’. You knew when you were setting off and when you had to be back at work.

There seemed to be a very definite start and finish to the whole thing.

It was like being at the starting line for a race…

‘BANG! then gun goes off and you have to get into ‘holiday mode’ as quickly as possible, and get up to ‘maximum enjoyment’ (always seemed a bit forced to me)

And for me there was always the thought in the back of my brain that ‘in another 9 days I’ll be back at work with no vacation for another 8 months!’

It might be my weirdness but I always felt the same on Sundays too - I couldn’t really enjoy the day any more after Sunday lunchtime because the big sweaty spectre of going back to the grind on MOnday morning always really pissed me off.

Now it all merges into one. No definite plans for when we come and go, and I enjoy working from a different location.

The pace of life is just as slow as it is when we’re at home.

And you know the best bit?

You don’t have to earn thousands per month to live like this.

You basically only need the same as your current salary, or that you currently live on.

All you need is enough to quit your job.

If you go into the whole IM thing giving yourself a hard time and trying to match marketers who’ve been doing it for years and are earning $10k, $30k, $100k a month you’re buggered before you start.

You’re pushing the bar too high. You’ll never make the leap.

Jeez, when you experience the freedom of having your salary equivalent go into the bank each month but WITHOUT you having to go into a place of work 40 hours a week or more…

Well you just might decide that you don’t WANT to earn $30k a month and you’re more than happy with free time for you and your family and just enjoy the couple of grand that means you don’t need to work for an employer.

If you’re reading this and thinking ‘It’s OK for you -you’ve done the hard work already’ then you’re dead right, I have.

So now it’s your turn.

And if you feel all fired up and think ‘YES I CAN do this’, then you’re feeling the exact same emotion that me, and most other successful marketers felt at some point in their lives.

You’ve just got to put one foot in front of the other and move forward a step at a time.

The first one’s the worst of course :) but after that they get easier.photo2

Here’s what  my ‘desk’ looked like earlier as we prepared dinner.  Fresh local seafood done in garlic and white wine, and lotsa wine to drink too.

I’m off to relax now, but allow me to leave you with this thought…

Before I got into marketing I had various jobs and didn’t care too much for any of them.

Also I never earned much above average income before I got into internet marketing. usually below.

I was just some bloke struggling with finances, hating my time being sapped by my employer and dreading the thought of getting up, day after day, to go into work until I retired on a crappy pension.

The pictures in this post might look like the ultimate boring experience to many peopke reading this. But it’s how I (we, as a family) choose to live.

The key word of course is ‘choose’.

You can substitute the above pics for Las Vegas, St Tropez or Kilimanjaro when it’s your life. You can ‘choose’ what you want.

But if it’s putting you off even trying because you think I’m some super intelligent, born to it marketer than think again. 
I’m just some bloke who wanted a bit more. So I started messing about on the internet because I was more scared of what would happen if I didn’t change my life than the possibility of failure.

Start messing now guys. It can change your life but only if you switch off the telly and get on with it.

The kids are in bed, and I’m off for some (more)  wine and a chat with my wife as we watch the sun go down over the bay.

See you when I get home.

Popularity: 86% [?]

{ 21 comments }

A snapshot of my day.

by Tony Shepherd on June 17, 2010

photo4

The photo on the right is the first thing I see in the morning. It’e the view directly above my side of the bed. This morning when I heard the kids wake I up I grabbed my iphone and took this picture. Read on to find out why…

I keep getting asked about what I do on a ‘typical’ day. Well to tell the truth there is no typical day. I sort of make them up as I go along. I have a diary and certain things need doing by a certain time, but I’m not a good example of a dedicated marketer.

I do my Homer Simpson noise (Doh!) when I read about marketers who make a big deal of escaping the 9-5 then put in more hours than they ever did as employees. I’m not trying to tell you there’s no work involved when you’re a pro marketer, there IS.

But for me the whole point of having this sort of freedom isn’t to waste it - it’s to enjoy it while it happens. ‘But Tony why don’t you work your arse off and make $5million dollars this year, then relax? Well two reasons really, until my children start going to school full time I want to spend the time with them that I’ll never ever have again.

And secondly - to me the evidence all points towards internet marketers earning 5 million in a year and then continuing to work just as hard.  It’s not for me I’m afraid. I could drop dead tomorrow while uncorking a bottle of wine, so I like to get my fun in while I can, not at some distant point in the future.

So with that in mind, I thought I’d tell you about my day.

First thing in the morning - 6.30am and it’s my turn to get up with the kids. We might not have a daily schedule but they certainly do -get up, bounce around and then off to various school and pre-school groups. So today they wake me at 6.30am and I herd them downstairs, without even enough time to nip into my office and check my emails.

It’s a glorious sunny day and warm already so we decide to eat breakfast outside. photo(Plenty of pulling funny faces for the camera) but these hazy, warm mornings are great. Especially as we now have a trampoline in the garden and the kids can eat then go bounce around for half an hour while I drink a pint of coffee and wait for them to throw up their Rice Krispies.

My wife joins us at 8am and after a morning chat I sneak off for a shower leaving her to clear away the breakfast things and dress the kids. Sexual equality my arse - if Germaine Greer came to my house she’d soon be making us all a cup of tea, bless  ‘er.  She’d go home thinking Feminism was a body spray.

(Ladies - before you email me complaining I will point out that although I wear the trousers in our house, I’m usually told what colour to buy and when I can put ‘em on. In reality I’m the least sexist person you’re ever likely to meet.)

I take 10 minutes to check my email and stuff, in my workroom. I put a WSO on the Warrior Forum last night, purely as a list builder (although there is a back end to pay for the cost of posting). As it happens the one I ran 2 nights ago brought in a little less than $1,000 (that was a PLR offer) and the one last night has brought in 65 new subscribers and almost $100 in revenue. (Screenshot below) I keep saying that a WSO is the most under-rated, most targeted ad you can possibly place in my particular niche, and if you haven’t yet tried it you should. Just keep away from the whinging Nellies who call it home.

 

aweberI open a new list in Aweber for each new WSO or squeeze page that I do. The reason for this is that I then stack up a series of three or four follow up messages and gently sell related products over the next few days while the new subscriber is still ‘warm’. It’s a bit like doing a minlaunch but it’s all automated.

Likewise I do a quick check on payments that have come into the Paypal and Clickbank  accounts overnight. I’m always yattering on about ‘getting more payment buttons out there!’ but this is the reason why. Subscription payments, orders, and various other chunks of money have been dropping into the accounts over night and continue to do so. All these are the cumulative effect of continuously putting websites up, month after month.

The kids have been packed off to their various activites by now and my wife returns and starts work in the workshop / studio she made when she stole the dining room. Actually being able to work at home together is one of the things we decided we wanted to do years back, and it’s still good to be able to stop for a coffee and 10 minutes chat whenever we feel like it.

I follow up on a few things I need to do. I chat to a business partner, Tony Newton on Skype txt. We’ve got a few projects on the go and a few more in the pipeline so it’s pretty much a status report. He works from home like me. In fact last week we met up for lunch and a brainstorm and moved our projects forwards more than could ever be possible over the telephone and or Skype. So the long, relaxing meal was totally essential (that was for my accountant). After we came away from the country pub with bulging notebooks Tony tells me the exhaust fell of his car on the way home. Shouldn’t have crammed down that extra onion ring mate!

In my email I also find one from a member of the mastermind group I’m part of, about a launch we intend to support in August. Seems like a long time away perhaps? Actually by planning this one well in advance we hope to make a killing financially. We shall see. Also I find that a little planning in advance usually removes the horrible feeling of knowing you’ve got a sh*tload of work to do and only 36 hours to do it in!

Having cleared the ticket desk, my support person (hello J!) emails me asking if I’ll pick up something for her from the village shop, that she can’t get where she lives, and drop it off when we have our monthly meeting on Saturday. Who works for who eh?? It’s no trouble of course - she’s saved me from several disasters in the past, and is now used to the way I work, which is unusual to say the least.

Another email from another techy who’s jumped on board to help with the change over to another affiliate system. He’s completed the request I emailed him last night and everything is now a step closer. Good stuff.

photo22I realise it’s far too nice to stay in the house so I grab my netbook and head into the garden, and plonk myself down at the picnic bench, taking a quick snap with my iphone to show you.

Within minutes I realise it’s too bright to see the screen (which I usually can) and go for a bounce on the trampoline instead. Once I manage to push the prolapsed vertabrae back into it’s rightful place and the nausea passes, I sit back down on the bench, but this time with a pen and my ‘ideas’ book, to see if anything flows.

After jotting down a few ideas and generally chilling out for half an hour I decide to go back upstairs to my main computer to write up this blog post.

Upstairs I find something that I was going to mention in a blog last week but forgot so I go back into the garden and bug my missus to take a picture of me holding a certificate that Clickbank sent to me last week.

It’s to celebrate my status as  ’One of Clickbank’s top vendors” . I’ve been part of various Clickbank things over the years but I don’t remember getting a certificate before. Over time I decided the years the best apsect of being a ‘top vendor’ is that they give you a dedicated number to phone with your own account manager at the end of a phone line. The first time they told me about this I phoned it, not expecting it to be an actual person. but bugger me it was! I don’t know who was more surprised - me or him.

photo3We ended up chatting about the weather in our respective countries. On a slightly less positive note, a few years back I wouldn’t have had a hope in Hell of getting into the top vendor ‘club’ (which I’m told is the top 1% of all sellers) because BIG gurus were making BIG sales through Clickbank.

These days, although my sales are in the six figure bracket, it seems that they’ve lowered the bar quite a bit, and now it’s easier to become a top vendor. To paraphrase Groucho Marx (I think) It’s not as much fun being in an exclusive club, when they’ll have someone like me in it!

I also thought this photo would show the truth about what a total scruffy sod I am while I’m working. So yes, I do work in jeans, t shirts and whatever else I decide to fling on in the morning. That said, as I’ve said before, I’ve worn £1,000 suits and still make them look like someone’s thrown a homeless person at me. What can you do eh?

A little more ‘pottering’ and a bit of time at my PC somehow brings the day to 4pm, which is the time I’m writing this. It doesn’t seem like I’ve got a lot done, but I’ve left instructions for people I work with, been brought up to speed with various projects and consulted with partners about the next steps. It has been a lazy-ish day, but I’ve been truthful about it, and I’ve got some ideas in my book along with a to do list for tomorrow.

Much of being an internet marketer is about thinking, not sitting at your computer endlessly doing the rounds of Facebook, your Paypal account, your email and the Warrior Forum. That is NOT work, it’s fannying about on a computer. There’s a big difference.

I’ve also sent some stats downstairs to the other computer (I don’t even currently have a printer in my room!) so that later I can read some stats to do with sales, conversions, opt-in’s, unsubscribe rates etc and make any changes in my biz based on those. I do this regularly, although certainly not once a day as some of my more anal colleagues do.

Would I be able to judge my actions more precisely if I did check my stats once a day? Absolutely, but it would bore the tits off me and I’d have missed the trampoline part of the day.  Which is more important? Ahhh - now that’s YOUR decision, for YOUR business.

This evening, judging by the weather my wife and I wil be eating outside once the kids have gone to bed. A few nights ago we were out until 10pm as dusk came, chatting, drinking wine, watching the sunset, and watching the bats swoop over our heads. As I said in a chat with Martin Avis when I was telling him about it the other day…..

‘They’re supposed to have radar or sonar or something but you should have heard the bloody clang when one of them came into the house and flew into the radiator’

The day I’ve just described has been real. It’s the closest I can get to a ‘typical’ day. Some days I work harder, some not at all. ALL of them I enjoy. Sometimes I enjoy working through the night when everyone else is alseep and the house is quiet and still.

Whatever your own personal view on my lifestyle, and how you’d do it very differently or in the same sort of way, the message you’ll get from me is the same. Start setting up a few simple systems now. Start building a few blocks. I live a blessed life for all sorts of reasons, but it didn’t appear in a flash of smoke and involve a magic wand.

But if you start building your business right now, in a few weeks you’ll be able to see how far you’ve come, and in a few more weeks, well your life could seriously start to change.

Here’s my deal. If you want to check out the systems I’ve put in place, the business I’ve built and how you can do exactly the same, then why not check out my Kickstart Course. For two dollars I’ll give you 14 days access, which means plenty of time to check out the first couple of lessons. The if you like it, stick with me and we’ll build a business together. If not, just leave. It’s as simple as that.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

So what will tomorrow bring?

It depends on the weather, my inbox, my mood, the kids, my diary…………

Comments welcome as always :)

Popularity: 100% [?]

{ 23 comments }

Bloginuity

by Tony Shepherd on June 8, 2010

namecard2-med1I launched Bloginuity a few weeks back, in partnership with blogging expert Tony Newton. We closed it after a few days because the demand far outstripped the number of places.

We’ve done some restructuring, and brought a few new ideas on board so we’re now opening the site again to new members.

You can read the full details at Bloginuity.com but here are a few details you might want to know.

Firstly you’re not going to find anything like this for the crazy price we’re offering. To tie in with my passionate belief that starting an Internet Marketing business should be affordable to all, we’ve kept the monthly fee at a level where many people won’t even notice it. And you should be more than covering your membership fee pretty quickly soon.

Bloginuity basically supplies you with a plug-in-and-profit Clickbank review blog each month. You just plug in your ClickBank ID, make a few tweaks to make your review blog unique and upload it.

The totally unique blogs we provide each have 5 ClickBank product reviews. Since your CB ID is embedded in all the product reviews, you profit regardless of which product your visitor buys.

Check out Bloginuity.com for more details.

Remember you couldn’t even get five review articles written for the crazy price of a Bloginuity membership let alone get five top qaulity reviews, a unique Clickbank review blog, graphics, and everything else!

Popularity: 22% [?]

{ 1 comment }

Internet Marketing - Sh*t or get off the pot!

by Tony Shepherd on May 18, 2010

It’s a freaky thing, internet marketing.

The successful ones are all completely different.

Unique.

I’ve read SHEDLOADS of blog posts, articles, and
opinions  about how why certain marketers become
successful and others don’t.

Most people reckon successful internet marketers
share certain characteristics.

I think that’s crap.

I think internet marketing FAILURES share certain
characteristics.

Let’s look at IM gurus.

They have more DIFFERENCES that similarities.

They’re pretty unique thinkers, have different
styles and ways of communicating with their
followers.

Some have suits, some have shorts.

Some work hard, others find shortcuts.

Some are young, others not so young.

Some are great writers, others great speakers.

Some are techies others not so.

There are a LOT of differences.

The reason (in my humble opinion) that most
successful internet marketers end up that way is
because they’re unique, NOT because they share
characteristics.

‘All successful people set goals’ (no they don’t)

‘All succesful people are creative’ (nope)

‘All successful people live in the moment while
planning for the future’ (pleeeease)

‘All successful people are world class problem
solvers’ (I once watched a multi millionaire
struggle to find his way out of a lift)

This is just my opinion, and I’m fully prepared to
get shouted at because of it…

But I don’t think you can ‘bottle’ success.

Nor do I think you can ‘learn’ to be succesful.

You either are or you’re not.

I think these ’success habits’ have been
artifically manufactured so that people can sell
you products about goal setting, or motivational
strategies.
Here’s my take on why some people are succesful
and some people just aren’t.

1. Some people just aren’t up to it mentally.

If you’ve ever seen X factor or ‘Britain’s got
talent’ you’ll realise that a significant number
of people who want to become successful have very
real mental issues.

And likewise some people just don’t have the
required grasp of reality to become successful
internet marketers.

I’ve spoken to people at IM seminars who are just
bloody scary. Trying to enjoy a beer while some
space invader stares into your eyes from a
distance of three inches asking for a JV and
showing you iphone pictures of the ‘hamster hotel’
he built for his pets is not my idea of a good
night.

On the other hand speaking to up and coming
marketers like Andy Michaels, David Chamberlain
and Sean Beardmore who I met in Bristol were great
to have a pint and a chat with, without any sort
of deep IM conversation at all.

Yeah I’m name dropping because these lads could
have easily been full on, asking me and the other
established marketers for JV’s and promos but they
didn’t. They just had a pint and a laugh and when
the conversation naturally turned to marketing,
eveyone there was happy to chat.

 

2. Rule breakers

I LOVE ‘em. I can’t stand anyone who shoves their
opinion on me because as far as I’m concerned it’s
live and let live.

This is something that is lacking in those people
who fail online.

A paralysing fear of some vague authority is one
of the major reasons I think that nips success in
the bud.

It’s good to take note of what established
marketers do (as well as what they say) but don’t
suddenly forget you’ve got the ability to reason
just because someone’s been in IM a few years
longer than you.

This next bit is tough.

I think a sign of someone who’s going to struggle
to get much success online is when they ask a
question that starts with ‘Am I allowed to….?’

or ‘Can I do this….?’

I don’t know the answer. And anyone who says they
do is bullsh*tting.

I know what I’M allowed to do - but you?

How the Hell do I know what you’re allowed to do?

If you don’t understand what I’m saying here then
seriously consider taking a different direction in
life.

You make your own rules in life. YOU - nobody
else.

Marketers who are usually going to find success
ask questions that begin

‘How do I…..?’

See the difference?

They’re asking for advice NOT permission.

They’re finding a way.

I read a thread a bit ago on the Worrier Forum
(intentional typo)

There were over 30 replies to this particular
post.

Of those 30, more than HALF were laying down
RULES.

‘You should never….’

‘Always make sure you…’

‘NEVER start your …..’

It’d bug me even if the people posting their rules
were multi-millionaire marketers.

But they were pretty much unsuccesful marketers
who were wafting their opinions round like eggy farts.

Yet other new marketers - people who were
genuinley trying to learn were leaving ‘thankyou’
comments.

Successful marketers break, bend or find a way
around rules. Sometimes legally, sometimes not.

Before you judge ask yourself this

‘Is something wrong because it’s against the law?’

Now look - we probably shouldn’t break the law.
But successful marketers are open to the
consequences of doing so, and don’t react like a
frightened rabbit at the thought.

You ever park illegally for a few minutes? Or lie
about your income on a credit card application?

I think it’s important to be aware of of rules, but
then make your own mind up whether you’ll follow
them or not AND take the consequences.

If this frightens, upsets you or makes you
angry then you’re probably better off closing this
page now.

You’re not likely to become successful online
by being a sheep.

But by all means buy products,
join membership sites and find yourself an
expensive mentor.

Because doing this works.

BUT ONLY if you extract the bits that ‘fit’
you and understand that rest might not be for you.

I get refund requests from people who say
‘this product wasn’t for me’

They’ll be saying that as they retire in poverty.

(Sorry - I TOLD you this was going to rattle cages)

I’ve bought thousand dollar products that were
crap, except for one golden nugget of wisdom.

It’s that nugget I paid a grand for, and that
ultimately made me a lot of money.

And yes, in my early days online I’ve bought
thousand dollar products then had to pay my mortgage
payment with a credit card.

In Bristol I got into a great conversation with a
marketer who really made me sing for my
supper (or the beer he bought me)

He challenged me about why I did something in a
particular way. He really wanted to know why I
ran my business in a certain way while another
marketer he followed did things quite differently.

I explained fully why I do the things I do.

There was almost a bliding flash as he realised
that, as physics is now exploring, there are
MULTIPLE REALITIES when it comes to internet marketing.

By that I mean there is no wrong and right.

No ’shining path’ or ‘road less travelled’

No answers, enlightenment or Nirvana.

There’s just YOU.

On your own.

Making decisions about your business.

No governing body.

No safety net.

I’ve said it before but nobody is going to
phone you and give you a bollocking for doing
something differently.

There is no ‘boss’ in IM.

You can read a thousand posts like this, a million
forum posts and a gazillion products and you’ll
be no nearer to ‘getting it’

Because there’s no ‘it’ to get.

There’s only YOU.

THere are two states of being for a professional
internet marketer like me:

1. Well I made a proper arse of that.
2. Wow, that worked well.

At the end of the day you have to put a smile
on your face and press the ’send’ button.

Just get on with it.

And then see what happens.

It’s no answer. Because there isn’t one, except
for this…

At some point you’ve got to either sh*t or
get off the pot.

You’ll know when this happens, because two things
happen.

The talking stops and the action starts.

So the up and coming marketing dude that I met
in Bristol..

the one who’s quit his job and is working round
the clock to give his young family a fabulous
life

(you know who you are - your face lit up like
a Christmas tree when I asked how your young
‘un was doing)

he’s actually getting on with it. Kudos.

And that’s the nearest thing to a secret that
I can give you.

It’s true when gurus tell you not to try to re-invent
the wheel.

But for God’s sake roll the bloody thing in a different
direction to everyone else :)

Popularity: 34% [?]

{ 51 comments }

Free Copy Of My 67.7% Converting Squeeze Page

by Tony Shepherd on April 19, 2010

Short and sweet post.

If your squeeze page is currently converting at 30% and you get 1000 people hitting it a month, in theory you’d increase your list size by 300 people that month. If you had a $97  upsell for your new subscribers that converted at 5% you’d increase your bank balance by $1455 in the same period.

But if you used MY free squeeze page template (link below) and it continued to convert at 67.7% as it has for me, you would end up with 670 new subscribers and $3249 profit from exactly the same traffic and upsell.

Makes you think eh?

Grab my 67.7% converting squeeze page by clicking the image below (there’s an offer in there too that you’ll like).

Click Here To Get My Free Squeeze Page Temnplate

Click Here To Get My Free Squeeze Page Temnplate

Popularity: 22% [?]

{ 0 comments }

Here’s a squeeze page product that I’ll be using…

by Tony Shepherd on March 16, 2010

Squeeze pages are a lot like blokes.

They can be very ugly but still have a lot of success :)

They can be good looking and appear to be successful but in reality don’t perform well.

They can be very small but still manage to…. - I think I’ll stop the analogy there.

Squeeze pages have become a BIG part of my business over the past few years.

Quite honestly it’s hard to fault the model.

You offer something of value for free and in return the visitor allows you to add her email address to your mailing list, and contact her about other offers you may have.

Once she’s opted in, you can present her with other offers and enticements in the form of One Time Offers, Upsells, Cross-sells etc

You know the score.

You’re probably even expecting a one time offer when you opt in for most marketer’s lists these days.

Nothing wrong in that.

I opt-in to lists every single DAY just to see how they do things behind the scenes. It’s fascinating and a constant source of ideas to pinch.

But there’s a right way and a wrong way to ‘do’ squeeze pages.

It took me a while to sort out what converts and what doesn’t.

Here’s a quick test for you - which of these two squeeze pages converts best:

main1

 

or…inv

 

 

 

 

 

 The bottom one does - the plainer one without the fancy graphics converts TWICE as well as the other one.

Tracking and testing.

And without doubt there’s an ART to building squeeze pages too.

It takes alot of time and effort and quite honestly it’s not as easy as it looks - lining up bullet points and knowing where to put the opt in forms, graphics and even video.

Recently I just grabbed myself a copy of a fabulous little product on squeeze pages.

To be honest I just got it for the templates that were included with the product - I KNOW 100% I can use these to boost my list size, and as the ‘entry point’ to the mini-funnels that are currently feathering my nest.

But I’m writing this blog post to recommend it to you because if you’re not having much success with your squeeze pages or the whole thing is making your head hurt, then do yourself a favour and cut save yourself a LOT of time by investing in the following product right now.

It’s priced at $97 but if you use TONY’S DISCOUNT LINK you’ll be able to get your copy for $47, at least for the time being.

There are videos and tutorials in abundance, including one that caught my eye - an autoresponder tutorial that goes through the whole buyer/prospect seperation thing, which MOST people, including many big marketers get badly wrong.

The reason I got this product though, was that I think the quality of squeeze page templates (they work with copy, video and images) are just excellent.

You just plug ‘em in, make a few tweaks and that’s it.

The girls (Sonia and Angela Panesar) who have just released this have tested the pages and they say they’re proven to convert.

I personally know how much it matters to have high converting squeeze pages, and I know that I couldn’t get these templates made for under $400 from a professional webbie, so getting them for just $47 HERE along with a full course on how to profit from squeeze pages isn’t something I was going to miss.

Grab your copy and start REALLY using squeeze pages in your business.

Popularity: 22% [?]

{ 10 comments }

Getting it out….in public!

by Tony Shepherd on March 2, 2010

Here’s a screenshot of my computer desktop:project
The file you’re looking at is called ‘Work In Progress’
It’s full of two types of product.
1. Things I’m working on at the moment
2. Things I seemed to have abandoned and will probably still be in the folder this time next year.
Quick scene change to my Paypal account.
I’m looking at a chunk of payments that came in over night.
I’m delighted to say that the payments for just today run to a full page and a half of my account.
There hasn’t been a morning for a long time now where I HAVEN’T received payments into my account overnight and woken to find them grinning at me over my morning coffee.
I grin back.
But then I had a SHOCK.
I had a look through the various reporting and search facilities in Paypal and found a VERY disturbing trend.
NOT  A SINGLE ONE OF THE PRODUCTS THAT I HAD LEFT TO ROT IN MY ‘WORK IN PROGRESS’ FOLDER HAD EVER MADE ANY MONEY FOR ME!
I was shocked.
Scandalized even.
I’m supposed to be a successful marketer yet a full 100% of the projects that I’d NOT launched had failed. All of them.
There’s no need to re-read this post guys - I AM taking the p*ss.
I’ve been on calls with people who can’t understand why their business hasn’t made any money.
Usually one question from me gets them thinking…
‘How many Paypal buttons do you have out there?’
The answer is invariably ‘none….but I’m working on…..’
Well I understand.
I’m currently working on fourteen TWO million dollars products.
I’ve been working on them (sort of) for over a year now.
Guess how much money those million dollar products are actually worth while they sit in computer wasteland?
Bugger all.
Now consider this.
About two weeks ago - maybe three - I built a new website offering a free Wordpress Plugin thingy called ‘CookieFire’
The whole thing cost me under $100, including source code, graphics and twiddly bits.
Behind the squeeze page it was offered from, I build a small sales funnel.
The results - in just a few weeks?
Over 1100 new people added to my list
Over $4,500 in related sales
Over 30 new people added to my continuity program.
A nice little result…..
But this is hardly the mark of a genuis I’m sure you’ll agree.
I actually make a gin and tonic (with crushed ice and lime) better than anyone else in the world (fact) and my extremely tastless joke about the lesbian astronaut ALWAYS makes people smile…
But putting out a free product and chucking an upsell behind it?
It’s not exactly la science de fusée is it?
You following me here chaps?
Unless you get your idea out where people can click on a button and buy it then you won’t make any money.
I still make money from websites, ebooks and other such stuff that I made YEARS AGO.
People still click on ‘em and people still buy ‘em.
Once you have a product out there, the funs begins.
Because promoting products, telling people about them, contacting other marketers in your peer group about adswaps and possible JVs is the scariest (whoops there goes that comfort zone) FUN you’ll ever have online.
And it’s profitable.
I’m just as guilty as every single person reading this of not putting out enough products.
I STILL have a folder full of unfinished products.
But I’m also very adept at FORCING myself to get products finished and launched, because the freezer won’t fill itself y’know?
I understand what makes money.
And when it comes down to basics it’s just one thing - you have to provide something for people to BUY.
Doing the other stuff - traffic, JV’s, promotion, sales copy etc are just EXCUSES.
Reasons that you (and me) give to excuse the fact that we don’t have enough buttons out there.
I can’t build a membership site.
What do I do?
I ask my inhouse techy to build one for me.
AH HA Shepherd!!!!!! Bastardo!!!!!
EASY FOR YOU!! You scream. Mr Wealthy marketer can click his fingers and sort the problem.
Yep.
But the reason I can do this is because when I came to build my FIRST membership site years and years ago with no clue and even less money I had to ‘find a way’ to do it.
I researched password protected folders and learned how to do it.
Then I changed the password every week and emailed all my members to let them know, and give them the new password (they all had the same one)
Same with ebook delivery.
We used to manually send ebooks out attached to emails.
After a month or so of getting serious abuse we learned about automated delivery.
We had to sort it out ourselves and buy a simple script that we had to install outselves.
All very ‘eeeee it was hard when I were a lad’ I realise.
But face facts - there is NO professional arse wiper out there who is going to do it for you (although my guess is you could find one on scriplance quite cheaply)
You don’t pass your driving test and get a new car straight away.You have to learn how to maintain a rustbucket first.
It’s an important part of your business - it’s called ‘learning the ropes’ or ’starting in the mailroom’ It’s not desireable - If  you can find a way to fast-track to success then do it - I would.
I’m a fan of comfort, and ease.  You won’t find me doing anything because it’s ‘character building’ or ‘made me what I am today’
Balls to that. I like feather beds and good wine - always have. The problem is that to be able to afford them, I had to go through a serious learning curve. Most people do….
You may have realised you’re in a race.
Not a sprint - a marathon.
And those who can hit the ‘wall’ and keep going will be successful marketers.
Those who can’t will go back to their jobs.
The good news is that you don’t have to win the race to become very rich.
YOU JUST HAVE TO STAY THE COURSE.
If you can keep going through all the crap and mud, you’ll almost certainly become successful.
So dig out that half finished product and work on it until it’s finished.
If you can’t install a membership script, deliver your content by autoresponder message instead.
If you can’t afford/understand/comprehend video hosting then upload the zipped videos you make and let your customers download then rather than stream them.
Find a way
Don’t get it perfect….GET IT OUT THERE!
Best wishes
Tony
PS. Comments welcome on this post!
====================================
UPDATE!
A few months back we launched 121mentoring.com
This was a techy membership site costing $197 a month, and where you would have access to my full technical team to get your websites and projects up and running.
It’s been very successful…..BUT
A lot of you emailed to say you only needed the team for shorter projects, such as installing a blog or ftp-ing a website onto your server.
Even things like installing a Paypal button (always a great idea :)
So we’ve introduced some brandnew options.
You can still have a full techy team on your project for $197 a month.
But now for smaller projects you can hire the team per week or per single task.
Check it out at www.121mentoring.com

Popularity: 24% [?]

{ 29 comments }

Are you a marketer or a customer? (tip: this is VITAL)

by Tony Shepherd on January 28, 2010

tonyshepherdThere’s a moment that everyone who’s successful online goes through.

It’s a simple step - for some it comes in a blinding flash, for others a gradual realisation that happens over a period of days or weeks.

It’s VITAL.

I believe you cannot become successful online without going through this step.

It’s this:

You stop thinking of yourself as a customer and start thinking of yourself as a MARKETER.

Let me give you an example.

If you get 100 sales emails a day into your inbox and it annoys you, you’re a customer.

A marketer either just unsubscribes or (the smarts ones) read the emails to see what it is about them that bugs him, or does a search and lines up all the emails from one particular marketer in a timeline and looks at the frequencey of the mailings, the titles, and examines how he runs his email campaigns.

In short - if you’re a marketer you LEARN from the huge amount of emails flying round this business, and you understand that the person sending them is simply being a marketer themselves, no matter how well or poorly they’re doing it.

On the other hand, the customer mentality gets mad and sends a snotty email out.

With my personal coaching and mentoring clients I’m priveledged to witness this transition from customer to pro marketer quite often.

And it’s exhilarating to watch.

I call them my ‘green tea moments’ (hippy or what??)

Because after the call I usually have a cup of tea - or if it’s evening a big glass of wine although that doesn’t sound as good :)

And invariably it’s my client who has the breakthrough moment, usually on a Skype call, and I don’t have to say ANYTHING.

We’re usually working together on their business - for example this week I set up an interview with another marketer for one of my coaching clients, and helped another client to order his first minisite and put an affiliate system in place…

Usually what happens on a green tea breakthrough is that my client starts speaking a little faster and more excitedly - and then actually begins to speak out loud the thoughts that are running through his mind.

They often say something then stop and say ‘No that’s not right - if I do it THIS way then it’ll happen faster because……

And I can almost HEAR the building blocks of a 6 figure business slotting together perfectly as they speak.

It’s VERY cool to listen to and it always reminds me of my own breakthroughs.

My point?

I witnessed one of these moments yesterday. It was on a Skype call but wasn’t from a coaching client.

It was from a subscriber who had just secured a place on John Thornhill’s 2010 Marketing Masterclass (but not how you think)

As soon as he’d enrolled he emailed me and asked for a quick Skype chat because when he enrolled through my link he automatically got my bonus too.

Now my bonus for buying your place on John’s Masterclass through my link is an hour’s coaching session - personally, one on one - with me AND when your business is ready, I’ll send out an email to 10,000 people telling them about your new product, or squeeze page or service.

In short - I’ll bump-start your business. I’ll get you going online. I’ll give you a leg up!

So this chap came onto Skype - a little nervously as most people are - but then after 30 seconds of chatting he realised that I don’t bite (that costs extra) and that he really could ask me anything, and we talked very briefly about what he planned to do

This was just an informal 5 minute chat, not the actual bonus mentoring session - he was saving that for later as you’re about to hear

Now every member of John’s Masterclass comes out with a unique product and this is what my new Skype buddy wanted to ask me about.

He wanted to know exactly how he could use my bonus mentoring session and the subsequent mailing.

So he started to ask me then tailed off into silence…..

Then he had his moment.

He talked ME through exactly how it was all going to work. He could suddenly see the whole thing mapped out in front of him.

And then -BOOM! -it became clear for him that he was getting the whole Masterclass, and an hour’s personal mentoring from me FOR FREE…

Because once he had his unique product through John’s Masterclass, the mailing he’d get from me - by buying through my link - would probably more than cover the Masterclass fee (not to mention the large number of subscribers he’s get) and boost him into profit too.

Seriously - with a good product a 10,000 mailing should see you with some money in the bank!

In short he’d found a quick way to become an internet marketer.

He’d made the transition.

He’d found the different way of thinking.

He no longer thought as a customer - he thought as a marketer.

And because I DEFINITELY think like a marketer I found a way to tell you about my bonus when you enrol on John Thornhill’s 2010 Marketing Masterclass through my link below :-)

(And guess what - I can teach you to think this way too)

There are still a couple of places left, so if you want to work with me on an hour long brainstorming session where we plan out your business (or whatever you want)….

and then I’ll do a 10,000 mailing for your new product, grab your place through my link below

http://www.laycockpublishing.com/jtm/bonuses/

I look forward to working with you

Tony

Popularity: 18% [?]

{ 6 comments }

How this guy dumped his 9-5 and got into IM

by Tony Shepherd on January 22, 2010

How do you reckon a newbie takes the first steps into full-time internet marketing?

Is it like tip-toeing through daisies in a summer field as all your carefully laid plans come together in harmony?

Or is it like wading through a huge steaming pile of dung with a giant elephant turd firmly wedged between your toes?

You decide……

Here’s an interview I did with a guy called David Chamberlain (mid cold again so apologies for the state of my voice)

We met briefly at a marketing event last year and then I sort of ‘bumped into him’ online when I was setting up a promo.

Turns out he’s only just gone full-time online, yet he’s making a full-time income from IM.

So I immediately set up an interview date so I could record exactly how he did it, and play it to you.

…I suppose because this is the sort of thing that I was eager to hear when I was first dabbling with internet marketing…

Just HOW the Hell DO people make that final jump, quit their jobs and start earning from their computers?

Here’s how one bloke did it…..

(PS he talks about actual income, where it comes from and the crap he got from his family and friends - all juicy stuff :)

Comments welcome - I know everyone’s situation is different before they take the plunge but can you relate to this?

Popularity: 21% [?]

{ 11 comments }

Examples Of Easy Video Player Features

by Tony Shepherd on January 13, 2010

I threw these videos together in under 20 minutes to demonstrate how powerful Easy Video Player is as an internet marketing tool. There’s no doubt the more I mess around with EVP the more impressed I become.

It’s VERY easy to use - as I said these vids took no time at all. They’re not as polished as they could be but that’s the whole point - if I can get them up and running in such a short amount of time, then imagine what you can do if you spend longer on them!

I’ve simply demonstrated the three features of EVP I like best - embedding Payment Buttons, Opt-In forms and Links at the end of any video I wish (incidentally the paypal button is linked to another of my products NOT EVP - I just swiped the code to save time, likewise the opt-in form opts in to my newsletter). The link button at the end of example 3 though IS a live link where you can grab your own copy of EVP and if you do buy Easy Video Player through my link, my techy team will install it for you for FREE.

You can use Amazon s3 hosting with Easy Video Player too if you wish. My opinion? I honestly think that even if you aren’t using video in your marketing yet, this is the kick in the arse you need to start. You can grab it now and use it later. Josh Bartlett, the originator of Easy Video Player says he’s considering putting the price up to $127 a MONTH rather than have a one-off purchase price as now. I don’t know whether this is marketing hype or not, but it’s worth nabbing your copy now to be sure.

You can grab Easy Video Player and secure your free installation HERE

..and here are the three videos I put together simply to show you how the features that I really like work - incidentally you can do MUCH more than this - redirects when the video ends, embed other HTML code, change colours, appearance, size, skins etc….

But personally I think all this pales into insignificance when you consider the marketing potential of putting Payment Buttons, Opt-in forms and clickable links into video. Check out the vids below and here’s that link again SECURE YOUR COPY & FREE INSTALLATION HERE




Popularity: 19% [?]

{ 5 comments }