How to make make money online
As you know I was able to finally give up my day job as an addiction worker and go full time online in September 2012, selling my personal development products, doing affiliate marketing, email marketing, email coaching and working on a new product personal development due out in October this year.
I hadn't really realised why I was finally able to give up my job, but it hit me a few months ago.
When I sat down to think about it I really wouldn't be anywhere without these two things, and I would still be working 45 hours per week for someone else.
The two things we need to become successful online
So what are these two things we all need?
It's OTHER PEOPLE
and AN EMAIL LIST
Without collaborating with other people, without learning to connect with others and doing joint ventures, email swaps and generally getting to know how other people are doing things, I wouldn't be in this position today.
You see, I had resisted for a long time asking for other people's help, I had resisted mixing and being in the thick of things when other people were doing big launches, I had resisted getting my name known in the personal development field and the email marketing field.
However, as soon as I started to focus on building an email list and connecting with others, everything just fell into place and I so wished I had started really connecting and building up my email list years ago.
Blogging will never make you money!
For years I thought of myself as a blogger/writer but I'm not – I am business owner who blogs and writes to get my name and services known . That might sound like an obvious statement to make, but it's truly difficult to get into that mindset, I kind of drifted into that mindset, but once I really embraced it things started to happen, ideas started to form, partnership opportunities started coming in, and new relationships were formed. That's when the business of blogging, writing and producing products really takes off, when you get into the mindset that your blog and your email list is a part of your business.
It's still very much all about the reader when it comes to writing, but that's another state of mind altogether. When I write for the reader different information flows out on the screen, when I write a salesletter or email copy a different person comes to the fore, a more business focussed person, but still with the reader in mind.
Making friends and making business contacts
I still have great friends I met when I first started blogging nearly seven years ago and I cherish those relationships, you know who you are 🙂
However when I seen some of my blogger friends move into the business world and really make it big ,it kind of baffled me how they did it; now I know – They mixed with other business focussed people and built up their email list.
Why you should be mixing with other people to build up a list
If you are a blogger, a writer, a photogrpaher, a freelancer anything that requires other people to buy your services or products then you really need to start mixing with other people in your industry who are focussed on the business, and not just doing it as a hobby.
When I first started blogging and was trying to build up my list of email subscribers, I used the blog to do this. For the first 3 years I was stuck at 3,000 subscribers. Then I started really focussing on email list building and soon got to 10,000 blog subscribers. Then when I focussed on the business of email marketing I soon reached 40,000 email subscribers from various lists.
9 weeks ago I started a new email subscriber list at www.FreeSelfHelpeBooks.org and have built it up to 7,000 subscribers. Partly because it's a great offer, but mostly because I was working with other people to help me build up the list, doing deals for email swaps, helping other people get known, and doing Joint Venture work.
That list will grow into a 50,000 email list by the end of the year, which will help readers enormously, as well as help friends and partners, and also help to make me money. Everything you do should be focussed on win/win situations (another biggie which you should really focus on).
How to mix for business
I truly am an introvert by nature, but still crave the idea that my products, services and name should get known around the world. However I have discovered that I can still keep a low profile whilst getting my name known, and you'd be surprised at how many successful people in your field do this.
I am working with a company and two great guys who nobody outside the business of personal development have heard of, but they are turning over high six figures per year doing online personal development work, and everyone in the BUSINESS of personal development knows them.
If you are at all interested in business online or offline, then you need to get to know the people like this.
The only way to do this is to mix or study the people at the top of their game and get to know who they are collaborating with.
Also when you see the leaderboard on a big launch like Mind Movies you sign up to every single one of the referrers lists who are at the top and see who they are promoting via email. This way you will increase your 'To Contact' list from 20 to around 200, and you'll be seeing exactly how other people are doing business.the personal development field, if the Mind Movies team are doing a launch, they will have a leaderboard of the top affiliates, you enter the affiliate competition, but not to win, to get to know the people in the background who are at the top of the leaderboard. Then when you find out who the top referrers are you contact them to promote their work, and start to build a relationship. It will be all one way at first, but you're getting your name known and recognised.
There's a ton of other ways to get your foot in the inner circle in your field, just check out what other people at the top of your field are doing and who they are talking about.
Growing your email list
If you're blogging or writing for a hobby then you don't need to know this. However if you're doing any type of online work then building up your email list is CRITICAL
Why email?
Email will not be going anywhere in the foreseeable future so you can focus on it for at least the next 10 years and still be guaranteed to make an income, whilst helping people at the same time. Yes, you'll hear that email is dead, but they've been saying that for years.
This post is already too long to tell you how to grow you email list but if you're interested I do coaching for it and will be bringing out a course at the end of the year. Coaching spaces are extremely limited as I don't really have the time for it.
Sufficed to say you can learn how to grow your email list by checking out what others are doing and reading email marketing sites. One place I recommend is http://www.warriorforum.com , check out as much as you can about email marketing and list building.
To finish off I'd like to say that blogging is fantastic and I love it, and without my blog I wouldn't have got to where I am today, however your blog alone will not make you money, but it will connect you with some amazing friends, interesting people, and help to grow your business.
If you have anything to add please leave a comment below, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
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