Lucky # 7...
That's what I call this lesson.
I explain why in a minute, but
first:
Let's do a quick recap of what we've
covered to this point before we jump
into Lesson Seven.
- Lesson #1
Knowing your market is more important
than being a "genius" marketer
- Lesson #2
Look before you leap. You can predict
in advance how a business idea will
perform BEFORE you invest your
time, money, hard work and hope.
The System shows you how.
- Lesson #3
The world is FULL of hot marketplaces.
All you need to find as many of them as
you want are the right tools and methods.
The System shows you how.
- Lesson #4
Once you find the right market,
you need to create or source the
right product to enter the market most
profitably.
The System shows you how.
- Lesson #5
When you combine cutting-edge Internet technology
with good, old fashioned Internet marketing "know how"
you can't lose.
The System shows you how.
- Lesson #6
The first and most important skill in marketing
is developing your "hook." When you get
good at that, you're in the game for real. If you
fail to learn this skill, you'll find yourself forever
outside the stadium in the parking lot.
The System shows you how.
*** The big reality check
In this lesson, Lucky Lesson #7, I want to clear
through some of the smoke and mirrors BS that
the gurus lay down that kills most people's
chance of success.
Yes, it really is that serious.
Much Internet guru advice is not only weak,
it's downright destructive.
Here are three of the main lines of BS
they peddle.
See how many you recognize:
1. "You need to do something - anything - right
now or you're a loser!"
2 "If you're working hard, you're doing it all wrong."
3. "You need to outsource everything or you will
never succeed."
What they really mean is...
"You need to do something - anything - right
now!"
* Translation:
"Buy my expensive package now - that will
get you going."
============================
"If you're working hard, you're doing it all wrong."
* Translation:
"Buy my expensive package and you'll learn
how to be lazy and rich like me.""
============================
"You need to out source everything or you will
never succeed."
* Translation:
"Buy my expensive package and I'll teach
you how to complicate your life as much
as I've complicated mine."
OK. let's get real now.
***
Businesses are a lot like everything else.
They grow in STAGES.
For example, human beings go from infant, to toddler,
to child, to teenager, to twenty-something and on.
Each stage has its own very unique requirements.
It would be loony to give adult advice to a three year old
just as it would be loony to expect a teenager to have
the insight of a mature adult.
Yet, the gurus encourage you to do this
with your business every day - because it
serves their sales agenda.
*** The three stages of business' life
There are three primary stages in the
business building life cycle.
Stage #1 - Finding your way
Stage #2 - Racing to critical mass
Stage #3 - Perfecting the machine
In the System Intensive, a small group session
I occasionally teach personally to System
grads, I go into these stages in great detail,
but here, let me give you enough so that you
can start using these ideas profitably right now.
*** Stage #1: Finding your way
"Just do something!" the guru yells from the stage.
"Do what?" the audience itself silently, but is too
embarrassed to ask out loud.
In the guru's case, it means get on a plane to
the next pitch-fest.
But what about people who want to build a real business?
The reality is the first stage of a business requires
a lot of what appears to be unproductive time.
No sales, no profits, sometimes no clue.
No one - and I mean no one - ever gets their business
right the first time.
There's always a period of "wandering in the desert"
where you're looking for the right opportunity, the
right market, the right product to enter the market...
That's why the System stresses "look before you
leap" and focuses on market research so intensely.
The truth is finding the right market for you and
then learning the market takes a lot of time.
So don't beat yourself up or let anyone pressure
you into taking action "NOW!" while you're going through
the unavoidably fuzzy process of finding your
opportunity.
Believe me...I watched plenty of today's marketing
gurus stumble around for months and even years
trying to find their opportunity - and I had my
"wandering in the desert" time too.
To succeed, focus on what matters at this stage:
evaluation markets and market opportunities.
*** Stage #2: Racing to critical mass
At some point, if you stay focused on your
goal and use good market research tools
and marketing smarts like we teach at the
System, you're going to find your opportunity.
It will look like a baseball pitch coming
at you in slow motion - so slow you can't
help but knock it out of the park.
Now, the work begins.
Once you've uncovered and tested an opportunity
and see a clear path of action, now it the time
to go into high gear.
Anyone who has ever created a real business
knows that the early days are characterized by
long hours and super-human bouts of work.
12 hours days?
Get used to it.
Working weekends and holidays?
Part of the price of admission.
When you find something that works, work it.
And work it and work it and work it and work
it until you reach critical mass.
And then work it some more.
All the Internet BS artists who talk about
their "push button" businesses are full of
it.
Yes, you can get a business to that point, but
you're not going to get their laying in a hammock.
So if you're at a stage in your business - Stage #2 -
where you're working long hours, you're not
doing anything wrong.
You're doing what it takes.
Stage #3 - Perfecting the machine
After you've found your opportunity and then
worked it like a crazy person to reach critical
mass, then you're in a position to start
removing yourself from the business.
Here's what I mean....
Critical mass means you've got a product
or products that work in the marketplace...
you have a lead generation system that
works...a sales process that works...and
your customer service and infrastructure
are in order.
The money is flowing in and you've got enough
revenue to start hiring people to do the things
you really don't need to do personally.
But be careful...the outsourcing, empire-building
mania that's hit the Internet world in recent
years is very overblown.
Yes, out-source, but the idea of thinking you can
set up a business without being personally,
down and dirty involved with every aspect of
it, it lunacy.
To out-source well, you must KNOW every
job in your business inside and out.
How else are you going to select, manage
and evaluate potential vendors?
And don't think outsourcing is solves all
problems.
Vendors and employees can easily go astray
and cause you to waste time, miss opportunities
and even sustain serious damage to your business.
Rule of thumb...you'll know when it's time to
stop doing something in your business and
let someone else do it.
And don't do it a minute sooner.
Don't get involved in outsourcing mania...
and if you're a beginner, you're truly wasting
your time even thinking about this stuff
at this point.
You need to focus on finding your
"sweet spot" in the market (Stage #1)...
and then once you find it, running an all-out
blitz on the market to build your critical mass
as quickly as possible. (Stage #2)
*** They don't want you to know
Straight up, the Internet gurus don't talk
about these things because they don't
want you to know.
They'd rather you feel insecure and at
sea so that you buy their latest "solution"
whether it fits you or not.
Recently, I had a very frank conversation with
a music producer, band manager, and
rock and roll drummer (he toured for years
with Johnny Rotten) about what it REALLY
takes to build a business.
I was so impressed by his insight and
honesty that I invited him to give a private
presentation to my System Club members
on what he's learned surviving and thriving
in the toughest industry on earth.
If you're not a System Club member,
you won't be able to attend this private
session....but you can listen in on our
conversation....and learn some very useful
and powerful things about success in
the real world that cut through the Internet
guru fantasy BS that is holding so many
people back.
I call this lesson, Lucky #7 because if you
take this message to heart, it will change
your life for the better forever.
Here's the call:
http://www.thesystemblog.com/2008/03/martin-atkins-.html
Ken
P.S. The System Seminar will be held this year in
Chicago - May 31, 31, and June 1.
Twenty-five plus expert faculty: members cover
every aspect of Internet marketing:
* search engine marketing
* pay-per-click advertising
* social marketing and web 2.0
* info marketing
* copywriting
* marketing physical products through online stores
* Internet video
* niche finding
* e-mail marketing
* testing and tracking
* how to grow your business
* and much, much more
Ken McCarthy
The System Seminar
---------------------------------------------------------
* Home study solutions for Internet entrepreneurs
http://www.KensCatalog.com
* The System Seminar May 30 - June 1, 2008
The annual gathering of *serious* Internet entrepreneurs
http://www.TheSystemSeminar.com
* Serious marketing books for serious marketers
http://www.RealMarketingBooks.com
---------------------------------------------------------
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Education for Internet Entrepreneurs
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