Internet Marketing 101

April 18th, 2003

Hey gang;

I may be long winded today but hang with me, there is a point to all my rambling. Eventually I'll get to it.

Well another week has rolled by, another 1/2 month plus has passed us by. Hey before you know it we will be saying Happy holidays and Happy New Years...grin...

Speaking of which, have you kept your New Year's resolutions? Geessh,I can't even remember most of mine, though I'm sure they were all worthy.

Well I do remember two, one was to attempt to get more done each day in relation to my business. The other was to watch my weight which I do each morning, I get on the scales and "weigh and watch", then I get the sweet pastries and my cup of sugar with two teaspoons of coffee.

Anyway, the other evening as I was reviewing that day's work activities (yeah I do this each evening, remember last week's issue) it made me think back about four years ago when I was fixing to make the leap to working fulltime for myself and online and give up a secure fulltime job.

At the time I was torn up inside with emotions of elation, eager anticipation, not to mention apprehension and just down right fear.

At that time I was publishing another newsletter which I'm going to include an excerpt from one of those issues way back then and I'll follow with some comments that answers some of those questions I had:

------------ Begin Excerpt 1999 ------------

My daughter is finishing high school and takes her ACT this weekend. Hard to believe, she is old enough to be carrying a baby around in diapers soon, (no she is not with child, or she better not be anyway...grin...) when it was such a short time ago she was only waist high.

You know it's just hard to let go and see her off to college soon!

As many of you know I'm preparing to go full time marketing and selling on the internet with our new company, BUT at the same time, it's hard to let go.

It's hard to let go of the security of a steady and full time salary each week (quite decent I might add).

It's hard to let go of the benefits, insurance and paid holidays that come with it.

It's hard to let go of being able to reinvest everything into a growing business and know the money is not needed for bills.

It's hard to let go of the thoughts:
"What if sales quit coming in?".
"What if the company doesn't continue to grow?"
"What if my competitors overtake me?"

You know, it's just hard to let go!

However, I must add, it's NOT hard to let go of burning the candle at both ends to the tune of 18 hours most days with at least one sleepless night a week thrown in...grin... and of course the time I'm losing from my family right now.

------------ End Excerpt ------------

Ok back to the present, I wrote the above excerpt in early 1999.

Next month my daughter graduates from college and is planning her wedding in July. Geessh, now I really feel old, I can just see little Gary Knuckleheads running around saying "hey Grandpa" or "Geeesshh Grandpa" ...grin.....

It's been four years now and I sold that business last year for a nice price plus I draw a nice payment each month for the next 5 years as well which pays my bills.

Hmmm, do I regret giving up the fulltime job? Not hardly, since the business paid our bills, paid off our debt and now gives me more freedom than I could imagine after selling it. Please understand I'm not bragging, just telling part of my story folks, if you have hope and dreams, they can be fulfilled.

Let me add though they won't just show up at your doorstep and knock on your door.

YOU have to take action and do something. Man, that sounds like work doesn't it, well yes it does and it is.

Geesshh, I use to HATE that one hour drive a day to work (one way). Today I get up and walk into my office and start working, yeah that's right with my sweet rolls and a cup of sugar with coffee...grin...

Anyway, my company did grow, sales didn't stop, and my company still did well even as competitors became more frequent online. But that's another story in itself which I'll write about in a future issue and why it became so successful.

HOWEVER, it's funny that the 18 hour days became 12 or 14 hour days. Hmmm, that doesn't sound like a big improvement does it? Gee folks, I thought I was suppose to work 2-3 hours a day doing this internet gig.

But I did get more time with my family, they became part of the business and started helping me. My wife quit her job and came on fulltime, and our daughter worked part-time as well until she left for college.

Keep in mind though, our business produced, manufactured and shipped audio training CDs and tapes, so that made my situation somewhat different from many online businesses. When you deal with shipping physical products it can add many hours to your day, not to mention if you actually manufacture those products as well.

So remember, it takes work to see your dreams through. And even though the long hours each day didn't drop much, I had much more time with my family. And now after selling the business I have a lot more time for my family as I build our new business. Selling hard goods or tangible products is a great business but if you decide to pursue that route be prepared for longer work days, period!

In a nutshell, yes it was worth it! There is no way I could have accomplished what has happened in my life the past four years by working for someone else. Yes there are fears that come with self-employment, but hey those same fears can become a reality if you work for someone else. It's called unemployment.

Notes For Success:

1. Dream, but also WORK to make those dreams a reality. Dreams are great, however they are just dreams. It's like buying that desk or bookshelf which include directions "some assembly required". So are your dreams, "some work required".

2. Don't just up and quit your full-time job thinking you will get rich online. I'm not going to say "it ain't gonna happen", but sorry folks the chances are slim if you don't lay out a solid plan and financial map in advance.

3. Lay down a solid financial foundation before quitting. Be sure you have 6 months of income in the bank before even thinking about going fulltime. Even then, be sure your business will pay your persoanl bills plus have enough profits to keep re-investing into your business. It's essential you continue to invest in and build your business for it to grow.

4. You are going to have many questions and fears before making the jump. Draw out a list of pros and cons. If the pros don't greatly outweigh the cons, then regroup and don't jump just yet, but keep building your business part-time.

5. If you are just now starting your business, consider digital products. I did the tangible products thingy and yes it was good to me. But now I'm doing digital products and digital products are less work.

HOWEVER, if you have a surefire idea for a tangible product that no one is selling then take it and run with it. You can always move into digital products after you become successful. BUT be sure your tangible product has a demand for it. Test the demand first before having 10,000 units produced or buying inventory.


Send me your comments or marketing questions please:
comments@InternetMarketing-101.net


So let's move on now. I guess someone is reading, I received the below comment from one reader about last weeks issue on answering emails.
:-)

------------------------
"Gary,

I think you struck a good chord there for me.
I like to think I never forget where I came from even at work.

I try to always help the help desk in the trenches and be a team player and "show" them I empathize.

Some days I do well and do not ignore or miss emails, some days I am all off kilter and make mistakes. But it is good to see you and others experience the same things.

That's all and thanks for the emails and advice."

Joe Warren
http://www.incomeaffiliates.com
------------------------

Thanks for your comments!


[Software Tidbit:]
Do you write articles or publish an ezine? Hmmm, if you are a marketer then you should be if you are not. One tool that makes it easier is NoteTab. It is a great text editor and has a totally free version available called NoteTab Lite.

For many of you the free version will do anything you need, including formating your article or newsletter to the proper line width. Suggested width is 60-65 characters per line for most publications. You can also strip html code, add html tags and code and much more for your web pages as well.

Check it out at:
http://www.notetab.com

It saves me a bunch of time with my articles and newsletters. I use it to reformat my online newsletter (you are reading it now) to the email text version some of you are reading now. I just copy the online (html) version into NoteTab, then strip the html tags, reformat to 62 characters and my text newsletter is ready to go.


Geessh, our cat Gimpy just took my sweet roll when I wasn't looking, guess I forgot to feed him. I guess I better go track him down, I don't want this to become a habit... I might lose weight.

See ya'll next week, same day, same place!

Here kittie, kittie, kittie....

Thanks for joining me!



PS: Send your comments and/or marketing questions to:
comments@InternetMarketing-101.net

Let me know if it's ok to use your comments or questions in my newsletter.

If you would like a copy in article form to run in your newsletter just let me know...grin...

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