How to Avoid Distractions and Get Things Done!

March 4th, 2010

There is one major REASON why people don’t
become successful affiliates.

It’s NOT lack of effort.

It’s NOT lack of information.

It’s NOT lack of desire.

It’s NOT lack of funds.

(Dave and I started our businesses on a
pathetically small shoestring budget.)

Really, we were deep in debt and had zero
funds. Our start up capital was basically
the little room left on our credit cards
and whatever we scraped up from various
odd jobs.

These things are NOT the reason for failure.

Rather, the one reason why people don’t
achieve success in this field is because
they fail to avoid distractions.

Rather than focus on a single target, they chase
one shiny object after another.

Yesterday it was Youtube, today it’s tweeting,
tomorrow’s its an MLM scheme.

This lack of focus spells disaster!

And the result is that NOTHING EVER HAPPENS.

All the dozens of distractions on the Internet
are TOXIC for any new affiliate marketer.

I’m not judging. I fight the “shiny object chasing
syndrome” on a DAILY basis.

I believe that we are inclined to get distracted
simply because we assume a successful business needs
all the bells and whistles like the facebooks, youtube,
twitter accounts, etc.

The real truth is that a successful affiliate
website can be very simple.

You need just three things to make it work:

1. a website

2. a high converting affiliate offer

3. good traffic

All of these things can be boiled down to simple
pieces as well.

1. A website does not have to be fancy. UGLY
websites sell better than pretty websites.

(We have some real monstrosities
that somehow work.)

2. Again, pick an affiliate offer than you know
something about.

3. You just need ONE source of traffic to start -
not 100.

In fact, our most successful websites happened
when we started by focusing on ONE product,
ONE ppc campaign, and a single landing page.

By focusing all your energy on these simple
factors, success is almost guaranteed.

Once you get ONE thing working, you’ll have
plenty of time, energy, and ambition to build
from there.

In a nutshell, this is how Dave and I build
new campaigns: we focus on getting one thing
to work and then we add traffic, websites,
autoresponders, etc.

On May 14th and 15th we’ll be sharing our
top strategies with a small team of
affiliate marketers in Dave’s home town of Tampa,
Florida.

For two days we’ll provide laser targeted
instruction on the exact strategies
we are using RIGHT NOW.

There’s an insane bonus and premium discount for
the first 10 who decide to join the team.

Learn More Here

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Three Hottest Affiliate Offers – Teleseminar

March 3rd, 2010

Yesterday we hosted a teleseminar where we discussed THREE HOT affiliate offers.

Two of the offers are new CPA offers. (CPA stands for cost per action).

CPA offers are excellent for experienced and new affiliates since no purchase is required.

In other words, you get paid a commission when your visitor completes a simple online form, e.g. insurance quote request, free medical consultation, etc.

Getting a CPA offer to convert is often SO much easier than retail transactions.

On the call we reveal two of the CPA offers we are promoting right now, where you can get access to these offers, and much more.

Plus, We also give you access to our Campaign Profit Calculator as a FREE gift just for listening.

If you missed the call, you’re in luck! We posted the mp3 recording online.

Click “PLAY” to listen to yesterday’s teleseminar!

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The 9/11 Excuse and Other Self Constructed Success Obstacles

January 12th, 2010

Like most people, I remember exactly where I was on the morning of September 11th, 2001 when the first jet hit the first World Trade Center building.  I was teaching 3rd period American Literature class at Chopticon High School in St. Mary’s County, Maryland.

Many of my students were directly affected by the tragedy as they lost parents or relative who worked in the Pentegon building 90 minutes north in Washington, DC.

Once again, my thoughts and prayers go out to those who suffered and lost so much on that horrible morning.

I knew that many lives would be affected by that day.  I knew that it would change the very core of every American.

What I didn’t expect was that people would use that tragic loss of life as an excuse to quit, fail, or do nothing.

I can’t tell you how many times between that tragic morning in 2001 and now that I had people tell me “Yeah, ever since 9/11 my business has tanked” or “9/11 basically put me out of business” or “the economy is so bad because of 9/11 that I’m not going to even bother starting a business.”

Not only did it shock me when I would hear a person say that; it would infuriate me.

It disgusted me.

While many Americans were using 9/11 as a catalyst to unite as one strong front against terrorism, others were using it as a pathetic excuse for failure.

And you know what? Once that excuse got old, people started using the recent economic downturn as either a reason their business failed or a reason not to start a business.

I’m tired of hearing people use 9/11, the economy, or anything else as either an excuse why their business failed or as a reason to put off starting a business.

Because the fact is, once the economy turns around, these same people will have some other excuse to either put off moving forward or quit all together.

The bottom line is that we all face hardships; some greater than others.  It is how we handle these hardships that matters most.

So the way I see it, there are two types of people:

  1. Those who use tragedy/hardship as a reason to throw in the towel.
  2. Those who use tragedy/hardship as a springboard or a reason to succeed.

Which one of these two groups do you fall into?

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How to Define Success as an Affiliate Marketer

January 11th, 2010

Today I’d like to share with you something that I feel is very important: I would like to talk to you about success.

In my opinion, the average person has the wrong idea about success.  They feel that it is an elusive object that they need to catch, and that once they wrap their arms around it, they will be “successful” overnight.

That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Please read the following 3 sentences very carefully:

Success is something you attract by the person you become.  It is not something you pursue.  You attract it by becoming an attractive person.  Success comes when you improve yourself.

You want success.  Everyone wants success.  But are you TRULY willing to put in your dues and do whatever it takes to achieve success?

This is a tough question.  And I’m not done yet.

What have you done recently to improve yourself?  How have you made yourself better?  How have you made yourself more valuable to others?

What about your website is of value to your visitors?  Are you providing them with good quality content or information about the product you are promoting?

What are you giving your visitors that your competition is not?

I ask you these questions not to make you feel bad about yourself, but rather to motivate you to make improvements.

You see, in order to become successful, you have to train yourself.  Just as a professional athlete does not rise to the top without countless hours of hard practice, successful affiliate marketers do not rise to the top without learning their trade, inside and out.  If you want the things on the higher shelf, you have to stand on the books you have read.

Put simply, you must educate yourself to become successful.  And please understand that Ben and I practice what we practice what we preach.

In fact, Ben Moskel and I spend well over $20,000 each and every year on seminars and conferences.  In the next 3 months, we are attending Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas, Nevada; Dan Kennedy’s Superconference in Dallas, Texas; and Ken McCarthy’s System Seminar in Chicago, Illinois.  We see it as money well spent. We stay on top of our field.  We educate ourselves.  And that’s why we dominate the markets we enter.

Here is an opportunity to educate yourself right now:  Grab one of the few remaining 50% off pre-order spots for the Chicago 2009 Seminar DVD’s.  There are just 7 days left to pre-order, but it doesn’t look like we are going to make it that far before we run out of slots.

If you miss this opportunity, you will have to pay double after January 15th AND wait for the next production run.

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Sharing Part of My Past -Dave Clabeaux

January 7th, 2010

If you have a minute, I’d like to take a few moments to share a part of my past with you that I’ve never shared with anyone before.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart.  From a very young age I started coming up with little business ideas or ways to make money.

For example, I was operating Kool-Aid stands at age 7, had a 65-house paper route at age 11, and in addition was mowing 8 lawns a week by age 12.

I washed neighbors’ cars in the summer and shoveled their driveways in the winter.  Though I didn’t realize it at the time, I created my first “business” way back in elementary school.  I would create pen holders out of paper and tape and then sell them to my fellow classmates.

I even hired a secretary (for 25 cents a day) to help me take orders–Marie, the cute girl (that I had a crush on) who sat in front of me.   I was making anywhere from $1 to $3 a day, which was big money in the fourth grade!!

[I just realized that I never paid taxes on any of those businesses--I hope the IRS doesn't audit me ; )   ]

You see, from a very early age, I had big ambitions.  And from a very early age, I was taking action.

But unfortunately, as I grew older, reality kicked in.  I went on to college, got a degree in teaching, and abandoned my dreams of ever owning my own business.

Everyone around me was telling me that I should get a good, stable job and stop chasing wild dreams.

So I did what I was supposed to do.  I got a good stable job teaching.  I did that for 4 years.

But I felt dead inside.

I didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t just work harder to improve my life.  No matter how much time I put into teaching and coaching (65 hour weeks was the norm), my income stayed right at $30,000.  It would be many years before I would be able to afford a house, and I didn’t like that.

So I left teaching and pursued a career in sales.  I had heard that selling copiers was a great place to start in sales because of the excellent training programs most of the companies offered.

In other words, this job would be a good springboard into a better sales position.

So now I was selling about $20,000 a month worth of copies for Imagistics (formerly Pitney Bowes) and earning roughly $36k a year, INCLUDING commission.

This made me angry. I realized that the company I worked for was using me.  I was simply a cog in a large machine that generated huge cash for a few people at the top.

Then my manager, while out making sales calls together and in an effort to motivate me, said something to me that changed my life.  Here are his exact words to me:

“Dave, you need to set goals.  And a goal is not a goal until you write it down; otherwise, it is just a pipedream.”

I went home that night and wrote down several goals.  Here is the most important goal I came up with:

I will be self employed within the next 12 months.

Steve, it actually took me close to two years to accomplish that goal, but the fact is,

I did it, and writing that goal down is the reason I am where I am today. (BTW, thanks Scott (my former manager)!!)

You see, the number one most important task that ALL ENTREPRENEURS MUST DO is to write down their goals. Because we are self employed and do not have bosses, we must hold ourselves accountable to ourselves.

As the first few days of the 2010 roll past us, many people are busy talking about or trying to keep their New Year’s resolutions.

Do you want to know how many New Year’s resolutions I set?

Absolutely none.  Zero.  Zilch.

Do you want to know why?

The answer is quite simple: I set and reevaluate my goals on a daily basis. To me, the idea of setting goals once a year is completely absurd.

Each morning before I start my day, even before I check email, I open a Word document titled “Goals.”  In it, I have my daily, weekly, 1 month, 6 month, 1 year, 5 year, and 10 year goals.

I include both personal goals and business goals.  Nothing complicated; just a simple Word document.

And I post the most important business goal for each month on the wall in front of my desk.  That way I am forced to read it several times each day.

It helps to keep me focused and on task, and to think “big picture.”

For example, as I look up from my computer screens right now, I have the following goal posted for a new website:

January Goal: 20 Sales Per Day by January 31st

If I get distracted, I simply look up at my goal and make sure that I am doing tasks that will help me achieve that goal by the end of the month.

What goals have you set for your business?  Take a few moments RIGHT NOW to set some goals.  Do you have a website up yet?  If not, I’m going to hit you with a painful truth:

An online business without a website is not a business at all; it is just a dream.

I am not telling you this to beat you up; I am sharing this with you to inspire you. In fact, if you don’t have a website and don’t know how to build one, go to justhost.com right now, sign up for web

hosting, shoot me an email with your web address, Justhost username and password, and I’ll build your site for you to help you get started on the right foot for 2010.  No charge.

Set some goals right now.  Better yet, set some unreasonably high goals, and immediately take steps to achieve those goals.

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Does Affiliate Marketing Really Work?

January 5th, 2010

We get this sort of question a lot. I believe that people who are new to affiliate marketing have a difficult time really believing that the Six Figure Program works.

Consider this though: Affiliate Marketing is no different from sales except that your website does the selling for you rather than you having to do face-to-face selling.

Here’s the original question:

Hi Ben/Dave,

I really dont know anything about “Affiliate Marketing”. I have been reading all your emails and wanted to ask you something more about this.
I am not one of those guys who just wants money sitting in their chair and doing nothing.

I am prepared to work and work hard if this really works for me. I really wanted to know whether this really works? may be not 500$ a day but at least 50$ a day?
I am willing to work 5 to 6 hrs a day and have more than average knowledge about computers and HTML. Would it cost me only 30$ as it said on your website or more than that? if so how much?.
I want to do this seriously if it meets my standards.

I am expecting to hear from you soon and hope this is not like other money making website.

Regards,
Rupert

Here is my response:

Hi Rupert,

In response to whether this really works, let me again say that I quit my lawyer job to do Affiliate Marketing full-time.

Also, I cleared 1.2 Million in Affiliate revenue last year. I know and spent time with dozens of other affiliates who clear well into the millions each year. They also have quit their jobs. It is no different than selling to a very large audience.

I must warn you that there is work involved. You have to be smart – not geek smart, but have the ability to exercise common sense.

You need to work hard. You need to make it a priority over other things like tv, socializing, and sometimes family.The risk is very low financially, but the rewards are exceedingly high.

As for your other question about additional financial commitment, the answer is probably.

You will need traffic to your website. You get traffic by either (a) paying for it or (b) getting your website to rank naturally in the search engines/using article marketing for free traffic,etc.

The first option costs money. We primarily buy our traffic. However, we only buy it when it makes sense to do so. We spend one dollar to make two dollars. You can do this and test your website with a budget of 5-10 bucks so there is almost no risk.

Once you discover keywords that are making you a good ROI, they will continue to do so like clockwork. And you can expand that budget.

The second option doesn’t cost anything but your time. It takes time to rank a website and/or write articles to get traffic.

I hope that answered your question. When we got started we had no experience or money for traffic. However, we invested in learning and then spent only $2 per day on traffic until we found out what worked.

We’ve put all of our experience into The Six Figure Program product so that you don’t make the same mistakes that we did.

Best,

Ben Moskel

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