Month: July 2020

A Cautionary Cat Tale of a Partnership Gone Horribly Wrong

Once upon a time…

…two cat lovers, Chris and Jessica, started filming their cats Marmalade, a male ginger tabby, and his black long-haired adopted brother Cole and putting the videos on YouTube and other social media sites.

People loved Cole and Marmalade and their audience grew, earning them enough money to fund their efforts to rescue and rehome cats all over their city.

Then one day Chris entered into a contract with two online marketers who promised to take the Cole and Marmalade social media channels to new heights and make even more money for Chris and Jessica and their rescue work. The new partnership was called the Cole and Marmalade Network.

All seemed well for a while, until it wasn’t well at all.

Now Chris has accused the two marketers of trying to steal the business out from under him by ‘firing’ both Chris and Jessica from the business.

The marketers have physically seized control of all media channels as well as Chris and Jessica’s cell phones, computers, cameras and video footage, and filed suit against Chris and Jessica, who have filed a counter suit.

The Fans Take Action

When fans learned that Chris and Jessica’s content were allegedly stolen from them, they did two things:

First they unsubscribed in droves from Cole and Marmalade’s social media accounts in protest.

Second, they started threatening the 2 online marketers with harm. Since the lawsuits were a matter of public record, it wasn’t difficult for fans to find the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the two marketers. (I’m simply reporting what happened and absolutely NOT condoning the actions of these passionate but somewhat misguided fans.)

This second bit should give any marketer pause. If you do something that appears to go against popular icons (in this case, Cole, Marmalade and their humans) you might keep in mind that you could be making yourself a target of wrath.

And it just gets messier from there.

I’m not here to say who is right or wrong, but rather to point out a couple things you want to be aware of should you ever partner with someone else in any capacity, whether you’re the online marketer partnering with a content creator, or the content creator partnering with an online marketer, or any partnership you might enter into.

Chris and Jessica indisputably started this business themselves. It was 100% theirs. But there came a time when they thought partnering with two people who were savvier about online promotion and marketing could help propel their business and their cause to a higher level. That’s totally understandable and can sometimes be a smart move.

A HUGE Mistake?

However, in my opinion they made a foolish mistake in giving each of the two marketers a 33.3% share of the business, while retaining only 33% for themselves. This made them minority partners in their own business. They could be outvoted or forced out, and indeed this seems to be what happened.

I’m no lawyer, but if you start a business and then take on a partner, you might want to consider retaining 50% or higher stake in your own business.

A Better Move

And upon further consideration, you must wonder why Chris and Jessica felt the need for partners at all. Why not hire experts to help them? It would have cost far less than 66.6% of their business, and they could have fired the experts any time they liked.

I suspect the marketers talked a very good game and convinced Chris and Jessica this partnership would allow them to focus all of their efforts on creating content and helping the stray cats, the two things Chris and Jessica were passionate about, while leaving all the marketing to the marketers.

I understand the desire to hand over 100% control of the things you don’t like doing in your business, but it’s never a good idea to hand over 100% of anything in your own business, ever.

Why is This Important to You and Me?

This story captured my attention for two reasons – one, I love the two cats, Cole and Marmalade, and I remember watching their videos in the past (I somehow lost touch with their YouTube channel in the last couple of years.)

Second, it sent chills down my spine realizing that one bad partnering mistake could result in losing my business and ending up in endless court battles to try to get it back.

And the entire debacle could then be aired out in public on the internet.

Thus, I’ve turned to the experts to find 7.5 things to think about BEFORE you ever partner with anyone on anything (that sounds extreme, but so is losing everything you’ve worked for.)

The entire concept of partnering is to add skills to your business that you alone cannot provide. In this example, a content creator partnering with an online marketer could make sense, if for some reason the content creator can’t simply outsource the marketing portion of the work and oversee it himself.

7.5 Things to Consider BEFORE Business Partnering

Make sure partnering is worth it. Does partnering bring more benefits than not partnering? That is, will you, your brand, your product or cause be in a better position because you partner than it would be if you didn’t partner, and instead outsourced?

Don’t rush in.
Are you sure you want to do this? Is someone pressuring you to make this partnership? Enthusiasm has its place, but a thoughtful business plan with each partner’s commitment clearly outlined is needed here. Review the positives and negatives before signing anything.

Choose the right partner. If their goals, values or morals don’t match yours, or if they have a different vision of what’s going to happen, then this isn’t going to work.

Have a signed agreement. Every detail should be spelled out and signed by all parties. It really is best to have a lawyer for this. Make sure you have a clearly defined exit strategy in your agreement that allows either partner to buy out the other without destroying the business.

Include a non-compete agreement. Done correctly, this will prevent one partner from taking clients, assets or confidential information from the business to use in another business.

Each partner should bring their complimentary strengths. It might not make sense for two course creators to create a partnership (they could simply joint venture together) because they both bring the same strengths to the table. But if one partner creates courses and the other does all the marketing, then they are using their complimentary strengths to build something bigger than either of them could build alone.

Consider a limited partnership. If you’re backing a business financially but not making a hands-on commitment, then a limited partnership could allow you to reap the financial rewards without being liable for actions of the general partner.

Egos should be left at the door. If one of the partners feels more important than the other, the business is likely to suffer. And if there is a lack of trust in each other, there will be second-guessing, suspicion and serious problems with communication and direction.

I don’t want to make partnerships seem like a scary thing to always be avoided. There are times when a partnership can be your best avenue to growing your business exponentially while taking some responsibility and time commitments off your shoulders.

Here are 7.5 Reasons to Consider a Partnership:

Two heads can indeed be better than one. Having a great partner can multiply ideas and business experience. Together the two of you can find better ideas and solutions as you build on each other’s strengths. In a great partnership, one plus one does indeed equal three.

Double your resources.
One partner has the products, the other has the contacts and customers. One partner has the experience, the other partner has the fledgling business. One partner could be in the shop making the product while the other partner is out pounding the streets and making the sales. If you only have half of the puzzle pieces, it can be easier to find someone with the other half rather than trying to build those pieces yourself.

Double your strengths. You have an eye for detail, your partner can see the big picture. No one is great at everything, but everyone is great at something. Finding someone who fills in your own gaps can be a real blessing for your business.

Together you can take great risks and reap greater rewards. Alone you might not have the assets or the mindset to take a leap of faith. But working together, you can figure out how to get it done and rely on each other to leave your personal comfort zones and expand your business.

Partners can tell you when you’re being an idiot. Sometimes we get a ‘great’ idea that is about to spell disaster. A partner can reign you in at these moments and let you know you’re not seeing the entire picture.

Having a partner is more fun. Assuming you enjoy each other’s company, business is a lot more fun when you can share it with someone else. You’re facing challenges together, which makes everything less scary and more exhilarating.

You can take a break. There are times in business when you need a break from the customers or even from the business. If you’re going solo, there is no one to pick up the slack. But with a partner, you can take a day off or let your partner deal with the customers while you work on other things.

Your partner is a source of emotional support. You won’t hear many people talk about this one but having the right partner can make all the difference when you hit milestones, both good and bad. When a customer goes full on crazy and trolls your social media accounts looking for blood, you’ve got someone right there to help you through it. And when you land that big account you’ve been working on for weeks, or you see your latest launch go to a large six figures, you’ve got someone to jump and scream with happiness with you.

A Few Quick Partnership Q and A’s:

What is the difference between a joint venture and partnership?

The members of a joint venture have teamed together for a particular purpose or project. Once that purpose or project ends, so does the joint venture.

The members of a partnership have joined together to run a business together, usually intending to be together for as long as they own the business.

What are examples of possible IM partnerships?

• One person is great at making content and another is great at driving traffic to that content. The content creator focuses on content, the partner drives traffic, sets up sales funnels and does the general marketing.
• One person is an expert in a niche (any marketable niche) and the other person is great at marketing. The expert creates a product or course and the marketer sets us the sales funnel and drives traffic. (You can do this repeatedly with experts who know nothing about online marketing.)
• Two people with very similar businesses and audiences, who enjoy working together, decide to combine forces, lists, brands and so forth. Two heads working together can often come up with more and better ideas than two people on their own. And they can take turns taking time off while the other one minds the business.
• A software engineer and a marketer. The engineer makes something new, like a social network, and the marketer grows the user base.

Can you give examples of great partnerships?

A few of the more famous partnerships are:

• Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of Apple
• Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom of Instagram
• Elizabeth Cutler and Julie Rice of Soul Cycle
• Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google
• Richard and Maurice McDonald of McDonald’s

If I’m going to partner with someone, should I have a lawyer?

Yes.

While you can take a standard partnership agreement and modify it to suit your needs, ideally you want legal representation. Imagine if your company grows to become worth millions… you’ll be glad you set things up correctly in the beginning.

If money is an issue, try doing a Google search for ‘affordable legal services’ and you’ll likely find several options.

What typically goes into a partnership agreement?

• The name of the partnership
• Each partner’s contributions
• Allocation of profits, losses, and draws
• Definition of each partner’s authority and decision-making ability
• Management guidelines
• Procedures for admitting new partners
• What happens if a partner withdraws or dies
• Dispute resolution

What should I ask my potential business partner?

Ask anything and everything you want to know. This is no time to be shy.

Here are seven questions to get you started:

• What is your vision for our company? (And is it the same as yours)
• What are your strengths and weaknesses? (And do they compliment yours)
• How much money will we each contribute to the business?
• How much time can you dedicate to the business?
• How will you handle conflict or trying circumstances?
• Will you agree to put everything in writing?
• What’s your exit strategy? (If they have to leave, will they want you to buy them out? Or would they prefer to sell their interest to a third party?)

Irving

My Top Secret* Niche List

*Granted, it’s no longer a secret now that I’ve shared it with you. Oh well, enjoy!

Over the years I’ve been compiling this list of niches one by one. Some of them I added because they’re obviously hugely profitable. Others intrigued me. A few of them look pathetically small, and yet they are being used by people who earn 7 figures a year in these exact niches.

And all of them are worth looking into when choosing your next project.

I’ve also added a few notes under the main categories to give you more ideas.

LOCATION Based – Create a site that highlights all the happenings in your area. This is awesome for bringing in local advertisers. Suggest that your advertisers use a direct-response type of ad, such as “Mention this ad to get 25% off.” This will show them exactly how effective advertising on your site is.

• Your hometown
• Your county, state, province or area (if it’s not too big)
• Your country (if it is small in geographical or population size)

MONEY – sites that teach how to make money through investing can command high dollar for advertising. These sites and their corresponding emails lists sell for high prices, too.

• Real estate
• o How to make money flipping houses
• o How to buy a house no money down
• o How to fix up houses
• o How to build a portfolio of houses or apartments

• Investing
• o Futures
• o Investing for beginners
• o Foreign currency trading
• o Stocks, bonds, recommendations
• o How to successfully invest
• o Unusual investments
• o Bitcoin and e-currencies

• Marketing
• o How to
• o Social media
• o Industry specific

• Retirement
• o Saving and investing for retirement
• o How to plan for retirement
• o Where to live
• o How to travel and where to travel
• o Things to do – finally doing the things you love
• o Retirement homes and communities
• o Senior discounts
• o Continuing education
• o Resources
• o Volunteering
• o Identity theft and scams
• o Estate planning
• o Retiring abroad
• o Products just for seniors

• Debt
• o Debt consolidation
• o Improving credit score
• o Getting out of debt, staying out of debt

• Getting a job
• o Tricks and tips
• o Getting to the decision makers
• o Resumes and CVs
• o How to prep for the interview
• o How to ace the interview

• Consulting
• o Industry specific
• o Solution specific
• o Skill specific
• o How to be a consultant
• o How to use consultants to grow your business
• o How to get rich as a consultant

• Time management
• o Skills and techniques
• o Doing less but achieving more
• o Productivity and efficiency

• Starting a business
• o Ideas, market research and business plans
• o Legalities, setting everything up
• o Funding the business plan
• o Employees, hiring and being the boss
• o Marketing, sales, getting customers

• Making money
• o Side hustles offline
• o Business opportunities
• o Starting an online business
• o Online jobs
• o Blogging
• o Social media marketing – Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.

• Sales
• o How to sell more
• o How to get more leads
• o Persuasion tactics
• o Negotiation

• Career – how to get ahead in a certain field or career
• o Shortcuts in a specific field
• o How to get hired
• o How to get promoted

HEALTH – this word ‘health’ encompasses so much that it can be difficult to know where to start. Just remember that you’ve got to niche it down or you’ll never be successful. All health to all people won’t work. But natural remedies for people with Type 1 Diabetes will work. Weight loss won’t work. But weight loss for women over 40 via the keto diet will work. You get the idea.

• Weight loss
• o For Women – This market is TOO big, sub niche this down into age group or some other demographic
• o For Men – Great idea to focus exclusively on men, their insecurities and problems with excess weight
• o For Overweight Kids – Tricky, you might partner with a doctor for this one
• o For Teens – The motivation to lose weight here is HUGE because of peer pressure and wanting to fit in
• o For Specific Body Parts
• § Tummy Fat – This market is HUGE
• § Upper Arm Fat – Women over 45
• § Double Chins – Include facial exercises with this
• § Man Boobs – Yes, this is a thing

• Natural weight loss – Focus on losing the weight naturally, perhaps with herbs and without crazy or difficult diets

• Weight Gain – Yes, this really is a niche
• o Weight gain for men
• o Certain body types do not easily gain muscle from working out – can you help?
• o Herbs, exercises, foods, nutrition, etc.

• Stress and anxiety
• o Herbal treatments
• o Meditation for stress
• o Cognitive therapy
• o Any natural remedy

• Anti-aging
• o Body exercises
• o Brain exercises
• o Facial exercises
• o Herbs and natural remedies
• o Attitude – mindset plays a big role in aging
• o Diet, specific foods to eat and avoid

• Muscle Building
• o Workout videos
• o Supplements
• o Herbs
• o Habits, tips, tricks and motivation

• Easy exercise
• o At the gym
• o At home
• o With weights
• o Using bodyweight
• o Routines
• o Pilates
• o HIIT

• Fat loss
• o This is like weight loss but with focus on losing fat
• o “Fat loss” resonates better with some prospects than “weight loss”
• o Belly fat is a huge niche

• Diets
• o Keto
• o Paleo
• o Mediterranean
• o Any major diet

• Recipes
• o For any of the popular diets
• o For health in general
• o For specific foods, especially healthy versions (healthy chocolate recipes, healthy pasta recipes, etc.)

• Natural healing
• o Herbs
• o Exercise for healing
• o Any healing method that does not involve drugs

• Wellness
• o Getting healthy
• o Staying healthy
• o Living longer
• o Keeping the brain sharp
• o Improving memory
• o Energy

• Specific health problem
• o Curing diabetes
• o Getting pregnant
• o Depression
• o Acne
• o Hair loss
• o Male enhancement
• o Overcoming anorexia
• o Teeth whitening
• o Quit smoking
• o Headaches
• o Improving heart health
• o ADHD and focus

• Yoga – more and more popular every year
• o Yoga routines
• o Yoga DVD’s
• o Yoga supplies, mats, books, etc.
• o Yoga for men
• o Yoga for absolute beginners
• o Yoga for busy people

• Meditation – this niche is growing fast
• o Books, recordings
• o Meditation for stress
• o Meditation for depression
• o Meditation for better brain and more creativity

• Sleep – people are having a harder time sleeping
• o Natural remedies
• o Sleep hacks
• o Anything (legal) to help people fall asleep easier, stay asleep and sleep deeper

RELATIONSHIPS – This is a truly fun niche to work in. Be sure to specify your audience and their main objective. For example, young men wanting one night stands is vastly different from middle age men looking for ‘the one’. If your site is about dating, be sure to get one of the big dating sites as a sponsor or advertiser.

• Dating
• o How to get a girlfriend
• o How to get a boyfriend
• o How to pick up women
• o Dating advice for male heterosexuals
• o Dating advice for female heterosexuals
• o Dating advice for gay men
• o Dating advice for lesbian women
• o Dating over 50
• o Online dating
• o Dating for women over 40 who want to date younger men
• o Dating for men over 40 who want to date younger women
• o Dating or matchmaking for certain groups of people (such as an ethnic or religious group with certain rules and customs)

• Breakups and Divorce
• o How to get your ex back
• o How to get over a man
• o How to get over a woman
• o How to take the pain out of divorce
• o How to ‘win’ in a divorce settlement
• o Starting over

• Relationships and marriage
• o Making your marriage work
• o Deepening your relationship
• o How to add spice and excitement to your relationship
• o How to save your relationship
• o Communication
• o Managing conflict
• o How to stop fighting about money
• o How to cope with the strain of children on your relationship

• Sexuality
• o Better sex
• o More sex
• o Sexual problems
• o Sexual communication
• o Toys

• Conflict
• o Dealing with conflict at work
• o Working out issues with your parents or siblings
• o Negotiations

• Body language
• o For dating
• o For sales
• o In general

• Parenting
• o New parents
• o Parents of big families
• o Parents of a single child
• o Single parents
• o Teenagers
• o Specific mental or physical challenges (such as parenting an ADHD child)

• Education
• o Teaching your children to be awesome people
• o Helping your child with learning challenges
• o Teaching your child a foreign language
• o Teaching your child a specific skill
• o Help for teachers

SELF-IMPROVEMENT – this niche is growing rapidly and includes many more sub-niches than what I’ve listed here. However, it can be difficult to monetize this niche. Be sure you have several best-selling affiliate products or a long list of possible advertisers in mind before starting.

• Mindset
• Motivation
• Goal getting
• Law of attraction
• Spirituality
• Success
• Affirmations
• Empowerment
• Mind-development
• Prosperity
• Memory
• Tapping
• NLP

HOBBIES AND ASSORTED – it can be truly surprising what is profitable. For example, I know of one woman who has a site about antique tea cups. She’s added a monthly paid newsletter, and easily earns $15,000 a month. Collectors can be just as fanatical as say, golfers.

• Travel
• o How to travel for cheap
• o Where to go and what to do
• o Tips and tricks of seasoned travelers
• o Best travel deals

• Learn a new language
• o Spanish
• o English
• o French
• o Italian
• o Chinese
• o Thai
• o Etc.

• Just about any hobby with active people who spend money
• o Learn to sing
• o How to play guitar
• o How to play piano
• o Woodworking
• o Restoring old cars
• o Gardening
• o Golf
• o Pets
• o Collecting
• o Etc.

• Survival
• o Home defense
• o Prepping
• o Grow your own food
• o Homesteading

So, still can’t find a niche?

Enjoy, Irving

How Your Avatar and SOV Can Quadruple Your Profits in 30 Days…

…Or they can ruin you in 6 months.

The three biggest problems online marketers face are:

1: Not getting new people to join your email list, read your blog or join your social media platforms.

2: Not getting readers to open emails, engage, talk, hang out of social media or share content.

3: Not getting readers and subscribers to buy stuff.

All three of these problems can be solved when you get clear on your avatar and your statement of value (SOV).

Your avatar is your character profile of the exact person you want on your list, visiting your blog and engaging on social media.

In any niche, there can be dozens or hundreds of different prospects.

The mistake online marketers make is not knowing the best prospect to reach who will purchase their offers.

And the solution is to get clear on your ideal avatar. Find the exact person who wants what you are selling, and selling becomes a breeze.

What’s more, your statement of value is also essential to your success, which we’ll cover in a moment.

Your Avatar:

Ideally your goal is to target the exact buyer you seek, talk to them about exactly what they want to talk about and then offer them the exact solution that will fix their problem.

I see marketers all the time who are trying to target everyone who wants to be happy, or everyone who wants to lose weight, or everyone with an interest in golf. That’s a recipe for disaster.

If your avatar is too vague – or worse yet, if you don’t have an avatar – then marketing becomes like trying to swim upstream while wearing your collection of bowling balls. It’s way too much work, you’re going to have to be a very strong, expert swimmer and still you’re just not going to make much progress, if any.

People buy to experience pleasure or to avoid pain. That’s why you should look for a person’s wants, needs, desires, fears, frustrations and problems.

Creating this avatar is going to get you clear on who to target and what to say to them through your content.

In fact, when you’re clear on your avatar, your marketing becomes far easier, you make more sales with less effort and your entire business becomes more of a joy than of work.

Here is an avatar template to use every time you enter a new market or even promote a new product.

Do your research on the appropriate forums, social media groups and Facebook Groups in particular, wining advertising, Amazon reviews and anyplace your prospects hang out to find this information. Facebook insights can be a great place to start.

If you must initially take a few guesses, that’s alright. You can refine your avatar as you go. Guessing incorrectly and refining is much better than not having any avatar at all.

Avatar Template

Basic Info:

• Gender
• Age
• Relationship status
• Education level
• Occupation
• Job title
• Location
• Interests
• Annual Income

Digging Deeper – The following 7 items will all have multiple answers inside the realm of your particular niche.

Wants: What does she want most of all? What is her goal?

Needs: What does she have to make her goal happen?

Desires: What are her desires on a very personal and emotional level?

Fears: What is keeping her awake at night?

Frustrations: What is stopping her from achieving her goal?

Problems: What are the problems she faces is trying to achieve her goal?

Desired Outcome: If all goes well, what does her outcome look like?

Example Avatar for a Paleo Weight Loss Product:

Paleo Pam; woman; age 50; married with 2 grown, unmarried children; 4 years of college; office manager at a large dental clinic; lives in Cincinnati, Ohio; loves crafts, television and sewing; $65K income.

Wants:

1. 1. To know what to eat and what foods to avoid on Paleo.
2. 2. A plan to lose 50 pounds and keep it off.
3. 3. Recipes that don’t take a lot of time to prepare, are easy and delicious.

Needs:

1. 1. Her paleo questions answered.
2. 2. Encouragement and motivation for the times she feels like giving up.
3. 3. To feel like she is not alone on her Paleo weight loss journey.

Desires:

1. 1. To be slim and healthy with lots of energy.
2. 2. To feel confident, to love how she looks in the mirror.
3. 3. To be proud of herself and to have her husband be proud of her, too.

Fears:

1. 1. That this is just another diet failure in the making.
2. 2. That she is losing her health and her quality of life.
3. 3. That this is her last chance to finally lose the weight and keep it off.
4. 4. If she has grandchildren, she might not live to see them grow up.

Frustrations:

1. 1. She doesn’t understand paleo, what to eat, when to eat.
2. 2. She doesn’t know where to begin.
3. 3. There is conflicting information and she doesn’t know what’s right.

Problems:

• She’s unhealthy. She’s had a recent health scare and her doctor says to lose the weight now or face dire consequences.
• Her weight seems to affect everything about her life negatively.
• She’s on prescription meds for her medical condition and the side effects are unpleasant.
• Her husband has lost all interest in being intimate with her and she thinks it’s her fault.
• Her clothes don’t fit (again) and she can’t bear the thought of once again buying bigger clothes.

Outcome:

• Pam has lost the weight.
• She looks great, feels great, and her confidence is sky-high.
• She loves how she looks in the mirror and in photos.
• She lost the weight without starving and now she finds it’s easy to keep the weight off, too.
• Her husband is proud of her and pays more attention to her. Her clothes fit and she has more energy.
• Her health problems have diminished greatly and she’s no longer on medication.

Please note, this example avatar is just that – an example. Please do your own research for your own niche or products.

Do you see how much easier it will be for you to now speak directly to Paleo Pam in all of your content? And can you imagine how much easier it will be for you to sell her the solution she needs now that you understand her better?

And you can even custom tailor your offers to her to make sure she is getting everything she needs from you. For example, if you look at her needs, you’ll see that all three of them could be taken care of with a bonus private Facebook Group where she can connect with others who are just like her, as well as getting questions answered by you or someone who understands Paleo.

The biggest mistake I see marketers making on their avatar is not focusing on URGENT problems. You’ll notice that Paleo Pam needed to lose 50 pounds, not 5 pounds. And she’s having health challenges that are serious.

This is someone who is MOTIVATED to do something about her problem right away. When you show her that you understand her and you have the solution she seeks, she’s not going to balk on price or need time to think about it. She’s going to jump on your offer like her life depends on it, because in this case it probably does.

When you research your prospect, you’re going to see they have MANY problems – so much so that it can become overwhelming to you. Your best bet is to figure out which problems are urgent, identify the exact prospects who have this urgent problem and then find them the solution.

People whose backs are to the wall are ready to buy and buy now. They need a solution right away because without it their problem will only get worse.

But there’s one more step to take:

Your Statement of Value

This is a simple statement that gets you clear on the value you must provide to your ideal avatar. This ensures your avatar feels like their needs are being met by you, which in turn ensures they continue to open your emails, read your blog posts and buy your stuff. Without an SOV your prospects may become bored or leave because you are not serving their needs and interests.

When you couple your SOV with your Avatar, you’ll know how to attract all the right people onto your lists and social media accounts.

Here’s the SOV formula: Your content (website, emails, videos, social media, etc.) gives your ideal Avatar the ability to enjoy their ultimate desired outcome.

You can only complete this statement of value after you’ve completed your Avatar.

For the example Avatar we created earlier, your SOV might be:

FastPaleoSuccess.com gives Pam an easy plan for losing 50 pounds in 120 days and keeping it off so she can have more energy, be healthier, feel more confident and attractive and make her husband notice her again.

This is just an example. If I were really putting together a Paleo website I would put a great deal more time and research into this, but you get the idea.

Your SOV encapsulates and clarifies the mission you are embarking upon with your site, your campaign or whatever it is that you are doing.

And with your SOV and your Avatar in hand, you’ll know exactly what kind of content to create, what to put in your emails and social media posts and how to sell your products.

Making the effort to create an Avatar and SOV will save you a ton of time. No longer will you create content that isn’t suited for your audience or build your list with people who aren’t responsive to your offers. You’ll know exactly who your customers are, how to reach them and what to offer them.

Bottom line: You’ll be able to earn more while doing less because you’ll do a better job of making your customers happy – perhaps more so than anyone else in your niche.

Irving

Articles To Peak Your Enthusiasm

An IM Lesson from a Hollywood Has-Been

If I told you his name, you would probably recognize it. You might even wonder whatever happened to him.

For a while he was the hottest thing in Hollywood. Every movie he did turned to gold. He was fawned over by Hollywood producers and everyone either wanted to be him, to sleep with him or cast him as the star in their next movie.

But all of this fame went straight to his head. He drank too much and did too many drugs.

And worst of all, he thought he was the greatest thing on the planet.

He treated anyone ‘beneath him’ like crap. It didn’t matter if that person was a cameraman, a makeup person or the caterer. He made ridiculous demands, acted like a spoiled, petulant child, and made all the ‘little people’ around him feel 2 inches tall.

Sure, he was still nice to the directors and producers because they were closer to ‘his level’ and besides, they could hire him or fire him. But everyone else felt the wrath of his self-delusional superiority.

One of the people he yelled at, screamed at and humiliated at every turn was a lowly intern working as an assistant’s assistant to the director on one of his films.

That lowly intern rose through the ranks surprisingly fast. In just a few short years she become a director and a producer before becoming the right-hand person to the studio head.

And she never forgot how he treated her. In fact, she told everyone what this person was like to work with. And as her power grew, more and more people listened to her warning not to hire this individual. They could see how disruptive he was on set and how impossibly difficult he had become. All it took was a word from her and suddenly the parts were drying up.

Once she got the number two position at the studio, she blackballed him. He would never work at that studio again. She even took steps to ensure he wouldn’t get work elsewhere, either.

Fast forward to today, and no one will hire this prima donna of an actor. I’ll bet he couldn’t even get a gig working for free on a public service announcement.

I’ve seen something similar happen in online marketing. A newbie asks a ‘guru’ for 2 minutes of their time. It might be at an event where she’s just heard him speak and tries to ask him a question afterwards. But the ‘guru’ doesn’t have time to be nice and brushes her off like so much street dirt.

But the newbie learns. She gathers an audience. She builds a following. And pretty soon she is setting affiliate records.

She also remembers who was nice to her and who wasn’t. She won’t promote this ‘guru’s’ products, no matter how much he pleads and begs. He doesn’t know why she keeps saying no because he doesn’t even remember her.

But boy oh boy does she remember him. The day he was a total jerk to her was the day she decided to make it big and then tell him to take a flying leap. And it costs him plenty in lost sales and lost JV opportunities.

You never know if the person asking you for help today will be the one in a position to help you tomorrow.

“Yeah, but what are the odds that the person I brush off is the person who will one day be in a position to send me hundreds of affiliate sales, or an introduction to someone in a position of power in my niche, or do a lucrative joint venture with me?

If you’re ignoring every new person who asks for a few minutes of your time, I’d say the odds are nearly 100%. It’s inevitable that you will indeed be shooting yourself in the foot, both financially and reputationally.

What’s the answer? I don’t really have one. It’s true that we don’t have time for every newbie’s question. But it’s also true that we should bend down and help others up as much and as often as we reasonably can.

Here’s what one marketer did: He set up a system to handle questions from newbies. He made a Q and A of the top 50 questions he routinely received, and anytime a newbie had a question, he first referred them to that page. That took care of about 80% of his requests for help.

Then at the bottom of that page he gave an option for more help. People had to have done a certain amount of research and reading, as well as buying one of his products in order to get a few minutes of his time.

If they did the research and the reading, and if they had purchased one of his products, he gave them a 10-minute free consultation with the understanding that any further coaching would cost dearly.

Believe it or not, he accidently doubled his coaching income within 2 weeks of implementing this system.

And he made true proteges and fans who went on to become successful and promote the heck out of his products, further adding to his bottom line.

All because he found a way to help people rather than giving them the brush off.

Irving

Shorties but Goodies – Ways to Improve Your marketing Efforts

Is Someone Trolling You on Social Media?

Keep this mind: When you fight in the mud with a pig, the pig gets happy and you get filthy.

Always take the high road and avoid the mud.

This Well-Known Website CHASED Me Away

I was on a website the other day – a WELL-KNOWN website for entrepreneurs – and I had the worst experience. If I told you the name of this site, you would likely recognize it in an instant. It’s big, it’s popular and it’s full of useful information for its niche.

So obviously they create a great user experience for the visitor, right?

Nope.

As soon as I got to the page I was looking for, a banner appeared across the bottom of the page. This banner took up nearly HALF the available room – room where I should have been able to view the article. Instead, I was left with this narrow window through which to view a very long and detailed piece of writing with no way to get rid of the banner.

And here’s the kicker – the banner was advertising four other articles on the site. As in, “Before you even get a chance to read this article, wouldn’t you like to click away and read something else?”

Ummm, no. I wouldn’t.

What’s your website’s user experience like? If you haven’t checked lately, you might want to go look.

A Big Money Maker You’re Completely Missing

There’s a marketer I know who launches a new funnel with a new product every 3 months or so. He pays 100% commission on the front end as well as 100% commission on all the upsells, too.

AND he runs an affiliate contest that pays thousands of dollars.

This brings in a LOT of affiliates who promote the new product hard and it builds him a brand new list of buyers.

How does he make his money?

First, he promotes the funnel to his own list. I suspect the commission he earns from this is probably enough to cover the contest prizes.

But his real income happens after the launch is over. The day after the one-week promotion ends, he starts a brand new promotion to his brand new list of buyers.

This new promotion also runs for a week, and it promotes a much more expensive affiliate product that is an awesome match for the product that buyers purchased the previous week. For example, if last week’s product was how to make money on YouTube, the much more expensive product might be an entire course on how to create awesome videos that get millions of views.

This much more expensive product pays out exquisitely large commissions, earning him a substantial profit. I don’t know his exact numbers, but when the second week ends I’m guessing he’s cleared a bare minimum of $20,000 in profit and much more likely 2 to 5 times this much.

He reverse engineers his process, choosing his high ticket affiliate product FIRST, and then creating his own product that is an excellent compliment to the high ticket item. Then he fills in the rest of his funnel with products that do not compete with the high ticket item he’ll be promoting the following week.

This might be too much work and investment for you right now, but if you have a list then I highly encourage you to find at least one high ticket item to promote to your list as soon as possible. Create an email series that you send out every day for 7 days promoting this high ticket item and see what happens.

$2,500 Profit a Month to Build Your Own Email List

I’m not sure if I recommend this or not, but it is interesting and certainly something to consider.

There’s a marketer who offers to build you an email list of 1,000 brand new subscribers for $1,000.

He takes on 3 or 4 clients at a time, charging each of them $1,000. Each client supplies a quality lead magnet, and all the lead magnets are displayed on one squeeze page.

So let’s say the lead magnets are a video on driving traffic, a PDF on list building, a course about making money on Amazon and a book about affiliate marketing. All of these are displayed on the squeeze page, and when someone enters their email address on that page, their email address is then added to all 4 autoresponders.

Thus, each person who paid $1,000 gets a list of 1,000 new subscribers, but all four of them get the same list.

The guy who is doing this also adds the new subscribers to his own list as well. He is in effect getting paid to build his own list. He buys solo ads to drive the traffic to build the lists, but this could also be done with any other traffic method. That’s why I said the profit is $2500 a month, which assumes $1500 to build the lists, which should be plenty more than enough.

Of course, then each marketer needs to start emailing their own list and warming them up.

I think this would work best if all marketers involved offered free items in the same niche. For example, if all of them were about making money in Facebook Groups, or driving traffic, or creating awesome videos. It would be more targeted that way, and thus the lists would be much more focused.

A more general niche that could work is simply online marketing for newbies.

If you try this, there’s no reason you couldn’t ramp it up to doing it several times a month, always with 3 to 5 freebies offered as a package on one page.

Using ‘Flow’ to Double Your Opt-ins

When you run an ad that links to your squeeze page, it’s an awesome idea to make sure your ad and squeeze page look as identical as possible. Try to use the same exact colors, style, language, branding and so forth.

This makes your ad flow smoothly to your squeeze page, without disrupting the appearance in any way.

If your prospect liked the look of your ad enough to click the link, why make the squeeze page look any different? When it looks the same, visitors are reassured. They know they’re in the right place and they are more likely to complete the sign-up process.

I’ve seen cases where fixing the flow between the ad and the squeeze page have literally doubled the opt-in rate.

#1 Problem Plaguing New Launches (and How to Fix it)

If you were to guess the #1 problem marketers face when launching a new product – what would you say?

Not having enough information?

There are products, courses and programs galore that teach how to create and launch a new product.

Lack of technical know-how?

Anyone can hire the technical help they need online.

The #1 reason why marketers – and especially new marketers – fail to launch new products is fear.

Not fear that they will screw up, or fear that the launch will be a disaster. Those problems are easy to fix. Just figure out what you did wrong and don’t do it next time.

The #1 thing holding them back from launching is fear of what others will think.

This includes fear of what customers think: “What if they don’t like my product? What if they think it’s rubbish?” And also fear of what more established marketers will think.

“What if a big marketer doesn’t like my product? What if they tell the world I’m a failure and a fake? What if they don’t like my sales funnel or my sales copy or worse yet, they don’t like ME?

I can tell you from experience that not everyone will like you or your product. There will always be someone who says your product is rubbish and that customers should by their
product instead.

And do you know what? That’s okay.

Take any movie or show that’s a smashing success, and you will find people who don’t like it. In fact, there will be people who HATED it. Yes, even Star Wars.

But those movies and shows still made a lot of people happy and they made the producers a ton of money.

Criticism is part of any business. When you put yourself, your opinions and your products out there for the world to see, someone will respond negatively.

Here’s how to get past the fear of what others will say or think:

First, forget about other marketers and your peers when creating content and products. It doesn’t matter what they say because they don’t ultimately pay your bills.

Second, everything you produce, whether it’s content, products or whatever, should be produced for YOUR customers and not for anyone else.

Know your audience and produce thing things your audience loves.

If you were in a play, your performance would be for the audience and not for your castmates, right? Yes, it’s awesome to make friends with your castmates – or in the IM world, with JV partners and affiliates. But they are not your audience. Your customers are the ones you need to please, and when you do, affiliate and JV partners will appear because you are making sales.

And when I say ‘customers’, I mean YOUR customers. If your target market is women over 50 who need to lose weight, then don’t give a second thought to what a 30-year-old woman or a 50-year-old man will think of your sales letter. Who cares? They’re not your customers.

When you do this, you’ll find it’s incredibly easy to create awesome content in your own voice that speaks to your audience, as well as products your customers will love to buy.

The Simple Jeff Walker 6-Figure Blueprint

Can you imagine making six figures from writing just ONE report?

Believe it or not, that’s essentially how many marketers do earn 6 figures, or even 7 figures.

No doubt you’ve seen marketers launch a really good $10 product that sells like crazy.

And then they do it again. And again. And again.

They come up with a topic, write a report or create a product, do everything necessary to launch it, and then start all over again.

That’s work.

But let’s say you write that report and it sells like gangbusters. Your next step shouldn’t be to start all over.

Instead, make that topic your ‘thing.’

Jeff Walker realized “How to Launch a Product” was a hot topic. And that’s what he teaches. In fact, that’s all he needs to teach to earn his living.

Choose ONE topic that sells fantastically well. Just one. Become an expert in that one topic. And then make everything you do from that point on about that one topic.

Write the report. Record videos. Offer coaching. Record the coaching and turn it into a course. Refine it, improve it and so forth.

Charge more for the course than you do for the initial product. Charge even more for group coaching. Charge more than that for one-on-one coaching. Offer personal consulting or speaking for an even higher price.

But don’t stray from your key concept. Become THE go-to expert in your niche, whatever that might be.

Here’s what will happen:

You’ll become known as THE EXPERT. Everyone else will look like imitators.

Sales will become easier. If someone wants to learn that ONE thing that you teach, who will they turn to? You of course.

Your life and your business will be so much simpler. You’ll no longer have to bounce from one topic to another. You can laser focus on your ONE thing. You’ll have more time, less stress and more income.

Start with one report teaching your core concept, and then go deep, not wide.

Irving

Today’s News and Resources in Affiliate Marketing

Bookshop Pays Affiliates 10%

Bookshop was founded to support independent bookstores and save them from going under because of a certain online retailer.

And it’s worth noting that Amazon is continuously changing the rules and lowering commissions, too. Enough said.

Bookshop distributes earnings through a pooled fund to give profits to digital storefronts of local stores.

Bookshop’s affiliate program is open to everyone and pays a higher royalty on affiliate book sales than Amazon does – 10% on any books sold through your link.

Put together a list of ‘must read’ books for your blog or website, add your affiliate link and see what happens. Since starting in January, Bookshop has raised $4,270,190 for local bookstores.

And authors – you can promote your book via Bookshop to support yourself and independent bookstores at the same time.

Simply sign up for an account, share your links to the books you love and earn 10% on each sale.

https://bookshop.org/affiliates/profile/introduction

Logo Users – Beware of Sexual Innuendo

You’ve spent some time, money and thought creating the perfect logo for your business or organization – yeah!!

But… you might want to run your new logo by a couple of dozen people first, before you use it, just in case they see something you didn’t.

On this page are 9 logos that have been fixed by a graphic artist. Why did they need fixing? Since I don’t want to go into explicit details, I’ll let you figure it out.

https://www.boredpanda.com/graphic-designer-redesigned-worst-logos-emanuele-abrate/

Facebook takes legal action against fake engagement sellers and data scraping

Fake engagement is a key issue on social media platforms, with ‘influencers’ able to artificially inflate their stats and then make money from unwitting businesses by touting their perceived reach.

That’s why Facebook’s latest legal action is welcome news – Facebook has launched legal proceedings against a Spanish-based company called MGP25 Cyberint Services, over the provision of automation software to distribute fake likes and comments on Instagram.

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/facebook-launches-new-legal-action-against-fake-engagement-sellers-and-data/

iOS Users Can Now Send Tweets with Audio Clips

Twitter announced in a tweet that select iOS users can now tweet 140-second audio clips. And creating an audio tweet is pretty simple – just tap on the new tweet icon, tap on the wavelength icon and record.

https://twitter.com/Twitter/status/1273306563994845185

Look out, Amazon: Walmart.com is getting bigger

On June 15, Walmart announced a partnership with Shopify that will allow Shopfiy sellers to integrate their online stores with Walmart.com’s marketplace.

This move is aimed squarely at gaining market share against Amazon’s massive reseller network.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/15/business/walmart-shopify-online-shopping/index.html

Microsoft pushes Edge out to millions of users in a surprise Windows update

One feature, called Automatic Profile Switching, can detect when you’re navigating to a site authenticated with a work account while in your personal browser profile and switch you to your work profile without you having to do anything.

https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/microsoft-pushes-edge-out-to-millions-of-users-in-a-surprise-windows-update

COVID-19’s Impact on Podcast Listening

Global podcast listens have increased by 42% and European listens are up by 53%. Tracking the two countries that were quarantined first in the Western world, Italy is up by 29% and Spain is up by 25%. Meanwhile, the US is showing an overall decline of 20% with certain categories seeing a massive uptick. More info here:

https://blog.voxnest.com/coronavirus-impact-on-podcast-listening

Google’s massive core update: What you need to know

This is a SERP shakeup to put marketers on their toes – in fact, it’s a BIG one.

https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/google-may-core-update-2020

Facebook confirms its testing email marketing for business pages

While businesses already have the option to run chatbots, offer check-in promotions, live stream, and host watch parties, among other things, Facebook has confirmed it may soon enable business pages to send marketing emails as well, taking one step closer to being an all-in-one marketing platform.

https://www.adweek.com/digital/facebook-confirms-test-of-email-marketing-tools-for-small-business-pages/

21 Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge

For 21 days, do one action to further your understanding of power, privilege, supremacy, oppression, and equity. Plan includes suggestions for readings, podcasts, videos, observations, and ways to form and deepen community connections.

https://www.eddiemoorejr.com/21daychallenge

Save, transcribe and share video highlights, instantly

Get a Transcripted video summary

• Get a transcript of your selected moments instantly.
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https://get-spoke.com/

Giphy

A great source for the best and newest GIFs and Animated Stickers online.

https://giphy.com/

Blush, Illustrations for Everyone

Create, mix, and customize illustrations made by artists around the world.

https://blush.design/

Fast, easy website prototyping for everyone

Easily create website prototypes with thousands of real website components. No design skills needed.

https://inspireframe.io/

SaaS Pages

A collection of the best landing pages with a focus on copy writing and design.

https://saaspages.xyz/

Facebook Messenger finally allows toggling between business and personal accounts

At long last, Facebook has heard the cries of its users and is adding the ability to toggle between personal and business accounts right within its Messenger app.

https://messengernews.fb.com/2020/06/09/introducing-business-inbox-in-messenger/

Move Over Gmail? Maybe, Maybe Not…

Basecamp has a new email service called HEY — and it could be a game-changer

If someone emails your @HEY address for the first time, you decide if it gets through. Their email will land in The Screener, which is kind of like screening phone calls. This is where it’s up to you. Thumbs up or thumbs down. Yes and it’s in, No and you’ll never see it again.

It sort of makes even the best email marketer cringe, doesn’t it? But then again, Hey isn’t exactly free.

https://hey.com/

The Facebook Advertiser Boycott is Growing

Patagonia joins the growing Facebook advertiser boycott over the site’s failure to stop ‘hateful lies and dangerous propaganda’

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/22/tech/facebook-boycott-hate-trnd/index.html

Irving

Reach for The Stars – And Reach Your Goals

As a species we humans are always at our best when we are striving to become better than ourselves. We shine when we have the motivation to learn, to expand, to be greater than what we may think we are intended to be.

In a lot of ways, we need ideals in our lives and businesses. For example, what gets you out of bed in the morning, what makes your heart beat excitedly?

Maybe you’re an entrepreneur already, does the thought of what you’re going to do with this next day, fill you with a quivering excitement? Or is it just another day of daily tasks to achieve before you can come back home prior to hitting the repeat button for the next day?

In Ulysses, Tennyson wrote this:

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Arguably this quote is the greatest interpretation of the human drive and will, within each of us beats an unyielding heart, able to face challenges each day and never lose faith.

Tomorrow is a new day, a new start, a new challenge. When you wake up, find that thing that excites you the most, be it a goal, life in general, love, that hobby you never get a chance to do anymore, whatever!

If you can focus on that one thing that makes it worth it and make it the center of your world- make it your moon- then the mundane becomes magical. Anything that doesn’t feel good, simply cut it away or if it is a necessary task – keep your mind on the bigger picture – the ideal.

Make the stars what you want them to be.

Irving