In the previous article, we discuss about the First Deadly Mistake which is Not Respecting the Product Creation Process, what is the second deadly mistake? Keep reading to know more

Second Deadly Mistake: Ignoring the Marketing

When my client told me she wanted to create information product, I advised that we first needed to:

• Checked the products already being sold in her niche
• Find out how they are being sold
• In what format they are being sold

She was not thrilled with that respond, in her mind, all she needs is to create the product and she will figure out ways of marketing it.

I try to make her understand it is the other way round.

She first needed to find the audience then create the product.

You see the big secret info marketing gurus do not tell their flocks is this: it is not about the product, it is about the marketing.

This point might sound contradictory to the first point. So let me make myself very clear.

When I was writing my books, I read a lot of different books in my niche. I remember researching for materials on work-life balance.  I am not a health or fitness profession, therefore, I needed to conduct thorough research into the health and productivity benefit of work-life balance.

One book that came highly recommended was Tim Ferriss: “The 4 Hour Work Week”. When I bought the book from Amazon, I was so excited convinced that it held the secret recipe to work-life balance that I could borrow.

However, as I read through chapter to chapter, I realised that the book was complete crap. Incidentally, I read Tim’s “Four Hour Body” and came to similar conclusion. I read over fifty books for the project and increasingly came to the same conclusion. The majority of bestsellers where complete crap.

There were lots of really great books that never made the bestseller list but provided real valuable information. I also bought some really good products from people that are completely off the internet marketing radar.

The question that popped in my mind after the exercise was: how is it that really good products never make it to the top of the bestseller list while some crappy product such as the “The 4 Hour Work Week” are able to make a blast?

Answer: is it about the marketing – marketing is better than mastery.

This is what info marketing gurus never tell their trainees when they are training them on product creation.

The majority of internet marketing gurus have close to a hundred thousand people on their individual lists. Furthermore, they all sell for one another. So if the top twenty internet marketing gurus have one hundred thousand people on their list, if one of them wanted to launch a product they will have two million marketing their products.

Besides, they have an army of affiliates who might not have hundred thousand people on their list, may be five or ten thousand. With the level of traffic going to their sites and the amount of people marketing for them, it becomes easy for them to make millions.

Then there is their sales copy. Those guys can afford to pay the best copy writers ten fifteen thousand US dollars to write good sales copy for them. In marketing, a good copy can easily make crappy product appealing to people.

So as a person just starting without the benefit of a massive list, an army of affiliates and fifteen dollars copywriter, you do not event have a chance.

How to Become an Information Millionaire Without Massive Resources

The first step to becoming an info millionaire is to understand that most of the information you currently have about becoming successful in information marketing is a lie.

Secondly, you need to show respect for the product creation process. You cannot create crappy product and expect to make a kill from it.

Finally, the money is in the marketing. It does not matter how good your product is, if you do not have the ability to market it, you are stuffed.

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Two Deadly Information Marketing Mistakes (Part One)

Two deadly information marketing mistakes, what are they? Keep reading to find out more

Last Friday I was to create a video with a client of mine but she cancelled at the last minute.

I booked the studio even though I knew she wasn’t going to show up. She is my client, I had to do what she wanted despite the fact that it was against my advice.

When she made the call to inform me that she was cancelling, I asked her: would you mind if I was honest with you?

She replied no go ahead – what’s up?

I explained to her that I knew she was going to cancel.

After she recovered from the shock of my bluntness, she asked how I knew that she was going to cancel.

I explained to her that I knew that she would not be prepared.

When we scheduled the date for the recording, we agreed on her sending me the presentation at a certain date to review to give her enough time to rehearse.

She had not completed the presentation the day before the recording was scheduled and she had not rehearsed.

When I asked her reason for not completing the presentation on the agreed date, she responded that she knew her topic cold therefore did not need to rehearse. Once she stood in front of the camera she will know what to say.

First Deadly Mistake: Not Respecting the Product Creation Process

My client is a typical information marketer. She has attended lots of information marketing and product creation trainings where info marketing gurus have taught her that the info product creation process was fairly easy, all she needs is stand in front of a camera and speak from her heart.

In the book “The presentation Style of Steve Jobs”, author Carmine Gallo explained that when Steve Jobs was getting ready for a presentation, he used to practice for hours. There were times when he will take over three to four hours to rehearse a two minute punch line.

I once listened to Dan Kennedy explained the importance of preparation. He said when he was on “The Success Tour”, after being on the tour for a few years, someone could use a stopwatch to time his presentation. They will know exactly which word or sentence he will be on at a particular time of the presentation.

He had given the same presentation that much that he could do the entire hour long presentation without note. Yet, every time he was scheduled to present, he rehearsed and rehearsed.

He went further to say when he was presenting with the likes of Zig Zigler, Brian Tracy or Tony Robins, even though those guys had been presenting the same materials for over thirty years, before going to the stage, instead of having conversation in the Green Room, they will be busy preparing.

What is the moral of those stories and how do they relate to information marking?

Most information marketers like my client think they can wing the product creation process. They do not understand the importance of ensuring the process is done right.

Some information marketing gurus even teach their trainees they do not even need to create the products themselves. All they need to do is pay someone peanuts from Asia, and that person will create multimillion pounds products for them.

What those gurus never tell them is, if it was that easy to pay someone in India or the Philippines $50.00 to create a product that would fetch a million pound everyone will be doing it.

No doubt there were lots of info marketers in the old days who got away with that. The question is: where are they now?

The majority of them are busy serving burger at McDonalds.

Successful people understand that they need to respect the process of achieving success and they also need to respect their customers.

When you want to create an information product that you intend on selling for thousands, you need to put in the work to ensure that product is valuable. It is not about what you love or is passionate about, it is about what problem your product solves.

Steve Jobs and other successful people did not succeed because they winged it.

Please check the blog next week for the second deadly information marketing mistake 

If those guy in Brussels wanted to be controlling how much the market choses to value labour, why didn’t they run for seats in the Chinese Communist Part or the Russian Duma?

We live in a free market economy – free market Mr. Barroso and co. In the free market, it is the market that determines how much they like to pay for product and services.

It is bad enough as it stands to have government setting minimum wage which to an extent is very necessary to prevent exploitation of workers. However, when it comes to the decision of how much businesses pay their senior management, it should be left to the businesses to make that decision not some politician.

They are paying themselves twenty thousand euro per month while they ram austerity down the throat of millions of ordinary people. They even have the audacity to ask for more now they want to regulate what businesses pay their workers?

The free market compensation system was structured in such a way that the more value a worker creates the more compensation he/she receives.

Athletes, footballers and entertainers get paid thousands of times more than the average because they provide thousands of times value than the average person.

I have just listened to Total Recall the autobiography of Arnold Schwarzenegger. In it he explained how difficult it was to act in some of the films he did. He made particular mention of the difficulties of making Conan. In one of the films, he said he almost died. He was on a horse that went so close to the edge of a high rise building that if it was not for the quick reaction of his cameraman he would have been dead.

Someone watching the films would have no ideas what he went through making the film and they might complain that he get paid twenty million dollars? As if there are lots of people in this world who are capable of doing what he did.

Those bankers are responsible for making billions of pounds worth of decisions. They get a single decision wrong as we saw in 2008, it can be catastrophic. Getting a single decision right can bring enormous benefit to their shareholders.

What we see on the news are the decisions they get wrong. With one decision they get wrong, they get thousands right and we do not see those on the front pages of newspapers.

However, the aim of this article is not to be an evangelist for bankers, they can fight their own battle. My concern is with politicians interfering with business decisions in a free marketing economy. When they succeed in regulating bankers pay the next person’s pay that might be in their line of fire is yours.

Think about it!

Ask yourself these questions:

• Are you going to start 2013 the same way you ended 2012?
• Are you one of those entrepreneurs anticipating a difficult 2013?
• Do you have a business plan mapped out for 2013?

At the gym this morning I had a discussion with a gentleman in the sauna. When I asked him how he spent his Christmas, he went on a tantrum about how evil his boss was for forcing him to work on both Christmas and Boxing Day.

At the end of his tantrum I asked him what was his plans for the New Year, he responded that he hope he won the lottery.

In other words, he had no plan.

My guy at the gym typifies the average person. They complain about how difficult things are but when asked what actions they intend on taking to make things better, the typical response is, I don’t know.

2013 is predicted to be a difficult year for individuals and businesses. It is going to be difficult for my business, your business and the majority of businesses.

The key question here is: what are you going to do about it? I know exactly what I am going to do about it.

In my car this afternoon I was listening to Dan Sullivan’s ‘Pure Genius’ audio program. In the program, Mr. Sullivan described four categories of people:

• A people
• B people
• C people
• D people

I am going to butcher the statement here a bit because I have listened to it only one time so bear with me as I try to recall what he said.

Mr. Sullivan described ‘A people’ as followers, those without the ability to form their own opinions therefore always follow what they are told.

‘B people’ are those who well read, able to form their own opinions and are critical of everyone and everything. They are activates or the anti-capitalists who strongly oppose to the system.

‘C people’ are those who possess their own opinions about things, know that they are different but carry their own cross. They are the entrepreneurs, athletes, or performers. They are not only critical of the system; they understand that they cannot change the system therefore set out the change their own lives.

‘D people’ are those with ‘C’ traits however, in addition to taking action, they also teach others how to become ‘C’.

As I am editing this article, US politicians are negotiating to avoid the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’. They will manage to reach a compromise agreement at the eleventh hour. It would save the US and world economy from the catastrophic consequences of the US falling over the cliff.

But would this change anything for my business or yours?

The answer is no.

The Eurozone crisis is still hovering above our heads.

Then there is instability in the Middle East and the slowing Chinese economy.

What the above show is there are so many factors beyond our control as entrepreneurs. Any of the above issues has the ability to push the fragile economic recovery over the edge and along with it our business.

So the question is: how can you insulate your business?

Do you have your business plan mapped out for 2013?

You plan strategically for the coming year.

You need to increase your marketing activities, streamline your operations to make it more efficient and redefine your business model.

You need to clarify your marketing message and offering to ensure you stand out from the crowd, identify your target market and the most effective media through which you could channel your marketing message.

2013 is going to be a difficult year for most businesses, but it does not necessarily have to be difficult for you. If you behave like the ‘A and B people’ by just sitting and hoping that someone else is responsible for your success, you will be affected by those difficulties.

Success in anything is predictable. You can determine the extent of your success by the goals you set for yourself. If you have no goal to strive towards, you will have nothing to use as a yardstick for measuring progress.

You cannot hit a target you can’t see.

Leaders are visionaries.

You need to have clarity.

You need to have a target to aim towards in 2013.

December 2013, my guy in the gym will still be complaining about his cruel boss who asked him to work on Christmas day. I can guarantee that December 2014 and 2015 and the year after and the one after he will still be complaining.

It does not need to be that way for you.

If you do not plan, you plan to fail.

It is my hope that 2013 be your best year ever.

Happy New Year!

2012 has been a terrible year for most small entrepreneurs. Meanwhile 2012 has been my best year ever and I happen to know many friends who have also had a great 2012.

What is the difference between me and my friends and a lot of the entrepreneurs in recession?

Entrepreneur strategies for getting out of recession in 2012

I will suggest it is the mind-set.

Let me expand on this answer with a story.

Yesterday, I attended a Manchester Chamber of Commerce meeting at the Hilton Hotel in Manchester City Centre.

During the meeting a document was passed around for group discussion. The topic of discussion was the Chancellor of Exchequer 2013 budget. As many of the guys discussed the budget passionately I sat there thinking to myself no wonder many of these guys are in a recession.

Entrepreneurs how can you make 2013 your best ever year

What do I mean by that?

For a start not a single soul in that room at the time had the power to change or influence the chancellor’s decision. Even the moderator said we can only pass your suggestions to the government there is no guarantee that they will act on it.

Secondly, we are entrepreneurs for crying out load. We are supposed to be creative and resourceful. We are supposed to know that we are in the business of making money and the government is in the business of collecting money.

All we need to be thinking about is make money faster than the government can collect. I know this concept might sound strange to many people so let me explain.

As entrepreneurs, the more customers we have, the more value we provide to those customers, the more money we make.

I will say something else very profound: there is money everywhere. As an entrepreneur, the way you need to look at yourself is as if you were playing those money games on TV.

The type of game where you are place in a large space with a lot of money in different notes and the money is been blown by air. The faster you are able to grab enough of it the better it is for you.

Someone needs every service you are provide as an entrepreneur,. All you have to do is find the person who needs your service. The more of those people you find the faster you will get out of your recession.

Why Can’t Most Entrepreneurs Find Customers?

The simple answer to the question why most entrepreneurs don’t have enough customers is because they don’t prospect enough, and the reason why they don’t prospect enough is they are busy wasting their times attending events like the one at the Chamber of Commerce and discussing something that they can do nothing about.

The majority of entrepreneurs are very very unproductive, we waste our days doing low value things that do not bring us anywhere closer to our stated goals.

There is a second reason which is we are always seeking simple solutions to complex problems. Customer acquisition or marketing whatever way you refer to call it, is difficult. However, if done systematically it can be done effectively.

Many of us entrepreneurs waste our days attending these events hoping to find an easy solution to our marketing problem. It is like someone swallowing a get slim quick pile because they do not want to exercise.

It is not going to happen!

I was once a member of the Chamber of Commerce. The reason they invited me to the meeting was to see if I could be lured into re-joining. But the very reason I seized becoming a member is because I saw my attendance at the meetings as a waste of my time. I even use to be a member of the council.

As council member, we had to attend meetings early in the morning ever so often. I attend these meetings with these guys instead of discussing issues that were of burning concern to the entrepreneurs, we were discussing politics.

Whenever I am there I keep thinking to myself, there guys just don’t get it. We are a business organisation, we are not politicians. If I wanted to discuss politics I will run for office I will not be running a business.

Needless to say the chamber did not convince me to return not with that discussion we had. I am sure there were many people there who they might have convinced and those are the people who will remain in recession.

What is the lesson of this article to entrepreneurs?

There are two important lessons:

Lesson number one is there is no collective recession only individual recession. And each entrepreneur has the ability to get out of recession by attracting more customers and providing more value to those customers.

The second lesson is: any entrepreneur who wants to get out of recession needs to be extremely productive. Spending time discussing politic in the middle of your working day when you should be prospecting is not a productive use of your time.

There is money everywhere, if you don’t believe me, take the bus to Canary Wharf tomorrow morning.

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