If you are new to internet marketing then it must seem that everyone wants a little part of you.
Buy this product, lock in here now, jump on board before the crowds, get in on the ground floor, join our matrix – yes everyone wants something of you.
And in return for jumping in now to the latest internet craze your low one time payment will allow you to retire in just 18 months and work only for five minutes a day until retirement.
All of these products sound amazing but do you really think something for nothing in this life? It doesn’t happen in the real world so why should the internet be any different?
You can make money online and you will if you inject a little bit of realism into your business efforts.
Forget the mentality of getting something for nothing, or for very little effort – this doesn’t happen either online or offline.
Forget the idea that you can invest pennies and gain enough to retire on in just a few short months.
Instead remember this:
You need to invest your time and money for a sustained period of time to make money online and by “sustained period” I mean perhaps a year or more.
Now while that is almost certainly not what you want to hear it does not make it any the less true.
If you don’t believe me then go ahead and chase the latest money-making craze where little effort equals huge financial gains…and once you have learned the hard way that these schemes don’t work then where will you be?
Well you will be right back at the place where you need to invest your time and money for a year or more but this time you will be considerably wiser than last time round.
Kelvin MacKenzie
My former boss Kelvin MacKenzie, who used to edit The Sun ‘newspaper’ told recently of a friend of his who makes a living servicing central heating boilers.
Recently the engineer offered a half-price special offer through Groupon to service central heating systems for just $50 and the promotion was so successful that he had to take on two other engineers just to complete all the orders.
After he had paid the other engineers, factored in his time and travel costs (and of course Groupon’s cut) he had made virtually no money at all…but he was delighted with the promotion.
Why?
Well on each central heating system he had serviced, he had left a card reminding the owner of the date of the next annual inspection plus his phone number.
He reckons he will get so much repeat business from that (at full prices) that he will start making a profit 12 months from now. And, of course, some of his clients will need new central heating systems and not just a routine annual service.
If more people had that long-term attitude online then the 95 per cent failure rate we keep hearing about would be much, much lower indeed.
Twitter: justinledvina
It’s amazing anytime someone relates an offline business decision to an online one it’s like night and day. Offline world that sort of stuff is common and considered good business practice but online people would think you’re nuts. I’m glad people think I’m a little nuts. Great article.
Twitter: chattopatrick
I guess people think I’m nuts too in that case.
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Twitter: hldame3
Great blog post Patrick. In our industry so many look for the get rich quick schemes or want something for nothing.
Here is a Proverb for the day
Proverbs 28:19 A hard worker has plenty of food, but a person who chases fantasies ends up in poverty
Twitter: chattopatrick
A compliment and a Proverb in one comment – thanks Larry.
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Twitter: mattkoshko
This is a great example of how offline businesses can tap into the online world, and for positive results. Groupon has its challenges for businesses who run a deal but get nothing more than the customers spending only what the bought the deal for, such as 50% off a meal.
Kelvin’s simple example is a testament that relationships are key. Many, if not most, of those customers he serviced may have never connected with him without Groupon. He’s opened the door to MANY more long-term customers than he had before, and thus, the promotion was a success.
Awesome article, Patrick.
Twitter: chattopatrick
All very true Matt.
I think I will be using further examples of online being able to learn from offline successes and mindset in the coming months (and even years perhaps!)
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Twitter: hotflashhits
October 22, 2011 at 5:41 pm
Spend Money – Invest Time – Generate Contacts
Business Concepts which are so simple yet 97% of people working online don’t do it.
Fantastic information!
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Twitter: chattopatrick
I wonder if we can all work together to educate people and make a small dent in that 97 per cent out there?
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Twitter: SamAggieland
Patrick, thanks for this insight, you did it again. The Internet and the conventional business world have a lot in common in that we all plant seeds that come to fruition later and building reputations are very critical. Your article reminds me of a quote that our Pastor uses some times: “You always reap what your sew, later that you sew and more than you sew”. Your former boss Kelvin totally understand that.
Sam and Deb Burgess
Mabank, Texas
Twitter: chattopatrick
That is so true Sam but it seems to be, as Justin pointed out earlier, that the online community don’t realize just how much in common they have with the offline guys.
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Twitter: andrewstark
October 22, 2011 at 6:04 pm
Great example, most people online don’t understand the concept of a loss leader.
They want the money now, and don’t understand that by giving away / running special deals on your best content that people will form a relationship and buy from you again in the future. This whole concept of having a marketing funnel is the very basis of any business but the people peddling the matrix crap won’t listen as they don’t want to hear that their house of cards is about to fall down.
If you worked at the Sun it’s no wonder you moved online, your writing talents were wasted on the readers of the Sun.
Andrew
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Twitter: chattopatrick
Hi Andrew,
Actually it was at The Sun that I spent the majority of my writing career, however I did feel that, for the most part, I was kind of wasting my time.
There were some great upsides for working for such a publication, but there were many, many downsides too.
I suspect there may even be a blog post or two in it one day.
P.
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Twitter: ITSergioFelix
What an amazing post Patrick!
People think that because the initial investment may be quite low online in comparison to an offline business, they can get some ROI right away.
As we all know, that’s wrong because what happens if you don’t actually see some cash flow in your first days?
People would say stuff like: “this is crap, this doesn’t works, this is all the work of scammers!”.
The cool thing is that there is hope!
I have a friend that services air conditioners, he offers his service so ridiculously cheap, that has many, many clients.
Being in a very hot place in Mexico most part of the year, people are just calling him everyday and then he makes these crazy offers like “get together with your neighbor and I’ll lower the service for both of you!”.
Talk about going viral offline?
The trouble with online entrepreneurs is that they want to reinvent the wheel and always get lost on what really matters which is: giving value first, market to them later.
Hope you keep these types of articles coming Patrick, take care!
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Twitter: chattopatrick
Hey Sergio,
First of all it is funny to see the Spanish flag on your comment icon above and secondly thanks for your comment.
I think the above message is something we will have to keep telling people until we get old.
Yes you are so right in that so many people online get totally lost because they have absolutely no idea what they are doing but just set off anyway doing stuff they really don’t understand.
However a huge part of the blame must go to those marketers who suggest that instant, or near instant riches, are just around the corner.
Patrick.
P.S. From what you have been telling me recently, I don’t think I could ever live in Mexico…I think it is far too hot for me.
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Twitter: ITSergioFelix
A quick reply:
I agree about the flag thing, I just had to smile about it!
About the online thing, it’s not actually our J.O.B. to alert people but if you can prevent someone from getting burnt first and actually making him make some profit, what would that speak for you in the name of your student’s friends?
I think it’s really worth it to keep doing it!
And about Mexico, we have many places with incredible weather, almost no crime and really amazing people, just avoid the big cities like Mexico City, Monterrey or Guadalajara, there are great if you like places like London, if you are more of a chill person, then avoid them at all costs!
PS. I used to like to big suburbs, now I think I like something that has enough of what I need, yet not that much of a buzz either.
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Twitter: chattopatrick
I wish I had someone to tell me not to waste so much of my time and money a few years ago when I didn’t really have a clue what I was doing but maybe I wouldn’t have listened back then, who knows?
Regarding cities and stuff.
I think I am more of a city person than a country person and what I hate about where I live right now is that it is so quiet, nothing ever happens and it is just so totally boring.
Regarding video.
I seem to be having trouble uploading a video to my blog. I am trying a new method and the file does not want to import to my blog yet!
Maybe it is trying to tell me something
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Most people who engaged themselves online usually have the resources to work on, but don’t possess the right attitude to start their career online. Simply because they started their online venture thinking that they could get their money back as soon as possible. They are not totally ready of the possibility of the long term wait and the high risk of investment for both time and money.
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