I just read a great article by Ken McCarthy.
He’s the person who’s trained more successful
Internet marketers than anyone else on earth.
The guy IS a genius.
I wanted to make sure you saw it. It may be what
you’ve been looking for.
Pre-System Training: The Ultimate Niche Finder
It’s all in the market…
I used to wonder what it took to build a successful
business.
I tried all kinds of things…
I followed all kinds of advice. I bought “plans” and
“programs.” I sat through MLN pitches. I invested a small
fortune in traveling across the country so I could sit at
the fee of the “gurus.”
You may be doing some of these things too.
How would you like to stop?
How would you like to know once and for all and beyond the
shadow of any doubt what you need to do to become truly
financially independent.
Because that’s what we all want, isn’t it?
We want to stop punching someone else’s clock.
We want to stop being at the beck and call of some crazy
employer’s whim.
We want to be free of the fear of having our incomes
suddenly cut off through no fault of our own.
We want to live life on our own terms.
These are worthy goals…
And they are attainable goals… for anyone willing to pay
the price.
What’s the price?
The answer is so simple it’s going to floor you.
It’s this…
Service to a market.
I’m not talking about customer service or being in the
service industry. I’m talking about an attitude, an outlook
and an approach to business.
Where money comes from
Money changes hands when people are served.
That’s it.
Yes, you can learn the newest “sure-fire” trick from the
latest get rich qwick Internet scam artist - and you
*might* shake out a few dollars.
Or you could get real and create something real.
Money comes from the marketplaces. Period.
It doesn’t come from brilliant ideas or great products or
“genius” marketing.
All these things are nice and can contribute to your
efforts, but first and last the thing that matters is your
market and your relationship to it.
Once you “get” this idea - really get it - you’ll be
financially bullet proof for the rest of your life.
But until you do, business will forever be a mystery - and
a painful one at that.
How NOT to do business
When someone is trying to sell you on a money-making
scheme, they usually stress how easy it is, how anyone can
do it and how it’s all “push button” and on auto-pilot.
Guess what?
If you had a sneaking suspicion that offers like these are
worthless, you’re right.
Of course, we want to be efficient. Of course, we want to
get the biggest bang for our marketing dollars. Of course,
we want to succeed.
But talking about these things in the abstract without
rooting them in reality of a real flesh and blood business
connected with real flesh and blood people is not going to
help you.
Here are the two biggest mistakes people make in business,
online and off.
#1 They focus on everything else but the market BEFORE
they start their business
# 2 They focus on everything else but the market AFTER
they start their business.
Let me give you an example that will make all this crystal
clear.
A man decides he wants to open a restaurant. It’s been a
fantasy of his for years and he’s seen people make good
money in the restaurant business so he dives in.
He finds a location and obsesses over the details of the
interior… He talks with chefs, picks one and starts
designing the menu…He opens accounts with food
purveyors…He recruits and trains his staff…He buys ad
from all the door-to-door ad salesmen that knock on his
door…
The big day comes and he opens the door with a big blowout
for all his friends, family and investors.
Six months later, he’s out of business and there’s a
smoking crater where his net worth used to be.
What happened?
He NEVER at any point in the process asked the question:
“WHO will my business serve and HOW best can I serve them?”
It’s crazy, isn’t it?
How could any sane person spend tens (sometimes hundreds)
of thousands of dollars and months and even years ramping
up a business - and not ask this basic question?
Yet this happens every day of the week to smart, hard
working people all over the world.
People get an IDEA that THEY like and then they throw it at
the marketplace *assuming* the market will want it.
How to do it RIGHT
Start with the market first.
It’s that simple.
Ask yourself this question:
“WHO do I want to serve?”
The WHO is infinitely more important than the WHAT or HOW.
Get the WHO right and you’re more than halfway there.
The would-be restaurant owner probably never gave much
thought to WHO exactly might be attracted to his
restaurant.
Young people, old people, families, people on a budget,
high rollers on expense accounts…
WHO?
What he should have done is drawn a circle around his
restaurant on a map (about ten miles away in all
directions), get in his car, drive around and really LOOK.
What kinds of people live in the area?
What kinds of restaurants already exist?
Which ones are doing well?
Which ones are not?
What do people in the market feel is missing?
Who’s doing a great job - and who’s not?
What can I bring to these particular people who live in
this particular area something that will “WOW!” them so
much that they come back again and again?
I guarantee that failed restaurants do not ask these
questions…they were too busy talking with their interior
designer about muted earth tones in the dining room.
I’m using a restaurant as an example because it’s so easy
to visualize, but this applies to ALL businesses,
ESPECIALLY online ones.
The pros and cons of doing business on the Internet
All the gurus love to talk about the upside of doing
business on the Internet.
Low start up costs, low overhead, reach the whole world.
All these things are true.
But the downside to Internet marketing is this…
Unless you know how to promote online and turn visitors to
your site into customers, you won’t make a cent.
It’s a very special skill set and it’s what we focus on in
our trainings.
At the System Seminar we teach a very simple formula.
Traffic + conversion = profits
We’ll show you how to get visitors to your site.
In the Internet world that’s called traffic.
Then we’ll show you what to do with the people who come to
your site so that it’s a positive experience for them - and
a profitable one for you.
That’s called conversion.
When you get these two things right - and you’re marketing
the right thing to the right market - you’ll see that
success in business is not about luck.
It’s about KNOWING.
One of the best market research experts I know is Glenn
Livingston.
In fact, let me re-state that…
Glenn is better at researching online markets to see if
they have real profit potential than any person I know.
That’s why every year since I met him I’ve literally begged
him to make the trip to Chicago to share what he knows with
my students at the System Seminar.
So far, every year he’s said yes.
Glenn doesn’t hang out with the guru crowd and you won’t
see him doing seminars all over the globe.
He leaves his beautiful home in New Hampshire to schlep to
Chicago as a personal favor to me - for which I am very
grateful.
Take advantage of it…and take advantage of this
Pre-System tele-seminar I did with him.
Picking the right market is 90% business success - and no
one does it better than Glenn.
He’ll show you he works his magic here:
http://www.thesystemblog.com/2008/01/glenn-livingsto.html
See you next time,
Best,
Ken McCarthy
The System Seminar
Chicago - May 30, 31, June 1
http://www.thesystemseminar.com/133.html