Marketing Insiders Club

Question #1 – Can you tell me about your business background and any personal information you’d like to share?

I started my first business at age 14 during my summer break from school. I placed a small classified ad in the local paper that said “Odd jobs done” and my phone number. I started getting calls right away and was busy the entire summer do all kinds of jobs no one else wanted to do

At age 18 I started a home-based manufacturing company selling wooden ducks that had with wheels and long handles that you could ‘walk’. I created and sold thousands of those walking ducks to stores all over the Northeast on a wholesale basis as well as direct to people in my area. My best customers came from a large regional office of MetLife, the insurance company. They employed about 500 people and I think almost everyone of them bought one from me to keep in their office. That was a lot of fun. The most famous customer I had was the Chief Medical Officer for Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. He said whenever he felt stress he would walk his duck back and forth in his office

I still have one duck from those days, here’s a picture of it.

At 19 I started and ran a graphic arts company that painted cartoon characters on children’s bedroom walls. That was fun!

My educational background is liberal arts based. I spent 2 years at a community college, one year at a Catholic seminary and one year of Computer Science studies at SUNY in Marcy, New York in the 1980′s (COBOL was the hot language then .

At age 20 my brother and I started a publishing venture called CARS (here’s a picture of an issue). It was an AutoTrader-like publication. Since then I fell in love with the publishing business and have been involved in some way or another for over 30 years.

Here’s some personal info:[private_premium] [/private_premium]
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When I was 21 I was an extra in “Slapshot” a movie with Paul Newman about an upstate New York semi-pro hockey team. It was probably the worst movie Paul Newman was ever in, but it was so much fun being involved in a hollywood movie. I met Mr. Newman while on the set – the camera does not do justice to his incredible blue eyes. It was like looking into a pool of cool water.

In my early 20′s I spent 3 years as a Monk-in-training. I spent time in a hermitage in the White Rock mountains of Nevada, at the Carthusian Monastery in Vermont (the only woman ever allowed to enter the Carthusian monestary was Mother Teresa) and a Trappist Monastery near Worcester, Massachusetts. I decided that the contemplative life wasn’t for me however and decided to start a family instead.

After getting married in my late 20′s, I took a break from being an entrepreneur for about 15 years. I started to work in the field of community and economic development. I always wanted to help people and I guess that was the best path for me at the time.

For many years during this period I was a used and rare book dealer and got my start on the Internet selling used and rare books on newsgroup and on ebay.

But after 15 years in community service I was getting restless and with a growing family and 4 children I needed more money. Selling used and rare books was fun but I needed a business that I could scale. So I decided it was time to be an entrepreneur again.

During those 15 years in community service I was the CEO of 2 community development corporations (CDC) and developed millions of dollars of safe and affordable housing in my community. I launched the first ever program to build new single family housing in the inner city in my community in over 50 years. That project became well-known in the community development field and I was asked to give talks about it all over the country. For 3 years I traveled around the US visiting large cities such as San Francisco, Chicago, Kansas City, San Antonio, Minneapolis and others discussing the project with other community development officials.

My last full-time job (before becoming a full-time Internet entrepreneur) was the CEO of a non-profit and before that the Deputy Commissioner of Urban and Economic Development for a city in upstate New York near Syracuse.

As the CEO of one non-profit I started a small-business enterprise fund to help small businesses get start-up funding. I included entrepreneurial training as a requirement for getting funding and I trained some great people who have gone on to become very successful in their own small business.

When I turned 40, I decided to take on being an entrepreneur again.

Question #2 – How did you get started on the Internet?

Since 1979 I have been a collector and part-time dealer of rare and used books and in 1996 I wrote a book about becoming a rare and used book dealer on the Internet (here’s a picture of the ‘book’). I created 2 audio tapes to go with it and started selling it on the Internet from a one-page sales letter.

Even though I sold it from a web page it was a printed manual and audio program (on cassettes!) I delivered to my customers through the postal system (Internet connections were very slow in 1996 and ‘digital delivery’ of information products was very hard to do so it was easier to deliver the product in a physical format). I sold the course for $179 and it did really well.

The success I had doing that was encouraging and in 1999 I starting pursuing my Internet ventures full-time.

I struggled for several years, then an idea struck me and I went from making $500-$1000 a month online to making many thousands of dollars a month. I was also one of the first (if not the first) person ever to sell private label rights to some of my information products in 2001.

My first training course created in 2001, “You Can! Make Your Living Online” has helped thousands of Internet marketers make a lot of money online and some well known “guru” Internet marketers today credit my course with launching their career online.

Question #3 – How long have you been in business online?

I started looking at the Internet in 1995 as a way to do business and sold whatever I could find to resell on ebay and used and rare books through newsgroups. I have been selling my own information products over the Internet since 1996.

Question #4 – What online businesses you are involved with?

I currently own over 74 web sites in 22 different niches, but my primary interest is my membership website at TheWealthManual.com for Internet entrepreneurs where I have created a training program for anyone interested in starting and succeeding in their own online business.

Question #5 – How did you learn what it takes to succeed?

I needed to be successful. When I left my full-time job I just never gave myself an option that said, “I can always get another job if this doesn’t work”. I was DETERMINED to succeed no matter how hard it was and I committed to doing whatever it took. Now, I failed a lot of times, but kept going, never quitting and never getting down on myself for failing.

For every 10 hair-brained ideas I get only 2 or 3 ever really become successful so I figured that if I really want to be successful I should fail more often so I can discover the winners faster. But I never spend a lot of money testing stuff, so I can afford to fail many times and just keep going until I find a winner. When I find a winner the profits more than make up for the losers I had.

The Internet makes failing easy… and faster. That’s part of my success – just going out and doing it and testing and failing as fast as I can so I can find the winners faster too. If it doesn’t work, I stop doing it… if an idea I have starts working I just do more of it.

Another very important aspect of being successful is not being afraid to market and sell something. I’ve learned that people (including myself) hate to sell. They get really nervous selling themselves and their products.

You gotta get over that if you’re going to be successful in any business of your own- you basically have to be totally fearless when it comes to marketing your products. Most importantly you have to believe 100% they will help people and be good for them, or why sell them at all?

Question #6 – What office equipment do you use?

I have 3 computers – one MAC, one desktop PC and a Windows laptop. I have one Brother multi-function printer/fax/copier, 2 desks and 2 chairs and 2 file cabinets. The office is wireless of course and every computer is backed up nightly (except my MAC which is attached to a massive G-Drive running the Time Machine app. It backs-up my MAC every 45 minutes. After 2 computer crashes, where I lost nearly everything, I finally figured that I should back-up my work once in while duh!)

I have approx 400 sq ft (20′ x 22′) of space that’s attached to my home. It’s my ‘command center and it’s a great space to work in.

I think everyone needs a private space to run their business, even if it’s only the corner of a bedroom.

Question #7 – Do you do all of your business online?

No, not all of it- 98% is online. I also sell some of my reports offline using direct mail and space ads.

Question #8 – What are your biggest gripes about the Internet?

My biggest gripe about the Internet is spam… not for the reason you might think. Actually I don’t care for it and when I get an obvious spam message I just delete it or it gets filtered. But what I mean to say is, spam is making it much harder for me to get my newsletters delivered to true opt-in subscribers.

Email filters and ISP restrictions are getting tighter and tighter making it much harder for legitimate emails to get through to their intended recipients. I know several of my clients have reported that email orders for their products and services were never fulfilled because their email filters sent email orders for their products straight into their ‘junk’ email folder and they never saw them.

Question #9 – Do you mostly do publishing or other enterprises?

My business primarily markets paper and ink and digital products. I think there are massive opportunities selling physical products online as well and I’m exploring that as of this very minute.

Question #10 – Are there any tips or advice you would like to offer?

Sure.

Number 1: Discover what you do best and find multiple ways to benefit from it.

Here’s an example: someone loves to cook. Ok, so they can start a newsletter (ezine) on cooking… they can start a blog, they can also write an ebook or better yet, create a course, they can also do videos because cooking is very visual, they can also create recipes and sell those, they can teach cooking classes online or in their home town, etc… do you see what I mean? One focus (cooking), multiple products form the one focus.

Number 2: No matter what your focus is, make it unique in some way. Inject your personality into everything you do. Don’t call your ezine “Sarah Jean’s ezine”… call it “Sarah Jean’s Kickin’ Cooking Secrets”… ummm you get the idea.

Number 3: Build an opt-in list, build it with avid readers and build it fast. Do whatever it takes to get subscribers – bribe them, offer them incentives, free gifts, etc… Very few people online today make any money without their own blog, ezine and list (you need all three).

Question #11 – Do you use any clip art in your publications?

Some… I usually use them to support the text in my info-products and I use screen captures in my courses and books. It’s essential to use illustrations that add to and enhance the points you’re trying to make in your book, course or blog.

Question #12 – Are people more interesting than product stories?

You wouldn’t have a product without the people behind it… when I buy an information product online I want to know something unique about the person who wrote it or if it’s a software program I want to know how the person who created it got the idea for it, i.e. did it solve some problem he had?

So both types of stories are great- stories of people and the story of how they created their products.

Question #13 – What are your goals and aspirations for the future?

As much as I think I help people in their business with my info-products I’d like to help more people by speaking in public and making presentations to large groups which I have not taken the time to do yet. I have been invited to speak at many events in the IM world but have turned them all down because I didn’t want to leave my 4 kids and wife for extended periods of time. But now that my children are older (I only have one left at home) I might consider doing one or two worthwhile and important events per year.

Question #14 – What software do you use to make your websites?

WordPress is my favorite CMS. My theme of choice is PageLines Pro because you can design your website inside WP so easily. It’s really flexible. I also use SeaMonkey for hand-coding HTML when needed.

Question #15 – What are your favorite books or computer programs?

Here are just a couple:

“Secrets of a Successful Mail Order Guru: Chase Revel” by Ron Tepper (Wiley, 1988)
“A Lifetime of Homeweok” by George Haylings (self-published, 1984)
“(How To) Make At least $1 Million In The Mail Order Business” by Gerardo Joffe (Advance Books, 1978)
“Unlimited Selling Power: How To Master Hypnotic Selling Skills” by Donald Moine and Kenneth Lloyd (Prentice Hall, 1990)

There are many computer programs I use but the most important to me is Keynote (MAC) for online presentations.

Question #16 – What is your typical day like?

I check my email, write copy for new products and create marketing campaigns from 9:00 AM to 12:00 noon. In the afternoon I work on projects and brainstorm new ideas. I’ll go back online after dinner around 6 or 7 PM and check my email once more before going to play with my kids, helping them with homework, etc.

Question #17 – Thanks!

You’re welcome!