I got ALL these bites in LITERALLY under six minutes
(That’s gotta be a new world’s record… someone call Guinness!)

OK, so Wednesday morning I woke up with nice, clean arms.

True, I was whiter than the Pillsbury Doughboy and the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man combined, but I didn’t have even a single bite.

Then Sharon called to say she had to work late, and so I got it into my head to hike the Caps Ridge Trail up Mt. Jefferson… a stunning 5,000 footer in the White Mountains.  (It stays light until 9 pm now up here… it’s like getting two days in one!)

I also thought “it’s so hot out, even though I never hike in short sleeves, today’s the day”  (In the 90s this week… a rarity for New Hampshire, where our state motto is “Live, Freeze, and Die”)

So off I went… two hours in the car, 4 litres of Fiji Water in my back pack (always gotta be Fiji!), my boots, poles, short sleeves, and big bottle of  sun block to keep me nice and white. (Because I don’t tan, I burn)

When I got there, Jefferson Notch Road was CLOSED. (The 7 mile dirt road which leads to the trail)

But there’s just something about the 4,000 footers in the Whites that calls to me…

So I decided to tackle Mt. Hale instead, because the trailhead is only 15 minutes away, and it’s another mountain I’d been wanting to knock off my list.

What I FORGOT was you absolutely do NOT want to hike near a shallow stream or still water in June unless you enjoy feeding the gnats and mosquitoes…

The trail head was more buggy than usual, but I blew it off thinking that I wouldn’t notice it once I got moving.

About half way up the trail I ran into a guy who said “it’s unbelievably buggy on top, not sure I’d continue if I were you”.

But I dismissed this warning too, thinking “he’s just an inexperienced hiker… kind of a wuss”.  (Yeah… like real men are supposed to wear bee hives as lampshades at parties, right?)

So I continued on up to the top.

At the summit I thought “this isn’t so bad”, so I took off my pack, took out my sardines and rice (a guy’s gotta eat), and prepared to enjoy a meal.

Well…

You know how people tend to say “there were a thousand bugs after me”… and you take it figuratively, meaning “there were a LOT of bugs”

I’m NOT talking figuratively.

I’m being LITERAL.

At least 1,000 bugs came swarming.

I’ve never seen anything like it…

It was like being in a horror movie (remember the scene in “Wilbur” with the rats?)

I couldn’t get my pack on quick enough…

And run for my life.

I’ll never forget it.

Well…

The bugs did NOT follow me off the summit.  I really don’t know why… maybe there was some electromagnetic force which kept them up there, maybe they were “defending their turf” and were just happy when I left, but for whatever reason I was free of them within 50 yards.

And the trip down was relatively uneventful, except for a nice 70 year old man who turned out to be a psychotherapist, horribly lost in the woods.  (I took him back down with me and gave him a ride to HIS trailhead… we head-shrinkers have got to stick together!)

So why did I tell you this story?

Because when you want something bad enough–a business goal for instance–sometimes you’ll ignore repeated, obvious, strong warnings in pursuit of it.

Granted, persistence is a necessary character trait for entrepreneurial success, and if it weren’t for hard-headed, stubborn business people innovation would never occur.

But on the other hand, there ARE paths that don’t need to be retread, problems that don’t need to be repeated.

Here are a five I’ve seen literally hundreds of times in the course of dealing with coaching students, customers, and peers:

1. GET THE MATH RIGHT!:  If there’s one mistake which kills marketing projects way over and above all others it’s this one.   In fact, I’m going to coin a new quote right here and now “the stronger the dream, the weaker your math ability”. I’ve seen hundreds of coaching students, Glenn Club members, clients, friends, and peers plunge straight on to their “deaths” all the while completely convinced their dream MUST catch on.  Really… ask yourself how much (specifically) you’re planning to make when the business model is mature, estimate your cost per visitor, cost per lead, cost per sale, refund rate, customer service costs, chargebacks, lifetime customer value, available traffic, etc. and put it all in a big spreadsheet.  Do it NOW while you’re thinking about it, before your dreaming brain takes over and tells you “I think it’s gonna be OK because you’re such a great marketer”, or because the product idea is so cool, or because nobody else is doing it.  If you don’t have math on your side, you don’t have ANYTHING.
2. DON’T ASSUME YOU CAN TRANSFER A JOINT VENTURE MARKETING SUCCESS INTO PAID ADVERTISING CHANNELS:   Joint Ventures carry two very, very powerful advantages which disappear when you move to paid traffic (1) the endorsement of someone with a relationship with their list and (2) the relative absence of competition at the moment of contact (in contrast to PPC, for example, when there are 20 other vendors on the page competing for your prospect’s attention).   Most successful JV projects I’ve seen were limited to JV traffic (and possibly SEO).   On the other hand, you CAN and usually should pursue joint ventures in the opposite direction… if something is profitable in paid media, there’s probably a lot of money on the table to be picked up by working with your competitors.
3. DO RESOURCE PLANNING BEFORE YOU LAUNCH:   You’ve probably heard me say this before… In internet marketing, “the name of the game is staying in the game until you win the game”.  Most people crap out of the game not so much because they can’t manage Google, or don’t know how to advertise, or have a bad product, or aren’t making any sales… most people crap out of the game too soon because they run out of resources.  What resources?  (a) Money; (b) Time; (c) Passion for the Project; (d) Moral Support.   (In the How To Choose Profitable Markets system Terry and I spent quite some time making the point that your very market choice should be determined by your resources, and provide a spreadsheet/blueprint to help)
4. DO YOUR FRICKING RESEARCH:  Most of you know I used to get paid between $100,000 and $500,000 to do marketing research for large companies.  What you don’t know is that the way the internet has evolved, there are now literally dozens of ways to get the same information for free.   Someone could make a business out of just compiling consumer language from the buyer reviews on Amazon.com alone… it’s absolutely amazing!  There’s absolutely no reason to play blind archery anymore.
5. SELL RESULTS, NOT PROCEDURES:   (Thanks to Perry Marshall for this one).  For example, my wife’s been developing a web-video infomercial service for entrepreneurs.  She really is among the best in the world at her craft… but the problem is, people don’t want infomercials, they want CUSTOMERS.   So I’m helping her develop a model where the client simply covers her costs of production (usually just a few thousand dollars), and then they pay for phone calls and sales instead.

Now, no one’s invulnerable to the allure of the mountain top.

We all trudge ahead on our journeys despite the warnings and clear signs on the road.

Dreams are the stuff of life.. they make us human…

And nobody’s more prone to them than I, as evidenced by my lovely bug-meat story.

But above are the 5 most important warnings I want engraved on my tombstone for all the entrepreneurs that ever come visit me OK?

Onwards and Upwards,

Dr. Bugmeat

Coaching |  Do it Yourself | Choosing Profitable Markets |  Audio-Video Infomercials |  Total Conversion Code

You see, it’s only natural to assume a higher opt rate should translate into more customers, more profits, and more dollars per web visitor. After all, you’re already paying for the visitors, why wouldn’t you want to get more of them to sign up for your lists so you can engage in a relationship with them and convert them over the long run?

And aren’t I, Glenn Livingston, the king of relationship building with follow up content online? Don’t I want the absolute highest opt in rates for my systems I can get?

No, not necessarily, and here’s why…

Increasing your opt in percentage ALWAYS has the potential to decrease not only your front end sales percentage, but your overall value per visitor on back end products and services.

In fact, there’s a natural tension between opt in and sales rates, because in order to attract more opt ins, you’ve got to convince more ambivalent people to give you their information, right?  I mean, the most motivated prospects will fill out your forms if you just put up a page that says “Great Free Stuff – Email Here”.  So in order to convince MORE people to trust you with their private info, you’ve gotta make bolder and more specific claims.

So when you push the envelope, you’re going after the fence sitters, and here’s the thing… you always run the risk of slanting your system too far in the direction of fence sitters, and away from your most hyper-responsive customers.  So it’s entirely possible, and in fact even likely to increase your opt in rate at the expense of your business overall.

Now, I’m not saying you should keep your opt in rates low.  Higher opt in rates have the potential to attract more hyper-responsive customers too.

What I AM saying is that you need VISIBILITY into two things to make sure a fanatical focus on increased opt ins and list building doesn’t harm your business as a whole:

1. VISIBILITY INTO THE SALE:  Put simply, you’ve gotta track your lead source all the way to the SALE, and ideally to the lifetime value of your customers.   In AdWords, this means you need to know which adgroups convert to how many dollars at what percent.  I KNOW it’s difficult to track this in some systems, but you’ve gotta get with your techie and figure out how to get it done because I guarantee you, whatever money and time you spend of putting the system in place is a lot less than what you’re losing by not knowing.
2. KNOWLEDGE OF POINT OF DIFFERENCE BENEFITS:   Point of Difference benefits are the things which distinguish you from competitors in the market place.  They’re the reasons people will open up their wallets for, as compared to “price of entry” benefits which are the things every vendor has to have just to be in the running.   You’ve gotta know what the point of difference benefits are in your market so you can FOCUS on these when working to improve your opt in rate.  Then you’re more likely to get more people into your systems actually wiling to spend money!

If you’d like to learn more, please join the hyper-responsive club today.

Be well,

Dr. G

Feeling overwhelmed is a by-product of lacking CONFIDENCE in your plans.

Why?   Because when you’ve got 100% confidence your plans are the right ones, you also know with certainty which plans are wrong.  And when you know that, you can just say “NO” to distractions, put your head down, and execute the job you’ve laid out for yourself.

On the other hand, if you’re not SURE your plans are correct, you’re always thinking “Is this the right project for me to be working on?  Maybe there’s something better?  Would this other opportunity over here work out better for me?  Did I make a mistake in choosing this first one?”

Then, if you’re an entrepreneur–and this is the downside of having NO boss breathing down your neck to keep you focused, on time, and on point–lacking confidence in your plans you choose whichever opportunity makes you FEEL best at the time.

Take a second and breathe that in again…

Lacking confidence forces you to make important choices with your EMOTIONS.    Consumers make choices with their emotions… but successful Marketers make choices with their HEAD (their intellect).

How do you GET the confidence you need to conquer your projects with focus and determination, and move yourself to the next level in your business?

One word — spreadsheets.

I’m not talking about ultra-precise, rocket science engineered, high octane spreadsheets accurate to 7 digits after the decimal point.

I’m talking about, for your important decisions (like which projects to work on, what your bullseye keyword target is, whether or not to take a job offer, etc), listing out the important criteria, then listing your choices, and coming up with a way to “score” each option.  (EXAMPLE: A few days ago I posted an ultra simple video and spreadsheet for making decisions)

For example, choosing between major projects to execute in a given year may involve considerations of short term profit, long term profit, likely pitfalls, fun and enjoyment, independence and control, fit with other successful projects, joint venture opportunities, etc.

And of course, in the hyper-responsive club we review in detail how to choose your single most important keyword using a spreadsheet which accounts for volume, relevance to your ideal prospect, and bid price.  (If you’re planning an SEO strategy, you also consider competition)

But the point is, breaking up a decision into it’s component parts, thinking through how those parts fit together (should some be weighted more heavily than others in the scoring formula?), and then systematically applying this scoring system to the choices at hand leaves you not only with a much clearer picture of the relative merits of each choice, but also with a system for quickly re-evaluating when things change.  In short, … CONFIDENCE.

Now, I’ve got my special formulas I’ve worked on over the long haul in Glenn Club, and of course I’d like to sell you on using those.   But I’d also like you to know there’s absolutely nothing wrong with you developing your own formulas and spreadsheets.  You don’t have to wait for anyone to grant you a certificate, give you permission, or promise not to call on you in class tomorrow.

Spreadsheets are just kind of a special way of “thinking on paper” in numerical format, and if you’ve ever used a journal (and you understand basic arithmetic), there’s really nothing stopping you from spreadsheeting your own unique problems and situations.

For what it’s worth,

Dr. G

Glenn Club |   Coaching |  A to Z Product for Newbies |   Advanced Adwords Seminar

PS – My private coaching slots are filling very quickly now when I notify the “priority notification list”, and I apologize for being unable to notify the general list on this last round.   Therefore, if you’ve got any interest in a slot the next time an opening is available (I anticipate late February or early March), please opt in to the priority notification list at the bottom of the coaching letter.

The bad news is,  the longer you work as an entrepreneur, the more opportunities you’ll get, and the harder the decisions seem to become…

But the good news is, there are tools and systems for making these decisions much easier.

One of my favorites is a simple little spreadsheet technique for calculating weighted averages.  I just list out my projects or choices one per row, and evaluate them against all the factors which I consider important to the decision in the columns.  Finally, I assign a relative importance level to each of the factors, and the simple spreadsheet calculates a “batting average” (overall score) for each project.

Have a look at the video to see what I mean, and feel free to download this example here

NOTE: be sure to download the spreadsheet here to follow along.
(My apologies for the visual quality of this particular video)

Hope it helps,

Dr. G

PS – Are you relatively new to the game, or still struggling to make your first dollar of profit online? If so, I’d highly recommend you pick up a copy of the Internet Marketing Truthprints