Today I want to share with you an email written by a very well-known internet marketer – John Reese.                              

John Reese is one of the best internet marketers out there, and was the first marketer to hit $1 million in 24 hours.

I hope you’ll find this email just as helpful as I did. I found it on many sites and i’ve always wanted to post on my blog, just never got round to doing it.

It is quite long – but well-worth your time.
Read & Implement.

John Reese.

=============================

In light of my upcoming 40th birthday, I want to share 12 valuable mini-lessons that I’ve learned so far as an entrepreneur…

These range from mistakes to avoid, to making strategic decisions, of how to get cash flow to come in the fastest, etc.

They are in no particular order…

1. ALWAYS DO MORE THAN IS EXPECTED OF YOU

I learned this at an early age from my Dad. He had a very successful career as a business executive and engineer, and this the core principle that created his success.

You can apply this to your business in many ways… over-delivering to your customers, giving unexpected bonuses to your employees or outsourced workers, and more.

Most people do just the bare minimum. Do more than is expected of you and it will do amazing things for your business.

2. STOP DREAMING AND START DOING

Too many entrepreneurs get caught up in the big dreams of how they will one day be rich and how their life will be amazing…

…but they never end up doing anything.

They buy courses, read all they can, jot down little notes and ideas in a notebook, but nothing ever actually gets created.

A web site doesn’t get made. Advertising isn’t run. Markets aren’t tested. Nothing.

If you want to make a lot of money the only way that happens is getting stuff done. Period.

3. DON’T LET LEARNING DELAY ACTIVITY

Most people that have studied Internet Marketing much already have the basic skills that are needed to build a million-dollar business.

That’s worth REPEATING…

Most people that have studied IM much ALREADY HAVE the basic skills that are needed to build a million-dollar business.

You can get stuck learning new stuff FOREVER. There will always be new methods and techniques that get discovered. The Internet changes on a DAILY BASIS. This is a given.

Don’t get caught in the trap of “I’m going to start building my business right after I go through this next course…”

You can start building your business TODAY while you are studying and learning new things that you can easily apply TOMORROW.

Things will NEVER perfectly align for you and your business. There’s no such thing. So don’t wait. Get started NOW and take action. Get some stuff going and go from there.

4. MULTIPLE IDEAS CAN BE THE KISS OF DEATH

It’s okay to work on multiple projects and ideas. It’s almost impossible to stop entrepreneurs from having tons of new ideas at the same time.

BUT…

No new money comes in the door until you get ONE project launched and making money.

Something has to be launched FIRST.

5. MAKE JUST ONE DOLLAR FIRST

No one has ever made a million dollars in sales without generating $1 first.

ALL successful businesses start with that first sale and then grow from there.

It doesn’t matter what your income goals are. The faster you make your first dollar, the faster you will reach your goals. PERIOD.

6. DO THE IMMEDIATE CASH PROJECT FIRST

What should you work on next? Whatever will bring in cash the fastest for your business — and of course, I mean that in a moral/legal/ethical way.

If you analyze all the great ideas you are probably sitting on, I bet you can realistically prioritize them in the order of which ones would actually make money come in the fastest (if it succeeds.)

THAT is the project you need to focus on.

Cash is the lifeblood of your business (and your life.)

Save some of those “big” ideas for the future. Focus on the ones that stand the best chance of getting new money to come in right away. Once you have some stable ongoing cash flow in your business, then you can take a chance on that project that may take longer to pay off.

7. EMAIL MARKETING KICKS THE CRAP OUT OF EVERYTHING ELSE

When it comes to growing a business online, nothing generates long-term cash flow like an email list of engaged subscribers & customers.

Email marketing is the best way to generate traffic. It’s the best way to ‘recycle’ the same visitors again and again to any of your projects. It’s also the best way to convert prospects into buyers.

RSS, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, BLAH BLAH BLAH

Yes, those methods can generate leads. Yes, those methods can generate some sales. But time and time again little old email marketing kicks their butts — by a long shot.

So make building a list, and a solid relationship with it, a top priority in your business.

8. RUN A LEAN OVERHEAD MACHINE

I can’t stress this one enough.

When you start growing a successful business it’s really easy for your overhead to get out of hand. It’s easy to start hiring a bunch of people and committing to a bunch of expenses.

Take it from me, when you have months where your fixed expenses (doesn’t include advertising, etc.) are well over $100,000/MONTH (and growing) it can put you in a tough position to make healthy profits.

I used to have fixed overhead that high but never again. I realized there were smarter ways to do things.

What you need to realize is that REVENUE doesn’t mean jack squat. It’s your profit (income) that matters.

So while running a $10,000,000/year business (sales) is impressive, I know people running a $1,000,000/year business that nets MORE than the person that owns the $10MM/year business.

It all comes down to your expenses.

Sometimes it certainly DOES take heavy expenses in order to make a lot of money. But that’s not my point…

My point is, your overhead can really get away from you. If your sales experience some dips, and it’s almost guaranteed they will at some point, then you can LOSE YOUR BUTT very quickly.

So add to your overhead as a last resort.

9. MAKE ACCOUNTING A PRIORITY

This is a big mistake that most entrepreneurs make — and I’ve been guilty of it as well.

Keeping the books and doing accounting work is the LAST thing that most entrepreneurs want to mess with. We have more fun by coming up with new ideas and trying to make them grow — not spending hours of our time inputting receipts and figures into QuickBooks.

If you don’t like accounting, immediately pay someone a few bucks to handle it for you. Just make sure your accounting is always up to date. It’s very important.

As an extension of this, make paying your taxes a priority — even if you pay them in advance.

I have paid a small fortune in tax penalties because of being lazy and filing late. And it’s too easy to let one delay turn into another and for the problem to get worse. So make it a priority.

Don’t “rob Peter to pay Paul.” This is a trap most entrepreneurs fall into — again, I’ve been guilty of it in the past myself.

It’s easy to start making a bunch of money and think “I’ll just use this money to make more money instead of paying my taxes on it now and I’ll just pay the taxes later after I’ve made even more money.”

Or the same thinking is applied towards delaying payments to a vendor, or some other expense that needs to get paid.

This is probably the #1 mistake entrepreneurs make that can create problems and a lot of wasted money in paying penalties and interest. So make sure your accounting is taken care of and your taxes get paid on-time for you.

10. DON’T LEASE OFFICE SPACE

(If possible.)

As tempting as this might become if your business starts to grow, avoid it at all costs.

If you’re like me, what will happen is that you will eventually stop going to the office and just work from home where you always were more comfortable anyway. And/or you will end up realizing you really didn’t need it.

Having an “office” is not required to have a successful business. We live in a Digital World now and it’s just not important anymore.

Even if your business grows and you need employees, you still don’t necessarily need an office. There are people out there running $20MM+/year businesses with no office; the employees all just work virtually. This is becoming more and more common.

* There certainly are exceptions to this. My team in the Philippines works out of an office I leased. But they are collaborating on software projects and NEED to work in the same location. And, of course, it’s also very inexpensive.

Most office leases are thousands of dollars per month and usually don’t turn out to be a good use of cash.

11. ALMOST EVERYTHING TAKES LONGER

When creating new projects, or having some software made for you, or having an ebook ghostwritten, or anything else, know that things almost always take more time than originally expected.

This is the #1 reason why you need to act TODAY to start putting things in motion to grow your business. The longer you wait, the more into the future you push your potential of getting money to come in the door.

12. THE MONEY IS IN THE MARKETING

Don’t get caught up in trying to make Web pages and learn HTML, or studying how to create javascript, or learning to master Linux so you can administer your own server, or how to use Photoshop to create little logos, etc.

You can certainly do that stuff if you want, but know that it will most likely just be a HOBBY.

It’s no surprise that some of the most successful entrepreneurs I know are also some of the LEAST TECHNICAL people I know. The main thing they do right is to simply pay others to do all the “nuts & bolts” stuff that makes online business work.

It allows them to spend all their time on the marketing — which is where the money comes from.

*** BONUS LESSON ***

* See how I’m over-delivering as mentioned in the first lesson?

SPENDING TIME ONLINE ISN’T NECESSARILY WORKING ON YOUR BUSINESS

Just because you spend hours a day online doesn’t mean you’re working on your business.

You can do ‘research’ forever and never make a cent.

You need to be spending most of your time on:

# Generating Traffic
# Communicating With Your Customers (i.e. blog, list, etc.)
# Creating Content

Don’t fall into the trap of reading blogs & forums, chatting on Facebook or Twitter, checking stats, reading news, etc. for hours upon hours.

Just know that almost all of that stuff (with rare exception) is LOSING YOU MONEY more than making you money.

————

I hope you enjoyed these mini-lessons. Hopefully, you can apply them to your business and be a lot more successful!

Yours For Online Profits,

John Reese

—————————————————————–

Which one has been your favorite lesson?
comment below…

I trust your judgment…

Some of these marketing methods are almost completely ignored but the few networkers that do use them stand out like diamonds in a coal mine.

But there’s more where this came from. So if you’re wondering how you can get even more free tips then be sure to sign-up for your FREE Report on Underground marketing tips and Proven Marketing Systems- on the right hand side of this blog…

Oh… this is truly awesome stuff, so feel free to Share: Don’t Be STINGY!

Read On To Tap Into Untapped Sources Of TRAFFIC…

UNLEASHED… 33 Ways To Market Yourself Even If You Can’t Afford A Shoestring- WAY’S That

YOU Can’t Afford To Ignore…

1. Awesome Articles – Is the web too crowded for article marketing these days? Well, yes and no. Yes, because the web is packed with crap. No because there’s more than enough room for quality content. SO get some quality content up there, and be sure to sprinkle it with a few golden keywords.

2. Lovely Letters — What does it cost you to send a letter these days? A stamp, nothing more. With everyone going online these days this is a golden opportunity for business owners to capture “snail mail” addresses and send a letter. You might be amazed by your results.

3. Booming Blogs — Although popular, almost nobody really understands the real power of blogs. I once called them “trust machines” and they sure pack a punch. Total cost: less than $7 bucks a month if you have a great webhost.

4. Social Soup — Want word-of-mouth advertising? Well…… Twitter, Linked-in, Facebook. Yes, it’s a tricky way to go but if you focus you’ll be driving cheap web traffic to your sites in no time. Link your social media sites to your hub (blog) so you can get some more Link Juice!!!

5. Funky Forums – If there’s one overlooked marketing method online then it’s forums. If you’re good at what you do then help people out. Connect with them. These friendships can last a lifetime. Don’t underestimate friendly prospecting. http://WarriorForum.com <== Deffo one forum to get involved with

6. Electric E-mail – Sure e-mail gets ignored. But once you build a relationship with someone e-mail marketing is the holy grail of networking. The secret is trust, credibility, and friendship. Don’t shove your opportunity down their throats. Be helpful. Add Value. Build a long trusting relationship with your list, get an auto responder such as Aweber to deal with all the headache of following up manually.

7. Topsy Teleseminars — If you really want to establish your credibility right off the bat try setting up a teleseminar or webinar. Man, this technique rocks and the recording makes a great free giveaway to get people to opt-in to your sites. James Schramko states that ‘Webinars’ are the most underused form of marketing online….. Get on it peeps

8. Wacky Workshops – Even better than teleseminars from a pure profit standpoint is a live seminar. If you’re near a college or university you might even be able to get a spare classroom to hold them. Much cheaper than hotels or halls. And More importantly, remember the ‘YOU Inc’ System ( I’ll write a new post on this soon…)

9. Phone A Friend – Why not pick up your phone and call an old friend? You don’t have to sell them. Just catch up on old times. When they ask what you’ve been doing then tell your story. If they’re really interested then bring them in. Dirt Cheap!

10. Tell Your Story — Few networker’s ever master the power of publicity which means there’s plenty of room for the few who do. At the very least, consider working on a press-kit. Collect photos, write press releases, tell your story. These days you can even submit online. And get your story circulating! (Yes i know what your thinking, and i’m in the process of updating my story- So Wait for it…)

11. Record A Message – Want a quick way to stand out? Why not record a message and post the number on your ads? The fact is, a lot of folks are terrified of talking to people. Ease them in by sending them to a recording. Collect their info and call them back… or at the very least e-mail them. Set up an automated voice message that does all this- redirects to your sites. p.s these are cheap as chips!

12. Referrals Schmerrals – ( Is that even a word? lol)  Networking has never been easier. Remember when you really had to think about who you knew? Well, these days you have contact lists on every social media site you use. So get a hold of old friends and ask for friendly referrals. Also known as Affiliate Marketing- Share the Wealth people!!!

13. Squeeze Pages – If you aren’t collecting contact info, e-mails, and phone numbers then you’re really missing out on easy money. Add a squeeze page to your sites give out a free gift on your blog. Why not? If you need any ideas…. Google it! Good or Great?

14. Tubular Tubing – Video is hot and almost essential these days. It’s also cheap. I mean, a low-end web camera costs $30 bucks and a good one can run under $200. So there’s no excuse. And ‘Flip’ Rocks

15. Capture Crazy — If you’re putting up a blog or website… why not buy a cheap screen-capture program and record your lessons as tutorial videos? You’ll make a reputation as the go-to guy and it’s content you can give away or even sell.

16. Powerful Podcasts – A podcast is nothing more than a brief recording. Kinda like an audio blog. And you can submit your recordings to directories for free in exchange for their email addresses. Spread your Brand all over the place.

17. Breakthrough Bookmarking – People drive tons of web traffic with social bookmarking sites. And most are free. This is where users vote and share content. Of course, for networkers… you can’t do better than Digg.com, BetterNetworker.com & Delicious.com

18. Nutty Networking – Sizzle cards, business cards, whatever. Why not stand out and put a free gift on them? Tell them to visit your site if they’d like to learn all about a free gift. Sure beats the pointless cards everyone else is using. Use your photo, and instead of using your number, give them the link to an offer- squeeze page. (p.s I learnt this from hanging out with Alex Mandossian, last week at T. Harv Eker’s  Seminar)

19. Creative Comments – Oh boy, this one could stir up some trouble. You might have noticed spammers posting links on blogs everywhere– DON’T DO IT! Instead… be friendly and sincere. Focus on a few blogs that are getting a decent amount of traffic and try to get positioned as the first comment. Learn the Power of Words… and use them effectively!

20. Rad Relationships — Tattoo this on your brain right now. Yes, it’s really that important. Network marketing is all about Relationships. You’re always trying to make friends and earn trust. So get out there build a relationship with your prospects… one brick at a time. DON’T SELL! Selling comes afterwards! Make sure you have that embedded in your brain cells.

21. Clubbin’ It — Ever see the movie “Fight Club”? Well, the first rule of fight club is “nobody talks about fight club!” Bad idea. Start a club and talk about it. It doesn’t have to be a networking club, just something you enjoy and other people crave. You’ll make more friends and network like a friend. Start Masterminding, remember what Napolean Hill said about this.

22. Start A Newsletter – Like writing? Then share your tips and tricks in a newsletter. Build a subscriber base and engage them by being helpful, entertaining and relevant. Give FREE Content, and lots of  Value. You could go “old-school” and print it out and send to their house, Or you could go online and keep it cheap (I’m sure you’ll agree). It’s an alternative to blogging. Use an Autoresponder such as Aweber to take care of this.

23. Volunteer – Is there a better way to earn the trust of a community than giving your time? If you have a big heart then pick a local charity. Just make sure it’s one that puts you in contact with your target market. Make friends and if they ask… tell them what you do. See if they will sponsor your business, if you are an early start up, tell them how much it will mean to you, and get their Support.

24. Rad Radio – Local radio shows are an untapped marketing resource. Listen to your favorite stations and call in whenever they have a live contest or questions. You’ll be surprised by how many times you’ll get on if you just try. Works even better in small towns where they give you more time to tell your story. If all else fails… paid ads can be quite cheap in some areas.

25. Extreme Experts – Want instant credibility? Why not ask (or even pay) an expert for their time, record it and share it? They say “Birds of a feather flock together” and you’ll soak up a bit of their glory. Be a reporter, remember Napolean Hill author of Think & Grow Rich. just copy what he did.

26. Crowd Control – Public speaking isn’t a must but it’s a big one. Seriously, get out there and join a speaking club. The more you speak the better you’ll get. Plus, it’s an incredible way to meet and network a lot more like minded people.

27. Noble Notes – Have you heard of Joe Girard?  This man sold more cars than anyone… even in the Guinness Record Book. His big secret? Well, one of them is thank-you notes he’d send to customers. People would literally stand in line to be sold a car by him. Crazy but true. So Follow Up with your prospects and your clients.

28. Voice Mail Mania – Take a second to listen to your own voice mail message. Is it the most amazing message you’ve ever heard? What do you mean — no? Why not spice it up a bit… make it professional but use it to drive traffic to your blog?

29. Write Witty Reviews – If you’re a big reader, or information junky then you’d be amazed by how many people are desperate to read your reviews. Post them on your blog, your social media sites, or anywhere you can.

30. Eat Up SEO– Why not pick up a few Search Engine Optimization tips? Top SEO experts get paid a fortune to do some incredibly basic things. Don’t be scared away by the jargon… the basics are pretty easy to pick up. Get Your FREE All In One ‘‘Killer Traffic Getting” SEO Plug-In that’s already done for you by Jeff Johnson.

31. Take More Photos – Breathe some life into your blog and Social Media profiles by taking more photos. You’d be surprised by how people eat them up and it builds your trust factor. You’ll be the friendly expert next door when they see you’re a human too.

And one more bonus for good luck… (YES i am in the process of uplaoding my kool pics)

32. Study Buddy — Last but not least, consider finding a Study Buddy. Two heads are better than one. So focus on your respective skills. Maybe your friend is an SEO expert and you’re known for your amazing articles on Internet/Network Marketing. Share tips & tricks with fellow entrepreneurs and get on with taking Massive Action

33. Video Marketing — Everyone knows what YouTube is… and that by now you guys should take advantage of Video Marketing, it is by far one of the most Powerful, Cheapest and Effective ways to market online. And now you can use TrafficGeyser to upload your videos on more than 50 sites all over the Internet ready for syndication of passive Traffic, Leads, & Sales.

i have finished writing this at 4:47am, Phew, just Read it again, gotta admit pretty powerful stuff:

p.s If you want to learn How to Hyper Effectively Leverage The Power OF Video, Blogs and Social Media to Dominate The Search Engines and Grab Tons of FREE Traffic ==> Watch this Video

p.p.s Make sure you sign up and get Your Traffic Getting SEO Plug-in for your Blog

Do SUBSCRIBE Share & TWEET this post, Don’t be stingy!

Speak Your Mind…. what else i should give tips on…?