Can I really write an ebook?
These are the comments and questions I hear most often from people interested in getting started in Internet marketing.
While these are certainly legitimate concerns, they aren’t the real issue. The real question is WILL you write an ebook? Are you willing to make the effort? Are you willing to look beyond your fear, overcome procrastination and take action?
I can teach just about anyone to write an ebook. I’ve personally taught about a hundred people to do so in my Ebook Mastermind class and several hundred more through my ebook co-authored with Joe Vitale, The Ultimate Guide to Creating Moneymaking Ebooks. The strategies and tactics I teach work IF you’re willing to work them.
What I’ve learned from teaching my classes and talking with dozens of clients, subscribers and people I meet at seminars is there’s a huge gap between people that want to create an Internet marketing business and those willing to take action. And I’m talking about doing more than just whipping out your credit card.
Let me share something with you that few marketers will tell you. In my classes, I usually have 20-30 students. In addition to a weekly question and answer call, we interact primarily via a special private website. Students login to ask questions, view or listen to the latest lesson, watch instructional videos and talk to each other and me in the class discussion area. Behind the scenes, I can see how often each student is logging in, what assignments they’ve studied and completed and so on.
Looking over the statistics from previous classes, I usually see at least one person that never shows up at all. They pay nearly a thousand bucks to join and maybe login one time. And I never hear from them again. There are usually two or three others that disappear in the first two to three weeks. Some return later to try to catch up, others never return.
Many people make it through the course but never complete the assignments. One thing I notice about these people is they usually pick a highly competitive topic that they think will be popular like “Law of Attraction” or a topic they think will make a lot of money but they aren’t truly passionate about.
One of the first things I do in class is get each student to make a list of their interests, hobbies, skills, past job experiences, accomplishments and so on. I often find that people have skills they don’t recognize the value of. If a student is passionate about a particular topic but not particularly skilled, I show them how they can still create an info product by either finding and interviewing other experts or acting as a reporter. That’s actually how I got started in this business.
After picking the topic, we then work on product ideas and making sure a market exists for their product idea online. Sometimes I end up suggesting small changes based on what we discover while doing the research. Other times we discover there isn’t a market for what they had in mind and I help them find another topic that they’re also passionate about.
If you’re passionate about something and have a genuine desire to succeed, there is always a way. The people that stumble in Internet marketing usually lack one or both of these critical elements. While I think it’s possible to succeed without passion, if you lack the desire, you don’t stand a chance.
True desire to succeed means doing a lot more than just buying a book. I get emails and phone calls nearly every day from people that have spent tens of thousands of dollars on e-books, seminars, audio and video packages and so on. 99% of the time, the people writing have not taken any action other than placing the order and glancing over the material they’ve received. Some have actually gone so far as to study the material but almost none have ever actually created an ebook or put up a website.
They seem to think the problem is a lack of information. They’re wrong. I’ve been selling information products online for 8 years now and doing business online for over fifteen years. Rarely have I seen a person fail due to a lack of knowledge.
In fact, the opposite is true. If anything, the problem is too much information. Small wonder. The ‘how to make money’ online niche is extremely overcrowded. Many marketers are seeing their incomes drop due to increased competition, email deliverability issues and a growing skepticism in the marketplace. Many of the big-name gurus have gone from selling inexpensive e-books to thousand-dollar mega-packages and it seems like there’s a new one every few days.
The less experienced marketers usually try to deal with these issues by cutting their prices. They study the gurus, repackage the same information and sell it for less money. Others try to pick up the slack by emailing more and more offers to their list. I see some people sending offers out every day and sometimes more than once per day. I’m not talking about articles, blog posts and useful content but product recommendations for things they’ve never even seen much less critically reviewed.
It’s easy to understand why they do this. Some of these folks have the same ethics as spammers. It costs them nothing to email their lists and the numbers say that a certain number of people will always buy. But what if you’re one of those people doing all the buying?
If we’re talking inexpensive e-books, it’s probably not a big deal. I’ve bought several e-books as well as print books that I haven’t read yet. When I’m interested in something, it’s not unusual for me to come home from the bookstore with 2-3 books on that topic. But when you start talking about signing up for expensive classes or buying thousand dollar mega-packages, it’s insane to try to do more than one at a time.
You cannot possibly go through that much information.
Let’s say you wanted to learn tai-chi. Would you go out and sign up for lessons at several different schools? Of course not and especially not before knowing if tai-chi is right for you. So why on Earth would you try to do that with something far more expensive and time-consuming like Internet marketing?
A big part of the problem is some of the claims that are being made online today. Some of the promises being made are complete BS. I’m talking about promises that you’re going to make ten grand a month starting next month. Complete BS.
Are the people making these claims lying to you? Maybe, maybe not. My friend Nate Andersen teaches people how to make five figures a month using Google Adsense. Unlike others teaching this information, he only offers it to a limited group of people so his techniques remain effective. And he charges top dollar for his services. I’ve met several of Nate’s students that consistently make big money. But most of the Internet marketing experts I know have very few students that have actually reached five-figure monthly incomes.
The reality is there is no ‘lazy man’s way to riches’. You’ve got to be willing to focus and to work hard, especially in the beginning. The people I know making really big money work long hours. They don’t seem to mind because they genuinely enjoy what they do. Personally, I prefer to work less and have more free time and I’ve got it pretty easy. But in the beginning, I burned the candle at both ends for quite a while.
You’ll need to do the same if you want to replace your day job with an ebook business. That means focusing on one course of action and not buying every new product that hits the market. You not only won’t get rich that way, you’ll go broke.
One of the first things I tell my new students is until they’re finished with my class, they’re not allowed to sign up for any other Internet marketing classes, seminars or similar offers. To do so would critically reduce their chances for success. In 12+ weeks, I provide you with as much information as you need and almost more than you can handle. You will not have the time or energy to handle anything else and I want you 100% focused on the class. That’s the only way you’re going to succeed.
Some students will ignore that instruction. They’ll get overloaded and fall behind. Others will give up despite my best efforts due to lack of confidence or laziness or both. And that’s a shame. But I can only help those that are willing to help themselves.
I also know a few of you, probably three or four, are actually going to see this all the way through, get your ebook online and actually start to see the rewards. One or two more will go even further and actually turn this into a full-time business.
Will you be one of those success stories? Only you can decide. But don’t take too long. My next (and possibly last) E-book Mastermind class starts Monday. Over half the spots are gone. Typically, the lower the number of remaining seats, the faster they go. So don’t put this off any longer.