I was on the Warrior Forum the other day, looking at a thread started by someone who needed advice.
It seems he wanted to know how to make his first $1,000 online.
Good question, right? A lot of people want to know that, and there are plenty of marketers out there willing to give advice on how to do it – marketers who have already DONE it, by the way.
But here’s the rub – this particular individual had an ad in his footer. And his ad read, “How to make $10,000 a month.”
Ouch!
Here’s someone selling a program on how to earn $10k when he needs advice on how to earn $1k. His FIRST $1k.
Busted.
Naturally, the responses he was getting were not polite, nor should they have been.
Here’s what he could have done instead, and what I recommend anyone do who is just starting out in the Internet Marketing niche:
Become a reporter. Not a teach, a REPORTER.
Find out what is working for others, and then report on it to your own readers.
Don’t try to fake it until you make it. Don’t pretend to be the expert if you are not. Instead, simply be a fellow student of internet marketing, walking side by side with your readers and pointing them to the real EXPERTS who are making the real money.
This is actually a spectacular way to develop rapport with your readers. You are essentially saying, “I’m just like you, and you are not alone. Let’s take this trip together and side by side, we’ll build our successes.”
I would join with ANYONE who gives me that message.
As to the bloke who wants to teach me how to make $10k per month when he hasn’t made his first $1k, he can go jump in the river. I’ll never join his list and I’ll never buy a product from him, either.
Be honest. By yourself. And don’t try to fake it until you make it – people will see right through you, even if you’re smarter than this guy (and I know you are.)
There was a guy – or probably a lot of guys, but I have a particular one in mind – who crept onto people’s property to take photos of himself standing in front of their expensive homes and cars.
He used these photos to boast how much money he was making, so he could sell his programs to unsuspecting students. And he got arrested for it.
In a nutshell, he tried too hard. He pretended to be something he wasn’t, and naturally he got found out.
You don’t need to do this. If you’re just starting out on your online journey, blog about it.
Be yourself. Check out products from people who are really making money online, find the best ones, and tell your readers about them. Interview people who are one or two levels above you.
After all, your readers would like to know how to make their first $1,000. And if you find a school teacher with a neat little system for doing just that, you’ve got a winner.
You don’t need to make promises of earning a gazillion dollars a month with no work. You can and should keep it real. And your readers will respect you for your honesty. In fact, if you build a reputation for nothing else BUT honesty, I guarantee you can be successful.
The recipe for NOT faking it until you make it:
1: Always be yourself.
2: Don’t lie. Do. Not. Lie.
3: Find people who are a little more successful than you. Interview them, promote their products or even team up with them to create a product.
4: As you move up the ladder, continue to find people who are a little more successful than you are – people one or two rungs up the ladder from you.
5: Continue to promote their products, interview them and team up with them to create products based on their successful methods.
6: Take as many of your readers with you on your success journey as possible. You are walking with them hand in hand, not lecturing them from on high. You are one of them, so talk to them like they are your partners in success and that’s what they will become.
7: Watch as your readers stick to you like glue, because they feel you are like they are. They like you and they TRUST you. They feel your respect for them, and they know you will not lie to them or let them down.
8: Don’t forget to have fun. If you’re having fun, then the experts you work with and your readers will have fun, too. Enjoy the journey up the ladder.
I know I said it before, but I’ll leave you with one final thought:
Be yourself and never, ever fake it until you make it.
