068: My Biggest Failures (and Biggest Successes) in Internet Marketing

I'm going to get really personal today and talk about times I've screwed up...

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Marketer of the week: Stu McLaren from stu.me and Wishlist Member. Rather than share a "breakthrough" I picked up from Stu, I want to tell you that when I present (a webinar or podcast), I imitate his speaking style.

When you speak, speak deliberately! Especially if you're an American and your natural tendency is to slur your words like I do.

Is there anyone in your life who speaks slowly and carefully, without becoming monotone? Then I would suggest you imitate that person's speaking style when you present.

(That's us a few years ago at Inc. Magazine headquarters at
7 World Trade Center in New York City.)

I often "channel" Stu to slow down my speaking, enunciate, and speak more clearly, focus, calm. You can be intense but still make sense. See also: Ray Edwards, Armand Morin.

Fourteen Key Principles: The Common Thread That Runs Through These Successes & Failures

1. Four Daily Tasks: I said it before and I'll say it again...
2. Finishing everything that I start, less notebook doodling
3. $997, $47 every 2 weeks, 5 payment option, experimenting! Charging high ticket AND low ticket.
4. Investing in myself: attend conferences instead of stock trading which is gambling and a distraction. Dave Ramsey instead of Jim Cramer.
5. I don't trust myself: get to the Minimum Viable Product because of the 3 day window.
6. I'm not smart: I don't know what's going to sell without experimenting and I'm open to new ideas.
7. Weekly focus: email for the same thing all week. Stick to your guns, don't psych yourself out or let customers bully you
8. Membership sites: organize both high and low ticket, group multiple sites (but no all-in-one site)
9. Pitch webinars: do something unexpected, teach a lot and sell hard. Give them a wow moment and not necessarily an aha moment.
10. Re-marketing: phase out what's not selling and go back in future weeks to promote what's selling (Backup Creator)
11. Don't delete old sites or content
12. Your most popular content, marketing and products are the "beginner" stuff
13. It's ok to repeat your most "powerful" ideas and phrases. How many times have I mentioned Income Machine in podcasts and blog posts? A lot!
14. Don't be a timid marketer. Welcome pitch emails, upsells, ads. Don't have a buyers only email list or a monthly digest email list. Be on the lookout for what you can absorb/apply, for example, an affiliate bonus package.

Three Biggest Failures

1. ClickSensor: should have made it an online service
2. WPLetter (now Paper Template): should have built it out more and controlled the market faster (16k overnight from a 12 minute video)
3. Action PopUp: should have got the entire marketplace using it, added tons of templates
4. Bonus: all the PHP products, which made money, but not enough. Lesson: keep publishing things to get to "the good stuff."

Three Biggest Successes

1. Bulk content creation: books, Daily Seminar, Webinar Crusher monthly, blog, podcast. Just make 12 pieces of content to last you an entire year.
2. Must-have tool for everyone's business such as Backup Creator: pitch is all about what you can do with it, 100k sites, tie in with our other stuff (Membership Cube) -- yearly renewals, developer license
3. Pain of disconnect in Membership Cube: selling high ticket, playing with the payment plans, pitching on webinars! (35k in a couple hours)
4. Bonus: platinum coaching program. Lesson: the first step is getting the button online!

Wise Words to Live By

When you can't change the direction of the wind, adjust your sails.

If you don't change the direction you're going, then you're likely end up where you're heading.

Albert Einstein: "Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value."

Napoleon Hill: "Keep your eyes and ears wide open--and your mouth CLOSED, if you wish to acquire the habit of prompt DECISION. Those who talk too much do little else. If you talk more than you listen, you not only deprive yourself of many opportunities to accumulate useful knowledge, but you also disclose your PLANS and PURPOSES to people who will take great delight in defeating you, because they envy you."

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Filed in: Archive 1: 2012-2016 • Mindset • Podcast • Product Creation