The Most Profitable Niches…

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Often I’m asked “which are the most profitable niches?”

First of all the most profitable niche for YOU will be one where you get hired and they pay you! Choosing a niche that’s likely to work for you is one area where coaching can help.

Let’s start with the basics.When you’re starting out it’s important just to talk to a lot of business owners and learn that basic skill (asking questions and listening).

And to get a couple of paying clients so you have some experience in that process too.

The theory can be quite a lot different to what happens in practice and what will happen with YOU is likely to be different to other people because you have your own unique set of skills, your own unique personality and the people you’ll be talking to will be different too.

So if you’re starting out talk to some business owners, learn to ask questions and listen and get some experience working for a few paying clients.

Then you can start thinking about
targeting a niche with your services…

What niches are likely to be more profitable?

There are a few different factors. First understand that your own background can play a part (although it isn’t crucial).

If you’ve worked in an industry you may understand it better and speak the jargon of that industry better.

Many people with their background are sitting on a niche that is potential gold mine and they just don’t see it (that’s where getting objective advice from an experienced marketer can be helpful).

Think of transaction size
and profit per transaction…

Businesses making sales in the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars and taking a huge profit off each sale can be very profitable clients for you.

They have money and just ONE new client is worth an enormous amount to them.

In other words find them just one new client and they may be happy paying you very well for a year of your time.

I talk in detail about unusual businesses you might consider in the Offline Gold Army product.

One of my favorites is custom engineering (although it might be called something different where you live.)

Basically a business that custom makes truck trays, frames to hold heavy equipment etc etc.

One job is usually in the ten thousand dollar plus range and some jobs involve multiple vehicles and can run into the hundred thousand dollar plus range.

Often you can talk directly to the owner and here’s the best part…

Almost NO ONE is trying to sell anything to him.

Most don’t even know his business exists.

When you try to target a niche like dentists or plastic surgeons you have a pile of people trying to sell to them every day, you have to get through receptionists and find a time when they’re free (they can’t just drop a patient to talk on the phone with you).

All in all these prospects are hard work.

But walk into a truly industrial area
with small to medium sized businesses…
with skilled workers and machinery…

It’s likely you’re the first marketer they’ve ever seen!

Some will be blunt and coarse (don’t let that bother you…those guys often spend the most money with you if you just get past their initial caution).

Many will be really friendly and very eager to hear any ideas you have to bring them in business.

I like the businesses that are buzzing with activity in industrial areas with someone in charge who is as motivated as hell and as sharp as a tack.

Those guys will jump on any good idea and if they believe you’ll execute it they’ll pay you on the spot to get started.

That’s something to get you thinking when you’re thinking about a niche to specialize in.

Click on this link for Profitable Niches part two.

What To Do When It’s Not Working…

Selling your internet marketing services to brick and mortar businesses is a great way to make a living.

You have almost no overheads, you can charge substantial fees and if you choose to you can outsource most or all of the physical work. You can even outsource getting clients if you’re willing to find the right people.

But some people get stuck…just not making money or not making the money they know they should.

When I do my email coaching I help marketers like you over these roadblocks and get them moving towards making some money quickly.

From years of coaching here are a few of the reasons you might get stuck and how to push through them fast…

# 1: Trying To Get Everything Perfect

It’s human nature to want to get all your ducks in a row before you take action but if you’re trying to think through everything that might happen you’re going to be paralyzed with fears and uncertainties.

Most of the things you worry about will never happen and most of the problems that arise you could never have anticipated!

Worse still all these mental gyrations are exhausting.

You’re not actually getting any closer to your income goals but your mind is working nearly every waking hour…trying to think through one imaginary problem or another.

The fastest way to get over those it to take some action immediately
that puts you in contact with business owners…

You can start sending letters or emails, you can go to a business networking meeting, you can start calling people you know and ask them who they might be kind enough to introduce to you.

You could even walk into businesses and start talking to the owners (or whoever talks to you).

Anything that gets you moving and gives you the chance of communicating with someone who can hire you.

Understand that you don’t need ANY skills to talk to a business owner. You can just ask questions and listen.

You’re not offering anything to begin with so there’s really no pressure on you or them.

But it is VITAL that you get yourself into the game by making those contacts and having those discussions. That’s where you learn how this business really works.

# 2: Coming Across As Needy Or Pushy

Business owners put up with sales people every day. You really want to avoid coming across as a pushy, hard sell sales person.

What you want to develop is a client/consultant relationship and ideally you want your prospects and clients coming to you.

So you need to use strategies that make that possible. I talk about multiple strategies to achieve that in the report 25 Different Ways To Get Paying Clients.

Another area where almost everyone messes up to one degree or another at some time is in looking needy.

In everything you say or do you need to be aware of
what you look like in your prospect’s eyes…

When you’re booking an appointment make sure you’re making YOUR time highly valuable.

In other words you don’t say things like “I can see you any time this week!”

That makes you look needy and in low demand.

If you say “I can make it on Wednesday but it will have to be later in the afternoon” that makes you look like an in demand busy business person.

Also you’re educating your prospects and clients on how to treat you with every interaction.

There are a pile of subtleties in everything you say and do and you want all of them to be pointing to the idea that you’re an in demand expert with a ton of valuable knowledge and skills.

This is an area where coaching can help. It’s amazing the things you miss.

But just being aware of it in the language you use and the way you interact with people can make a HUGE difference.

Finally there’s the cardinal sin…

# 3: Not Charging Enough

If you’re talking to prospects who can afford to pay reasonable fees or premium fees then you should be charging them.

If you charge too little or even worse, if the first price you quote is too low, you’re going to make your service look cheap and your prospects are going to wonder “this is so cheap. What’s wrong with it?”

There are two major pricing strategies…charging fees for single projects and ongoing fees (in most cases you can and should use both if it’s at all possible).

If you’re charging fees for single projects you really need to making enough money so that you only need one client every month or two to make the income you need.

Ideally with that pricing model you want to charge enough so that you only need one client every 3 months to make the income you need.

Charging ongoing fees you can charge less…

But that’s not an excuse to get cheap either.

Yes those monthly fees add up but so does the maintenance of ongoing clients.

With your monthly fees ideally you should be charging enough that you only need to 1-6 clients to make your monthly income.

Charging more makes your service appear more valuable and it gives you the incentive to work harder for the clients who are paying you.

It also helps to get you off the treadmill where you’re constantly chasing after new, cheap prospects to make the income you need to live.

Business owners who pay you more will respect your service and your expertise more and they’ll generally be easier to work with.

If you really are stuck usually taking action
is a fast solution…

For most people who get stuck getting into action instead of getting caught in a trap of mental gyrations is usually the quickest way to get out of the mire.

If you get to the point where you just don’t seem to be able to make things happen the way you want you might consider coaching or you just might need to examine if what you’re doing matches your own personal moral code.

Lead Generating Reports

Because I can write one service I love offering to many brick and mortar businesses is a lead generating report.

First let me explain what a lead generating report is.

Basically you write a short report that is filled with useful information targeted to a particular kind of prospect in a particular niche. And you give it a sexy title that will appeal heavily to that prospect.

An example you might use for a real estate agent trying to get more listings might be a report titled…

“7 Secrets To Getting The Maximum Price
When You Sell Your Home In Austin”

You fill that report with highly useful tips.

And here’s the important part. You want that report to lead the most qualified prospects to the conclusion that they should list their home with your agent.

That’s tricky.

If you just put on the first page “list your home with xxxx agent” then although that may actually get some listings it’s not likely to be highly effective.

What you want to do is lead your prospect step by step by sharing high quality information and gradually introduce more and more information that gets them to see that your agent is the best logical choice for them.

In some industries where competition is fierce you can come right out of the gate firing with a report titled something like…

“7 Keys To Choosing The Best Tax Specialist
For Your Business”

A report like that sent to new business owners might be effective.
But you’ll usually build a whole lot more credibility and good will by sharing valuable information first.

So in that case a report like: “7 Insider Secrets To Slashing Your Tax Bill” is likely to enter the conversation your prospect is having in his head.

Yes he’s wanting hire someone to do his taxes but what he REALLY wants is to pay less tax or get a huge tax refund at the end of the financial year.

How Can You Make Money Out Of This…?

Businesses need high quality customers and clients and you can use a lead generating report in multiple ways to bring in customers.

Here are a few powerful methods:

# As a referral system. A lead generating report can be printed out or it can be delivered as a pdf online or as an email attachment.

The happy clients of a business will often be very happy to give away a report that is filled with useful information to the people they know who could benefit from it.

Add the offer of an initial gift consultation or any other enticing offer) and with a few different people giving these reports away you can create a steady stream of new business.

# As a way to pre-educate prospects. Many services are complicated and prospects have difficulty understanding who they should hire, what service they actually need and the benefits to them of one service or service provider over another.

A report that helps to educate them is a powerful way to become the first business they think of when they choose to hire someone.

It also saves time by weeding out prospects who really aren’t any good for the business and by saving staff or the business owner time having to answer the same questions over and over.

Do this well and a business can have high quality, pre-qualified prospects coming from these reports. That’s a huge time saver and a huge money maker.

# Use the report as a way to get prospects onto an email list.

A report that is highly targeted with a sexy title has real value to the best prospects of a business. Many will be happy to give their email address to get the report (especially if you also offer a related email course like “21 Different Ways To Save On Tax”).

That way your prospects will be looking forward to receiving email from you instead of thinking “I’ve given them my email address now here comes the spam!”

# Use the information in the report in multiple ways.

Each tip in the report can be turned into a video for a website and/or submitted to online video sites like youtube. The tips can be turned into articles and submitted on article sites. The tips can be turned into blog posts etc etc.

If you’re smart you can give away one or two tips then use that as an incentive for prospects to sign up for the full report.

# Promote the report in different ways.

Creating a lead generating, tell all report is a great excuse to get exposure from local media like local radio stations, newspapers and television news.

It’s a huge credibility boost for your client getting into local media as an expert in his niche and doing that for them is going to make you look pretty fantastic too.

You could also create online press releases promoting the report, get your client to put the title of the report and a link in his email signature and his signature on any forum where he’s active.

He can also put the title of the report on the back of his business card with a link to download it and on any appropriate business literature.

If You Can Write A Report You Can
Charge Businesses To Help Them ImplementThese Strategies

How much can you charge?

First you want to know how much a new highly qualified client is worth to them. In many cases that might be multiple thousands of dollars.

Executed well strategies involving a lead generating report can be amazingly effective at bringing in paying clients.

So if you’re helping a business make tens of thousands of dollars or more in a year you can charge accordingly.

The main thing is to focus not just on the writing of the report but on creating strategies that can help bring in real paying clients for the business. That’s what they’re paying you for.

I’ll come back to this topic of what you can charge and give you some ball park figures in a minute but first…

Where Do You Get YOUR Clients From?

Many business owners will be open to the idea of strategies involving a report like this that you create.

But how do you contact those businesses?

First it helps if you create a lead generating report for YOURSELF.

Yes a lead generating report selling the value of lead generating reports (if that gives you a headache I’m not surprised).

From there you can be contacting your best prospects in a variety of ways.

If you’re using the Offline Gold Army system that’s really simple. You can have a link to your report in every newsletter you send. You can also put one of your tips from the report in each newsletter you send.

There are multiple ways you contact prospects in the report 25 Different Ways To Get Paying Clients and most will work to sell this service.

Following tip # 22 from that report “the incredible power of repeating” you can use your lead generating report or tips from your lead generating report to follow up with prospects you’ve already had contact with.

Remember also that you can use your lead generating report
as a tool your happy clients can use
to give to referrals.

This can make strategy # 1: The Out Of The Box Referral Strategy from the report 25 Different Ways To Get Paying Clients much more powerful.

Anything you do to make it easy for your referral sources to send you referrals and to make them look good is going to make your referral systems more effective.

Having a lead generating report your referral sources can give away makes THEM look good (they’re giving away a valuable gift) and it helps enormously in converting prospects into eager paying clients.

How Much Can You Charge?

Personally I’ve charged in the $1,000 to $7,000 range for a report like this along with strategies to go with it.

You could also provide ongoing services.

For example you create the lead generating report, an email course and an optin page and then you also sell an ongoing SEO or pay per click or online classified ad service to get their best prospects to the report.

If that’s bringing in real paying clients the amount you could charge for the service is VERY flexible.

Anything from $250 to $5,000+ a month is possible depending on what new clients are worth to the business.

I’ve laid out a full strategy here for you. Now all you need to do is run with it.

Not Enough Clients In Your Town?

Have you ever thought “there’s just not enough people in my local town or my local area for me to make a great living selling my internet marketing services.

Some people also worry that they’ll exhaust their local area over time…with no prospects left for them after they’ve been working a small local area for several months or several years.

If you’re living in a tiny town this might be a real concern.

I’ve had clients from all over the world so I can tell you this is not as big a problem as you might think.

There are 2 or 3 main sources of clients out of your local area and some will happen quite naturally if you’re doing the basics:

# 1: Referrals

If you’re asking everyone you talk to who they know who might benefit from your services you’re going to be referred to prospects who don’t live in your local area.

You really don’t need to meet a client in person to help them.

I have clients I have never even talked to on the phone so it’s certainly possible to make people some serious money without meeting face to face.

The great thing about being recommended by someone else is that you don’t have to work hard to get hired.

They already trust you because someone they know and trust has told them you can get the job done for them.

If you’re using the Offline Gold Army strategy then people are going to be sending you referrals from out of your local area (you just tell them you’re happy to work with anyone in the world…amazingly many people don’t realize this).

# 2: Niching

As you get some experience with paying clients you’re going to notice that some clients in some industries relate to you better and are more profitable…probably due to your unique
back ground and skill set.

Once you’ve identified a niche that’s profitable for you it’s not too difficult to start directly contacting prospects in that niche by email and direct mail…even by phone in other parts of your state, country and even the world.

Potentially this can be highly lucrative for you because you can reuse the same systems you’ve already developed for multiple clients.

That means less work for you for the same pay and better still it means you’ll be using methods and strategies that you know work.

It also gives you more time to hone and refine what’s working in one industry so you become the leading expert at marketing in that industry.

# 3: Contacting prospects online

If you’re active in certain niches or even just active online in general with various interests you’re going to come in contact with a wide range of people around the world who you know you can help.

They’re a potential source of paying clients.

Also people who you admire who might make good clients you can contact by email to tell them how much you admire them and why.

That’s an easy way to open up communication and it could lead to getting hired at some point in the future.

I talk about the most powerful ways of doing this in the report 25 Different Ways To Get Paying Clients.

Really I’m just scratching the surface here…

The main takeaway point is that you’re really not limited to just your local area with clients.

You have prospects all across your state, your country and the world to choose from and you really don’t need to see them in person to get hired.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

Should I Work Free…?

Just today I got a message from someone who purchased my report Offline Gold For The Online Marketer when it first came out (since then the report has been updated with over 20 pages of new content).

He wrote: “this report was the catalyst for me setting up an offline biz in the UK – which I’ve now been doing full time for the last 4 years – so a big thanks to you.”

In over 5 years of helping people just like you to start making real money out of selling internet marketing services of various kinds to brick and mortar businesses one question has come up probably more than any other.

“Should I work free?”

Should you work free to get experience? Should you work free so you can have testimonials so other business owners will be more comfortable hiring you.

Should you work free for referrals?

First I should say that if you’ve never had any kind of paying client there is value in working with a business owner at any price just so you get experience with the process of working with a client.

But here is a huge warning:
clients who don’t pay you a substantial fee upfront
tend to be problem clients…

Why?

When a business owner is making the decision to pay you in his mind he has to establish the potential value to him of the service you’re offering him.

If you’re smart you get very good at HELPING a business owner establish the potential value of your service before you even tell him the price but that’s another topic.

Here’s what’s important.

If a business owner pays you a substantial fee upfront then when he’s paying you he’s already established in his mind that your service is worth something substantial to him.

And that is going to flow through into all his interactions with you.

He’s committed to making your strategies work…

He know has his money on the line and he wants to get that money back.

When you need him to do something to make a strategy work it’s quite likely he’ll go out of his way to get it done.

The reverse side of this is not pretty.

When you work for someone free you’ll be amazed at the lack of respect many business owners have for your time, how they’ll mess you around, fail to follow through properly to make sure strategies are being implemented effectively by staff, call you at odd hours making stupid demands and generally be a pain in the rear end.

So even if you don’t charge a client you should ask for something substantial in return.

Give them the opportunity to establish the real value of your expertise and service in their minds before you start working with them.

One Final Tip…

One of the reasons many people have trouble charging clients and think it would be great to work free is because they don’t have any confidence in themselves and the genuine value of what they have to offer.

Really think about this.

You’re going to do something for a business owner that almost no one else is going to do for them.

You’re going to go to bat for them and help them make some real profits and you won’t stop working till they do.

In the business world that’s about as good a deal as they can get.

Be proud of what you’re doing and be proud enough to charge the people who are lucky enough to get your help.

The Best Marketing Method…?

If you want new paying clients what is the most powerful, reliable way of getting high quality, high paying clients?

I talk about 25 different ways of getting paying clients in the Offline Gold Get Clients Now package.

But if you really read what I’m about to write closely I’ll reveal THE most powerful way to approach a new prospect.

And this method is so powerful it has a better chance of getting you hired by almost ANY prospect than anything else I can think of.

So What Is
The Most Powerful Way
To Make Contact With A Prospect?

This is so simple you might overlook the multiple gears running behind it so don’t brush this off without really thinking about it.

If you really want to get hired be introduced to a prospect by someone they trust.

REALLY obvious when you think about it but this beats the living hell out of anything else I could tell you.

When a business owner is recommended to you by someone they know and trust they’re going to listen to you and if you come up with anything that’s even vaguely exciting to them, chances are they’re going to give you a shot.

That leads to the next obvious question…

How Do You Find Someone They Know?

This sounds crazy but there’s an old principle called the “six degrees of separation.”

Basically you know someone, who knows someone, who can introduce you to the prospect you want as a client.

The very first strategy in the report 25 Different Ways To Get Paying Clients I reveal how to turn any prospecting you do on it’s head

If you’ve read that report you may just have had a light bulb moment (If not I suggest you go back and read it again).

Also if you’re using the Offline Gold Army strategy then you’re going to have your army; of business owners and professionals who are eager to recommend you to people they know.

But just understanding that life is going to get a whole lot easier for you if think through ways of engineering those introductions.

This Can Completely Change EVERYTHING!

When you sit down and think through “who do I know?”, “who do my best prospects know?”, “who do I need to know to get one to connect me with the other?” and you start using some intelligent methods to build contacts and relationships you’re going to revolutionize your entire business and the way you think about your business.

If you’d like to read more on one way to get the undivided attention of your prospect when you’re being introduced this way check out the free report on the Free Lunch Referral Strategy.

But don’t get so hung up about how you’re going to meet a prospect if you’re being introduced this way.

Yes it helps if you set up a situation where everything is in your favour and your posture is great but in most cases most things will work because they’re already onside.

Do You Leave A Message…?

Do you leave a message when you’re calling a business owner who is a prospect and you’re put through to voice mail or an answering machine?

Unless I have a very good reason not to I love leaving a message because then you’re getting your prospect to call you back (changing the dynamics of the call from you calling them to them calling you).

In fact I know of people intentionally calling certain kinds of businesses after hours where they know the phone will go to voice mail or an answering machine so they can leave a message that drives the business owner crazy with curiosity.

I recommend using the Amazing 4 Line Letter as a script in this way (Gold Members of Offlinebiz.com have access to the Amazing 4 Line Letter).

Do this well and you can have a huge percentage of the business owners you leave a message with calling you back.

Curiosity is a two edged sword of course…

The business owner will call you with burning curiosity but as soon as you tell him specifically what you were calling for he’ll think he knows what it is. His curiosity is gone.

So it’s a bit of a dance taking some skill to make them feel like you’re genuinely sharing with them while you hold back information to maintain that curiosity long enough to gather the information you need to really help them.

This process of leaving messages is much easier than cold calling because if you’re just repeating the same message over and over to an answering machine there’s no pressure when you’re getting the ball rolling.

I’ve also heard of people doing this with auto dialers although I’m not certain of the legality of this any more in various states and countries.

Poor Prospects From Telemarketing…?

One hard working marketer was having problems setting quality appointments (perhaps you’re having the same problem).

He was cold calling restaurants on the phone and setting up appointments to see them.

But when he got there they’d forgotten he was coming or they’d pass him on to an employee or spouse or tell him they didn’t have any money to spend…before he even talked about what he could do for them!

Telemarketing has its place marketing many different kinds of businesses but when you’re not setting up your posture as a marketing expert in the right way it can be a real hindrance.

Think about how you’re being viewed…
what you look like to your prospects.

Ideally you want to be seen as an in demand consultant or marketing expert.

That’s one of the problems with cold calls…it really works against building that persona in your prospect’s mind.

The approach this marketer was using just makes him look like a salesperson and that’s the last thing you want.

If you add a step in your sales process that gets them to call or email you first that is likely to completely change the way your prospects are seeing you.

Since you’re approaching restaurant owners you could create a direct mail piece (or sequence), an email (or email sequence) or a combination of both.

I talk at length about using emails and direct mail
in the Offline Gold Get Clients Now product.

Do this well with good marketing pieces that pre-educate prospects with high quality information on the benefits to them of doing business with you and you should get a good number of business owners contacting you first.

You can also hire someone to follow up on the business owners who don’t contact you by telephone.

The good news is these follow up phone calls are going to be a lot easier to handle because the business owner knows who you are and in many cases they meant to contact you but they got busy or read your piece in the middle of the night and then the day to day hustle of running a business put it out of their minds.

If you’ve sent 3 or 4 letters or emails (or even just one with really high quality information) you’re going to be seen as a marketing expert instead of as a salesperson.

You won’t be wasting time with people who
have no idea who you are or how valuable you can be to them…

If you’re going to go to the trouble of physically meeting a prospect you want to know that they will respect your time and expertise and realize that you’re giving them something of genuine value.

It’s far better to mail or email 100 restaurant owners and get 2 serious appointments than to run around like a chicken with your head chopped off talking to a dozen different business owners who don’t think you’re worth the time of day.

Make business owners commit if they want to talk to you.

A good marketing consultant is worth at least $250 to $500 an hour. They should know that’s what they’re getting before you agree to meet with them.

In other words they should know they’re getting $500 in value to help their business succeed as a personal gift from you.

You need a game changer…

There are multiple ways you can completely change the way any business owner sees you.

The Offline Gold Army product is one of these.

With the Offline Gold Army strategy you don’t even have to approach prospects yourself. You’ll have people they know and trust bringing them to you!

And when you do call a business owner after just a few sentences they’ll be eager to talk to you and send you high quality prospects (I know it sounds crazy but that’s what a game changing strategy does…it changes the ground rules altogether).

Another game changing strategy
is having some kind of directory site…

You call business owners offering to put a free review of them and their business onto your directory website.

You just need to interview them to get some information about who they are, why they’re in business, what they stand for, what they do that’s unique.

The majority of businesses you call with this approach will grant you an interview and because you’ve made them feel important they’re far more likely to set aside a good block of time to talk to you in private.

In fact if you’re using this strategy that’s what you should ask for. Remember you’re giving them free advertising on your website.

It’s a shame for you to struggle in your first contacts with business owners when you could be having so much more fun so easily.

Always remember to keep how prospects see you at the forefront of your mind in your dealings and go out of your way to build your posture as an in demand internet marketing expert.

Residual Income Secrets

Getting paying clients can be a difficult process.

Using the methods outlined in the Offline Gold Army and Get Clients Now will make the process a whole lot easier but when it comes down to it it still takes work to build a new relationship with a prospect.

One foundational principle is to put more effort into selling and servicing the paying clients you already have and getting referrals from them.

Once someone has hired you they already have a relationship with you.

It’s very easy to get them to read your email, your letter or get them on the phone.

So you can sell additional services to them or you can make life a whole lot easier and less stressful for yourself by selling ongoing services.

If you have say 10 clients all paying you $400 a month you’re making $4,000 a month without having to get any new clients.

That takes a lot of pressure off you.

Here’s the biggest secret to
getting paid ongoing fees for a service…

When you’re in the process of getting hired get your prospect excited about the benefits to them of a service that you provide month after month.

That’s not too difficult.

Business owners love new customers and more profits on a more regular basis so any service you can provide that does that will work just fine.

Think email marketing, SEO, social media marketing, marketing with online video, Facebook marketing…the list goes on and on.

If the service helps bring in more customers month after month you can charge a monthly fee for it.

And here’s something to consider…

Different business owners think differently.

Most are trying to reduce their risk and increase their sales and profits.

Some are happy paying substantial sums upfront and some are happy paying less upfront but don’t mind paying you over and over if you’re getting results for them.

You may consider a pricing model where you focus on getting a business to pay you $250 to $2,500 a month for your service rather than charging such a large upfront project fee.

You need to exercise a LOT of caution with this.

Your best clients are nearly always those who have paid you a substantial sum of money before you do any work (by charging upfront you force a client to establish the real value to them of your skill and expertise.)

But this is an option you can consider and any variation of it (for example charging $1,500 upfront then $500 a month after that).

IF a client keeps paying you for a year $500 a month ends up being $6,000 over a year.

If you go down this route
remember to educate your clients…

Some clients will be a pain in the arse thinking they own you for that fee unless you invest a lot of effort in educating them on what they can expect from you, what you expect from them and what the limits of your service are.

Generally speaking the idea of “residual income” where you have money coming in is a bit of a fallacy.

Businesses require ongoing work.

But if you’re smart about how you deliver your services (you can outsource) and how you allow your clients to interact with you or your staff you can get very close to an income that will keep coming in without a whole pile of effort on your part.

10 or 20 clients at $500 a month amounts to an income of $5,000 to $10,000 a month which is not too shabby.

Make A Living Online…?

Here’s a question I’m sure many people have:

“How difficult is it really to make a decent living online? Surely there are thousands of other marketers out there, all making very little. How hard is it really to move beyond that and start making a reasonable income on the internet?”

My answer:
Over the past week I’ve been looking over Warrior Special Offers and it was a stark reminder of the way many people think.

If you join the large number of people who just want to make money you’re likely to really struggle and if you do stumble on something that works chances are it will stop working and you’ll be right back where you started.

Here’s the real key.

If you stop focusing on making money as the first priority and look for ways you can help and serve others the process gets a whole lot easier.

One of the reasons the whole “Offline Gold” thing took off so quickly was not so much because internet marketers found a market of businesses who have money to spend (although that is true)…

It’s because marketers found a way to use their skills to genuinely help brick and mortar businesses.

The key is being of genuine service.

The other side of that is being of service in a way where your dollar value to the person you’re serving is high.

Writing direct response sales letters is great…writing articles for $5 sucks.

You want your service to have a high dollar value to the people you’re serving.

If you really put yourself into this and wrack your brains looking for ways to help others and to be of huge dollar value to them you should be making a good income inside 6 months.

Many people do it in their first month or two.

But if you follow all those crazy schemes chasing traffic from people you don’t care about or arbitrage or other ideas that have no meaning to you beyond trying to make a quick buck you’re really going to struggle.