My plan this morning was to clear out some closets, pile stuff in the car, go to church seeking answers . . . yet again!!!
An aside: I believe that if you give you get, thus the clearing process. Someone wrote that if you haven’t used an item in 365 days (which accounts for all holidays, birthdays, etc.), then you don’t need it so give it to someone who can use it. It makes you feel good, your house ends up neater, and you benefit someone else.
However, I checked my eMail in the middle of clearing closets and found Rich Schefren’s Webinar entitled “Frustration to Freedom,” which speaks to me in part because of the hundreds of hours spent shifting affiliate projects away from Amazon since their July 1st decision of “off with their heads” regarding their California affiliates.
“Scrambling” is NOT a way to live, so just as I was seeking answers, there was “Frustration to Freedom.” Great timing! Generally when I come across a worthwhile Webinar, I start typing so I can share the notes here, so here we go . . .
Become and Entrepreneurial Master
Rich suggests to suspend judgment while listening, which will put us on the path to becoming an “Entrepreneurial Master.” His Webinar is directed towards people who are “unsure of how to get started, disappointed with results, and don’t know what’s missing.”
He congratulates those attending the Webinar by saying that we are on a track that can make a difference.
“Everyone wants freedom, financial freedom, a business/life work they care about, a project or product that makes us proud. The reality is that most of us are not making the money we want/need — especially these days — we are struggling, and we are not reaching our goals.”
“Frustration to Freedom: Strategies to Online Success”
While I’d never heard of Rich Schefren, his background is impressive. 
His goal is to turn struggling entrepreneurs into successful entrepreneurs. This seminar focuses on replacing “opportunity seeking” with “strategic thinking” to move us quickly into a successful arena, which would be splendid, don’t you think!
One of the many reasons I love the Internet is that age does not matter. Anyone can learn to build an online business and many thousands of people are successful. If for no other reason, his Webinar is worth viewing ’cause you can download a free 44 page PDF on “Internet Business Manifesto, 2011.” This report was initially released in 2006, has been updated, is well-regarded, and has literally created millionaires.
“I admire my listeners/viewers for taking the time to listen. I recommend taking notes” and my way of taking notes is to type into one of my blogs such as this ’cause I hate wasting time and others may find this material valuable . . . plus I type really fast and this is a superb way of reviewing this information down the road should I need to do so.
“Clarity is the key to success: Three questions to ask yourself:”
- What’s your reason for being here?
- What’s important about that?
- What will having those do for you?
My responses are:
- To find a successful path to a life of great wealth.
- To increase income so I don’t have to worry and so that I can benefit others in the world.
- Freedom of time and place and a good feeling from helping others.
“Write down your answers and use them as an aid in hearing/filtering what I am saying so that you can reach your goals.”
Helping Entrepreneurs Reach their Goals
His testimonials are from many of the most famous names in Internet marketing/sales: Mike Filsaime (Butterfly Marketing – went from $15,000/month to $184,000/month and he’s now at $1 million a month with assistance from Schefren), Jim Edwards (whom I’ve been following for years), young steamroller Texas entrepreneur Ryan Deiss, Gary Ambrose, Yanik Silver, and Jay Conrad Levinson of Guerilla Marketing fame: “Rich has turned more start-up entrepreneurs into 7 and 8 figure incomes than any other person I know.”
Unfortunately there are few women on this list and I’m not sure why . . . I’ll make it my goal to break through and join the Internet Millionaire List ’cause I like hanging around with the boys better than sipping tea with the girls anyway.
Ever since he was eight years old, Schefren wanted his own business because of the financial successes and freedom that comes with one’s own business. After a couple of years in corporate America, at age 22 he took a failing clothing company from $1.5 million to $6.5 million in three years. At 26, he started a chain of hypnosis centers that turned into a $7.5 business in less than four years. (I believe he said it ultimately climbed to a $13 million business). At 31, he went into the online marketing business.
However, he got seduced into the Internet lifestyle, tried niche marketing (which is where I’ve been stuck), seeking that solution that would turn the corner. He neglected his family, health, etc. . . . just like the rest of us . . . and just like the rest of us, he was on information overload. Also, like many of us, he would buy an eBook only to realize he had already purchased that eBook.
“I heard about other people doing well and wondered why I couldn’t make it work. I began to feel as though I wasn’t very bright, fell into self-doubt, which meant even more time in front of the computer. I was miserable, stressed and fearful about his future and spent two years in front of the computer trying to figure this out.”
Schefren’s Moment of Clarity
Every night he would analyze the issues. “Then I had a moment of clarity which gave me the answers I needed. My success then started and I haven’t looked back. Friends began calling asking for help.” He took on 25 clients (all internet marketers); that group grew $40 million in 18 months. He made millions in his own niche markets, as a marketing partner to top poker professionals like Howard Lederer, and as an advisor/partner to Agora Publishing (a 250 million dollar information marketer).
Traits Needed to Be Successful
He felt that the traits that made him successful were now making him a failure and he was on information overload, so he made a list. His discoveries, which turned his seemingly negative traits into positive traits:
- Unsure of which marketing tactics to use means you’re on information information overload.
- It’s not HIM, it’s the method he is following.
- Unsure of which tactic to use just means you’re trying to find the best practice;
- Wasting time on line means that you are willing to do what it takes to succeed;
- Spending time looking for what will work means you are searching for answers;
- Information overload means you are taking responsibility for your own education;
- Even though the path was difficult, he maintained optimism in the face of adversity;
- Seduced into buying magic means a willingness to explore new approaches;
- Never getting hoped-for results means the ability to self-generate hope to keep going;
- Questioning oneself means a willingness to accept responsibility.
It’s NOT YOU, It’s Never Been You. It’s the approach you’re following.
Change Your Approach and Your Results Will Improve Dramatically
He advised to write down: IT’S NOT ME. IT’S MY APPROACH.
His life went from a feeling of failure to having the life he wanted. “If you’ve come this far, you have a success dream. Go from thinking like an opportunity seeker to thinking like an entrepreneur.”
“And here’s the really crazy part . . . even though this is the model that most Internet marketers are following, do you know what they spend an overwhelming amount of time on? Searching for more activities, tactics, and tricks to squeeze in to the chart above . . . it’s crazy isn’t it? Why on earth would you spend any more time looking for more to do? You aren’t even getting done all the stuff you already want to get done – but most Internet marketers are on the lookout for the latest and greatest opportunity to add to their list of stuff that isn’t going to get done. Make no mistake: the chart above is the chart of a person who is sadly lacking in strategy. It screams OPPORTUNIST!”
Dissecting the Internet Business
Since When Is MORE The Solution to Having TOO MUCH?
He asks: “Do you know which exact plan will take you to where you want to go? It is not buying another package or setting up another business. What is your strategy? Have you thought through your options and focused on the one path that will get you to where you want to go? This is akin to developing your “unique selling proposition.” It’s the “Who Are You” of you. “All of your competitors are a click away, so who are you and what do you bring to the table. You cannot follow anyone else’s strategy. You need your own unique strategy; it is the only way to win online.”
“How do you make the shift from opportunity seeker to strategic entrepreneur.”
- What do you really know about business? Where did your beliefs come from? What does owning/running a business mean and based on what? What has your life experience taught you about what business is about? As long as you have false believes you can’t become a strategic entrepreneur. 96% of small businesses fail.
- Dunn and Bradstreet states that 90% of small business failures are because of a lack of skills and knowledge on the part of the owner. Another key is that the owner recognized a weakness but did nothing about it.
- Rate your business acumen based on your current business performance. Based on his scale of 1) Studied a lot, done nothing, made no money to 10) Your business is growing without you, you’re making more than you can spend, you’re financially free and loving life. I’m at 3) Studied a lot, tried several approaches, made progress but not making any real money.
- He presents a path and states even if you haven’t started yet, this path will work for you.
- Work Less: Play where you can win. If you get this wrong, you will make no progress — do the things that you do best. Opportunity seekers play where they can’t win. They do things they are not good at. You end up feeling like a failure, but it’s simply being in the wrong place doing the wrong thing. Whatever you are offering, it isn’t perceived as a “must have.” Disappointments take their toll.
- A strategic entrepreneur pushes you towards success. You do everything on your to-do list. You feel that you are in the right place, doing the right thing, and money pours in.
- Make More: Only work on what’s essential
- Build The Business of Your Dream: Achieve Speed of Execution
STRATEGIC SECRET #1
Gain a powerful profit advantage with a unique strategy. To win in business, you must have an advantage. This refers to the “unique selling proposition” of any situation, job, person. Identify your strengths: inborn talents, experiences, education, skills. Work on ONLY what allows you to leverage that unique combination. If you do that, you will also like what you are doing.
Which Game Would You Play for $$$ — Business is the biggest game you will play for money. You have to play a game you can win. Scehefren notes that he is pretty good at poker while he is no good at tennis. He cannot win at tennis so it would make no sense to get into a tennis match if he expects to win. Another example is Michael Jordan, who, as the best basketball player in the world, had to be working with natural talent. When Jordan tried baseball, he didn’t do well. You have to play to your strengths. Identify them as quickly as possible. Very few people know what their strengths are.
“Most entrepreneurs who fail do not know what their strengths are.” When you ask them, they stare blankly or respond in terms of a subject.
~ Peter Drucker
It is difficult to figure out your strengths by yo
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Making sufficient income freelancing can save your home and even provide new wonderful dreams and goals: Basically, freelancing means taking your skills and providing them to a variety of buyers instead of working for just one employer. To be sure it is a brain shift; it can be more difficult to juggle schedules between 5 or 10 “employers” rather than 1 or 2 in an office. It requires some psychological balancing to be sure. It will probably be difficult to adjust to NOT having a check directly deposited into your account each week.
I’m in California; Amazon’s eMail suggesting I use their publishing program (which is not “new” by the way) arrived just 27 days AFTER Amazon cut California affiliates off at the knees by informing us that they will no longer, effective immediately, pay for items sold through our Web sites, eMails, blogs, etc. Affiliates helped make Amazon. 
Important: eMail marketing should not go only to your friends/list of subscribers . . . if you send it share it on social media. Make it easy for people to sign up. iContact is making it easy to include sign up forms, and, again, so are blog sites such as WordPress. 
Easy methods of sharing are adding “like” buttons into eMail messages using iContact’s add-ons. They provide Facebook, Tweet buttons (which are actually cute — I like the Twitter icon). It’s possible to add custom messages to the buttons. iContact has also made it easy to archive your messages and to share directly from their platform by posting from there to your social networking streams. 
They opened their Webinar with an example of being stuck in the sand which is precisely how I feel at the moment: So many ideas, so little time, no focused direction. It translates to panic and running around in circles. 
Jeff and Tyler develop blueprints for clients, including professional services, household services, internet/info marketers (educational products, authors, speakers), online retailers. That just about covers every arena. 
Their case study/challenge was to double business for an online retailer within three months. This online retailer actually works out of a cabin; Jeff and Tyler doubled their sales in 72 days; prospecting list grew from 5,000 to over 70,000 . . . their studies and clients indicate that marketing automation works. 
