Who else wants an Internet empire?
It’s easy to look at any established online personality or company and make one of the following assumptions (or maybe both, depending on the day):

1. It all appeared in a day and was largely due to luck, so this online stuff has many similarities to gambling and hitting a jackpot.
2. It took nearly forever to come together, probably required a lot of people working on it and a lot of capital. Either or both resources that you don’t have.

The truth is probably somewhere in between. It will take some luck, but more focused effort to bring all these pieces together.

A rookie mistake when trying to build a business empire might be asking “How do I make $x per month?”

This implies that you can

do something you like (or think you’re good at) and the money will start rolling in. The reality is that there’s a 99% chance of failure if you only focus on what you think you’re good at, without considering more important factors.

If you ask the wrong question, you will do stuff that doesn’t work and likely end up with the wrong answer (and also fail to hit your desired outcome).

A more productive question might be “What product or service can I create or promote that will make me $x per month?”

The shift towards more goal-oriented planning will help you plan in a way that gets you results.

By having a specific, rather than an open-ended outcome, you’re setting yourself up to come up with strategies to achieve a specific outcome. The better you define what you want to get, the more likely you are to achieve it.

The best question to answer as you’re working out your business strategy might be “What problem can I solve that will make people relieved and happy enough to want to pay me $x per month?”

By shifting the focus away from what you want, to what your customer wants, you’re better able to see what they want to sign up for or pay for and in the process, you benefit.

Having clarity on this means helping others get what they want will mean you get what you want too.

Whatever your reasons might be for wanting to build an empire, the principles are about the same. Adopting a methodical approach, having a plan or blueprint in mind, and importantly, following through with what you’ve planned are some of the key success factors.

The size of your empire will depend on the following:

• Market size: How big can the industry grow to? Apple products are a good example how a sizable market can be built around popular products (that didn’t exist 10 years ago).
• Uniqueness/utility/innovation: How “special” is the product or service being introduced? Is it solving a problem, ideally in an efficient, pain-free, low-cost manner? Is it a fun solution?
• Reach: How are you reaching out to prospects? Social media? Paid traffic? Joint ventures/affiliates?

The success of your business will depend as much on the product marketing as much as the product itself. Assuming that your product meets a minimum quality criteria, it then depends on who is better able to get the word out on the market, get it in front of consumers and most importantly, get them to buy.

Products tend to fall into one of two categories:

• Evergreen products have steady demand and can be sustained on a long-term basis.
• Seasonal products tend to follow trends such as the hot demand associated with a popular movie, or see their highest demand at certain parts of the year (Like Valentine’s Day or tax filing season).

While some can position their business to do especially well during certain parts of the year like Costumezee which focuses most of its efforts on Halloween costumes, most business owners would do the best focusing on evergreen business to ensure that cashflow is the most consistent.

Both models can be equally lucrative, though a business will not be equally good at positioning itself at capturing both types of business. Though some retailers like Amazon have multiple business units working on both evergreen and seasonal marketing campaigns.

If you’re just starting out, I’d focus on getting your first sale and seeing if the business has long-term prospects.

Reach out to friends, family, acquaintances, reaching them over the phone or skype. A broadcast email or mass Facebook message, especially with a “Dear everyone” greeting is going to fail.

The more you put in, the more you are to get out of the process.

Your Input -> Your Results

There is a temptation that if you mass mail your circle, you are going to get great results.

Doing “mass” anything, unless you already have established a great brand, is not going to get you what you want. So focus on 1-to-1 marketing initially, or offer your product or service in a highly targeted group or with peopel with whom you already have an existing relationship.

For faster results, consider some resource groups which will help shorten your learning curve.

AffPlaybook

I am still a member of AffPlaybook and recommend it to new Internet marketers and affiliates. Even if you have your own product or are doing some other area like search engine optimization, you’re likely to benefit from the various tutorial and case studies posted in the group. You can access my discount code which gives you $10 off each month, or read my product review of AffPlaybook here.

-> AffPlaybook discount code signup (coupon code discount already factored in)

-> AffPlaybook product review

Mindware Recode mastermind

Did you know that your mind is even more powerful than the best computer available? The problem is that most of us don’t program it for doing things effectively, so we get results that are below our expectations. I’ve started working with a small group to focus on the aspects of life hacking and business hacking. The program is currently closed, but I’ll be opening it up again in November. There’s an application process where you’ll be evaluated to see if you’re a good match for the program. If you’re interested, you can register here so you’ll get notice when it opens up again.

-> Mindware Recode mastermind application form