Pardon our dust, we're adding another room!

I grew up in a small town in Indiana. In the country grammar school I attended, it was easy to know all of the teachers and students, even if they weren’t in my class because…well, there just weren’t that many kids on the playground. I remember a wonderful, cozy and comfortable feeling in that intimate setting.

Then I moved to high school – one of those big consolidated county high schools. With more than 500 kids in each class, we had more than 2000 teenagers from all parts of the county in one big school.

I went from easy surroundings to massive hallways and tons of traffic – not so intimate and not so comfortable.

Smaller is better in my mind.

But success often seems that it wants to be bigger.

My friend Jeff Herring reminds me frequently that the Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshops are going to need “a bigger boat” as he quotes one of his favorite lines from Jaws.

Okay, a bigger boat it is!

I was in Atlanta last week at the Crowne Plaza – that’s where we hold the NAMS workshop. I was scouting for a bigger boat.

As NAMS grows, it’s important to me to maintain that wonderful, cozy and comfortable feeling in an intimate setting. One of the few issues I had with NAMS3 was that I didn’t get to meet everyone. There were just too many people.

Well, that wasn’t really it. There were too many people in one big room.

And I wasn’t quite satisfied with the group dynamics in the big room. Too many people meant that we had too broad an experience spectrum. So, we’re looking at this again.

NAMS4 will be a little different again. We’re adding a room to ease that growth pain. So, instead of three breakout rooms, we’ll have 4. We’ll still have the Intermediate and Advanced rooms, but now…

…Beginners will be broken into two groups – Beginners1 and Beginners2.

  • Beginners-1 will be for total newbies. No experience at all is required with this group. One man told me at the last NAMS that he was truly excited because he finally understood Facebook and Twitter…and now had accounts. Beginners-1 group does not have a blog or a website of any kind.
  • Beginners-2 is a group of students that may have websites or blogs, but is not making any money. They understand some of the concepts – so they are not considered complete beginners.

That means we’re bigger, better and even more focused on improving the NAMS education and atmosphere.

Join us in Atlanta.

May 10th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , | Category: General, Niche Affiliate Marketing System, Workshop News | Leave a comment

Mark Hendricks made the most difference in my online business!

It’s tax time.

So, like most people, I’m heads down with my accountant and my bookkeeper getting all my numbers together. For the first time in a long time, our corporate income jumped unpredictably through the roof.

Mark Hendricks at ISS

Mark Hendricks at ISS

I may have to cough up some extra tax money this year.

And I blame Mark Hendricks. More about that in a minute…

My relationship with Mark has become much more than just a business coaching relationship. He’s a trusted adviser and a good friend. When Monday morning arrives, that’s my official Mark coaching time. But I can call him any time to go over specific problems or just to ask his opinion about anything.

He’s been instrumental in building the Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshop by pitching in whenever he can without any expectations.

And it goes way beyond the advice and support. When I started NAMS, I used his projector, his screen and his sound system that made the first one possible. He sat in the back of the room and ran the sound for the entire 3 days.

The first aids were my gold member colleagues from his Internet Success System program that pitched in to make it all work.

Again, thank you was all he required.

My investment in equipment by NAMS3 was nearly $20,000, but if Mark hadn’t been so generous with his time and equipment, NAMS1 never would have gotten off the ground. So, if you’ve enjoyed NAMS, send Mark a thank you note.

Better yet, join us in Orlando in April.

You see, Mark is my personal coach. I pay him to help mold my business and to keep me from doing dumb stuff. And I do plenty of that.

But Mark is too good!

Mark and David

Mark Hendricks and me at the Gold Retreat

If I had listened less in 2009, the tax issue probably wouldn’t be such an issue. But like someone said to me yesterday, “I’d love to pay a million dollars in taxes. What a nice problem to have.”

Luckily – or unluckily, I guess – I don’t have to pay anything close to that this year, but I’m paying much more than I expected.

So, why is Mark to blame?

When you dig into QuickBooks (assuming you do your accounting there), you can find out a lot of great information. And my discovery kind of rocked my world. (And this is the part that may get me fired! I’m not supposed to tell people stuff like this,but…)

My investment in Mark’s coaching over the last three years has been less than $15k. He is directly responsible for increasing my income many, many, many times more than that.

When I send Mark a payment, I do it with a very big smile on my face. And I assume he has one too. But mostly, I’m just grateful that he picked up the phone when I called a few weeks before Christmas about four and a half years ago because I had no idea then that it would be the turning point in my online business.

Just because of the way he talked – without hype or hard sell – I decided to visit his weekend workshop. Watching him and sitting next to the people in that meeting room with the same goals convinced me that making a living as a solo infoprenuer was not just a pipe dream. And I wasn’t as crazy as some of my friends told me.

That’s when I knew that what I wanted to do could actually be done.

Mark has been instrumental in every online success that I’ve had including the Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshop. He guides me at every turn. All I have to do is ask for directions.

Mark Hendricks

Mark Hendricks - ISS Mentor

I’d really like to tell you that I get his full attention; that he has no other coaching clients; that I’m the most important ISS Gold Member he has. When we’re talking, I am the most important. But he is available to all.

And he connects us to the best people in the business.

For example, Mark connected me with Willie Crawford and Willie connected me with Lynn Terry and Lynn Terry connected me with her elite members who come to NAMS in droves.

Mark connected me with Cindi Dawson who connected me with Jeff Herring who connected me with his Article Marketing Club members and they show up at NAMS on a regular basis.

The ROI (return on investment) on my relationship with Mark Hendricks has been astronomical.

Wouldn’t you love to tap the guy who really changes online lives and puts a couple of zeros on your bottom line like he did for me?

You can. Very easily.

Attend the ISS workshop in Orlando in April – I’ll be there to hang out with a few of my friends and colleagues and to continue adding the tools that yield more zeros to my income.

Click that link now for The Internet Success System if you can make it for the full four days.

If you think you’d like to try ISS for free first, check out this link to get a free day on the front end with all the nuts and bolts of creating an online business.

But be EXTREMELY careful. You could end up with the same problems I have around tax time.

March 16th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Category: General, Motivation, Niche Affiliate Marketing System, Workshop News | One comment

How To Choose A Profitable Niche

Last August, I met a woman at NAMS2 who quietly sat in the back of the room and absorbed everything. I knew she was a sharp cookie just by the questions she asked and the people she hung out with.

Last week, Nicole Dean sent me a note to tell me that I should take a look at Susanne’s Affiliate Niche Packs – they fit right in with my Niche-Mall storefront. (I’m always on the lookout for high-quality products to drop into my mall – hint, hint.)

And she was right; these are excellent. I bought them all. But more than that, I realized Susanne Myers really understood how to find profitable niches. One of the things she includes in her niche pack is a marketing checklist that shows step-by-step how to start promoting in the niche.

So, I ask her to write a guest blog post giving you a lesson in finding your niche. So, I’ll turn it over to Susanne…

Author: Susanne Myers
Affiliate Niche Packs

I’ve attended the last two NAMS events in Atlanta and spend a good bit of time chatting with other affiliate marketers. The question that kept coming up, especially from those just starting out was how to choose a niche that’s PROFITABLE.

Susanne Myers - Affiliate Niche Packs

Susanne Myers - Affiliate Niche Packs

It doesn’t take long for a beginning affiliate marketer to figure out that broad topic websites and wanting to provide information on everything and anything to EVERYBODY doesn’t work. Most of us quickly realize that choosing a niche and becoming an expert catering to a tight group of people is the better way to go.

The big stumbling block is often what niche to choose. Coming up with niche ideas is easy. Heck I could probably come up with about 50 of them in just a few minutes doing nothing more than jotting down my various hobbies and interests. The hard part is determining which ones have a good profit potential and are worth getting into.

Over the past 6 years, I’ve learned a lot through trial and error and have come up with some pretty good “tests” that I use anytime I’m considering a new niche. While I obviously can’t promise you you’ll be profitable if you apply these tests, they are a good indicator of whether or not a niche is profitable.

Does It Solve A Problem Or Reduce Pain

Think for a moment about what type of information products you have bought in the past. Chances are pretty good that they helped you either solve a problem or reduce pain. Those are both two very strong buying motivators.

Let me give you some examples. If your dog is barking like crazy any time someone walks up to your door, that’s a serious problem. If you came across a little ebook that promised to teach you how to stop this behavior in your dog in just a few days and it was $17, you’d buy it wouldn’t you?

Or let’s say you have chronic neck pain from sitting at the computer too much (I do). If there was a video or a report with some stretches that will help eliminate the pain, I’d be the first in line with my credit card.

Is It Entertaining

If you are not solving a problem, you have got to be entertaining (which in fact solves the problem of being bored). Think about it… If you look at the various information products available, they fall into one of those two categories. You are solving a problem (i.e. chronic back pain, bed wetting etc.) or you are helping keep your customers entertained (i.e. improving their golf game or learning to play the piano).

Is Someone Else In The Same Or Very Similar Market

Once you’ve established that your niche will either help solve a problem or entertain your readers, there’s one my thing I like to test. Make sure someone else is already profitable doing the same (or very similar thing).

There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Chances are that someone else already has tried just about any niche you can come up with. The ones that are profitable usually stay around. How do you find out if there are serious competitors who are already making money in your niche?

My favorite is to use Google and Google Adwords. Google one of the main keywords in your niche and pay attention to the Google ads on the search results page. If you can’t find any ads for paid products for several main keywords, chances are pretty good that this is NOT a profitable niche.

If on the other hand there are several paid products advertised, chances are good that this will be a good niche to try. Don’t forget to visit some of the offers that are advertised and see if it’s something you may want to promote as an affiliate.

To see what I mean, I invite you to take a look at my affiliate niche packs. They are a great shortcut for getting started in any niche. I research each topic to make sure it has a high profitability potential using the steps outlined above and then provide you with the following:

  • A niche and target market description
  • List of some of my favorite affiliate products available in this niche
  • 100 domain name ideas
  • 1000+ keywords
  • 100 article and blog post ideas
  • 15 sample author resource boxes for article marketing
  • 2 different step-by-step marketing plans with daily action items
  • PLR content available in this niche
  • List of tools and service to get you up and running fast

Ready to give it a try? Grab an Affiliate Niche Pack today.

Susanne Myers

P.S. I under priced these niche packs quite a bit for the first few months. I am going to raise the price to $27 on March 15′th . Until then you can get them for $14.97.

Visit the Affiliate Niche Packs today

March 8th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , | Category: Affiliates, Guest Post, Niche Affiliate Marketing System, Oursourcing | 3 comments

Am I a lone nut?

NAMS was a hair-brained scheme, and frankly I’m a little puzzled how the workshop came to be so popular.

But after watching this video I stumbled across on the web the other day, I finally realize what’s happening.

This is a pretty silly video with a really profound message. It’s only 3 minutes long. Watch it a couple of times and pay attention to the end with the people talking in the background.

The key elements are:

  • Leaders
  • Followers
  • and the Movment

With any good, sustainable business with a life of its own, the Leader embraces the Followers in the Movement and is completely marginalized by the result.

I’d love to hear your opinion about this. Leave a comment below – what do you think?

March 4th, 2010 | Tags: , , | Category: General, Motivation, Niche Affiliate Marketing System, Workshop News | 3 comments

Marketing lessons from the tractor - part 2

When we last heard from farmer David – that was me last weekend – I talked about how important it is to find people who already know the tips and tricks that help you move through problems quickly.

Farmer David on the Dream Machine

What is that great quote? I think it’s something like this: The smart man learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from other peoples’ mistakes.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve made plenty. And finally, I’m ready to make fewer.

The problem I was trying to solve was how to use the big Kubota tractor – my dream machine – with a Box blade and a front end bucket to smooth my washboard driveway.

And with my friend’s advice (let’s call him my driveway mentor), I had the answer to smoothing my drive – drive backwards and drag the front end bucket to scrape the driveway smooth. And it was working very well until…my perfectionism kicked in.

That’s never good.

Perfectionism stalls me at every turn if I let it creep into my life. I’ll give you a few examples – the first is the driveway.

Following my driveway mentor’s advice, I got the drive fairly smooth – but was concerned about the loss of gravel. So, I wasn’t aggressive enough with the bucket and the driveway had a few bumps in it – maybe more than a few.

Saturday night, I was taking Charlsa, my lovely wife, to dinner and we bounced out to the road. She turned to me and said, “maybe you should call an expert.”

How did I go from a relatively, but imperfectly, smooth driveway earlier in the day to an almost unpassable quagmire again.

I forgot my main rule – good enough is good enough.

A few imperfections became big rolling gutters in the drive as I obsessed over getting it just right. Saturday evening, I was trying to finesse the ground with the box blade – just the tool my driveway mentor said to stay aware from.

So, Sunday morning I was back on the tractor really going after the drive with the front end bucket – no box blade.

I didn’t care if there was a ridge of gravel down the middle of the drive. Or if some of the gravel spilled over the edge of the drive into the gutter. The point was to get it 80 percent.

And guess what, within a couple of hours – it was very smooth – so smooth, I could drive 30 miles an hour down the drive without bouncing. (I don’t usually do that).

And I thought about my business…

How many things are not completed because they’re not perfect? The answer for me is way too many! It’s a good question to ask yourself too.

What’s keeping you from releasing your product or your article or getting your blog up? If you’re waiting for it to be perfect, you’ll wait be waiting until the day you die.

Let go of it now. I promise I will too.

March 3rd, 2010 | Tags: , , , , | Category: Affiliates, General, Motivation, Niche Affiliate Marketing System, Workshop News | Leave a comment

There's got to be a trick to this...

Man, I was really frustrated this morning.

I had a great farm day planned at my house. My driveway was like a washboard even though we’d put nearly a 120 tons of gravel on it just 3 months ago. Yep, that’s a lot of gravel, but I’ve got a lot of driveway.

My truck – and more importantly, Charlsa’s Jeep – was bouncing all over the drive even though we practically crawl up to the house. And it was only getting worse.

So, I rented a tractor with a box blade and a bucket, and planned to level out the drive myself. How hard could this be, I thought. Just need a blade to drag the drive and all will be well again. And besides, this would be an opportunity to show Charlsa that I really need a tractor to maintain this 95 acre paradise and can justify the $20,000 price tag for my dream machine.

My Dream MachineWhen I reserved the tractor, I had no idea what they would be bringing, but when they pulled in the drive this morning, there it was – The Kubota! The one I’ve been coveting.

So, I jumped in the saddle, cranked it up and began dragging the drive to even out the bumps. But as I made pass after pass, the bumps were becoming waves. The bigger the waves, the deeper the blade cut into the drive. It was getting worse not better. After three hours, driving around my 2500 foot U-drive felt like riding a ship in rough seas – up and down, up and down.

Popping some Dramamine for motion sickness crossed my mind.

And I was getting really upset. This machine cost me $250 to rent for the day. And I’m destroying my drive.

That’s where Mike comes in.

Mike and Daniel are two contractors that are working on screening in my basement patio. When it’s done, we’ll have an old-fashioned southern sleeping porch in the rear of the house overlooking the stream. Mosquitoes will no longer be an issue.

Mike and his partner returned from lunch. Mike walked over to the tractor. I shut it off and the conversation went like this:

Mike: You’re just playing around today, aren’t you?

Me: Yes, but I’m not having any fun. This thing is worse than when I started. I thought this box blade was all I needed.

Mike: Go backwards.

Me: Huh?

Mike: Don’t use the blade. Use the bucket. Go backwards, drop the bucket to the ground and take some weight off the front tires. That’s the trick.

Me: But the blade…

Mike: I know. It seems wrong, but trust me. The blade is for finishing. The bucket is for fixing.

Within an hour, I had the driveway leveled out. And I was in reverse the rest of the day?

Who knew?

Well, that’s the point of this post. Somebody always knows. And yes, there ARE shortcuts, tips and tricks.

We always suspected there’s a shorter, simpler, faster, cheaper, more efficient way of doing things. Knowing who to ask is the key. That’s why Mark Hendricks is my coach and mentor. Every Monday morning he tells me when I need to go forward or put it in reverse. And sometimes, I didn’t even know there was a reverse. That’s why I need to talk to someone who’s been there and done that before me.

Mark’s my main mentor. Sometimes, I need a specialist. Today, Mike was my mentor – in how to drag a driveway.

At the Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshop, we bring together about 18 of the top mentors and coaches who will teach more than 150 students in a 3-day intensive. You should use the opportunity to shop for a main mentor.

You’ll find someone with whom you’ll click immediately. Hire them on the spot. Buy their products. Find out what they do and how they do it. The savings in time and money will be well worth it.

By the way, if you haven’t gotten your NAMS4 ticket yet, better hurry. The price jumps $100 Sunday night at 11:59 p.m. EST.

February 27th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Category: General, Motivation, Niche Affiliate Marketing System, Workshop News | 2 comments

NAMS4 workshop jumps to $397 Sunday

Something big happens on Sunday night.

The fourth edition of the Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshop jumps to $397. And it will never be lower than $397 again. So if you’re waiting for a coupon – it ain’t happening! We are working our way to $697 or until it sells out.

We currently have 92 seats left.

That seems like a lot. It’s not!

In 28 days since we packed our bags leaving NAMS3 behind, we’ve signed up 93 people. The $297 price will be gone on Sunday at 11:59 p.m. EST. If you have friends, family or subscribers that are waiting for the best price to get in, this is it. And it won’t be this price when they wake up Monday morning.

During NAMS 1, 2 and 3, we used discount coupons to drive ticket sales. People can not count on that any longer.

But I can guarantee this: On Monday, when the price hits $397, NAMS4 will never be lower. That means sign up now or pay a higher price later if you decide to come.

Here’s three very important links for you:

  1. NAMS Affiliate Video – watch this to see how to get your EXACT affiliate link.
  2. NAMS Affiliate Program sign up page
  3. NAMS Affiliate Program log in page

Sell two workshop tickets and you’ve yours is basically free.

NAMS is ever evolving, getting bigger and better. The problem, of course, is knowing how big to get… Obviously, if we could accommodate 1000 people at each event, that would be great for the NAMS faculty and me personally. But would it be good for you? I don’t think so!

So, we’ve found our physical limit – 185 seats.

We’ve negotiated (and will be signing) a two-year deal with the Crowne Plaza in Atlanta for several reasons, but the biggest three are:

  • Internet: After stuttered with Internet access at NAMS 1 and 2, they nailed it with NAMS3. Accessing the internet for each person who attends is very important for the workshop. And to accommodate 185 people at the same time is a very complicated technical maneuver in which the Crowne Plaza has invested time and money
  • Layout: The hotel is structured really well to accomplish our classroom structure. Frankly, NAMS would be a different workshop facility if we hadn’t joined with the hotel to take over multiple rooms to accomplish what we needed to do
  • Price: They give us a great deal on room rates – $94. I’m a Marriott Platinum Plus member with 160 nights in 2009 under my belt. I NEVER get rooms for less than $100

As soon as the contract is completed, I’ll open up the hotel registration site.

So why is the workshop moving to $397 so soon? After all, it’s nearly six months until the NAMS4.

Well, if you’ve been a NAMS-ter for awhile, you’ll have seen a very clever marketing funnel, I believe.

We increased the price as the quality improved and the enthusiastic community grew. The $397 price is still cheap for the quality of the content and the education. It’s also a price point that is very attractive to affiliates. That means more sales and more tickets and more competition to get in which will means the price will continue to go up.

I could easily charge $1997 for NAMS now.

Seminars with NO education value are charging that kind of price and people are paying. But the quality of student and dedication of the instructors is more important to me. We’re building up people as we build up the price. And we prove it with results. Watch the video of Rafael Sanchez.

And you get to participate as an affiliate. See the links above.

At NAMS4, we’ll introduce the monthly version of NAMS that will give students from NAMS 1 through 4 VERY special benefits. But only those who have attended NAMS to that point will get those benefits.

Stay tuned and be sure to come to NAMS4.

February 26th, 2010 | Tags: , , , | Category: Affiliates, General, Niche Affiliate Marketing System, Workshop News | Leave a comment

Do you exist? Not if you don't have a domain!

Yep, that seems a little harsh. But it’s the truth. Unless you have a domain and some webhosting space where you can put your stuff, you really don’t have much of a web presence.

I love Twitter, Facebook, and all the other social marketing sites. But are you being “social with a purpose”? If you’re not driving your social friends to your own links – your personal webspace – you’re not really building a business.

That’s one of the first premises of online business. The “asset” is in the list. If you’re building a targeted list, you’re building a valuable asset. If you’re not, you’re just treading water.

Why am I bringing this up now? Tomorrow, and every week for the next several, I’m releasing brandable reports to help you drive traffic to the 100% commission products and other affiliate programs available to you such as the next NAMS workshop! But you’ll need a place to park your reports (with your affiliate links embedded) and to collect email addresses to build your list.

If you already have a domain (I have about 500) and hosting, then you still need to watch this short video to see how to take advantage of this special deal on SEO Hosting to get 5 cPanel accounts with 5 completely different IP addresses. That’s important because you can begin building your own hub and spoke traffic systems immediately.

This short video will show you how to create a significant web presence very quickly and cheaply and right. It’s just an introduction, but that may be all you need right now. But watch this space – there’s much more coming your way in the next few days.

Take a look – it’s less than 6 minutes.

February 20th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , | Category: Affiliates, General, Niche Affiliate Marketing System, Niche Mall, Niche Simple SEO Hosting, SEO for Niches, Social Marketing, Tools I love, Traffic Generation | One comment

Brainstorming with Jeff Herring, Maritza Parra and PF Chang...

Just a couple of days ago, I had an awesome brainstorming session with Jeff Herring and Maritza Parra.

And I was carrying my handy-dandy Kodak Zi8 video camera with an external microphone so I could tape a 30-minute session about it and it was great. I thought you’d like to get a peak inside the inner workings of an intense brainstorming session, so I’ve got the video below…

February 19th, 2010 | Tags: , , , | Category: Affiliates, General, Motivation, Niche Affiliate Marketing System, Workshop News | 6 comments

Keep the NAMS 3 Workshop momentum going with training webinars

Stuff happens fast in the internet world. So, we should be ready to respond. That’s why I’m setting up a couple of last-minute webinar training sessions.

The first is part of an ongoing series I’m starting about profiting from NAMS as an affiliate. Yes, this is late notice, but I wanted to let you get started as quickly as possible.

Discover techniques for profiting as a NAMS affiliate

Wednesday night – that’s tonight – from 9 to 10 p.m. EDT

We’ll focus on setting up and driving traffic over the next few weeks to promote the NAMS4 workshop with your affiliate link.

Register Now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/936117474

A SIMPLE10K formula for quick success…

The second webinar is Thursday night at 8 p.m. EDT.

We’ll dig deeper into the School For Information Marketing Profits – Bob The Teacher’s unique 3 step process for driving simple online income.

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/586889291

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

February 3rd, 2010 | Tags: , | Category: Affiliates, General, Niche Affiliate Marketing System | Leave a comment
 
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