The "I Hear Your Frustration" QnA
Live from Panama…okay, not live, but definitely from Panama, where I’m attending the www.SovereignMan.com conference, here’s this week’s Q’n’A, dedicated to a couple of your most frustrating issues.
Q: Bob asks – Craig, appreciate the daily blogs. But I have a problem…I’ve been working on my product for 4 months now, and it’s still only partially finished. I struggle with perfecting the content.
Answer:
I understand.
But…it doesn’t need to be “perfect”.
Now don’t get me wrong, the content needs to be very good, and unique, and helpful.
But not perfect.
So here’s what you’re going to do.
First, you’re going to set a deadline to get your product done.
Second, you’re going “X-out” that deadline, and cut it in half.
Perhaps you’ve heard of Parkinson’s Law:
“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
That’s why we cut the deadline in half. Because either way, you’ll find a way to get it done at the last minute.
That’s just how we silly humans behave.
Third, if necessary, rent a hotel conference room, make a down payment, and force yourself to get the work done in the room that day.
That’s what I did this week with some filming I had to do.
Once the deadline was set, I “miraculously” found a way to get it done, while I had otherwise been struggling to finish it.
Silly, silly human behavior.
I look forward to hearing from you when your product is done.
And remember, once you get it done and out there, you can continue to refine it, based on client feedback.
Q: Steve asks – I have a successful offline business and I’ve been working on building up my my online business for a couple of years now, but recently I’ve found myself losing my desire for “internet marketing”. I recently have gotten “Caught up” in sales, promo’s etc, and I don’t like this. It’s not the reason I started going down this path. I find I am no longer looking at content and helping people as much as I am looking at stats and sales. I want to make $$$ off internet marketing and affiliate sales long term, but I don’t like the “pressure” I feel every time I receive an affiliate email that I think i can make sales. I want to create a list that follows ME and trusts me. I feel I’m losing this with too much selling.
Answer:
Hey Steve, I understand. I hear your frustration.
Fortunately, the solution is simple.
1) Don’t promote anything unless you absolutely LOVE it.
2) Keep writing more “blog posts of a lifetime” – content that is absolutely amazing. You’ll build up your following from that.
3) Simply be who YOU want to be. Don’t let others pressure you into promoting their products.
The great thing is that you have no monetary pressure, since you have money coming in from other businesses.
This is what I’m doing the exact same thing with InternetIndepedence.com.
I’m just putting the best content out there that I can, and not selling anything…and I won’t sell anything until I’m sure that I have something that is so awesome that it can help thousands of people. I’m also building a following and big list this way by giving without selling.
Like you, I do this because I want to help people…I give this type of advice for free to friends and family. Heck, I’ve even tried to stop writing about building internet businesses, but I can’t help myself! It’s just what I want to do.
So have patience. Be WHO and WHAT you want to be.
You’ll recognize the best opportunities when they present themselves.
Steve, you’re the one “holding all the cards” here…not others who are trying to pressure you into promoting.
You’re the one with the powerful relationship with your list, and you need to keep treating that list right, because while the “list is king”, it’s the relationship with the list that is MORE important.
Stay strong,
Craig Ballantyne
“You can have everything in life you want if you will just help other people get what they want.” – Zig Zigler