Get Rich With WordPress

“It Started on WordPress and Made This Author More than $100 Million…”

Last weekend, the second in author E.L. James series hit the box office.

The sequel to Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, did nearly $50 million at the box office crushing everything else except The LEGO Batman Movie.

With the release of her latest film, I thought it would be great to review how all this started with a blog post.

Grey birthed a new genre commonly known as “mommy porn”? The book’s genesis was as a story – not a very good one either – on a Twilight Fan Fiction site in 2010.

(Unfortunately, the author’s publisher has removed practically all traces of the early work on the Internet)

She quickly moved the story to a personal website (50Shades.com) which has since been rolled into her current author page at eljamesauthor.com.

The response was overwhelming. She began selling copies as an ebook of the early rendition and then quickly contracted with a print-on-demand paperback publisher.

The author’s FAQ page says:

Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, and Fifty Shades Freed were never self-published as these novels. An earlier version of this story began as Twilight fan fiction which was posted on the internet. The trilogy was picked up by an Australian publisher, The Writer’s Coffee Shop, who released them as e-books and print-on-demand paperbacks.

According to paidcontent.org (http://paidcontent.org/2013/01/10/with-release-in-hardcover-50-shades-completely-flips-traditional-publishing-cycle/):

A tiny Australian publisher then released them as ebooks and print-on-demand paperbacks, selling about 250,000 copies. Random House snapped up the rights in a seven-figure deal, rereleased the ebooks and made 50 Shades widely available in paperback for the first time — where it achieved stratospheric success.

Fast forward a year later and Fifty Shades of Grey was at the top of the New York Times Bestseller list. Soon, it would be followed by two more Grey books, all in the top 10 list.

Just the list ma’am, just the list…

Remember Dragnet from the old days when Jack Webb played Sgt. Joe Friday. Look it up on IMDB kids.

Sgt. Friday’s favorite line delivered in a dry monotone was, “Just the facts ma’am, just the facts.”

Today, it’s all about the list.

If EL James hadn’t had a list, a huge list of devoted fans, publishers wouldn’t have come knocking. Nobody would have taken a chance on an unpublished first-time author who was writing graphically about sexual bondage and sadomasochism.

But she had a huge market. An audience of rabid followers who were already buyers begging for more.

Seven figures and a life-changing journey followed.

It started with a WordPress blog

She still has WordPress blogs, very fancy well-designed ones, but they are WordPress.

She probably had the same type of shared hosting you may have from some place like Liquid Web. And she probably had a low-cost autoresponder like aWeber.

She may not have known it then, and may not even know it now, but she owes her success to her list. Some would call it a market.

So, what about you? Are you the next Big Thing?

If you’re not building your list, I doubt it.

When you have a big, responsive list, and can influence a lot of people, you don’t have to be all that good as a writer or speaker to command a lot of attention.

But if you’re incredibly good at whatever you do, and don’t have a list, you won’t get the time of day.

There are a gazillion plugins that will help you build your list as aggressively as you want. To recommend any here would be silly, but here are two of my favorites 🙂

Optin Monster (a littler more expensive, but we use this for nearly everything on our site because of the analytics)
Lead Pages (the fastest way to get an optin page up and start building your list)

The key to building a really successful business online is to focus on building a responsive list and keep adding to it every day.

And some day, you could find yourself with a little extra – like maybe substantial – cash in your pocket.

The money really is in the list.

In 2013, according to Wikipedia, she joined the Forbes list of highest earning authors with earnings of $95m which included $5m for the film rights to Fifty Shades of Grey!

And maybe like you, it all started with WordPress.

Need to Learn More About Building Your WordPress Blog?

Try The MyNAMS Insiders Club Today for Just $1

Why Free Coaching Will Send You Into Bankruptcy….

By David Perdew Leave a Comment

“Why Free Coaching Will Send You Into Bankruptcy Fast!”

Working with FREE coaches was the most expensive lesson I’ve ever learned in doing business online...

I guess I was too cheap…

Not frugal. Not smart. Just cheap.

And listen, I don’t say that easily. I always thought I was being smart with my money.

Spending a little instead of a lot seemed very smart.

But that’s a sucker’s game, it turns out.

Dropping a thousand or more on programs and coaches was not an option for me. I didn’t have the mindset for that.

Yet money slipped through my fingers like water through a sieve because I fooled myself into thinking that I could learn just as much with a free report. Or maybe a $7 product. Sometimes, I would spend up to $97 - but I had to think about it pretty hard.

But I bought something new every day!

In fact, this "cautious" approach was the worst investment I could make in my online business education.

Instead of learning how to do business online, I got a $22,000 lesson in how to blow $22,000 on products that didn’t get me any closer to a real business.

Twenty-seven dollars at a time.

All of a sudden, $27 turned into $22,000 on my credit card with no online revenue to show for it.

Confessing this in 2004 was one of the hardest days - and best lessons - of my online business life

Charlsa (my wife and business partner) and I were strolling down the country road in front of our house on one of our summer walks and discussing our credit card problem.

“How do we owe more than $20,000 on this card,” she asked?

That’s when I told her that I’d been buying everything “learning” to do business online.

She was so angry that I really thought I’d destroyed this marriage. It wasn’t the spending. It was the spending without telling.

She had every right to be angry.

And I had every right to feel like a complete idiot.

We discussed the business and just how real my dream was.

I was working full time then and traveling the country as a consultant. The money was good, but I wanted to trade it in for the dream of managing my own time, working from home, and being with my wife (who was ready to kill me).

She was teaching K-12 music at two different schools 8 miles apart in north Alabama. With only 30 minutes to get from one school to the other, she snarfed down her lunch on the road between schools every day as she moved from class to class at a break-neck pace.

Think about it: She prepared 12 lesson plans each day.

She was working like a demon.

And I’d spent $22,000 which was nearly two-thirds of her annual salary as a teacher in just a few months.

Getting through this was hard, but we did it.

She didn’t block my dream of building an online training company even though she could have because she held all the cards.

But we agreed that I would be more open about the business finances and the risks that I was too willing to take.

And we agreed that I needed three things:

to pay for real business coaching to help guide me along the way
to bounce my ideas off someone else who had been down the path before me successfully
to commit to listening to the experience of a coach

I knew Charlsa completely bought into the value of coaching, even more than I, by a simple exchange at a NAMS Workshop session.

The session had been going on for about 45 minutes when I came in. I spied her in the back of the room taking notes furiously.

“Where have you been,” she said as she smacked me on the shoulder. “You need to be coaching with this guy.”

“This guy is Alex Mandossian,” I said. “And he gets $25,000 to $50,000 per student per year!”

“And he’s worth every penny,” was her reply.

Three years ago, I began coaching with Alex.

She was right. He was worth every penny and more. Alex was my mentor for 18 months, and we remain good friends today. He helped me get my head right when it comes to business. He helped me realize my value as an experienced business person with a ton of great relationships, great products, and a great reputation.

He was there whenever I had a problem that had me stumped.

And he had this uncanny knack of answering my very specific question with a high-level diagram or handout that tied to an Alexism (parable) that helped me discover the problem as it fit into the whole of my business.

Then, that problem became much smaller or disappeared.

For example, when I complained that I had set all my prices too low, he said, "Pricing is a self-esteem issue."

That was the first time I realized that I didn't have enough confidence in my own value to price my products for what I'm really worth. (Notice, that was not the problem I thought I was going to solve.)

He was the fifth coach I’d used in 7 years, and I’m now working with a sixth.

Each brings something different to the table.

I ate off their tables until I was full, and then looked for another table to get different experience. And I encourage you to do the same.

Why is working with a coach important?

I’ve come up with 4 great reasons working with a coach is key to your success.

Your mind will expand in many directions. This is not true for everyone, but it was for me. If you pay someone to coach you, and it’s enough money to hurt a little each month, you take it seriously.I’m more open to suggestions and more focused on taking the action when I'm paying someone each month to direct me. There's nothing worse than knowing I have to go back to that coach next week and report no progress.I don’t pay people thousands of dollars so I can argue with them about the solution. If I trust my judgement in hiring the right coach, I listen closely and implement fast.Once committed, I’m committed for the duration. Every one of my coaches have said I’m a great student because I actually do the work. And that’s why I get so much out of our coaching relationship.
She should be able to help me flatten the learning curve. Of course, I have to know what I want before I approach the coach. If I hire someone who is a great product creation coach, but I’m looking for information about creating automated Facebook Ad campaigns, then it’s not a fit - at that time.I would work with five of my six coaches again in a heartbeat if I need help in their particular areas of expertise. But the last thing I want to do is pay someone to learn what I’m learning. They need to have a high level of experience in their expertise.One coach actually fired me because she said, “You have a million dollar business; you need a million dollar coach. I’m not a million dollar coach. Now, go find that coach to go to the next level.”That’s a coach who knows her value and her expertise, and is confident enough to work within her comfort zone. I refer dozens of people to her.
Relationships matter. Is that coach going to bring you into a peer-to-peer group where you can bounce ideas off other people with similar problems? Is he introducing you to other resources that can help you get specific solutions quickly?Part of the value of a great coach is introduction to other resources. A coach can’t be all things to you, but he should be the one that protects you, helps you, and leads you to work with the right people.If you trust your coach, you should trust his circle too.And if you’re thinking about hiring a coach, you should talk to people he has coached to see if his circle of clients resonates with you.
Access comes with boundaries. Emergencies happen, but most coaches will only talk to you or answer questions during set office hours. And sometimes those are very restrictive.Why is that good for you? Because you have to start thinking ahead. With my current coach, I know I get one 30-minute phone call per month. And he’s available only on Wednesdays.It’s my responsibility to set it up, and to work around his schedule.Here’s the thing. We were already friends before I ask him to become my coach. I still have to work within the coaching parameters.A coach is not your friend. He’s not your Mr. Fixit. He’s not your counselor.
He is the person who can help you solve your current business problems and move you closer to your goals.

What happens if you get stuck?

Actually, that question should be what happens WHEN you get stuck because we all do.

But that’s not the time to hunker down or lock yourself in your office vowing to not come out until you’ve found the solution to your stuck-ness.

In fact, it’s the opposite.

Talk to your coach. You think she hasn’t been stuck plenty of times before? Of course, she has.

And I bet she has some advice about getting unstuck.

Call it what you will:

Losing your mojo
Falling out of the groove
Missing the zone
Paralyzed with fear
Limping along
Off track

It doesn’t matter. It’s all the same thing: You're not sure about the next step.

This is when it’s MOST important to reach out to your coach - not your friend - because your coach (if he’s any good) is going to shine a light on the next right thing to do, and then give you a good swift boot in that direction.

Coaching commitment comes in all flavors

We hear about 25k coaches who want your first child as collateral and you think, “Oh, I’m not ready for coaching…”

Are you committed to your business? If yes, you’re ready.
Are you focused on your niche? If yes, you’re ready.
Have you been struggling on your own awhile trying to find your way? If yes, you’re ready.

But ready for what is the real question.

If dropping $25,000 on a coach makes you tremble with fear, then look at other options such as:

Try a 15-minute free strategy session if he offers it - FREE
Purchase an hour or two to solve a specific issue - $200 to $1000
Hire a coach for a month if he offers it - $1000 to $3000
Got a bigger project, hire a coach for 90 days to get more attention and drive to a specific result - $1500 to $5000
Need to build a real plan? Sign up for the year of coaching - $5000 to $25000

And if none of those work for you, look for a group coaching that will drive results in a short period of time like 90 days. $500 to $3500

Whatever you choose, be prepared to start a lifetime journey of working with quality coaches to help you build a simple, scalable and sustainable business.

That’s what you want after all.

This is My Story

By David Perdew 1 Comment

“That’s Easy for YOU! You Already Have a Big Business Online, But That Won’t Work for Me!”

If I had a nickel for every time someone used that excuse with me why they can’t get a break online…

Listen, I have a good business now, but it wasn’t always that way.

In fact, I struggled for years. And even today, it’s not always easy.

It’s always a challenge to improve any business.

When I worked for Gannett Newspapers many years ago, that company had more than 72 quarters of consecutive revenue growth.

And that is absolutely amazing for any business, but especially a big corporation.

Growth is only surpassed by one thing: Cash flow.

Cash flow is ALWAYS the key to making sure your business doesn’t bury you in a mountain of stressful debt. If you have massive billings but tiny collections, growth may seem large.

But if you can’t pay your bills because cash is never there, business failure is around the corner.

That’s why I fell in love with the online business model. The difference between billings and cash are pretty negligible.

Sell something, get paid for it right then. That’s my kind of business.

In the beginning, selling enough to replace the income you need is your goal.

That is quickly followed by selling enough to grow and buy a little security.

Which is quickly displaced by selling enough to create a sustainable cash machine.

Notice, the common word in those three statements previously is “selling.” That’s what we do.

Unfortunately, selling is what I liked to do least, so…

When people say, “I don’t like to sell like you…” or “Business doesn’t really interest me, I just want to [insert topic or service here],” I cringe a little.

“If they only knew how hard it was for me to get started,” I think to myself.

So, I decided I’d tell you. This has not been a picnic. But it’s been a rewarding challenge and a lot of fun along the way.

Let’s start with my online business desire…

I’ve always been an entrepreneur, even though I wouldn’t really admit that for years. When I was a kid, I sold cards, seeds, magazines and newspapers door-to-door.

That’s how I bought my bicycle, got a baseball glove and a bat. Whatever sales opportunity was in the back of Boys’ Life magazine, that’s the one I jumped on.

Then, when I was 14 I got a job in a car wash. And next, at 16, I became a shoe dog, selling shoes at B&B Shoes in New Castle, IN all through high school.

But it wasn’t selling. It was making money. That’s how I saw it.

Before NAMS, I had several other businesses: The Henry County News Republican (as in our country is a republic, not a political affiliation) weekly newspaper, Stock South stock photography agency, and Maximize Communications – an independent consulting firm.

Then, I fell into the Internet.

This week, a book publisher asked me to contribute about how I got started online by answering these questions.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I’ve had several businesses in my life, some successful some not. But I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart even when I was working in the corporate world.

So, in 2003 I took a year off from my consulting business with one of the largest corporations in the world to build a house on 100 acres of land in North Alabama. It was a log house, and it had always been a dream of mine to build one using my own two hands.

From a hole in the ground to finishing the roof during that year long period I had a lot of time to think as well.

And because I worked in technology as a consultant, I understood the way the world was moving connecting digital technology with the Internet business world. I saw massive opportunities there

because the low-cost to build a business online.

My expertise in the consulting world was a powerful belief in solving problems, and the ability to build strong relationships. My primary job as a consultant was to make sure my clients always looked great in their boss’s eyes, and that I always was the one who got the blame for any problems.

I took the arrows. My clients always got the treasure.

Any business that I created online would need to solve specific problems as well as protect my customers.

And of course, we know that good businesses-all good businesses-solve problems. Otherwise, there’s no business there.

But I knew nothing at that time about doing business online. So, I found the best online business training program that I could, and it happen to be produced by Corey Rudl.

He was the godfather of Internet marketing until his death in an auto racing accident in 2005.

I studied that course at night while building my house during the day to understand niche marketing, and that meant understanding desperate problems with simple solutions.

Since I was in the consulting world and the newspaper business for 25 years prior to building my house, I realized I could use my content creation skills with my business training skills to create a solid business.

And that’s always been my focus.

Q: What was your first big breakthrough on your path to success?

The most important thing I ever did was get honest about my skill level.

In the beginning, I was at the beginning.

But I wanted to use my writing and storytelling skills to create my first business.

So, I decided that I would write a book about parenting called Bad Dad: 10 Keys to Regaining Trust. It was about building relationships with your kids after you have pretty much destroyed those relationships – like I had.

It sounds like I was creating a niche book, but in reality, I was creating my first training program for business owners.

I had no list, no product, no following, and no idea how to accomplish any of this.

But I thought that I could not be alone with my dream of building an online business by turning my experience into a product.

I ran an ad in Writer’s Digest magazine for $600 basically explaining that I was a former newspaper editor who was going to create an e-book and a business around that e-book, that I was starting from scratch, and with scant knowledge about how to do this.

The call-to-action? “If that describes you, follow me, watch me make the mistakes and see my progress for free.”

All that was required was to optin to my “course.”

Before the ad, I had zero people on my list. Within a week, I had 750 people following me through my year-long process of building my first business online.

That first training business was called The 60 Day Experiment. It has since been retired, but the result of the book is still available Bad-Dad.com.

The proof was in the process of learning, doing, and telling other people about it.

Basically, my business model has always been “If you look over my shoulder, I’ll show you how to do something, and how not to do it.”

And it still works for me today.

Q: How long did it take you to earn enough money to quit your job and become 100% digitally free?

I gave up my consulting contracts after 5 years.

I was maintaining three offices in Atlanta, Dallas and Seattle when I finally quit the traveling to focus 100% on my business.

But it wasn’t easy.

With nearly $250,000 in annual contracts, I was making a big leap into a net that I could not see.

I hadn’t replaced my income by any means, but I was doing well enough to commit to working on my business at home versus traveling all the time.

NAMS was a going concern at that point. In fact, I’d done 6 NAMS Workshops and growing the attendance to nearly 300 people every six months at that point.

It really was becoming too much for me to handle while I was on the road so much.

It was proof to me that entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart, but if you want it, you can have it.

Q: What was the biggest failure, waste of time or money, or most embarrassing mistake you made along the way?

I think failure is an ugly, negative word for awesome opportunities to learn positive steps in challenging situations.

One of my “secrets” is to fail fast and don’t make the same mistake.

I like to say that I have never had a problem in my life.

Every problem I’ve ever had was the stepping stone to the next big win. Too many people see a challenge, and quit.

That’s the only failure that anyone can make that counts because it’s permanent.

For example, during one of our workshops, our website was hacked and held for ransom by a Jordanian criminal.

At first, I was desperate and scared. But once we stopped the bleeding, I saw that my mistake in that whole mess was that I was not running a secure enough website.

The lesson from that mistake (and it cost us about $75,000), was to create a much more secure operation.

I enlisted the help of some very smart people, another big lesson.

But was that a failure? By financial standards, yes.

Was that embarrassing? Absolutely.

The result, though, has been much greater than the $75,000 I lost during that episode because I don’t make the same mistake twice (if I can help it).

Q: What is the single most effective tactic you discovered to grow your business?

You can’t run a business successfully without two things:

1. Dumping everything that doesn’t work, and dumping it quickly. That’s the only way you can get clear on success paths, without cluttering up your life with distractions.

2. Mastering sales funnels that convert. You can get all the traffic in the world, but if your sales funnel doesn’t convert, its wasted money.

Q: What advice would you give someone wanting to achieve similar success?

Don’t handicap your success by limiting the investment you put into your business, health, relationships, money, and your spiritual well-being.

I spent $22,000 on $27 products before I made a nickel online. I thought that I could get the answers and the skills that I needed without investing in real solutions. That was a huge mistake.

I needed a coach and mentor to guide me along the way, and when I discovered that, I never looked back. I’ve had a coach every day since 2007.

This was my story; yours will be different!

But without clarity of purpose, without an attitude that declares nothing will stop you, without a clear understanding of your purpose and your guiding principles, you can’t succeed.

So, the opposite is true. If you have those things, you can’t fail.

That’s why we focus on the one thing around the MyNAMS Insiders Club. And it’s your one thing. I’ve got mine. We need to help you discover yours so you can stay on track at all times.

Join the Insiders Club today to get started with a 14-Day $1 trial.

Surround yourself with success.

Are you a ‘Starter’ or a ‘Finisher’?

By David Perdew 25 Comments

When he called me out from the stage and answered my question with this (true) statement, it really ticked me off … But it was a turning point in my business life!

He was talking about content creation and productivity. You know, getting stuff done.

Sitting in the first row, I whined, “Yes, but my problem is that I have too many ideas and too little time with a dozen projects, and all of them about 80 percent complete.”

He looked me square in the eye, and said, “You, my friend, are a STARTER, not a FINISHER.”

In front of God, and the other 50 people in that room, he had announced my number one issue, put a neon flashing light around it, and hung on the off ramp in Austin, TX for everyone to see.

I was a wannabe, not a doer.

And I knew it.

And I was not happy about it.

But I heard it - loud and clear.

And I couldn’t get it out of my head.

That was Craig Perrine who called me out. He’s a nice guy, but he didn’t pull any punches either.

I was expecting some coddling. He was having none of that.

“You, my friend, are a STARTER, not a FINISHER!”

Embarrassed? You bet.

Hurt? Absolutely.

Angry? Oh, you have no idea.

Motivated? Like you wouldn’t believe. I would never, ever be called a non-FINISHER again.

And that one statement led me to earn my first $1000 online in just 3 days. But that was 10 years ago.

Now, I earn more than that in half a day…

So, how did being humiliated publicly at a marketing event motivate me to be successful?

First, I’m sure Craig didn’t mean to humiliate me. I was humiliating myself.

Stick with me and I’ll tell you the story.

I bet you’ll see a bit of yourself here. And if you do, I hope you’ll let me be the one who kicks your butt a little so you too can make that big jump to becoming successful...

From 2003 to 2005, maybe one of the longest periods of my life, I had decided that I might start doing business online.

Notice, I wasn’t fully committed, even though I thought I was.

I read, studied, listened and totally immersed myself in learning the processes behind making money online.

Learning…

But not doing…

Well, doing just enough to stay in the game, but not really enough to put myself out there and compete on the playing field.

This was not the first time I bailed on a project because of “fear of completion.”

It's Easy To Start. Not So Easy To Finish. And Really Easy To Quit

My dream was big. . .make enough money to quit my corporate consulting gig and build an online, multi-million-dollar publishing empire.

That seemed out of reach to me, even though I met people everyday who were chucking the daily grind for The Portable Empire as Pat O’Bryan was calling it back then.

Yet, I couldn’t make enough to support my habit of buying way too many ebooks, software tools and memberships. Discouraged, I was fast becoming broke.

My wife, ever the brilliant one, said, “David, when is enough? You know enough already.”

My thinking shifted because Craig Perrine had the brass to tell me the truth. And the truth was just enough to jump me into the $1000-per-week success crowd long ago.

He’s a really nice guy.

Cherubic face with fair skin and sandy blonde hair, he had a happy, go-lucky perpetual little-boy look. Soft-spoken and professionally dressed in a navy blue suit back then, you wouldn’t expect him to break your heart.

But he broke mine… and thank goodness for that.

Craig was one of the featured speakers at Pat O’Bryan’s UnSeminar in 2005 or 2006 along with Joe Vitale, Bill Hibbler, Jillian Coleman, Nerissa Oden and Ray McNally.

Known as a master listbuilder, I expected Craig to talk about the usual ways of driving traffic to your site: PPC campaigns, joint ventures, affiliate programs, working the forums, and setting up squeeze pages.

But he surprised me by talking about relationships.

Those were the Wild West days of Internet Marketing when almost anyone could build a list and use it as your personal ATM machine to extract money. Or at least, that what they said.

Focusing on relationships to build your business seemed...unnecessary.

But Craig specialized in being personal and real with his subscribers. They knew him – and his family -- because of his writing.

So, when he stepped to the stage and began talking about the inner game of marketing – you know, getting your mind right and fighting your own self-limiting demons before you try to convince potential buyers that you’ve got it all together -- I was all ears.

This was exactly what I’d been struggling with for a couple of years.

And it surprised me to hear someone so successful talking so openly about it. From my seat in the front row, I felt like he was talking to me, his newest friend.

I could confide in him … he seemed so sympathetic and gentle.

“I am so confused and scattered,” I said. “I’ve got so many projects started...”

Listen readers, I hear you.

With a gazillion marketers coming at you with a thousand, panting, “gotta-have-this-now” messages, you may feel like I did that if you didn’t read each e-mail or buy each tool, you’d miss the one that contained the secret.

Surely Craig would share the secret key that would unlock the vault to online riches!

He was my new friend.

We’d made a connection.

Instead, he told me what I didn’t want to hear.

It was me. All me. Nobody else. Me.

His answer really ticked me off...

No Guru, no coach, no program, no software - nothing would help me build my online business until two things happened:

I had to DECIDE that I wanted to build a business and be committed to it, and…
I had to become a STARTER and a FINISHER.

Remember, I had made very few sales because I had nothing to put in the marketplace.

But Craig’s admonition motivated me to make some serious changes.

The result was $1112 in three days.

That was my first $1000 week.

I’d made some money here and there, but nothing consistent, concentrated or predictable.

After spending nearly $22,000 on ebooks, programs, software, and teleseminars, and becoming discouraged and dog-tired, I began to believe that online marketing was a hoax.

The $1000 week changed that too. It was followed by another $1000 week!

That’s great, but it wasn’t life-changing money. I wanted life-changing money!

Craig wasn’t the only player in my personal drama.

Mark Hendricks was another. My first mentor, Mark helped me tremendously.

About the same time as Craig was delivering the truth, I had asked Mark, “When am I going to make money?”

In typical fashion, and like any good coach, he responded to my question with his own question.

“When will you decide?”

I was armed with two challenges, both of them containing the exact truth I needed to hear when I was ready to hear it.

And I’ll always be grateful for both of those guys. But I’m truly grateful that I was able to hear it and not run from it.

When I asked people their level of commitment today, the standard answer is that I’m absolutely committed.

But in reality, most people don’t even know what that means.

Being committed means that you’re willing to be in the game for the long haul, that you’re willing to listen to the people who’ve been there and done it before you, and that you’re willing, above everything, to be teachable -- NO MATTER WHAT.

If you fail, you learn from it and try again.

If you get discouraged, talk to someone who can help you out of it.

If you don’t know the answer to a technical issue, you learn how to use Google to figure it out.

If you’re confused about your purpose, you create a roadmap to success that reflects who you are at your core.

No matter what, you never give up. You may adjust. You may adapt. You may even get a job to improve your finances. You may even keep your job because you want more consistency in your finances.

But you’ll never give up. That’s commitment.

One of my favorite movies from the 1980s is Body Heat with William Hurt (as Ned Racine), Kathleen Turner (as Matty Walker), and Richard Crenna (as Edmund Walker).

Ned is obsessed with Matty, but Matty is married to Edmund Walker. Luckily, Edmund travels a lot, and Ned and Matty find a lot of time together.

In a scene that I’ll never forget, Ned walks into a restaurant because he sees Matty and is invited to sit with she and the man who turns out to be her husband, Walker.

This is the conversation (From Lawrence Kasdan’s 1980 screenplay, Body Heat):

 WALKER
 You wouldn't believe the dorkus she
 was with when I met her. The guy
 came to us with a business
 proposition. We're always looking
 for opportunities. If the conditions
 are right. We're willing to take an
 occasional risk, if the downside
 isn't too steep. But this guy hadn't
 done his homework, he didn't know
 the bottom line. That's how I knew
 he was full of it. You've got to
 know the bottom line. That's all
 that really counts...

Again Walker takes off his glasses. He holds them up to the light and then rubs them again with his handkerchief.

WALKER
He didn't have the goods, this guy.
He was like a lot of guys you run
into -- they want to get rich, they
want to do it quick, they want to be
there with one score.

He puts his glasses back on, stares at Racine.

WALKER
But they're not willing to do what's
necessary. Do you know what I mean?

Racine looks at him in silence for a moment.

RACINE
I'm not sure. You mean, lay the
groundwork? Earn it?

WALKER
No. I mean do what's necessary.
Whatever's necessary.

After that conversation, Racine was willing to do whatever was necessary. Watch the movie to find out what that was… I won’t spoil it for you. It's a great movie.

Until I was called a STARTER, I was not willing to do what was necessary!

So when people come to me frustrated, moaning about their situation, I do have a lot of sympathy for them, because I’ve been there and I understand how terrible it feels.

But the biggest gift you can get is the truth.

And that someone must be the person who puts the truth in your face just as it was put in my face.

If you’re not willing to put in the work, to do whatever is necessary to be successful, then it’s not going to happen.

And that’s the truth.

Doing business today, online or offline, is not easy. Most people will tell you that it is.

I won’t.

The easy thing is to always give up.

Those who don’t are the winners.

They are the ones who go to the bank every week and increase their account with this week’s earnings of $10, $100, $1000, and more.

Comment below if you have a different idea about commitment or an experience that has enabled you to see the truth.

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Bill Sefton

"I just finished reading your Endless Affiliate Profits - Lots of Golden Nuggets that extend beyond the Affiliate universe...I'll be spending my weekend implementing them..."

Percy Miller

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The Novice to Advanced Marketing System is a step-by-step system focusing on Team, Training and Tools to help novice to advanced business people build a Simple, Scalable and Sustainable business.

Founded by David Perdew over 15 years ago, he recently retired and his daughter, Jen Perdew, who has been working at NAMS since 2011 purchased the business.

Jen is now the President and CEO of NAMS and comes from a customer service, operations, and employee training background.

Jen has always loved digging in and getting her hands dirty with automation and coaching. Jen's an implementer and focuses on moving her clients as quickly as possible down the path to success. and has since taken over most of the technical training in the business. NAMS is one of the most successful online communities today, specializing in training and proprietary productivity software tools.

The Ultimate Guide to Maximizing Your Affiliate Links with Simple Click Tracker 1. Centralize Your Links: No more searching through scattered Excel sheets or lost emails to find your affiliate links. Simple Click Tracker allows you to store and organize all your links in one place. This way, you can easily access and update them […]

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The Ultimate Tool for Authors: Simple Click Tracker for Managing Redirect Links Are you an author looking to optimize your online presence and drive more traffic to your content? Look no further than Simple Click Tracker – the ultimate tool for managing redirect links. As an author, you understand the importance of maximizing the reach […]

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How Simple Click Tracker Can Help Product Owners Boost Sales and Revenue Introduction: As a product owner, affiliate, or author, managing and maximizing traffic to your redirect links is essential for driving sales and revenue. But with the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing, it can be challenging to keep all your links relevant and up-to-date. […]

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The Ultimate Guide to Evergreen Campaigns: Timeless Content Creation In the bustling content marketplace, where trends rise and fall like waves in a digital ocean, a coveted gem exists – the evergreen campaign. So, picture a content strategy that not only stands the test of time but continues to flourish, delivering value, engagement, and growth […]

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Future-Proof Your Content Venture: The Evergreen Business Approach In the dynamic realm of business, where trends evolve at a breakneck pace and today’s innovations can become tomorrow’s relics, the quest for longevity and relevance is a challenge that every content venture faces. So, enter the “Evergreen Business Approach,” a strategy that transcends the confines of […]

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From Seed to Success: How to Cultivate Your Business in the Evergreen Market In the dynamic business landscape, where trends come and go, a realm defies the ebb and flow of fleeting fads – the evergreen market. Imagine a steadfast and flourishing market, regardless of economic shifts and changing consumer preferences. So, this is the […]

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Marketer or Entrepreneur?

By David Perdew 2 Comments

Be Honest, Not Stupid!

Even though we seem to live in a fact free society, we have to remember that our biggest asset as entrepreneurs is our integrity and that dishonesty comes with a very severe price…

When I was 22 years old, my dad and I were walking on the beach in Siesta Key, FL where we had vacationed since I was 12 and we were talking about my future.

Having just started college a second time after a military stint, he was curious what I wanted to do with my life.

I said I was interested in politics and thought maybe I’d become a politician.

My dad, ever the straight shooter, said, “Hell David, why don’t you just buy a whorehouse and be done with it.”

He held politicians in low regard for one reason only – they never told the truth.

Dishonesty was the biggest sin in his life. And politicians were the biggest sinners.

This is not political, so don’t leave political comments!

We just went through one of the strangest elections in our country’s history. It was one of the most negative and divisive. It was also one of the most dishonest.

According to Pulitzer prize-winning Politifact.com, Hillary Clinton told lies or half-truths 49.5% of the time while Donald Trump told half-truths or lies 84.6% of the time.

Facts, it seems, no longer mattered.

And the more outrageous and emphatic the story, the more a part of the culture became.

We’ll be debating the results of this election for decades because it was a masterful demonstration of marketing by Donald Trump.

Now before you get all excited, and want to scream the pros and cons of your candidates, this post is about marketing.

Let’s look at the pros and cons of that!

Candidates as Marketers

Trump had a near perfect message-to-market match. He understood the language his constituency was using and was able to parrot it back to them so that they trusted him, even though the evidence of untrustworthiness was heavy against him.

Even he said, “I could shoot someone in the middle of fifth Avenue and the public would still vote for me.”

He so thoroughly understood his market, that he was able to predict a “silent Trump” vote that no one else believed existed.

What do we learn as marketers?

Find a problem.
Learn the language.
Use that language in your sales copy to offer the exact solution your prospects are looking for…

Kudos to Trump, a master of marketing.

Hillary, on the other hand, completely missed her market and the message.

She was so confident about the “Blue Wall”, an historically reliable line of Democratic states, that she completely ignore the problem the market was screaming about.

She missed it so badly that she didn’t even visit Wisconsin, a traditionally Democratic state. Yet, the voters in Wisconsin turned out in droves to vote against for her rival because they related to Trump’s message.

Clinton and the Democratic Party along with all the pollsters and all of the news pundits were blindsided by the final results in a victory that was a surprise to everyone except possibly Trump’s folks.

Lesson # 1: In marketing, facts DO matter

Thankfully, the rules of marketing are more predictable than the rules of politics.

If we online business folks are trying to sell a product, we rely on the Know, Like and Trust axiom to work every time. It’s as simple as getting the prospects in your target market to:

Know who you are
Like you and your product
Trust you to do right by them

That doesn’t seem to hold true in politics since very few people admitted liking or trusting either candidate.

And don’t we agree that being honest is the key to gaining trust?

Let’s assume that Politifact got the truth index correct.

Remember, Clinton lied 49.5% of the time while Donald Trump told lies 84.6% of the time.

What’s astounding about that? They both lied more than half the time they opened their mouths.

If there had been a truly trustworthy candidate in the race, he or she may have walked away with it.

Trust is an extremely important part of the conversion process.

Lesson # 2: Hacks, Loopholes, and Fads do not a business make

I still believe, even after a campaign where facts were abandoned like a stack of 1984 floppy disks, it’s incredibly important to always be honest with your market.

Otherwise, your credibility goes out the window. (Unfortunately, politicians have no credibility to begin with!)

When that’s gone, conversions suffer quickly.

But in today’s world of flashy marketers who spin tales of exaggerated riches and push-button solutions, it’s really hard to dig out the honest claims from the dishonest.

Too often, it’s too late when we find out the truth. Our money is gone, and our results using the product are nil.

But it only happens once. What’s that old saying?

Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me!

In the Wild West days of Internet Marketing – you know, like 5 to 10 years ago – a lot of people made a lot of money with smoke and mirrors.

Basically, they were selling the promise of fast cash to people who had more hope than they did sense. In my early days, I was one of those.

I bought a lot of stuff that focused on the latest fad. And of course, the marketing fad of the day didn’t work, or the “hack” was too complicated, or “loophole” had been closed.

But in the Internet Marketing shakeout around 2010-2013, the one-trick pony marketers found they couldn’t sustain their businesses, because they didn’t have one.

They had a marketing scheme.

And marketing schemes cause entire markets to distrust anyone who labels themselves as a “marketer”.

I urge you, no I beg you — never call yourself an Internet Marketer. Don’t even call yourself a marketer!

You’re a business person. You’re an entrepreneur. You’re a problem solver.

Small business people have one of the most noble callings on the planet: Serving others.

Lesson # 3: Always be honest; never be stupid.

I learned my lesson when I was just a skinny 18-year old kid, sitting in a classroom on the 17th day of basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX.

It was hot, as only hot can be on August 15th in South Texas.

Basic training is not all push-ups, marching and gunnery drills. There is much classroom work. So we weren’t surprised to be in a classroom.

But this day with special.

A man walked in wearing civilian clothes and sporting a flattop haircut with shaved sides. He said he was a city social worker, and had a short questionnaire to determine what kind of people the Air Force brought into San Antonio.

The first question was:

“Have you ever experimented with marijuana?”

Now my dad had taught me to be honest no matter what. “Always own your mistakes,” he said, “and answer truthfully.”

Being young, naïve, and having just finished my first year of college, I checked the “yes” box, filling in the notes below and confessing to having smoked grass one time on one weekend while I was in college.

The next day, I was required to see the commander who sent me to the chaplain, a psychiatrist, and then the narcotics officer who told me that even though I had received the highest scores possible on the aptitude tests in the four major career categories, I would have a job pushing a broom in the lowest career category.

I protested, “I was guaranteed electronics, and if I don’t get it you have to let me out.”

The narcotics officer said, “You think they don’t push a broom in an electronics shop?”

And that’s what I did for the next four years, essentially, after he stamped my personnel card with “DRUG ABUSER”.

My drill sergeant, Tech Sgt. Ennis, dragged me to the commander’s office and pleaded with the colonel, “This is a good troop,” he said, “and he was more stupid than he was honest.”

I’ll never forget Tech Sgt. Ennis for a couple of reasons:

He scared the crap out of me
He taught me that lesson – be honest but not stupid

What did he mean by being honest, but not stupid?

Although he was encouraging me to not be so honest, I really think it means to be aware of the consequences.

When you can be honest even when you know the consequences will be dire, integrity should never be questioned.

So, why or when should we focus on not being stupid?

If we think about the consequences of our actions BEFORE we take the action, then we can always be honest without ever feeling stupid.

Unfortunately for us, both of our candidates, the media’s talking heads, and the pollsters all are feeling a little stupid after this election…

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“Why Free Coaching Will Send You Into Bankruptcy Fast!”

Working with FREE coaches was the most expensive lesson I’ve ever learned in doing business online...

Confessing this in 2004 was one of the hardest days - and best lessons - of my online business life

Three years ago, I began coaching with Alex.

Why is working with a coach important?

What happens if you get stuck?

Coaching commitment comes in all flavors

“That’s Easy for YOU! You Already Have a Big Business Online, But That Won’t Work for Me!”

If I had a nickel for every time someone used that excuse with me why they can’t get a break online…

Let’s start with my online business desire…

Q: How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Q: What was your first big breakthrough on your path to success?

Q: How long did it take you to earn enough money to quit your job and become 100% digitally free?

Q: What was the biggest failure, waste of time or money, or most embarrassing mistake you made along the way?

Q: What is the single most effective tactic you discovered to grow your business?

Q: What advice would you give someone wanting to achieve similar success?

This was my story; yours will be different!

When he called me out from the stage and answered my question with this (true) statement, it really ticked me off … But it was a turning point in my business life!

“You, my friend, are a STARTER, not a FINISHER!”

And that one statement led me to earn my first $1000 online in just 3 days. But that was 10 years ago.

It's Easy To Start. Not So Easy To Finish. And Really Easy To Quit

Focusing on relationships to build your business seemed...unnecessary.

It was me. All me. Nobody else. Me.

Remember, I had made very few sales because I had nothing to put in the marketplace.

Craig wasn’t the only player in my personal drama.

Do You Need To Get Your Business Started Right now?

But you’ll never give up. That’s commitment.

Until I was called a STARTER, I was not willing to do what was necessary!

Related Posts

Bill Sefton

Percy Miller

Shelley Merchant

If you’ve been putting off building your online business, STOP IT NOW!

Be Honest, Not Stupid!

Even though we seem to live in a fact free society, we have to remember that our biggest asset as entrepreneurs is our integrity and that dishonesty comes with a very severe price…

This is not political, so don’t leave political comments!

Candidates as Marketers

Lesson # 1: In marketing, facts DO matter

Lesson # 2: Hacks, Loopholes, and Fads do not a business make

Lesson # 3: Always be honest; never be stupid.