Archive for Ed Dale
Why Market Leadership is a Process, Not a Goal
Posted by: | CommentsWhat a delight to log onto my blog this morning and read the comments from Oliver and Jon. It’s such a boost to know that people are reading, and that what I’m writing strikes a chord. Thank you to both of them. And thanks to Herb who’s comments on an earlier post – want to versus how to – which touched on market leadership, gave me much food for thought.
There seems to be a bit of synchronicity going on here. On Sunday evening I watched Julie and Julia for the first time and, blow me, if Ed doesn’t recommend it in his webinars on Market Leadership yesterday. (See Module 4, Day 1 of The Challenge).
One of the things Ed mentions that puts people off becoming a market leader, is that they think they will get negative responses to their stuff as well as positive. He doesn’t disagree.
A lot of people choose the web because they feel they can be anonymous, he says. But the problem with this is that if someone else comes into your market, who has a presence and a following, your business will be “blown out of the water”.
Does that bother me? Nope. Because this isn’t about a business.
But hang on. Ed makes it clear that part of Market Leadership is doing something for no reward so isn’t “the business being blown out of the water” a bit of a contradiction? But, I digress . . .
Although you might not think so, from reading my blog, I am one of the “wishing to stay anonymous” ones. At least that’s the part of me I identify most with.
I feel like someone who is holding back, peering through the bushes, waiting to see if it’s safe before I come out to play and yet, I’m writing this blog. I’m choosing to expose myself so to speak!
I suppose it’s just a question of degree. How much exposure can I stand? But there’s no denying there’s a part of me that wants to get out there or I wouldn’t be publishing.
Yesterday, as I was writing my post, I found myself thinking, “why are you bothering to put that bit in about crying?” – “Who’s going to want to read about that?” And, in fact, I toned the story down.
But here’s the interesting bit . . .
What do these 2 comments have in common?
“thanks a lot for writing this blog post. I got a LOT out of it… It’s one of the topics I have been “failing in my head” over a lot.
My Dad runs his own business and I have seen what can happen if you postpone the inevitable. It got really really ugly.
Good luck with your outsourcing from this point forward!
Oliver”
and
“Just wanted to say that you hit the nail on the head with the part about this is what it feels like to be alive.
I couldn’t agree more…
Everyone knows the phrase about doing one thing that scares you every day, but in their uninspired comfortable existences most people wouldn’t willingly put themselves in a position where they’re tested… let alone actually step up to the plate when it came down do it.
Jon”
Answer:
They are about Oliver and Jon and their viewpoints. They’re not about me and my story and whether I cried or didn’t cry. And that’s the clincher. Because market leadership is about service. As Ed says “It’s about serving your market and putting something into it”.
So . . . service is good. I like it that other people find stuff I write helpful. BUT, I like even more the idea of doing it my own way. When I try to do what the expert’s tell me it all comes unstuck. Remember the posts I wrote on The Challenge because I thought I should . . . boring!!!!
So, market leadership, like so much else, is best viewed as a process.
It’s not about setting out to be a market leader. It’s about putting yourself out into your market and seeing what emerges. It’s about learning what works for you, personally – about finding your own way. It’s about stepping out from the bushes and risking being seen. It’s about adding what only you uniquely can add. It’s about putting YOURSELF into the market. Nobody else can do that!
Scarey? Yes, maybe.
But exciting and life enhancing? Most definitely!
Focussing on the “Want To” Not the “How To”
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve had a complaint that, of late, my blog posts have been a bit boring. And if you’re not into the Ed Dale Challenge I can see why that would be. And, even if you are, I’ve not really made them personal. It’s been a bit a of a gallop through as I try to catch up, so I can see there’s not been much of interest.
And that makes me realise I’m trying to catch up so I can write about it on my blog because I’m being mentored by Ed and it’s his thing.
But is it my thing? That’s such an important question to ask yourself. Are your working at something because you want to or because you feel you “should”.
Truth be told, I’m not enjoying writing about the Challenge so far because most of it I’ve covered before and I’m only really interested in the new stuff, and that lack of interest is reflected in my writing. So, I will no longer write because I think I “should” and hopefully things will become interesting again.
While I’ve been busy boring readers with my Challenge renditions I’ve been avoiding writing about the more important stuff that I’ve been grappling with. To tell the truth I’ve been feeling a bit embarrassed about my lack of progress.
The “should” of writing about the Challenge is part of a bigger “should” connected with how I “do” my business. It’s been Ok reporting about my experiences of tackling CFT and the daily grind, as long as I was actually doing it.
I thought I could sustain hours of doing work I really did not enjoy because I was determined to create a successful internet business. But, it’s not working for me. I’m finding the end goal is not sufficient motivation to keep me in the grind.
So, what to do?
I could throw in the towel once and for all and feed the story that I will never be successful at this, or I can shift my focus.
One of the problems with living in the grind is you lose your creativity and things get to look a bit black and white, a bit either/or. It’s easy to get caught up in the details and the “how to” and before you know it you’ve lost touch with the “want to”.
If I change the question I ask from “can I do this?” to “do I want to do this?”, I find my answer is still “yes”.
So, I need to take a step back in order to gain some perspective and reconnect with what it is I really want to do.
As Michael Neill, a widely respected transformation coach says, “if you allow yourself to navigate by your own desire instead of what’s possible you’ll find so much more is possible than you currently think”.
So, I’m going to have a week of paying close attention to what I really want to be doing at any moment and experimenting with what happens when I do.
Ed’s Magnificent Symphony Of Four Parts
Posted by: | CommentsHaving a massive catch up with regard the 2010 challenge since my focus has been on other things. But I’d like to have a complete record here. If you’re doing The Challenge or are up to date there won’t be much in this post of interest for you. Just saying! :-)
The pre-module ended with:
Day 5 – The Challenge disclaimer, primarily for legal reasons, I should imagine.
Basically, we can’t guarantee you will make money and we will make a commission on some advertisements etc. etc.
Day 6 – The Magnificent Symphony of Four Parts
This is an essential lesson for anyone thinking of starting an internet marketing business (or anyone who already has one), irrespective of The Challenge. In fact the success of any commercial endeavour comes down to these four things and the order is just as critical as the parts themselves.
Typically, when anyone starts a business they start with an idea for a product and go ahead and make it without first discovering if there is a market for the product. This is a high risk strategy and one that isn’t necessary, especially online. Even with good research, you can’t guarantee that you will pick a winner but you can mitigate your risk and not waste you time in markets that are never going to sell if you apply the four parts.
1. Market Research
This phase is commonly rushed through or not done at all, but if you make the effort to do this bit properly you will eliminate much of the risk right here. With all the tools and information available online there’s really no excuse not to do it. You just need to be patient and not rush forward before it’s done. In Ed’s experience, 95% of all the problems that turn up later could have be identified in advance if the market research had been done effectively. So skimp on this step at you peril!
2. Traffic
Even with the best product in the world, if no-one is visiting your offer, you’re not going to sell anything. So you need to determine upfront if there is enough traffic to sustain your business in the market place.
3. Conversion
This refers to how well your page produces the desired action from you visitors. Typically this is buying your product but it could also be other things such as signing up to a mailing list, clicking on an ad, completing a survey etc. Once you have the traffic it’s easy to test different options to improve your conversion rates and income.
4. Product
Once you have visitors they will tell you what they want to buy, or you can find out from market research, so there’s no need to know this in advance. you don’t even have to have your own produce although you will make more if you do.
Internet Marketing Memberships Sites Reviews
Posted by: | CommentsSince starting this website and my mentoring with Ed Dale I have tried 3 different internet marketing membership sites.
The first was Michelle McPherson’s Crowd Mountain
I joined this membership site after downloading a couple of Michelle’s free tools that were made available joing the launch. My primary interest was to try out her promotion tools but once inside I discovered, that despite the sales pitch saying otherwise, not all the tools were available before the trail period ran out which defeated the object somewhat.
That, together with pretty confusing website usability led me to ditch that subscription. There are different levels of membership and since I was on the basic level I kept clicking on links to end up on a page that said I didn’t have permission to visit that part of the site. I found that very frustrating since it was like have a carrot dangled in front of you and then snatched away again.
However, her training is very comprehensive and, if you’re a newbie looking for clear and easy to follow training, then Michelle McPherson is worth checking out. She certainly knows her stuff and it’s refreshing to have a woman at the helm for a change and a rest from the surfer dude hype that permeates a number of internet marketing products.
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The Immediate Edge
This is Dan Raine’s and Ed Dale’s membership site. I took advantage of the $1, 7 days trial offered earlier this month and was very impressed with what I saw inside. I simply don’t have time at the moment to take advantage of all that was in there but I would definitely consider signing up again, once I have more of a regular system going.
This is cutting edge stuff most suited, in my opinion, to marketers with some experience and success who want to take their business to the next level.
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Jason Katzenback and Jason Potash are the people behind this one. They were offering a $1, 14 day trial which I signed up to because I’ve had dealings with them in the past and like their products and their customer service. My intention was a sneak peak inside to see what they were doing with the possibility of signing up again once I was making more money from the internet marketing business.
However, I was so impressed with the way their training is organised and the very fast and excellent reponses you get to questions in the forum that I decided to stay in for another month. Also, there was a promise of the 5 Day Traffic Blitz which is a fast way to familiarise yourself with the promotion tools and, hopefully, a way to make some quick cash.
I decided a while back not to join any more monthly subscription sites until I had the money upfront to do so but I thought it was worth the risk with this one since I might make the money back through the traffic blitz. Alas, that was not to be. At least not so far anyway. But I did win $25 for a forum post so it’s not all bad.
Not to mention I was inspired to get all poetic. Since my win was announced in rhyme I thought I should respond in kind. You can read my efforts in my next post.
Bet you can hardly contain your excitement in anticipation . . .
Ed Dale’s 2010 Challenge
Posted by: | Comments(This post assumes you’re familiar with Ed Dale’s Thirty Day Challenge. If you’re not please visit Rob Somerville‘s blog for an excellent history and explanation of what the 30DC is/was.)
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If you thought the 30 day challenge was good you’re going to love what Ed Dale has in store for us this year.
Back in April Ed posted that the 30DC was over. But . . . he went on to explain . . .
“There is no way I’m going to leave you hanging. What will replace the Thirty Day Challenge will be radical.
It will be state of the art.
It will be beautiful
It will be fun.
It will be easier.
I will make the same lame jokes…
Even Drummers will be able to do it.
BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY
It will be 100% free.
AND
It will be more EFFECTIVE.”
And now he’s finally announced the shape of what’s to come.
Gone are the thirty days. And in their place are 3 blocks of 7 working days with 7 days off in between.
The format has been changed because of Ed’s frustration, in the past, with how few people actually stuck it to the end of the 30 days. And yes. Mea Culpa. Again! I started the 30DC on 4 different occasions and never got to the end of the first week.
Ed’s take on why people don’t make it to the end, and my thoughts on that, are because of:
1. A lack of time – This has been addressed by limiting each day to just 30 minutes work which includes both watching the videos and completing the tasks that need to be done.
2. The Expectation that they will have a business after just 30 days. The focus of the original challenge was to make your first dollar that has now shifted to more of a business mindset - “the whole point of the challenge is to build the foundations of a business that will last. A business that will replace your 9-5 pay packet over time.”
3. Lack of Stickability – Keeping going for 30 days on the trot is a big ask for many of us so now all we have to do is make it to 7 days. Then take a break and make it to the end of another 7 days. I’m going to be really interested to see how this works out because the downside of having a break is loss of momentum. I’m going to stick my neck out here and predict that the same number of people will drop out after the initial 7 days as did in the past. (Sorry Ed). I think the key to this is to have a balance between the amount of work, which has been met by the 30 minutes a day change, and keeping momentum going.
4. We Hate Getting Left Behind – This is addressed by the 7 day break which will allow people to catch up if necessary. However, Ed feels “This is the number 1 reason anybody quits any challenge.” I disagree. I think it makes it harder but I don’t think it is the reason. I think it is just one of any number of excuses we use when we meet resistance. If this is my excuse of choice then no matter how long you give me to catch up, I won’t. It is a symptom but not the cause.
5. Lack of Results – This is most definitely a biggie when it comes to staying motivated. This is tackled by having a number of different outcomes, namely:
- You’ll have made your first dollar and built the foundation of your online empire!
- You’ll sell your website on Flippa.com and make some money back that way.
- You do all seven sections and you’ll be able to work as an SEO specialist
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So, that’s the new format and, although I disagree with Ed on some of his reasoning, I can’t wait to give it a go. It’s a brilliant opportunity to learn from a master and, if I don’t make it through to the end, it will not be due to lack of quality on the part of the materials!
As with the 5 CFT Challenge I’ll be reporting my progress here so you can follow along. But why not join me (and thousands of others) this time? Ed Dale’s 2010 Challenge is due to start on July 1st but you can sign up now and stay up to date with what’s happening. It’s free and now it’s only going to take 30 minutes a day there really is no excuse not to give it a go. Sign Up Here and I’ll see you on the inside.
