The leaves in our neighborhood are falling today.

Amber, orange, brown.

Autumn colors blanket Alabama. A cool, damp breeze blows.

Nice.

Relaxing.

One of our boys is watching College Game Day. The other has no clue the sun is up.

Life.

A few years ago I started thinking about life. How to enjoy it. How to make it count.

And I started using a measurement that radically shifted my decisions.

It’s an outlook that so many could use.

Just look around you.

Have you noticed the crowds (some might say herds)?

People moving with little purpose and even less planning.

Don’t believe it?

Close your eyes for a minute. Consider this…

Right now people are standing in line in Walmart trying to make the tough decision of WHICH tabloid to get. The one with the aliens or the one that spotted Elvis and Michael Jackson at a diner in Wazoo City.

Monday morning blister-eyed drones will commute on autopilot. They will resume the position in their cubicles. Counting the minutes until the next break when they get to take a smoke or have an intellectual discussion about “Survivor.”

Life? Really?

Why does this stuff happen?

Because the masses are being tranquilized and zombied by television, tabloids, talking heads and… boredom.

Which is why Earl Nightengale said, “There is really no competition unless we make it for ourselves.”

Compared the mindless masses you are cranking it out! Keep it up!

And here’s the “outlook” I use to make sure more moments count…

“I am about to spend life. I will not get these moments back. Is this really what I need to be doing right now? Do I want to use life on this?”

That will FORCE you to get on track. That will MAKE you produce good work and prioritize.

The crowd will keep stumbling around. You keep moving forward with purpose.

And that doesn’t mean business has to consume you. As you learned in www.SimpleSixFigures.com, an incredible business can be built on common sense and simplicity.

Leaving you the time to enjoy life.

Time to watch the leaves float to the ground.

Time to take in the color of Autumn.

Success is NOT an Accident,
Paul

www.nicheology.com

“How often should I email my list?”

That question suggests there’s a single answer and there’s not. The answer can depend on the passion of the market, the relevance to the market and your relationship with the market.

01 :: The Passion of the Market

How rabid are your folks? A group who loves the niche simply cannot get enough info or enough interaction. A once or twice a day email won’t bother them.

In fact, in many financial markets there is an opening and closing bell report. Is that too much? Not for that group.

02 :: The Relevance to the Market

How NEEDED is your contact?

You want to share information that closely matches your people.

You don’t send cat info to dog people. No, it’s doesn’t matter that both are in the pet category. You don’t send Pit Bull attack-proof training to Chihuahua owners, even though they are both in the dog family.

Those are exaggerated examples, but I’ve been on plenty of email lists where the first line is… “I know this isn’t on topic but this might be of interest to some of you…”

03 :: The Relationship with the Market

The closer you are with someone the more you can contact and the more meaningful it will be.

My wife and boys can contact me all they want. My business partners can contact me several times a day. A once or even twice a day valuable newsletter is welcome. But the guy or gal who is obviously trying to make a buck and shows it by having no clue of the topic and no respect for their list is never welcomed.

The more people get to know, like and trust you (yes, that old sales formula), the more they want to hear from you.

“How often should I email my list?”

There’s no perfect answer. But if you’re in tune with the 3 keys above you’ll be able to get close to the perfect answer for your particular market.

Success is NOT an Accident,
Paul

At this point list building and email marketing remain essential to online business. The more names and email addresses entered at your site, the more permission based marketing you can do.

However, if you want your email marketing to stay successful you need to avoid three often used tactics…

01 :: The Commission Cheap Shot

“You’ve just made a commission” used in the subject line of non-payment emails. This one hits my email box about a dozen times a day. And, of course, it’s almost the same message that comes from a legit PayPal account.

It’s just some “opportunity” email trying to get you to follow their pipeline of dreams.

The first time you see this you might think, “Ah… that got me to open the email I should to the same.”

Fight the urge.

Stay upfront, honest and above board.

02 :: The Bait and Switch

“I’m giving you a copy of my $197 ecourse for free.”

But when you get to the page you only get the course as a bonus for a product you have to buy. So you got lured to the site with a promise that cannot be fulfilled without payment.

Do some fall for that? Probably, but it’s not worth the loss of credibility and hard feelings that result with the average client.

03 :: Upsell Hell

What’s the deal with not being able to checkout nowadays?

You click order then there’s a one-time-offer and then an upsell and then a downsell. And then you can get a deluxe version of the product you already bought!

Yes, I know this is part of what is being taught about making money online. Yes, I know people spend much more while they have their wallet open. Yes, you will most likely make more using this tactic.

But why in the world would you want the same? Do you like that process? If you don’t like it there’s no reason to put anyone else through it.

Success is NOT an Accident,
Paul

Issue 119: Info Overload
By Paul Evans

http://www.nicheologyprofitletter.com

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-don’t forget http://www.budurl.com/jenniferandpaul

Last night was a football banquet for the team my youngest, Steven, played on. One of the cool things was a highlight video. One of the uncool things was the projector and sound not working well.

Coach looked over at my oldest, “Sam can you come up here and get this working right?”

Sam moved to the front.

“Parents,” coach said, “This boy knows more about computers and technology than anyone in this school – including the teachers. You’re going to want to hire him one day.”

Well, I recognized my cue, so I yelled, “Don’t wait! Hire him now!!!!”

… Moving on to the “serious” portion of the program …

Information overload.

I hear it all the time. People complaining about information overload (IO). There’s just too much to take in and too much to consider.

Here’s the secret to controlling IO…

Selectiveness.

Become biased with what you give your mind and your time to. Instead of believing every email or thinking every new product is the answer – become discerning. Give your time and attention only to the things that will help you grow your business.

Answer these 3 questions before investing time and money…

01 : How will this specifically impact my business or life?

If you cannot state that succinctly in under 10 seconds you don’t need to place your time and attention there. When you’re bored and have plenty of time and money on your hands it’s OK to chase vapor. But until then stay focused. Know specifically how the information will help or avoid it.

02 : What will I DO?

Write down how you WILL take action on the information. Again, be specific. Set a time and date for the implementation. Then get it done.

There’s way too much dreaming going on in internet marketing and not enough action – not enough working.

Sure, there’s a lot of piddling. A lot of half-done projects. But how much completion is taking place?

When you read or learn something that will be helpful stop and do it. Do not consume more information until you have taken action with what you already know how to do.

03 : Am I fairly certain of profitability?

In another article I wrote about the 3 primary focuses of online business – traffic, list and offers – not much really exists outside of that. And if you’re buying stuff or investing attention in things not directly related to those three things then chances are it will not make you more profitable.

Put your time and focus on things that are already proven to make people money. Don’t chase the trend or wind of income. Stay centered on the fundamentals and the things proven to work time and again.

Success is NOT an Accident,
Paul

http://nicheology.com/secretpassage

People worry about online business competition. Well, here’s how to separate yourself from 98% of those concerned…

Do.

Work.

Take action.

While the crowd looks for the easy route, for overnight riches, for the idiots guide to online wealth – just work.

It’s really that simple.

Think of all the time people spend looking for the marketing miracle. How much time they spend reading the latest offers. How much time they spend slogging through forums.

If that same amount of time was spent on product creation a brand new release could be created every week.

Here’s a simple 3 step approach to launching a new information product each week in just 5 hours…

Hour 1: Install WordPress and a Membership Plugin

Don’t complicate this. Go with a hosting company that uses Fantastico and do a 60 second (or less) WordPress install from the Cpanel.

Use a membership plugin like Wishlist Member. Make your homepage your sales letter and email capture. Then protect your download files with the plugin.

This entire set-up process should take 30-60 minutes. (Once you do this several times it will take 15-20 minutes)

Hours 2-3: Record a 30-60 Minute Audio

Create an outline of your product.

• Name Your Product
• Create 5 sections
• Outline 3 points under each section.

If you have a MAC then use Garage Band to record you speaking through the sections and the points.

If you’re on a PC then download Audacity and use it to record.

When you’re done talking through your outline you’ll have a 30-45 minute recording

(You may want to provide the transcript so you also have a PDF to boost the value.)

Hours 4-5: Sales Page & Checkout

Finally, use Clickbank to sell your products. Yes, you can go a more “robust” route. But we’re talking about keeping it simple and fast. If you sell all your products through one account it will make it super easy to keep your system flowing.

And when you write your sales letter, you might just want to make a video. It’s faster. Just take your outline and make your sections cryptic.

Let’s say you’ve found a shortcut to installing a script. “Right out of the gate I will show you how to compress a one hour installation into 6 minutes.”

Your salespage can be written (or recorded) in 90 minutes. And adding a product to Clickbank should not take more than 30 minutes once you have your account approved.

Every week you could be releasing a new product to your market while everyone else consumes their time with emails and forums.

Success is NOT an Accident,
Paul

“I want to start and internet business and make money online. What’s the best niche?”

That statement and question makes a bad assumption…

“If I know the most profitable niche, I can make money in it.”

Not true.

For some reason people feel the laws of real business are suspended on the internet. In the “real” world no one says, “Hey, I hate my job and I want to open a business. What’s the best business to open?”

Nope. Instead, they think about three things…

Passion

Without getting to sissified, passion is

• What you love to do.
• What you will not get tired of doing.
• Where you can see yourself serving a market long term.
• Where you constantly invest in learning and growth.

“What’s the best niche?” is a passionless question. How can anyone expect to enter a niche they FEEL nothing about and make money?

Proficiency

In a nutshell…

• Where is my talent?
• Where is my knowledge?
• Where is my experience?
• Where is my education?

“What’s the best niche?” is a proficientless question. How can anyone expect to enter a niche they KNOW nothing about and make money?

Profit

The niche must have money currently flowing through it. People need to already be spending money in the marketplace.

• How much are they spending?
• How often are they spending?
• What are they buying?

You can do all the niche research you want. You can do keyword analysis until you faint. But without the three niche components above you’re crippling your online business before you get started.

Success is NOT an Accident,

Paul

http://nicheology.com/secretpassage

Issue 116: The FTC
By Paul Evans
www.NicheologyProfitLetter.com
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Hope your week has started well!

Q: “Paul, could you address the new FTC regulations?”

A: Yep. But since Lynn Terry put together an awesome article about it, she’ll do a much better job that I would…

What the FTC Guidelines Actually Say – And What It Means (To YOU) In Plain English… http://www.clicknewz.com/2061/ftc-update/

Success is NOT an Accident,
Paul

www.nicheology.com/secretpassage