A few things to tell you about today…

First…

“Social Media” is all the rage everywhere you turn…

On TV.  In Magazines.  Newspapers.  Movies.  And more.

You’ve probably heard “Facebook” and “Twitter” so many times now in your life that you’re probably tired of hearing about them.

But the big question is… is using Social Media really good for you and your business?

I think for most entrepreneurs the answer is NO.

At least “no” because of the way most people are using it.  I’ve always said that Twitter and Facebook are great for SYNDICATION efforts.  There are some great ways to auto-publish links to your articles, blog posts, etc. with them.  And that is definitely something you want to be doing.

But I see so many entrepreneurs spending hours upons hours of their time ‘chatting’ with people on Facebook or Twitter.  Somehow they feel that because they are using those sites, and because the media is so ‘big’ on Social Media, that somehow their business is benefiting from it.

In many cases, it’s THE OPPOSITE.

Spending hours of time on Facebook and Twitter is most likely LOSING MONEY for folks.

In most cases, the traffic that can be generated from those sites is often very untargeted or very unqualified.  Facebook Ads is the exception and I highly recommend you test with it and use it to generate targeted, profitable leads if you can. * That’s where you can buy ads that run across Facebook based on user demographics and interests.

If someone takes the same amount of time they spend on Facebook or Twitter and spends it setting up ad campaigns on Google Adwords, or creating some targeted, highly optimized content for their site, they will make more money in their business.  I guarantee it.

Something for you to think about.

Again, I DO think those sites can help your business, but you shouldn’t be spending more than 5% of your “business time” on them.

I challenge you to use “Anti-Social Media” for 2 weeks.  (Or longer if you can do it.)  Don’t use Facebook or Twitter at all.  Put all of your time into SEO efforts, setting up AdWords campaigns, and writing articles.  You’ll be surprised how much faster your business grows.

The second thing to tell you about today…

Is an update on ME.

A lot of people have been asking me about my travels and my ‘experiment’ with minimalism.

After traveling non-stop for 2 months, I can tell you one thing for sure…

IT’S TIRING.

It’s rough to go from place to place and constantly be on the move.  It’s like it’s hard to ‘relax’ for very long because you know your current surroundings are only temporary.

And being without a “home base” of some sort, I believe, works against you mentally.  Your mind is always aware that you’re just a perpetual nomad and in ‘motion.’

I think the key to being able to perpetually travel is to stay in certain places for long periods of time. Even setting up a little “home base” and then travel to and from that point.

What’s up next for me is to spend some more time in MY OWN COUNTRY.  There are some great cities in the US that I want to experience. I also want to be in the US to spend more time with my family.  I’m realizing more and more that that’s what is truly important in life. (Yes, obvious, I know.)

As many of my long-time customers know, my brother died about 5 years ago.  And not a week or so goes by without being reminded that I wish I had spent more time with him while he was still alive.  And I know that one day (even, though, I definitely don’t like to think about it) I’ll probably have the same thoughts about the time I spent with my parents.

So along with a lot of other areas that I want to have more balance with, spending time with my family is one of them.

I definitely still have lots of destinations on the “To Do” list and I still plan on getting to them all — but I have already come to realize that I need a more balanced way to continue to travel or I will reach a major point of BURN-OUT.

As for the minimalism stuff, I’m still a huge believer in it.  Not necessarily in only having a few shirts and outfits, etc. but just not having tons of STUFF in my life that can become a distraction.  I’m sure that I’ll be acquiring some new things as I set up a little home base, but I’m definitely never going back to the life I once had in regards to owning an overkill of stuff.

The one thing I’ve really experienced so far on my little ‘journey’ is getting some perspective. I’ve had plenty of time to think about my life and focus on what’s really important — I’ve also thought a lot about past choices and how things may or may not have been different.

More than anything, I’ve realized the value of BEING PRESENT.  That life really is short and it’s passing by in the blink of an eye.  And I’ve been doing an interesting “Time Machine” mental exercise (you should try it)…

Whatever you are doing today, or with your days right now, imagine eventually being 10 years into the future.  And imagine being able to get into a Time Machine and visit TODAY (10 years earlier).  Would you want to be doing whatever you were doing then? Or would you wish you had spent those days doing something else?

Like not to harp on the Facebook/Twitter stuff, but think of a day in the recent past when you caught yourself ‘surfing’ for several hours on Facebook, Twitter, etc. You know, when you were just chatting it up with people, etc. and you really didn’t do much to make more money in your business that day – heck, we’ve all been there and done that many times.

Don’t you wish you could have a ‘do over’ and get that essentially worthless day back?

Something to think about.

And if you have a dream to start a certain type of business or to do something you’ve been thinking about for a long time, DO IT.  Don’t wait.  Just go for it NOW.  Often times the ”worst case scenario” if it happens when pursuing that dream isn’t all that bad — so it’s definitely worth the risk.

Since I was a kid, I’ve dreamed of having a video game company.  And now, after putting it off for more than 25 years, I’m finally going for it.  And even if it ends up not having the same success as other businesses I’ve had in the past, I really don’t think I’ll care.  Because I know I’ll be a lot HAPPIER and excited about it. And at the end of the day, that’s really what matters.

So I challenge YOU… don’t wait.  Do whatever you’ve always wanted to do TODAY — or at least get started with ‘it’ in some small way that you can accommodate in your life right now.

Yours For Online Profits,
John Reese

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Sometimes when you are busy with your business and a lot of things are happening, you lose sight of what you need to do in order to run a successful business. This is  probably the most important email I have ever read in my life.

John Reese is a old school domainer, internet strategist/technologist, and a really SMART dude. He owns a ton of domains and businesses, including income.com.

With this ONE email, he truly opened my eyes to things I forgot, things I needed to remember, and ways to run an efficient business.

This email REALLY put stuff back into perspective. WOW. Thanks John.

I hope all of you find this email just as helpful as I did so I am copying and pasting his email directly below.

=============================

In light of my upcoming 40th birthday, I want
to share 12 valuable mini-lessons that I’ve
learned so far as an entrepreneur…

These range from mistakes to avoid, to
making strategic decisions, of how to get
cash flow to come in the fastest, etc.

They are in no particular order…

1. ALWAYS DO MORE THAN IS EXPECTED OF YOU

I learned this at an early age from my Dad.
He had a very successful career as a business
executive and engineer, and this the core
principle that created his success.

You can apply this to your business in many
ways… over-delivering to your customers,
giving unexpected bonuses to your employees
or outsourced workers, and more.

Most people do just the bare minimum. Do
more than is expected of you and it will do
amazing things for your business.

2. STOP DREAMING AND START DOING

Too many entrepreneurs get caught up in the
big dreams of how they will one day be rich
and how their life will be amazing…

…but they never end up doing anything.

They buy courses, read all they can, jot
down little notes and ideas in a notebook,
but nothing ever actually gets created.

A web site doesn’t get made. Advertising
isn’t run. Markets aren’t tested. Nothing.

If you want to make a lot of money the only
way that happens is getting stuff done. Period.

3. DON’T LET LEARNING DELAY ACTIVITY

Most people that have studied Internet Marketing
much already have the basic skills that are
needed to build a million-dollar business.

That’s worth REPEATING…

Most people that have studied IM much ALREADY
HAVE the basic skills that are needed to build
a million-dollar business.

You can get stuck learning new stuff FOREVER.
There will always be new methods and techniques
that get discovered. The Internet changes on
a DAILY BASIS. This is a given.

Don’t get caught in the trap of “I’m going to start
building my business right after I go through this
next course…”

You can start building your business TODAY while
you are studying and learning new things that you
can easily apply TOMORROW.

Things will NEVER perfectly align for you and
your business. There’s no such thing. So don’t
wait. Get started NOW and take action. Get some
stuff going and go from there.

4. MULTIPLE IDEAS CAN BE THE KISS OF DEATH

It’s okay to work on multiple projects and ideas.
It’s almost impossible to stop entrepreneurs
from having tons of new ideas at the same time.

BUT…

No new money comes in the door until you get
ONE project launched and making money.

Something has to be launched FIRST.

5. MAKE JUST ONE DOLLAR FIRST

No one has ever made a million dollars in sales
without generating $1 first.

ALL successful businesses start with that first
sale and then grow from there.

It doesn’t matter what your income goals are.
The faster you make your first dollar, the faster
you will reach your goals. PERIOD.

6. DO THE IMMEDIATE CASH PROJECT FIRST

What should you work on next? Whatever will
bring in cash the fastest for your business — and
of course, I mean that in a moral/legal/ethical way.

If you analyze all the great ideas you are probably
sitting on, I bet you can realistically prioritize them
in the order of which ones would actually make
money come in the fastest (if it succeeds.)

THAT is the project you need to focus on.

Cash is the lifeblood of your business (and your life.)

Save some of those “big” ideas for the future. Focus
on the ones that stand the best chance of getting
new money to come in right away. Once you have
some stable ongoing cash flow in your business, then
you can take a chance on that project that may take
longer to pay off.

7. EMAIL MARKETING KICKS THE CRAP OUT OF
EVERYTHING ELSE

When it comes to growing a business online, nothing
generates long-term cash flow like an email list of
engaged subscribers & customers.

Email marketing is the best way to generate traffic.
It’s the best way to ‘recycle’ the same visitors again
and again to any of your projects. It’s also the best
way to convert prospects into buyers.

RSS, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, BLAH BLAH BLAH

Yes, those methods can generate leads. Yes, those
methods can generate some sales. But time and time
again little old email marketing kicks their butts — by
a long shot.

So make building a list, and a solid relationship with
it, a top priority in your business.

8. RUN A LEAN OVERHEAD MACHINE

I can’t stress this one enough.

When you start growing a successful business
it’s really easy for your overhead to get out of hand.
It’s easy to start hiring a bunch of people and
committing to a bunch of expenses.

Take it from me, when you have months where
your fixed expenses (doesn’t include advertising, etc.)
are well over $100,000/MONTH (and growing) it can put
you in a tough position to make healthy profits.

I used to have fixed overhead that high but never again.
I realized there were smarter ways to do things.

What you need to realize is that REVENUE doesn’t
mean jack squat. It’s your profit (income) that
matters.

So while running a $10,000,000/year business (sales)
is impressive, I know people running a $1,000,000/year
business that nets MORE than the person that owns
the $10MM/year business.

It all comes down to your expenses.

Sometimes it certainly DOES take heavy expenses
in order to make a lot of money. But that’s not my point…

My point is, your overhead can really get away
from you. If your sales experience some dips,
and it’s almost guaranteed they will at some point,
then you can LOSE YOUR BUTT very quickly.

So add to your overhead as a last resort.

9. MAKE ACCOUNTING A PRIORITY

This is a big mistake that most entrepreneurs
make — and I’ve been guilty of it as well.

Keeping the books and doing accounting work
is the LAST thing that most entrepreneurs want
to mess with. We have more fun by coming up
with new ideas and trying to make them grow –
not spending hours of our time inputting receipts
and figures into QuickBooks.

If you don’t like accounting, immediately pay
someone a few bucks to handle it for you. Just
make sure your accounting is always up to date.
It’s very important.

As an extension of this, make paying your taxes
a priority — even if you pay them in advance.

I have paid a small fortune in tax penalties because
of being lazy and filing late. And it’s too easy to
let one delay turn into another and for the problem
to get worse. So make it a priority.

Don’t “rob Peter to pay Paul.” This is a trap
most entrepreneurs fall into — again,
I’ve been guilty of it in the past myself.

It’s easy to start making a bunch of money
and think “I’ll just use this money to make
more money instead of paying my taxes
on it now and I’ll just pay the taxes later
after I’ve made even more money.”

Or the same thinking is applied towards
delaying payments to a vendor, or some other
expense that needs to get paid.

This is probably the #1 mistake entrepreneurs
make that can create problems and a lot of
wasted money in paying penalties and interest.
So make sure your accounting is taken care
of and your taxes get paid on-time for you.

10. DON’T LEASE OFFICE SPACE

(If possible.)

As tempting as this might become if your
business starts to grow, avoid it at all costs.

If you’re like me, what will happen is that you
will eventually stop going to the office and just
work from home where you always were
more comfortable anyway. And/or you will
end up realizing you really didn’t need it.

Having an “office” is not required to have
a successful business. We live in a
Digital World now and it’s just not important
anymore.

Even if your business grows and you need
employees, you still don’t necessarily need
an office. There are people out there running
$20MM+/year businesses with no office; the
employees all just work virtually. This is
becoming more and more common.

* There certainly are exceptions to this. My
team in the Philippines works out of an office
I leased. But they are collaborating on software
projects and NEED to work in the same location.
And, of course, it’s also very inexpensive.

Most office leases are thousands of dollars
per month and usually don’t turn out to be
a good use of cash.

11. ALMOST EVERYTHING TAKES LONGER

When creating new projects, or having some software
made for you, or having an ebook ghostwritten, or
anything else, know that things almost always
take more time than originally expected.

This is the #1 reason why you need to act TODAY
to start putting things in motion to grow your
business. The longer you wait, the more into
the future you push your potential of getting
money to come in the door.

12. THE MONEY IS IN THE MARKETING

Don’t get caught up in trying to make Web pages and learn
HTML, or studying how to create javascript, or learning to
master Linux so you can administer your own server, or
how to use Photoshop to create little logos, etc.

You can certainly do that stuff if you want, but know that
it will most likely just be a HOBBY.

It’s no surprise that some of the most successful entrepreneurs
I know are also some of the LEAST TECHNICAL people I know.
The main thing they do right is to simply pay others to do all
the “nuts & bolts” stuff that makes online business work.

It allows them to spend all their time on the marketing — which
is where the money comes from.

*** BONUS LESSON ***

* See how I’m over-delivering as mentioned in the first lesson? 

SPENDING TIME ONLINE ISN’T NECESSARILY WORKING
ON YOUR BUSINESS

Just because you spend hours a day online doesn’t mean
you’re working on your business.

You can do ‘research’ forever and never make a cent.

You need to be spending most of your time on:

- Generating Traffic
- Communicating With Your Customers (i.e. blog, list, etc.)
- Creating Content

Don’t fall into the trap of reading blogs & forums, chatting
on Facebook or Twitter, checking stats, reading news,
etc. for hours upon hours.

Just know that almost all of that stuff (with rare exception)
is LOSING YOU MONEY more than making you money.

—

I hope you enjoyed these mini-lessons. Hopefully, you
can apply them to your business and be a lot more
successful! 

Yours For Online Profits,

John Reese

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