Leslie Leftley
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Hi Joe, Claire and all,
Yes I tried FB adds a few years back and lost around £500. Does not seem a lot, to many people, I know, but I put many hours of work into the ad placement. The offer at the end (not mine) was amazing. The free material that was being given away was also amazing and worthy of a genuine $97 price tag.
I managed to grow a list of around 125, but only made a handful of sales of the tripwire offer, that was only $10. The list dwindled over time and I threw good money after bad.
It turns out I wasn’t targetting precisely enough within FB. Since that time FB has improved what you can do with targetting even more. But they have also tightened up a lot of their own rules about third party ads.
But I shall say this… unless you are an experienced advertiser with a large budget to test out things and burn through, all of which you can afford to lose then I would not touch FB with the proverbial barge pole.
You don’t own the platform, they are constantly changing their algorithms, and they are steadily increasing ad costs (And it is always more expensive running up to Christmas).
Now there are always courses out there teaching loopholes that FB “currently” allows. Well a loophole is no basis for any serious business.
Facebook could be utilised to good effect for research purposes, such as favourable demographics etc etc…but first and foremost it is a SOCIAL PLATFORM and all the old, and most current, trainings in where to place ads are a load of BULL because most people have just developed ad blindness.
Lastly…Of course there are success stories, but frankly they are minuscule when placed alongside the mammoth waste of ad spend by the majority which only resulting in losses and negative ROI.
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Hi Norf, (If I may call you that).
Welcome to the Preneur Community!
All those Internet Marketing factors, you quote, will be of interest to most of us here, as they are not only forms of gaining subscribers and customers but also tactics for earning money for our current or proposed businesses.
I am looking at the huge Self development category and hope to find a suitable sub, or even sub, sub niche, on which to get started very soon. I intend to commence with providing information products and eventually form my own membership platform.
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Hi Joe,
A lot of wisdom on this thread.
On a purely biological and physiological basis, not having fear would place us as humans in dire jeopardy.
Fear is intrinsic within the oldest part of our brains..our “Cave Dweller” brains, so to speak, and essentially is there to keep us alive, by telling us NOT to do anything foolhardy.
But this fear element in our brains also holds us back, unnecessarily, by keeping us within our own cozy little comfort zones. This is the problem that most of humanity has these days. Luckily most of us don’t have to run for our lives from man eating beasts anymore.
In our online ventures it can be the fear of appearing on video, or even “just” launching your first website. These smaller fears are false fears that we need to look deep into ourselves, and root out. For example: We must tell ourselves that publishing an online information product that fails, will not kill us, but provide valuable experience and feedback for our next attempt.
Only a few musings, off the top of my head, of course. But within everyday life there are thousands of “illogical” fears (spiders, dogs, flying etc etc). And only by meeting these activities head on, having a go, and then repeating the process again, and again, and again can we learn to overcome such illogical fears. The more you face down these fear laden impostors, the more you will grow and the bigger your comfort zone becomes:)
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Hi Claire,
I must admit I find it difficult to stay motivated. But the decline of my used bookselling business on Amazon ( I remained blinkered for years, telling myself thins would pick up. And more recently the running out of any savings I had have forced me to get serious about earning money online by other means.
My wife now pays for virtually everything, rent, utility bills food etc etc. And things are very tight financially. So as a matter of personal pride and for the sake of my own self worth, along with a craving to give something back to my long suffering partner, are now my chief motivators.
1 user thanked author for this post.
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Hi Joe,
As for me I am too easily distracted. When I do manage to concentrate fully I try to take on too many projects at once, and flutter from one idea to another. End result…nothing, or very little, gets done.done. I need to focus and cut out the external noise of my burgeoning email box and the call of numerous Facebook group memberships.
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Hi Kristen,
Great stuff and congratulations. You are in a tiny minority of people on the planet that can legitimately call yourself a book author.
Next stage is Publication but you can even Promote and Market before that happens. And yes Kindle is probably your best option to start. it is the biggest online publishing platform, for authors, by far.
There are numerous courses on Kindle publishing and marketing. But only a few are excellent, so do your due diligence and take care who you listen to. I am also on the list of several people who have successfully published and sold on Kindle. If you like reach out to me and I will put you in contact with a lady who really know her stuff.
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Hi Doria,
Of course you can be involved in two niches, and there are plenty of possible crossovers between the two you are interested in. So have a think about that also
What I would suggest is to adopt a separate persona for each niche you want to go into. The persona should genuinely reflect the needs of the typical person, within the niche, you want to serve, an avatar if you will.
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Hi Jori,
That is certainly a mammoth task you have set yourself. So why not chunk it down into smaller portions? You don’t have to give up on your bigger and ultimate goal. And if, in the end, you don’t manage to change the lives of every woman you could certainly be an important influencer of thousands and then millions of your gender.
Only a suggestion… but why not start with women in your own age group and similar circumstances, Facebook is great for getting raw numbers of those demographics with yearnings to be in business.
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Scott,
In my mind a platform can be the home to numerous activities simultaneously.
A membership site could be on exactly the same platform as an open forum, an inner circle, or a training area.
A platform could, also, easily be a type of funnel divided into levels of membership based on levels of expertise or the amount of the monthly subscription.
Of course this community is as one and should never be divided up into cells.
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Hi Sean,
I just placed this comment (see below) in the “Accountability” question asked section. This is a small group but already I have noticed several people suggesting breaking off to form Masterminds groups etc etc. I just want to know how you stand as I don’t think the reason for setting up this group is well served by splintering. The comments are all well meaning and should NEVER be stifled but they do concern me.
Hi Don and all other contributors,
The title of this thread (Accountability) is indeed important, indeed essential for everyone, especially procrastinators like me. But this group has literally only just become a reality and we are already discussing sub groups, Facebook groups. Mastermind groups.
One of the reasons I joined this group was to avoid the Facebook type group, which always get out of hand, with a few experts being stretched to the limits by greedy and needy people unwilling to learn for themselves.
I also believe that this community is far too small to start splintering into more advanced mastermind groups. I for one am a novice and with little to offer practically to those already, at least, partially successful with their online endeavours. I, for one, would quickly become disheartened. I need to knuckle down, make a solid start and be accountable for someone or a number of people for my ongoing, positive progress. There is room for all levels to interact, so please let’s NOT extricate the more expert among us just to form a clique within the more meaningful whole.
Now please don’t think I am some kind of killjoy. I applaud the group getting together, discussing things openly. But please don’t start to form sub groups, at least not for a while. I honestly do not think it is withing the spirit of the community as, I believe, Sean sees it.
Come on guys this is a small enough community for us not to start going off on Skype or forming FB groups. By all means network for personal or mutual benefits, but if those private arrangements are purely of benefit to the two, or more, involved then these should really become an external matter, because they then become “private” business arrangement separate from the core reason for this community.
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Hi Don and all other contributors,
The title of this thread (Accountability) is indeed important, indeed essential for everyone, especially procrastinators like me. But this group has literally only just become a reality and we are already discussing sub groups, Facebook groups. Mastermind groups.
One of the reasons I joined this group was to avoid the Facebook type group, which always get out of hand, with a few experts being stretched to the limits by greedy and needy people unwilling to learn for themselves.
I also believe that this community is far too small to start splintering into more advanced mastermind groups. I for one am a novice and with little to offer practically to those already, at least, partially successful with their online endeavours. I, for one, would quickly become disheartened. I need to knuckle down, make a solid start and be accountable for someone or a number of people for my ongoing, positive progress. There is room for all levels to interact, so please let’s NOT extricate the more expert among us just to form a clique within the more meaningful whole.
Now please don’t think I am some kind of killjoy. I applaud the group getting together, discussing things openly. But please don’t start to form sub groups, at least not for a while. I honestly do not think it is withing the spirit of the community as, I believe, Sean sees it.
Come on guys this is a small enough community for us not to start going off on Skype or forming FB groups. By all means network for personal or mutual benefits, but if those private arrangements are purely of benefit to the two, or more, involved then these should really become an external matter, because they then become “private” business arrangement separate from the core reason for this community.
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Hi again Scott,
I am largely in agreement with you, and am also no longer a great fan of the true “Live webinar”. There is nothing wrong with the principal, in theory, and with a replay you can always return to it. I think what is happening now, however, is a lot of people being turned off by the longer webinars. They tend to begin with a long, boring biographical intro, followed by a hurried technical learning session, (which you would have to watch half a dozen times to take any notes of value). Finally you get the over extended, overlong sales pitch. The product is usually expensive, attendees then feel cheated, because the value of learning they thought they were going to get never emerged. Lastly, they hang on so long to squeeze the last dollars from those willing to pay for the high end offer, that they sadly neglect to answer genuine questions from attendees, especially those who do not wish to purchase. All a lot of them do is call out and congratulate those who have the financial means and willingness to buy their offer.
If you can bring back the honesty into the longer, live webinars, and give away genuinely up to date, usable knowledge. Also offer something of real value FREE to all those remaining to the end, then people would not leave in such large numbers during the webinar. no long boring intros, no false sense of urgency, no rushing through the valuable learning material. And always a PDF handout.
Just my thoughts.
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Hi Scott,
It’s good to muse, but I personally do not believe the community is currently big enough to begin forming sub groups. We are all, of course, free to network within this group and make arrangements externally.
But I sincerely believe that Sean meant this to be a group made up of all skill levels. I, for example, would feel a little marooned if the more advanced among us, such as yourself, started to spend more time discussing issues on a business level well above where I am currently at. It does not mean that I would not be able to understand such discussions. I consider myself an intelligent human being. But for all of that, I am a novice when it comes to setting up my own online business, and I would start to feel rushed and pressured into running before I could walk by a self professed elite, already halfway up the ladder to success. I joined this group for its sum value, I did not join to be religated to a second or third division with Sean’s community.
I hope you don’t find my reply too close minded, I am certainly not that, but it is, I understand, a selfish viewpoint by definition.
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Hi Don, I have had access to a total Marketing platform called BuilderAll for the past 6 months. It is a monthly subscription platform which included hosting and a built in autoresponder. Now officially it is still in semi/Beta stage, but it is good to go and improving in leaps and bounds daily. It can easily be utilsed as a membership site and includes a funnel maker.
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Well said Claire,
I am definitely one of the little people.
And a shout out to Scott.
Big congrats to you, Scott, for getting to such an exciting stage in your business. I am sure you will iron out this financial wrinkle and move onwards and upwards. Things can get very frustrating sometimes, especially if what you want to achieve seems so basic and simple, and yet the powers that be try to complicate things.
But try thinking back to the hurdles you have surmounted in the past, and you will gain inspiration and overcome this annoying blip.
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Hi Claire,
I broadly agree with your points on what is humane. But for all of that the more successful Fiverr operatives make most of there money by offering “add on” services, such as work completed as a priority, or bigger gigs offering more detailed work for $10, $20 $30 plus.
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Hi Don,
Yes I now see your point. As long as everything remains transparent, I am broadly supportive of what you say. My original concern was mainly about us becoming like a typical Facebook group or the now ghastly “Warrior forum”.
But from reading comments and clarifications of yours, and several others, I am now extremely hopeful that Sean’s brainchild interactive, entrepreneurial community WILL indeed be different. And accountability is a huge aspect of how the community can help all, of its members. It can certainly be of help to me.
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Hi Bob,
Thanks for taking the time to reach out to me. You talk perfect sense of course. And I think we all need telling things multiple times, so don’t worry on that account. We all tend to blank out stuff we have heard before, but I have discovered through Sean, and others, that it’s always useful to get back to basics and re-analyse those “same old” pieces of wisdom in a way that re-lights my entrepreneurial fire.
But your comment on learning about something you wish to know more about, is not something I have heard very much of before. It really does seem like another avenue I can explore in my quest to chase down the sub niche in which I can begin my journey.
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Remcy,
People may still be wary of providing email details. Now I am not going to open up another email account just for this as I feel we should be able to trust each other within this community. So you can have my email. But any other usernames/passwords, etc should only be discussed by return email from you.
email: leighleslie@aol.com (LEIGHLESLIE@AOL.COM)
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Hi Bruce,
Thanks for your input.
Ah ha…the matrix approach. Fantastic, but I don’t yet have a starting point. I feel compelled to save the world, but I can’t practically do that, so I will have to niche it down. And at the end of the day we are all in business to make our lives more comfortable, by exchanging value for financial reward. So whatever niche I end up beginning my journey with, will have to have a sufficient market with an unfulfilled and/or badly served need.
I am starting the practical sides of this from scratch, so I haven’t even blogged yet. As I have mentioned, in another thread, I have a lot of theory, learned over the years about certain aspects of self development, but have never set up anything business wise. So I am a novice in setting up websites/blogs/sales letters/email sequences etc etc etc. But when I am at that stage it is comforting to know that there are more experienced members of this community that I can reach out to for more practical help.
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Hi again Remcy,
If you will allow me I shall also take a look at your site, tomorrow when I have more time. It will help me with my own research. As you know I am also very interested in the Self Development category.
I am quite well up on the theory but, as of yet, have not taken decisive action, unlike you.
You have something set up, which is a lot more than I currently have, so well done to you my friend. Action is all…as they say.
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Great way to look at it Don. Love the Geographical reference and it makes a lot of sense (Although I would relate more to English Counties…lol.
I think wast I have to offer is the ability to empathize with others while still being able to take in the total picture. I wish to try and give hope and advice, while learning myself, on how to get the most out of the life by facing our innermost fears.
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Hi Scott,
Maybe it was my misunderstanding. I should have read your original post a little less quickly.
Yes I agree with the forming of groups and indeed, partnerships for reasons of accountability. That would certainly help me.
I was only concerned with being isolated. I see now that is the last thing you are suggesting.
And I also like your back to basic take on Sean. Yes he certainly is that, and long may it be so. We can all learn more by re-visiting our beginning. Some of us will be building a foundation for the first time, whereas others can reinforce and strengthen their own knowledge of the basics, and maybe even learn a thing or two.
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Hi Remcy,
Great to meet you.
Thanks for the solid advice, I was aware of it, but it shows you obviously know how to research. More importantly it displays a willingness to share and be part of this community.
I am time rich and money poor:) So it’s up to me just to dive in and start the research I guess.
Serving and sharing within this community should give us both a great grounding in serving our eventual customers and clients.
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Hi Suzanne,
If I were you I would take your product idea and create a niche site around it for the majority non homeschoolers. You may need to do a little research and find a smaller “in need” niche within the majority of parents. But repositioning of a product or idea, to another hungry niche could, if done correctly, more than double the rewards you would receive purely from your homeschoolers.
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In that case Don let all groups “Mastermind” or other meet openly in here. At least then, mere mortals, like me, could pick up pointers for the future. Openness within the community is paramount, (that again is purely my opinion), but otherwise, surely it loses its cohesion, becomes disparate and eh sense of community quickly declines.
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Hi Scott, Great shout out, and at a very affordable price. When one is on a severely tight budget, such as myself, shared information like that can really make the difference. This is just one reason why this forum could turn out to be worth its weight in gold.
