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Yanik's Last 2003 Hot Sheet
December 30, 2003
Dear Friend,
Well the Holidays are over and a bit of the commotion and craziness has finally subsided. Missy hosted our first Holiday dinner (actually 2 nights in a row for her side of the family and mine) at our house. She’s not exactly Martha Stewart but we managed to come out okay. Actually you should have seen me basting this 18 lb turkey. :)
Now we’re opening the house up again for New Year’s. No family this time. Just a close gathering of friends so I can show off the cool neon I had installed in my bar downstairs. Missy wants to keep the party down in my domain so nobody spills red wine on our couch. And my pool table has red felt anyway so it should be okay. :)
Pretty soon it’ll be your 2004 countdown but before we kiss 2003 goodbye there’s one last Hot Sheet…
What's Yanik's Hot Sheet, you ask?
Good question.
You see, I spend tons of money buying new information (about $20,000.00 last year), checking out new products, attending seminars, reviewing material people send, reading a bunch of books and newsletters, etc. etc. So I've decided to share with you what's new, what's hot and what's going on inside this periodic newsletter.
You'll find this filled with resources, tips, and stuff I recommend. You'll only hear from me when I've got some cool stuff to share (unless you tell me to bug off by clicking the link at the bottom). :)
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If you're ready -- let's start...
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* * Yanik's Hot Sheet * *
December 30, 2003
Resources, tips, hints and recommendations for you to make a lot more dough and enjoy a happier and healthier life.
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Check it out - here's what you'll hear about inside:
- Birthday Bash update
- How to make 2004 your best year yet
- Yanik’s Predictions for 2004
- Books and Resources you should check out
All this and more inside this 2003 finale of Yanik's Hot Sheet. Ready? Let's go...
-------------------------------------- Hot Sheeter #1: Birthday Bash Update ---------------------------------------
You’ve probably heard about my “30th Birthday Bash” on January 16 and 17, 2004. Over 400+ people are registered and set to come down to Orlando This means if you want to get in you have to register immediately!
http://www.surefiremarketing.com/bday/
If you haven’t signed up there’s still barely enough time to reconsider. But you gotta hurry!
My good friend, John Reese, is calling this “The Networking Event Of The Year” and I wouldn’t argue with him. Not only is the line-up of speakers impressive (they’re not the same guys you sell all over the place) but the special VIP guests scheduled to come are incredible.
We’re talking a ‘who’s who’ of Internet marketing and business strategies. We’ve got Corey Rudl, Marlon Sanders, Jim Edwards, Tom Antion, Bill Glazer, Steve Harrison and Janet Switzer speaking.
But then in the audience you can rub elbows with John Reese, Alex Mandossian, Stephen Pierce, Frank Kern, Andrew Fox, Jon Keel, Lee Benson, Jeff Walker, Paul Myers, Tony Blake, Glenn Canady and even the legendary Gary Halbert himself. Plus many more VIPs I don’t have room to list.
Plus, there are 2 incredible mystery speakers.
Mystery bonus speaker #1: This is a guy who has personally sold over $30,000,000.00 using direct response marketing all from a tiny 400 sq foot office. And those numbers don't include his students or sales from infomercials or QVC. Your jaws will drop when you hear this pro come clean!
Mystery bonus speaker #2: This guy is one of the top Internet strategists on the planet.
Trust me, you’ve got to be here.
People are flying in from Czechoslovakia, Ireland, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Canada and all over just for this.
Is it ‘silly’ or ‘hype-ish’ to suggest this event could change your life and put more money in your pocket? Well, you’ll also get a chance to hear from my Internet Apprentices who will share how the “plan” that I provided for them for their Internet business has, in fact, changed their lives.
This is really is your last chance to register if you can squeeze in before we totally sell-out any day now. There’s still time, barely, to get in.
http://www.surefiremarketing.com/bday/
------ Note: If you absolutely cannot make it (I suggest changing your schedule) we’ll taping everything and if you’d like to get first notice when the tapes are available – just sent a blank email here - mailto:bdaybashtapes@aweber.com ------
--------------------------------- Hot Sheeter #2: The Single Secret to Making 2004 Your Best Year Ever ---------------------------------
2003 has been my best year yet online. I appreciate each and every one of you reading this and I say “thank you” from the bottom of my heart. Because without you none of this could be possible.
Also 2003 was a bit of an experimental year because I took on a group of 12 Apprentices who I mentored for one year (actually there were 17 Apprentices because my good friend and business partner, Jim Edwards had 5). Each one of them paid $14,497 for this opportunity.
Now their Apprenticeship is over in February and I’m happy to report nearly 100% of them are on their way with their own product. In fact, you might be interested in checking out a few of their already launched projects:
http://www.LongLostMarketingSecrets.com
http://www.InstantMLMSalesLetters.com
http://www.227UnusualBusinessIdeas.com
http://www.InstantAutoResponders.com
http://www.3MinuteNewsletterBiz.com
(And 4 more on deck that should be out by the end of January so I’ll keep you posted.)
It’s really something watching each of these projects begin with just an idea and develop into something that will keep selling for these Apprentices for years and years.
---- Side Note: I’ll be coming with an entire ‘home study’ version of the Apprenticeship chronicled each and every one of their projects from start to finish. All the emails back and forth. All the private consultations, all the sales copy critiques, etc. An entire blueprint of any kind of Internet project you’d want to create. I’ll be strictly limited the number of these home study courses. If you’d like to get first notice when this will be available just send a blank email here: mailto:apprenticeinfo@aweber.com
I’ve gone back and thought about these projects and how they developed and I came to a striking conclusion that will be worth a lot of money to you in 2004 if you heed it. There was one key aspect that got them off their butts and making money and it came down to one thing…
…A Deadline!
As simple as that sounds once a firm deadline was established that’s when the rubber met the road and all obstacles melted away like snow flakes in a frying pan. I’ll give you a perfect example for one Apprentice we were going back and forth a bit tidying up some finishing touches on the project and trying to get it out the door. Many times people can try to make everything too perfect and it never gets out making money so we said we are launching this project at the LIVE Apprentice Summit. That was it and that was final.
The date of the Summit was getting closer and closer and I could see this Apprentice start to sweat a bit. But I made him make the commitment to this deadline publicly during our group call and he couldn’t back out now.
Fast forward to the day of his launch he had multiple obstacles that would normally have put the project on hold get swept away but not now. With the firm deadline in place and the opportunity for him to be embarrassed our fine Apprentice finished his project. We hit the ‘send’ button and he made over $1,000 from a tiny list over the weekend which was just the start since his project has made well into the five figures already. And why did it get finished?
The deadline once again.
What’s your deadline for your first project or your next project?
Is it something that’s in your head? Not a good idea. It’s pretty easy to keep moving that forward or letting other things take precedence.
Who knows about your deadline and who’s going to hold you to it? In some cases it’s not a good idea to share your deadline or goal with another person, especially if they’re the kind of negative energy vampire a lot of well-meaning friends and family are. But if you’ve got a group of colleagues all with the same thinking use them. This works especially well if you don’t want to look like an “idiot” in front of them and they are people you really respect.
I’ll tell you what works for me and maybe it’ll work for you too.
For me, I work best when I absolutely “have to” perform.
For instance my first product on Internet marketing (http://www.InstantInternetProfits.com) might never have been made (or at least it would have taken much longer) if I didn’t sell it before it was done. In 2000 when I first started marketing online a lot of people wanted to know exactly what I did and how I started making money so fast. Well, I got my first opportunity to share my story in Atlanta at an Internet seminar. I was extremely nervous and my heart was beating out of my chest to go talk in front of 100 strangers. I gave my presentation and then I had an order form for this product (yet to be created). I told people it would be delivered in a few weeks so they knew it was a prepublication offer. I walked away with 10 orders at $200 bucks. All well and good except I couldn’t charge anyone until the manual was done. Even though it was only $2,000 (less what I had to pay the promoter) I knew that at least people wanted this information and I could keep selling it once I finished it. I probably had a week or two of 3 o’clock in the morning work sessions but I completed it and charged the cards. I was under pressure to get the manual done because these people paid me (though I didn’t charge them) and I owed them the material.
Since then I’ve updated this Instant Internet Profits manual but it’s been worth well into the six figures just because “I had to do it”.
How can you set something like this up for yourself? If you can stand the pressure – you can decide to put on a tele-seminar. This is one of my favorite ways of creating product by a deadline. You can do either a one-time tele-seminar or series of tele-seminars and you get paid to produce the product. How great is that? It doesn’t matter if you have 1 person or 1000 people on the call because this is forcing you to create product and perform.
Once you’ve set your deadline for anything you’ll “magically” see certain resources fall into place. Trust me, it’s a bit eerie but when it occurs every time you set a firm deadline you know there’s something to it. Just the act of making the decision sets these events into motion for you. It’s also because what you focus on becomes your reality. Your perception has changed. Your internal “radar” is now attuned to resources, allies, etc that can help you get your project completed.
I’ll give you a perfect example, I’ve been tossing around doing a book on Immigrant success stories forever. 2004 is finally going to be the time and at a party a few weeks ago one of my friends told me she used to be the publicist for Gene Simmons from KISS. Whoa! He’s one of the people I wanted to put in the book or at least get a quote from since his family is from Israel. Pretty neat. The other main ‘star’ I want is the new Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. (So anyone that’s got an inside connection I owe one) :)
Now I leave you with one more thought. Set “mini deadlines”. When you’re looking at the whole task of setting up an online business (or anything really) it’s easy to get overwhelmed. But if you break everything up into small tasks with their own deadlines you’ll be at your destination before you know it. I promise it’ll work for you. In fact, that’s one of the reasons I really like Franklin planner systems (now Franklin Covey). I’ve been using them since 1998 and that’s when I first started making some significant changes in my life. Actually the founder of Franklin, Hyrum Smith has a great book called “The 10 Essential Laws of Time and Life Management” – this should be required reading for 2004!
Even though I hate ad slogans (since they don’t work) I’ll leave you with one that should become your mantra for 2004 – “Just Do It”.
A cliché and overused as it is – that’s all it comes down to. Whether you’re willing to roll the dice and put yourself out there a little. I promise whatever the worst case scenario you’re thinking is far from the reality.
And if you need someone to send your deadline list to – go ahead and email it to me. I’ll keep it confidential and we’ll celebrate together when you reach your destination.
------------------------------------------------- Hot Sheeter #3: Yanik’s Predictions for 2004 -------------------------------------------------
As I sit here with my crystal ball I want to give you my predictions for 2004:
-------- Prediction #1 – Sp*am will get worse before it gets better. -------
Even though the Feds just passed the “Can Sp*am” Act I still thing we’re not really going to even put a dent in the Viagra, ink cartridges, and porn emails I get. I must get at least 600 emails a day and I swear 50% - 70% are sp*am.
If you’re having that same problem you may want to check out the software I use – which is called MailWasher. It’s at www.mailwasher.org and it lets you simply take a peek at your email before you even download it off your server. This is also very helpful when we had those crazy viruses going around earlier in the year.
Now with new “Can Sp*am” act, we as marketers need to be very careful that we don’t become poster children and made to “sit in the corner” as examples. The truth is the email landscape has dramatically changed and it would be wise decision to listen to Shawn Casey’s teleconference about the new law. You might be in violation of it even if you’re doing nothing wrong and you’re a legitimate opt-in marketer.
You can see details here - xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
-------- Prediction #2 – Content that pays -------
More and more affiliate material will be ‘branded’. It’ll be like a sneaky ‘trojan horse’ way of getting people to click to your recommended affiliate programs. It’s not underhanded or anything like that since that affiliate would be provided good content but I think it’ll work well because it’ll fly under the radar of most people’s “This-is-an- advertisement-so-I’m-not-going-listen” mentality.
In fact, we’ve been offering a cool application called “Viral Ebook Creator” (tm) – http://www.ViralEbookCreator.com for our affiliates.
In 2004 at some point we’ll open it up to other publishers. Not sure when.
Just think of the implications of this. It’s very neat. The keyword “recipes” is searched on a gazillion times. Well instead of trying to sell stuff direct – a smart affiliate would create a special no-charge ebook with recipes inside. The visitor would get the ebook in exchange for their email and name. Then the ebook would subtly recommend different affiliate programs where our smart affiliate marketer got paid. Plus, even better she would have built up a list to keep marketing to. Hmmm….pretty sneaky sis! :)
------- Prediction #3 - Tiny niches are waiting to be exploited -------
It seems that almost everyone wants to play in the “make money online” world. I wouldn’t turn anybody away but it really is a hard nut to crack unless you’ve got a really unique angle or a great story.
A much easier and probably more lucrative track is finding and exploiting little niches where nobody else really dwells. I’ll let you in on a couple secrets. First, my wife’s site - http://www.InstantThankYouLetters.com is now making her a steady $500 each month. Can we retire on that? Nope - but I don’t think anybody would turn away an extra $500 each month. That could be a car payment or part of a mortgage, right?
The best part about this is so easy to find these tiny niches. I use a piece of software called – http://awa.yanikrecommends.com and within seconds it tells me how many people were searching on my keyword, variations of it, how many people are advertising on Google ad words or Overture and also the number of sites out there competing for this niche. I get a birds eye view in a blink of an eye.
And better still, anyone that wants to capitalize on these niches – there’s a gold mine waiting for you with Public Domain Material. I caused quite a stir I shocked everyone with the ultimate short-cut to creating any type of information product by “stealing it”. There are literally millions and millions of pages of public domain material just waiting for you to come pick them up and start selling. http:///www.PublicDomainRiches.com is the spot you can check all of this out.
Remember, how I said I work better with some pressure on me well I wanted to prove how easy it was to take a totally obscure niche, find a public domain work and start selling it starting with no list and no experience in that marketplace. Well, I’ve done it not once but twice in a matter of weeks. The site is www.FigureDrawingSecrets.com and the second is one I’m keeping a little secret for now.
The drawing site at last count is bringing in a nice $200 - $300/month and I haven’t even started marketing it past Google Ad Words.
I mean if I can take a market like ‘artists’ who have no money and make it work surely there is tremendous potential out there for all kinds of niches. And there is definitely room for several players in one niche.
Frankly, my small stable of these off-the-wall sites are just the beginning of my “nichified” web sites which when combined together should bring in an easy six-figure income. Plus, they’ll be far away from prying eyes of competitors eager to rip me off.
Just a little quick math will get this to make sense to you. Let’s say each site averages a meager $250/month. Well if we add it up…
* 10 sites = $2,500/month or $30,000/year
* 20 sites = $5,000/month or $60,000/year
* 30 sites = $7,500/month or $90,000/year
Of course I assumed they each make $250 – it’s more likely some will be bigger winners and make $1,000 or $2,000/month. Pretty soon you’ve got some real money flowing from these little “silly” sites as I call them.
------ Prediction #4 - Internet Marketing Will Be Divided -------
Just like in Star Wars I think there will a division in the “force” and we’ll see good knights and “dark knights”. I really don’t need to mention names because some people have made it obvious in 2003 which grouping they choose to side with. And other people’s leanings will become evident from their offerings and how they treat their customers.
One side will be interested in a fast buck and the other will be interested in truly teaching and providing immense value. The ‘dark side’ will be happy to ‘put one over’ on the marketplace but most people aren’t so easily fooled. It’ll come down to trusting a few advisors after sampling lots of people’s wares. Frankly, that’s why I never take endorsements or recommendations lightly. If you see me recommend something it is only because I have personally checked it out or one of my colleagues, who I trust, has given me their input on it. Too many people are very quick to recommend everything and anything coming down the pike and the marketplace is saturated. Yes, there are tons of great products but also extremely bad ones that people *wish* they could take back their recommendations for.
Essentially it comes down to trusting your gut. Really your intuition will tell you just about anything you need to know if you listen and don’t dismiss it.
------- Prediction #5 – Move offline or Die -------
People who decide they are only going to “play” online will see their businesses greatly diminish. I think you’ll need to incorporate offline methods like direct mail to really grow your online business. The combination of offline and online will be the way to go.
The smart marketers will be moving people back and forth from offline and online. You might advertise offline and drive them online for cost savings and then follow-up via online and offline. Or you might capture opt-ins and sales online and then follow-up offline with higher priced offers.
Trust me, we’re going to see a shift and the people that are lazy about this will be left on the wayside. In fact, that’s one more opportunity for a shameless plug for the “30th Birthday Bash” in Orlando. Bill Glazer, a fellow Dan Kennedy Platinum member, will be there teaching you how to at least double your online business with offline techniques. Just one more reason you must get there – http://www.surefiremarketing.com/bday/
Personally, I’d much rather just market online because I’m bit lazy but when you see the potential you leave on the table you can’t just go with your own natural inclinations. In fact, you’ll rarely get the maximum results you want just from the techniques you’re most comfortable with.
------------------------------------------------- Hot Sheeter #4: Books, Tools & Resources You Need to Check Out -------------------------------------------------
I’m been trying to read some more fiction lately since I read mostly marketing and advertising books. So I’ve been getting caught up in Grisham, Koontz and Balducci. John Carlton, one of the world’s top copywriters, says that you should read tons of fiction so you can write better stories in your copy. I believe him. In fact, John has an absolutely amazing course on copywriting and I’ll be making it available to you guys shortly.
Also I’ve been re-reading some of the most important works for marketers. One of my favorites if “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Robert Cialdini. I’ve now read this work 8 times and I truly pick up new stuff each time.
In fact, when it comes down to it I believe marketing is nothing more than applied psychology and some easy math. The psychology part fascinates me and I do without the math but it’s part of the business. A project Alex Mandossian and I did together picked up rave reviews on the psychology part and it’s here – http://www.MindMotivators.com. You can see how psychology is applied to copywriting and marketing.
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A lot of people are wondering how to set up JVs. One good way is to use a compelling letter. A young guy from the UK has studied my techniques and turned out a nice set of templates here: http://www.InstantJVLetters.com
* * * My good friend Jim Edwards has really locked onto something that might be stopping you from reaching your goals. A couple weeks ago I had the chance to listen to his new CD set while driving with my top-down in rented convertible from Duck Key to Miami. Jim has a powerful message that might just be the missing piece you need to make things click in your Internet business or any part of your life. He’s unabashedly calling it “5 Steps to Getting Anything You Want”. And when you hear Jim’s story of raising himself, literally out of a trailer park, to one of the top Internet marketers I think you’ll be amazed. The stuff really works and he’s proof positive.
Check it out for sure – it’s a perfect buy for your New Year: http://www.FiveStepsToGettingAnythingYouWant.com
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Also Jim and I have been busily at work editing, updating, and revising our best-seller, "33 Days to Online Profits" for 2004!
We made the entire 246 pages of our blockbuster ebook rock- solid with totally up-to-the-minute information, including Google AdWords and Linking Strategies.
Here’s the link: http://www.33DaysToOnlineProfits.com
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Well that does it for this last 2003 issue of Yanik's Hot Sheet. I wish you a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2004!
All the best,
Yanik
P.S. Don’t forget about the upcoming “30th Birthday Bash and Customer Appreciation Event”. This is your last chance if you can still squeeze in – http://www.surefiremarketing.com/bday/
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