5-Star Ebook Diary

John Thornhill’s Coaching Program–Review

John,

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to take part in your coaching program. Given the fact that I have been half-heartedly giving the Internet Marketing business a try for the past several years and have had other opportunities to get involved with other ‘coaching’ (with a rather large price tag, I might add) programs, when I read earlier this year you were offering coaching, I didn’t hesitate to jump in.

I have been on a couple of your lists for some time now and am a member of your Mentorship Monthly and PlanetSMS sites. After seeing the way that you present information from the Mentorship site and the things that you and your members help others with on the PSMS site, there was no reason for me not get some indepth training from someone who doesn’t just ‘Talk the Talk’ but ‘Walks the Walk’.

Going into this, I wasn’t sure what to expect and whether or not I would really have the spare time to complete the entire program in 16 weeks or not. I work both full time and part time and any spare time that I have is spent working around the house, or doing the other things that life throws at you on a daily basis.

His coaching program was very thorough, beginning with the extreme basics of obtaining a domain name along with web hosting and setting up your first email account to creating your product and soliciting joint venture (jv) partners.

The technical aspect of the coaching/training didn’t really scare me too much as I am familiar with building basic websites and have a pretty decent understanding of HTML. On top of that, both my full time job and part time job are in the IT field, so I feel that I am fairly well versed in how things on the internet work. The one thing that scared me was the idea of creating enough valuable content to not only keep a blog going, but to create an info product that will have enough interest to people to purchase it.

As a matter of fact, the first few weeks of the coaching left me somewhat bored. I actually went as far as to send an email to John to ask him how long it would be before we would be getting into some more ‘advanced’ activities.

A little bit more on my background–I have been working in the IT field (helpdesk, network admin, email admin) for about 10 years now. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in IT and have maintained a couple of personal websites for about 5 years. I felt going into this that I could do this very easily, I just needed a bit of a push in the right direction to get it going.

I was introduced to Internet Marketing in the late 90’s and have always know that there is a better way to generate income besides working FOR someone. The problem that I always encountered was the ‘unwillingness’ of the so called ‘experts’ to share what is successful for them. In other words, they give you the tools, but don’t show you how to use them.

John does that and he does it in such a way that I believe pretty much anyone that has the desire to generate some additional income, can do it, and it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. Maybe just the arm, but not both.

Finally, around the first of June, I actually had my first info product, 15 Proven Credit Strategies, as a live product on the Clickbank marketplace and have been doing some article marketing to drive traffic to the website.

Without John’s assistance, I would probably be still looking for that push and trying to figure out how to do this wacky thing they call ‘Internet Marketing’ (and probably spending more money on ‘how to products’ than I really should).

I now have a plan for the future products that are inside of me. A plan that can be duplicated over and over again.

Thank you John.

The Wonderful Web Giveaway is now live.

You can visit the site here and check out all of the gifts.

Here are just a few of the topics covered:

* Great tools to build an Internet business
* Books and audios to help attract success into your life
* Expert advice on yoga, weight loss and healthy living
* Ideas to start a business from home
* Fun things like learning music, recipes and even gifts donated by children for children

There are some great products that you can pick up for free which may help you in your endeavors in this wacky world we call internet marketing.

I want to thank my accountability partner, Peggy, for turning me on to this. I have created a product and it is listed for you to get for free, so go on over and take a look at all of the gifts.

Well, I know you have been anxiously waiting for this moment…..

My very first ebook is complete. It is live and I am waiting for the bucks to start rolling in…in fact, I may just put in my notice at the job today

NOT!!!!!

Anyway. You can find the book here:

www.provencreditstrategies.com

I asked several trusted friends to review it over the last week and have received nothing but good feedback.

If you are in a bad credit situation, I think you will get a lot of value out of the book. At least, that is my intent.

Feel free to leave any feedback for me about the sales page or about anything else.

Now, I need to start working on another project. I have been invited to participate in a giveaway event. You can get the details here:

I haven’t decided what I am going to put together for the event, but I have a few ideas.

Until next time…

Here’s to YOUR success!

Ron

If anyone was paying attention to the news earlier this week (Sunday-Monday in particular), you may have seen that there was some severe weather that passed through the northern suburbs of St. Paul, MN. Hugo in particular.

Guess where my wife and I live?? You’re right…Hugo.

Thankfully, the tornado passed about a mile north of where we live, so we didn’t lose our house like about 50 other families did. We did have some nasty hail damage to the back of our house and roof as you can see below:

That’s what 2-2 1/2″ hail stones can do to vinyl siding. As I said, luckily it was only the house that sustained the damage.

The title of the post…..well, I was the dumb one who was standing right next to the patio door window while the hail was hitting the house. The noise that it makes is virtually undescribable. The best way I can describe it is like this: you have made microwave popcorn before, right? Well, you know what it sounds like when it’s popping. Imagine yourself inside of that bag while the kernels are popping around you. That’s what it sounded like inside of our house for what seemed like 5 minutes. It was probably more like a minute or two, but it seemed like a very long time. All I know is that I was standing in front of the patio door and my wife was down in the basement screaming at me to get back down there. I couldn’t hear her.

Here are some links to picture galleries from the Pioneer Press (St Paul paper) and Star Tribune (Minneapolis paper) online.

We were aware of the bad weather coming our way because of the warnings that were on tv and we were watching the skies. But we had no clue of the severity. Again, as the headline of the post suggests, when there are severe weather warnings, don’t ignore them. Make sure you are as prepared as possible.

Til next time.

Ron

Well, it’s been a while…..I am still working on my ebook. Have it almost done. It’s tough working through it to put the finishing touches on.

I have made a major change to the ebook site and upgraded it to a new look. I like it.

It’s much easier to navigate.

I am getting a new header made as I write this and it should be uploaded by early next week.

Take a look through it and see what you think. If you find any broken links or anything, let me know.

I will also let you know when the new ebook is finished and ready for sale. I may even offer a discount for you readers of my blog if you are interested in it.

For now……have a good rest of the week. Memorial Day is coming and the weather is finally changing to warmer here…finally!

Til next time,

Here’s to your success.

Ron

Do you have a website? If so, do you check your traffic statistics through your webhosting company? I do through mine, but I also have my sites set up through Google Analytics. I also have an Adsense account which I check my (very miniscule) earnings once every two weeks or so. I have yet to receive a check for it, but I am getting some clicks, which is a good thing:)

I just discovered something the other day when I was messing around in the analytics section of google. They have a tool in there under content, that is called ‘Site Overlay’.

What this does is gives you a percentage of click on all the links you have on your webpage. I thought that was very cool!

Now I can look at that and I can tell what links are getting the most clicks. Obviously, you can tell which ones aren’t getting any too:(

Any way, the point of this post is: if you have a website, do you track what kind of traffic you are getting, and going beyond, are you checking which links are drawing clicks and which are not?

I believe that analysis is a part of optimizing a website and enticing people to click on your links and buy your products.

Now that is something I have to work on harder.

By the way….new ebook listed: Ipod Idiot Guide. If you have an Ipod, this is the ultimate guide to getting the most out of it. I actually learned a few tricks that I didn’t know about.

I hope you jump over and check it out.

Now go and get your code for google analytics and start finding out what people are clicking on at your site and then work on changing that so they click on more…..

Til next time.

Here’s to YOUR success.

Ron

Before I get into today’s post, I would like to put something out there that I read within the past week or so and that has been sticking in my craw. It comes from an email that I read from another marketer and it just made me think about WHY I am doing what I am doing.

The email was from Willie Crawford and the jist of it was when he decided to ‘become a guru’ (which by the way, I hate that term, don’t ask me why, I just hate it). The portion of the email that got to me was this:
“- I dumped the poverty mentality and realized that there is enough wealth to go around, and figured out how to get my share.

- I realized that money is not evil, although the misused drive to get it can lead to evil. Used properly, money allows you to do tremendous “good.”

- I learned that nothing in life is without risk… and I learned how to take calculated risks that paid off handsomely more often than not.

- Every experience in our lives can serve as a springboard and source of strength , allowing us to boldly move forward

I share just that tiny bit of my background, because my becoming a top internet marketer… someone that some…with mixed emotions… often refer to as “a guru” was NOTHING more than making a decision.

I simply decided that I would do those things necessary to become a success.

I learned long ago that “Successful People Do Things That Unsuccessful People Know That They Should Do - But Won’t.”

I also learned long ago that successful people often DON’T want to do the things necessary for success… things like taking a few risk, work harder but smarter, and showing the discipline to make a decision and then see it through to completion. However, they still do them”

My take out of that is that whatever your mindset is, is what you will bring about. In other words, if you think negative thoughts, you will get negative things and if you have good, productive thoughts, you can achieve whatever you want to.

He also talks about how money is not evil unless you make it evil, which is exactly what God says it is in the Bible.

My biggest takeaway from the words above–successful people take risks and take action; they make things happen; and that is where the title of this post comes from.

As I mentioned in the last post, I am working on an information product, since that is what 5 Star Ebooks is all about. After all, that is, by far, the best selling product on the internet today.

Unfortunately, I can’t divulge what the product is about, but you will know in a few short weeks. I was stuck….I had ‘writer’s block’. I would take the pages that I had been composed and make an attempt to edit them towards a finished product. I couldn’t muster the strength to do it. I was paralyzed for some reason.

Fear? Fear of failure? Possibly.

Until today–er, last night, when the lightbulb FINALLY went on, was I able to feel like I could move on.

Believe it or not, I came up with the title for the ebook. I did a search for a domain name. Registered that today…in fact, just mere hours ago. I am working with Dave at Planet Divinity to do the graphics and cover for me.

Needless to say, I feel free to continue with the project and believe it or not, it has spurred ideas for at least one followup product.

I know this post has been relatively long, but it was something I wanted to throw out there.

Are you taking action? How’s your risk taking? Do you have a positive mindset to attract the good things in life?

Feel free to leave me a comment……

Until next time,

Here is to OUR success….

When it comes to doing something you are not familiar with, and you believe you are going to be doing it for a while, do you have someone you can learn from?

Think about it. When you start a new job, yea, you may have the skills and qualifications to DO the job, but do you know HOW the work is done in the new company? How do you learn? You have a coach, or a co-worker that shows you the nuances of the tasks that you do on a daily basis.

Internet Marketing is no different and most of the people I come across on a daily basis in the forums that I frequent are looking for help. What do I sell? How do I build a website? Where should I advertise?

Do you have the answers to those questions? I certainly don’t have the answers to all of the questions that are buzzing around in my head still–and that is after over a year of trying to make this IM thing a go.

The things that I do know–you need a coach–possibly a mentor and it’s a great idea if you have a partner. Not a business partner, but someone you can throw ideas off of and ask questions of. Someone who won’t think that your idea sucks, or if it does, will tell you. An accountability partner, if you will.

Do you have any of these? Probably the toughest to reach out and ask for is a coach or mentor, someone who is willing to show you how to do things and do them correctly. Someone who has been there and done that and you can learn from their mistakes.

My mentor/coach right now is a person who has been in the ebook business for a few years now and knows how and what to do to make it a success and I am willing to let you have access to him too. You see, he is willing to take on anyone who will make a commitment to putting in some hard work and seeing results. His name?

John Thornhill.

You can get in touch with him here

Back to the accountability partner–do you have one of those? Maybe not someone you pick up the phone and call on a regular basis, but someone you have regular contact with and lay out your plans for the week so that you are made ‘accountable’ for your actions.

I have one of those also. Her name is Peggy. She is an Internet Marketer also.

We exchange emails several times weekly and give each other ‘check lists’ of what we want to accomplish during the week. Then typically on Monday morning, we ‘check in’ and update each other on what we got accomplished and what we wished we had gotten done, and sometimes whine or complain about why we didn’t get our list done (oh, that would be me doing that most times ).

Since her and I decided to partner together, I must say that I get more done because I know that I have to ‘check in’ and be accountable for what I had on my to do list.

Back to my mentor…..since John has been making a living selling ebooks for several years now, and I am basically trying to follow in his footsteps, I am awaiting his ideas on the fallout from the ebay ban on digitally downloadable products.

Just an fyi on ebooks added….I have added some more to the site and you can find them here. I am also in the process of changing the home page a bit due to the ebay changes. I am not entirely certain, but I believe that the methods described in some of the ebay books that are on my site are not going to be accurate come April 1.

Stay tuned……

Until next time,

Here’s to your success

Ron

Hello again…..

If you have by chance not been by your computer or not reading any emails you are getting from other marketers or haven’t visited your favorite forum the past couple of days, then you have missed the annoucement that ebay is going to be prohibiting the selling of downloadable digital products (read ebooks) as of March 31.

Read it here:

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200803241300132.html

Read the ebay forum thread here:

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000671814&start=0

What does this mean to you? Me? Well, if you are selling ebooks on ebay, as of March 31, you will no longer be able to.

What are your options going to be? Well, from what I can gather from reading forums and the actual ebay policy, you have two choices; you can sell the ebooks by putting them on a physical cd and then shipping them to your customer, or by directing traffic to your website with classified ads and then selling your ebooks there.

That sort of leaves me in a quandry….if you have been following my progress, you remember that I have been planning on setting up an ebay store to sell ebooks and then use a system to get customers to optin to a mailing list and then go from there. It also makes some of the books that are offered at 5 Star Ebooks obsolete since they are dealing with how to build feedback and build a mailing list using digital product sales using ebay.

Well, the good part about the change in policy is that I won’t have to open up a store (at least for now) to sell my collection of ebooks and I will save myself about $30 per month.

The bad part? I may have to try to figure out how to make the classified ads work on ebay for a traffic source to 5 Star Ebooks.

Another good part? At least now, some of the better books that are listed for sale on the site, I can raise the price on. I think the policy change at ebay will have a ripple effect on the pricing of ebooks. Although it will take more work to drive traffic to the site, you will be able to charge a higher price for the books because they won’t be competing on ebay anymore.

Another bad part? I really don’t know if I want to be listing an ebook on ebay, sell it, have to burn it to a cd, go to the post office and mail it…..yes, there have been several marketers who have been touting a service that will do all of this for you. The question I have about this service is–what about the back end? How can you put extra bonuses on the cd for your customer? You know, value added service. If I can find an answer to this question, maybe I will consider it.

In the meantime…..back to focusing on the real business at hand…driving traffic to the site, building a list and probably the biggest reason I am doing this, generating an income from it.

Last but not least, I am working on my very first information product. This is an ebook targeted at a specific niche that I think will be a good seller given the state of the US economy right now. I am doing this with the help of a mentor and coach and with any luck, will be ready to go in the next couple of weeks.

Until next time,

Here’s to your success.

Ron

Well, we are finally into March…winter is slowly fading away (finally! unless of course, you live in a warm climate where you don’t have to worry about it possibly snowing in May or June!!) and I believe we are entering in to a period of time when more people are starting to look at alternative ways to make money. One of the reasons I say that is the current state of the economy.

When you look at the incomes that people are making and the possibility that they will be getting a raise of any sort in the future, you would think that people are going to look for an alternative source of income. Enter Internet Marketing.

This business has got to be one of the easiest to set up and get off the ground. Yea, I know I have said in previous posts that there is some difficulty involved with doing it, but it CAN be done.

If there is one thing that I have learned from reading the numerous emails that I receive each and everyday from different marketers, is that you absolutely MUST have your own product to make any money from IM.

Yes, there are many people that generate substantial sums of money each month (or at least they will make it seem that way) from affiliate marketing, PPC (pay per click), Google Adsense, and selling hard products on ebay. Yes, there are other ways of doing it, but those are the most popular ways.

Over the weekend I had the opportunity (yea, I actually had some time to do this) to browse through two products from two marketers that I have a great deal of respect for. Operation Ebook from Paula Brett and The Ebook Process from John Thornhill.

Both books focus on the ‘creating your own product’ aspect of IM. Operation Ebook gets into more specifics on the creation of an ebook by going into detail on how to get ideas, different ways to pick a title, how to list the topics in the book and she touches a bit on building the sales page.

In ‘The Ebook Process‘ John goes more into how to start capturing email addresses after selling an ebook successfully on ebay. His ‘process’ can also be tweaked to be used on your own website after a successful sale. It also details methods you can use for following up with your customers, after all, if you make one successful sale, wouldn’t you want to be able to sell that person something else?

You can find Operation Ebook by clicking here and by clicking here you can download The Ebook Process.

It is my hope that by directing you to other ways of info product creation and marketing that ebook, I can be of help to you in creating that alternative source of income and lessen the burden of the crummy economy.

Until next time…

Here’s to your success,

Ron