The Six-Figure Second Income: How to Start and Grow a Successful Online Business Without Quitting Your Day Job (3 page)

Planet Earth. I’m not tel ing you anything new when I say that most businesses do a

bland-to-terrible job of customer service. They make the real y good companies stand

out, and that’s the kind of business I’l help you to create from scratch.

Real y savvy marketers have a rule: For fastest revenue growth, look for businesses

with an existing, instal ed base of customers. It’s smart advice.

“I’m Not Educated Enough”

You definitely should sweat this one—that is, if you’re applying to law school or medical

school. You’l need to show some pretty impressive grades, plus don’t forget those

extracurricular activities and some great letters of recommendation.

Oh, you’re not applying to graduate school? You just want to make money on the web?

Then what does your education—or lack thereof—have to do with it? Since when did

you find a great product or service online only to say to yourself: Wel it is exactly what I

was looking for, but I just don’t see a strong enough résumé for the inventor, so never

mind.

The plain truth is that, on the web, nobody cares about your background. That might be

a disappointment if you labored for years to get a fancy degree. But it should be

encouraging if you never got al the sheepskin you wanted. (Note from Jon Rozek: I

graduated from Harvard Col ege with High Honors and the corporate world did care

about that fact, but the Internet world and my clients could not care less and rarely even

ask.)

“Someone Will Steal My Idea”

This one stops a lot of people dead in their tracks. They think: “I have a great idea but I’m

stuck—I want to market it but as soon as I tel people about it, word wil get out and some

giant corporation wil rip off my idea. So first I have to get it patented, but that costs

money and I don’t know how to go about it so maybe I’l just wait and . . .”

You know how that ends—your idea molders in your brain or, worse, you see someone

else beat you to the punch by getting out there and marketing the same idea you had

years before.

You can’t let your overactive protection instinct squash your business idea altogether. If

you let that happen then it might as wel be a thief breaking into your house and stealing

al your business ideas—either way, you’re left with nothing to show for your asset.

It’s much better to launch your product—even if it’s not perfect—and start to make

money with it. Pop Quiz: Who was the first person to cross the Atlantic nonstop by

airplane? If you answered Charles Lindbergh, that’s good. Now, who was the second

person?

If you know the answer to that—without looking it up—then you real y do deserve

congratulations. (It’s often credited to Amelia Earhart.)

If you get your product out there first, you’l be remembered as the Charles Lindbergh

of that product. You won’t have to sweat who else comes out with one—you’l always be

able to tout yours as The Original and make fun of the imitators.

Besides, Ray Kroc, Chairman of McDonald’s, was asked about al the other burger

chains that sprang up after McDonald’s became popular. He said, “We can invent faster

than they can steal.”

I bet you know people who believe some of these 10 mistaken notions. You might

even be one of them. Do you see how powerful it wil be when this book shows you how

to navigate past these false barriers but your competition is stuck with them?

That’s why I say you should thank your lucky stars for al the half-truths, myths, and bad

information surrounding online businesses.

NOW FOR THE SIX DISABLING AND VERY REAL DANGERS TO YOUR

ONLINE BUSINESS SUCCESS

Busting the myths was the good news, but I do have some bad news for you now. It’s the

stuff you real y should concern yourself with—the true barriers to your progress. Let’s

look at each of these powerful threats to your online success.

Real Danger Number One: You Are Easily Influenced by People Less

Successful than You Want to Be

We al have people around us who mean wel with their advice, but in reality they’re not

that helpful and not that successful themselves. It’s very dangerous for you to take advice

from them.

For purposes of this book, I want to put a name on this type of person. Let’s cal him

Uncle Moe. For as long as you’ve known him, Uncle Moe has been an authority figure.

He’s frequently wrong but absolutely never in doubt.

He’s also quite hard to ignore because he doesn’t wait to be asked his opinion but

instead freely volunteers it at every opportunity. Besides, Uncle Moe has in fact lived

much longer than you have and he does seem to want the best for you.

Uncle Moe’s opinions are not shades of gray but pure black-and-white. He either is

100 percent in favor of what you’re doing or 100 percent against it.

Something’s troubled you about his advice over the years—it’s that frankly Uncle Moe

hasn’t been al that successful himself.

You’ve heard al of the reasons: He’s had a bad back ever since the war or maybe it

was also that workplace injury. Uncle Moe never finished school because the kids came

on the scene a bit earlier than he and the little lady had planned. And he’s never real y

quite had much success in business, but it wasn’t for lack of trying, he assures you.

In fact, it seems that Uncle Moe either has been in just about every type of business, or

he knows someone who has. He didn’t make money at real estate because “the whole

industry’s a scam.” He almost lost his shirt in that restaurant he opened because

“employees are thieves.”

He tried a mail-order business once but that didn’t work out because “direct mail

doesn’t work.” He even considered going back for additional training but soon gave up

that idea because “it was al that theoretical ivory-tower stuff and I’ve learned everything I

know from the only school that counts—the School of Hard Knocks.”

It’s therefore hardly a surprise when you’re standing over the onion dip at Thanksgiving

and Uncle Moe asks you what you’ve been up to. You tel him that you have this idea for a

new type of (whatever it is). Uncle Moe’s verdict is too swift for him even to swal ow, so

with cheeks ful of chips and dip he shakes his head: “Big mistake. I tried an even better

idea a couple of years ago and couldn’t get it to work. Don’t waste your time.”

Here’s the bottom line: If Uncle Moe is highly successful then pay more attention to

what he tel s you. The less successful he is, the more you should politely nod and ignore

his advice. Better yet, when he asks what you’re up to, say something neutral like “oh,

nothing special” or instead switch the topic to sports, the weather, or how his back is

feeling.

You should consider a new idea of yours to be like a seedling in your garden. It’s

delicate, easily squashed, and needs time and nourishment in order to grow strong.

Don’t let the Uncle Moes of the world weed-whack your tiny plant into oblivion.

You’re much better off by either keeping it to yourself or by getting advice from

someone who knows about the thing you’re involved with.

Real Danger Number Two: You Think You Can Sit on the Couch and

Money Will Spew out of the TV

I know what you’re thinking here: That’s absurd. I don’t think I can sit on the couch and

make money!

Here’s the problem. We’re al exposed to a great deal of advertising that makes

things sound effortless. You can’t go a day without hearing about how you can “Lose 50

pounds without dieting!” or by simply joining a dating service you can “Have that person

of your dreams!”

The rational part of our brains knows that improvements and success take time, but

the caveman part of our brains is sick of waiting! If someone promises instant results,

hey, who knows—maybe this time it wil be true.

After al , in a world where we can have instant breakfast drinks, instant messaging,

and even get Dominos Pizza ordered through your television and delivered to your door,

why can’t long-lasting success also be delivered instantly?

One guy I know says that his goal is to make people feel like “the moment they sign up

for my three-day boot camp, money wil rain down on them from the sky.” In other words,

they don’t even have to attend the event, much less put his methods into practice

afterward. His goal is to make them feel like the mere act of buying his stuff wil cause

money to pour into their lives.

It’s real y a shame that nothing works that way despite the slick brochures and

teleseminars to the contrary, so suppress that internal caveman when he gets al hot and

heavy after hearing such talk.