Archive | December, 2019

Derived from the German language, ‘doppelganger’ roughly translates to “ghostly double,” or someone who nearly or completely resembles another but has no biological relation. When we choose a business partner, we often look for someone who is just like us – someone with the same ideas, same interests, same skills and so forth.

But that’s just a marketing doppelganger and not the person you want to partner with at all. What’s the point in having two of yourself? There’s no added benefit, yet now you’re splitting the profits.

Instead, partner with your anti-doppelganger, the person who isn’t like you but instead brings complimentary skills and viewpoints to the business.

For example, if you’re really good at creating content but bad at the technical stuff, find someone who’s great at everything technical but isn’t a writer. If you’re great at setting up joint ventures and writing sales copy but you hate creating products, partner with someone who’s a product creating wiz.

If you find the right partner, you can make far more money than you can alone. But you’ve got to partner with someone who fills in your gaps and can do what you can’t.

And having differing opinions isn’t a bad thing, either. Instead of blindly plunging ahead when you assume you’re right, you’ll now have to justify your plan to your partner. It’s during this process that you’re far more likely to find the holes and prevent the mistakes. Plus you’ve got a second head to problem solve and to look for opportunities.

Do you see how powerful it can be to find the right person as your partner? And not only do you each fill in the gaps of the other, but there are added benefits as well.

For one, courage. When you’re going it alone, it can be scary to launch a new product. Is this the right time? Did you get everything set up correctly? Will it work? Will it SELL? But when there are two of you to succeed or fail, you know you’re not in it alone.

Another reason: Two heads are better than one, and also more available than one. You have an emergency and have to take a day off – who’s going to cover for you? Your partner. And when you have a problem or need a new idea, it’s guaranteed the 2 of you can generate 3 times as many ideas as either one of you alone.

Yet another reason: You’ll stretch yourself to keep up with your partner. He has a lot of experience in building software solutions and you don’t so what happens? You’re in the software business with a capable partner. You know how to create online events that bring thousands of people and she doesn’t? She’s learning a new skill just by being your partner.

So do you have to partner on everything? Of course not. You can have your own business, your partner can have her own business and then you create a third, separate business in which the two of you share equally in the work and in the profits.

This way you’ve got the best of both worlds: Doing your own thing in your own business and blazing new trails with a trusted partner.

One last thing – your partner does not have to be in your hometown. Plenty of online partnerships have enjoyed success across the country and across the world. In fact, there is an advantage to having a partner on the other side of the world and it’s this: They’re available to put out any fires while you’re asleep, and vice-a-versa. Not to mention your company will have much more of a world perspective when it comes to creating and marketing new products, which is always an advantage.

Keep your eyes open – your future business partner might be someone you already know, or it could be the person you’re about to meet. You never can tell when opportunity will knock.

The easiest way to go full time is to BE full time. That is, quit your daytime go-to-work type job and begin working full time online. When you’re full time online you’ll discover opportunities that otherwise would have passed you by. And you’ll be able to create a lot more opportunities as well, by having the time to forge relationships with other marketers, time to work on your own social media, blog posts and products and so forth.

But the problem for many is their online business isn’t making enough money yet to enable them to leave their job. And until they leave their job they won’t have the time to grow their business into a full time income. It’s a catch-22 situation that holds a lot of marketers hostage for years.

So how can you get some extra money coming in immediately? By offering services online. When you offer a service, it’s fairly easy to get clients and get paid. You typically won’t make a fortune, but you can make enough to replace your income from your job. And then you can use your extra time to create your own products, build your own sites and so forth.

Here’s a list of services you could offer:

Being a personal assistant to another marketer. This job is doubly great, because you’ll also learn as you earn. You’ll need a good variety of skills to land a VA position, but never underestimate the power of Google, either. Anything you’re required to do but don’t know how can be found on Google and YouTube.

Freelance customer service. Many marketers don’t want to hassle with support tickets, but they can’t afford to hire someone full time, either, because their own business isn’t big enough yet. Offer to do support 1 hour per day, 5 or 6 days per week for $10-$20 per hour. Get 3 clients and you have a nice little side income. And best of all, you can do these support tasks as you have time throughout the day from the comfort of your computer or even your mobile device.

Writing. This could be anything from simple articles and emails to full blown product creation. Content is hugely important and every marketer needs more great content. If you can write in a conversational manner and do good research, you can make money freelance writing. You might even ghost write books, too.

Copywriting. This is a little trickier than simple writing, in that your job is to sell with the written or spoken word. However, it can pay quite well if you’re good, and copywriting is a skill you’ll need to hone for your own business anyway.

Proofreading and editing. If you have an eye for details, you can be a proofreader. If you’re good at taking rough copy and turning it into something coherent that flows well and makes sense, then editing is for you.

Ebook formatting. Getting a book ready for Kindle or even to make into a sharp looking PDF takes skill. Can you do it? Then there are tons of marketers who need you.

Graphic design. Are you good at Photoshop? Can you make headers, product covers, logos and so forth? Then this is a great way to make some extra money.

Website design, maintenance, security, SEO and so forth. In other words, anything and everything technical. If you’re good at the technical side of online marketing, you’ll always have work because the majority of marketers really don’t want to bother with it – they’d rather hand the work over to an expert such as yourself.

And anything else an online marketer needs…

In the course of building your own business, make a note of the many things you’re having to do. Ask yourself, “is there a market for this service? Do I enjoy performing this service?” If so, then you’ve got a skill you can sell to others to make ends meet until your own business is running full steam ahead.

Do you have domain names sitting around idle? Maybe you bought them with the intention of doing something in particular, but you just haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Here’s a cool idea: List them for sale on sedo.com and then forget about them until one of two things happen…

You decide to use them or…

… you get an email from Sedo from someone who is offering to buy one of your domain names.

You never know if or when this might happen, but why not at least give it a shot? One marketer I know of did this with his domains. Six months later, he got an email from Sedo saying someone was offering $100 for one of his domains. He wasn’t interested in taking such a low offer, so he countered with $2,000 just to see what would happen.

The buyer countered with $300, he countered with $1800, and several emails and counteroffers later he sold it for $950. Not bad for a $9 investment. Sedo took a cut and he got the rest.

And while he did have plans for that domain name, he figures he can just choose a different but similar name when the time comes – no big deal.

There’s no guarantee you’ll sell your domains this way, or that if you do, you’ll make a lot of money. But as you know, domains have sometimes sold for ridiculous amounts. There’s no harm or fee for listing your domains, so why not give it a shot and see what happens? You’ve got nothing to lose and potentially a nice fat return for trying it.

Plus, if you’re creative and do some market research on hot topics and keywords, you could potentially start registering new and marketable domains that have a high chance of selling when you list them in a domain marketplace like Sedo, and turn this strategy into a full-time business. Some people are already doing this now… Why not you too?