Book#1: Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less<\/h3>\n
![\"Automated](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/teamprojectmayhem.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Work-The-System.jpg?resize=196%2C300\")
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The first one is \u201cWork The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less,\u201d by Sam Carpenter. \u00a0This book changed the way I view the world. \u00a0I now see almost everything as a system that can be tweaked and enhanced. \u00a0It is amazing the things you will “see” after reading this book. \u00a0In fact, I probably learned more reading this book, than I did collectively obtaining my MBA.<\/p>\n
Sam has this knack for taking complicated ideas and breaking it down into very simplistic systems which give you control of the process. \u00a0After implementing his concepts, if done correctly, you shouldn't have to deal with chaos and “fire fighting.”<\/p>\n
Mark Bauerlein does a great job of summarizing Work The System, he states, “Distraction, diversion, and overwork are the keywords of modern life, and to Sam Carpenter they add up to years of fruitless effort and unsatisfying outcomes. \u00a0Work The System maps a different strategy, a deep adjustment plan for making more minutes count, and freeing up more time for the meaningful things in life.”<\/p>\n
Oh,by the way, because Sam is amazingly cool, he is giving you a .pdf copy of his book for free. \u00a0You can get it here<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0The book is about 200 pages and you could knock it out in 2-3 days.<\/p>\n The second book was \u201cThe 4 Hour Work Week<\/a>\u201d by Timothy Ferris. \u00a0In this book, Tim gives you a blue print to automation. \u00a0He allows you to dream of things you didn't think were possible. \u00a0He teaches you how to determine what is really important… things you must do… and then how to outsource the rest. \u00a0He also provides a few resources to outsource some of your “menial” tasks.<\/p>\n but in my personal experience onlinejob.ph<\/a> is a better resource<\/p>\n<\/div>\n One of his suggestions is Brickwork India<\/a>, but in my personal experience Online Jobs<\/a>\u00a0is a better resource.<\/p>\n John Jonas (creator of online jobs.ph) does a fabulous job of teaching you how to work with Filipino Virtual Assistants. \u00a0One of the major reasons is that Filipinos primarily all speak two major languages (Tagalog and English).<\/p>\n They also love American culture, so their level of understanding is much better. \u00a0Filipinos can probably tell you more about the NBA playoffs and American Idol than you know. \u00a0They are also incredibly loyal. \u00a0If you treat your virtual assistant well, s\/he will work for you for a lifetime. \u00a0You can find his blog here<\/a><\/p>\n Another huge takeaway from the 4 Hour Work Week, for me, was his idea of selective ignorance. \u00a0He teaches you about a “low-information diet.” \u00a0Basically, taking control of what you allow to eat up your time. \u00a0He questions things such as… is it really necessary to watch the news every night when it is mostly negative.<\/p>\n Since reading this book, I have saved myself about\u00a012 hours a week deleting\u00a0time sucking activity. \u00a0In the last 10 years since implementing these changes, I have not missed out on a single thing.<\/p>\n If something major happens that I need to know about, I can \u00a0research that specific topic and learn what I need to in know in about 10% of the time… or better yet… I can have my VA research it for me and paraphrase it into bullet points.<\/p>\n I believe Blake Ross, Co-founder of Firefox, says it best, “The world is changing and our outlook needs to change with it, because old models don't cut it anymore. This book will cause you to question everything \u2014 read it!”<\/p>\n Old Conventional Thinking<\/strong><\/p>\n In our conventional way of online marketing, we tend to focus on a specific website. \u00a0So, we put all our effort into driving traffic (or people) to a specific website where they will magically see the value in what we have and automatically buy.<\/p>\n Here is the problem… \u00a099% of people do not make a purchase the first time they see your website.<\/p>\n In fact, studies have shown that typically people need 7 exposures before doing business with you. \u00a0So, what if we built a system that will allow you to stay in touch with them automatically?<\/p>\n You probably have seen something similar to this picture above. \u00a0In fact, you probably have opted-in to one yourself.<\/p>\n What this allows us\/you to do is to \u201ccapture\u201d or collect your prospects e-mail address (into your autoresponder) and after they hit submit the capture page<\/a><\/span> will automatically forward to another webpage (typically a sales video or free .pdf report).<\/p>\n Makes sense right?<\/p>\n That way, we have captured their information and can continue to build a relationship with them. \u00a0So, how do we do this?<\/p>\n Typically this is done with two systems working together: a capture page and an autoresponder. \u00a0There are several autoresponders on the market such as Constant Contact,\u00a0AWeber,\u00a0MailChimp, icontact, GVO, OfficeAutoPilot (now called Ontraport),\u00a0Infusionsoft\u00a0and\u00a0iContact.<\/p>\n My personal favorite is Aweber because of their deliverability, but if you are on a budget MailChimp will let you e-mail up to 2,000 people for free. \u00a0You can find a detailed review of all these autoresponders by Pete Williams: Click HERE<\/a><\/p>\n As far as landing page software (opt-in page) options, here are a few: Optimize Press, Leadpages, Instabuilder, Kajabi. \u00a0I personally use Leadpages because it is easy to use and loads very quickly. \u00a0Also, Leadpages website is actually faster than if I hosted it on my own server. \u00a0You also have the ability to split test from within Leadpages. \u00a0You can find a review of Leadpages from Lawrence Tam here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Working Together<\/strong><\/p>\n These two systems will allow you to build an e-mail list of prospects and begin to build a relationship with them. \u00a0Let\u2019s face it, it took effort to get that traffic to your webpage, and you don\u2019t want just one shot. \u00a0Remember, we are working smarter, not harder.<\/p>\n By utilizing these two systems, you can \u201ccapture\u201d them automatically without doing anything. \u00a0Once you have their e-mail address, your job is to e-mail that person (from your autoresponder) 1-2X a day.<\/p>\n So, what exactly do you e-mail to them?<\/strong><\/p>\n So many people get this part wrong.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t do this correctly, you will just annoy your prospect. \u00a0Not the greatest strategy to get a sale. \u00a0There are only 3 things you should be e-mailing to your list of prospects\u2026 period:<\/p>\n Tell inspirational stories<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n How To\u2019s \u2013 Solves a problem<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Answer questions<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n DO NOT!!!<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Act desperate<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Constantly hammer them to buy something<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Act like a cheesy sales person<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n You need to be cool in your e-mails…<\/p>\n I have learned a lot from watching how Frank Kern<\/a> and David Wood craft their emails…<\/p>\n No one wants an e-mail from someone constantly hammering them to buy something. \u00a0Think about it from your client's perspective.<\/p>\n When you check your personal e-mail, what are you looking for? \u00a0Are you looking for something from friends and family? \u00a0Maybe a funny or inspirational story will catch your attention? \u00a0Perhaps an answer to a question you have.<\/p>\n These are the things that capture your attention.\u00a0 Remember, you are building a relationship with your prospect. \u00a0Your e-mail must stand out surrounded by the noise of all the other crappy marketers out there.<\/p>\n Ask yourself this\u2026 Would you open or delete this e-mail:<\/p>\n \u201cGreatest Pill Ever That Fixes EVERYTHING on Sale Now for ONLY The Next 24 Minutes\u2026 Don\u2019t Wait!\u201d?\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n My guess is you probably won\u2019t.<\/p>\n However, if you \u201copted-in\u201d to a capture page that promised to show you how to get internet traffic, you might open this one:<\/p>\n \u201c3 simple steps I use to get free traffic to my website\u201d<\/p>\n or<\/p>\n \u201cStay at home mom paid off her mortgage using these 3 simple traffic tools.\u201d<\/p>\n Every e-mail you send must give value to your prospect.\u00a0 Once you have delivered this value to them, simply bridge to what you are offering, showing them how this will solve their problem and direct them back to your website.<\/p>\n The process should look something like this (I know the graphic isn't the best… but hopefully you will get the idea)<\/p>\n Crazy Cat Example<\/strong><\/p>\n Ok, so here is an of the wall\u00a0example to demonstrate, let\u2019s say you\u2019re a cat lover and have opted in to a page for information on how you can be the best cat owner ever.<\/p>\n You take a look at my website, but the doorbell rang and you had to leave because your cat \u201caccidentally\u201d got into the neighbor\u2019s yard and ate their pet parakeet while trying to drink out of the neighbor\u2019s birdbath.<\/p>\n In the meantime, your son took over your computer and decided to check out his Facebook page\u2026<\/p>\n I just lost my prospect.<\/p>\n Oh, wait, no I didn\u2019t.\u00a0 I have your e-mail.<\/p>\n So, three days later\u2026 after replacing a parakeet and giving your cat antacids (ok not really) you see an e-mail from me on the effects of fresh water for a cat.<\/p>\n You open up the e-mail and read about all the positive things this can do for your cat\u2019s mood and health. \u00a0In the bottom of the e-mail, I include some information on where to purchase an automatic fresh water dispenser for cats.<\/p>\n Since you are too lazy to replace your cat\u2019s water every day (or maybe the dog drools in it constantly), and you don\u2019t want to replace another parakeet\u2026 you buy the water dispenser for $29.99.<\/p>\n You are happy, I am happy, the cat is happy, and your neighbor is happy.\u00a0 A little bit of a crazy example, but you get the idea.<\/p>\n Put It All Together<\/strong><\/p>\n Are you starting to see how these two systems could make your life easier?<\/p>\n There is more.<\/p>\n We talked about the importance of your capture page, autoresponder, and follow up e-mails, but what about the traffic itself?<\/p>\n How do you get traffic to your capture page?<\/p>\n Believe it or not, this is actually one of the easiest things to do.<\/p>\n However, it will cost you something.\u00a0 It will cost you time or money.<\/p>\n This brings up a really good point.\u00a0 You must have 3 very important things to make the economics work in your business.<\/p>\n Without these 3 things it is virtually impossible to make a profit.<\/p>\n These 3 things are:<\/p>\n Continuity (Residual Income)<\/span><\/p>\n Back End or High Ticket Sales<\/span><\/p>\n 80-100% in Commission<\/span><\/p>\n If you current business structure has some but not all of these things it will be incredibly difficult for you to scale your business and become profitable.<\/p>\n In English, it will cost too much to acquire a new customer.<\/p>\n However, when you do have these three things working together\u2026 magic will happen.<\/p>\n Let me give you a real life example to explain…<\/strong><\/p>\n My friend,\u00a0Josh Schoenly<\/a>, did this (names of products, time frames, % and pricing have been changed).<\/p>\n \n He\u00a0developed an incredible real estate course that taught\u00a0real estate agents how to find prospects for free on craigslist.<\/p>\n He sold\u00a0this for $1,997.<\/p>\n In addition to this, he\u00a0contracted affiliates\u00a0to sell his\u00a0product for a 20% commission of the $1,997 (silly affiliates)\u2026<\/p>\n So he got\u00a0to keep 80%.<\/p>\n At first, he was\u00a0ecstatic. \u00a0His hard work had paid off and he was finally reaping the reward. \u00a0However, very soon, he started to\u00a0get frustrated.<\/p>\n Why? \u00a0He was starting over from square one each month\u2026 and the contacts he had already bought\u2026 so you need to find more.<\/p>\n See how he couldn't scale? \u00a0He had to start over each month.<\/p>\n \n Now let\u2019s use the exact same example, but instead of selling a course, he sold\u00a0a monthly membership to a Craigslist mentoring group for $19.95\/mo<\/p>\n At first, he was\u00a0ecstatic. \u00a0His hard work had paid off and he was finally reaping the reward. \u00a0However, very soon, he started to\u00a0get frustrated.<\/p>\n Why? \u00a0He was\u00a0only making $19.95 on each person\u2026 and they seem to only stay a member for 2 months.<\/p>\n Also, the contacts he had already bought\u2026 so he needed to find more.<\/p>\n However, it was costing him $22 to acquire a new customer.\u00a0 See how it is difficult to scale?<\/p>\n \n Now let\u2019s use the exact same example, but now Josh has all three components…<\/p>\n He sold\u00a0a monthly membership to a Craigslist mentoring group for $19.95\/mo<\/p>\n Josh also developed several educational products that teach real estate agents how to get referrals with ease, easily find people who want to list their house, and market their business automatically.<\/p>\n Using this system, Josh has made more then $4 million dollars since 2010<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Each one of these products sold in a range of $497-$1,997.<\/p>\n Also, because of the additional value and products you have your monthly subscribers are sticking around for a lot longer.<\/p>\n Do you see how each item fits together?<\/p>\n Also, each client is now worth a lot more, so it doesn\u2019t matter as much that it costs $22 to acquire a new client?<\/p>\n Using this system, Josh has made more then $4 million dollars since 2010. \u00a0That is a real fact… I didn't change anything there.<\/p>\n Having all three is where the magic is at\u2026<\/p>\n \n What Now?<\/strong><\/p>\n So, maybe you are reading this and your current business model already offers all three of these things.<\/p>\n Fantastic!\u00a0 Use these ideas to leverage what you are doing and put it on auto-pilot.<\/p>\n However, if you don\u2019t currently have all three of these things, I believe my team can help you.<\/p>\n Remember, I don\u2019t want to build all this stuff myself.<\/p>\n I want to leverage other people\u2019s systems to make my life easier\u2026 this is exactly what our team has done.<\/p>\n \n Our team has pre-built capture pages, sales videos, passive monthly income (through our viral blogging system which attracts leads for you), additional high ticket educational products where you can make $200-$3,000 per sale, done for you traffic, and the tools to teach you exactly what to do to succeed.<\/p>\n So, literally the only thing you need to focus on is 3 very simple things:<\/p>\n Your mindset (spend 30 minutes a day developing yourself)<\/span><\/p>\n Getting traffic to\u00a0 your capture page<\/span><\/p>\n Conversions (which by the way come from your daily e-mails<\/span><\/p>\n \n At this point, you might be thinking, \u201cThat\u2019s great Michelle, but what is this going to cost me?\u201d<\/p>\n Not as much as you might think.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n You really need 3 tools to get started (an example of what you build or use what I personally use)<\/p>\n The Viral Blogging System<\/a> ($25)\u2026 Blogging is the life of your internet business\u2026 no matter what online business you have.\u00a0 The VBS is optimized to be favorable in Google\u2019s eyes and does all that cool SEO Magic that can be so scary.\u00a0 There is also so much force behind this system it 100x more powerful than building a blog on your own.<\/span><\/p>\n Become an affiliate ($19.95). \u00a0You don\u2019t have to do this, but you won\u2019t be able to sell any of the products unless you do.\u00a0 Oh yeah, by the way, we get 80-100% commissions on the educational tools. It's where the company makes money sense they don't make a cut from products sold in that network. Also that is the merchant allows for credit card processing.<\/span><\/p>\n Get an autoresponder.\u00a0 I use Aweber ($19), (other alternatives are like GetResponse…)<\/span><\/p>\n So\u2026 if my math is correct, you get an entire business and system built for you for less than $65 a month. (you can build your own with an assortment of parts but this is a very good starting point to build a funnel, and marketing system)<\/p>\n In addition to this, our team also has some additional bonuses we are throwing in for you for free.<\/p>\n BONUS #1: A complete 8 step money making formula<\/p>\n BONUS #2: 24\/7 access to our money making bloggers online community.<\/p>\n Sound good?\u00a0 You can get started here<\/a><\/p>\n Oh, I forgot to tell you, the blog is audio and video too\u2026 so you don\u2019t have to write if you don\u2019t want to.<\/p>\n You can record audio or video\u2026 even from your smartphone and post it directly.\u00a0 It is pretty slick.<\/p>\n AND you can have multiple blogs if you want to\u2026 just in case you have more than one business or would like to have a blog for your family too!<\/p>\n Regardless of what you choose to do, I would strongly recommend installing these simple systems into your business.<\/p>\n It will make you more efficient, profitable, and best of all automated!<\/p>\n Comment below and share this process of “Automated Systems”.<\/p>\n PS\u2026 A huge shout out to Lawrence Tam<\/a> and Josh Schoenly<\/a> for their teaching and guidance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Book #2: The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere,and Join the New Rich<\/h3>\n
![\"4](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/teamprojectmayhem.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/4-Hour-Work-Week.jpg?resize=201%2C300\")
<\/p>\nEnter the CAPTURE PAGE…<\/h4>\n
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