“My online business is now generating as much as $200,000 a month and this figure is rising almost daily. Without the help of Jim Cockrum none of this would have happened.

Jim was one of only 3 mentors who I turned to when I was struggling to get my business started, and his help and advice has literally been worth millions of dollars to my business.

Right now my business has 9,238 registered affiliates, but the SECOND person to ever promote one of my products was Jim.

I owe him a lot which is why I’m always singing his praises to anyone who will listen!!

Sincerely,
Lee McIntyre”

That’s a cool endorsement isn’t it?

Here’s the best part for you…

I’ve gotten Lee’s permission to offer my readers his entire online business “blue print”  for $5!

Get it here:

http://www.MySilentTeam.com/LeesBlueprint.html

Some of my thoughts about Lee, his system and the note he left me:

•   Lee took a solid concept he learned from me and others and SYSTEMATIZED it.  No matter what you are trying to do online you can benefit from seeing Lee’s game plan spelled out. It’s a great example of automating, outsourcing, and auto-pilot growth.
• Lee is doing affiliate marketing the RIGHT WAY (I’m always teaching that concept as well). Visit the “affiliate marketing” category on my blog for more info on what I mean by “the right way”.
• Email marketing is at the heart of Lee’s success (You’ve heard that a thousand times from me as well right?) Again, I have an entire blog category dedicated to that as well.
• He’s having huge success using his strategies to attract “offline” businesses as well (i.e. OfflineBiz.com type of income).
• Quite often, the student becomes the mentor in this biz. I learned a lot from studying Lee’s blueprint, and I know you will as well.
• It can be quite lucrative to teach others how to succeed in the “wild west” that is “Online Business”. Lee earns money from several sources online, but teaching others the lessons he’s learned along the way is lucrative as well.
•  The greatest service I perform for my readers (that’s you) is to FILTER through the endless stream of junk, hype, exaggeration etc. and point out the “good guys” that can actually teach us something worth learning. This is one of those times.

1. Affiliate marketing IS NOT a business
Perhaps my most controversial point of the 7, but I’m not the one who said it first. One of the richest affiliate marketers of our time said it. Find the proof here.
2. Those of us who stuck it out with eBay are still making a lot of money. Amazon.com is full of opportunity too. It’s the “boring” stuff that really works.
I’m banking more than ever on eBay, and teaching others to do the same. Sure, it’s only a portion of my online income, but it’s steady!   When in doubt head to where all the buying traffic is. I still love eBay and love Amazon more all the time as an income geneartor.
3. Yes, you have been making others rich buying all those courses, membership sites and ebooks.
The good news is, you know more than you realize.  The solution? Go after some low hanging fruit. This blog post spells out where I think the low fruit is.
4. You don’t start with a website or even a “great” product. You need an audience first.
This blog post will get you thinking correctly about how to find and grow an audience as your FIRST focus.
5. Every new “marketing opportunity” that has come along since email marketing took hold has fallen in one of these three categories: 1. a fad that has (or likely will soon) pass,  2. is best used to grow your email mailing list (i.e. social media), or 3. has been a barely more than a waste of time entirely from day one. (The only possible exception to these three rules is mobile marketing)
6. Your skills don’t matter as much as you think they do.
Stop chasing skills and start building systems. Learn to outsource work to the highest performing/lowest price option. People with skills work for rich people with ideas. Possible exception:  The only possible “skill” you are likely to ever need to succeed online.
7. Relationships rule (not content).
Use your real name, show your face, and help people make hard decisions with the content you create.  Sure, I’m a fan of great content (what other kind is worth your effort?), but relationships earn you the right to even present your message.  Here’s a video of what happens when a bunch of people trust your advice because you’ve built a relationship (watch me earn $7K in a day in that short video).
8. Over-delivering REALLY pays off. Under-delivering is death online.
I call it irrational generosity. Notice I promised 7 harsh lessons. This eighth one is important.  Every customer who thinks your are amazing will tell potentially HUNDREDS of people. Amaze your customers even if it’s expensive.

Please leave me a comment using the link at the top of this article. I want to know your favorite, or if you think I’m wrong or left something off the list.

While writing this article I asked my Facebook followers to chime in their ideas. Here’s what some of them said were the hard lessons they are learning. You are NOT alone if you are thinking any of these things!

Please JOIN THE CONVERSATION! Leave a comment.

• 
  Tom J Curtis Sometimes the gold is at the very bottom of where you are looking, but most people give up either way before the gold or a quarter inch from it. They’re quick to abandon what seems to not be working when all it takes is one more punch through that last quarter inch of conflict and…JACKPOT!!! I speak of my own experience of course.

• 

  Jose Lukes Trying to roll out your online biz until it is just “perfect”. If I had waited until every online biz venture I took was perfect, I would have never had any success.

• 
  Tom J CurtisBy the way Jim, I love this post. No sugar coating from you. People deserve to know that it takes good old fashion rolling up the sleeves and going to work to make anything online or off work in this world. There’s definite glory and joy to be had on the other side of it but not after paying the price, which price is unique to each person, there’s a price to pay nonetheless. I do believe there’s an enchants life once that price is paid…until the next set of challenges of course. But that’s where real accomplishment is found.

• 

  Roy Pickens Do not accept a set back as failure. Quitters never win and winners never quit.

• 

  Tom J Curtis That’s why you’re the real deal and I’ve always enjoyed that about you. I think that’s the only way people can build genuine relationships life. Especially with list building…the more authentic the person building it, the more quality the list.

  I’ve learned so much over the last year. I’ve learned it’s not the size of the list, but the quality. It’s a matter of creating raving fans from genuine, personalized content. You are the front runner Jim.

•  
  Jenni Rosing HuntYou simply can’t be everything to everyone… That’s a tough one I learned early on. Not only did it help me get into a tight niche, it also helps let some criticism roll off the back.

• 

  Roy Pickens That it takes more than a big pretty website. One of my first misconceptions.

• 

  Amitav BorahThe biggest point & one of the most common… Stop jumping from one project to another…and just concentrating on One and only One….and finish it up!! & Also..Never Quit!!..even if you fail the first second or third time….. Keep moving until you get it ! Be Stubborn…Be Persistent!

• 

  Marlo J McCarthy It’s easy to spend every dime you have learning from brilliant “gurus” but if you never take the jump and apply what you’ve learned it is all time and money wasted.

• 

  Marlo J McCarthy‎….incidentally – an excellent program can set you on the right path – I’ve just known too many wantrepreneurs that keep buying different programs but when it’s time to apply and work, they buy the next shiny program.

• 

  Martin Hurley ability to focus on one set goal until achieved

• 

  Andrew J Titcombe Even if you believe the claims that the “gurus” make it is absolutely no good to you financially unless you are prepared to work. 10% inspiration 90% perspiration comes to mind. THEIR money is safe in THEIR bank Their claims don’t make YOU rich!

• 

  Win Thomas A lot of it has already been mentioned. I would agree that keeping focused on one project and not being ‘seduced’ by the next life changing programme to come along, until you’ve completed it. Stay focused. Listen to people like yourself Jim who have integrity and practice what they preach.

• 

  Nikki Stephens FOCUS: Follow One Course Until Successful.

  Follows on from what some above have said – perseverance is key, & you won’t find success simply by buying into lots of different courses.

• 

  Dave Stevens When you wake up asking how can you help people rather than asking how I can make some money .

• 

  Michael Markuson Focus and Perseverance! Never Give up!

• 

  Jamie Smith Don’t believe the hype or the squeeze pages with “who else wants to put $25,987 in their bank account tonight with my black ops super secret CIA affiliate mega bomb success course that literally shoots thousands of dollars into your account effortlessly”. “click below to buy it for the limited time price of $1497″ and p.s. blah blah blah and p.p.s. blah blah blah

• 

  Todd Fetters You absolutely have to have a mentor who has succeeded online with a business that doesn’t sell how to be successful in an online biz. Find someone who is proven to succeed on their own before they became a teacher. I have taken the last 6 months away from this business just to clear my thoughts and regroup. It would be great to have a pool of resources to utilize so an idea can become a reality. Jim-you are definitely one of the few who has an amazing reputation in a business full of not so honest people. Then again, every business where money can be made is no different. Thanks for holding to your core values!

• 

  Doug Kramer You will be distracted before you are successful.

• 

  Joseph Carducci I think the biggest lessons are: 1) Be very very selective in who you follow and listen to (and keep this to a short list, at least in the beginning to avoid distractions) 2) Concentrate on something that you have passion for so that you will actually enjoy doing it (although be careful to do solid research ensuring it is a viable market) 3) While following a few selected “mentors” or trainers, still learn to think and decide for yourself (just because Frank Kern is doing something does not mean it is the right thing, tip or tactic for YOUR business)….this last one took me the longest to really get (and I still need to constantly remind myself)!

• 

  Leszek Cyfer Things won’t get done by themselves – you have to put yourself to them because no one will do them for you.
  The only way to automation is to make a system, but it needs to be constructed by you.

The email I got:

I recently received an idea on how to build a ******* on my farm for my cattle. The idea came from an article in a farming related publication (a subscription based paper). We actually contacted the gentleman that came up with the idea and he sent us one page of instructions on how to build it. I am really excited about the *******, it is going to save us a ton of resources, headaches, and time! I would like to share this idea with other cattle farmers across the world via a website and potentially sell a complete instruction manual with pictures outlining each step in the process and an exact list of material. We actually modified the original version as we built ours and really didn’t use the instructions that he sent because they were very difficult to follow.

Questions:

1. How would you recommend approaching the gentleman that gave us the overall concept/idea through the Farm Show? What does that conversation sound like?

2. The website: www.*********.com is currently available. Does this sound like a good web address to you? Who do you recommend using to build a basic web page?

3. How would I begin to determine a price to ask for this instruction manual (ebook)? And is there a certain tool to use to develop an ebook?

The above questions are just a few stepping stones I need to cross to get going, I would greatly appreciate any insight you have to offer.

Thanks in Advance! Alicia B.

My answers to the three questions:

1. Be open about your intentions and ask if he’s ok with it. He may only want his name tied to it. You’ll need to talk to him about it. First, ask where he got the idea. It may not be his to begin with. Do a bit more research as well to try to determine if there is another source for the concept. I wouldn’t get lawyers involved (that’s not legal advice), but I would ask him to put in writing his agreement to the idea of you sharing and possibly selling the idea to others. Consider getting a patent if you are concerned about others stealing the idea, but that’s certainly not anything I would advise until you feel like you have a real working idea that’s taking off in a big way. If your farmer friend wants a percentage of all sales, and you determine he is the guy that made the design, then give him a cut of your sales. The great thing about info-products is that they are very profitable when they are kept digital. I hope that gives you some ideas to consider.

2.The domain name you choose will not be a big factor in this venture. There is far too much emphasis put on the choosing of a domain name in most cases (you can always change it). My advice – don’t get “cute” with the name, and choose somewhat popular and recognizable words to make up the domain name. In the end, your marketing and other factors matter far more than the name. The only mistake you DON’T want to make is to choose a name that is difficult to spell and recall. Do keep in mind – shorter is always better and you want a “.com”. Building a website may not even be necessary though. You can deliver an info product via email initially as orders come in. Don’t build a website until you NEED one.

3. The pricing isn’t an important factor right now. Far more important factors are 1) FINDING and BUILDING an audience, and 2) finding out if this is something they want. Check out this article, “You don’t need a website, you need an audience“. Also review the “information marketing” section of my blog (categories shown on the right hand side of this page).

Some general advice:

• It’s not enough to have a good idea that people want (if this turns out to be such an idea). To succeed you need to find a proven way to get your idea in front of the targeted prospects that will be the most eager consumers of your info WITHOUT spending a bunch of money on advertising. The BEST way to do this is to give great info away to a “gatekeeper” that already has a waiting audience. All you ask in return is a link back to your email opt-in form. For example, write an article and show a picture of your invention. Show others how to do what you did and give them a lot of great info (for free). If they want to join your mailing list for more great ideas tell them how (see my “email marketing” tips blog section for help, or check out this simple video on growing a mailing list without a website). Once your prospects are on your mailing list you can easily survey to see what else they want from you. To process orders check out Clickbank.com, ejunkie.com, or paypal.com (paypal is overly simple perhaps). To have a simple site built and get a nice graphic cover etc. I suggest odesk.com and/or 99designs.com. Plan on making the product a “print on demand” book as well using createspace.com (this gets you on amazon.com as a “physical book” as well). To help approach the launch of your info product correctly check out my book ($5) sold out SilentSalesMachine.com.
• I know for a fact that “farming ideas and plans” like the one you are talking about can potentially do well on eBay as well. There’s one guy that has been selling chicken coop blueprints on eBay for nearly a decade now.
• I tracked down and updated an old blog post that features an eBay seller that’s been selling “info” products for years now. Here’s a link to that blog post: http://www.jimcockrum.com/blog/?p=174
• Become a collector of “good ideas” and feed your prospects and followers a steady stream of free great ideas. There will be plenty of way to “monetize” once you have a list. The true potential of this idea is the opportunity to grow an audience in a strong niche.

In the last hour or so :

A hired worker in India listed multiple eBay items for sale on my account, we sold ebooks or courses to 45 people from 9 different countries, 140+ people joined one of my email lists via aweber, we sold 3 items on amazon via FBA (ProvenAmazonCourse), 1 new member joined at MySilentTeam.com (27 ppl logged in), 1 new member joined offlinebiz.com (57 ppl logged in), We sold an estimated 2-3 copies of my 101FreeMarketing.com best seller, Mary answered multiple customer support emails, Ronda shipped the several eBay items that sold over the weekend, Brandy made our manual weekly backups of our email lists and answered customer support inquiries, Jen prepped inventory for eBay/Amazon, Approx. 420 people visited one of my 20+ websites, and that’s probably about half of it…

Some lessons/observations:

• Part of continuing your success online means including other people so that you are ONLY doing what ONLY you can do
• I DO what I teach unlike many full time “how to” sellers with no experience DOING it
• I’m serious about “multiple streams” and you should be as well
• Notice my name didn’t come up on that list as doing much. This is because I stay quite busy THINKING, PLANNING,  and CREATING. That’s my job.

What questions/observations do you have about this? Use the comment section to let me know your thoughts and see what others think.

Good news: No website needed and it will cost only a few dollars to get started

Here’s how:

1. Buy a PLR book (Private Label Rights) and update it, or write your own book or report using free OpenOffice writer (openoffice.org) and convert to PDF.
   

   Sample $5 ebook covers from Fiverr.com

2. Get a nice graphic cover from fiverr.com for $5
3. Set up aweber.com to collect email addresses no website or techie skills required here’s how: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzdemYscFhY (Be sure to use the ebook graphic you had created on Fiverr.com to make your opt-in form look nice)
4.  Spread the word (look for great ideas on this blog)

Have a question or feedback? Leave a comment on this blog post  – I’m happy to help out.

I’m rolling it out to loyal fans – many of which have read EVERY version!

Since 2002 I’ve been updating and re-releasing what is surely one of the all time (if not the all time) best selling ebooks in the world.

What’s this book about?

Quite simply, it’s about what works NOW and what doesn’t work NOW online. It’s about where to get started and what to avoid. It’s the story of my success online and the success of thousands of others that I’ve taught, but better yet, it’s how you can do it as well.

Yes it’s true-  thousands of people have used past versions of this book to launch their online income streams.

Here are the details on the “Silent Sales Machine 7.0″ ebook update:

•   If you are a member of MySilentTeam.com log in to get the latest update at no charge
•   If you bought the book in the past I’ve emailed you a copy by now (or you dropped off our email list).

If you are a long time loyal reader of “Silent Sales Machine” I have a favor to ask though:

• Read the new version
• Send me your feedback (as an email, or post it as a comment here)
• If you have a story of your own success that belongs in the book send it to me! I’ll include it (once verified of course). I always have room for new success stories!

Ready to pick it up at the $5 launch price?
Visit SilentSalesMachine.com

Have a question, comment feedback etc.? Please leave a comment using the comment button above! We will publish all comments that others might find useful, but if you have a private question you can leave it here as well and we’ll respond to the email address you leave us.

CONTEST:

For the next several weeks, each week I’ll be randomly selecting one comment from ALL comments left on this blog post. The winner will get various prizes. Your comment DOES NOT have to be positive to be eligible of course!

The only guideline for eligibility:
Your comment must be feedback about what you thought of the latest version of “Silent Sales Machine”. Other feedback, questions or other comments are welcome of course, but only feedback left about the book is eligible for the contest.

There will be various prizes for the random weekly winners…a signed copy of my 101FreeMarketing.com book for example, or access to a membership site of your choice (offlinebiz.com or mysilentteam.com etc). Go read the SilentSalesMachine.com book, and leave a comment on this blog post! It’s that simple!

WINNER #1: Larry (screen name morecustomers). He’s been contacted via the email supplied when he left a comment!
WINNER #2 : Jacqueline. She’s been contacted via the email address she used for her comment.
WINNER #3: TBA SOON

P.S. Want to get paid to tell your friends about this book on facebook etc.? Check out the affiliate info at the bottom of the SilentSalesMachine.com page.

Who can you trust though?

I believe we are living in the best time in human history for entrepreneurs and the “speed of trust” is one of the biggest reasons for it.

Speed of Trust: The amount of time it takes two parties to form a trusting relationship

Partnerships are forming fast these days – and that’s a good thing for those of us in business. You can profit from creative partnerships easily once you know the “tools” of the game.

Some factors contributing to the acceleration:

• Services like Klout.com allow us to find great experts and potential partners on any topic in minutes and can help us quickly identify who the power players are in any niche
• A Google search tells you a lot of course
• Reputations are getting harder to hide. The “good guys” really stand out.
• Topical discussion forums are a great place to find trustworthy partners
• Clickbank can automate the division of profits among multiple partners on a collaboration project. There’s no need to build years or months of “trust” in someone if clickbank is enforcing the payout on your product! See this video

Who makes a great partner? Someone who you can trust who also has the attention of the audience you are trying to reach. This blog post about growing your own audience will help you think this through.

Example: My partner Andrew and I run OfflineBiz.com but we’ve never met, never spoken, and would probably pass each other on the street without even noticing…but we have a 10,000+ member membership site because we both quickly researched and found the other to be a trustworthy and accomplished potential partner. I had the perfect audience and he had the perfect skills.

GET THE AUDIO VERSION HERE

The story behind this book:

I was approached by a major publisher nearly one year ago (the “For Dummies” publisher – Wiley and Sons) and they asked me to write a book about how to START or GROW a business (or spread and idea, a cause, an organization etc.) using free and virtually free marketing ideas.

After nearly a year of hard work on this book I think you’ll love what I’ve come up with.

Hit store shelves Fall 2011.

Thanks Paul Hobart for sending this pic of his 3 1/2 yr old starting her biz career early!

What made me qualified to write this?

From the perspective of the publisher I’d achieved something that many others would like to accomplish. I’d grown multiple successful and creative online businesses…and had done it WITHOUT ever needing to invest a wad of cash. In the rare instances where I did spend any money it was either on inventory that would quickly sell for very nice profits, or it was nominal expenses like $5 for a video, or $30 to have a long audio transcribed into writing etc.

I’ve been a ravenous consumer of effective and “Free Marketing” concepts for over 25 years.

Michael Markuson's daughter explaining some of the finer points to him...

From here forward I’m considering the self appointed title of:  “World’s Foremost Expert on Free Marketing Ideas”.    You like it?   ;0)

Seriously though – the book is CRAMMED with my best ideas and the first few dozen reviews are all RAVING.   It’s so stuffed with great ideas that they asked me to shorten it but I refused. Since they initially asked if I had 100 ideas to fill such a book and I agreed…I decided to deliver those 100+ ideas on MY terms.

The final product is the best ideas from my nearly decade of success online. It’s not a cover to cover type of book though. Whether you have five minutes or six hours to spend with this book I hope you’ll walk away inspired (that was my goal).

I can sniff out winning ideas like a bomb sniffing dog on caffeine. It’s a gift and a curse, but I tried to capture that way of thinking and put it all into a single book.

Click the book image or visit 101freemarketing.com for more info.

Want to see the reviews from readers? Click Here for Amazon’s Reader Reviews Page

Tearing up the charts! It’s a #1 Top Seller Worldwide!

Can you help spread the word?

Finally, here’s my invitation to you to help spread the word about this book. I also explain where the proceeds are going (I’m not keeping them).  You’ll also see a video of my wife, kids and I seeing the book for the first time ever just a few days before it hit store shelves – it was a fun family moment!

Be Sure to buy more than just one copy!!

o   Booster seat for toddlers
o   Have any business minded friends? They’ll love you!
o   Have non-business minded friends with insomnia? They’ll love you too!
o   Christmas isn’t that far off!
o   Sell them on eBay? (or Amazon) and get most if not all of your money back? (the book is still at pre-launch pricing temporarily but that WILL change soon.)

Have a question? Leave a comment and someone will help you out.

Mark has dozens of successful eCommerce sites in a bunch of “inch wide / mile deep” niche markets and I just spent over an hour with him on the phone as he spilled the beans on how he does it. The full interview and more details are at this link.

You’ll love how stable and easy to get into this biz model is. He uses drop shipping for product delivery, and he’s not the expert on the products he sells. He does virtually NO customer support himself either. His model is very slick and very scalable.

If you have any questions about eCommerce sites please leave a comment! You can ask questions here on my blog and Mark will help answer them (use the comment button at the top of this article)!

Mark is my new eCommerce site CHAMP

I’ve been helping my readers and students launch successful online and Internet based businesses for nearly a decade. Even though I’ve been part of helping thousands of people achieve significant online incomes, I’m aware that much if not most of my audience is still stuck at square one for one reason or the other. This is a visual map to help you pick an idea to start with, or if you’ve had some success and want a new income stream you’ll find my favorites here.

Welcome to my “Opportunity Landscape” or “map”. A lot of thought went into this – I hope you like it.

Thanks Thea Woods for helping turn my chicken scratch into a pretty chart!

To download this full image (bigger) use this link.

I’ve made three very short videos (under 5 minutes) for you to explain the detail on this table. Please let me know what questions you have by leaving a comment (use the comment button at the top of this article).

Did I leave anything out? Do you want more detail on any of these opportunities? Do you disagree with where I placed any of the opportunities? Let’s talk about it… (also – for additional reading check out my SilentSalesMachine.com book. It’s the best $5 you’ll ever spend to help shape your online income goals.)

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For each video you'll need to click into "full screen" mode to see the details.

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Please leave a comment! The button is at the top of this post.