mastermind meeting

We just wrapped up another Online SuperProfits Mastermind meeting in Toronto last month, and it was the best one yet.

And I have 12 success tips I can share with you…these aren’t the advanced insider tips we share behind closed-doors, but these are some valuable time-management and business boosting tips that can help you get to the next level.

Overall, major breakthroughs were made in everyone’s businesses – even for veterans like Vince Del Monte. And it was great to see two of the best-ever OSP students – Adam Steer and Eric Wong – showing everyone how they are taking their unique fitness products to the world.

Alright, so here are 12 quick success tips that you can implement today…

1) Remove yourself from most of the mailing lists you are on

Most of us get way too much email…and we don’t need to be signed up for every business guru’s email. In fact, maybe this newsletter isn’t for you. If not, unsubscribe. It’s okay. As long as it helps your business. And if you need more time to work on projects, cutting back on guru emails is the first place to start.

2) Stop emails going to your blackberry

The only emails that should be going to your blackberry are urgent client emails or emergency family emails.

You shouldn’t be getting newsletters or friend’s emails sent here. That just wastes your time. Send all of that correspondence to a gmail account and do NOT connect that to your blackberry.

3) Just get it out. Fail forward.

Too many people are taking too long to get things done and out to the market. You are using your “perfectionism” as an excuse for your fear of failing.

Get over it.

The world isn’t going to end if you start selling your product and only make 5 sales.

In fact, getting it out there and “failing forward” will give you the necessary feedback to make it better. If you have a product and it’s done, start selling it now. Don’t wait for everything to be perfect so you can have a “big launch”.

4) Sell at $9.95 rather than not at all…

Big launches are over-rated for most people. Just make an amazing offer to your current list to get a few sales under your belt now.

If you have a product that you want to sell for $39.95 and you only have a small list, then offer it to them for only $9.95 as a “Thank You” to them for supporting you as you get started. With a list of 100 people you’ll probably get 30, 40 or event 50 people to order, and you’ll make a few hundred bucks.

On the other hand, you might not make any sales at $39.95 and you wouldn’t get any feedback on the product.

So stop procrastinating and get it out there.

When I first launched Turbulence Training in 2003, it sold for only $9.95…just so I could get it out there.

Even 10 sales of $9.95 is still a lot more than the zero sales you are making by not putting it on the market.

5) Take your deadline and cut it in half. Get it done now!

Here’s another way to attack procrastination…most people make the mistake of setting deadlines so far into the future that the deadline is no longer a part of reality.

The analogy is the college final term paper. Sure the professor announces it on the first day of class, but the end of term seems so far away, right? So no one starts working on it until the last week before it is due.

And that’s what many business owners do…they set a long-term deadline – “Oh, I’ll get my product done in the next 3 months” – but that is not a concrete deadline and time slips away and the project never gets finished.

So take your long-term deadline and cut in half – or more – and put some urgency into your work. Light a fire under your butt and you’ll get your work done a lot faster and you’ll be way ahead of the competition who is too afraid to fail and too lazy to set real deadlines.

6) Don’t worry about anyone that hates you.

Not everyone is going to like you. Sorry to burst your bubble. But this came up at the meeting and we all had to realize that some people are just going to be “haters” and you have to ignore those folks. Worry only about what your clients and prospects say about your products and services, and focus on making them happy.

7)    Leverage content (turn great emails into video into free report)

Take your best emails and videos and turn them into more in-depth content pieces such as free reports and future products. Track the response to everything you create and you’ll discover new hot topics that can turn into great sources of website traffic and even new products to offer your customers.

8)    Be the authority

You have to be the expert in your niche market. You need to have articles, videos, and interviews of you demonstrating your expertise. Use everything you have – magazine articles, interviews, TV spots, even Youtube videos – to demonstrate your credibility and overcome skepticism.

9)    No email till 3pm

In addition to cutting back on the number of emails you get, you also need to cut back on how often you check your email. After all, email sucks the productivity out of your day. The longer you can hold off on email, the more you will get done.

make money online

10) Spend 3 minutes every other day in Google Analytics to understand your online business

If you aren’t using Google Analytics or some other tool to track your website statistics, you’re leaving a lot of business on the table. It’s free, easy, and takes less than 15 minutes per week. Set up Analytics on your home page and thank you pages and find out where your traffic comes from and where it goes.

I have an entire chapter dedicated to testing and tracking website visitors in The Online Second Paycheck System.

11)    Tie in to holidays

Tying in your business promotions to current events and holidays is one of the easy ways to call more attention to your online business.

For example, in my Easy Veggie Meal Plans business, we’re having a sale to mark “World Vegetarian Day” on October 1st, and we’re creating special vegetarian eating bonuses for Thanksgiving (which I’m renaming “Thanksveganing”.)

Every week represents an opportunity for you to creatively tie-in your business to something going on in the world.

12)    How to get a full-time Virtual Assistant for only $250 per month!

This is a great tip from OSP Mastermind Member, Adam Steer of Bodyweight-Blueprint.com.

Adam went to the Manilla, Philippines version of Craigslist and advertised for a Virtual Assistant. Within a day he received several replies and worked out a deal with a VA to provide full-time service for only $250 per month.

Even though there are some small language barriers, this has freed up over 100 hours per month from Adam’s time so that he can work on the major factors in his business while delegating the minutae.

That’s a killer online success tip right there.

If you have any other tips, please let us know.

To your success,

OSP Audio Coaching Program

Craig Ballantyne
Creator, Online Second Paycheck System

PS – You also need to have passion and you need to be prolific.

More on those two success tips in a future post…

Finished some awesome OSP coaching calls with my Mastermind members last week, and so many of them are having record-setting years online.

I’m a proud coach!

(And I’m going to be doing some coaching in Vegas and Atlanta this fall if you are interested…more details below.)

On the calls, we talked about the following 5 hot topics that will help you make more money online.

And if you would have gone all “Richard Nixon” on us and tapped our phones, you would have discovered this…

1) Don’t be cheap – get professional artwork done

One of the best tips I got from my mentor was to get my ebook covers
done by Vaughn.

Check out Vaughn here!!

I’ve spent thousands of dollars on book cover graphics, but I bet
my return on investment has been 10 to 1. In fact, I always make a
“production” out of my covers…using them as a big piece of my
marketing.

So when coaching my OSP mastermind members, I insist they use the
very best on their sites too.

2) Use Payment Plans – even at $77

I don’t have to tell you about the recession – no doubt you hear of
it everyday…it’s a big objection to buying.

So make it as easy as possible…and offer payment plans, even if
the price is only $77. I use payment plans for my bootcamp workout
products and folks take advantage of the payment plans at least 33%
of the time.

Don’t throw away money when these are so easy to set up!

3) Use a blog contest as often as possible

As you’ll discover in this month’s OSP Inner Circle newsletter, a
blog contest is an essential component of a Product Launch.

But you can also use them regularly to learn more about your clients
and the big obstacles in their way of success.

And the more you know about your clients, the better you will be
able to solve their problems and provide extreme value.

Blog contests are right up there with Transformation Contests for
the top thing I’ve started doing in my business in the last 2 years.

4) Just get it out there before you try to be Frank Kern!

Every week I hear from folks who want to do a big time production
Product Launch but they only have 400 people on their list.

Listen, you have to relax, take a deep breath, and just get your
product out to the world so that you at least know they want what
you have to offer.

Don’t spend all your time on an elaborate launch until you have a
proven product. Keep hustlin’ and working on the basics.

5) Give away something HUGE!

When you are offering a free gift to build your list, I want you to
make it the coolest thing you could possibly give away.

I almost screwed this up during my Easy Veggie Meal Plans Launch,
but fortunately my good buddy Vince DelMonte set me straight and
showed me an even better free gift to give prospects.

Thanks to him we sold over 885 copies of the Meal Plans to a tiny,
targeted niche in just 4 days.

6) BONUS TIP – Don’t be a hound dog.

No one likes to do business with a person who always seems “down on
their luck” and feeling sorry for themselves.

You’ll never build an Entourage like that!

You need to be…

- unique
- confident
- and bringing something of value to the table every time

Whew. That’s it. Those calls are always awesome and I learned 10
other things I just didn’t have time to share…

I love coaching folks on building their online businesses, and so
I’m adding a couple of coaching days for you this Fall.

In October, I’ll be in Vegas to do some online biz coaching on the
weekend of October 16-17th.

And in November, I’ll be in Atlanta on the weekend of Nov 4-8th for
an info marketing seminar…

So I’m going to add on 2 days to BOTH trips and I have room for:

a) One day of private coaching

You’ll spend a full 8 hours with me in my hotel suite where we’ll
work exclusively on building your Online Business from A to Z. This
is perfect for the ambitious expert who wants to accelerate their
success and skip over the beginner trials and tribulations.

The private coaching day investment is $10K.

b) One day of small group hotseats – limit 7 experts.

Each expert will have a 45 minute hotseat where the group will
Mastermind and Brainstorm solutions to your business problems and
help you grow your business faster than you ever would on your own.

Plus, the networking aspect of the intimate small group meeting
often even exceeds the hotseat experience! And finally, we’ll all
go out for an affluent experience after the meeting for more
networking.

The investment for the small group hotseat day is $1495.

Reply by email for an application,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

PS – Skeptical that a simple hotseat could really help your online
business?

“I had a fantastic meeting last week. In fact I’ve been telling
everyone that I learned more in the hotseat than have in the past
2 years on my own. I really enjoyed the group and have also
experienced first-hand the power of “The Mastermind”. I think
I’ve also realized that being part of a Master Mind group is a MUST
if you’re either starting a business or if you’d like to take it to
the next level. Look forward to the next meeting!
Deb Froehlich MS CSCS

“”Craig, you rescued me again. I have $10,000 worth of hardcopy
inventory sitting here and couldn’t figure out how to create
incentive for my customers to purchase them since they already own
the same content digitally – that was, until you gave me the answer
during one of your OSP hotseats. Now I guarantee I’ll sell all 500
DVD’s at $200 a pop for $100,000 profit in the next few months.
Thanks again.”
Vince DelMonte

PPS – Let me know if you’d prefer Vegas or Atlanta. See you soon!