How I Made My First Million on the Internet and How You Can Too!: The Complete Insider's Guide to Making Millions with Your Internet Business
380
How I Made My First Million on the Internet and How You Can Too!: The Complete Insider's Guide to Making Millions with Your Internet Business
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781600374708 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Morgan James Publishing |
| Publication date: | 01/01/2009 |
| Pages: | 380 |
| Sales rank: | 714,607 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
The Journey Begins
I was born on June 25, 1973, in Singapore into a middle-class family of four. My parents worked very hard to provide the best for our family, but their own union was a troubled one. Sadly they were unable to reconcile their differences and had decided to separate by the time I was in elementary school.
It was then that I decided to get my first job, and I started working part-time after school. This helped instill in me a strong work ethic and taught me the value of money early on. Even though I was a bit of a workaholic — and still am — I realized that I needed something more. I wanted to be able to enjoy my work and be wealthy from it at the same time.
When the time came to enroll in college, I chose to attend the Singapore Institute of Management, where I earned a BS in management, with honors. I figured I'd work my way up the chain at some big company and that even if I didn't get rich right away, I'd still make a good, middle- class income for my family. Little did I know where life was about to take me ...
RAGS BEFORE RICHES
Flashback to 1997: I was fresh out of college and had just taken on a sales and marketing job at Sony Music Entertainment (Singapore). I was at the job for about a year before moving on to MobileOne, which is one of the top telecommunications service providers in Singapore. I'd recently married during this period as well and was very happy to be supporting my new family. I also found myself spending a lot more time on my hobbies. I am an avid guitar player and love to write songs. So I started thinking about marketing some of my compositions.
The Internet was really starting to take off in 1997, and it seemed logical to me that I could reach a wide audience with my music by putting it online. In other words, I was interested in Internet marketing but wasn't actually thinking about starting an online business at all. It wasn't until I began visiting different Web sites in an effort to learn how to market my songs that I came across some information about potential money-making opportunities.
"Could this be my chance to get rich?" I wondered. Well I don't do anything halfway, so I dived right in. From 1997 to 2002 I spent all of my time after work trying to learn how to make money on the Internet. This meant getting up at 7:00 am to go to my full-time job, then locking myself away from 11:00 pm to 3:00 am while I did everything I could to get a business going.
Unfortunately my first few years in business online did not result in the rags-to-riches miracle I'd dreamed of so vividly. Not by any stretch of the imagination. The fact is that I had no idea where to start, nor what kind of business I wanted to run.
For five straight years, I juggled long days and sleepless nights and barely had any time to spend with my family. The first few "business ventures" I got involved in scammed me out of several thousand dollars. Still, I refused to give up and continued pouring more and more money into different ideas. I bought all of the how-to e-books and courses, hoping someone would finally reveal the secret to making money online.
Do you want to guess just how much money I blew? Make sure you're sitting down for this ... I spent close to US$50,000 trying to unearth the key to that door I was banging my head against in a desperate effort to gain financial freedom ... and I charged most of that $50,000 to credit cards. My wife was not happy with me, to say the least. All of those credit-card bills were rapidly gaining interest, and we were impossibly behind on payments. The situation was truly grim beyond words.
My self-confidence was fading rapidly, and I was desperate to prove to everyone — but especially to myself — that this "Internet thing" wasn't just a dream. I spent many nights alone, often in tears and feeling shut out by everyone around me. I asked myself over and over, "Why? Why can't I make this work? What am I missing?"
THE POWER OF FOCUS
It is often in our darkest moments, though, that we finally see clearly ...
My turning point came one night in 2002. I was up burning the midnight oil again and asking myself how I could get out of the mess I'd created. A part of me was ready to throw in the towel, but I'm simply too stubborn to give up — even in the face of what looked like total disaster. I had to admit that not all of that $50,000, five-year-long "education" was totally worthless. In fact I'd gained many valuable skills and learned almost everything there was to know about the main models of Internet business.
I knew, for instance, that I needed to target a viable market. I knew I needed to deliver solutions to that market. I understood that I needed to drive market traffic to my offer and that I had to have a lead-capture and follow-up system in place.
Then it finally hit me: "I'm not missing anything!" In a flash, I realized that I knew what I was supposed to be doing, but I just wasn't doing it. Instead of putting in the hard work of applying my knowledge, I was still buying into all the hype about overnight riches. A part of me still wanted to believe that all I had to do was put up a Web site, push a few buttons, then wait for the customers to come flooding in by some invisible, magnetic force. Now the truth is that it can be this easy when you already have a successful business. Once you've put in the hard work up-front to build an existing customer base, you've got it made. But you have to treat your business as a real business first.
This was my problem. I'd been playing at my business like a hobby. I'd failed to implement the most fundamental concepts of Internet marketing — like having a target market, a clear strategy, and, most importantly, following a proven system. It wasn't the system that was failing me; it was my failure to follow through.
What I lacked was focus. I realized that all I'd ever needed to do to succeed was focus and commit to taking action on what I'd already learned. The thousands of dollars worth of material I'd read over the years had revealed all of the proven business models. I just needed to choose one and stick to it. Armed with this insight, I renewed my commitment to succeed. I decided then and there that failure was not an option.
I settled on affiliate marketing as the business model to focus on and started applying myself with concentrated energy and dedication. It wasn't long before the tide began turning in my favor. I made my first online sale. Believe me, your first sale will give you the greatest feeling in the world once it comes, especially if it has been years in the making! Well, then I made another sale, and another. It was a slow trickle at first, but I finally had my proof. No one could doubt my ability to make sales online anymore — not even me.
MY SUCCESS STORY — AND YOURS
After that moment of truth in 2002, I became unstoppable. By focusing and applying a proven system, my income continued to soar. Just how far have I come since the days of debt?
First, I've been the top-earning affiliate in almost every Internet affiliate program I've promoted. I've created dozens of my own information products too and have seen them sell like crazy. I currently own and run over ten active money-making Web sites, including the following:
You can also check out these:
• http://www.MyFreeWebsiteBuilder.com
• http://www.AutopilotProfits.com
• http://www.SuperAffiliates.com
• http://www.WorkingFromHome.com
Each of these Web sites continues to pull in profits for me on autopilot, to the tune of about five figures per month. None of this happened overnight, either. Each of these sites represents a point in my learning curve, and each is the result of taking an idea and seeing it through to completion. Some of these sites sell individual products, and some of them are membership sites that generate recurring income. I'll let you in on a secret: not a single one of these sites, on its own, could ever generate the income I have right now. It is the cumulative income generated by of all of these sites over time that creates a five- to six- figure monthly income.
Now let's look at some of my other credentials. I've become an in-demand speaker on the Internet-marketing seminar circuits, and I regularly travel around the world giving presentations to newbies and experienced insiders alike.
I was also presented with the first-ever World Internet Challenge trophy at the 2006 World Internet Marketing Summit held in Singapore, where I set up a business without preparation and from scratch in front of a live audience of a thousand individuals ... and proceeded to generate five-figure sales from it in just seventy- two hours!
Subsequently I was invited to be the only local featured speaker at the World Internet Mega Summit held in Singapore in May 2007. This was the world's biggest Internet business event, attended by over 3,500 participants. Here I was given a standing ovation and voted best speaker by the audience!
It's not all business success, either. I am driving — yes — the luxury car.
I know I look like a typical Internet marketer showing off here! I was very happy on the day I purchased that BMW, though, because it symbolized the results of years of hard work and struggle. I wanted something to remind me just how far I've come, and I am reminded of my journey to success each time I get behind the wheel.
Another benefit of success is that my wife and I are able to travel almost anywhere in the world. We finally had the chance to visit Universal Studios in Hollywood last year when I went to California for a marketing seminar. And whenever we need to get away from our everyday routine in Singapore, we can vacation somewhere with a different climate and culture.
Most importantly, though, my family has security, and my wife and I have more time to spend at home with our kids.
We've achieved wealth beyond our wildest dreams, and we owe it all to the Internet business.
The crazy thing is I've managed to achieve all of this while marketing to predominantly English-speaking consumers, and English is not even my first language. I've shown you just a fraction of what I've been involved in — we haven't even addressed how I achieved my first million-dollar product launch yet. We'll get to that soon. What I want you to absorb right now is that these same results are possible for you.
Maybe a car or luxury holidays are not the status symbols you would choose, but I'm sure there's something you've always wanted. A new house? A fancy, flat-screen television? A jacuzzi? Or perhaps something less tangible, like a better education for the kids? Time to pursue a sporting or artistic dream? A comfortable early-retirement plan? You could have any of these things in due time when you focus on building a solid business. The unfolding of my story in the next chapter could well be yours in the making too.
CHAPTER 2The Million-Dollar Day
During my Internet marketing journey, I saw the depths of despair and carried the burden of debt. I was ripped off, scammed, and lied to countless times. But I didn't give up. Step by step, I climbed closer to seeing my first million from Internet sales — and I'm about to tell you how it all happened.
FROM AFFILIATE TO SUPER AFFILIATE
When I finally got serious about business, I chose affiliate marketing. The first year or so, I would say I was an average affiliate. I made a decent income, but I certainly wasn't a top performer. I was still getting used to really applying the systems and strategies to my marketing. I did a lot of tracking and testing of results, seeing what worked and what didn't. The better I got at the basics, the more freedom I had to test new ideas. In fact, the more I understood and applied the basics of marketing, the easier it was to come up with new and creative approaches.
I started focusing much more on building my opt-in lists and on forging a solid relationship with my list subscribers. It was through their feedback that I learned just how important it is to provide value and information. I came to understand that people are looking for solutions, not just products.
In other words, the more value I could provide up-front, for free, the more referrals I made down the line. Just this one shift in attitude saw my commissions go way, way up. I was getting really competitive, and I started winning even more in commissions and gifts for my efforts. I was becoming a super affiliate and often beat out other affiliates to become the top earner in the programs I was involved in.
FROM SUPER AFFILIATE TO PRODUCT CREATOR
Success always brings people to your door in search of answers. Keep in mind, my primary niche has always been Internet marketing. As a super affiliate, I was selling lots and lots of "How to Succeed on the Internet"-type products. Naturally, many of my subscribers had questions for me:
"Ewen, should I buy this product?"
"Ewen, this looks great, but I'm a total newbie! How will this help me if I don't even know how to build my own list?"
"I enjoy your newsletters, but how can I be sure you aren't just conning me like everyone else? You say this is easy, but look — you generate huge amounts of traffic!"
It wasn't enough just to tell the people who put their trust in me, "Hey, I've been there." The fact is that I wanted to see my subscribers and customers succeed just as well as I had. I naturally enjoy teaching and mentoring others, sharing what I know. I did what I could to address these questions as they came in.
However, there came a point when the volume of questions was just too overwhelming. I realized I needed to start teaching others on a larger scale, and the only way to do this was to become a product creator myself. As luck would have it, this decision actually brought about another huge leap in income for me.
One of my early smash hits as a product creator was a little e-book called Mini e-Book Secrets. It was designed to teach people how to become the top affiliate in any affiliate program. The secret was in first understanding the fundamentals of marketing:
• You must find a target market.
• You must offer a solution to that market.
• You must drive market traffic to your offer.
• You must capture leads onto an opt-in list in order to follow up on your offer.
The second secret was in understanding the affiliate's role as a middleman or information value provider. These short reports, or mini e- books, could be written on any niche topic for which one had a relevant affiliate program to promote. The overall system relied on driving targeted traffic to an opt-in page where people could download the mini e-book, consume the information, and then click-through the affiliate links contained within it.
Although this is not the complete picture, it contains the seeds of the system I now teach to people — and it represents a very good summary of the methods I've continued to build upon through subsequent product launches. Almost every product I've created since then has been a variation on this theme, but the depth of the material has grown as my knowledge has grown. At the same time, I continue to add new tactics into my marketing with each new product I create.
I realized there was no need to choose between being an affiliate marketer and being a product owner. I could have it both ways. And it was really this desire of mine to have it both ways that led to my first million in online earnings, with the launch of a product called the Super Affiliate Cloning Program.
THE SUPER AFFILIATE CLONING PROGRAM
On April 29, 2007, Singapore's national paper, the Sunday Times, ran a feature story on me in its "Me & My Money" section. The headline proclaimed, "He's Made His First Million on the Internet."
The interview focused a lot on my background and my personal money-management style but didn't mention how, exactly, I'd made that first million. The fact is that my income had steadily progressed into high five figures. I didn't waste that money, either. I leveraged it back into all of my businesses and put much of the rest of it into savings and investments. What pushed my income to the $1 million mark was the launch, on August 22, 2006, of a product called the Super Affiliate Cloning Program. The Super Affiliate Cloning Program generated $1.497 million in sales in thirty-six hours! It was a unique mentoring program that contained my entire life's work on affiliate marketing. I put my heart and soul into the product, laying out absolutely everything I'd learned about what it takes to succeed in Internet business.
The sales letter began like this:
To see the letter in full, visit http://www.EwenChia.com/supercloner.
The response was insane. I had so much traffic to this offer that both of my servers crashed before I'd even officially gone live. It was a time-limited offer, and people were coming to the site, constantly refreshing the page so they could secure their spot before the offer disappeared. In just a matter of hours, my Alexa traffic ranking jumped to 386, meaning I had 2,850 people out of every million Internet users all trying to get to my site at once. What made people so desperate to grab this incredible offer?
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "How I Made My First Million on the Internet And How You Can Too!"
by .
Copyright © 2008 Ewen Chia.
Excerpted by permission of Morgan James Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments,
Introduction,
PART ONE: MY STORY — AND YOURS,
Chapter I: The Journey Begins,
Chapter 2: The Million-Dollar Day,
Chapter 3: The Fab Five,
Chapter 4: Understanding Internet Marketing,
Chapter 5: Tools of the Trade,
PART TWO: THE MILLION-DOLLAR BLUEPRINT,
Chapter 6: Your Market,
Chapter 7: Your Offer,
Chapter 8: Easy Traffic,
Chapter 9: Backend for Beginners,
Chapter 10: Duplicating Your Business Model,
Chapter 11: Blogging,
Chapter 12: A Beginner's Guide to Writing Great Ad Copy,
Troubleshooting,
Resources,
Glossary,
Bonus,