When thinking about the tools I have bought over the years for my business it always makes me shudder.
To understand why we have to go back in my life for a bit of a history lesson . . .
Jeepers, I know I am getting on, but I am not that old.
On with the story . . .
The Parable Of The Fool
I am going all the way back to 2014 when I first got interested in making money online.
First, let me warn you. If you are new to online marketing, then make sure you read this. It is important and will save you a chunk of hard-earned cash.
In those early days, I was a total novice. I assumed making money online involved creating up a single page website, posting it online, and then waiting for the money to roll in.
I believed what the guru’s were telling me. ‘Get it online, it will be there forever bringing money into your bank account.’
Believe me, it doesn’t work like that.
If you receive an email from anyone saying that, then scroll to the bottom of it and hit the ‘Unsubscribe’ button. You do not want advice from anyone like that.
Now learning about how to make money online is tortuous for the majority of people. ‘Newbies’ who come into this industry often need to make money because they don’t have any to start with.
The problem is you get drawn into buying cheap products from JVZoo and Warrior+. Most are not going to solve your problem.
At the price offered they are not going to be a complete solution. It is like getting 5% of a jigsaw puzzle. Even if you manage to put the pieces roughly where they should be you might get an inkling of the picture. That is if you are lucky.
The next thing you do is buy another product with another incomplete solution. It doesn’t help, because it is a different picture.
What you need is to buy a package with a complete solution, except these cost big money. And you don’t have big money.
Also, many of these packages are still incomplete solutions. They may give you 50% of the picture. Why? Because the guru wants you to buy their coaching, which is where they make the real money.
Even then, the coaching might not be the whole story. For that, you have to pay yet more money for their ‘Mastermind’ program.
It is not all doom and gloom though. On the odd occasion, you stumble across someone like myself who has been around the block and will help you. Are you feeling better now you have found me?
Most of the packages people buy when they come into online marketing never get used. It’s a sad fact.
There are several reasons why:
- The package is incomplete
- The package is a solution to one small problem
- The package is not supported well by the owner
- The package does not do what they say it does
I could go on.
It is very easy to get into the mindset of believing the copywriters who market these products. They are professionals whose purpose is to make you feel you are making a big mistake if you don’t buy it.
In the end, you jump from one product to another. You believe Product B will give you the knowledge you lack to make Product A work.
It won’t.
Flitting from product to product like this is what people call ‘Shiny Object Syndrome’. It affects the majority of wannabe online business owners in the early days. Even experienced people who should have learned their lesson can stay afflicted.
It is a bad disease and it costs you a lot of money. I know because I had a bad case of it.
Back To The Present (Almost), But Still On My High Horse
A few weeks ago I went through my list of tools and training I had purchased over the last 5 years. The main email address I used to sign up for these products in the early days was expiring. I no longer use it so didn’t want to pay another year’s domain registration fee.
My plan was to revisit old tools and training to update the email address to my current one.
What I found was shocking. Like stun gun shocking.
90% of the stuff I had purchased more than 2 years ago no longer existed!!! Gone. Kaput. It had dodo written all over it.
Even some of the more up to date stuff had vanished too. The domain names were no longer registered.
They had shuffled off to the resting place of digital ones and zeroes – binary heaven.
One of these training packages I had paid $497 for. It was for a lifetime account.
ne thing you learn is that a lifetime account usually means for the life of the product. It is not for your lifetime. The lifetime of a product can be as little as 6 months!
Now, before you go into complete despair, there is hope. My aim is to help you avoid some of the pitfalls I encountered.
You may ask why most product vendors don’t offer this advice too? The answer is if they did you wouldn’t buy their stuff in the first place.
The truth is, there ARE some good people out there. I have products that are still valid after 5 or six years. In fact, they are still marketed today. Some of these are inexpensive products too.
Going through my backlog of woe, I discovered who some of the good guys are. For instance, my first mentor John Thornhill has the majority of his products still working and available for sale.
The same applies to a marketer called Kevin Fahey.
Both of these guys produce their own training and tools and are still active today. John Thornhill has launched the careers of a few decent marketers. His ‘Partnership To Success’ coaching program is responsible for putting these people on the map.
His training is good and his philosophy passes on to his students. If you complete his training you have a high chance of success. This is because John backs you all the way. Your success is his success. His business grows as your business grows.
You can find out how to access John’s coaching program for just $1 by clicking this link.
‘Stop Rambling And Get On With It’
Anyhow, back to the job in hand.
I sifted through all the training packages and online tools I had purchased over the years. I didn’t dare add up how much I had spent. I wanted to be able to sleep that night.
What I ended up with was a lot of tools and a lot of training that had taught a lot of the good stuff I now know. Yes, there is some decent stuff out there thankfully.
I made a list of the useful products in a spreadsheet, with notes explaining what they did. I included login details and URLs and denoted if they were a tool or training.
I found some gems. The list I compiled offset some of the annoyance of so much deadwood. In fact, one or two of them will play a major part in what I build for my business. The best part is I bought them when they first hit the market and paid a pittance for a lifetime account.
One package I paid $49 for a lifetime account. The same package now costs $92 a month because the tool has become popular. I purchased to top package that they have since developed even further.
Stick with me over time and I will teach you how to get these types of products at these ‘early-bird’ prices.
My Good Intentions
My intention is to build a list of the products I use and the products I recommend. This will be available on my website. It will help you make the right buying decisions.
I also intend to provide reviews of many of these tools and training so you can judge if they are right for you too. I promise I will be honest in those reviews too.
I will also review some of the major products as they get released. These will be the ones the marketers will be pushing hard. I want you to know if they are worth buying or not.
My aim of these reviews is I want to build your trust. I can’t see how I can achieve that if I recommend products to you I wouldn’t use myself. Especially if you don’t use them either.
Many of these products I will make a commission from if you buy through my link. They won’t cost you any more money than if you bought them anywhere else. The commission payment comes the product vendor as a thank you for recommending you.
It is the same philosophy as the profit a retailer makes on any product they sell you. They make money for recommending a product to you.
To continue to make commissions I need people to trust me. I won’t gain trust if I recommend everything that hits the market. Especially as most of it is poor.
It is sad, but this is how most marketers operate. They recommend products to make their commission. Their commission is all they care about. This is why so many poor products keep appearing on the market.
My role is to guide you away from these and to products that are helpful and provide a useful function. I will tell you why they will help so you can decide if you are one of the people who would benefit from them.
Sound reasonable?
Avoiding The Pyrite
Finally, I want to wrap up this state of the (Jenkins) nation.
‘Hoorah’, I hear you bellow.
In the last few weeks, I have purchased some other products that I felt filled the gaps I needed to build my business.
They weren’t cheap. I have got past that stage. But they are effective.
I have the experience now to tell the difference between gold and fool’s gold (also known as pyrite). Can you tell I used to sell gemstones and crystals?
I have most of the tools I need to start my business. I will let you into my vault where the gold resides over time. So pay attention over the coming weeks and months.
Until next time, although I will leave you with one thought:
If it has the price tag of fool’s gold it most certainly is. If it has the price of gold, seek expert advice before parting with your fortune.