Entrepreneurs Journey Podcast By Yaro

I love stories about people making a ton of money with blogs, and here's another one. Timothy Sykes, as you will hear in this interview I did with him, is an excitable guy and he's making a lot of money online (his most recent report was $100,000 a month!). His skill is stock trading, in particular short selling penny stocks. Not only does Tim make money from stock trading, he makes even more by providing training and tips to others so they can also profit from penny stocks. His blog and email newsletter are the marketing tools he uses to sell his stock trading tips premium membership, which accounts for the biggest chunk of his monthly earnings. This is a great case study example of Conversion Blogging (blog + email list business model), where Tim is able to leverage his passion and built-up years of experience and translate that into a huge income stream just using some fairly straight forward online communication tools. In this interview you will hear Tim talk about how he made his first million dollars, then how he lost a big chunk of it, how his blog started and how he structured his current online business that generates six figures per month. You will also hear some strong opinions and a few segues as Tim and I take the discussion across a range of Internet related topics. If you want to be inspired and hear exactly how someone uses a blog to make a lot of money, this is a must-listen interview. Enjoy! Show Notes How Tim made his first million dollars and learned how to trade stocks Tim wrote a book and then started a blog to help market it Why scams and spam email are important to Tim How Tim created his "Tim Alerts" email list and segments his free and premium content What technology Tim uses to run his blog, newsletter and take payments How Tim generates traffic to his blog, including how he gets interviews on TV Why Tim does not like life-casting (Twitter, YouTube, etc) Tim talks about the importance of the money [ Download MP3 | iTunes | Soundcloud ]

After Mitch's interview hit the airwaves recounting how quickly his blog grew to 3,000 daily readers in his niche of college football, another success story emerged in the Blog Mastermind private members forum. [ Transcript | iTunes | Soundcloud ] A Simple Change To Leigh's Blogging Made A Big Difference Leigh runs a blog called The Fat Loss Troubleshooter, and also joined Blog Mastermind during July 2008. Since then her blog has enjoyed huge growth, getting as many as 5,000 unique visitors per day AND - here's the really good news - she's making about $4,500 a month now. This is one of the screenshots she posted into the Blog Mastermind members forum showing her biggest income source - her Clickbank account. As you can see she's doing between $500 and $1,000 a week from Clickbank sales. When I hear success stories like this from my students I have to find out what they are doing right and learn what techniques are working for them. I asked Leigh to join me on a case study interview call to find out how she is getting such amazing results so quickly with her blog. In this interview you will learn... The change she made to her blogging style that made the big difference How she is now able to learn what her audience wants, rather than guessing what she thinks they want, which means more sales for her The techniques Leigh implemented to build her audience, in particular how she uses interviews to drive traffic to her blog What exactly Leigh sells to make money from her blog Her opinion of how a coaching program like Blog Mastermind can change your blogging and present a clear path to success Leigh's plans for world domination Here's the download link again for the MP3 - [ Download MP3 |  iTunes | Soundcloud ] What I found particularly powerful about this interview was the way Leigh explained how her content writing changed. The formula for a successful blog goes good content = more traffic = more money, so you can see how changes to Leigh's content style made such a difference to how much money she now makes. Do You Want To Profit From A Blog Too? Leigh's story shows that if you combine hard work, a passion for a topic and you follow a step-by-step process, you can succeed at blogging. If you want to see what system Leigh implemented, consider taking part in my coaching program. You can sign-up here - http://www.blogmastermind.com/coaching/ Success Is Not Guaranteed, But People Do Get Results I'm never going to tell you blogging for money is easy. Every person I speak to who's ever made good money from blogging talks about how much work they do, especially during the early days, however they also look at the work in a different angle - it's fun. When a passion is driving your work and you see results coming in, all you want to do is work some more. Positive reinforcement fuels passion and passion fuels work. It's possible to get into a wonderfully positive cycle, if you are just willing to take the steps to move past the challenges and the naysayers. Here's to your blogging success, Yaro Starak Blog Coach

  Thousands Of Blog Readers Within Two Months Mitch, who runs a college football blog called CFBPlace.com, joined Blog Mastermind when the program reopened in 2008. At the time we did this recording Mitch had been in the program for about two months and as you will hear, was up to lesson nine, so still very fresh to the course and growing his blog. [ Download MP3 | Transcript | iTunes | Soundcloud ] The reason I invited Mitch to do this interview is because he showed himself to be a standout performer and achieved above average results in a short period of time. After two months his traffic was already hitting 3,000+ unique visitors per day and I wanted to know how he did it. Mitch came to my attention because he was clearly an action taker. He asked many questions in the private forums as soon as the program started and is always one of the first to ask a question during the live question and answer sessions teleconferences with me. In this interview we find out... What Mitch does different from most people new to blogging How he was able to drive so much traffic so quickly How Mitch comes up with content ideas and is never short of something to write about Why I'm glad Mitch is not good with technology and how that helps him become a better blogger Why he loves the Blog Mastermind program A specific example of a technique Mitch used to drive a lot of traffic quickly What I consider the key to Mitch's early success This interview should serve as serious inspiration for anyone new to blogging. I expect within the next year or two Mitch could very well be a six figure blogger and this interview explains the foundation he's building to get himself there. Interestingly enough though, Mitch states he never intended to make money from blogging, which is part of why he has been successful so far (passion before profits). Ready To Be Coached? If you have decided to commit yourself to the blogging journey and would like to follow the same process Mitch is currently working through, please consider working with me and join the Blog Mastermind coaching program. You can sign-up here - http://www.blogmastermind.com/coaching/ It's Not Rocket Science Mitch's case is certainly not typical but you can see the steps to replicate his success are not complicated. You just need to do enough with your blog to give yourself the chance. Here's to your blogging success, Yaro Starak Blog Coach

Willie Crawford has been in the Internet marketing game for a long time, yet he still managed to have an entire career in the air force before becoming a devoted online marketer. Willie and I recorded this interview on Skype and I wanted to learn more about his history online, since he is widely regarded as one of the earlier "gurus". I was also curious about what Willie's first foray into online business was, as most people don't start out selling how to make money products. Willie is no different - his first big success was a recipes email newsletter and a cook book he sold (a six figure business), which began after he started sharing recipes from his family farm. From there Willie went on to become a seminar speaker, created a continuity income stream by private labeling the 1ShoppingCart system (his is called ProfitAutomation.com) and today runs a community of people who service all kinds of markets in his Internet Marketing Inner Circle. Willie ends the interview with two powerful tips - how any person can start a business today providing basic Internet marketing services and training to local offline small businesses, and how to leverage forums to find opportunities. Show Notes Willie's early life living on a family farm and then joining the air force His first Internet business project - a dating affiliate program Willie learns about niche marketing by reading email newsletters while flying in the air force Family food leads to Willie's first successful email list and product - a cook book The next step - Willie becomes a speaker at Internet marketing seminars Willie reveals the secret to success - good copywriting Taking the next step, Willie decides to create his own residual income product How to become an expert - run your own seminars like Willie How the Warrior Forum led to a business opportunity Today Willie focuses on offline businesses and helps them market online Why do some people succeed online and others fail Willie's current community - The Internet Marketing Inner Circle How to leverage forums to find business opportunities [ Download MP3 | iTunes | Soundcloud ]

Live on the Radio in California Last week I got an email from MZ, a DJ and radio owner who had a last minute drop-out guest for a show he was doing on his independent radio station. He asked if I could come on the show and talk about making money from blogs and if possible, could I do it the next day. I managed to free up some time but I didn't realize he wanted me for a full two hours! I've done a little mainstream media before, but not for that long. I had another appointment so I only made the show with MZ for three quarters of the time, which was a fun and unique experience. I got to mention my website addresses several times, which I hope will introduce a few new Californians to the world of blogging. If you listened to the radio show and you came to this blog from there, you might want to start your introduction to the world of blogging by visiting http://www.BecomeABlogger.com, where you can get free training videos on how to start your own blog. During the show the topics moved all over the place and we had some call-ins from people listening who had questions. MZ knows his Internet (he's a self proclaimed geek), so this show was not like your typical mainstream interpretation of blogging, which can be very boring and basic - we actually covered some interesting things, though it definitely was aimed at beginners. Note that I'm on the show for the first 75 minutes, after that MZ has to wing it without me. Thanks MZ for having me on your show and I hope everyone enjoys the audio. [ Download MP3 | iTunes | Soundcloud ]

  It All Started With A Blog If you opted in after watching my Conversion Blogging video you would have received an email from me talking about a podcast interview with a student of mine running a million dollar blog. [ Transcript | iTunes | Soundcloud ] My friend's name is Alborz Fallah and he was one of my very first students and certainly is the most successful. His blog, CarAdvice.com.au is one of the top blogs in all of Australia in any category and competes right along with some of the biggest media companies in the world for the car enthusiast market in the land down under. His blog gets phenomenal traffic, brings in hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising revenue each year and Alborz has traveled to Europe to drive some of the most prestigious sports cars ever created. His blog became a true business and Alborz has to be one of the luckiest people in the world, living out a passion every single day and earning big money along the way. What's really great about this story though, is that Alborz started out just like you and me. He wasn't sure what topic to write about, so he created three blogs at once to see which one would stick. The car blog got the traffic so he dropped the other two and slowly built up his site off the back of his own content. I convinced Alborz to test AdSense on his blog after much pestering and he immediately made around $10 per day. Over the next few months his income grew, AdSense reached about $100 a day and he started branching out and testing other forms of advertising. I don't know how much his blog generates today, but 12 months ago it was making $30,000 a month, so I expect the site generates at least half a million dollars a year now. I do know the site was professionally audited (necessary when you take on capital investors) and valued at 5 million dollars! Did I mention during this entire time he was still working a full time job? It wasn't until Alborz sold some of his blog to investors and his blog became a real serious business that he finally left his job to focus 100% on growing his project. Since then Alborz and CarAdvice have gone from strength to strength. He's knocked back a million dollar buy-out (actually I think he knocked back a couple of offers), he's had more people join his team contributing articles and he recently told me about a deal just made with one of the major online media companies to supply car related content to their network in Australia. There's also new branches of the blog opening up in other countries. It's truly become a massive enterprise, which all started as an after-hours experiment to see if he could build a popular blog. There's A Lot To Learn From This Interview The interview is very practical, and if you pay close attention you will learn a lot about the specific techniques Alborz implemented early on to grow his traffic. You will also hear the story of how he brought on investors to back his blog and help grow it to the next level. Here's some of the most important points to take away from the podcast - You can start a blog and choose top level categories in very competitive markets, if you niche it down based on geographical location. In other words, you can start a car blog and target just your country to differentiate it. There's big bucks to be made as the leading blog in just one country for mainstream subjects. When you don't know what topic to blog about, pick what you think might work and just put something out there and see what happens. You can build a significant blog based only on part time labor, if you are dedicated and get things done during the time you have available to work on the project. Sometimes, being controversial can do wonderful things for your traffic. Strong opinions will always stick out and grab attention. Search engine traffic is very powerful if you just do a few things right, like blog post titles in Alborz's case. Think BIG with your blog,

I meant to have this out to you on Wednesday last week after I recorded it, since the prior evening I attended a Third Tuesday meet-up in Toronto, which was the inspiration for the podcast. However, you see, I bought a new macbook pro. Don't get me wrong, I love my new mac, but this is my first mac and since I recorded the podcast on the mac there was a BIG learning curve to figure out how to get it ready for publication on this blog. As you will hear, it's not quite right, but the message is definitely clear enough to enjoy. Apologies for the change in volume and odd shuffling noises. How Do You Measure Social Media? This Third Tuesday meet-up was a good one, the topic being - How do we measure social media? - with three expert panelists (Katie Paine, Marshall Sponder and Marcel Lebrun) taking questions from the audience made up of mostly PR and communications professionals, and related consultants and small business owners. The idea of measuring the impact of social media is akin to measuring the effect of branding. Social media, much like branding, is often difficult to directly correlate with a business outcome, despite it obviously having a big impact on business results. I won't go into here since I do so in some depth in the podcast, so have a listen! If you are a blogger, a business owner or a person interested in the business side of social media, you will enjoy this rambling podcast. Thanks to Joseph Thornley and his crew for putting on a great meet-up. Show Notes Introduction to the Third Tuesday event What we mean when talking about measuring social media What this means for bloggers Why it's the conversation that matters most, not the influencer No industry wide standards for measuring social media are available Not many people are actively measuring, only monitoring There is an opportunity to provide a database of influential sites ranked by social media analysis Use social media to assess how your competition is perceived and use that information to compete Consulting firms providing social media data mining services What changes to ad budget spending at companies means for bloggers Why being an influencer in any niche is so important [ Download MP3 | iTunes | Soundcloud ]

With all the talk of doing a product launch online thanks to Jeff Walker's Product Launch Formula 2.0 release, I thought I should talk a little bit about how blogging can be used to launch a product based on my experiences. My list was built off the back of this blog and I have conducted a product launch process a couple of times. In this audio I go through some of the techniques, the mistakes and the successes I have experienced over my three years as a blogger, which led to the eventual successful launch of an information product, which I made over $150,000 from. If you are thinking of doing a product launch online, or a relaunch or closing down sale or any kind of online promotion, and if you want to know my opinion of Product Launch Formula (and let me be frank - I did NOT plan on buying the product at first because I didn't think I needed it), then this is a podcast you have to listen to. There's lots of good content in this audio and some behinds the scenes stuff too, plus at the end I'm offering a special bonus. You will just have to listen to the audio to find out what it is (okay, here's a clue - the bonus includes a free one of these, the same MP3 player I use - the iRiver S10). Note: To get the bonus you have to take action on Thursday 27th of March 2008 at 2PM EST (USA time) when Product Launch Formula 2.0 is released for 24 hours only, so listen to this audio before that date or you miss out! Show Notes How to build email lists How I created my first list of 3,000 subscribers using blogging Some key lessons from Jeff Walker about using surveys before releasing a product The first million dollar launch day The real reason I bought Product Launch Formula (nothing to do with the content itself) Jeff teaches me the importance of list segmentation What I did in the lead-up to my own launch How I attracted top affiliates to my launch The real reason you do a launch - to build a list (so you CAN start with no list and still succeed) Who should and should not invest in products like product launch formula A special bonus from me if you decide to join PLF 2.0 [ Download MP3 | iTunes | Soundcloud ] ****** Success with No List and No Affiliates? If you are still worried about conducting a launch without an email list, watch the latest free video from Jeff about the guy who started with no list, no web site and no joint venture partners and did over $7,000 in sales - impressive stuff! Here's the video - No List, No Web Site, No JV Partners

Yesterday I was sitting at my computer facing a few too many emails and a rather large list of things to do and I could already feel my head start to hurt. So what did I do? - I went to the park! I decided if I was going to continue working I would probably be in considerable head pain by the end of the day, so I dropped everything and went to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt-Cootha and hung out with the birds. I had my iRiver MP3 player with me and was listening to some podcasts, which created a desire to make one of my own impromptu rambling podcasts. My little iRiver has a built-in microphone, so I was itching to see how good it was - and wow, I'm impressed. The audio quality is not bad I'm sure you will agree, though I hope you like the sound of birds in the background :-). The podcast is a short one about a whole range of Internet business topics starting with social marketing, moving on to email lists and then finishing with a little note on keeping perspective. Show Notes Yaro talks about the recent Rich Schefren Attention Doctrine and StomperSMARTS launches A look at how the Internet marketing focus is shifting to social marketing How Yaro is using email lists with his blog to make money Why it is important to focus on intrinsic values and not just money [ Download MP3 | iTunes | Soundcloud ]

Steve Iser has been online since he was 9 years old. Now he's 21 and makes money using social media sites like MySpace and Facebook as marketing tools to promote products. I called Steve up to do an interview after I finished reading and listening to his Ready.Aim.Wired information product, which teaches how to use social marketing sites to drive leads, build a list and make sales. The book is solid and presents a system that I can actually see working in MySpace because it uses the same language and "model of interaction" as Steve calls it, to establish relationships. Just like with email marketing or any form of online marketing, you have to build relationships in order to get a positive result and if you are using sites like MySpace to do so, then you have to use the same language and community behavior. Ready.Aim.Wired is a great introduction to how to execute this concept based on what Steve has done in the past. In the call I wanted Steve to break things done for us because I still didn't quite understand how his methods work. Steve explained things really well in this interview, so I expect after listening you will have a solid grasp of what it takes to successfully market using social networking sites. There's a lot more to it than just broadcasting messages to as many people as you can - spamming MySpace, not surprisingly, won't work. Here is a breakdown of Steve talked about in the interview. I think you will enjoy the podcast, so make sure you slot in half an hour on your drive to work or when you go walking to have a listen. Show Notes How Steve first made money on the Internet Why Steve entered into social media marketing How to use MySpace as a direct response marketing tool The importance of natural communication in a social networking site Steve's model of interaction for attracting targeted friends (leads) from MySpace Outsourcing your MySpace marketing Facebook as a marketing tool What Steve is currently working on [ Download MP3 | iTunes | Soundcloud ]

It's time for podcast episode #40. It's hard to believe I started podcasting more than two years ago now! [ Download MP3 |  iTunes | Soundcloud ] This episode features myself and Darren Rowse and our topic of discussion is blog design. Darren talked about his recent Problogger redesign and how he worked with his designer, Ben Bleikamp. Then we talked about the different professional blog designers currently available (listed below) and how you should work with a designer to minimize the risk of problems. We went on to discuss how bloggers who have limited financial budgets can go about sourcing a unique blog look, including modifying free themes and why you would want to have a custom design for your blog. We also talked about what a new design can do for you in terms of blog traffic, demonstrating your professionalism and infusing yourself with new energy if you are feeling blogger burn out. Here's a list of the resources mentioned in the podcast. Blog Designers The Blog Studio Chris Pearson [ pearsonified ] Ben Bleikamp Nate Whitehill [ Unique Blog Designs ] Michael Pollock [ Solostream ] Phil Hartle Freelance Sites DesignOutpost.com Elance.com Guru.com Scriptlance.com Rentacoder.com Darren's Logo Designer Mike Rohde [ Makalumedia.com ] Free WordPress Themes http://themes.wordpress.net/

I sat down with Mike about a month ago and recorded this interview. I wanted to focus more on Mike's history and how he went from car salesman working 70 hours a week to an Internet marketer in charge of a 7 million dollar business. Mike has some great stories from his years working at car dealerships and we learn a lot about how he managed to transition from working as an employee to being in charge of an Internet business. [ Download MP3 | iTunes | Soundcloud ] Mike also spends some time in the interview talking about one of his core skills - building buzz using viral marketing - and you will learn about what it takes to create a viral marketing event online. I hope you enjoy the interview and as always, if you haven't already done so, please check out my podcast archives for more interviews like this, all free. Show Notes Mike background growing up in Long Island NY Mike's time in the car sales business How a SPAM email led Mike to the Internet Marketing world How Mike was "caught" running an Internet business which led to him being forced to quit the car sales business Mike discusses viral marketing with some examples How to build buzz online Tips for starting your own Internet business and a discussion of the three key ingredients for success Wrap-up

  You have likely heard this name circulating all over the web lately - Timothy Ferriss, author of the 4-Hour-Workweek - who I had a chance to interview last week and I deliver today in podcast format for your listening pleasure. [ Download MP3 | iTunes | Soundcloud ] Tim has been popping up on interviews at many blogs and websites, and his book and name are fast becoming standard reference points for anyone looking to break out of the 9-5 working grind and build a flexible and fun lifestyle. Tim explains how people can live a life of freedom, spend time traveling and doing what they enjoy, and live like a millionaire while earning only a standard salary. Of course Tim didn't just make this stuff up - he's been living what his book teaches for years, traveling around the planet and achieving some amazing feats, including: First American in history to hold a Guinness World Record in tango National Chinese kickboxing champion MTV breakdancer in Taiwan Hurling competitor in Ireland Actor on hit TV series in mainland China and Hong Kong Tim has done a lot in his 29 years, but what will interest the readers of Entrepreneurs-Journey.com is how he has progressed from working as an employee (and getting fired multiple times), to a true business owner, working ON the business a few hours a week, and not working IN the business for 60 hours a week. I recently finished reading Tim's book, The 4-Hour Workweek, and I have to say it's a fantastic manifesto, especially for entrepreneurs who need to be shown how it is possible to let go and allow others take over aspects of your business, or for employees, who need to learn how to take more control and negotiate an arrangement with your employer where you can provide greater value for the company you work for, but also increase the amount of freedom you have to do other things. This podcast interview provides a nice introduction to Tim and his concepts, I hope you enjoy it. [ Download MP3 | iTunes | Soundcloud ]

I have a special treat for you in my latest Entrepreneurs-Journey Podcast, an interview with Brian Clark, the guy behind the very popular Copyblogger.com blog. [ Transcript | iTunes | Soundcloud ] Note the sound quality was a bit sketchy with this recording so I've up the bitrate and consequently the file download is topping 20MB. I apologize to all you dial-up users, but I promise you the podcast download is worth the wait. For you broadband users it will be nothing and the enhanced sound quality makes a difference, although it's far from perfect. Brian and I recorded this interview late last week so it's very current and you will learn a lot about the guy behind one of the shining star blogs of 2006. Brian has an extensive background including time spent as a lawyer and an early adopter of the Internet as a tool for commerce. He's been consulting to web companies before, during and after the dotcom boom and subsequent crash and his experience comes through in this interview. I hope you enjoy it and make sure you leave a comment to tell Brian how much you liked this show because he really doesn't appreciate the attention :-). Show Notes The show starts with a brief history of Brian's younger days Brian discusses his first Internet ventures - email newsletters and consulting to dotcoms Post dotcom crash, Brian talks about the businesses that were left and how they used sound direct marketing principles taken from the offline world Brian alludes to some of the previous Internet projects he has worked on how he structures relationships with other talented people to help them bring their talent online We hear some comments about venture funding I ask Brian for some secrets to the success of his Copyblogger.com blog We learn about the original motivations behind launching Copyblogger Brian discuses some of his current projects, including Tubetorial We hear about Brian's plans for the future including what his wife thinks about him working so hard At the end of the interview I ask for Brian's wisdom regarding starting up a business in today's online climate Downloads [ Download MP3 | Transcript | iTunes | Soundcloud ] Text Version [spoiler] [/spoiler]

It's been a few months since the last show but I have been itching to do a podcast and Mike Filsaime's report, The Death of Internet Marketing (aff), stirred a lot of thoughts in my mind, which I decided to brain-dump into a solo podcast episode for all to enjoy. A warning - this is a serious ramble and I cover a lot of topics (see the show notes below for details) but it's very current and I suspect if you are at all interested in Internet marketing or online business, as an industry and as a participant, you will enjoy this podcast. Let me know what you think in the comments! Show Notes I review many of the things discussed in the Death of Internet Marketing report by Mike Filsaime I mention Butterfly Marketing several times Rich Schefren and his reports, The Internet Business Manifesto, The Missing Chapter and Final Chapter all get a mention. My upcoming site, Blog Traffic School, is in there too. I talk about my fellow bloggers, Steve Pavlina and Brian Clark. Social media is included, with sites like Technorati, Del.icio.us, Digg and YouTube featuring in comparison to old-school counterparts like Ebaumsworld. It's also worth mentioning Product Launch Formula (aff) since much of the discussion centers around the state of Internet marketing and the product launch phenomenon. [ Download MP3 | iTunes | Soundcloud ]