I realized that not everyone on the road was simply driving to work and back, or picking up the necessities - I saw people buying, and that’s all any business owner needs to hone in on to combat fear, uncertainty, and doubt in this business time.  Put another way, money is everywhere.

The Ultimate “Money Magnet”

You won’t have to battle me in an arm wrestling match to get this secret, and chances are you probably already know: it’s Solution Z. The ultimate solution for your niche market. It’s what’s keeping them up at night, polling friends, buying magazine after magazine and book after book, hunting down professionals and sometimes traveling up to two hours to get. It is dynamite in the hands of today’s information providers. Solution Z is so named because it needs to be the focus of your website.

It makes me sad how many people are running the risk of losing their business dream because they’re chasing everything else but Solution Z. So I wanted to take some time to help you “stay paid” by laying out not only how to grab hold of Solution Z, but bring it home to your niche audience, online style!

Step One: Breathe Your Niche

Hitting up Wordtracker or some other keyword research tool isn’t going to get you closer to Solution Z. It’s apart of the overall research process, but in the short term, a handful of keywords is nothing if you have zero idea what your audience really  wants. To put it another way, in order to connect those keywords with dollars you must be able to empathize and relate to the person first. What terms does your niche use on a daily basis? What problems are they facing, what’s keeping them up at night? What emotions are driving them to search for a solution (fear, anger, pain, loss, etc)?

Forums are great for niche research because you’re getting a front row seat into the greatest show on earth: the unedited thoughts of your audience! You get to know exactly what’s eating at them, in their own words, without any “spin” or self-consciousness you would get from a “focus group survey” or the like.

For forum research purposes, I use BoardReader.com. I can search very quickly for exactly what I want to look up, and it’s absolutely fantastic - no more random googling just to find a forum! If you’re old school, you can type in “intitle:<niche> forum” to get the specifics as well - that little “intitle” specifier tells google to return pages that have that keyword specifically in the title of the webpage.

Step Two: Get Known

This is where social media can really rock the house as far as breaking into niches. For the corporate set, maintaining a blog where your audience can find solutions, tips, and stories “from the trenches” (even if it’s something as simple as your own personal struggle within that topic) is hot. Getting on Twitter is hotter. Video is on fire, in a total “grease fire” kind of way - no water’s gonna stop this movement for a long time. If you’ve got a webcam, PowerPoint, Camtasia Studio, or a traditional camcorder, you can make videos that will pull in your audience. Instead of Googling, do yourself a favor and sign up with TubeMogul - rapidly deploy your video to the top video sharing websites like Viddler, YouTube, Veoh and more!

Don’t forget email - if you’re known as easily accessible, people will gravitate to you as their “go to person”. As the resident nichelady, I answer questions about how to penetrate and succeed in tough niches via email, instant messenger, and sometimes even the phone.

What’s getting smoking hot is the merging of the chat and video together. Sites like ustream and justin.tv let you create your own tv show where the audience can talk to you while the show is runing, aks questions, and really get to know you. One thing we’re doing with Staying Paid as a company is producing niche internet tv shows in markets that aren’t known for having them - it’s something we’re testing out and hearing some great feedback from as far as the concept goes.

Step Three: The Art of the One Two Follow Up Punch

Solution Z isn’t always a “one and done” type of solution. If you’re trying to show people how to renovate their houses while incorporating green technology, you can’t pack that into an hour’s worth of video. You may have to incorporate other books and resources to fully explain Solution Z. There’s also a possibility that your audience wants you to do Solution Z for them. As a business owner, even though I can do my own taxes, I still seek out a tax preparer. Simply giving your audience Solution Z may not fully seal the deal for them - take a step forward and offer to build it for them!

The One Two Follow Up Punch is a two step move, with the first step building the offer, and the second step defining the relationship. You get down in the trenches with your audience and build a real offer, something of value. It can be free or premium, a step by step action plan or merely an offer of personal service. Don’t underestimate the power of personalization - give your niche something personal. Web 2.0 is a little scary for traditional businesses because it requires breaking away from the completely professional and throwing a little personal flavor in the mix.

The Search For Solution Z, “Staying Paid” Style

We decided to step away from the “corporate web site” model and really expand Staying Paid to be a resource for our videos, articles, thoughts, podcasts … everything. As the head of operations, I was a little afraid to do this, thinking that I would push away more business than I would bring in - until I realized that business owners LOVE seeing how we think, process, and handle web business. It’s a transparent look at life in the trenches, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

As we explore the development and production of Solution Z with respect to niche markets, I’ll be bringing on the other members of Staying Paid to post their insights, suggestions, and perspectives. We want to be your resource for “Staying Paid” and it’s time to crank that up a few notches!

Our search for Solution Z is going to take some time, but I wanted to end on one last note, a note of thanks. This journey wouldn’t be the same without you! The Web isn’t just where we make our living - we make our friends here too. So keep tuned for the conversation, and thanks for being here!

Work hard, play hard, love easily!

Tonight’s Blog Song: Guns ‘N’ Roses - Paradise City

I’ve said this privately, but I owe all my entrepreneurial drive to those first seeds my father planted in my head. We were watching this beautiful luxury car on tv — man, I had to be all of nine or ten — and he nudges me. “You can have that, if you want.”

Money, Entrepreneur, Kiplinger’s were the financial/business magazine threesome that occupied our father/daughter times. We would watch Jim Kramer and Pardon The Interruption together. We would argue politics, money, business, and life together. And PTI is just ten shades of wonderful, especially when you’re watching it with someone who’s just as sarcastic as you!

In 2003, I made my first bit of money online - a $50 web project that ended so-so, but started making me hungry to keep the pipeline full. I remember running out of the room, talking about PayPal, about web design, and of course money.

I was a busy girl and I came to look forward to my father’s discussions about saving. It’s that wisdom today that allowed me to quit my day job and not completely have a panic attack - I learned to spend on things that made me happy, not just to compete with other folks. I put money back into my company.

My father was busy too — the Army kept him deployed often and busy at the office when he was home. I learned to work hard and appreciate the results of my labors. I never held it against my father that he was away, because I knew it came with the territory. I saw worlds that I wouldn’t have if we had stayed in Chicago or North Carolina. I even learned another language during our travels - German.

I learned the value of an education - my father grabbed his MBA at 41 years old. He’s still taking more classes as he goes along, getting certified in other areas. Always growing. That’s why I love him so much.

Daddy adopted me as part of the package that came along with my Mother, and never looked back, or made a big deal of it. There was no distinction ever made between a biological child and an adopted one. I was always going to be his daughter, and that lesson about unconditional love has to be my #1 pick.

Yes, I know this is a business blog. Yes, I know this is a marketing blog. However, this is a conversation blog too, and how can I have a conversation on Father’s Day without stopping to thank one of the driving forces that pushed me to “stay paid” in the first place?

So, from a wandering woman of niches: Thank you, Daddy. I love you with everything in me, and I’m thankful to have had so many memories with you. I’m honored to have you as my Dad. Happy Father’s Day.

Work hard, play hard, love easily.

Today’s Blog Song (one of his favorites, and mine): Luther Vandross - A House Is Not A Home

J, The Cheerleader. Folks, you heard it here first on Staying Paid: this lady is going to be fire. I mean, I spend a lot of time just trying to get people to make that first real sale online, and I can tell you there’s some folks who could have all the knowledge and still not make it in this internet business game. Not because they aren’t great people, but they don’t want it bad enough.

I think J wants it bad enough.  And when she gets that first “aha!” moment (I just started teaching her salesletter processes, basic copywriting, capture page generation, and some uber-lite SEO), she could easily be on the same level as another favorite marketer of mine, Liz Tomey. Heck, I’d love to see that happen, because I get a rush when I see other women enter this business and take no prisoners.

The Big Move. I live in a 2 bedroom apartment, and it’s really way too much space for little ol’ me. So I’m packing up, but I’m doing something a little different: I’m selling 90% of everything that’s in this house. Oh, I’ll keep my laptop, monitor, clothes, shoes, things like that. But all the books I haven’t read in months, magazines, sheets that aren’t getting used…it’s all gotta go. I truly believe that in order for me to have a clean start I have to get rid of everything that’s making me feel bad, or connected to my “negative” life here. I’ve just been carrying junk around because I’ve been told that’s what you have to do in order to keep going. Well, I don’t want to do that anymore.

My First InfoProduct. In late 2006-timeframe, I purchased a copy of Desperate Buyer’s Only. If you’re saying “dang, that book is overhyped”, your’e right. And it deserves every sliver of praise possible. I didn’t even put it linked in my post to please the skeptics. That book got me on this path to real seriousness, laying out the foundation of what really makes people buy products in a way that doesn’t make you feel silly.

So I began digging, thinking about my life, about experiences and issues that have made me feel some sort of negative feeling. I then realized that it was time to get serious again and build something I could be proud of.

So I began writing. And tweaking. The salesletter, that is — I decided to go play with video some more. I’m on a very big Camtasia Studio kick,  after I bought the software and didn’t do anything with it! For all this time I had this $300 software sitting wishing I’d make even just a short tutorial or so have you …no room for regrets. Let’s just say I’m making up for lost time!

That project is rolling along nicely. I’m making notes, drawing up questions. I have a feeling that there’s several products built into this subject and I can cross sell them to different niches. I’m going to keep you all in the loop too, don’t worry! There will always be free premium content here as time passes - I love sharing information.

Website Flipping Championships. I’m competing in the World Championships of Website Flipping over at WebsiteFlippingMasters.com, competing for that almighty title and hopefully showing ‘em how we “stay paid” around here! Stay tuned to this space because I’ll be bringing y’all the play by play, what I’m doing/thinking/trying to accomplish with each website…this is going to be super fun and super challenging all at the same time!

The Road Ahead, and Mindset. As I started getting super-serious and taking action, I’ve gotten more confident. I’ve gotten more vocal. I like the results from both. But now it’s time to sleep. It’s almost 3am, and here I am, talking to all of you and dreaming about new niches to profit from. The fast times of a nichelady, huh? Don’t forget to follow me on twitter!

And remember: word hard, play hard, love easily.

Tonight’s early morning blog song: Stabbing Westward - Bizarre Love Triangle

I’m waiting for that final moment, to say the words that I can’t say …

It’s not the length of the squeeze page, it’s the opt-in rate.

This blog may be about conversations, but this post is totally about my excitement right now. I’m sorry, SPers, I just can’t help but shout, and if you can’t be bombastic on your own blog, where can you be? ;)

I made a listing on Sitepoint offering to create some Camtasia Studio presentations for other marketer-types. In 24 hours, I received 4 queries. It’s almost as good as seeing those coveted messages from PayPal. If I could figure it out on a blackberry, I would set it up so that every “Payment received” text I get has a custom little ringer to it. ;)

Next, I’ve finally began putting the finishing touches on a techie tutorial series for a “starving crowd” niche I’ve been “hunting” for almost six months. Yes, I said six months. My inaction meter is sky high, on top of the roof, doing the macarena and sticking out its tongue at me. I know, I know. So this Tuesday, I launch, promote, and start tweaking.

It’s got the full product funnel, which I’ll actually be building. I’m sending traffic to the squeeze first, so I get qualified, interested folk. I’m also making sure I capture the attention of the “stars” of that niche, by sending them handcrafted (meaning I’m not boilertemplating) email and telling them a little more about my mission. There’s a lot of promotion work to do but I’m ready for it.

Now, I promised all of you when I started Staying Paid that I would give you the whole truth, good or bad. The bad side of this venture is that I froze, and almost didn’t proceed with the launch. Why? In one of my “find the competition” hunts, I neglected a big bad bogey on my six o’ clock — an established membership site (well, it’s been around since December ‘07) offering a similar package to mine.

In classic newb infopreneur fashion, I crumpled. Mea culpa. I was shaken and bear bombed by the infamous Doug Knoodle (who has a blog now but is not getting link love until he posts more entries!) who reminded me that you always have something unique to offer that the competition may not be putting forth. Also, I began “checking out” my competition, and realized that they aren’t doing as much marketing as I am. There were several avenues I would have taken on that site that they didn’t.

And OK, I realize that Doug really isn’t “infamous”, but I’m on an “infamous” kick lately. Blame my conscience-friend (who reminded me last night he wants to remain anonymous. Sorry!) for that one. Since he’s still anonymous, I can blame just about everything on him. It’s like a reverse Al Gore move.

The Cheerleader is letting me pick her brain tomorrow. We met up last week and this woman is FULL of infoproducts. Amazing information, great spirit, well traveled and well spoken. She squealed when I told her she was going to be my expert for a couple of niches.

For a little life-balance note, I decided to take up a polite request and go meet up with a guy for one of them there date thingies. Heh, I’m so busy creating a digital empire for myself that I’d have better luck running a PPC campaign. PPCFool Dave is my new PPC guru - seriously, his insight is totally awesome if you’re still a bit gunshy about jumping onto the PPC train like me.

So this week, I will be ghost like and barely here, but I will return with hopefully some more case studies, testing, and insight as I take more action. For now, I need to make like a pumpkin and take care of my newest client!

Work hard, play hard, love easily.

This afternoon’s blog song: LL Cool J - Knock You Out

don’t call it a comeback, I’ve been here for years!

My Conscience

behind every niche happy marketeress is a friend pointing out what you least want to hear. My conscience happens to be a 30something computer fanatic, passionate about technology. He’s also my complete opposite, preferring to have information for information’s sake. I’m an unapologetic capitalist, a “hey, can we monetize this?” versus his “can we NOT monetize this, and make money elsewhere?” I’ve been teaching him marketing, showing him what I do and how I do it out here in the trenches, while he has shown me something more important: balance.

I’ve known my conscience-friend for about five years now. As the saying goes, we’ve been through death and life together: broken relationships, anger, agony, sickness, health, joy, misery. When I quit my job two months ago, he was one of the loudest voices saying that I could do this, even though it would mean increased stress, extra worry, and more tension.

Between the stress in his life, and the stress in mine, we watched tension grow like weeds and patience thin like paint. There were angry conversations, words thrown about, two people throwing words like knives.

I asked him the other day if he believed in me. He pointed out the fact that he’s already gearing up for my trip to the infamous city where he lives (over 3 mill, I’m sure you can guess which one), and that he’s excited.

My conscience-friend doesn’t seek to replace my real conscience, but he would rather risk my temper than see me get hurt. I couldn’t ask for a better friend.

My Cheerleader

I haven’t known my cheerleader as long as my conscience, but I think I am totally enjoying our talks. J is my newest action partner, cheerleader, and ultimate reminder. She reminds me that not everyone is a marketer that lives, breathes, eats, and plays in marketing / infoproduct selling. We come from two opposite spectrums — J is in her 40s, and is just getting started with this internet business game. Half sideline master, half complete honkin’ newbie. I accept her as is, but I’m excited to watch her go from newbie to oldbie minute by minute as she begins to really “get” what this whole internet business game is about.

I camped out at her place last week overnight — if the walls could talk, they’d be telling you about two women gabbing, stuffing their mouths full of lasagna, talking about men, business, marketing, traveling, and experiences. It’s amazing how rich the journey becomes when you realize how many people are in the trenches and you didn’t even know it! So much to think about sometimes.

I call her my cheerleader because when I see her face light up about the possibilities of making money online, it gets me fired up again. I’m here all the time, really doing a lot of repetitive things, so to see that someone else receive the “same ol’, same ol’” as new again reminds me that for every Isa, there’s a J out there, still trying to figure all of this out.

I needed to write this today. I had been digging around in a niche, and saw some competition that I didn’t see previously. I paniced, and had some doubt about my product. Thinking it over, I realized that not everyone is a marketer — not the seller, and certianly not the buyer I’m marketing towards. They may well be an Isa, with a “been there, done this already” mode. Or you know, they might be a ConscienceFriend, who hasn’t seen this particular angle, and wants to see why it’ll work for them. And as much as we marketers like to believe that we’re talking to a kindred spirit in that salesletter, chances are you most likely will be speaking to several J’s, who want something real, real information and they need you to go slow and start from square one. Don’t be afraid of square one.

See y’all on Tuesday with hopefully a better action report.

Today’s blog song:  Gnarls Barkley - Crazy

but it wasn’t because I didn’t know enough // I just knew too much…

Why I’m Calling You a Sideline Master

Is this scene familiar? You’ve been online for 3-4-5-6-7 years, in all of the marketing forums. Maybe you’re on the Warrior Forum, maybe you’ve got every marketing whiz on your Twitter. Maybe you’ve even got a LinkedIn profile, trying to stay connected. You’ve got virtually every marketing / internet / tech book in existence - digital and otherwise. Your shelves are stuffed to the brim, your mp3 collection stacked up. You know, The 4 Hour Work Week rubbing elbows with the Rolling Stones. Thousands of dollars later, you’re still spinning your wheels, saying “this is gonna happen.”

It’s gotta happen, happen sometime, maybe this time I’ll win. Cheesy Cabaret references aside, my friend, you are a sideline master. And that’s OK - because we all started out as sideline masters. We were told this big story about Solution Z being out there, waiting for the person with enough want to reach out and grab it.

It’s a shame that nobody said anything about action. No, scratch that — massive action. Getting serious.

I used to be the Queen of the Sideline Masters. In fact, in a lot of ways, I still am. I struggled for years with this internet business game. I was in too many forums to count. On IRC all day. I was watching my friends get insanely successful fast, while I was still spinning my wheels.

I moved in with my then-fiance’s mother and bought book after book, program after program, audio interview after audio interview. If you think this is a rant about the information I received, wrong again — those people all contributed a little fuel to the fire that rages in my blood now, and I thank all of them utterly for their time to produce that content. Starting out, it was worth the price — consider that I went to a university that easily charged $300 a credit hour — yeah, I wasn’t upset about paying $47 for a marketing book.

Isa, you’ve got a sales pitch hiding somewhere, I just know it!

Yep, you got me. Damn dirty marketers always trying to sell you something. Heaven forbid we even slip an affiliate link in — not that you’re going to pay us, but shame on us for turning something that should be free into something commercial. Sorry to sound negative, but it cracks me up when people complain about affiliate links. If someone pointed me to something awesome and only wanted a % of the sale I’m going to do anyway, why not pass a little to them? Just saying.

So, here comes the sales pitch, the very core of what I’m trying to sell you here on Staying Paid. And for the record, it ain’t hope. Hope isn’t a word that’s welcome. It’s not enough to hope.

It’s faith. I’m trying to sell you faith, because mainstream society has sucked it out of you. Mention you’re starting a business, and everyone leaps up to tell you how stupid that sounds. After all, 9 out of 10 businesses fail, right? Everybody’s got a third cousin twice removed that went off to start a business and failed, so apparently, starting a business is just too risky. Better get back to clocking in and clocking out, because we all know that’s secure, right?

I’m trying to sell you faith because everyone has spent so much time and energy telling you to stay put, to stop dreaming and start being realistic, instead of testing, sending out feelers and going for the glory. We’ve really done a bad job on you, sideline master, and on behalf of everyone that’s even made the slightest twinge of doubt stick to you like tar, I apologize.

I know that I had to get your attention in order to sell you faith. That’s why I did what you’ve dreamed of doing and walked. I walked away from a job that I loved because my passion to live anywhere, work anytime, and play everywhere far exceeds anything that my employer could have given me.

My old boss had a fondness for saying that most things aren’t skill issues, but will issues. Two months later, I’m finally ready to believe her. Most of my day is spent trying to find the will to take action - it’s too easy to sit, immobile and unmoving.

Is it hard to give up the “security” you have? Yes. I was in tears when I walked, because it was me getting up from being an armchair warrior and jumping straight into the fire. Now, was I smart about it? Sure — I had savings, but nowhere near the 6 months to 1 year’s worth that most business books tell you about.

So I’m here, day in and day out, testing strategies for you, building systems, and having the time of my life because I want to be as visible as possible, for sideline masters everywhere. There’s a lot of fear and it’s time to break it up for good — there is money everywhere. Everywhere. Business is not zero sum game. Recessions come and go, don’t fear them. Smart businesspeople profit in any economic cycle. Any one.

Work hard, play hard, love easily.

Tonight’s blog song: Flobots - Handlebars

my reach is global, my tower secure, my cause is noble, my power is pure

Let’s get something straight off the bat in the Mindset department: I play to win. This ain’t Staying Charitable, though I give a LOT of my time away (primarily offline, when I’m having people ask me what products are good, where they should start, how to advertise, the whole nine yards.) I remember when I sat down and wrote, “5 Ways To Break In, Move Up, and Take Over Your Niche, it was based on my experiences as a newbie stumbling into the wide wonderful world of Plus Size Fashion. My other niche site, DeluxeGrrl.com, is celebrating two years today. I couldn’t be prouder, and that’s even with an audience that still waits for me to post. In the future, I hope to deliver more content for them.

No, I’m afraid this is Staying Paid, with your host Isa Murphy, rocking you through the highs and lows of selling information in the digital age. I am working more in the trenches than I would like to admit: I’ve got a local meeting this week with a lady that has some delicious little websites that I’d like to devour…err, I mean flip for a nice profit.

There’s some strategic alliances building in the background as well. Behold the power of the physical letter, of the phone call. And no, I didn’t start my phone call with Ms. Juicy Website with a marketing pitch. We actually talked about Canada, men, and travel first. Realizing we had common interests (like going to Panama — April 2009, baby!), we danced gracefully into businessland.

And this is where my mindset kicked in — I love teaching people this internet business game. I’m working on a product (oh no, marketer trying to turn information into $$$ again - RUN!) for a very specific niche, and it’s going to be awesome. I’m taking time to produce quality content, and if I’m expected to give everything away here for free, well…might I remind you of the name of this blog one more time? ;)

Action is what I struggle with. The product for this niche should have been released in like, Feb or March that I’m just releasing now. So on my dreamboard, I now have a phrase I’m going to look at every day: “How much has your inaction cost you today?”

It makes me incredibly angry at myself that it’s taken me damn near 4 years to get serious. I’d get somewhat serious, then slide back to the good ol’ “Well, I’ll go get a day job, it’ll be more stable.” Yeah, right — when I finally settled into a day job I actually didn’t mind so much, that killed my motivation. I realized that for me (note: I don’t recommend everyone do this! You have been warned), the only way I was going to finally become an internet rockstar was if I jumped in with both feet.

See, like many of you, I have a metric pantsload of books, cds, audiobooks, bla de bla that I have bought. I probably have spent at least $3-5K in my marketing journey on marketing education stuff. The books are nothing without action, and yes, if I could do this all again, I’d probably still buy most of them — they taught me quite a bit. I learned the sales process, what to do, letters that made me buy in the first place. I began digging into the psyche and realizing how valuable  all of this stuff is.

Then it hit me: how many dollars have you left on the table due to your inaction? How many times have you dreamed about getting out of town for the weekend, or that new outfit, or even just being able to eat at that kickass place on the ridge, but you didn’t have the cash?

Yeah, I know it’s not in style to mention the obvious, but here I am: my name is Isabella  J. Murphy, and I love making money. I get a rush when I know more little green rectangles are finding their way into my bank account. I LOVE when my favorite bank teller goes, “Another check!” Heck, I got a couple of  tellers who were dying to know how to get some of them there affiliate checks coming to them too! Now that is why I’m in the trenches fighting so hard.

Which brings us conveniently to Image.

I’d like to believe I’m fairly nice, for being such a little capitalistic diva about life (work hard, play hard, live boldly). I try to make myself as available as possible: nichelady at that there gmail dot com thing, nichelady on yahoo, nichelady at gmail dot com on that msn thinger, I’m on Warrior Forum as codeism, I’m on ESF as nichelady, I’m on twitter as nichelady…I am even on Skype as nichelady. You struggling? Need an action buddy? Doing well but want to network with another marketer that’s as passionate as you? Not to sound corny, but “talk to me, I talk back, let’s talk money, I talk that!” If you ever want to catch up and leave work aside for a couple moments, trust me — I’m a pretty gabby gal.

I don’t apologize for the way I come across, because I don’t know how to come across to you any other way. I used to sit and listen to people who would say this doesn’t work, or that doesn’t work. I test things, I look over my own findings. That’s why I’m usually not “here” on Staying Paid, I’m in the trenches. I’m a geekgirl at heart, and that’s where I grew up — tweaking, testing, and otherwise blowing stuff way up, falling down, coming out of a smoke filled room shouting “THAT WAS AWESOME” and hitting the trenches again with everything I’ve got.

I didn’t come here to become the most up-and-coming marketer, I came here to be Isabella Murphy. I want to be a rockstar marketer with a responsive list, a blog that people link to, and comments, but at the end of the day, if nobody ever commented on my stuff, I’d still be here writing it. I write for myself, just as I live for myself.

Offline, a friend of mine had asked me a few years ago, what I did. I told her I was a marketer, and she seemed shocked. “I hope I don’t offend you, but I’ve never met any black marketers before.”

Well, when I’m online, my job isn’t to be a black marketer. It’s to be Isabella Murphy, rockin’ niches, laughing on twitter, and writing with passion. Bein’ black is kinda like having fingers — it’s just part of the package, along for the ride. I opted out of the race niche early because I didn’t want to be automagically branded as only speaking to other black people, or locked into being expected to sound, act, talk a certain way based on my blackness. The only color I’m concerned with is green, if you know what I mean.

I am notorious for my silence on a lot of topics, and it’s primarily because some people honestly wouldn’t like my opinion. I don’t think marketers are always out to make a fast buck — hence the name Staying Paid rather than Getting Paid. Long term, baby, I plan to enjoy my work at home life for as long as possible.

I’ll try to be more controversial next time, I promise.  Starting now: there are customers and there are marketers, and while all marketers are customers, most customers will never be marketers. There. Discuss. Throw stones, I’ll turn ‘em into houses and mark ‘em up for the short-term housing crowd (*grumble*, *sidenote*: does short term housing HAVE to be as overpriced as it is? *grumble*)

Finally, Twitter. You love twitter. If you don’t, you should: I’ve met a metric pantsload (sorry, it’s my new fave word) of people. I’ve linked you to some folks before. Twitter excites me because I can write in 140 characters the essence of what I’m trying to make you understand, I can link you to posts that agree / disagree with what I’m thinking at the moment, and of course I can annoy you with song lyrics. “On another day, c’mon, c’mon…” OK, I’m mainly kidding about the annoyances. Follow me on twitter, you know you wanna. I strive to do mutual following on everyone who follows me. It should be a two-way conversation. I do, however, unfollow people that don’t speak to me. Maybe that’s just my inner rant, but what’s the point of following someone, posting and asking questions, then never replying back to that person? Yikes.

Oh yeah, and you don’t have to be a marketer/writer/trench warrior to follow me, either. In fact, it makes life interesting if you’re not into everything I’m into. Teach me, follow me, dream with me and for the love of soup, dream well. Boredom is the enemy, excitement is the goal. It’s a 4 Hour Work Week-ism. ;)

That’s all I got for now. I said a lot, and I’m gonna go make some appearances, and by “appearances” I mean my niche lovin’ self diving into some cold blue water. :)

Today’s blog song is from Al Green, “Everything’s OK”

“In a dog eat dog world, ain’t nothing safe, baby…you’ve got my heart, I’ve got your heart …everything’s OK….”

It’s All About Cash and Value, Preferably Direct

Welcome to the entrepreneur club. It’s addicting, and the good news is that you can work it in around the rest of your school activities, but let’s not forget that lazy summer you’re going to spend packing for school in the fall. If you have some leverage in the financial department (aka, your parental units aren’t super-uptight about you getting a job, or the job that you have doesn’t consume your entire day), this is even better. I wish I had spent my first summer doing this.

Direct cash is the name of the game, new entrepreneur-san. You must seize the value you have locked inside your happy academic heart and unleash it against the community at large. I think that the best way to do this, Web 2.0 style, is to have a twitter account, and to find forums that bring you against groups that are looking for value-givers. You know, like marketers. We love hiring people that make our life easier.

Direct cash is a fancy word for “money that comes to you RIGHT NOW instead of on the 1st and 16th.” I could set up a small report on Staying Paid for example, similar to the one you’re reading now. I could title it, “How I Made $450 with Just One Email” (yes, I actually did!), package it up into a PDF file and sell it for say, $20 on the site. That $20 is coming straight to me, from the payment processor - think PayPal for now. There are others, but 98% of the direct cash methods you’ll run into will revolve around using PayPal.

For those of you just coming into the game, I do not suggest checks. I accepted checks because I thought I had to accept checks. I would never accept a personal check, and I’m hard pressed to accept checks from just any company. Unless you happen to be ClickBank, a company that provides a built in affiliate program that cuts you a check when people buy products through you. I will gladly accept checks from them!

So, let’s get back to our Direct Cash Model. We like reports. As you wade through the waters of making money online, I guarantee you that you will like reports too. You don’t even have to be a writing superstar to create a good report, I bet you have a few hiding that you just weren’t aware of:

• your dad, who is a whiz at carving wooden figurines
• your mom, who cleaned up that yard sale dresser and restored the wood
• your brother, who became an air traffic controller
• your cousin Janet, who is a real life extra in movies that come through the area
• your old boss, who likes to do Civil War reenactments on the cheap
• your aunt Tina, who always managed to sell out every yard sale she’s done
• your uncle George, who can always get the best seat in the house, the best room in the hotel, the best food in the restaurant…
• your friend Nick, who can diagnose any car problem just by listening to the car for a while
• your coworker Gina, who speaks fluent Spanish

I’m sure you get the idea. The reason why these people have such interesting reports crammed in them is that they represent in real life what people are craving to do. In short, each person has a skill they’re good at that ultimately matches up to a niche. Don’t be afraid of that word — it’s just a fancier term for “a market filled with buyers and spectators alike who spend money on a specific Solution”. As an entrepreneur, your job is to deliver Solution Z, the fix that’s going to make them happy and keep them buying.

So we’re back to my fictional report, selling for $20. Before we get too happy, let’s look at the “biters”, what’s going to eat at our happy little revenue:

• PayPal Fees. PayPal charges 2.9% + $0.30 on each and every transaction - a fee that they hit the seller with, not the buyer. So in our $20 example, you need to subtract out $0.88. In other words, it’s like writing a check to PayPal everytime you get paid.
• Domain Registration - This is a one-time “biter”. Pick a domain name. I’ll just use mine, StayingPaid.com - my domain name ran about $9. You can pick up a great domain at NameCheap. They’re a domain registrar - they sell domain names, you buy them. Nuff said.
• Hosting. Reports are data, and data costs money to upload/download. I personally recommend HostGator. It’s $7.95/mo, and will give you a solid foundation that you can build a great online business from. Free hosting just doesn’t cut it for business; save the free hosts for your Las Vegas vacation photos, if you can’t part with a free host.

What does that do to our profit line? Well, let’s just say that your little report takes off and the first month you sell 20 copies. Revenue wise, you’re looking at $400. You actually take home a net profit of $380.15. Let’s take a look at how we got to this point, shall we?

• Gave PayPal their cut (this happens automatically once someone purchases the report) - $11.90
• Hosting got their cut, too - $7.95
• Domain Name - $9.00
• Total Expenses: $28.85

So, right under $30, and you still walk home with $371.15 from this short report. This is only taking into account 20 copies. Also, this is merely an outline — remember, these are your first steps. I want these concepts to soak in your brain for a moment - you think you think this way already, but trying to sell is completely different from most activities you do in school. In fact, I dare say that school is one of the worst places to learn how to sell.

Next step, we’ll take our sample guide and show you how to actually get traffic to it. Stay tuned, we’ll get you on the right path to staying paid!

The Good

I’m having the time of my life. I haven’t completely erased the alarm clock, as I’ve learned I’ll sleep forever, but I do love getting up when I want to. I’m feeling better emotionally, and not having a set schedule has let me work in a lot more time to exercise. I’m not in shape yet, but I definitely feel some benefits to getting more pep in my step.

I’ve met a lot of really cool people: Justin and Chaunna Brooke, Scott Bechtel, Adam Des Autels, Alejandro Reyes, Doug Knoodle, CoachDeb, Tony Blake, Lisa Weisberger, Naomi Dunford, Chris Brogan - check these folks out, and yes, they deserve all the link love we staying paiders can give ‘em. I’ve gotten the chance to chat with most of these people. Social media has exposed me to an immense giving culture - in the short time I’ve been on twitter, I’ve gotten helpful tips for my blog, offers of support from fellow professional writers, and hanging out at an awesome forum - ESF is fun.

I’ve been chilling out chatting it up on the Married Marketers show - it truly is one of the most interactive shows I’ve watched online — you feel like Justin and Chaunna Brooke are right there with you. They aren’t gurus, they don’t want to be gurus - and both know all too well what the rest of us up and coming entrepreneurs are going through.

I love what they do because they are strong enough to turn a microscope into their lives — the phone rings during the show, and Justin answers like a human being. Chaunna mentions dinner to their son. They laugh at each other, tease each other, and empower us to see the lighter side of this internet marketing game. I like that. It makes them feel real to me, and not so distant. I know I could write an email to Justin and/or Chaunna (sorry, I keep mentioning them together, but they are two seperate people!) and get a reply, and I have. Having them on twitter helps too. They answer all my questions thoroughly, reminding me that the only stupid question is the one that wasn’t asked.

I’ve also gotten to read some new SEO and writing folks — Ellen Wilson, Slightly Shady, and Gab Goldenberg. Ellen has personally reached out to me a couple of times on my marketer’s journey, and Slightly Shady’s blog gives one of the most interesting approaches to “blackhat” SEO I’ve read in a while. I don’t play in the blackhat world, but I do like to stay informed. Coming from the “ethical hacker” security world, I know how important it is to know what the other guys are doing in order to protect what’s yours.

I’ve learned a lot about the sales funnel, or what I like to call “The Search for Solution Z”. I’ve got a post actually lined up that talks in detail about my direct cash funnel project. I’m getting to immerse myself 100% in a great environment, and I know the rewards are only up from here.

I also got accepted into the Brazen Careerist blog network. I’m really excited and can’t wait to share more Staying Paid insights and bull–err, I mean wisdom :)

One last good before we go downhill: I wrote a guide on how local businesses can increase their customer base with a good online mailing list. So far, I’ve gotten some positive reviews on that. I’ve decided once I finish the guide I’ll release it as a multi-page article for my business website, and just link to it from here. We’ll see. I have some other reports for my mailing list ;)

The Bad

OK, let’s cut the crap and give you the other side of Staying Paid. I know that a lot of people sit in their air conditioned office dreaming of exactly what I’m living. Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but it isn’t all sunshine and frolicking on some rolling hillside drinking lemonade and doing folk dances. As an entrepreneur, I don’t want to make this sound like it’s all hard work and no reward, but it’s not the Staples easy button either. My biggest regret would be to pump you up and not give you the dangers as well.

Burn out is your worst enemy. If you have even a drop of workaholicism in your veins, take my advice: find a friend that doesn’t. My greatest strength, determination, is sometimes the worst thing that can happen to me. Left to my own devices, I’m more than happy to tweak a campaign, to research a niche, to dive so deep into work that I forget English and start speaking in broken phrases. Long tail?

One solution I’ve been trying to implement is an idea file. When the new project siren starts talking sexy, I think I’m going to write down the idea, run it through a short research run (read: “How much work will this idea take, and can it be outsourced?”) and then stick it into this cardbox I bought.

I had some unexpected things that came up in my personal life, killing a lot of my savings faster than I could blink. Ouch. No more time for theory then, action from here on out.

That’s one of the reasons why I’ve been so quiet — I’ve been trying to get my action steamroller going. The truth is, I do enjoy being at home, but I had to grow into enjoying working from home. It’s very easy to get lulled into watching Family Guy, or long talks with friends — after all, you’re home! You can do that!

Being unstructured and glued to the computer has cost me unnecessary wheel spinning. But as Tim Ferriss says, everything is reversible.

My business partner, Joshua, is on limited communication due to issues outside of my control. We’ve mutually agreed to part ways and do our own solo projects from here. That doesn’t mean we won’t work together in the future — he is still a huge part of my life, in a lot of ways — but for right now, I just need to let Isabella do Isabella and not worry about everyone else.

The Ugly

Lack of confidence can be killer. It’s easy to beat yourself up. And it’s easy once you’re in the trenches of entrepreneurship to look around you and go, “Why am I working so hard? Why am I being so careful saving when everyone else is spending?” I haven’t received my stimulus check, and I already know where that money’s headed — right into this business. I want to pick up a clickbank seller account for my first product, though I might just go and sell it at paydotcom (their marketplace is a really weak to me, just saying.)

Sometimes I feel like I’m in over my head, that I really don’t have the burning passion to do this. I look at too many other people in my family that have the life I want, save for the lack of freedom. My father just got a rocking job, straight federal, making great money, practically guaranteed promotion. He’s moving in with his girlfriend, a rockin’ lady with some awesome fashion sense and a sound head on her shoulders. He’s thinking about a house, so it’s operation get out of debt. He’s got his Master’s Degree.

I used to be on that path — rockstar in college, interned with a massive aerospace/defense company, tons and tons of friends, no debt, no worries — my biggest groan was a $500 credit card I got from USAA, and what the professor was going to throw at us on the quiz tomorrow.

Obviously, my worries are a lot bigger now, but I still count my blessings. Things change when you put your money where your mouth is, or in my case, when you close down your safety net and get back on the tightrope. I didn’t want to be yet another person going, “If only I had the time…I’d have a business then.” Not an approach I recommend for everyone to take, but I needed that fire up my behind.

What I’m trying to say is — sometimes I feel like I’m doing the wrong thing, that I ought to go back to the 9-to-5, vacation time, running to catch the MO-65/I-44 shuffle everyday to get to work on time. It would be easier — I show up, do what I’m told to do, and go home, leaving the job at work for another day.

It’s damn scary noises in the background — I’ve had to cut out so many people to get to this point, and frankly, I miss them. However, friend or not, I won’t let anyone tell me not to follow my dreams. Everyone’s got a dream. My best friend’s dream is to meet her dream man and have babies so she can buy those frilly nightcap thingies. She giggles at me, her complete opposite: uber Careerist workaholic, twitter-ing and definitely hunting for that triple-word-score kind of man, but certainly not for baby production — I’m happily childfree by choice.

If everything were to suddenly combust, I probably could find work around here - something I checked into before turning in my two week notice. My previous employer isn’t the only game in town.

Overall

I’m going to keep taking action, keep writing guides, get involved more into social media creation stations like Squidoo, Hubpages, and the like. I would like to get more active on Sphinn and Mixx and Digg — and maybe even out StumbleUpon Joshua’s father, the king of stumbling. We’ll see where it goes.

I wasn’t going to write this type of post, because I know quite well that most readers come to learn how to fill their bank accounts using AdSense gold or what affiliate programs are best right now, but part of staying paid is having the right mindset. Trust me!

Oh yeah, what would a post be without a call to action? Follow me on twitter!

I was talking to a young lady who wanted to leave and become a graphic designer, working from home and loving the time freedom. We talked for a little while, as I mentioned to her some tactics she could take to get the word out about her portfolio and services, until she sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Who am I kidding, I don’t deserve to work from home.” she said quietly, looking at me like we were suddenly on opposite sides of the Grand Canyon.

No jokes here, my friend. But if you’re nodding your head along with my acquaintance, here are some reasons why you do deserve to work from home:

1) You have a burning desire to create value

Remember that conversation we had about that V word? Yeah, it’s back again. A business is all about value, and without a clear sense of what value we create for others, your business is doomed before you net a single client. I can tell you from experience (and the losses from that year *ahem*) that my first business crashed because I felt that everyone had to be my customer, when I only provided a clear value for a particular segment of the population. I was designing websites for people that didn’t have a clear need for them, and it was like bringing a fruitcake to a birthday party. In July.

It’s important to have a burning desire to do this, as you will undoubtedly run up against obstacles, including but not limited to slow days, costs, criticism from people you’ve never met, and of course my very favorite, the “I Don’t Wanna” days. Gotta love those.

2) You know how to find answers

Desiring to be an expert has nothing to do with knowing everything. Starting a business doesn’t mean you will have all the answers; it means that you will do everything in your power to find the right answer for the customer. If the right answer means you have to write an email to a strategic partner (what? did you think running a business meant being an island? Shame on you!) to get the answer, so be it. If it means drinking enough caffeine your eyes look like coffee beans while your fingers fall off from Googling, so be it. In either case, the takeaway isn’t the search for the answer, but how you present the answer to your customer.

For example: In 2003, I started creating webpages. My first client wanted a site that had a similar look and feel to another site that he liked the structure of. I had no idea how to do that at the time. I confidently gave him a time estimation anyway, that included enough time to research how to do what he requested, while delivering a quality product. The presentation was a little choppy — looking back, I wish I had provided more reasoning — but he was impressed with the site and I went onward $50 wealthier. Did I mention pricing is part of value too? That little venture taught me to charge enough to make it worthwhile. Lesson learned.

3) You are not afraid of hard work

Yes, you can automate a business — but unless you’re already an outsourcing guru, starting a business is going to mean a lot of bootstrapping from you. Even “working smart” tends to mean putting mental energy to the test, something that 90% of the people I speak with about starting a company are amazed by.

There’s a lot of things your boss at work does for you behind the scenes — meeting with clients, setting appointments, outlining expectations, measuring results. Falling into the world of the entrepreneur means managing your time and your results, two things that can be daunting when you start out.

Don’t expect a four hour work week out of the gate — you can work less over time, but expect to put in some long hours to start with.

4) You want to make the lives of others easier

The most successful entrepreneurs I know all have one thing in common: they love helping others do things easier, better, or faster. The best businesspeople know how to help people do all three. This goes hand in hand with the first point about creating value, but you have to want to help people.

I spend a lot of time talking to people in real time about the emotional hurdles they face when starting a business, because I want to ease that transition from employee to entrepreneur and see relaxed, confident individuals making the leap. Even though one could argue this lets me become an “authority” in a sense, that’s not why I open my mouth - I speak because I truly desire to make that person’s life easier.

When you’re helping others, you build yourself up. I used to struggle with the idea of blogging because I felt like it was throwing “dollars out the window” — giving great content for free without being paid for that content. Now, I write because I want to inspire and to create, and it’s paid off quite well.

5) You have a system

I’m not just talking about outlook rules and cute metal separators from Staples — I’m talking about your business as a whole. Building a strong funnel from start to finish is the secret that keeps the big players in business — the small business owner can join in too.

To build the system starts with a question: “What do I want them to do?” If you post an ad, do you want them to call? Email? Do you want them to view a short presentation before speaking further with you about their problem?

6) You love information

I always cringe when people mention how much they hate looking up information. I cringe twice when these same people want to run a business. It goes back to the “You know how to find answers” point — the desire to search for information, whether via Google or your “expert” friend George is paramount to business success online and off. No one is an island.

7) You take calculated risks

There’s an inherent value in testing what works and what doesn’t: it filters out 90% of the chatter you’ll hear on blogs, forums, and other places people mingle together. I’m not saying that these places don’t have value (ahem, Staying Paid is part of that category, you know). What I am saying is that new entrepreneurs tend to let the “X on forum Q said that Solution Z is bad” issue devour their business. X may be a great source of information, but I’d take comments on software and solutions with a grain of salt and vow to test ideas that you’re interested in, if you’re convinced it’ll work.

Do not be afraid to make mistakes — I’ve made thousands of mistakes before getting to the point where I can share all of them with a straight face. :)

8) You can sell without selling

We all have stories about that guy that keeps calling your house selling you something crazy you don’t need — bugs the heck out of you, doesn’t it? Don’t be that guy. Instead, begin a conversation by listening to the needs of the person, and learning something about them. I get people to call me about my services because I asked them about their kids, about the reasons why they want to start their own company — my reason for doing this is probably far far different than the grandmother looking for passive income or the stay at home dad who is trying to generate extra income to spoiling the kiddies.

The best products I’ve purchased came from salespeople that knew that creating an experience that was filled with positive emotion opened my wallet better than any quick, off the cuff, one-size-fits all approach.

Being an entrepreneur means that you will have more options, controls, knobs and gears at your disposal than you’ll sometimes know what to do with. That’s OK. Changing the way we think about the entire concept of “deserve to” is the first key ingredient to business and personal success.

I didn’t include #9 and #10 because I want YOU to create those last two. Tell me: why do you deserve to work from home?