Income Producing Activites That Only Successful Internet Entrepreneurs Do
Most people remember exactly where they were when the Twin Towers fell on 9/11. And most full-time Internet Entrepreneurs vividly remember the day they made the decision to quit their "J.O.B." and join the ranks of the I-Work-From-Home Club.
The day I closed the doors of my once thriving mortgage company to jump into the Internet marketing arena full-time after studying from top marketers for 3 years, it literally felt like I was jumping off a bridge...in the dark without a flashlight.
After waiting politely for a few days, my golfing buddies and colleagues from the mortgage industry whose businesses had also been annihilated by the real estate implosion started bombarding me with questions. "So Art, exactly what DO you do all day?"
Actually, what they were really wanted to know was “Can I do what you're doing and get the same results?”
If you think I'm going to tell you I read Tim Ferriss's 4-Hour Workweek and am happily golfing all day while my business runs by itself 24-7...sorry to disappoint.
But if you want an honest account of what a typical day looks like for a successful and Serious Entrepreneur, read on.
First of all, to shatter the whole “work-from-home” scenario you might have in your mind, I don’t work from home. After getting up and going to the office every Monday through Friday for 25+ years, this old dog hasn’t learned that trick yet.
Fact is, keeping home and work separate works for me. Dan Kennedy taught me early on in my Internet career that distractions only lead to non-productivity.
And the yellow legal pads you see in the photo? Another old habit. Typing has never been my forte...and call me old-fashioned, but I process information better if I write notes by hand and have them to read off-line. Whatever works, right?
So let's get to the meat of the matter:
Having been a business owner for most of my adult life, I still focus primarily on IPA’s (Income Producing Activities). Stuff that makes money!
1. I make a phone call to every person who has gone through my lead pre-qualification system and is serious about starting an online business.
I probably spend up to two hours a day on the phone with new prospects which adds up to anywhere from 3-5 good conversations a day. I’ve learned to keep the conversations short and to the point.
(A top-notch funnel is key. By the time you actually talk to your prospects, a well-tested and effective funnel will have done it’s job.
Plus, the best way to get people to take the next step is to NOT have all the time in the world to talk…they perceive you as a successful leader whose time is valuable. Attraction marketing at its best!)
2. I try to make at least one income-producing improvement to my “sales funnel” every week. This includes writing a blog post for my central hub blog at http://artbasmajian.com, split testing a headline or offer on a lead capture site like http://internettraininga-z.com, weaking followup emails for our main list and writing broadcast emails to blast out to all our lists.
Cheryl is an enormous help in this area so this is a collaborative effort. My time spent is about 5 hours a week. Hers? 10+.
3. Lead generation is the life blood of any campaign so a good 2-4 hours a week is spent on a variety of traffic sources. This would include tweaking ppv campaigns, purchasing good quality leads, keyword research, building out campaigns on Google, Bing, and 7Search, postcard marketing.
4. Coaching and training my team currently is my single biggest time investment and a real passion for Cheryl and myself. We have found that the effort and time spent in free training comes given back to us one hundred-fold.
We come across so many marketers that have been abandoned by their sponsors so we gladly adopt them into our family and make our team Internet marketing training site and “Internet Training Roundtable” webinars available to anyone who wants to learn how to market the right way.
I spend about 10 hours a week (about 2 hours a day) on private Internet marketing coaching with clients who want intense training and a complete business makeover. Another 2 hours a week goes to preparing our weekly webinar, and then the one hour for the actual webinar.
5. As the National Marketing Director for EcoEcoNow.org, I do 3-way prospecting calls for anyone that requests one which comes to about 5 hours a week.
So a typical work week figures out this way:
10 hours a week on #1
5 hours a week on #2
4 hours a week on #3
13 hours a week on #4
5 hours a week on #5
That all comes to 37 hours a week. A far cry from the 60+ I used to spend as an investment broker and mortgage company owner. And sorry, Tim...no way can I turn a profit like I do in only 4 hours a week.
Is Internet marketing hard work? If you want to be successful in anything, it takes time, persistence, and focus.
There’s no secret, no magic bullet, no special formula.
What I can promise you is that if you follow exactly what I tell you to do and treat your business like a legitimate enterprise and not a hobby, you'll make a lucrative income.
Continually educating yourself is a given in this industy. Being busy doesn't mean being productive. And being a strategic entrepreneur involves leveraging your time.
One of the best ways to leverage your time is content recycling. This article was originally a blog post on my blog site. It was rewritten once for this article and again for submission to other high authority article distribution sites. The blog post will get syndicated out on Twitter and Facebook automatically through my RSS feed.
I’m also going to shoot a 5 minute video called “The 5 Weekly Income-Producing Activities of a Strategic Internet Entrepreneur” and upload it to YouTube.
Now, is this what a typical week for me will look like in 5 years? My goal is to have my business to the point where instead of working it 37 hours a week, I’m looking at more like a 15 hour work week.
10 years from now? Unless it’s an appointment with Callaway, TaylorMade, or Titlelist, I’m callin’ in sick, baby!
I’d love to hear your thoughts on your typical work day as an Internet marketer.
Feel free to write your comments at the original blog post at http://artbasmajian.com/a-typical-day-in-the-life-of-an-internet-entrepreneur.
P.S. I actually love Tim's book...but it's got to be taken in context and viewed as a goal not a starting point.
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