Giving Actual Service Is One Key To Success

Hey everyone, it’s been a little while since I just sat down and wrote some hard core content.  No advertisements, no affiliate links.  Not even any recommendations, (at least not yet.)  As many of you know, I got my start online by giving away graphics in a forum of a mentoring course I took last March.  Since then I’ve grown my business by supplying other marketers with ecovers and website design.

 

For a little bit of background I was in a dead end job being a delivery driver for a top food service industry and was killing myself every day just to make ends meet.  I knew money could be made online and had spent years dabbling around trying this program and that program only to end up more in debt and more frustrated.  So in March of last year I paid 500 for a mentoring course from Alex Jeffreys.

 

He gave great content and told it like it was.  He broke down how he built his six figure business and told us what we needed to do in order to do the same.  List Building was at the top of the “to do” assignments as it’s a huge key to success online.  As I messed around on my own home computer doing graphics, Alex asked the students to help one another in the areas where we had talents so I began giving away graphics and ecovers to students in our forum.

 

Word of mouth spread among the students and before long I began to get emails asking how much for a graphic or how much for a header graphic or ecover graphic.  So I threw up a quick website with some payment buttons and before I knew it, I had told my job where to go. LOL

 

I quit in July of 2009 not because I was making a killing online but because I was bringing in a consistent amount of money by providing a service online that people needed.  I stopped thinking about how to make the millions I would like and focused on how to bring in the next 37 to 97 dollar payment.  That’s when things took off.  By offering graphics, I could make money and work when I wanted.  I simply traded my job for a lifestyle.

 

Now like I said, I don’t make a killing but I do make money.  And that in itself has beaten that 97 to 99 percent who don’t make a dime.  Now I’ve taken my business as far as I can by doing one to one work.  I can make a couple of thousand a month by doing graphics for customers but why stop there?  After all, I know some marketing and know that I can leverage my time and money.

 

So during the last year I’ve been working one on one with customers doing their graphics and have lost my vision of the number one thing I should have been focused on which was building a list.  Now I’ve joined another coaching course gearing me toward building my list and once again, this course has a student forum.  Since I had made money from the last forum I was in, I knew what I had to do.

 

So right off the bat I was asked to be a forum moderator which helped me to place myself in front of the students.  I not only moderate for the forum owners but I began to give service to the students for free.  Two things happen when I do this.  The first is the students see me as an authority in the topics I answer for and the second is since I give so much in the forum, many students will no doubt use me for my services in the future.

 

This is called forum marketing because I’m able to help others with their issues and at the same time be able to make money later on because I’ve already built a relationship of trust with them.  They also feel the need to reciprocate by doing something in return for the services which I give them for free in the forum.  There is a quote that says that if you help enough people get what they want then you will eventually get what you want.  I truly believe that since I’m seeing it yet again in another forum.

 

So if I were to tell you one thing it would be this.  Stop trying to make a million dollars online and try to just make one.  Why?  Because when you know how to make one then you can duplicate it over and over again.  Think big but start small.  Don’t get it right, just get it going.  I could give you many great quotes but they will all mean nothing if you don’t take action.  For years I learned and learned and made nothing.  Now I act and money shows up in my Paypal account almost daily.

 

In the forum I’m in now I’m not even doing graphic work but instead have been uploading websites and configuring Aweber accounts.  I barely learned how to do this myself over a year ago and now have people begging me and offering me cash to do it for them.  For now I don’t take their money but later on after I create another website and set up payment buttons, the people will come.

 

Why?  Because I stepped in between students and their mentors.  I’ve listened to their questions and concerns and I know their wants and needs.  More importantly, I’ve been where they are and give them words of encouragement.  And in the end, they will gladly pay me to relieve them of the burdens they face.  It will be a win win for everyone involved.  I know you have marketing skills.  Whether it’s graphics, hosting, autoresponder, writing, or even socializing, you have a skill others don’t.

 

Give that talent away and people will come asking you “how much”  Think about it and give it a try.  I’m proof it works and I know you can do it to.  It’s already been two weeks in this forum I’m in about list building and already people are asking me “how much” and are begging me to take away the stress of the things I find simple.  Many people think I’m dumb for wasting so much time doing a lot of work for free and most of that comes from my family.  But they don’t know.

 

They don’t know that by offering my services for free now will gain me huge returns in the future.  Forum marketing is not sneaky or wrong.  It’s a great way to offer your service and then patiently wait till people are banging down your virtual doors with their wallets open asking “How Much!”  People want to pay me money, they want to get personal mentoring from me, they want to know how I “know so much.” 

 

It’s not what you know that makes you money, it’s how you use your knowledge to help others.  Once you get that, then money will start to flow.  I’m beginning to see that I can take my knowledge and show someone how to upload a website and how to configure their Aweber account.  What if I recorded what I did?  Would others pay to see the videos?  Would others pay to see how easy it is for me to do it?  Sure they would. 

 

What about all the praise and comments people make about me in the forums?  Those would make great testimonials to add to a website that would help boost my credibility and authority.  Add a few payment buttons and there you have it.  A money making website ready to go complete with a service to offer and praise from people you’ve helped.  So many people are looking for the quick buck without doing any work for it but I believe in hard work.

 

I believe in being honest to myself and to the people who I work for.  To me, I’m a different kind of marketer.  One that cares about the success of others regardless of how much they know.  I want to motivate and encourage.  And if they still don’t get what I’m teaching or saying, I don’t want their money.  I know I can’t be all things to all people so I must know my limits.  But I must also know my worth.  Words to ponder don’t you agree?

 

So now I give you some homework.  First make a list of your strengths online and of your weaknesses.  Then I want you to take some time to learn and build upon your weaknesses and get help and answers with them.  I also want you to be confident with your strengths and begin to help others who don’t have them.  Be their guru.  You don’t have to know everything online to command attention and be a help.

 

After a while of helping, make notes of the comments people leave you and also make notes on the problems people face online.  Try to come up with solutions and you will have your next product.  Product creation is for another time and another post.  For now I just want you to see the potential you have to actually make money from first giving a service.  I’ve already told you I’ve sucked at building my list and have joined a course to learn more.  But in the process I became a mini guru to those students who have less knowledge than me about uploading sites and setting up autoresponders.

 

Who knows, you may see a product soon with my name on it that I can sell over and over again which will increase my already growing business.  Please let me know your thoughts and more importantly, “What can I help you with?”   Until next time…