Hmm.
I am no longer ashamed.
First an announcement - No coaching this week. I have too
much stuff to list on eBay, and have plans for Friday so I
need to do the listing on Thursday. Probably won't do
coaching again until March, but I'll let you know.
Now for this week's article. . .
In 2004, I stopped teaching internet marketing to
concentrate on antiques/collectibles and eBay.
There were two reasons I decided to concentrate on teaching
only eBay skills.
The first reason is by specializing I'm more focused and
better able to serve your needs.
Someone once said, "If you spend an hour a day learning
about a subject after a year you'll be an expert."
We'll I've spent ten years not only learning the ins and
outs of eBay, but also teaching others. (I sold my first
eBay report in August of 1998. -- that's nine and a half
years ago!)
I wouldn't still be here if I didn't do a good job.
The second reason I walked away from teaching others how to
make money online is I was ashamed.
That's right, I was ashamed.
In the summer of 2004, I met some marketers who really
showed me up. These guys were selling more in a month than
I did in a year. Most of them have mortgage payments that
are higher than my monthly income.
I felt less than.
Who was I to be teaching others internet marketing when my
efforts didn't match the big boys income?
So I gave up, and I concentrated on IwantCollectibles.
With the help of a few of these marketers, I started
changing my business so it looked more like theirs. That
lasted about 18 months.
The truth is that wasn't me. I am not happy running an
enterprise with employees and weekly meetings. I am happy
doing what I am doing.
Let me tell you what I do. . .
I work - that's sitting in front of the computer or talking
on the phone with others - about 20 hours a week. That's an
current average. Last year I averaged about 4 hours a week.
For that 20 hours, all my bills are paid, and I am able to
put some money away each month. Some months I put away more
than others.
I also have the train business, but I spend more on adding
things to the collection than I make buying and selling
trains each year. That means I have to subsidize the
collection from my other income.
The rest of the time is mine to do what I want.
I can read a book, I can watch movies, I can go to a coffee
shop or a nice restaurant. If I talk about business during
the meal, I can even write the meal off on my taxes.
I ran into one those marketers who made me feel ashamed
last summer. He was bragging about his new launch where he
did 3 million dollars in sales in the first 72 hours.
I let Mr. Marketer buy me lunch and we hung out for a
while.
He asked me what I was working on. I told him I'd cancelled
the Mastermind series which he'd helped me start because I
didn't want to be obligated to spend 5 hours a month
working on it. Basically, I was taking things slow and just
picking the low hanging fruit.
During the conversation I explained some of the ways I'd
made money online. Mostly just small projects I could throw
together in a few hours that would bring in a few hundred or
a few thousand dollars.
Mr. Marketer paid for lunch, and on the way out said
something that will change YOUR life.
I say CHANGE YOUR LIFE because I'm happy with mine.
Here's what he said,
"Terry, you're just a slacker. If you'd get your shit
together you could do really well."
I drove home thinking about that, and realized I am happy
with my life. I have no boss, almost no obligations, and
the ability to make money any time I need some.
What do I have to be ashamed of?
I should be proud of my lifestyle and my abilities.
A while later I was on the phone with James Jones and told
him about the slacker comment. He's a slacker too, but
tends to work a little harder than me.
We talked about some of the things we do to support
ourselves, and decided others (That means you!) would want
to know how to do similar projects.
Now you might not be a slacker like us. Maybe you have a
full time job, or a busy family life. Whatever.
After all, while most of us might dream of making millions,
a few hundred or a few thousand dollars a month is more
realistic.
It's not just realistic, it's attainable.
So we are going to do two teleseminars explaining how we do
simple slacker projects.
We are calling them the slacker sessions.
It gets better. . .
James had the brilliant idea to only charge you if you
decide to attend the second teleseminar. That way you could
listen to the first session, and decide if these projects
suit your needs.
So we won't even ask for any payment information until
after the first session.
That means you can attend the first session with no
obligation.
Check out what we'll be covering at:
http://www.slackerprofits.com/Terry
PS we can only fit 200 people on the call. That means if
you are serious you need to reserve your space now. The
calls will be held on Monday Feb. 18, and Monday Feb 25th.
PPS if you don't know who James is you haven't been reading
this newsletter very long. I've told you about two of his
products in the past six months. The last one was the
Secret eBay Product Sources. We'll be talking about how he
created that during the sessions.
You can check out James' Secret eBay Sources at:
http://www.iwantcollectibles.com/jones-products.shtml
