One of the scary elements of being in this business are the meetings, emails, phone calls, conference chats, etc. you have with good hearted people who have completely and totally bought a “lie” in this space. They embrace the lie completely and throw everything into it. You’ve met these people. You may be one of these people. Here are 7 of the most popular lies. Any of them sound familiar.
If I just knew the secret, the money would start flowing in.
Yes, I sell products with the words “Secrets” attached to them. The thing about “secrets” are that they are just pieces of information. You need to act on / do something about the “secrets” before they do anything for you. If I tell you where the treasure chest is located, you still have to dig it up.
If I just start producing content, the sponsorship dollars will start flowing in.
Nope. Nadda. Ain’t gonna happen. One has NOTHING to do with the other. Now, you have to have content for people to sponsor but you’ll need to a) create the content and b) find someone to sponsor it. Trust you me this, you approaching someone to sponsor you will always be smarter than waiting for them to approach you.
And, by the way, looking for sponsors is one of the HARDEST ways to make money on the Internet … period.
And, I know, you’re thinking that Google Adsense is the answer to this one. It isn’t.
If I just link to the right affiliate program, the checks will start flowing in.
This is one of my favorites. I actually have received phone calls from people looking for their checks on account of them linking to my affiliate program a month or two back. Money from affiliate programs only happen if BUYERS CLICK ON SAID LINKS – and lots of them.
General rule of thumb – you’re going to get one purchase for every 100 buyers who clicks on an affiliate link.
The real money is made “while I sleep.”.
Again, I’ve heard this one a thousand times over. Nope, the “real” money is made when you make a product and put it up for sale. 99.99% of the time, the “real” money will come after you put the product up for sale.
The whole “while you sleep” thing comes from the fact that a well set up store can take orders while you, in fact, sleep – but again, I tell you, the “real money” is made when the product is created – it just takes a little time for it to be delivered accordingly.
I can Facebook/Twitter/INSERTSOCIALMEDIAPLATFORMHERE my way to riches.
Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. The chance of a sale being made is exponentially increased when you actually communicate with people and these social media tools are great for communication. But, shouting your sales to an audience who not only doesn’t want to hear, but who isn’t listening makes no sense at all.
Oh, yeah, and it doesn’t work either.
If I just came up for the right keywords in Google, the big money would finally arrive.
Also not true. Let’s rephrase this one a bit to make it true:
If I just came up for the keywords that buyers are searching Google for – and had a site that made the buyers want to choose me, the big money would finally arrive.
The more training I buy, the better my chances to make the big bucks.
This is a lot like the “secrets” thing mentioned above. I actually had someone return one of my product because “it didn’t work.” When he sent it back, it was still in the shrink wrap.
The more good training you act on, the better your chances on making the big bucks.
But, when push comes to shove (and remember, I sell training for a living), action will always make you more money than training ever will.
Action on good training is the “secret sauce” that brings it all together. But that is another blog post all together.
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Let’s have some fun with this. Post your “favorite” lies below in the comments (along with commentary like I’ve done here). I’ll pick my 7 favorites for a follow-up blog post and link directly to you. Sound fair?
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