Notes From #NAMS

Friday of NAMS 4 was a great day, perhaps the best first day of a NAMS Conference (Niche Affiliate Marketing System). I believe the bugs that were present during NAMS 1 were not only ironed out, but smoothed over with grace. This year I got a chance to speak in front of the group, but that didn’t prevent me from learning. 

As you know, each Friday I send out my “notes” from my various activities during the week.  If you don’t get my weekly notes, this is the kind of thing you’re missing:

NOTES FROM NAMS

I didn’t expect to learn much in the Social Media 101 for Beginners that Jeff Herring and Maritz Parra put on, but I attended it because I also don’t doubt their deep expertise. And that doubt proved fruitful – I came away with a page of notes. 

Did you know that you can get your tweet feeds via SMS to your cell phone? Yep, Jeff and Maritza said if you send a text to 40404 with the message follow@yourtwittername, you’ll get the tweets to your phone.  That is awesome for small businesses. Imagine setting up a twitter account just to send out a weekly coupon, and then telling your customers to send that text so they can get the coupons. Very cool.

I also loved a couple of the cross-marketing strategies that they do with their social marketing profiles. Not only do they put the “follow me on Facebook” button on their profile pages, backgrounds and images, but Jeff even has a video on YouTube with Facebook showing on a computer behind him.  Check back soon, that discussion made me realize I need to go back and rebrand all my pages.  Good stuff.

Those were just a couple of the nuggets. Make sure you sign up for my Notes, I’ll make sure you get all the good stuff from my NAMS experience.

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Ladder of Value: Moving customers from $7 to $1,500

The Ladder of Value isn’t something you’re going to learn about in school. In fact, this may be the only time you’ll ever hear about it, but I guarantee that it will not only make sense to you – but will likely shift your thought process in your marketing efforts.

The premise is simple. If you want to get hired to be the Keynote speaker at the biggest convention in  your niche, you’re going to have to move the people who book the speaker from knowing nothing about you, to getting pat on the back for hiring you.  Sending them a resume and a request to speak is not going to cut it.

However, by providing great information, insightful content and helpful, regular postings you can easily move someone from a point of ignorance, to respect, to paying customer. For example a very well thought out free e-book can interest a customer in a webinar, and then perhaps a workshop to hear you speak.  That kind of value can beget personal coaching or weekend symposiums.

The ladder of value is a logical, merit based way of proving to your ultimate goal client that you are indeed worth the $200,000 you’re asking to be the convention’s keynote speaker.  It also fits hand in hand with the customer’s natural “buying process”. Here’s more:

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NAMS 4 – A website owner workshop

Hey hey, NAMS 4 is coming up this August. This website owner workshop is a perfect opportunity to learn from experts. If you’ve had questions about Google AdSense, affiliate sales, creating your own products, increasing traffic or even how to use a virtual assistant – this is a great opportunity to grow.

This website owner workshop begins on Friday morning (yes, you have to take the day off) and continues through Sunday afternoon. We’re talking about 200 people who are working toward financial freedom through their on-line business. It doesn’t get better than that.

Crazily, even though the workshop is packed with real “experts” and internet savvy gurus, I guarantee you’ll learn as much from the other participants as you do from them.

I’ve gone to the previous 3 workshops and have propelled my business 100x what I was doing before. From that I’ve even joined a “mastermind” group which has further propelled the learning. And having lunch with people whose actions have brought them 5,000, 10,000 and 20,000 visitors a day has been enormously helpful.

I can’t begin to tell you about all the things you’ll learn that you’ve never even considered before. Typically on Saturday there’s a session everyone attends about creating your own product. And in that 90 minutes, not only do we create an audio product, but we also create a website, sales video and give out affiliate links that pay a 100% commission. Within 90 minutes you’ll see how to go from nothing to making sales. That’s an education all by itself.

Have you ever considered teleseminars? I bet you have and decided it wasn’t for you. But what if you could learn how to turn a teleseminar into 30 other products, how to turn it into a membership site? a book? a real cd people can order (managed by someone else)? a giveaway AND have it increase your traffic and sales. I tell ya! the sky is the limit.

So come to NAMS 4. Prepare to be dazzled with things you can do while you’re there, things you know you’ll do when you get home and ways to make money from your current business that never, ever even crossed your mind.

If you use the coupon code NAMS4MAY – you’ll get a significant discount on the registration price. Go to the NAMS Registration page and see for yourself. I can’t think of a better time investment.

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Getting it Done! The Work. The Priorities.

Ever come back from a networking event, or a conference or a workshop with tons of stuff on your plate? Did you end up watching videos on YouTube to give yourself a break before you really got to work?

I did that. Last week in fact.

I got back from the Niche Affiliate Marketing System Workshop in Atlanta so full of vim and vigor I almost didn’t know what to do. Almost.

But I figured it out. If you were there and you were listening, Mark Hendricks gave you the answer “start with the end, and work backward”. That’s sorta logical, I guess.

So let’s break it down. Your goal is to profit from your business, and just exactly how are you going to do that?  This is where some people get stumped. So let’s make it easy. Well, you’re going to do that by collecting more money than you spend. Easy?

So my first thought was: I’ve created a product. It’s done, it might need some tweaking but it’s done. So how are people going to pay for this product? They’re going to need PayPal or some sort of order now button. OK. That’s actually done. In order to buy it, they’re going to have to understand what they’re buying. Sales Page. OK – That’s done.

Now, if you’re in the same boat and one of these things isn’t done- well, that’s your action plan right there. Finish that.

The Sales page is done. The checkout is done. The product is done. I even found some ‘bonus’ products to add to the sale. Not Done. I guess I’m doing that.

But when I’m done with that, the only other piece I need is buyers. Hmm. . . I just organized my list of things to do on this project from the back to the front. I know what’s done, which means I know what’s left.

Now I need to work on those traffic generating ideas I learned at NAMS. That means articles, blog  posts, tweets, videos, podcasts, Facebook updates, finding JV’s, backlinks, mini-sites, etc… Does it matter which one you do first?

No. Do the one that sounds fun right now. I mean you might as well be having fun. Suppose writing articles sounds fun today, and tomorrow and the next day, should you get down on yourself that you’re not doing videos and podcasts and backlinks? 

Nope! because if you were doing articles and articles and articles – guess what? You were doing something that’s going to pay off. When you feel like doing a video – do it. When you feel like turning your articles into videos  – do that. If you understand that repurposing is easier than creating new content, and choose to create new content anyway – Good For You! You’ll always have time for more content – just as you’ll always have time for repurposing.

My advice to you. . . Don’t sell tickets to an event that happens once. Don’t spend your time on things that have an expiration date.  Spend everyday doing something that will last, something that will help and something that keeps you smiling.

And remember that every social media account that you open, every site that you build, every hurdle that you jump makes it that much easier tomorrow. Ever meet a successful internet marketer who hasn’t been doing this for 5 or more years? I don’t think so.

Well, guess what they were doing the first 5 years? Yep – creating the systems, the products, the sites, the networks, the tips and the tutorials. This is a long distance haul. Settle in, it’s going to be a good ride.

So tell me your “after conference” secrets to organizing your priorities. Let’s learn a little something (before we meet up on YouTube, watching videos). :)

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Fill In The Gaps and Achieve Your Own Success this Year!

So Darren Crawford and I had an idea after seeing at least one person come away from NAMS without even a blog set-up.  We decided we’d start a weekly mastermind group for #NAMS folks.  The idea is simple really.

Once per week, we’ll put on a NAMS only, mastermind phone call. If you’re like me, you’re not ready to hire a VA until you’ve got some level of confidence and knowledge about the tasks. And I recall quite well that 1 year ago getting a blog set-up was a major hurdle. In fact, it wasn’t until NAMS that Cathy the WordPressWizard informed me about the difference between a WordPress.com account and a WordPress blog.

So, go to Free Weekly Mastermind.com and get in on the fun. Between the two of us we can get you from A – M, then we’ll make sure to have some guest experts on the calls with us to get us from M – Z.

There are many steps that never get taught at conferences – and for the most part – they shouldn’t be. So if you’ve never heard of nameservers, cron jobs, embed code, article automation, the 10x10x4 traffic strategy, TubeMogul, Onlywire, or the PrettyLinks Plugin – there’s a good chance this Mastermind call is for you.

If you know all that stuff, then join us so you can stretch our learning and we can try to stretch yours.

Sign up for the Free Weekly Mastermind.com Today!

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Lessons From the Niche Affiliate Marketing System (#NAMS)

Ever get in way over your head? Did you come out unscathed? That’s what a lot of people at the Niche Affiliate Marketing System are feeling this weekend.

Hold that thought. . .

Saturday morning Mark Hendricks spoke to the group as a whole. What was probably a bit strange to the attendees is he didn’t talk about internet marketing, he spoke about life. But it slowly became clear that a career in internet marketing is about the juggling of time, family, use of money, use of time and tasks. Without looking at all these things as a whole, how you create a lifestyle that includes a healthy balance of life – not just work.

Mark Hendricks at Niche Affiliate Marketing Sy...

Image by rogercarr via Flickr

One of the illustrations Mark used was the working of a maze. To get your crayon from the Start to the Finish, isn’t if faster if you start from the finish and work backwards? The point he makes is – doesn’t it make sense to create a goal and work backward from the goal to now see how to accomplish it?

For instance if you want to make $48,000/year, don’t you first need to be able to make 4,000 in a month? Doesn’t it make sense then to figure out how to make $1,000/week? And then doesn’t it make sense that you’d have to learn how to make $150/day? (Yes, I know that’s not perfect math, Bob The Teacher) :)

When you work backwards and try to figure out how to make $150/day – you’ll know you’re beginning to achieve your goal.

Back to feeling overwhelmed. . .

So what I know,  as a 3 time NAMS attendee, that the “newbies” might be feeling overwhelmed right now, but once they establish their overall goals – all the tools they learned here will be right in their lap. And they’ll know exactly how to use them.

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NAMS is finally upon us!

Ever been to an internet marketing conference? Let me guess. . . Session 1. . . chat in the hall with someone you sat near. . . Session 2. . . rinse, repeat.

Most of them are like that. You go in knowing that the speaker’s have a goal in mind. Sure, they’re going to provide you some information that will be useful – but ultimately they’re going to be selling themselves or their product.

Now imagine this. . . you sign up for an internet marketing conference. . . but before you go you meet 90% of the people in an active forum, exchange ideas and even set up dinners to talk about subjects like copywriting and joint ventures.

Imagine creating mastermind groups and find business partners before you even get there. That’s what NAMS has turned into. The Niche Affiliate Marketing System Workshop, put on by David Perdew has become an incubator for success.

So can you still expect the instructors to spend their time selling? You can expect it – but most of the time you have to ask them if they have a product based on the lesson. This is a group centered on educating its peers. This is a group of friends – hell bent on being just that.

And in this crazy world – what better way to spend a weekend than with friends!

Interested in when the next NAMS event will take place? Try Clicking this!

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The NAMS 3 Action Guide is Ready

The NAMS 4 ACTION GUIDE IS READY HERE: http://lettersfromdan.com/namsactionguide/

I’ve finally finished the NAMS 3 Action Guide.  Writing from the perspective of someone who’s been to the first 2 NAMS events, I thought I’d give you some perspective on how to make the best of the event.

Please let me know what you think, and if you went to the first two NAMS events – what did I leave out?

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The Journey: A Lesson by Nick, Norah and Aileen

Back in August I had a chance to hear Aileen Bennett speak at the NAMS (click here) conference in Atlanta. Her speech, her dialogue with the group was riveting and got eveyone all abuzz. Since then Aileen’s become a better friend and I’ve grown to love her message more. But it wasn’t until I watched “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” that part of her message clicked for me.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Image via

(If you haven’t seen Nick and Norah, don’t worry I won’t ruin it for you. But I would suggest watching it free on demand with Netflix and then coming back to read this.)

On the surface Nick and Norah is a romantic comedy along the lines of “Say Anything”. Some will not want it compared to such a classic but both reside in the “grunge romantic comedy” section of Blockbuster.

The Destination or The Journey

If you delve a bit deeper, you’ll see that Nick and Norah is really a story comparing two things: the destination vs the journey. Throughout the entire movie Nick and Norah flip back and forth between the sheer joy they will have listenting to their favorite band, Fluffy, and the frustration that goes along with finding their drunken friend (to which they must sacrifice said joy). It’s a masterfully written story where both the protagonist and the protagonist are foils of each other.

So I go back to my friend Aileen. During her talk, she conjured the image of a woman walking to the park with her kids. You can picture this woman trying to briskly walk to the park while the kids keep stopping to pick up rocks and look at bugs. All the while she’s telling the kids “hurry up so we can get to the park and you can play”.

Do you see the parallel yet, the reason why months later I recall Aileen’s speech while watching Nick and Norah? Getting to the park might be the quest. Finding Fluffy might be the goal. Getting 10,000 visitors per day to your blog might be the day you plan to take a breather. And finally getting all your kids out of diapers might bring a smile to your face.

But life, and fun, and joy happens on the way to the park – not just when you get there. That’s what Nick, Norah, Aileen and your favorite teacher were trying to tell you all those times. I command you to find joy today. Make your own happiness be today’s goal.

In the end, when Nick and Norah find out they missed part of the Fluffy show, Nick adroitly says “We didn’t miss it. This is it.”

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January NAMS is Right Around the Corner. Are You Ready for 2010?

NAMS is right around the corner.

It sure does seem like every year at this time I have grandiose plans for next year. The problem is that it happens every year. Shouldn’t my plans for next year be so big and promising that I would be able to retire by year’s end?

Well, I’ve figured out wherein lies my error. My plans are consistently generic, great hopes. They’re not usually step by step, line by line, playbook plans. Like this year I wanted to get a blog up and going. Well, mission accomplished. Really?

umair shuaib.

Get Ready for Fun!

What I should have said and am now saying is that I want to have a blog up by x date. I will have generated x traffic by x date. I will have generated x money from x traffic by x date. And finally, I want to have perfected the system to duplicate that by year’s end. Now that’s a little more concrete. Isn’t it?

Well, my first goal is to have my product up for sale, and a membership site up and running by the time NAMS comes around in January.  I also plan to have written an action plan for NAMS before Christmas (now that the schedule is on paper) and be distributing that to my NAMS friends by January 1st.

NAMS is where you can get your head on straight. Experts with answers to questions. People good at setting goals all around you. A place to figure out what you don’t know, and learn it. AND the end of January is the perfect time to attend the NAMS event in Atlanta.

Recover from the holidays. Figure out what you want to do in 2010.  Put together my yet-to-be-written action plan before NAMS. And then learn as much as a person can learn in 72 hours. Awesome!

Sign up for NAMS (the best internet marketing conference) today. (NAMS SIGN UP PAGE HERE) Prepare for 2010, tomorrow.

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