3 mega niche areas - 3 too many?

[Aden Curtis]

One thing that influenced my decision to retire was the prospect of making a living on the internet. EVERYONE and their kid sister were already successful at it, so why not me? Problem is, I don't have a kid sister, so I must have been doomed from the start...

That was almost 3 years ago. My 1st chosen niche was weight loss. Afterall, I was overweight and wanted to drop a few pounds and get a bit more fit since I now had the time. Besides, what better to do than to walk-the-walk while you talk-the-talk. Fit Fat Loss was started...

Across the next couple of months I learned about the 3 major markets: Self-Development, Weight Loss, and Internet Marketing. And I was encouraged, even prodded to "go wide", to enter all 3...

The Ongoing Mind seemed natural for self-development, so I got #2 up & running... Then in January of 2010, I somehow started promoting product launches on IM guru Launch Pad & within 3 weeks on the 1st launch promotion, I got my 1st internet sale, then a couple more - all in IM. Then the launch creator went on a cruise... left all of the customers out to hang dry...! Right in the middle of the launch! What do you think happened? Refunds maybe?

But product launches have a certain excitement to them, so I was hooked on the IM niche. Personal Development would have to wait, although the push was on to get some sales for Weight Loss - I chose 4 main "hot" products and "experts". At first I just blogged without any real sales pitch & the traffic came naturally. So I started promoting the chosen products & started to capture my leads. Google even accepted me for Adwords and allowed me to run my campaign through to completion, exhausting my budget. Only then did they tell me I was in violation of their TOS. 1st slap... but I recovered. Sales trickled in, as did the leads (except for the spam leads which where 25 for each valid lead), but I soon dropped the opt-in box... the spam leads continued for another 9 months though... I soon lost motivation to continue with Fit Fat Loss. Oh, it's still up, but I barely do enough to keep it alive. I decided IT was 1 niche area too many.

After numerous unsuccessful promotions on IM guru Launch Pad without much of any sales, I took down the opt-in and moth-balled the email series there too. IT was niche area #2 decided as being yet another one too many...

Finally, after going through my 3rd mentor & some personal coaching to no avail, I decided Self-Development with The Ongoing Mind was the 3rd niche area that was one too many.

I threw in the towel, or so I thought, and so I told my coach - that was in January of 2012. But by April, I was totally lost without my blogs! I simply did not know what else to do.

All 3 are back... sort of... plus a 4th, and another I'm a mentor for.

I'm hooked, but I'm also not succeeding. True, I am past the 7 cents per hour income mark that I used to joke about as I'm now at 10 cents per hour (no joke...).

So, thanks to Willie Crawford, I'm looking to MyNAMS to finally break me free of my restrictions. I learned a lot from the other programs, but the last 2 concentrated on offline marketing despite promises of affiliate marketing training. NAMS, as I understand it, will be the 1st one I've entered that is targeting Affiliate Marketing.

Let's see if that is true. Get me on the right niche (old or new). I'm tired of failure!

[ChristineCobb]

Aden -- I feel your pain! Seems that we retired about the same time but fortunately I found NAMS a few months later. Here's the thing... you cannot abandon all your lifetime of experience and things that led to your success pre-retirement. Despite what everyone and their sister says, there is no EASY button. It's just business. It may not require a huge investment like some businesses, but the road to success requires basic business and marketing principles along with technical know-how.

Here are just a few things that have helped me:

• Be valuable to a group of like-minded people also known as your target audience. We naturally did this in our offline business, but for some reason, we toss this aside when starting online.
• Don't promote info products that you haven't reviewed (or personally know the creator) and you think they are really good.
• Don't try to sell what people need but rather sell them want they want and then include what they need (thank you Nicole). And just because YOU want it, doesn't necessarily mean that enough other people want it (still working on this one)
• Identify your weaknesses early on and either joint venture or outsource those
• Attend live conferences to make valuable business connections

You say you were "lost" without your blogs. What is it about that you really missed? Was it the writing? the technology? Your true passion may be found in that answer. That's how I found my path. Every time I took a course, I created a new site for it. It finally dawned on me that it was the web development/technology that got me jazzed. That revelation has led to a lot of different business areas for me.

Are you going to NAMS8 in Atlanta? I think you will really enjoy and get tremendous value from it.

[Aden Curtis]

Hi Christine, thanks for the share. I'll see what I can learn from that as I've never been able to get my passion redefined since it was destroyed at my last round of employment, as were any employable skills (a very, very suppressive environment). I was too close to retirement to make a job change, so I just... hung... on...

I think my blogs reflect that: they have no intensity or direction and have no singular purpose. THAT has to change.

When I dropped out for a couple of months, what I missed was the excitement and pressure of product launches. Not having any list to speak of, all of my traffic is generated by rapidly getting posts up.

One thing I always lacked however, was a bonus. I tried to arrange a few, but either no one would give a discount on their product or the PLR wasn't strong enough to be included. And for some reason, when bonuses are not offered, sales suffers. That makes little sense to me because the launching product should be strong enough to stand on its own, but that's never the consumer mindset!

As far as NAMS8 goes, no, I will not be attending since I no longer travel, not even locally. That's why I have chosen affiliate marketing, it requires little face-to-face interaction.

[ChristineCobb]

One technique that Lon Naylor used when he promoted Mike Filsaime's Evergreen Business System was to offer as a bonus a private mastermind group to brainstorm ways to use the product and to help everyone get up to speed with it.

Since you like the product launch process, you might create a business to do product launches for product creators.

[Aden Curtis]

That's a very creative bonus Christine... sounds promising.

I had already considered the product launch business & looked into all of the mechanics behind it (ruled it out). My goal, from early-on, was to be an affiliate marketer. NAMS main purpose would suit me well. I already have 1 profitable niche site that I have not shared on the forum & have a 2nd & 3rd to consider. I already have the domains & under-utilized sites up... more on them later!

[ChristineCobb]

Aden--
I just bought an ebook that Nicole Dean recommended to improve affiliate sales. It is quite good. Here's Nicole's blog post about it. http://content.easyplr.com/1275

[David_Perdew]

Aden - I like your signature

I'm really glad you didn't completely throw in the towel. Even when it feels like the right thing to do, hold out just a bit longer if it's really in your blood.

One of my favorite sayings is "Don't give up 5 minutes before the miracle."

[Aden Curtis]

I'm willing to be a 4-year overnight success!

Aden - I like your signature

I'm really glad you didn't completely throw in the towel. Even when it feels like the right thing to do, hold out just a bit longer if it's really in your blood.

One of my favorite sayings is "Don't give up 5 minutes before the miracle."

[Aden Curtis]

Thanks Christine, I glanced at this ever so quickly... will get back to it tomorrow!

I did notice this little unintentional tip from Nicole that I'm going to start:
"Print the report, stick it into a binder, and take notes all over it"...
so much better than just keeping things on the hard drive where they end up getting buried & forgotten.

Aden--
I just bought an ebook that Nicole Dean recommended to improve affiliate sales. It is quite good. Here's Nicole's blog post about it. http://content.easyplr.com/1275

[cecilia_davis]

Hi Alden,
According to my mentor, Connie Ragen Green, three niches would be too many. She as a great program and author of two of my favorite books that can help guide you. She is of course part of the NAMS group and instructors. But I knew her many years before I joined NAMS. She will be I believe the last instructor on the Celebrate program for this week. If it is okay for me to say, visit her blog at http://connieragengreen.com She gives from her heart and really cares about us affiliate marketers.

Best wishes,
Ceci

[JeremyGinn]

Aiden,

I am so glad that you're here on the forum. There were a lot of points you made in this thread. The one that resonated with me was Christine's point about 'finding your passion'. That is one of the keys to the kingdom of success.

I have had niche affiliate sites in the past that have generated money but it brought no joy because it was on stuff that I really didn't care about such as coffee travel mugs, underwater digital cameras, etc...

Those that know me would say I am passionate about: my kids, mindset, customer service and the Montreal Canadiens hockey club to name a few. When I talk about those things my eyes light up, there is a passion in my spirit and it shows.

The challenge becomes finding the potential in the passion. I love talking about my kids. As a result my wife Jenny and I are planning a baby blog. (4 kids later - we're kinda experts)

In any case, this is a place where you can ask questions, get feedback and hopefully be encouraged.

cheering for you,

Jeremy

[Aden Curtis]

Hi there Jeremy,

Having a passion is no longer an easy thing for me. There were 3 that I used to have that really drove me in life, but, now with the changes aging has brought, those have dropped by the wayside.

I would settle for simply having enough interest in something at a level where I could say, yes, that's my hobby...

I recently had the chance to be heard by Janet Attwood on a webinar (she authored "The Passion Test") about trying to discover my "current" passion and that pretty much resulted in me purchasing her product. Two weeks in now, and I can't even really get started with it.

That is just an indicator how 3 years with no results has adversely affected me despite being a motivator myself!

I'm officially retired but am still attracted to Internet Marketing, and despite success in all other endeavors, success in IM continues to elude me. That puts me in the 95%, not the 5%.

I hope MyNams continues for a long time, because David & crew have found a way to help many, but maginal success for me is not an option...

With Social Security limiting self-employment hours to under 15 hours per month (otherwise benefits can be lost, which for me includes another family member too), I have been placed in a double-jeopardy situation. It's one thing to take away MY benefit because I go back to work or make too much in self-employment, but to take away a disabled person's benefit because I want to work 15 hours or more a month just does not make sense.

So it's like my failure at IM is a good thing & keeping the status quo may be the best option economically. To continue, I would need an immediate NET income that's enough to replace BOTH benefit amounts... and in 3 years of trying, this ol' boy hasn't even had a single month where either would have been replaced... not even close.

Can it happen...? Sure, for 5% of those who get a handle on it by following the right program and mentor.

Well, this has taken a direction I didn't really intend here, but it lays heavy in the ongoing mind...!

I hope everyone is enjoying the NAMS weekend (would have loved to be there myself) as that is one thing I was unable to do across those 3 years - I never attended any live event or networked much. Trying to be a one-person show is largely impossible, the trend now is to build the business with employees or outsourcers... and really, who do you know in IM that's successful and has remained as the sole producer...? I have heard of only one, and his name escapes me...

Having said all of that, I certainly encourage others to continue, especially with MyNams... it's the only program I've encountered that totally satisfied the "affiliate marketing" training I had been promised others provided, only to find out too late that they didn't.

The only negative aspect I have found with this membership is that "monthly" has not turned out to mean "monthly". Everything else has been a-ok.

Peace, confidence, health, and wealth to all...

[Aden Curtis]

...solutions found, so I'm back in business. I simply can not give up on this. With some help & direct from MyNAMS, it'll all be good.

[RichardGoutal]

I feel I have gotten to know you quite well as you have bared a lot of your struggle here. Lot's of interesting comments and responses from you as well. At 66 myself and can easily relate to many of your comments.

One tiny thought in my mind - after having paid several mentors and still not accomplished what you want... there must be a good blogpost, if not a book!, on choosing a mentor - when, why, and how. Maybe you'd have a few chapters for that.

A belated welcome to MyNAMS.

All the best
Richard