Lee McIntyre went from overworked high school teacher to full time marketer in just 56 days. He is the founder of Aim Higher Marketing where he shows others how to use honest marketing to build profitable Internet businesses in record time.
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From Zero to $20,000 a Month…Here’s How
By Lee McIntyre | December 8, 2007
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This is a copy of a post that I made on the Warrior Forum this week. It’s an ouline of how I have achieved my success so far, and I strongly urge you to read it as I really have kept nothing back. Enjoy. 
Hi all,
The warrior forum has been good to me so I wanted to give back by sharing how I’ve achieved some of my recent success, in the hope that others can learn from this and do the same.
In August I was a full time highschool teacher, and now I’m a full time internet marketer, and this transformation simply wouldn’t have happened without this forum, which is why I want to share.
I started in the IM niche in July of this year, and at the time I was a complete newbie.
I’d enjoyed some success selling teaching resources on eBay in the education niche, and with the help of this forum, I had created a Classroom Management ebook the month before, but I was brand new to the IM niche.
In the IM niche I had no websites, no list, no products, no contacts, and no JV partners. I’d never even heard of most of the IM gurus, and was completely unfamiliar with most of the terms that are bandied about.
Last month I earned $20,000+, sold over 1,000 products, made a net profit of $16,000 after all expenses, and more importantly I helped a lot of people move their online business forward.
You can see a screenshot of Paypal by clicking here, although it hasn’t come out very well.
I’m meeting a friend for a couple of beers and dinner tonight and he wants to quit his teaching job like I did, and the advice I’m posting here is exactly what I ‘ll tell him.
It might not be to everyone’s tastes, and I’ve had my fair share of people telling me that I do everything wrong, and maybe I do, but I’m comfortable with that.
I don’t mind people telling me I don’t know what I’m doing because it works for me, and everyone is entitled to an opinion. The advice below relates to how I became established in the IM niche and how you can do the same, but it could also just as easily be translated to other niches as well.
From Zero to $20,000 a month Step by Step….
1)Establish your expertise on a topic that other marketers will value and desire.
I hear it said a lot that to enter the IM niche you need to already be making a pile of money, but my view is that this simply isn’t true.
To sell an information product to other marketers you simply need to be able to provide them with valuable content on an in demand topic, and almost everyone on this forum has some information inside them on an IM related topic that exceeds the knowledge of the majority of marketers.
Maybe you’ve sold household good successfully on eBay? Or perhaps you’ve tried out a new social networking site and enjoyed good results? Or maybe you’re familiar with how to set up a wordpress blog for good SEO? Or maybe you just know your way around Cpanel?
If you have knowledge on any of these topics then you know more than the majority, and you have it in you to create an information product that can be sold to other marketers.
You don’t need to be making money to market to other IMers, and the fact that this statement is repeated a lot on this forum doesn’t make it so.
Once you’ve identified a topic that you know more about than most marketers, establishing your expertise can be done quickly through helpful posts on forums.
Whether you agree or not, being perceived as an expert in today’s 24 hour news society is simply a case of knowing more than the next person, and if you’re genuinely helpful then people will soon come to recognise you as an authority on a particular topic.
2)Create a rock solid information product and offer it as a WSO for a ridiculously low price.
Forget the advice about never competing on price, and start by offering a product for sale at a price point that is practically a steal.
The purpose here is to brand yourself as someone who seriously overdelivers, and who provides amazing content at a more than fair price.
People told me that I was wrong for selling all my products so cheap during the first week of launch, and maybe they’re right. In the month of November though I sold well over 1,000 items for an average price of about $18, and I was pretty happy with the results.
Selling products at a low price point allows you to quickly build a list of super qualified buyers, and then to earn money at the back end by promoting related products. People will tell you that you cant make money selling low priced products, but that simply isn’t true.
After I released Auction Profits Unleashed as a WSO in July, I went out there and scored a few JVs, and ended up with a list of 603 buyers after 7 days.
One week later I promoted John Thornhill’s Mentorship Monthly site and ended up selling a lot of memberships and finishing 3rd in the JV contest. I was only able to do this due to the fact that my low price point had brought so many buyers into my sales funnel.
If you sell low priced information products which are packed full of content and value you’ll build a super responsive list, and your buyers will want to buy from you again in the future, and this is where the real money is to be made.
I hear a lot of disparaging remarks on this forum about those who compete on price, but it’s worth noting that established marketers have the assets in place to compete effectively in a wide variety of areas.
If you’ve established your brand, or you have other products you can package quickly as a bonus, or you have a network of contacts that allows you to create exciting bonus calls fast, then competing on price would be the last thing you’d want to do.
As a beginner though, competing via a low price point allows you to get your foot in the door and build the assets which will ultimately allow you to compete in other areas in the future. People will disagree with me, and I’m only a beginner newbie, but this is my view anyway.
3) Get JV partners to promote your product.
If you leverage your previous success you can massively accelerate the growth of your business. Many people will run a WSO and that will be the end of their marketing process, but if you’re imaginative you can leverage this success to get JV partners on board.
After the release of Auction Profits Unleashed, despite being a complete newbie, I was still able to get people like Jim Cockrum, Dr Mani, Sara Brown, and John Thornhill to promote it to their lists.
The key with any JV is to make the relationship reciprocal in such a way that everyone wins and it becomes almost impossible to say no due the benefits of saying yes.
I approached marketers and explained that Auction Profits Unleashed would soon be launching on Clickbank at $47, but if they hurried they could promote to their lists for just $17 and receive a 50% commission.
I wasn’t in a position to reciprocate by offering to promote their products in return, but I was able to allow them to offer an exclusive closed door discount to their lists.
People will tell you that everyone makes decisions on what to promote based exclusively on the affiliate percentage, the total commission payable, and the conversion rate, but that simply isn’t true.
Many marketers, and usually the ones with the responsive lists, also look to offer value to their subscribers. If you allow other marketers to promote your product as part of a semi exclusive pre launch you’ll be surprised by how many are eager to provide this kind of value to their subscribers.
When approaching JV partners I leveraged the success of my WSO by quoting the conversion rate (19% for a $17 product), the number of units sold, and the feedback received. I even linked to the WSO thread so they could see the positive comments for themselves, and 4 out of 5 marketers who I approached agreed to promote for me.
4)Provide real value to your list.
I’d advise you to forget about promoting all the big Tuesday launches, and instead provide real value in the form of exceptional content, and recommendations to solid products that will help your subscribers move their business forward.
People tell me that I give to my list too much, but one email to 2,900 people last month allowed me to earn, a $3,000 profit when selling a product for $19.97, so this stuff works even if it’s a little different to what others might tell you to do.
I regularly spend days writing detailed newsletters containing multiple calls to action to free content. Basically, my newsletters are the exact opposite of what I’ve read I should do, but I’m guaranteed that my small list of 2,900 will earn me at least $10,000 each month due to the quality of the content that I provide.
My rule is to send one promotional email for every one or two pieces of solid content that I give. Usually I’ll provide two pieces of free content to every one promo, but I’ll monetize one of the freebies by allowing people to buy rebranding rights, or setting up the freebie in such a way that it brings viral benefits.
I rarely hide my freebies behind a squeeze page, and I don’t usually use OTOs. Again, people tell me this is the wrong way to do this, but it works for me and my list is getting even more responsive with each passing day.
I avoid promoting products that have been promoted with a big launch, and instead only promote exceptional products where I can offer my list a discount.
I usually sacrifice a slice of my commission in order to secure the discount, and I’m comfortable with this as it’s a way of providing tangible value to my readers and so keeps people opening my emails.
I’d be delighted to lose $15 commission on a sale if it means my subscribers get to save $30, as I’m confident that providing this level of service to my list will earn me more money in the long run. Again, people will tell me I’m wrong but it really does work for me.
5) Rinse and repeat
Now that you’ve got to this stage it’s time to repeat the whole process. The second time will be easier as you can leverage the success of your first product to help ensure the success of your second.
For example, when I released Auction Secret Profits, I made sure that I mentioned the Auction Profits Unleashed conversion rate, the feedback, and the volume sold, and this helped bring in a few JV partners right at the very launch of this book.
For your second book you can now write about how you built a responsive list, or how you earned $1,000 in 30 days, or some other aspect of the work you have been doing that will provide value to other marketers.
The five point plan above is an outline of how I have gone from zero to $20,000 in just 161 days, and I hope it is useful to someone.
My marketing is far from perfect, and my sales and order process is so under optimized it would make many of the experts beat me over the head with a stick!
I usually have no OTOs, and I’m not currently tracking and testing most of my pages. I don’t usually collect optins on the page, and I never take part in giveaway events . In fact, I didn’t even know what a giveaway was until one of my forum moderators explained a month ago!
My blog has terrible SEO rankings, and last month it only received 200 visitors as a result of search engine traffic. I don’t try and brand myself at every opportunity, and I tend to wait for opportunities to come to me rather than spending the time looking for them.
I concentrate on providing first class content and service to my subscribers, and my list just grows as a result. People pass around my newsletters and this helps grow my list, and people usually approach me for JVs, although once a month I devote one day to approaching marketers I’ve not yet been introduced to.
This is just the beginning though, and on the 23rd June 2008 Lee-McIntyre.com will be one year old, and I want to be at the $35,000 a month point by this date.
Whether I achieve that will depend on my ability to outsource more effectively, and whether I can create systems and processes in order to replicate the work I do. If I’m honest, I find this double hard and only time will tell if I can master these skills.
I’m also probably working far harder than I should be, and 16 hours a day for 6 days a week does catch up with you after a while, although I feel much less tired than when combining this with teaching. Now that really was exhausting!
Basically, I’m just a newbie who has enjoyed a bit of success and wanted to share it for free in the hope it might help guide some other aspiring marketers towards their goals.
I’m proof that it can be done and I hope this proves useful to someone out there.
Lee McIntyre
Popularity: 14% [?]
Topics: News |
December 8th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
You mentioned WSO, but I could not see this spelled out anywhere in the article. What does WSO mean?
December 8th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Hi John
Sorry for using an abbreviation and then not explaining it.
WSO = Warrior Special Offer.
It’s a special offer section on the warriorforum.com, where people place very special adverts for products at discounted prices.
I hope this helps
Lee McIntyre
December 8th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Hi Lee: You are such an inspiration - very hard to tell that you are an actual newbie. I am also a newbie, trying very hard to get my website finished and on line. I enjoy your newsletters very much, even though this is the first time I have posted a comment.
I just wanted to tell you how much you have inspired me to push on. Keep up the good work. We need more honest marketers out there.
December 8th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
To quote you Brits and Aussies…
This was ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!! (Almost makes me want to move across the “pond” so I can legitimately speak like that!)
Lee, I think above all else, you have the gift to inspire normal people to do extraordinary things. Not hard things or impossible things, but extraordinary things.
Thanks from the bottom of my heart. I am going to share your ideas with my list of Military Moms who desire to work from home. I know they’ll LOVE it.
December 8th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Lee this is an excellent piece of writing, and the enthusiaism in your voice is plain to hear. I am still very much a newbie, with too many balls in the air, trying to juggle.
I was at the World Internet Marketing Summit at Earlscourt last month, and boy was that a life changing experience. It increased my desire to fire my boss. It also gave me the new catch-phrase that “Failure is not an Option”.
Keep up the good work. Thanks. Bigcliff.
December 9th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Another excellent post. You can be sure I’ll be sharing this post with my subscribers. Step by step instructions are key to being successful here. Some steps are obviously better than others, but “eating your elephant one bite at a time” really works. Lee’s plan is easy to follow, and I’ve found success even without going the JV route. The key is finding or making a plan, and following through.
I’m sure you’ll have no problem reaching your $35k goal by June. Just keep following your plan, Lee.
Get well soon!
-Lisa Young
December 12th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
I think Lee is doing an excellent job. If people like you they are more likely to buy your products. I also hate products which offer OTO’s (you are only going to see this offer once, ever. Yeah right!).
December 13th, 2007 at 8:49 am
Lee-
Thank you for including me in your summary…I’m glad to be part of seeing things take off for you. We’ll do many great things together in the future too. I love working with people that truly have a teachers heart.
You hit the nail on the head when you said that list owners are always looking for good content. Anyone that can get me GOOD INFO is a welcome JV partner. GIVING FIRST is a key to success in this biz.
Thanks also for including my name along with great people like like Dr Mani, Sara Brown, and John Thornhill! I’m Honored…
December 18th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Wow thanks to everyone here for so many great comments!
This post took FOREVER to write, and I’m so delighted that so many people have taken some value from it.
I guess I best get to work on my next one now then
Thanks again for the comments and just shout if you have any more questions!
Lee McIntyre
December 20th, 2007 at 6:57 am
I’m a bit late, but I just want to reiterate what the others have said. This is such a valuable post Lee and I appreciate you taking the time to offer this to the people that read your blog. To your continued success.
Streak
December 23rd, 2007 at 8:07 am
Its amazing to know how much success you have enjoyed in such a short period of time. I hope to achieve a little bit of what the success you have enjoyed.
Its really good to know that you dont need to always follow everything the gurus say in order to make money online.
It is quite refreshing to know how valuable content and keeping the readers in mind first can really help for our business as well.
Keep up the good work.
December 31st, 2007 at 12:16 am
Hi Lee,
I’m intrigued to know how you built a list by selling a cheap product. I would like to know your technique.
Was the opt-in voluntary or compulsory?
December 31st, 2007 at 4:34 am
[…] From Zero to $20,000 a Month…Here’s How […]
December 31st, 2007 at 10:52 pm
[…] of mine referred me to Lee’s new membership site recently. Actually, I had already seen Lee’s legendary post on Warriors but had since forgotten about it. Seeing this post again rekindled my desire to earn my way out of […]
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:33 pm
[…] 3) Read My From Zero to $20,000 Warrior Forum Post […]
January 9th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Hi Lee,
I’ve just found your blog. I too am a high school teacher and I have recently started my internet business journey. Thanks for such an inspirational post, the valuable insight and wisdom.
You really do over-deliver.
Brendan.
January 20th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Lee,
Just discovered you on the Warrior Forum. Excellent article! Shows that given ANY topic and with proper planning you can market information profitably. I really like the approach - give more, get more back. Well done!
Don James, The Agile Marketer
March 30th, 2008 at 12:07 am
Hi Lee,
That was inspiring to say the least..a lot of lessons in there. W e’re truely in a ‘value giving’ age as marketers and you’re leading the charge!
I don’t think I’ll be able to top this post for your ‘intern’ ghost blog task though.
cheers
Jerry (Bristol)
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Really good information Lee. I just discovered your site today and found lots of useful information. I’m enjoying your post. I’ll be sure to be back for more info. Keep up the good work.
June 8th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Terrific post, Lee. Great step-by-step plan laid out in detail. Thanks.
July 20th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
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