Bankruptcy to Millionaire

I know many of you may have been wondering what in the hell is going on with B2M…

Because frankly, I haven’t posted much in the last month. So did I give up, am I not going to become a millionaire in 4 years?

Frankly, I quit blogging daily… because I wanted to focus on making REAL money.

I’m building Tacoma Downtown, my local niche blog. Which is proving to be more work than I ever imagined, I’m also DOMINATING so affiliate marketing programs. I am scaling out some huge tests, and am gearing up to make a lot of money.

I have learned so much that I am going to share with you that you can start learning some AMAZING tools to use with your AM or other marketing endeavors.

I will be gearing up several posts in the next week, so make sure to subscribe and check back often. You won’t be disappointed.

Until then here some suggested reading:

www.ericmitz.com/experiment

And unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve heard about Gyutae Park’s Internet Marketing Contest if you haven’t entered yet. I suggested you to. With over a $12,000 cash and prize pool, with more added what seems like daily. You’ll want a shot at some of these prizes.

Ok so. No. I have not fallen off the earth. Nor, have I fallen off the edge of the blogosphere. I have just been engulfed in a number of projects. The least of which is affiliate marketing.

First off, I’d like to give a big congrats to Eric at the $1000 Affiliate Experiment who earned $1000 affiliate marketing just 3 months after starting. If you’re looking to make money with BANS or PPC marketing. I suggest you give his blog a read, because he’s doing it everyday.

What in the hell have I been up to? Well, I’m putting one of the most complex affiliate programs I have ever done.

I found a niche that other’s are converting in. And then I found targeted keywords that NO ONE is bidding on (heh! Sorry, I’m not tellin’ quite yet…). I found out those key words are getting thousands of searches each per day. So the last two weeks I have spent building an optimizing my landing page, getting ready for me to scale.

I have been spending a few bucks everyday on PPC ads on adwords and Yahoo! Testing out the traffic.

As of right now, I have not had any conversions. However, I have been able to double my initial CTR on my ads, and I have been about to take my landing page from a 10% CTR to over 50%.

It has been one HELL of a learning experience. It’s exhausting. Exciting. And another “ex” word that I don’t even know.

I have been spending every night after hours in my office; tweaking, building, testing, changing. I must say I am learning a ton. I am confident that this offer, once structured correctly is going to convert very well and start making a good (hopefully GREAT) income. It is scaleable beyond belief. It’s not out of the question that I’ll have over 1,000 landing pages, if it starts converting for me.

I am doing everything I know that I can to push myself for success. Are you pushing yourself on a daily basis? Or do you just surf and read the web and pretend your productive?

Ok, well the moment of truth is here. These are the results from my Two Week Cash Challenge:

(I didn’t realize the numbers were so bad. I guess I wasn’t tracking as well as I should have. This is a true confession.)

Adwords Statistics

30,000 Impressions

464 Clicks

1.52% Overall CTR

$132.55 (*cringe*) cost

Landing Page Statistics:

46 Initial Opt-Ins

20 Confirmed Double Opt-Ins

Clickbank Statistics:

251 Clicks To The Product Sales Page

1 Sale (+24.55)

Total Two Week Cash Challenge Results:

20 newsletter subscribers

-$108.00

There you have it. My confession. I’m not buttering things up here. I did NOT meet my expectations, or my financial goal. Some may look at this as a failure. I do not. It was a great learning experience for me. I know many areas where I went wrong, and what I can do better next time.

What went wrong?

There were a number of things I did wrong. I did not optimize my ad groups enough. I just broke them down in to basic categories. This was a small issue, but it did effect my quality score.

My biggest issue was:

I did not optimize/split-test my landing page/opt-in form. Looking at my statistics now, I realize how truly terrible they were!!! It started out great in the first two days, and after that I kind of ignored that number. This was a huge mistake! I shoud have paused my campaign as soon as I noticed I wasn’t over 50% and started optizing the landing page.

If you are starting in affiliate marketing. DO NOT MAKE THIS MISTAKE. Constantly track your numbers.

Which has inspired me for my next challege. Stay tuned tomorrow. I am going to challenge myself, and YOU. If you can keep up, there is something in it for you.

If you challenged yourself, what were your results?

(Make sure to read this entire post, to get in on the challenge that will change your life.)

*cue fireworks* *cue marching band playing John Phillip Susa*

Well it’s finally here. Mark it in the history book, www.BankruptcyToMillionaire.com has hit the 3 Month Milestone!

With 62 63 Posts, 113 comments, and over 300 unique visitors a day. I am THRILLED. This blog has grown faster than I would have ever imagined. This is not a blog that I’m trying to get rich with, or trying to establish myself as the end-all know-all expert of everything.

It’s about my growth, and experiences that will lead me to my ultimate financial freedom. I am thrilled to hear the comments from you all, that talk about how you are becoming inspired to take MORE ACTION and to accomplish more, more often. Good work! Lets get there together!

I Challenge You To Change Your Life.

Lets face it. There are a lot of damn “Money Bloggers” out there. Some blogging about how to make money online (some actually do, most really don’t). Some blogging about how they are TRYING to make money online (which is only part of what I’m trying to accomplish here). But here’s the thing. Other than blogging about things. What in the hell are you doing to try and make some money?

I know I’m “trying” things. But as one famous puppet once said: “There is no try. Only do.” . And with that spirit in mind. Here’s the simple challenge:

Two Week Challenge For Cash!

“Do ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING in your power to reach your goal by 11:59 PM January 28th 2008.”

That’s the whole challenge. Now if you’re trying to make money online, you can either choose to embrace this challenge and put your destiny in your hands, you may choose to accept that your Destiny is in YOUR HANDS. You control your outcome. Or you may say to yourself like you always do:

“Oh yeah, I really need to do that. That’s a good idea. I’m definitely going to think about doing something like that myself someday.”

But here’s the sad reality (and I know this to be true. Because I said this to myself every time I had/read/thought of a good idea that I really knew I should take action on, but never did) is that you are NEVER going to take action with that attitude. If you always have a reason to not take action now, then when?

NOW is the ONLY time to take action.

So now I must set a goal. (In addition to write on this blog my goals. I am writing them BY HAND, ON PAPER, and posting them in front my computer. This way I KNOW exactly what I am shooting for every step of the way.)

My goal is to by the end of January the 28th to have had my first $100 day. That’s right: I WILL make $100 IN PROFIT by January the 28th.

Tonight is going to be spent researching the most effective and quickest ways I can implement to start making some money. Ideas I have:

• Find affiliate offer
  • PPC Marketing (Not working the way am doing it right now.)
  • Free Traffic?
    • Craigs Lists
    • Ebay
    • Social Networking?
      • Myspace
      • Facebook
      • Friendster?

• Proxy Websites
  • How are they done?
  • Can they still make money?
• Niche Blog Network
  
  • Travel
  • Wii
  • Ebay
  • Monetization?
    • Adsense
    • Affiliate offers?

• B2M
  • Can it be monetized?
  • Do I want to?

There you have it. That’s a general outline of where my mind is at. With massive SIMULTANEOUS action on one, or ALL of these things reaching $100 in twenty four hours should not be all the difficult with some thought.

Now, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO! Just go do it. I’ll see you in two weeks.

- Tevin

P.S. Post your comments if you’re taking me up on your challenge. What are your goals? If you wrote a blog on what you’re taking action on RIGHT NOW leave a link. Just do it, or be left in the dust. Good luck everyone.

I’ve read over and over and over and over and over, etc. etc. That writing your goals down are of a HUGE importance. I just read one in the 12 Month Millionaire by Vincent James (a book on direct mail, and other direct marketing methods. NOT a self-help book in the traditional sense). And he was mentioning a technique that he’s picked up from from all the self-help books he’s read (including Think and Grow Rich).

We all know setting goals is important. But beyond that you must visualize them. You must believe them. So you do this by writing them down, as though you actually have them in the present tense. And you follow this up by writing them down - by hand - everyday. Twice a day. Even three times a day.

You have to taste these goals. You have to live them. You have to breath them. You have to believe them. So that’s what I am going to do. I am going to give you a list of the things that I truly believe I will aquire in the next 1-10 years. Some will be very materialistic. So be it. These goals, being written in the present tense cements them in your mind as reality. And eventually you will force yourself to do everything it your power to make it so. Because it IS reality.

With that, here goes:

• I own a 4500 sq/ft home in Hawaii, where I live with the woman from my dreams. In my home, I have a full size swimming pool and a game room, complete with pinball machine and air hockey table.
• I drive a Mercedes Mclaren. With a BMW M5 sitting in my garage.
• I own and operate a a direct marketing, and copywriting firm that grosses over $5,000,000 every year. I am grossing over $1,500,000 a year in profit.
• I own vacation loft in New York City, and Las Vegas.
• I no longer have problems taking action, and beyond that taking profitable action.
• I continue to further my education on a daily basis, and am never content to settle. I can always improve and better myself.
• I bought my parents a home for their retirement, and am able to support their lifestyle of traveling and live entertainment.
• I have leased a private jet for all of my travels.
• I have spent a year traveling the world at only 28 years old.
• I have been featured in a number of magazines including Entrepreneur and Forbes.
• I have set up my retirement account so I can walk away at anytime and never have to work another day in my life. I work only because I love what I do, everyday.
• I enjoy every moment of my life, and do my best to never take anything for granted. I always count my blessings, and my fortunes, and make sure to share with as many people as possible.

This is my life.

Know your outcome.

The title of the entry is also the outcome I wish to achieve with this blog over the long run. Specifically over the next 48 months.

Knowing my outcome is one of the most important things to gettin ANYTHING done. Whether it’s hanging out with friends, or writing your next book. You should know your outcome.

What is it that you want to achieve by doing This. Ask yourself when you start your day: “What’s my outcome?”

Maybe it’s as simple as, to relax and not be bothered by anything or anyone all day. Or maybe it’s to gain a feeling of accomplishment.

When you start a new project ask yourself “What’s my outcome going to look like when I finish? Or the next time you get in an argument with your wife or girlfriend ask yourself “What’s my outcome from this fight?”

Chances are this will help you realize what you really want. You don’t want to yell and scream until you’re blue in the face. You want to reach an understanding with each other, or find common ground.

When I start my day of cold calling. I know my outcome: “To gain at least 3 project leads”. Once i know my outcome, I can plan on how I’m going to achieve this. If I just go out and don’t know what my outcome is going to look like. How do I know if I’ve ever achieved it?

Once you have clearly defined for yourself what it is that you are looking for as an outcome. You will begin to see the exact path to take, and achieve exactly what you’ve set out to do. Otherwise you’re just driving blind.

What’s your outcome?

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This coming Wednesday is a day I’ve set aside to make COLD CALLS for the advertising company I work for.

In spirit of massive action:

So in addition to just “going out” and calling on businesses. I commit to gaining at least 1 new project on that day. If I do not get at least 3 project lead, I will continue to go out full time everyday until I achieve this.

One of my biggest downfalls in my ability to achieve massive financial success has been my willingness to give up if it gets hard. Or not giving 110% every time.

NOT ANYMORE!

I will be busting my ass every moment to gain as much business as humanly possible. This will not only help build integrity and momentum. It will also help financially with commissions.

I’m going to leave you with a quote from my #1 Sales Mentor:

“Obstacles can’t stop you. Problems can’t stop you. Most of all, other people can’t stop you. Only you can stop you.”

– Jeffrey Gitomer, Author

This is the beginning of greatness. This blog will serve many purposes. But there are two major objectives I would like to accomplish with this site and blog.

This first is to simply aide in my personal, and financial growth–by holding me accountable to regular and progressive (and entertaining and informative) updates.

I will be sharing my stories of where I am (broke), how I got here; to where I will be going, by sharing EXACTLY what I have done, am doing, and will do over the next 48 months to become a millionaire.

During this process of my personal transformation, I also to help inspire, inform, and motivate my readers to accomplish greatness along side me.

The idea is simple: Lead by example.

The journey and the outcome will not be.

This site also starts out simple and bare. It will continue to grow and evolve as I do.

As WE do.

As I write this I have no readers. No subscribers. No customers. And no money.

This will change. And rapidly. Due to one common theme:

MASSIVE ACTION

Because nothing great can ever, or will ever be accomplished without Massive Action. Not just fiddling with one idea. Tinkering. Playing. Changing. NO! You must make a plan and take one step after the other after the other after the other. And NOT give up until success is achieved.

Over the next several days. I will be updating not only with regular blog posts. But also updating the sidebar on the left with Inspirations & Motivators, other great blogs, and recommended reading.

Which brings me to what I am going to do to take action. I commit to reading at least 1 hour a day, everyday, of something informative, inspirational, or educational. I am going to start with:

Think and Grow Rich (<-right click save-as to download your own copy) by Napoleon Hill

A book recommended by virtually every successful person on the planet. I have read bits and pieces. But I commit to reading this as my first book on to begin my Lifelong Adventure toward Ultimate Success.I’ve learned that nothing will ever change in MY life, unless I make a conscious and concerted effort to bring about change. And the best time to make a change is now. Not tomorrow, or “soon”. But NOW. So today I decide to read 1 hour, each day.WHAT THIS BLOG WILL NOT BE

• A shameless promotional tool for internet scams or business opportunities
• MLM marketing
• Boring
• Plagued with advertising
• A list builder for spam
• Filled with old and outdated information to turn a profit
• Written by a character based on hyperbole or someone fake. (What is written on these pages will be blatantly me. Possilbly even to a fault sometimes.)
• Written by someone who talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk
• A vehicle to make money by selling information on “How to Sell Information on the Internet to Make Money” (that’s been done by people much greater than I)

I will not be doing any of that! But that’s not to say that if on occasion I come across a resource I find valuable that I won’t post an affiliate link to it. I may very well do exactly that. But my objective is not to peddle useless products to turn a profit in this blog. But to provide true value, by taking you step by step through my Journey.

That is also not to say that I will NEVER place an ad on the site/blog. If I begin to generate enough traffic I may put up a targeted banner, or a small “classified” on the side bar. But that BS where the page is cluttered from top to bottom with ads cutting up the content.

NO THANKS!

So that’s it for now. Feel free to bookmark and checkback often. I will soon have an opt-in list to give you a quick email update when there is a new blog post. Have a great weekend! And feel free to post your ideas, and thoughts in the comments section.