From 2 Average Dudes to A Team Of 9 Energetic People Working From Home In Less 3 Months
I have been operating as a one-man Internet Marketer for most of the time.
Truth be told, I made most of my online fortune in my earlier years and in the past two years I chilled out and took more time off the computer. Even more so after I accomplished my first big dream of buying our own house in Johor and two cars. (I started with absolutely nothing to my name just a few years before.)
Then in November last year, Khai Ng approached me with an idea which I did not feel comfortable about at first: to start our own team.
Now I am the kind of guy who enjoys his own freedom to be wherever I want, and whoever I want to be with. I HATE office environments. I HATE the traffic. And I HATE anything that resembles a 9-to-5 to me.
Anyways I told Khai, “We’ll see how it goes.” So we launched the next 2 Products together that would decide whether we are going with the plan. Or we might as well forget about it.
First Try – PLR Encyclopedia
It was nearing end of the year so we wanted to push something out really quick without creating a new product altogether. So we packaged all of our best Private Label Rights digital products we have created in our combined career and we gave it the title it deserved: PLR Encyclopedia.
Due to the sheer volume of the PLR products (250 of them in all) and that it would total to 1.1 TB after unzipping all of them, we offered to ship the USB hard drive to our customer’s doorstep.
Our first official project together that would decide it - PLR Encyclopedia.
This was our first time selling and shipping a physical product, and for a couple of marketers too pampered by the convenience of selling downloadable products, this proved to be a challenge initially. In spite of the hiccups we faced at first, we managed to sell slightly more than $22,000 in sales worth of this product we put together in a week and a half.
Not bad for a no-money-down plan, and that we sold this exclusively to our own mailing list! Even though we would put a portion of the sales into the cost of buying and shipping the USB hard drives later.
Second Try – PLR Franchising
While that was good, I wasn’t totally convinced if we were ready for something so big. Then Khai came up with the next crazy idea: PLR Franchising.
While named so, we were selling the Internet Business Cloning Rights to our existing brand of Products PLRGold and Inspiration DNA. This meant retiring the brands we had been working on all these years in favor of starting a new one.
It was another test to get me out of the comfort zone. And to be really frank, I wasn’t sure at all if this was a brilliant idea to begin with. But I always convince myself that there’s nothing to lose so we went ahead and opened this deal to our subscribers only a few days before Christmas.
No one bought our licensing opportunity on our first mailout. I was quick to be disappointed. Then it was followed by a lot of intensed negotiations with subscribers who were really interested. This went on for a week and to date, we successfully closed clients totalling up to nearly $37,000!
So in the span of two months, these ‘no-money-down’ projects alone brought us in around $59,000+ in revenue!
With that, Khai and I went on with the next big plan . . .
Third Step – We Started Hiring People
For me, this was one of the scariest yet most defining moments that would change the way I do business forever.
I have heard plenty of horror stories about Internet Marketers getting too ambitious; they start to have their own office with full-time employees thinking that their previous success warrants it. Many of them usually wind up closing the office a year or two later – or downsize – when they realize how much of a liability it really is just to impress their friends and clients who will never walk into their premise.
I did not want to waste my time there. At the same time, I acknowledge the limitations of a one-man entrepreneur. It really is time to have a dedicated team. But who?
At the same time, I maintain that we all work from home, and meetings be banned unless necessary (did I tell you I HATE meetings too?)
So I tried my luck posting for positions of Internship on my Facebook. I was happy to see a number of applications coming in. Not a torrent of them but enough to get started. I wanted to be sure I was working with people who are passionate about Internet Marketing and not just looking for a conventional job.
Thus come 30th January, we started with 4 people.
What 'the office' looks like... nobody else comes here to work.
While the majority of us are Malaysians, there are people from the US and Australia. I was stubborn to maintain a work-from-home lifestyle, which eventually vindicated my beliefs that now turn into a work from home revolution!
Khai and I weren’t really sure how to go about with this – we just know that we want to create the leading Private Label Rights brand and universe in the Internet Marketing arena. But we were confident we could handle whatever obstacles that would be thrown into our direction.
Things were slow at first. There were road bumps along the way. And not everything went as planned. But in the short span of time we achieved some notable success:
- We launched our first product on JVZoo called Swipe File Chamber. It ranked #8 Top Seller of the week and was the only middle ticket product in the market place!
- We also spawned a new monthly membership site called Wealth Print Monthly, modeled after my proven membership site PLRGold: Monthly. Positioned as a One-Time Offer to our front-end products most of the time, we got in close to 100 recurring members in slightly more than a month.
- We have increased the monthly salary of 2 of our team members. Quite fast considering it was only less than 2 months at that time but we were impressed with their work and we want to keep committed people with us for a long time to come.
- We have also expanded to currently 9 people – all working from the comforts of their homes or wherever they take their computer to!
- In a flurry of products launched on JVZoo – while not everyone was a bestseller – we got 2 more to the Top 10 in March (one even got Pick of the Day!)
We also successfully secured an investor to invest 100,000 MYR into our growing online business! While we could use our own money to fund our operations, it was time to think BIG if we want to play in major league and leverage on OPM (Other People’s Money). But hey this is not ‘free money’ okay… we have a responsibility to our investor too. A BIG ONE. All in all, it’s been a crazy 3 months since the time we started to think in terms of ‘WE’ rather than ‘me myself and I’. And I felt a huge paradigm shift in the way I think and behave towards my own business now.
It wasn’t easy writing all these down because I was (and still am) totally new, warming up to the prospects of starting a team to accomplish our bigger goals while championing our work-from-home mission. And I was in the process of actively learning I was afraid my ideas today would be entirely different tomorrow.
I think only good and better things can happen from here. As I am writing this, we have given ourselves a new company name as well (to be revealed later). For the people with us in our team, I also aspire to raise them as marketers who can think and be creative as well and with that we want to be able to accomodate and realize their ideas when it merits.
Hope you picked up some golden gems from this post – it certainly was for Khai and myself, and the rest of our team when we started!
- 9 BUCKS PLR Get 9 high quality Private Label E-Book packages for $1.00 each!
- FasterSmarterBetter Lifetime Membership Special Offer Faster Smarter Better Success Course Special 98% Off Discount!
- Traffic Overdrive Exclusive License Get the Exclusive Licensing to "Internet Traffic Overdrive" Covering One of the Most Evergreen Topics Around - Traffic Generation Tactics and Become an Instant Marketing Guru!
Hot on JVZoo!
2011: What Have You Done Out Of The Comfort Zone This Year?
It’s almost the end of 2011! I hope that things have been great for you overall this year. The world atmosphere is high and everyone seems excited and looking forward to 2012!
Like always, it’s that time of the year we usually pause for a while and reflect and how the year has been for each one of us – the good, the bad, the bittersweet…
But I’m going to ask you something different: What things have you done out of YOUR comfort zone this year?
If you want to thrive in anything, or as a person or as a team, it means doing things that force you to step out of your comfort zone. If you do the same routine without breaking a sweat, over and over again… no, you’re not getting the same results. Instead you will regress. You either grow or decay; there is no in-between.
At the start of this year, I went from setting “annual resolutions” to chunking my goals into a quarterly basis. I am happy to say that I’ve set out to hit all of them. Yes, ALL. I set goals that challenged me to go out of my norm without being overwhelmed by ‘over-planning’.
Here are a few highlights I’ve done out of my comfort zone throughout 2011:
1. Went to the US (for the first time) for Affiliate Summit West in January!
The long hours of flight was a put off, however what felt discouraging was I tried to apply for a visa to the States almost 5 years ago but it was declined.
Determined to make another attempt, this time I tried the tedious process again… and finally it was approved! I finally met some of the American marketers face-to-face… and for the first time ever!
2. Gym training (9 months and continuing!)
Years of burning midnight oil and slouching at the computer table resulted in fats accumulated at the tummy, and a bad posture. So that decided it. So I went with my personal trainer and I started gymming on the average of 3 times a week.
At the initial stage, I thought of quitting many times when the going got tough but I hung on in the best interest of my long term health. And hey, it’s been 9 months since I’ve started, and I have never felt better about my health and body!
3. Skydived!
On the contrary, I didn’t choose to take part in this extreme sport for the thrills. Ask me just a year ago and I said I will NEVER do it. I am extremely terrified of heights.
So why did I go ahead and risk death from above when I have a whole life ahead of me? For one big reason: I wanted to break my mental barriers. And to be triply sure, I went for it… 3 times! (and I survived!)
4. Travelled to more than 5 different countries! (9 actually)
The past 2 years, I kept telling myself (part of the ‘New Year resolution’ thingie) that I would travel to at least 5 different countries that year. I would wind up going to 3 or 4 tops.
So this time around I was going to stick to what I’ve said and make it happen. And it’s nice to know I outdone my goal this year, and might as well make up for the previous 2 years.
What Things Have You Done For Yourself Or Your Business This Year That Was Outside The Luxury Of Your Comfort Zone? Share With Everyone In The Comments Section Below!
(Your accomplishments does not have to be necessarily business or finance related. If you did something that required going out your usual way I’d really like to hear!)
P.S. By the way, I’ve bought next year’s calendar and great news: the calendar didn’t stop at 21st December 2012! So happy New Year, 2012 will be amazing… if you choose to make it!
P.P.S. Just a quick and final reminder that my Internet Business Cloning Program has just 1 final slot left and it will close at the turn of the New Year!
- Traffic Overdrive Exclusive License Get the Exclusive Licensing to "Internet Traffic Overdrive" Covering One of the Most Evergreen Topics Around - Traffic Generation Tactics and Become an Instant Marketing Guru!
- 5 Super Hot PLR Products - Special Offer 5 High Quality PLR Products In Hot Niches - Ready To Start Selling In Minutes and You Get To Keep 100% Of The Profit!
- FasterSmarterBetter Lifetime Membership Special Offer Faster Smarter Better Success Course Special 98% Off Discount!
Hot on JVZoo!
Your Most Important (But Extinguishing) Asset…
By end of this month, I would have travelled to 9 countries in 12 months. I’ve been in two tours and I was usually one of the youngest guys around; most of the other tour participants are old enough to be my parents / grandparents.
Which often lead to questions I get along the lines of, “How are you able to travel while you’re still in your 20s?”
You already know that I am an Internet Marketer. I have websites. I sell stuffs online, digital products to be precise.
But that in itself isn’t THE answer.
To be financially free and travel before my mid 20s demanded more than just ‘building a business’. The other more important asset is TIME. In fact, that is a big part about my business; I help my clients save time through my Private Label Rights products.
Take a look at many other ‘successful’ marketers and you will see that even though they are making big bucks, they can seldom take a day off. For many of them, they are being controlled by their business. Heck, that was ME just a few years ago.
Building a business in itself just isn’t going to cut it. If you want to enjoy unadulterated time freedom without being chained like a slave to the business you’re creating, you need to build one that runs without you.
So the next step is to work towards automation and have yourself replaced!
While I conduct my business online in a guerrilla fashion but I’m not to be mistaken with being a cheapskate. I recognize the value of my time and between my time and money, I recognize that time is SCARCED and money is ABUNDANT. 3 trillion dollars circulate the globe every single day. But everyone has only 24 hours a day.
A big part of being successful faster with your business is being frugal with your time.
HOW WOULD YOU BUILD AN ONLINE BUSINESS THAT RUNS PASSIVELY OR SEMI-PASSIVELY WITHOUT YOU? SHARE YOUR IDEAS AND LEAVE YOUR RESPONSES IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW!
P.S. When it comes to making big money with speed, this is what I’m talking about.
- Traffic Overdrive Exclusive License Get the Exclusive Licensing to "Internet Traffic Overdrive" Covering One of the Most Evergreen Topics Around - Traffic Generation Tactics and Become an Instant Marketing Guru!
- 5 Super Hot PLR Products - Special Offer 5 High Quality PLR Products In Hot Niches - Ready To Start Selling In Minutes and You Get To Keep 100% Of The Profit!
- 9 BUCKS PLR Get 9 high quality Private Label E-Book packages for $1.00 each!
Hot on JVZoo!