The Super Affiliate Handbook

Super affiliate Rosalind Gardner started tooling around the Internet in 1996, swapping seeds and growing tips with other passionate gardeners.  When she visited a dating site a few years later and saw a “Webmasters Make Money” banner, she was intrigued and clicked on it.  A few months later, after setting up and playing around with a dating website, she got her first $10 affiliate check payment in the mail.  She knew she was on to something.

That was 1998.  By 2000, she’d replaced her air traffic controller salary with affiliate marketing income and quit her day job.  By 2002, she was earning nearly $500,000 a year as an affiliate marketer and wrote the Super Affiliate Handbook to tell how she did it.  It was an instant best seller and remains popular to this day because of Rosalind’s step-by-step approach (she updates it regularly as the Internet changes and her skills increase).  She wasn’t a business person when she started and had no prior experience selling stuff online, but she had an idea, a desire to replace her income, and a strong work ethic.  That’s all it took.

Today, Rosalind works just a few hours a week, frequently takes month-long vacations, lives an affluent lifestyle — and makes six figures a month with affiliate marketing. 

I’ve learned a lot from her and the Super Affiliate Handbook and think you can too.  If affiliate marketing sounds interesting and profitable, the Super Affiliate Handbook is a ”must have” resource for your digital library.

Creating A Business Plan

Okay, you have an idea of what you’d like to do. Now you have to ask yourself, “How am I going to accomplish this? What’s my ‘game plan?’”

You need to take some time to get a “big picture” view of things. How much time are you going to spend on this? Who can you sell it to? How much does it cost to get started? Do you need special licenses? Training? Equipment? Help? Who’s going to do the bookkeeping?

These are just a few of the things you need to ask yourself before you begin. Lots of people like to “jump right in,” going straight for the fun stuff. Big mistake. You can get yourself into all kinds of trouble by ignoring the activities you don’t like to do.

Once you get an aerial view of your business, you’ll know what needs to be done and can go from there. If you hate bookkeeping, for example, you know you’ll have to pay someone to do that for you. If you have no clue how to market, you know you’ll have to spend some time learning this aspect of your business.

Plan your work and work your plan. You’ll save yourself time, money, energy, and frustration.

It’s called, amazingly enough, a business plan. Don’t be put off by the title. A business plan basically directs you to begin with the end in mind. If you don’t know where you’re going or how to get there, you may soon find yourself in some sticky situations.

Creating a business plan will not only organize your thoughts, it will become a necessary tool should you need to seek funding. If you’ll be working a few hours a week from a spare room, a business plan may take only a few minutes to compose and a few hours to execute.

If you’re planning on doing something that requires special licensing or training, for example, it may take a few hours to compose and a few days to execute.

But if you have visions of a building, equipment, employees, etc., dancing through your head, you may need days or weeks to gather all the details and weeks or months to execute the plan. The best way to assess this is by writing it down.

Again, either open a new word processing document or pull out a blank sheet of paper. Think about both what you’ll need to get started, what you’ll need a year from now, and where you want to be in five years as you answer the following general questions.

These answers will facilitate in your business plan preparation:

Product/Service

• What is the product or service that you intend to sell?
• Who is your market?
• Who is your competition?
• How easily can you produce this product or service? 

Your Skills

• What are your qualifications in this field?
• Do you have prior business experience? 

Time

• How much time do you intend to spend on this venture?
• Are you looking at something you can do in your spare time, a few hours a week, or are you planning to make this your new full time occupation?
• Do you have ample living expenses set aside to accomplish this?
• Or, are you going to start in your spare time until you can make it your full time occupation? 

Place

• Is this something you’ll be doing out of your home, or will you need a store front?
• How much square footage will you need?
• Are you going to lease space, or will you need to build?
• What kind of alterations will the space require to meet your needs?
• Will you be hiring professionals, or will you do it yourself?
• Or, do you plan to start from your home in your spare time, anticipating you’ll need a store front later? 

Paperwork

• What legal entity (sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, etc.*) do you plan to assume?
• Who will be setting up your books?
• What insurance will you need?
• Are there any zoning laws?
• Do you need a general business license?
• Do you need special licenses (to serve food or alcohol, run a day care, chauffeur, etc.)?
• Will you require a business checking account?
• Do you need a line of credit to help with cash flow?
• Do you need a merchant account to accept credit cards*? 

Employees

• Will this be a one-person show, or will you need to hire people to get the ball rolling?
• How much have you budgeted for salary and other payroll expenses?
• What kind of benefits (health insurance, retirement, etc.) will you need for yourself, or if hiring others, to attract qualified applicants? 

Professional Services

• What professional services will you need at the beginning? Lawyer, accountant, consultant, advertising?
• What services will you require on an on-going basis? 

Utilities

• What utilities will you need? Water, sewer, gas, electric, phone, Internet service provider?
• Will they require security deposits or installation fees?
• What is your anticipated monthly consumption? 

Monthly Services

• In addition to utilities, what other monthly expenses do you anticipate? Trash removal, housekeeping, landscaping? Bank fees?

Equipment

• What equipment will you need to get started? The kitchen table and a phone?
• Complete office setups for one or more people?
• Specialty items, such as racks for displaying wares, kitchen appliances and tables (for a restaurant), or trucks and cranes (for landscaping or construction business)?
• Will you be buying new or used equipment? 

Supplies

• What kind of basic supplies will you need? Pencil, paper, and a box of business cards?
• Office supplies (adding machine tape, copy paper, laser printer toner, coffee) for one or more people?
• Shampoo, color, perm rods (for a hairdresser), dressing gowns, medical supplies (for a doctor/dentist)?
• How often will you need to replace them? 

Inventory

• Will you require a starting inventory? Are you selling electronic “How To” articles from your web site, or rubies and diamonds from your jewelry store?
• What will you need to get started?
• Are your vendors reliable? 

Marketing

• How do you plan promote your business? Are you counting on your business card, a yellow page ad, and word of mouth to bring in clients, or do you plan to launch a complete media campaign (newspaper space, radio/television time)?
• Are you going to have a web page?
• Are you going to handle everything yourself, or do you plan to hire an advertising firm?
• What’s your on-going marketing plan? 

Money

Based on your answers from above, how much money will you need?

If you’re looking at a spare time activity from your home, you may just need a few hundred bucks you can pull from savings or put on a credit card. If you’re planning to buy a franchise or open a restaurant, you’re going to need substantially more.

Be specific when planning, so you’ll know exactly what you’ll need. Always build in a small buffer for things you haven’t thought about.

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Do all these questions frighten you? Don’t let them. A thorough evaluation up front will save you lots of indigestion later. Position yourself for success.

Now you’ve got some raw data for your business plan. Depending on your proposed activity, you may have all the answers you need or you may need to undertake an extensive fact-finding quest. Once you’ve gathered your data, you’re ready to begin work on your business plan.

Since there are many good books and software packages on business plans (your word processing or accounting software may have come with a business plan module), I won’t tackle the subject here. If you need a quick start, you can pick up a copy of Business Plan Pro by Palo Alto Software.

If your business will require extensive market analysis or if this step is threatening to make you break out in hives, I would encourage you to engage a local business consultant or contact the business school at your local college or university for help with this process.

Info-Products: Turn Your Knowledge into Cash

Know a lot about something, like gardening, beekeeping, kayaking — or dating hot guys?  Then turn your knowledge into cash by creating an info-product and selling it online.  It’s one of the fastest, easiest ways to make money these days, and people are literally making fortunes selling doing it.

So what’s an info-product?

An info-product (or information product) is simply information that you create (write/speak/video/software) about something you know well that others may like to learn.

For example, let’s say that you have extensive knowledge about how to care for specialty plants in your region. Think others might benefit from your years of experience? You bet! Take all your favorite tips and tricks and turn them into a guide. Know how to raise chickens, find a needle in a haystack, or scuba dive in New Zealand? You could have yourself a infoproduct!  You’re only limited by your imagination.

Here are a few examples of what other people have come up with:

Instant Sales Letters
A marketing wiz took his best sales letters templates, put them together in a collection, and sells them online.  This one product alone has been paying his mortgage for nearly a decade.

Calling Men
A relationship expert shares her tips and tricks on how and when to call and text the datable men you meet.  This product was developed to answer the tons of questions she got on this subject matter from the other relationship books she wrote.

How to Build a Chicken Coop
No only does this product show you how to build a chicken coop that will protect your chickens from predators and deliver delicious eggs, it’s an internet best-seller!  Who’d a thought?

Learn How to Play Piano at Home
A classically trained pianist, tired of the quality of piano programs on the market, decided to produce her own play piano info-product.  She’s been able to replace her teaching income, and now sells info-products and plays in jazz clubs for fun.  No starving musician there!

See the wide variety?  Turn your knowledge into cash!  Just down some of your passions and then take a little time to “flush out” the ideas and see if you have a winner.

How?

Before you do anything, make sure you have a buying market for your product.  This is crucial.  You don’t want to spend time, money, or energy creating something that only a handful of people might buy.  Do your research first.

The easiest way to do this is by going to Google and typing in a phrase that best describes your proposed idea, like puppy training, cooking for two, wedding theme ideas, or whatever, and seeing what’s already available.  If there are millions of pages and lots of paid ads running along the top and right side of the screen, that’s good.  It means you have competition because the market is buying this kind of product.  It’s what you want.  Think about it – how many books or products about your hobby do you have?  Just one?  Unlikely.  You probably have a dozen resources or more.  Your mission, should you chose to accept it, is to create an info-product that fills a void in your market, whether it be video, software, checklists, or whatever.  Give the market what they want in a format they haven’t seen before – and you’ll make a ton of money.

If your research turns up few competing websites and few or no paid Google ads, it’s probably because this market doesn’t spend money.  Come up with another idea.  You want to fish where there are plenty of fish to take your bait, not in a vacant field.

If you have an existing business, you can also use infoproducts to educate your customers. If you own a jewelry store, for example, you could create an infoproduct to show what to look for in a diamond. If you’re an accountant, you could produce a “business startup accounting checklist.” By giving your customer valuable information for little or no cost, he’ll be more inclined to trust your advice and buy your product or service.

I first saw this idea in an article about a used piano salesman who created a “How To Tell If Your Used Piano Is Worth The Money” pamphlet in which he revealed the dirty tricks some second hand dealers use to make a used piano sound like it’s in better shape than it is. The pamphlet was distributed to students free of charge through piano teachers in the area, and brought in a huge response from parents not wanting to get ripped off on this major purchase.

It’s a clever tactic you can modify to suit your own needs.

If you’d like to learn more about creating an infoproduct, I highly recommend Make Your Knowledge Sell! by Ken Evoy and Monique Harris. Not only is this course a great bargain – it’s free! - it walks you step-by-step through creating an infoproduct so you’ll have marketable material by the time you finish. See for yourself.

Could you make money with an info-product?  There’s only one way to find out…

Make Money with Auctions

Auctions are a great way to make money!

You’ve no doubt heard about eBay and other online auctions, and you may have wondered what all the fuss was about. Well, let me tell you: it’s the ultimate open market experience…without the crowds, the noise, or the hassles.

With more than a million auctions a week on eBay alone, online auctions are BIG business and growing bigger every month. If you think it’s just about getting rid of your junk–think again.

Yes, you’ll find plenty of attic items on these sites, but you’ll also find everything from collectibles to livestock to homes listed there as well. People have become addicted to the auction excitement, and many who came to dispose of their cast offs have stayed around…and made big money.

Here’s how:

• Selling — Folks who love to frequent garage sales, junk shops, and second hand stores have found a ready market at online auctions. If you have a discerning eye and know how to pick up treasurers for pennies, forget the flea market scene–become a virtual dealer instead and take weekends off.
• Surplus Inventory — If you have or can get your hands on overstocked or discounted items, you can sell them online and make money. Why write it off when you can sell it instead?
• Lead Generation — A lot of businesses put lead items up for auction and then offer a link back to their web site and main items. You could see a substantial jump in traffic for the nominal cost of offering a lead item.

If you don’t have any idea where to start or if the thought of putting items up for sale is a little scary, here are some pointers:

• Start small. Sell your own unwanted items and use the proceeds to buy other items for resale.
• Buy from smaller, lesser know auctions for pennies and resell on eBay for profit.
• Use the search capability on eBay to see what’s being auctioned and what your competition is doing. Lots of bidding = desirable product. No bidding = dud. Keep this in mind when you’re looking for things to resell. Remember: research is the key to any successful business.

There are TONS of ways to make money on eBay; here are some resources that can help: So…that’s a little about auctions.  If you’re thinking about starting an online business but don’t have a lot of time, this could be a great option for you.

Become an eBay Power Seller in 90 Days

Tips and tricks from eBay Power Seller John Thornhill, who’s been making big bucks on eBay for years.  He shows you what to do and how to do it in a step-by-step fashion.  Excellent resource for your learning library.

Auction Inspector

Can’t figure out which niche to promote?  Wish you knew what people were looking for?  Auction Inspector can help.  This nifty software scans the eBay marketplace, telling you which markets are underserved and which have too much competition.  Why go through expensive trial-and-error when this tool can give you laser-target precision?

Affiliate Programs: Make Money Selling Other People’s Stuff

Affiliate programs are one of the hottest trends on the web today, with good reason. If you’re looking for an easy way to add to your income without spending a lot of time doing so, promoting different affiliate programs could be what you need.

Here’s the basic premise: you sign up in different affiliate programs and promote another company’s goods or services in exchange for a percentage of the sales you send to them. There are no sign up costs to participate, and because visitors you send to the host sites are usually “tagged” with a traceable “cookie”, you can get credit for the sale for a certain length of time if the customer returns to buy later (although this varies from program to program–read the fine print on any agreement).

Affiliate programs are strictly pay-for-performance and the ultimate “win-win” situation. Businesses get an army of salesmen to promote their product or service (not to mention TONS of advertising), with no payroll costs–and individuals are able to sell great products, with no inventory, handling, or fulfillment hassles.

Here’s how you can make money with affiliate programs:

1.  Easily establish a web presence. Want to make money online but have no product to call your own? No problem! Determine what your site is about, and find existing products to promote until you can develop a product of your own. Visit AssociatePrograms.com to find suitable products. Sign up for Allan’s newsletter while you’re there.

2. Create an instant backend. Have a great product but nothing else to offer your customers? Join and promote several affiliate programs relevant to your website and collect a percentage of the sales.

3. Easily add to your bottom line. Once you’ve established a web presence, people are going to ask you about your vendors. Why? They want to know the fastest way to get up to speed. If you’re satisfied with your web host, merchant account, tracking software, etc., recommend them to others and collect a percentage as an affiliate. It’s only good business sense, after all.

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“Best Bet” Resources

If the affiliate programs idea appeals to you but you have no idea where to start, download these resources and get on the FAST track to success:

Super Affiliate Handbook

Rosalind Garner collected her 1st affiliate check for $10 back in 1998.  Over the next two, through hard work and by making lots of mistakes, she was making $10,000 a month and quit her day job.  By 2002, she was raking in $400,000+ per year as an affiliate, and these days, she does six figures a month – working a few hours a day and taking month-long vacations.   This book shows you how to do the same…A LOT faster, and without all the trial and error she went through.  A “must have” for your affiliate library.

 

Google Cash Sniper

This program will have you up and running fast and profitably within a matter of weeks.  Super Affiliate Chris Fox shows you step-by-step how to find a niche, do keyword discovery, set up a website, and promote the heck out of it.  Once you’re done, you’ll have a network of sites that not only score well on Google, bringing you TONS of targeted, hungry buyers for FREE, but that fill your bank account as well.  I’ve been online for a decade and learned some stuff I’ve never seen.  Awesome!

 

The Best Business to Start

As the owner of a business ideas website, I’m often asked, “What’s the ‘best’ business to start?”

The answer: The one that best suits your needs. Obviously this will be different for everyone. But let me give you some questions to ask yourself before beginning ANY new venture. I’ll use the “Who, What, Where, When, Why?” approach:

WHO Am I?

Knowing who you ARE is as important as knowing who you ARE NOT. If you’re a mild-mannered librarian from Metropolis, for example, then you are not a Las Vegas showgirl.

Obviously, right? Yet as apparent as this seems, I still see people start businesses or jump on business opportunities that have nothing to do with who they are or what they know. Starting a new venture is challenging enough without complicating the issue by tackling a product or service you know nothing about.

Give yourself a fighting chance: stick with the familiar.

WHAT Do I Want?

Determine what you want to get out of the effort. Do you want to:

• Get out of the house and earn an extra few hundred dollars of “mad money” every month?
• Replace your current income so you can tell your boss to take a hike?
• Make more money than you’ve ever made in your life?

Each one is going to require a different level of time and commitment. For some, a pre-tested business opportunity may fit the bill. For others, a start-from-scratch business may be the only way to go. Take your time to investigate; there’s a lot available either way.

But be realistic. If you work full time, have kids to chauffer around, a house to run, and other duties besides, then you’ll need something you can fit into your hectic schedule. If you’re retired and looking for a way to fill your time and meet interesting people, you may want something completely different.

WHERE Am I Now?

A lot of people jump into businesses before they’re really ready. It’s easy to do, especially if you find something you really like and are trying to get a way from something you really hate, like a boss or a commute or co-workers. Still, it’s important to think the matter through, and DO YOUR HOMEWORK. You know, the old Research and Development thing.

If you’re looking for some “mad money” and the extra income is optional, then trying a few different business opportunities to see what suits you best may be the way to go. But if you’re going to rely on the income (as in replacing your current job), you’ll need to take a more serious approach to the matter. Take the time to find what suits you. Learn what you need to know. LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP.

If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail. Know what you’ll need BEFORE you get started, or you’ll waste time, energy, and money in a desperate attempt to get the thing going.

WHEN Can I Get Started?

Now having told you to research and plan, don’t use that as an excuse NOT to get started. Don’t wait until the kids are grown or you retire or after your vacation or until next year. Start NOW.

Read, digest, learn. Begin to narrow down the ideas that are best for you. Get to understand the “big picture” of what it takes to run a business. Start some market research. Do SOMETHING.

As Confucius said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” Take it. You’ll reach your destination that much sooner.

WHY Look At The “Big Picture”?

Most people who start businesses don’t come from a business background. They’re good at some THING, so they start a business based on their talent or skill. Nothing wrong with that. But keep in mind that the product is only PART of the business equation. To have a SUCCESSFUL venture you need:

• A target market with money
• A product the target market wants
• A way to tell them about it (marketing)
• A way to get it to them (fulfillment)
• A way to manage the process (administration)
• A way to maintain the process (maintenance)
• A plan for doing all the above

Put you ego aside and be honest with yourself. Identify your strengths and weaknesses. If you have zero marketing skills, learn to market or find someone who will do it for you. If bookkeeping gives you hives, find a competent accountant or bookkeeper. If you’re not sure how to get started, read books or find a mentor. Try your local SCORE chapter.

Whatever you do, DON’T just ignore the parts of your business that aren’t as interesting to you as the others. I’ve seen too many disasters by people who have done this. If you know you’re not going to do something that needs to be done, own up to it from the start and find someone who can help. It may cost you some money-but it will probably be a lot less than leaving the thing undone.

HOW Do I Get Started

Imagine the perfect business for you:

• What would you be doing? Playing golf? Cooking? Unearthing dinosaurs?
• Where would you work? At home? Out of a suitcase? On the stage?
• When would you work? At night? When the kids go to school? October through March?
• Why this line of business? Fulfill a childhood dream? A favorite hobby? It’s all you know?
• How much money would you make each month? $500? $5,000? $50,000?

Now that you’ve imagined the perfect business, go make it happen!

The “perfect” opportunity is not going to find you — you have to find it or create it for yourself if it doesn’t exist. It’s not impossible. In fact, once you get started, you’ll discover how easy it can be and wonder why you didn’t get started sooner.

So what is the “best” business to start? Considering your interests, abilities, commitments, dreams, and income aspirations, the “best” business is the one that best suits your needs.

Good luck!

“Most successful men have not achieved their distinction by having some new talent or opportunity presented to them. They have developed the opportunity that was at hand.”–Bruce Marton

Startup Funds: 10 Places to Find Cash

You have an idea, you’ve done the research, you’ve finished the business plan, and you have an estimate of how much it’s going to cost to get it all off the ground.

The next step? Finding money.

Don’t let this be an obstacle to your dreams. Here are some places to look:

1. Savings and Investments

Depending on how much you’re looking at, you may be able to pull the amount from savings, CDs, stocks, or bonds.

2. Friends and Family

This is a time-honored tradition in some cultures and could be the best way to go, depending on your situation. However, exercise caution: your finances might become grist for the family rumor mill and you might create friction if something goes awry.

3. Credit Cards

Again, depending on how much you need, you could use the cash advance line on a credit card as an unsecured line of credit (albeit an expensive one). Look for low interest rates and cash advance fees. A recent Arthur Anderson survey of small and mid-sized businesses revealed that nearly 50% of all small businesses use credit cards in some capacity to get up and running.

4. Bank Loans

Frankly, bank loans are tough for startups to acquire. Usually banks loan money to companies that are stable and profitable or whose officers have a successful business background. They’re not impossible, however. Make sure you have your business plan in order before approaching your banker.

5. Personal or Home Equity Loan

Since bank loans can be difficult for first time businesses, you might try getting a personal loan using your personal property as collateral. That’s where 20% of businesses find their start up funds, according to that same Arthur Anderson survey.

6. Selling Personal Assets

If you have antiques, jewelry, collectibles, stocks, or real estate on your balance sheet, you might consider selling them to get your startup funds. A recent news story I saw reported that the antique jewelry market has seen a surge lately as more and more people sell unworn heirloom jewels to finance business startups.

7. SBA Guaranteed Loans

If you live in the United States, you might be able to get the Small Business Administration to back a bank loan. That means that while they don’t loan money themselves, the Small Business Administration will, upon reviewing your business plan, help you find and secure funds from the private sector. To learn more, visit the SBA site, http://www.sba.gov/financing/indexloans.html.

I don’t know what’s available outside the US, but you might try your local Business Information Centers, Chambers of Commerce, Employment Development Department, or similar entity.

8. U.S. Government Grants

Get startup money from Uncle Sam? Absolutely…if you’re a U.S. citizen. There are thousands of grants available for specific types of research, and it’s how both Donald Trump and Ross Perot got their start. You’ll need to dig a little, but you can find a comprehensive list of grants at:

The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance,
http://aspe.os.dhhs.gov/cfda/.

Also try:

The Foundation Center
http://fdncenter.org/

Fundraising and Grant Writing,
http://www.fundsnetservices.com/grantwri.htm

9. Angel (Personal) Investors

An Angel Investor is a person or entity willing to invest in your startup for a percentage of the equity. You MUST have your research and business plan done before you approach them. Typical investments stay in the five figure range.

An Angel’s biggest concern? Getting his money back. Angels also tend to invest in things they understand or participate in, so approach people who are going to be the users, suppliers, or people within the industry or market area. Don’t go after your technophobic lawyer to give you money for your mp3 idea, for example.

10. Venture Capital

Venture Capitalists look for highly profitable, very fast growing, early to mid-stage ventures. They seek almost immediate returns on their money, which often include funds from wealthy individuals and institutional investors (i.e., pension funds) looking for a high rate of return.
Often, they’ll want a lot of control, and will bring in their own people to “run the show.” Venture capitalists really like “hot” industries (high-tech, Internet, etc.) and companies that are poised to go public.

Want some other places to look? Check out these sites:

Business Finance — http://www.businessfinance.com
Vfinance — http://www.vfinance.com/
NVCA — http://www.nvca.org/

Ready? Set? Go find some startup money!

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