The other day I was talking to a friend of mine who was really frustrated because his business wasn’t making as much money as he wanted to make. I asked him a few questions and we realized that the niche he is going after is very small and that the gross profit he gets per sales is very low. If you think about it, going after a tiny niche and making $20 per sale is not a great business model. However, that’s what most wannabe Internet marketers do. Do you know why? Because that’s what the “gurus” have taught them to do.
Think about it. “Gurus” tell you two things:

  1. Market to Small, Defined Niches (so there’s less competition)
  2. Sell E-Books (which, according to them, is easy money)

There are two problems with this kind of advice:

  1. A small market means less people to sell your products to.
  2. If you want to make $10,000 a month, you’ll need to sell 500 e-books at $20 each. Making 500 sales in a small niche isn’t easy and won’t last long.

I do believe that working smart is more important than working hard. However, a lot of people who get into the Internet marketing world think that things will be much easier than they turn out to be. The “gurus” they learn from don’t make money selling to small niches; they make money selling to Internet marketing wannabes, which is a huge market. And, although most of them sell e-books, that’s just the entry point of their sales funnel. Once you’re in it, they’ll try to sell you DVDs, seminar tickets and one-on-one coaching sessions.
Making big things happen takes work (a lot of it). Don’t think about how much money you are going to make; turn things around and put yourself in the shoes of your customers. Ask yourself this question: “Am I giving my customers a lot more in value than what they pay for my products?” That’s how you build a strong business: helping people improve their lives. If you’re good at it, money won’t be an issue, but if you’re in business just for the money, your customers will notice it.
Takeaways

  • The larger the market you’re marketing to, the more people you can sell your products to.
  • It’s OK to have a low-ticket item to get people into your sales funnel, but make sure you have high-ticket products to sell them too.
  • Offer a great solution to a painful problem and the money will follow.