Yesterday I received a rather strange email. It was from someone who’d seen a comment I’d made on Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula blog a couple of years ago. The sender mentioned that he’d seen my comment and asked me to tell him the amount of sales we’d made from our product launch at the time.

Although I’d written that comment – and launched the product in question – in 2006 (I think), the product launch went well and I still recall the results we achieved. Moreover, since it was a simple question my first instinct was to reply with the answer. (There’s a psychological/marketing lesson in this… be sure to read my comment at the end of this article.)

But then it occurred to me that… I don’t even know this person! Here they are – a complete stranger – sending me an email asking me to tell them about my company’s financial results.

Now the story might be different if I went around crowing about how much money we made from the launch in question and someone was asking me to clarify or confirm my claims. (Although, even then, I might want to know WHO I was giving this information to!). But in this case I didn’t do anything of the sort.

I don’t know about you, but I was raised to believe that it was RUDE to ask people how much they earned.

Obviously, those in the Internet marketing and money-making niches have no problem telling all and sundry about how much money they supposedly make. In fact, they do so specifically to help sell their products. Such marketers are, in my opinion, fair game for questions asking for clarification – or proof of – their claims.

But since when was it okay to send people you don’t even know (and who do NOT make sales or earnings claims) how much money they make? Isn’t that just plain rude? Or has the Internet - or Internet marketing - created an environment where good manners no longer matters?

Okay, here’s the psychological/marketing lesson: if you ask someone a question, their first instinct is to think of the answer. Their second instinct is to tell you the answer. Hmmm… how can you use this in your marketing?

If you’re not satisfied with how much money you are - or are not - making in your Internet business, you’re probably desperate to know what is holding you back…

Well, chances are, it’s not because you lack information or access to information. Honestly, I can’t think of any other field where there is so much information on how to start a business or implement tons of marketing tactics, than in Internet marketing.

That’s not to deny that you may legitimately feel as though you lack certain information. But arguably even finding the ‘missing information’ you seek… may not really help you build that successful Internet business. Not if something else - something much more critical - is missing.

And that ’something else’ is clarity over, and commitment to, the purpose of your business.

A few weeks ago I conducted a presentation about the importance of having a business strategy. But even that is worthless unless you know exactly WHY you’re building your business and are absolutely COMMITTED to doing everything necessary to make it successful.

Call it a vision, purpose, mission, goal - different business writers attribute different meanings to these terms - but the point is… to have a point. To have a ‘why’ or reason for doing what you’re doing, and to believe so utterly in that ‘why’ that you never for a moment consider doing anything else.

When you have a powerful ‘why’ propelling you forward, you will find out what you don’t know… you will take action when you need to take action… and you will make the necessary sacrifices to achieve your goal. You will be willing to spend weeks, months or years working towards the achievement of that goal. You will do whatever it takes. Because it’s that important to you.

On the flipside, when you don’t have a compelling enough reason to inspire you… it can be all too easy to give up, take a half-hearted approach, or just plod along… while becoming increasingly frustrated at your lack of progress.

Ironically, it’s the plentiful information, along with the incessant sales pitches promising ‘turnkey solutions’ and ‘instant riches’, that are probably substantially to blame for the frustration so many aspiring Internet marketers feel.

With all the sales pitches promoting the latest ‘push-button businesses’ and ‘money making tactics’ it can be incredibly tempting to jump onto the latest idea without taking the time to assess how and whether such an idea fits into our business strategy.

In fact, it can be highly tempting to jump straight into tactics without devising a strategy, let alone setting a business goal, in the first place!

Ever bought an ebook or piece of software for generating traffic or converting customers… before actually having a niche, target audience or product or service in mind? Don’t worry - you’re not alone! I’ve certainly done so.

Unfortunately, focusing on tactics before having a strategy - let alone having a goal or purpose - is a recipe for ongoing frustration and misery.

That’s not to say you’ll avoid problems or challenges when you do have a business goal you can dedicate yourself to achieving or a business you can pour your heart and soul into. After all, what is a business person but a problem solver! But at least you’ll be on a meaningful, fulfilling journey… as opposed to a largely meaningless, fruitless one.

Of course, sometimes we’re so close to our daily situation that we lose objectivity, making it difficult to see just what we need to do to break out of the ‘not-making-money-online’ rut… and start building the business and achieving the success we’ve always wanted.

If so, it may be time to get some outside help.

Here at Kikabink, we have traditionally focused on providing Internet marketing services, rather than coaching, but I was inspired by a new client to consider offering Internet marketing coaching. If this is something you’re interested in, let me know, as I can probably work with one or two more people on this basis. Just send an email to anna@kikabink.com?Subject=Interested-In-Coaching with a little about you and what you need help with.

Just one thing - please don’t get in touch if you’re not able to invest a couple hundred dollars per hour of coaching. This isn’t any kind of pre-planned, discount group coaching. What I have in mind is personal, one-on-one coaching where I focus exclusively on fast-tracking you from where you are now, to where you want to be, based solely on what you need and want (not on any preconceived idea about what you may need and want).

I don’t know how many sessions we’ll need – that will depend on where you want to go, what you need to get there, and how much you’d like my help to get you there! But we’ll probably get a general idea of what it will take during our initial session…

In any case, if this article has resonated with you, I urge you to STOP and think about what you really want for yourself. What is your vision for your life? How does a business fit into that? What kind of business fits into that?

These are the considerations that should inform your choice of business, and your business purpose or goal. And once you’re clear on your goal, then it’s time to develop your business strategy (how to achieve your goal) and from there, all the marketing tactics to make that strategy happen.

Good blog post by Alice Seba. She reiterates a point that just doesn’t seem to be emphasized enough: that the best affiliate programs are NOT necessarily those that pay the highest commissions.

This should be obvious, shouldn’t it? I mean I could give you a rock to sell and offer you a 90 percent commission on it… but does that mean you’ll be raking in the big bucks anytime soon?

Ms Seba recommends looking past an attractive commission rate to consider such factors as the:

Dollar amount per sale - how much money will you actually make on the sale? For example, 10 percent of a $1,000 product will generate more cash ($100) than 50 percent of a $50 product ($25).

Conversion rate - is the product a hot seller? A product that consistently sells for $50 and offers a 10 percent commission may offer better *real* returns than an equivalently priced product offering a 40 percent commission. Simply because the first product actually sells, while the second does not.

One time or recurring commission - if you are promoting a membership or subscription program, will you get a commission only on the initial sale or on the recurring membership or subscription dues? Obviously the latter is preferable.

Source: Alice Seba, “Myth: Affiliate Programs with the Highest Commissions Are Best”, Internet Marketing Sweetie, September 15, 2008

Jeff Wang, who runs ‘a blog for young and growing entrepreneurs’, did a bit of analysis on the TechCrunch50 finalists. He wanted to see how much funding they took before appearing at the event. Out of the 42 of the finalists that submitted funding details:

• 16 took $300,000 or less;
• 21 took $500,000 or less;
• 27 took $1 million or less;
• the average amount of funding was slightly under $1.5 million;
• the lowest amount of funding was $40,000; and
• the largest amount of funding was $10.7 million.

Source: Jeff Wang, “How Much Money Does It Take To Be A TechCrunch50 Finalist?”, Sproutly, September 12, 2008