Still trying to recover from 3 days of Las Vegas, I found myself in a lobby bar, my bad 2-megapixel camera and some awful lighting to think about my marketing observations of Las Vegas. If there was ever a king of marketing, Las Vegas wins hands-down. As much as I had fun there, I found myself compelled to learn the strategies that makes Las Vegas so attractive (and why I just want to keep spending money there…)

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For most, this should be one of the soonest tasks you start to outsource because writing content for your website or articles can be:

• Time consuming
• Not cost effective
• And well, most writers can write better than you

The question is where do you go to find a good writer?

At the beginning, I went to places like eLance and Guru.com to find writers.  My experience has been rather mixed.  In some cases I have gotten great writing for less than $7/article while in other cases I have gotten mediocre (at best!) for $15/article.   The process was fairly simple, but retaining the writers that did “the best” for me was not an option.  Most of them worked on one-time bases and as I started to use the service more and more, I found the quality of my article writing continue to drop (and in some cases, they were writers who were just “spinning” other articles).  Also, I was spending much time “teaching” each writer the way that *I* like articles written.  Therefore, I was spending a lot of time and money for mediocre quality (which was unacceptable).

At this point, I felt I needed someone committed to writing articles for me:  someone I can train once and someone that would consistantly produce quality content (without costing me a fortune!).  So I went to an outsourcing service who hired overseas writers for full-time position, but at a very (very!) low cost!  At first I was skeptical at the quality, but after “interviewing” a few candidates, I thought one really stood out.

And let me tell you, the quality of her articles were OUTSTANDING!  The problem was after 3 months of training her, the maximum output was approximately 5 articles PER WEEK.  Understand that this person was working FULL TIME (40 hours) for me and was averaging one article PER DAY.  I did the breakdown and found I was paying approximately $30 per article!  YIKES!  Yes, my hourly pay was less than $4/hour, but the production was DISMAL!

KISS -”Keep It Simple, Stupid”

At this point I realized that you get what you pay for.  I went to the forums (in my niche) and started to post requests for $20 articles.  I couldn’t believe the response!  I had DOZENS of offers within one hour.  I chose 5 to provide samples and at the end, I ended up choosing not one, but two (since they both stood out and I assumed one would not work out for me).

That was about a year ago.

I still have both writers and both of them require little guidence into what they need to do.  Having two writers makes managing them easy, too, since vacations and “other matters” can very easily thwart a consistent article writing effort.  Not in this case, though.  Having both of them provides me with unique views and unique styles that only makes my business stronger.

I may pay a slight premium to them both, but I ultimately receive what I paid for:

• Quality Content
• Dependability
• Little Management and Supervision

This is why we outsource, right?

The moral of this story is:

• You usually get what you pay for
• When outsouring, focus on the future and longetivity of the relationship

And to my writers, Dana and Jessica…You guys (or gals, for that matter) are THE BEST!!!  Keep rocking and thanks for a wonderful year!

cheers…matt

Also see 10 Tips For Outsourcing a Writer

I finally got it!  It took a little bit longer than I expected but I received my Traffic Secrets 2.0 package in the mail yesterday.  Was it worth the wait?  Well, I got everything that I expected, and a whole lot more.  The CD-ROMs were there and the book was quite impressive. I read over the Traffic Secrets book last night it was PACKED with great content (it seems so much internet marketing education is watered down with fluff, pictures, 20px fonts and affiliate links).  This was not.  The “blueprint” sheets were quite insightful and my free Mass Control disks from Frank Kern were a nice added bonus.  Watch the video to see else came with John Reese’s Traffic Secrets 2.0. 

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Yes, this is the goal of business and this is how people get wealthy…VERY WEALTHY!

There are two problems that people face with outsourcing, though.  They either do it too soon or not soon enough.  For me personally, I screwed this one up on both sides!

Can you outsource your tasks too soon?

Of course!  When I first joined StomperNet, I was told that I needed to start outsourcing virtually everything.  So I went out, found people to do the “tasks I needed done” and paid them to do it.  Two problems here:

1)  I really did not have the money to do this

2) I really did not understand the tasks myself

Long story short:  I paid a lot of people a lot of money and got very little in return.

So I went back to doing everything myself.  That is great…to a point.  Unfortunately that point was about 6 months ago for me.  Now I find myself managing the silly, trivial tasks of my business (like customer service, accounting, fulfillment, etc.) rather than the tasks that will really make me money.  I should have recognized this sooner, but now I find myself investing the time to train others to handle these tasks. I will lose a couple of months of productivity (yet again), but this will put me back into position to continue growing my business.

In my hunt for a personal assistant, the solution was literally under my roof: My wife. This totally made sense! But how? She took care of the kids. So we did a 180 and decided to outsource the child care to a nanny (3 days per week) while my wife works for me. By hiring my wife, I not only invest in the current growth of the company, but the future of it, as well. Sure, she gets added perks (like hanging out with me all day!), but that is what being married to an internet marketer is all about! (I can’t wait until I can hire my kids, too!)

cheers…matt

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I’ve been on vacation for the past week…the Sierra Mountains, in fact.  I’ve been going with my family since I was born and it is fun to share the experience with my own family and kids now, too.

The lake is still the same.  The general store has not changed one bit.  The dirt smells the same.

Still no cell coverage or for that matter, high speed internet.

UHHHHHGGGG!

This is officially my third year of being an internet marketer and the past couple of Pinecrest trips have been rather relaxing.  Remember I started off exclusively as an affiliate marketer.  Being away as an affiliate marketer is easy:  Little to no customer support, no fulfillment, and the marketing can be placed on auto-pilot with a click of a button.

This year was new to me…I now sell products and trying to run an online business without the “online” can be rather challenging.

Actually, I’m lying…we had a dial-up 56K connection.  Though, sharing a cabin with 20 other people and fighting for an internet time (or phone time for that matter) is challenging.

So I went a full week running my business with 20 minutes of dial-up internet time.

That is about enough time to check three emails on Gmail.

I suppose it was good because there was really NOTHING I could do about it other than take a “chill-pill” and hope for the best.

But in those waning hours of the evening while trying to walk my 6 month old to sleep (she did NOT like the altitude, dust or weather at all!), I started to realize that if I plan to ever grow my business while being able to relax once in awhile, I really need to get some help.

I mean the reason I got into this profession was to spend more time with my family and work less, right?

So some of my outsourcing efforts have already begun!  But I thought that this was a good time to start discussing the importance of outsourcing (and how to effectively do it!).  Over the next few weeks, I plan to start posting about outsourcing, provide some tips and strategies on finding people and ultimately, how to have your online business manage itself.

cheers…matt

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No, this video is not about the bazillion dollars you will make if you buy John Reese’s Traffic Secrets. Rather, they are the facts about the product, its popularity and what it includes. Is the Traffic Secrets 2.0 hype worth it, what does it cost, what do you get (and will you make money with it?). We tackle these issues within this video! cheers…matt

Click Here to learn more about Traffic Secrets 2.0

Also visit my Traffic Secrets Review (it is a “Review is Progress!)

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OK, I admit it!  I “stole” the name “Evil Middleman” from Rob Crowie.  I just like it, so I went with it!

So what makes a person a middle man and why are they evil?

First, they are not necessarily “evil”, but in product sourcing, they are a big mistake!

Middlemen are essentially online retailers claiming to be wholesalers and dropshippers who offer prices lower than retail, but sell them to you, as a resaler, at prices higher than wholesale.

They are “in the middle”.

Sure, these sites can make product sourcing easy, but you are paying for it!  And in most cases, these middleman websites can sell to anyone (consumers and resalers).  Therefore, not only are you buying from them, but they can possibly be your direct competition, too.

The moral?  Avoid Middleman when sourcing products!  Go directly to the manufacturer or their distributor!  You can also use a service like Worldwide Brands to identify “true” wholesalers and dropshippers in your field.

Watch the video to learn how to first identify middlemen on the internet and then take the action to find true suppliers in your niche!

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To learn more about Worldwide Brands, check out our in-depth Worldwide Brands Review.  (Also, save $20 on Worldwide Brands today with this COUPON…coupon appears in the shopping cart after product is selected!).

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I know this sounds strange, but one of my most powerful branding techniques originated (accidentally) from a 3 week drunken stupor in Europe while on a Contiki tour.  I never planned for this to happen, but a series of unusual events has led me to the online entrepreneur that I currently am today (and the way people seem to remember me the most!)

cheers…matt

P.S.  I suppose I have to give Contiki some link love since it really WAS the reason I met my wife!  Thanks Contiki!

Learn More About Contiki

Contiki European Tour

October 2000

Tammy (left) - An aussie we still talk to all of the time

Sarah (middle) - My wife (a little tipsy!)

Me! (right) - Very Tipsy! (Lot more hair!)

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