Finding Success in Online Business: Lessons from Famous Entrepreneurs [LNIM249]

But I'll share one of my own personal goals for you right now , and that is 52 weekly episodes for the Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast in the year 2024 . That's the goal . It's do or die , ride or die , do it or bust 52 consistent episodes of amazing content in the year 2024 .

And that will be the first time , I think , in the history of the podcast , which has been going on on and off since 2009 , that I've actually accomplished that . This will be the year 2024 . Check back with me in 2025 on the first episode in January in 2025 . Make sure I did that , but that's the plan for 2024 .

So , to get us both that's me and you started off in the best possible way in 2024 here . I wanted to offer you some amazing business quotes that I've dug out and researched in some key areas that will help you with accomplish your goals in 2024 .

Now , next week we're going to be talking about my tried and true method , the actual formula that I've used in my online journey and in my 30 years of business outside of Internet marketing to accomplish goals . I'll be giving that to you next week , so be sure to tune in for that .

But this week I want to spend some time getting our head right about how to move forward by looking at the wisdom that's come before us , and the first thing I want to talk about is just this whole idea of getting started . In fact , the first quote that I want to lay on you is a Mark Twain quote .

Mark Twain said the secret of getting ahead is actually getting started , and I couldn't agree more with that . More often than not , I run into people that want to talk about starting a business online , but for various reasons , they're procrastinating , and oftentimes the reason for the procrastination is not knowing exactly what to do .

But really , the thing I run into the most is people have fears that they haven't yet unpacked and they're procrastinating because they don't want to get started . But Mark Twain will tell you that the secret of getting ahead is actually getting started and the way to get started .

According to Walt Disney , the way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing . Take massive action . You've heard me say this before on the podcast . Apparently , walt Disney agrees with me . The way to get started is just to do stuff and recognize that you are going to do stuff incorrectly . You're going to make mistakes . That's part of the process .

What you need to do is take action , fail and learn quickly so you can move forward . You don't want to have this analysis paralysis phenomenon , where all you do is stand around and plan and you never actually take any action .

And then the third thing I want to tell you about getting started is one of my very favorite Zigg Ziggler quotes of all time , and that is you don't have to be great to start , but you have to start to be great .

I can just hear Zigg Ziggler saying that , and what he means is , if you wait until you think you're good at something in order to get going , you'll never get started . In fact , the way to get good is actually start and improve .

Whatever it is you're doing on online business , you've got to take action and get going because , as Tony Robbins says and this is the last thing that we'll say about getting started is that the path to success is to take massive , determined action .

So it's pretty clear in 2024 , if we want to achieve our goals , the thing that we're going to have to do is take some massive , determined action . We're not going to worry about how to get great first . We're not going to be afraid of getting started .

We're just going to get started , and I believe that if you're starting an online business , one of the best ways to do that is something that I call basing it on your eager expertise , and that's something that we're going to talk about later in 2024 . It really is the ultimate side hustle .

Side hustles based on your eager expertise blend opportunity and personal fulfillment with financial potential in a way that traditional jobs just can't do . You may be able to make a lot of money doing something that you don't really enjoy .

You may be able to do something that you really enjoy and not make a lot of money , but if you can find that overlap of doing something that really lights you up , that's something that you really enjoy , that you can figure out how to monetize and build something around your eager expertise , that's a great way and really represents the ultimate side hustle for

online entrepreneurs , and around that there's content marketing , and that's something that we talk a lot about on this show , and even if you are in the e-commerce side of things , content marketing is still incredibly powerful , and , in fact , bill Gates will tell you Bill Gates is the guy who often gets credited with saying content is king .

There's a lot of great things that come from generating fantastic , helpful content , not unlike what I'm trying to do with this podcast create content that helps people do whatever it is that they're trying to do , whether it's buy a razor or start a business online . Super great , helpful content is always going to benefit you and your business .

And I'll say I'll tell you something that one of my idols said one time , and it's something that I have held on to and really fits in this category . Michael Hyatt once said that marketing is really just about sharing your passion .

Whether you're passionate about a particular kind of shovel , or you're passionate about building online businesses , like I am , or you're passionate about coaching , like my friend Cliff Ravenscraft is , or you're passionate about biology , like my friend Leslie Samuel is , or you're passionate about copywriting , like my friend Ray Edwards is , you can really crush it with

amazing marketing just by sharing that passion , and you know a lot of people when I talk about content . They they're worried about a I and I think we can . We can worry about that , but I think really honestly Ancient Chinese proverbs about change representing opportunity is really the right way to think about a I .

I'm not worried about a I in terms of content , at least not right now . That's not a problem that we're really facing . Ten years from now , maybe we need to have another discussion , but right now it's pretty clear that there's still room for people like you and me to create amazing content that helps people . You know a ?

Feifei Lee , a famous artificial intelligence prognosticator , said artificial intelligence is not about replacing humans . It's about enhancing human capabilities and capacity with intelligence systems , and I've certainly seen this in my own content creation instead of looking at a blank page . A lot of times , I can ask artificial intelligence to give me ideas .

If I were to ask artificial intelligence to write this podcast for us and speak it with a voice , at least right now , we wouldn't find this very interesting .

Charles Darwin said it's not the strongest of the species that survive , nor the most intelligent , but it's the ones that's most responsive to change , and I want you in your business not to fear the change that's coming with a I In twenty , twenty four and beyond , but I want you to be responsive to it and right now , I think that means using a I to create

even better content than you could be for , to offer even better market solutions than you could be for , and to help people even more than you could be for .

And again , you know people that that worry about a I and worry about all these other things , worry about failing because of something that really these are all fears around failure , and I just want to tell you what Henry Ford said . Henry Ford said Failure is just a resting place . It's an opportunity to begin again more intelligently .

So if you build something and you find that A I or some other external force like covert or shipping problems in China or whatever have created a problem for you , two things to know . One is that's temporary . You can adjust , start again , learn from that and do something better .

Second thing is that's also happening to all your competition and that creates opportunity for you . That's the kind of thing that Henry Ford wants you to do . He wants you to see that failure as an opportunity to begin again . And as you're doing these things .

I think one of the things that you need to do is you need to think about things like what Peter Drucker talks about , and that is that , as you move forward in your business , you need to make sure you have some good metrics , and I love the Peter Drucker quote where he says what gets measured gets managed .

And in twenty twenty four , I want to encourage you , as you charge ahead , not to just take massive action blindly , not to fear the things , but measure them and see what kind of progress you're making and make adjustments based on those measurements .

And don't just measure Trailing indicators , like how much money did I make in twenty twenty four , but measure leading indicators like how many podcast episodes did I create , how many podcast downloads were there , or how many clicks did I get on my website and how did those clicks convert ? How did my ads convert ? How many ads did I place ?

How much money did I spend on advertising All of these leading indicators that are necessary for revenue . Those are the things that you should be measuring , in addition to the trailing indicators that are so easy to measure , like revenue and profit . But , as you know , none of this is going to be for free .

Later in January , I'm going to be presenting to you an opportunity from my friend , aiden Booth , who is teaching a great course on Amazon . I went through it before , seven years ago . He's updated and I sold all kinds of crazy things , including a toilet paper dispenser shaped like Dear Antlers , and I've told you about that on this podcast before .

That's going to be an opportunity that I will talk about a little bit on this podcast in late January , early February . But that's just an idea and it's instructions about how to do things . And what Scott Belsky says is it's not really about ideas , it's about making those ideas happen . Again , it's about taking massive action .

Having the right recipe , which is what you can get when you buy a course online , is absolutely critical , but the people that really succeed , like Belsky says , are the people that make ideas happen , that actually do the work . And this is my favorite quote . I use this all the time , actually , in my day job Vidal Sassoon , which is a designer , brand .

That a very famous person , very famous when I was a kid , for his slogan if you don't look good , we don't look good , which I love , and they used to say it on TV with an accent if you don't look good , we don't look good . You know something like that .

Vidal said that the only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary , and I just love that . Right , I mean , really , you're gonna have to do the work in 2024 if you want to be successful . And finally , I get this question all the time , and this is one of my favorite Chinese proverbs I want to address and objection that I hear .

Mark , it's too late for me to start an internet business . There are too many podcasts , too many blogs , too many online stores , too many of this , too many of that . It's too late . And let me just tell you this look , the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago . The second best time to plant a tree is right now , today .

Yeah , sure , it would have been great if in 1987 , you had started your online business and now you were like Mark Cuban , right , and you had made a billion dollars and cashed out in the dot com boom . That would have been great , but you didn't do that . So what's your choice ? Well , you can't go backwards in time .

So the second best time for you to start your internet business is right now . Right now , in 2024 , and I want to help you do that .

So what do we learn here from these quotes from famous people by the way , all these people are incredibly successful right , we can take what they've said and apply it to what it is that we're trying to do , and what I hear them saying is we need to eschew fear and stop procrastinating and take massive action .

If we're going to fail which we probably are we need to not fear that . We need to invite that , because that's what learning is , and we need to not worry .

We need to just take action and create solutions and I think , particularly in my case , content that helps people , and we want to help them profitably , and that's the kinds of things that we're going to be talking about on the late night internet marketing podcast in 2024 . So here's what you need to do right now .

Right now , if you're not subscribed to this podcast which is free , by the way in whatever podcast listening device that you're using , there will be a button that says subscribe or follow . Punch that button so you will know when the next episode of this podcast comes out , and it will come out on Monday .

We're going to have a new episode every Monday , 52 episodes in 2024 . That is the plan . That's what we're going to do , and on next Monday I will be telling you about my own special secret recipe . It's like the special recipe for chocolate chip cookies .

This is a delicious recipe that only I have , but I'm going to share with you for achieving your goals in 2024 . You're going to love it . It's going to be delicious , and what's great about my recipe is that it's calorie free . You're going to absolutely love this recipe and I'm unlike Neiman Marcus that hoards their cookie recipe .

I'm going to invite you to share my recipe with everyone who you think it will help , because I know it will help you and it will help anyone that you know that needs to achieve goals in 2024 . So look for that next week .

I also wanted to tell you that in my newsletter this week , I mentioned a fantastic social media content tool that you can use if you're looking to Create more social media , but you open up Facebook or Instagram or TikTok and you're just not really sure what to post . If that's you and that's your problem , I want you to go to late night .

I am comm forward slash Angie my friend Angie . She has an amazing Tool that she's offered for many , many years running that helps people , just like you know what to post on social media . It's really fantastic and , again , you can get that at late night . I am comm forward , slash Angie . I've used it myself over the years .

She's fantastic , the tools fantastic , and I just wanted to give her a shout out here and let you know that she's got that Up and running and ready to go for 2024 . So if your plan is to hit the road running with social media , angie can help you out at late night . I am comm forward , slash Angie . Okay , that's it .

One more thing in 2024 we are going to continue the practice of having some you know banter and rep harte after the show , so after the music fades out . If you stick around , I'll be talking about whatever's on my mind . Ciao .

I have a hot seat on the 17th of January , so I'm already starting the plan , but I'm presenting it to them for their feedback and you know aggressive suggestions that they will make on the 17th of January . They'll give me a lot of feedback , but I'm also asking them for several things , including some accountability . On the 2024 plan .

I've got a lot of things I want to accomplish in 2024 and and central among them is is getting this podcast to the next level . So you can help me with that If you're interested in helping me achieve my goals in 2024 .

An easy way to help the show Is to tell people about the show , hit like subscribe , leave a review , whatever it is that makes you feel good , um , and do that when you're feeling like you've gotten some value out of the show . I would love that and it will help me achieve my goal of really Getting this to as many people as possible .

It's going to be an exciting year . My son will be A junior guy on the varsity baseball team at his high school . There are 7 000 kids . Competition for the baseball team is very aggressive . Super proud of him and his ability to get that Accomplished and he'll be working , doing some pitching and doing some work in the outfield . We're looking forward to that .

For those of you that haven't been involved in high school baseball , that's a lot of baseball games , so we're really looking forward to that . In texas we play baseball from february to the end of april For the high school and then , starting in late may , early june , we'll play summer ball through the summer .

So we're about to get ready to go and play a lot of baseball . And , of course , as you know , as you probably know , my texas rangers won the world series for the first time ever . That's been a huge big deal , not only in my house but in the community .

I got all kinds of cool rangers gear for christmas and it's just been really great had all my family in the house for christmas . It's just been a really good , a good end to the year and I'm super excited and pumped up about 2024 , because my big objective in 2024 is helping you and I hope you're excited about that too .

So we'll talk to you next week , ciao .