How Lucky Are You? - September 2007
How Lucky Are You?
Hello again, and welcome to this month’s newsletter. Well, I can’t believe we are now
into September and it has suddenly become very noticeable that the nights are
drawing in. The football season is now well under way and it won’t be long before the
first frost arrives!
I love the autumn though. I wake up on a cold autumn morning and look in wonder at
the bright blue sky. I love the way the yellow, orange and red leaves contrast with the
sky’s blue, I love the way the low sun shines on the shimmering leaves. On mornings
such as this I genuinely think: “How lucky I am to be alive”!
So, how lucky are you? No, not just to be alive…but in life generally.
Whilst you know I like to ask tough questions, I reckon this is a tad easier! I’m
willing to bet you will have a good idea of how lucky you are. Where would you rate
yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the luckiest)?
I was going to talk about looking for product ideas this month, and amazingly (or
should I say luckily) I saw an article on the TV that brought these two subjects
together. Another lucky coincidence was that I’d read an old article from about four
years ago that connected the two subjects as well. So, I thought, as I’d been lucky, I’d
give you my take on this.
Now before I go into this in more detail, the need for product ideas is the one thing
that holds so many people back. It is something I get asked about constantly and it
appears to be an age-old problem. What to sell? How do I get ideas for products?
To be honest this doesn’t need to be a problem!
Anyway, back to the article I saw on TV. This is what happened.
A scientist was walking around Covent Garden with a copy of a magazine and he was
asking people to look through the magazine and count the pictures. He put them under
a time constraint and…if they got the right answer within the time allowed, the
“contestant” won a fiver.
So, people would rush off and count the pictures. Out of 14 people who took the trial
only two won the fiver. There were 77 pictures. OK, difficult to flick through a
magazine and count that many pictures in 60 seconds – very difficult indeed.
However, before he asked people to take this little test, he asked how lucky they were.
Here’s the amazing bit, the two people who thought they were the luckiest were the
two people who won the fiver.
And…even more amazingly, neither of them counted all of the pictures!
OK, I know you’re now thinking this was some sort of trick here…and it sort of was!
About ten pages in, on the left hand side, was a page that simply said in big bold black
letters on a plain white background: “Stop counting, there are 77 pictures”. As it
happens, neither of the winners saw this page (obviously none of the losers did
either).
However, just over half way through there was another page that said. “Stop counting,
tell the tester you’ve seen this page and you have won the £5”. The two “lucky”
people saw this page and claimed their fiver.
So, what’s the point?
Simply this. The scientist stated that there had been many studies conducted and it has
been “probably” proved that lucky people are simply more observant of their
surroundings and the opportunities presented to them.
Now this is a bit of an “ethereal” area, but this little experiment does sort of prove the
point.
I remember from the past an old saying that ”you make your own luck” and that luck
is simply “Labouring Under Correct Knowledge”…and this again, is “sort” of true.
So, if you’re looking for products to sell and build your business with…how
observant (lucky) are you?
How often do you go to forums on-line and look for problems people are
experiencing? A problem solved is a profitable product!
How often do you read about problems in the paper and think about how to solve it? Do you read the business pages to see what is going on?
How often do you get frustrated with a product and say “if only it did this or that”? How often do you wish for a certain service or product?
What are your areas of expertise and what problems are you able to solve? Are these
problems lots of other people have as well? All you need to do to find a forum is go
on to Google and type forum + subject. Read the forums, most of them have an FAQ
section, could this be made into a product? Go try!
There are forums on every topic under the sun and there is sure to be at least one in
your area of either interest or expertise, so see what people are saying there. What can
you deliver to the members in return for profit? It’s certainly easier to build a product
if it’s a subject you know intimately.
So, another difficult question for you…how often do you think you have passed a
product idea by during your lifetime? Ouch! That one hurt. Indeed, it hurt me when I
re-read that old article I mentioned earlier.
I totally missed the relevance of this first time round, but…it referred to the first series
of Dragon’s Den. I’ve dipped into the program occasionally, but the point is this.
Dragon’s Den is full of people presenting business ideas to a panel of wealthy
entrepreneurs each week. What better way to fill your head with product ideas?
I have to admit I can’t believe this one actually passed me by! Each week most of the
presentations get rejected, but…a different slant, an enhancement, a more efficient
version, a version for a different market? I’ve just watched it for pure entertainment,
when I could have been trawling it for profitable product ideas – derrr!
So, how about another slant? What about when you go abroad for your holidays?
Three years ago in Vancouver I saw this amazing gadget that throws a ball for a dog
to chase. It’s a sort of sling that launches the ball a very long way and also picks up
the ball. This means that the dog gets great exercise and the owner doesn’t have to
pick up the ball covered in nasty saliva with their hands.
Guess what? I’ve started to see them over here now. I must admit, I thought it was a
good idea when I first saw it. However, someone saw the thing, thought it was a good
idea and DID something with it and imported the product into the UK. I expect that
person is doing rather well.
There are just so many ideas and products out there just waiting for YOU.
So, why do so many people seem to have this “shell” around them that stops them
“seeing” these things?
I’m not sure, maybe it’s the pace of life these days, but…I have decided that I should take more time over things and just generally, look at things much more carefully. I think this will prove to be a very good discipline regardless, but I’m sure if I persist I will generate some great new ideas for products and / or services.
Maybe I might just get lucky! Maybe you might too!
One thing is for sure, you can sell pretty much anything over the internet these days.
The cost of building a web site is coming down day by day as are all the other costs
involved, particularly eCommerce solutions.
So…you have no excuse for not getting out there and building your own success.
Ideas are simply everywhere, you just have to cultivate the right mindset to be able to
“see” all of that opportunity.
On a totally different subject, following on from my note to you about Adwords
Excellence, I’ve spoken to Stewart at AE today and had a look at the number of
people who took up my referral. It’s really low! I can’t believe that! Did you not look
at it properly??
If you want to make a success of marketing on-line learning how to get the best from
Google Adwords is absolutely essential. I guarantee, if you don’t get your Adwords
campaigns right, you will lose money. Stewart is the undisputed king of Adwords in
the UK.
I cannot recommend this service highly enough and, still, for just a short time longer,
you can sign up FREE. Yes, for no cost. You CAN learn everything you need to
become successful with Adwords for no cost to yourself. If you are serious about
marketing online you just cannot afford to turn this chance down.
So, once again, here is the link…
Editors Note 2009 - sadly the AWE service left the internet in late 2008. A sad loss!
Without wishing to be rude…do yourself a favour and get into this.
So, with autumn nearly upon us and the winter months to follow, this is the ideal time
to spend those dark winter nights getting lucky. Open your eyes to the possibilities
and come next spring I reckon you could be on the path to freedom. What a great
word – freedom.
I’ll be launching further products to help you achieve just that in September. The
Total Control system is now ready and the website is being developed. This will help
you unlock the secrets of how the money power giants do what they do (make buckets
of money).
And I have a referral to an incredible product for you in the next few days. This one
will come with products ready made in it, so you won’t even have to worry about
finding or developing the products! How easy do you want this??
On that positive note, I shall bid you farewell. Any questions, comments or just plain
insults, please feel free to email me, and I’ll try and get back to you as soon as I can.
As always…to *YOUR* success
Cheers now and…have fun.
Derek
Internet Marketing from APD
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