The Foolish Adventure Show | Internet Business Radio

My friend, Leslie Samuel, disagreed with me about day jobs sucking. He loves his and wanted to come onto the show to defend the honor of great day jobs everywhere. This episode is a conversation about keeping your job (if you enjoy it) while building an Internet business. He and I do disagree about jobs and businesses especially since I believe the good things that can be found in a job can be replicated or even better in your own business.  Leslie believes and is living the opposite. He gets great enjoyment from his day job and it really couldn’t be replicated in his business. Maybe we’re both right. Listen in and you decide if you want to be on Team Entrepreneur or Team Day Job/Entrepreneur. Enjoy your Foolish Employment, Tim Conley   Join The Forge: A Group Of Entrepreneurs Creating A Life While Building A Business bit.ly/entertheforge New Training: How To Scale Your Business If you want to get in-depth training on operating and scaling your business check out The Bootcamp: TimConley.co/bootcamp/

Are you driving down the Financial Slowlane? Where you possibly get wealthy after 30, 40 or 50 years of saving. Or worse… are you on the Financial Sidewalk? Where you’ll never generate wealth because every penny you make is spent and then some. Special guest, MJ DeMarco is here to share how you can get off the wrong wealth road and onto the Millionaire Fastlane.  Get rich quick is possible. We see it all the time, but it doesn’t come from buying lottery tickets or purchasing an ebook on how to get rich in social media. There is a proven path — a fastlane, if you will, to creating wealth quickly. How quickly? In a decade or less.  “Ten years?!!! That’s a long time!” you might be thinking. Making wealth quickly (3-10 years) can and has been done many times over. Your alternative is to maybe get rich in 30 years or worse… never. In this episode, MJ shares his take on wealth and how to make it. It’s funny, even though I never talk about getting rich from an online business and MJ talks about getting rich quickly, he and I have very similar beliefs about Time, Income and Mobility. We both want you to have wealth so you can have time freedom, income freedom and mobility freedom. Jump into the show and then go check out the book, The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco. It’s one of my top business books of 2011 and ranks as one of my favorite business books. Also, follow MJ on Twitter: @MJDeMarco Enjoy your Fastlane Adventure, Tim “Speedy” Conley   Join The Forge: A Group Of Entrepreneurs Creating A Life While Building A Business bit.ly/entertheforge New Training: How To Scale Your Business If you want to get in-depth training on operating and scaling your business check out The Bootcamp: TimConley.co/bootcamp/

SIX FIGURES IN 12 MONTHS OR LESS… IGNITE YOUR CONSULTING BUSINESS WITH RAIN MAKER MODEL: REVERSE ENGINEERED ACQUISITION. Have you learned anything about Internet marketing? Have you set up email opt-ins on your website and made an autoresponder series for it? Do you know how to set up Facebook fan pages that get people to like a page? What about getting your site to rank for a keyword phrase or two? If you really want to quit your job and get control over your Time, Income and Mobility then becoming an Internet marketing consultant may be your ticket. In this episode, guest Johan Woods grills me about how I made a good living as a marketing consultant. Johan wants to build a successful Internet marketing consulting company and I give him a roadmap that will get him there. NO HOLDING BACK I don’t hold anything back, but something I realized he didn’t ask in the episode was how much money he could make. With doing marketing work for other businesses, especially offline, local businesses, you can charge up to $1000 per month before you get to too much price resistance — though you’ll probably need to have some lower priced packages when you first get started. BIG INCOME, FEW CLIENTS If you got just five clients at $1000 per month (this isn’t as hard as you may think), you’re making $5000 per month part-time (about 5 to 10 hours per month per client), which is significantly higher than the median household income in the US. With some hustle you could land ten clients and still be working less than full-time. But… Instead of spending all that money on your lifestyle, you should invest most of it into systems and staff that can help you increase your revenue and free up even more of your time. The worst situation to be in is to fall victim to the rollercoaster of getting clients, doing the work and then needing to go find more clients. OUTSOURCING & SYSTEMIZATION Systems and staff (outsourced on a need-by-need basis) will help you make this into a sustainable income that will fund the business idea that you’re truly passionate about. I cover how I outsourced work to experts so I could focus on the high-level strategies and customer relationships. Warning: working with wonderful clients can be addicting and you may end up like me, 13 years later and still loving the work. Listen to episode if you find this concept appealing. If you really like the episode and want to learn more, please leave comments or questions below. Johan and I may do a part two in a month to this to see what has transpired since recording this. Enjoy your Foolish Consulting, Tim   Join The Forge: A Group Of Entrepreneurs Creating A Life While Building A Business bit.ly/entertheforge New Training: How To Scale Your Business If you want to get in-depth training on operating and scaling your business check out The Bootcamp: TimConley.co/bootcamp/

“I Have To Know Everything Before I Do Anything.” ~ Analysis Paralysis This episode is all about giving yourself permission to get started… To get the beginnings of a business going… To build the skills necessary for success. This episode is also about giving yourself permission to not make thousands of dollars a day in thirty days. It is okay to make mistakes because it’s the only way to learn… The only way to get the skills to pay the bills. Listen to this episode about Action Takers and Learn How to Become One. Enjoy your Foolish Actions, Tim and Lain   Join The Forge: A Group Of Entrepreneurs Creating A Life While Building A Business bit.ly/entertheforge New Training: How To Scale Your Business If you want to get in-depth training on operating and scaling your business check out The Bootcamp: TimConley.co/bootcamp/

HOW A TECHIE/PHOTOGRAPHER/DESIGNER MAKES WEBSITE GRAPHICS THAT ROCK In this episode I chat with Liz Ness of LizNessStudio.com about WHY (even if you’re not a designer and never plan to be) you need to be able to make your own website graphics. This conversation touches on principles and purposes of web design and how graphics make a huge difference in the way a website visitor perceives your online business. We also talk about design software and what you should use and why. Also, we talk about the Foolish Guide to Creating Website Graphics which we’ll be releasing for sale on Tuesday January 10th. This is a great training program for those who don’t know how to make web graphics, but want to have the basic skills need to quickly crank out their ideas. Enjoy your Foolish Adventure, Tim   Join The Forge: A Group Of Entrepreneurs Creating A Life While Building A Business bit.ly/entertheforge New Training: How To Scale Your Business If you want to get in-depth training on operating and scaling your business check out The Bootcamp: TimConley.co/bootcamp/

Managing a membership site isn’t all fun and games, but it can be very profitable. Lain and I continue our discussion on how to deal with all the issues of running a membership site. We were going to talk directly about money in this episode, but ended up talking mostly about something that will make you more money — retention. Keeping customers will make you extremely profitable. When your site isn’t losing lots of members, your income can stabilize and then grow. Also, in this episode we toss out some more advanced ways of managing a site and do bring up some money talk. Jump into this episode and start building a more profitable membership site. Tim and Lain   Join The Forge: A Group Of Entrepreneurs Creating A Life While Building A Business bit.ly/entertheforge New Training: How To Scale Your Business If you want to get in-depth training on operating and scaling your business check out The Bootcamp: TimConley.co/bootcamp/

Time to get down to business… The business of membership sites. Lain and I run membership sites and I consult on several so what we wanted to do is bring you some concrete ways of managing your membership site. What was going to be a single episode is turning into a series. (We’re recording part 2 tomorrow and will publish it next week.) In this episode we tackle: member intact strategies, two types of membership sites, doing “live” content vs digital content and pricing strategies. Membership sites are a great way to make a living online. But… They’re a lot of work. Hopefully this series on managing your membership site will help make you successful. Until the next time, Tim and Lain   Join The Forge: A Group Of Entrepreneurs Creating A Life While Building A Business bit.ly/entertheforge New Training: How To Scale Your Business If you want to get in-depth training on operating and scaling your business check out The Bootcamp: TimConley.co/bootcamp/

EVEN EXPERIENCED BUSINESS OWNERS HAVE SETBACKS WHEN VENTURING INTO NEW TERRITORY In this episode, Lain explains how she is having trouble using outsourcing to build a new app for her business. She doesn’t know how to program, hasn’t managed any software development until this project and is finding that she can’t get the people she hires to actually deliver the work they said they would do. Lain and I sit down for a conversation on hiring a team versus outsourcing to a freelancer.  I give my best tips on how to manage short-term projects like building an iPhone or iPad app or even getting a website built for your business. If you haven’t run into personnel problems & project management headaches — from employees to outsourcers — then you haven’t been aggressive enough with your business or you’re just getting started. For those looking to build a company and grow into new markets, then this episode will give you management strategies to help you succeed. Enjoy your Foolish Adventure, Tim and Lain   Join The Forge: A Group Of Entrepreneurs Creating A Life While Building A Business bit.ly/entertheforge New Training: How To Scale Your Business If you want to get in-depth training on operating and scaling your business check out The Bootcamp: TimConley.co/bootcamp/

If you’re not listening to BlogcastFM.com then you’re seriously missing out…   You’re missing out on the insights and experiences of a couple hundred bloggers — from the really successful to the just-getting-started. I got Srini, the host of BlogcastFM to come on the show to share what he has learned from interviewing all these bloggers, what he’s learned about running a business and advice he can give to you, dear listener. Inside this episode, you’ll hear about the “scripts” we run in our lives, consciously and unconsciously, that define our lives and what you can do to only run scripts that create the life you desire. You’ll also hear about: The two types of people that come on BlogcastFM and what those types have to do with you and your business. What “treating a blog like a business” really means. Srini’s Ultimate Networking Tip for students. How to build your expertise and using what you learn as you build your expertise. What’s holding back most bloggers and what you can do about it. And much, much more. I had a great time talking with Srini and learned a lot so I hope you get a lot out of this episode, too. Enjoy your Foolish Adventure, Tim   Join The Forge: A Group Of Entrepreneurs Creating A Life While Building A Business bit.ly/entertheforge New Training: How To Scale Your Business If you want to get in-depth training on operating and scaling your business check out The Bootcamp: TimConley.co/bootcamp/

DO YOU EVER FEEL AN OVERWHELMING NEED TO MAKE ANOTHER PRODUCT? Lain wanted to know what I thought she should do with her business since she felt she needed to make more products. Advice that I had given her in the past was to focus on selling what she already had to a bigger market. Her question was, “But how do I do it?” That what this episode is answers. It covers the problem of too many products (Product Hell) compared to building a product ladder (Product Line) with the right mix of products that can appeal to bigger markets — even if you start out in a tiny niche. There’s also a topic inside that I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone talk about when segmenting your prospects. I think I just might have come up with an original thought.

This is the most personal episode of The Foolish Adventure Show yet. As a matter of fact, I was reluctant to record this conversation. And even as I sit here writing this, I’m still unsure of releasing it to the world. Yeah, it’s that personal. WHICH IS RISKIER, A JOB OR ENTREPRENEURSHIP? Lain and I talk about our personal and familial experiences with Lynchpin Lies. Seth Godin wrote a book about becoming a lynchpin in an organization — you know, becoming indispensable.  Well, there is no such thing as being indispensable in a company. Inside this episode, we share why you shouldn’t put all your trust and loyalty into an organization. We feel — hell, we know, it is less risky to be entrepreneurs and have control of your Time, Income and Mobility than to put your life in the hands of a company. Listen in and if you can relate to what we share in this episode, please share your story. Stay Foolish, Tim and Lain   Join The Forge: A Group Of Entrepreneurs Creating A Life While Building A Business bit.ly/entertheforge New Training: How To Scale Your Business If you want to get in-depth training on operating and scaling your business check out The Bootcamp: TimConley.co/bootcamp/

What if you could make a living from content you didn’t create?   What if that content is more diverse and higher quality than you could ever make on your own? That’s the power of user-generated content. Dan Andrews is the guest co-host for the show today and lets us in on how he set up a community site that has very high quality content covering dozens of advanced business topics from setting up Hong Kong corporations to search engine optimization strategies that catapult niche sites number one rankings. Dan’s site, Dynamite Circle, is a great example of cultivating an audience that wants to connect with each other. Of course, they could just comment on Dan’s blog, but they couldn’t get the depth of conversation nor could they be as open in their discussions. So they join a community that Dan curates — he keeps out newbies & showcases the best content — this is very valuable to all the members. Listen in to see how you could set up your own community site and make a living from user-generated content. Stay Foolish my friend, Tim   Join The Forge: A Group Of Entrepreneurs Creating A Life While Building A Business bit.ly/entertheforge New Training: How To Scale Your Business If you want to get in-depth training on operating and scaling your business check out The Bootcamp: TimConley.co/bootcamp/

THERE ARE 5 BASIC TYPES OF MEMBERSHIP SITE CONTENT… Do you know what they are? Are you using 1, 2 or all 5? NOVEMBER IS TURNING CONTENT INTO CASH MONTH In this episode of the Foolish Adventure Show, Lain and I use our knowledge and experience to talk about successfully using content in a membership site.  A big problem we’ve seen for membership sites is creating content. Many people focus on being the sole creator of content for their site, but… This can lead to burn out especially if you get caught up in the idea that you need to offer more and more content each month. As you listen to this episode, you’ll discover ways of using one or two or more types of content to keep yourself from getting burnt out from always running on the hamster wheel of content creation. Inside FoolishUniversity.com, I use all five types of content along with the sixth type of content.  Ooh, I slipped another one in there. Don’t worry, it’s not “Just great… more work to do” kind of content. It is one that actually mixes with the other five and is also one of the easiest methods of generating very high quality content. Listen in and stay Foolish, Tim and Lain   Join The Forge: A Group Of Entrepreneurs Creating A Life While Building A Business bit.ly/entertheforge New Training: How To Scale Your Business If you want to get in-depth training on operating and scaling your business check out The Bootcamp: TimConley.co/bootcamp/

DO YOU EVER FEEL LIKE YOU’VE DONE ENOUGH? HOW ABOUT SUCCESSFUL ENOUGH? Own enough? This episode of the Foolish Adventure Show addresses the problem all small business owners face — especially startups — how much is enough? This ISN’T an episode on having less. It’s about looking yourself in the mirror and knowing — really knowing that you accomplished enough today. Knowing that you can get enough of what you want in life. The show runs from practical to philosophical, but hopefully you’ll find it all useful. Enjoy Having Enough, Tim and Lain   Join The Forge: A Group Of Entrepreneurs Creating A Life While Building A Business bit.ly/entertheforge New Training: How To Scale Your Business If you want to get in-depth training on operating and scaling your business check out The Bootcamp: TimConley.co/bootcamp/

…EVEN IF YOU’RE JUST STARTING OUT. All the principles of running a million dollar online business are used even when you’re just starting out. Yeah, some of the things you have to do in the day are different — like managing staff. When you are first starting, there is a good chance it is just you or you plus a cofounder or two, and you’ll be wearing all the hats in your business. My friend and fellow podcaster, Ian of the LifestyleBusinessPodcast.com, was kind enough to come on the show and talk about how he runs his million dollar a year company.   Follow Ian on Twitter: @AnythingIan   Ian is the operations manager, or probably more accurately, the CEO of the company he and Dan Andrews founded.  In this episode, Ian covers how he and Dan run their business from multiple countries while focusing on a company culture that ties together staff from around the world. And speaking of staff, the company is team focused. Ian explains why having a team has been a key element in creating a successful company. Ian doesn’t hold back in this conversation. Business isn’t all mansions and Lamborghinis. Sometimes building a company isn’t glamourous and Ian talks about some of those downsides of business and how he deals with them. This is a great show for anyone wanting to grow their own successful business especially if you’re willing to build a team to do it. Enjoy your Foolish Adventure, Tim   Join The Forge: A Group Of Entrepreneurs Creating A Life While Building A Business bit.ly/entertheforge New Training: How To Scale Your Business If you want to get in-depth training on operating and scaling your business check out The Bootcamp: TimConley.co/bootcamp/