Hey guys, I’m a new member here, but have been in the online business for somewhat over 6 years. Been reading, periodically, some of the threads here, but never felt like opening up a profile and participating. I’m low on focus, highly enthusiastic, and generally avoid environments that tend to encourage me to look for the next golden goose chase. Writing this post fulfills a lot of needs and agendas personally, but I wouldn’t have written if there wasn’t something valuable to share as well. There are some legit takeaways in my story, so I hope you find it useful. I started working online 6 years back, with my friend who was learning to code at the time, and we’ve learned diligently, deciding to walk the legit and white-hat way of online business. That is to say build something you can attach your name behind, and feel reasonably comfortable about it (Super hard when you have nothing to offer to the world, and understand next to nothing on how internet marketing works). This is equally his story to tell, as it is mine. Students - both of us at the time - we were happy with 100$ extra in our pocket. So we’ve opened Lifestyle Updated and started creating content, networking, doing outreach, research, learning… rinse and repeat. The first dollars came after one full year (though we weren’t especially interested in money at the time), when we finally managed to rank high with reviews of various fitness products. Wasn’t easy, but diligence paid off. Perspective changed, and I left college, devoting full time to the site and various other projects as well. I refined my writing and content creation skills and he became very skillful with code and UX. Both of us learned skills from digital industries across the board, and by that time Lifestyle Updated was generating decent revenue. Fast forward few years (and a couple of other projects), and we matured along with the business. Starting as 21 year old college students, I for one am now married and live in a house that our projects helped renovate and tidy up. It’s not been much, but both my friend and I have earned a decent living. And here are some of the things I wish we have considered earlier… Start, and start early. Whatever the idea, it’s best to test it out in the open, and see what happens. 16 or 60, it doesn’t make any difference. We started building the mail list only after few years, and never went serious about it. Really regretting this now! We’ve put all of our eggs in one basket- SEO and product reviews. But here is the twist- though we ranked very high for a very competitive set of keywords and phrases (still do) we never anticipated that demand (and search queries along with it) will go down the sink. As they did. But unfortunately, in real life, ominous music rarely plays before shit hits the fan. And looking for the next hot product is a rabbit hole I never ever wanted to adopt as the description of what I do for a living. I understand the lows and highs of online businesses, but when you build something with your future in mind, you want to minimize volatility and settle down with at least a symbolic degree of certainty. Creating a product before you have the audience or delivery channels for it- Have done this twice! First with a small startup whose aim was to serve as a search platform from handymen of a small eastern European country; Then with an informational product on how to start with online businesses. Which turned out to be particularly good I must say, but never made any significant amount of sales. We didn’t bring traffic and because of another project on its way, left this one altogether (can still sell if we devote some time to traffic generation). The second one thought us another lesson as well- never try new ways of doing things when you invest so much time and energy into building something. And always have an audience in mind. Build for someone, rather than for yourself and then hope people will like it along the way. That’s the main flaw I associate with it- it was aimed at beginners, but across the board and not niche enough. Another valuable lesson we’ve learned is not to put too much stock in networking with influencers as an important component of future success. Both of us secretly hoped that if we build bridges with some of the high profile players in internet marketing, we will prosper under their grace with each new product launch. But, they don’t wield such powers. Especially not across the board and across niches. Sure, a tweet from Rand Fishkin and Glen Allsopp can maybe generate some momentum, but not as much as a single e-mail from some of the super affiliates who work entirely behind the curtain. The first can give you a feel-good and really proud moment and way to look at yourself, and the second will generate crazy numbers in both traffic and sales. Which one do you prefer? I’m not saying that you should ignore influencers (god knows I owe them a lot) but that you should invest, if nothing else, then maybe equally much time with big but otherwise not so popular players. Case in point- this post should have been written way earlier. Some lessons I’m very glad we’ve learned early: Grow your skillset. Forget about the shiny apple, and do some actual work. The first might pay off, but the second most definitely will. In creating our big product, we learned video production and post-production (If my hair goes grey in recent years, Premiere Pro is to blame). My friend refined his coding skills even more (created a masterpiece all by himself).We learned some photography as well. All in all, if you lack finances, do the work. Competing against the most talented teams out there with empty pockets is not a myth. It’s doable. You’d have to hustle. Even better if you are a student or in a position in life where you don’t have to feed a family. For it’s quite uncomfortable to try and develop something while the clock of grown-up life tik-taks behind your shoulder. It makes you irrationally fearful, and impotently angry. And I should know this all too intimately. We created our product with less than 1000$ and intend to make some waves in the industry. I know many people who’ve done the same. So have faith. Create a small product first before you try going for a bigger one. This one I’ve picked from Amy Hoy (amazing woman!) and it basically says to make your mistakes early and know what to do when the time comes. It gave us the idea to build the informational product I’ve mentioned above, learn from failure, and then create a masterpiece. Create your masterpiece or any other product for that matter based on audience insight. Research well and research diligently. We used this to understand market demand for fitness (by writing and ranking reviews) before building our big product. Our comment sections on some of the articles count all the way to 600+ comments, and e-mail numbers go even higher throughout these years. Create the audience first, build the e-mail list, set-up or learn some channels… We used Lifestyle Updated to bring in people to the e-mail list, and now to send them straight to the new project. (Again, should have paid even more attention to this!) Even if you find affiliates to sell your offer, many might want to see some actual numbers first. So have the audience, sales, and conversion numbers to show. Give Fiverr a chance. The quality/price ratio is unprecedented. So much so that you can compete with established brands by paying 5$ in hired help and have something better to show in comparison. Oh, and slight polishing of someone else’s work can create a diamond. Don’t like how most people sound when looking for voice-over gigs? Buy a single 5$ gig and play with your software later. It can be as simple as speeding up the track by 2-3%. DIY can bring you a long way too. The light setup behind our videos was handmade, successfully replacing a 5000$ gear. So never listen to folks who scuff at your enthusiasm when creating something out of rubbish. Prior to putting it together I’ve never held a hammer in my life and wouldn’t have been sure what to do with it even if you gave me one. Learn video. It pays dividends later. First, it will give you tons of raw marketing material to work with (stills, edited video, gifs…) and allow you to attract audience through YouTube as well (massive channel that people often overlook). Most importantly though, it will help you create ads, onboarding tutorials if need be, and try webinars that convert pretty high if you have something to share. Or even better, gated video lessons that can be used over and over again (an amazing strategy that we’ve learned from Chelsea Scholz from Unbounce on the Moz blog https://moz.com/blog/marketing-like-netflix-lead-gen-strategy ) You don’t know how to film a video, or [write down anything here]? No worries there- YouTube does. And he won’t mind sharing. When building something, put ego aside. There are some who build huge platforms, and others who beat them in every imaginable statistic by selling an e-book or a single button plugin. Of course bigger isn’t always better. Size isn’t everything; it’s not the scale of the ship but the motion of the ocean. Penis jokes. For lack of a more poetic description, I’ve resorted to making penis jokes now. So let’s get back to… If your thing adds value it doesn’t have to be complex, nor does it have to require few months of an investment. And the most important lesson? Mindset! It dwarfs everything else in significance. We’ve made most of our success while being 100% certain we will get there. Those times we hesitated… those were, no doubt, the times of unquestionable failure. Now, we stand before another challenge again. And I believe the right mindset is the only thing that will pick us up. Again! Otherwise the odds against success might prove overwhelming. Remember guys- and I write this partially for myself as well- it’s not about the product, but rather how you perceive the whole thing. It can be the best product. Take Tim Ferriss’s first book. Sat there in his drawer, and made nothing for an entire year. The same book that later went on to make millions and establish him as one of the most prolific writers on lifestyle design. Take Mike Geary’s Truth About Abs. Some say it was luck, others blame low competition at the time, more experienced people understand his skills and resourcefulness invested in order to generate momentum. But it wouldn’t have been for any of these, if it weren’t for the right mindset. Here is the product we’ve released, and I look forward to another post here, where I will share stats, numbers and insights. But most importantly, success. https://www.fitnessupdated.com/ It is part self-promotion, part tap on the back for all those who hesitate and settle down for something smaller because [a garden variety of excuses and self-depreciating talk here]. Feedback will be immensely appreciated! The platform has a free 7 day trial, but you can just write me a PM and I will make sure you have free access for life. If you cannot find use for the product and its content, then I hope you can in the way it’s been built (interface, UX, onboarding, e-mail sequences etc.) And again, regardless of how good it is, it can make us millionaires, or serve us as a reminder of yet another project where we eventually gave up, earning zeros in the process. The mindset is the difference. And I for one tend to cultivate a healthy one even more now. Focus on one thing and forget about manufactured emergency. Here is to a successful year ahead! *Luck does exist, but it has to find you working. **And here is another hidden agenda of mine… I ask for help. And will appreciate if you are kind enough to write one sentence or more on how you’d proceed with this product (or a similar one for that matter). I hope that I can learn many things and further help my creation to see the light of day. I also believe strongly that other members will learn a lot from your comments as well. *** Two specific questions in mind- The home page (what would you do differently?); Traffic (what would be your main focus for a SAAS like this?) Excited to be writing here, and hoping that you will be gentle enough to welcome me to this community. Slavko