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[Joyce Penner Company: Life Force International Contribution Level: 8]

If you haven't had a chance to listen to Daegan Smith's interview here on BN, now's the time to do it.

He says "Free Content" (blogging without an offer) is a waste of time without a specific and planned goal (offer which takes your readers on a deliberate path). Words on a blog is not value unless you can transform someone's life.

Value should be defined as something that changes your behaviour (life) and offering all this free "value" without an offer (which doesn't change anyone's life) is pointless.

How do you feel about that?
Joyce

[Dave Kotecki Company: Life Force International Contribution Level: 5]

I think he's right.

In fact, I've been of this opinion since
I started on this adventure of network
marketing.

The concept of business is to offer a
product or service for SALE.

When people BUY we make money.

That's how business people earn a
living.

What I find hilarious is the people who
are so hell bent on providing "value'.
The think they have to give stuff away
for free.
The believe if they do, people will know,
like and trust them.
And if they do that, they'll eventually buy
something from you.

Smart marketers understand their ABC's.
Always Be Closing.
Always Be Selling.
Anything worth giving away is worth getting
paid for.
If it has value, you deserve to be paid for it.

And by the way, if your business is based on
giving things away, you're not in business.

You're a charitable organization.

There's no end to the line of people waiting
to demand that you give of your time, effort
and talent for FREE.

This is a pretty good indicator if the person is
someone you want to work with. If they're not
willing to pay for what they get, they will never
be able to ask anyone else for money when they
are offering something.

The reason that most people have a hard time
accepting this, is because they're so desperate to
have someone join their business they don't pay
attention to anything else.

They don't value their time.

A friend of mine just sent me an email. She told
a story of how she didn't get anything done one
afternoon because she was helping her mother put
together a piece of furniture.

One or her mentors (who is also one of mine)
who is an 8 figure earner told her that one day his
dad asked him to do pretty much the same thing.
He hired a kid to go help his dad so he could concentrate
on his business because it was a better use of his time.

Then he told her "Someday you'll value your time."

If you value your time and effort, you won't have
any problem expecting people to pay you for what
they get from it.

[Richard Bravo Company: Life Force International Contribution Level: 9]

.

He's absolutely right...

If you're in business and you do not have a clear intent injected into your "business activities," then your business activity will not produce any clear results.

Part of that intent should always be to move towards making a sale.
Remembering that you are in business and a business must be profitable.
If you are not intently moving towards sales you are inadvertently moving away from profitability.
And that's a clear cut formula for failure.

Which is in fact why I believe so many actually do fail.
They have an aversion to selling. And because of that they never learn how.
They dont know how to sell, they dont want to learn how, so they dont and they go out of business.

Another layer to add on what Daegan shared is focusing on "Your Stuff."
This is another area where so many people are getting it so wrong.

The typical (network "affiliate" marketer's) funnel looks like this...

> Here's some cool content I wrote to get your attention
> Here's some free stuff to bribe you to join my list
(the free stuff belongs to someone else, builds someone else's brand)
> Thanks for joining my list, here's some stuff to buy
(the stuff to buy belongs to someone else, further building their brand, not yours and lining their pockets, not yours)

So the whole thing looks like this from a bird's eye view...

Hey, hi how are you, here's some cool stuff I wrote just for you.
I put a lot of time and thought into this I hope you like it.
Yeah great thanks for reading and sharing...Here's the back door - bye!

They dont even see it quite honestly.
Yet its happening in drives.

If you study the top marketers and how they progress, they all move towards creating their ow line of products, cultivating their own brand and keeping their audience and their LIST tightly engaged within their circle.

If you study Daegan, and I do, you'll notice everything, all roads, constantly lead back to his stuff. His membership site, coaching programs, webinars, mini courses, one time offers, etc etc. He's keeping the circle tight.

.

[Joyce Penner Company: Life Force International Contribution Level: 8]

The typical (network "affiliate" marketer's) funnel looks like this...

> Here's some cool content I wrote to get your attention
> Here's some free stuff to bribe you to join my list
(the free stuff belongs to someone else, builds someone else's brand)
> Thanks for joining my list, here's some stuff to buy
(the stuff to buy belongs to someone else, further building their brand, not yours and lining their pockets, not yours)

So the whole thing looks like this from a bird's eye view...

Hey, hi how are you, here's some cool stuff I wrote just for you.
I put a lot of time and thought into this I hope you like it.
Yeah great thanks for reading and sharing...Here's the back door - bye!

They dont even see it quite honestly.
Yet its happening in drives.

That's exactly what I saw myself doing. Writing because I love to write, tacking on a "closer" at the bottom, selling someone else's stuff so they could get on my (their) list AND THEN I DIDN'T HAVE A HOT CLUE HOW TO TAKE THEM TO MY PRIMARY ! Other than hoping they eventually would like me enough to ask me what I was doing!

What a hamster wheel of frustration !
Joyce

[Joyce Penner Company: Life Force International Contribution Level: 8]

Then he told her "Someday you'll value your time."

Dave: That is lifechanging value you just provided there ! Thanks.
Joyce

[Daegan Smith Contribution Level: 2]

What up Joyce! Hey guys thanks for the value added insight. We market for a purpose, we have hobbies for fun. It's just about defining what you're doing right.

[Richard De Haven Company: SendOutCards Contribution Level: 2]

He is right, blogging without a specific plan or goal is a waste of time if your intent is to make money. But if making money is your ONLY priority you will eventually loose the game in some way somewhere down the road. Perhaps not in loosing money but it could be relationships or health or something.

With that said, I can think of two (and many more) very successful Internet Marketeers who blog and give away a ton of free stuff that provide a tremendous amount of value and are transforming peoples lives and making hundreds of thousands of dollars.

One of them is Michael Senoff of hard to find seminars dot com. This guy gives away a ton and I mean a ton of audio interviews that he has conducted with famous and not so famous entrepreneurs, speakers, trainers etc. There are hundreds of hours of free value on his website. He also sells products and courses that he has created or joint ventured with. I have learned a lot just from listening to his stuff. He has built a large email list not by asking someone to join and in return I'll give you access to the free video or audio or whatever. He gives away all his free stuff on the main page without having to join his email list. People eventually join his list because of the free value he offers that is life changing.

Jim Cockrum is another internet marketeer. I'm sure most of you know him. He also provides a ton of free valuable stuff besides his for sale products. Stuff that I have learned and used. Jim doesn't even focus on SEO with his business and he's making 8 figures. He's written about that.

Let's also get real here. Many who are just starting out don't have the knowledge or experience to create a product or an ebook from the beginning. Everyone must start somewhere. So offering a product created by someone else to begin with is okay. Isn't this what MLSP is about? From what I have learned there are many who are making gobs of money using MLSP. A product that they didn't create. Some go on to create their products and then make even more money.

As you gain experience you also start to create your own product but that takes time and in my opinion it would be out of integrity to create something you don't even know anything about.

I can go on and on of so many who have provided a ton of free valuable content and are making a ton of money. Yes I will agree that they all have a plan and many things point back to their products but not everything they provide points back. They also provide value without expectation of any kind.

Appreciation from the Heart,

Richard De Haven

[Richard De Haven Company: SendOutCards Contribution Level: 2]

A friend of mine just sent me an email. She told
a story of how she didn't get anything done one
afternoon because she was helping her mother put
together a piece of furniture.

One or her mentors (who is also one of mine)
who is an 8 figure earner told her that one day his
dad asked him to do pretty much the same thing.
He hired a kid to go help his dad so he could concentrate
on his business because it was a better use of his time.

Then he told her "Someday you'll value your time."

If you value your time and effort, you won't have
any problem expecting people to pay you for what
they get from it.

Hi Dave,

I completely understand the point that you are making here. Many make up excuses why they couldn't and they are that, excuses or distractions that keep you from making money.

I understand that we all need to value our time and learn how to effectively manage our time in business where we get the biggest return for the time invested.

But being in this business or any business one has to ask when do we stop and actually take the time to build that piece of furniture with our Mom or dad or friend or son or daughter, etc.? What about building those lasting memories? You know In this industry so much is talked about relationships and having more time with family and friends. What if building that piece of furniture was the last thing she ever did with her parent? Would it have been a waste then?

Appreciation from the Heart,

Richard De Haven

[Dave Kotecki Company: Life Force International Contribution Level: 5]

A friend of mine just sent me an email. She told
a story of how she didn't get anything done one
afternoon because she was helping her mother put
together a piece of furniture.

One or her mentors (who is also one of mine)
who is an 8 figure earner told her that one day his
dad asked him to do pretty much the same thing.
He hired a kid to go help his dad so he could concentrate
on his business because it was a better use of his time.

Then he told her "Someday you'll value your time."

If you value your time and effort, you won't have
any problem expecting people to pay you for what
they get from it.

Hi Dave,

I completely understand the point that you are making here. Many make up excuses why they couldn't and they are that, excuses or distractions that keep you from making money.

I understand that we all need to value our time and learn how to effectively manage our time in business where we get the biggest return for the time invested.

But being in this business or any business one has to ask when do we stop and actually take the time to build that piece of furniture with our Mom or dad or friend or son or daughter, etc.? What about building those lasting memories? You know In this industry so much is talked about relationships and having more time with family and friends. What if building that piece of furniture was the last thing she ever did with her parent? Would it have been a waste then?

Appreciation from the Heart,

Richard De Haven

I think Ben Franklin said it best

This was #3 on his list of virtues

Order - Let all your things have their places,
Let each part of your business have its time.