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THE CONFESSION OF A FAILED BLOGGER

Written by: Francis Kamau

Article Overview: The other day, one of my new referrals wrote to me and asked me if we could meet and discuss. I was out of the country then and I told him that I would not be coming within the next 3 months. He replied and I could feel the tone of the email as he narrated his woes. He told me that he did not want a book from me because he had read so many books on online money making ways and he had paid a lot of money buying money making formulas

THE CONFESSION OF A FAILED BLOGGER

The other day, one of my new referrals wrote to me and asked me if we could meet and discuss. I was out of the country then and I told him that I would not be coming within the next 3 months. He wrote back to me and told me that he needed some help as his online business did not seem to work. I replied to him telling him that I was currently writing an e-book on ways of making money online and it would be ready within the next 2 months.

For sometime he did not write to me and I continued writing my book. A month from our last communication I decided that I write to him to know how he was doing. He replied and I could feel the tone of the email as he narrated his woes. He told me that he did not want a book from me because he had read so many books on online money making ways and he had paid a lot of money buying money making formulas. He had tried a lot of the formulas, starting from ponzi schemes to affiliate marketing, Google Adsense to pyramid schemes, reading paid emails, data entry and all he had to show for all that was bankruptcy.

He told me that when he saw my advertisement and he thought I was different but I seem to take him back to where he had been. He continued to tell me that he needed an instant solution because his children were out of school. He had not paid his rent for 3 months; his wife was divorcing him because of squandering all the money in the internet. He finished by telling me that his mother was sick and all he needed was a quick way of making money.

This referral took me back to 8 years back. I would like to narrate this story before I continue with the referral story because they are both connected.

Back then I was a research executive, the sort of researchers who are middle level managers in one of the biggest research house in the world. A financial institution wanted to carry out a research of small business owner with an aim of introducing a financial product that fitted the market and this brief came to my desk. I wrote a proposal and eventually we won the project.

We first did some secondary research to establish how many medium, small and micro traders were in our target market. We got their total number and other relevant information. We started our next phase of the research, this was qualitative focus groups. We had 8 groups spread across the country. My colleague and I were the researchers in charge of the moderation and report writing.

After the fifth focus group we were driving back to the office and something stuck my mind. It was and insight, or and Aha! moment. Aha! moment is the best thing that can happen to any marketer. My colleague stopped the car and inquired what the Aha! was about.

This was the Aha! From all the groups we had moderated, each focus group usually has eight respondents; there were three types of business people emerging from the discussions. This was based on how they argued and discussed their business to the group members. These three were: those who are looking for the quick money, they want to become rich. There are those looking for money for that particular day to put bread on their table, pay their rent or take their kids to school. And there are those who don’t care about the money but for the growth of their business.

It was evident that the business people could be segmented into three distinct segments: We gave each segment a name. The ones who wanted quick money we named them the ‘Rain Chasers’, the other ones who wanted just money to continue with their day to day life we called ‘Survival Seekers and the last group the people who wanted to make business and their name we called them ‘Real Entrepreneurs’. Subsequently in our remaining part of the research we could see the three groups distinctively. That way we segmented the market into those three groups of people.

The research was a success and we rolled it to other countries and the three segments prevailed.

Many years later I started my business without ever thinking about that research, it when I communicated with this referral the other day that I recognized that trait of a Rain Chaser, people who wanted quick wealth. Unfortunately these are the majority in the both offline and online business.

That’s why many online crooks promise a lot of instant money making formulas and they keep getting new people. To be honest, the online crooks are in a big business segment and they will keep making money. The crooks business will go on for along time because that is the way things are. That’s how the market is segmented and there is nothing the honest online business person can do about it. The Survival Seekers are also many, but they get contented with the little they have. They are not worth the risks.

For your online business success, target the Real Entrepreneurs, they are very few but they are the one that make the business of online grow. They are the dream makers, they are the ones who develop new products, start new affiliates, market effectively, and make new software. Don’t target the other two groups at all, you will be loosing money. To target the Real Entrepreneurs avoid adverts messages that are promising miracles, quick money because if you do that, you are actually targeting the Rain Chasers.

Back to my referral, I asked him if he had ever thought of taking time and identifying what is one thing he could do successfully. He told me that he believed that it was possible to make money quick because he had seen many testimonials of guys who had become online millionaires overnight. I wrote back to him and told him that that was why he had lost so much money and he will never succeed if he does not change. I told him there was no difference between opening a website and opening a shop down the street.

The principle of the business concept does not change whether the business is offline or online. One must work hard of over a period of time to get a breakthrough. I continued by telling him that if he was not ready to do that, then it would be better for him to get an eight to five job. The internet business was not for him. I concluded by telling him that if a brick and mortar business cannot give him money to pay for his rent arrears instantly, then the online business cannot.

I have been observing many people that I refer to affiliate programs behave the same way, they constantly ask me if I have made millions yet and I am at pain explaining to them it does not work that way. Even the laws of nature cannot allow it and they quit.

The online business is not for the Rain Chasers and the Survival Seekers. It is for the Real Entrepreneurs, the people who made Yahoo were Real Entrepreneurs, the Google lot was Real Entrepreneurs, and Microsoft was made by Real Entrepreneurs. Every successful blog or an affiliate program is made of dream makers.

If you are not a dream maker who can build something strategically then don’t waste your time. Get an eight to five job because to be honest with you, will never hack it. Have a dream making day.

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Article Tags: 8 years, affiliate marketing, bankruptcy, data entry, e book, email, eventu, financial institution, google, instant solution, level managers, making money online, ponzi schemes, proposal, referral, referrals, research executive, small business owner, ways of making money, woes



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