Welcome Back Fellow WA Buddies!

I'm going to approach a subject many of us have been concerned about:

Starting an Internet marketing business when economics are affecting us all is no easy task. This post is not written to create fear, but it is written to share powerful information helping you make the best decisions (possible), as those decisions may impact your start-up business.

I talk about 2 topics today --

1) personal and business debt and how it can impact your business -- tough news for a lot of people; and...

2) protecting yourself by expanding into several smaller segmented markets by going regional, national...and perhaps global  -- the happy news. This is a great way to prosper when many other businesses are struggling.

Disclaimer: To talk about the tough news accurately  -- I am not an attorney, but I can tell you what's happening within the U.S., at present.  Within legal firms, these businesses settle a total debt average of $1.5 million each month. That's just one law firm I'm citing. However, this firm helps individuals settle an average debt of anywhere from $50,000 - $100,000. 90% of these clients have paid their bills ahead-of-time so their accounts are current.These statistics are provided to help you see the magnitude of many who are affected by current economics but that does NOT mean these people can't move into new businesses (like Internet marketing).The good news is -- there's huge room for new people to enter Internet marketing.

Why A Meltdown?

Here's something I found interesting going back to graduate business school in 2005. Back then, many firms were teetering on the brink of financial disaster mainly because these firms were closely connected at global levels. One could say that they were using Industrial-Aged business models (Old Paradigm stuff), but they really didn't always do what was best for the working whole. We had a lot of fund managers blending good with poor investments. Even they didn't know what was being blended because senior management didn't either share that news or they didn't know when the meltdown would hit. You could say that they were crossing their fingers. This is said with care and respect. Let's just say that we had some people sticking their heads in the sand. A lot of bankers were invested heavily in U.S. real estate, going back as far as the European and Japanese banks.

But...., greed and the unwillingness to invest in new business systems (infrastructure) was a big, big problem. We had New Economy experts (that's you guys now appearing) telling these guys and gals to get a handle on what was fading away, in favor of ushering in the new.

There were other factors involved: issues related to political, legal, and government change (or the lack thereof) also hit us hard.  A few key decision-makers on Wall Street knew they were hedging risky bets, but 9/11 didn't help.  Understating these larger and smaller market forces tell you why many people have been hit hard, giving you expensive insight into what people are now thinking. We're talking about 65% of an investing population, citing Vanguard as one investing firm. (I'm not paid by handing out any endorsements. I'm pulling back the curtain most key stakeholders see).

Now that we're facing more pressures than ever to simplify major curriencies, we're pushed to convert over to a global monetary system like the Euro Dollar. This is one major force potentially impacting many nations and many businesses.

Think about this reality -- ethics are being challenged at business and personal levels. If you are familiar with what's happening in U.S. taxpayer protests, you'll better understand what consumers are and aren't buying. They are...in part... buying their way out of hardship and they've cut back on luxuries in a big way. If they savor an area such as health/wellness, they're heading to gyms at a more reasonable cost.

In terms of long-distance phoning -- people are fed up with high phone bills. They're looking for ways to cut Internet costs, Tivo and even movie rentals. They're cutting back wherever they can.

Because of Internet directly, people are becoming more connected than even before.  When smaller businesses carry an Old Paradigm (like big business has), we've compromised ourselves. Short version -- old thinking in an Information Age is crippling. So... you've heard it before --- never take short-cuts with people and leave the greed-based marketing alone.

I've talked about these warnings in prior posts. Now, let's move into strategies big businesses use as a way of showing you what you can adopt at your small business level.

Protecting Yourself During Start-Up/Growth

This is a complex topic, but let's address diversification as one of your  business targets..., expanding your market reach by eventually including  several related markets. As you become very IM saavy, you will be able to  diversity into unrelated markets.

Diversified Internet Marketing

Diversified Internet Marketing is something big businesses take very seriously. They know that when they can spot gaps in major niches, they can fill a need that hasn't been met. They also know that they've got something which may potentially be very lucrative. They know precisely what people buy, when and how they buy things. In short, these firms have multi-million dollar advertising budgets supporting their new marketing efforts.

Is this bad news for small businesses? No, as long as we don't try to compete with the big dogs. As a small business owner, we don't usually have that kind of working capital (operating money) so we get into heavy sweat equity through diligent daily work, thereby offsetting this common problem.

Better than ever before in the history of business are individuals now able to build a solid business of their own. This is partly due to the power of the Internet.

You want to look into markets that will eventually move you from local Internet marketing towards regional, national and (some day)..., international IM directions. National and international business can cost big money even online.

At national and international levels, you have global IM business at work so it's good to remember that we're talking about advanced marketing that's involved here. This is about managing your way into bigger places over time.

There isn't really a fast track as some gurus suggest UNLESS you find a disruptive technology putting a major market out of business like the phone company. Utility companies still have a strong foothold.

You've probably heard, as you grow -- your business will grow too? That's what's really being said. 

If you're new to Internet marketing, and let's say that it's your first attempt to start at local and regional levels, that's actually a wise idea. You can begin by targeting 1 -  5 states for starters, based on the ads you place online. Once you get a handle on that kind of marketing, you can more readily expand into larger regions. This is another way of offsetting an economic recession taking place in one country or among several countries.

Going beyond regional marketing, many affiliates like to focus on U.S. markets even when they live outside of the U.S., but they're not the only markets to consider. For example, don't forget to research your local, regional or national markets, especially if you don't live inside of the U.S.. This is true because a lot of people are targeting the U.S., meaning that there's heavy competition across major markets.

Some of the hugely powerful marketers head in directions opposite to what everyone else is doing!

International Markets

Canada is very wide open. Australia is another market to consider, but keep in mind -- if you target a country other than the one you live in, you will want to study their economics and their politics. This information helps you concretely figure out what people in other countries are or aren't buying. Cultural values, standards, traditions, monetary systems, taxation levels, and language variations impact purchasing. All of these things therefore directly impact you.

The best way to work another market residing in another country is to pick one you know extremely well. I'll site Korea as a personal example because I spent 23 years working with Korean people at several levels of business. So..., I know precisely how they think, how they typically motivate, how they view Americans, how they work, and how they purchase.Even then, you may have to know something about a foreign language because the print you read in campaigns (called ad copy) may not directly translate easily from one language to another. 

Start With Related Markets

Whenever you pick your marketing direction called a main emphasis, it should be a market you can scale upwards. What I mean by that is -- if you pick a sub-niche (a smaller niche of a big one only the big businesses dominate), look for markets related to one another to some extent.

One example might involve marketing products to two different health/wellness groups. Because the main niche  is health/wellness and because it's highly competitive, you can start your marketing by choosing two smaller niches related to one another. Pick the ones big businesses don't want. That way, you can grow your marketing efforts over time to expand into the other related or even newly-emerging markets.

Some Examples Of Sub-Niches

If you're targeting women in menopause, you have to find a unique marketing angle ore selling proposition making it tough for consumers to reject. By finding that 'optimum angle', you not only get ranked with the major search engines sooner but you also offset bigger market risks like heavy competition.

You're after a way to stand out amidst other competitors. Main point is -- when you market to women, you can later market to men. That's how you expand yourself over time. But, by doing this, you will spread yourself across several smaller markets, offsetting your financial risks in the event you only targeted one market.

Think of your overall marketing portfolio as being the 4 legs on a table. Each table represents one Internet marketing campaign effort and the other 3 legs offset risks associated with one market going sour for any reason.

Keep in mind that associated markets (as in the major weight loss niche: middle-tire men and menopausal women sub-niches) reside in many countries we know, but how they view weight loss or approach it will vary from country to country.

When you're setting up your first Internet marketing campaign, pick one direction and market one stellar product only, as in marketing one product solving one ailing problem for the menopausal women. That way, you can simplify your marketing to more easily refine your entire first campaign. This is done in a direct effort to work your first IM campaign into stronger closing places (called a closing ratio)..., as you move that one product.

As you develop your IM understanding further, you can tackle your second market -- say...men who want tight abs...addressing middle-tire weight gain. Always run searches at Google, Yahoo and MSN to see who's working which market -- big and small. That way, you're increasing your chances of hitting a successful, paying market.

Simple Marketing Later Becomes Advanced

As you hit several markets located in several communities at different regions, you're using your most basic marketing to develop yourself towards an expanded marketing approach. This is called owning a diversified portfolio. What this does is spread your overall business risk across smaller niches VS. setting yourself up for trouble by only marketing to one group. That approach would not be very scalable, but at regional, national and global levels, you then offset great economic fluctuations..., like the ones we're witnessing in the U.S..

Now Addressing Tough News-- U.S. Debt

One of the reasons why WA is a great place to study your Internet marketing is that you're buffered from gurus who would sell you a ton of related Internet marketing (IM) products not necessarily working together. What I mistakenly did during my first 1.5 years of marketing was purchase products from 15 different gurus. I did it consciously, but I did it unconsciously too. That meant that I was trying to focus my marketing when I had 15 different, often incomplete systems!

At WA, everything you require is housed under one big roof. You'll save big money by working with the top dogs at WA. So -- be careful about putting early business costs on credit cards.

That statement leads us into the tough news a lot of people are now facing.

Haphazard Spending And No Business Plan

Asking for your patience and a lot of deep breathing -- haphazard spending is a common reason why many businesses falter. It goes without saying that by forgetting the WA 8-Week Plan, you're putting yourself at huge risk. Just in case you'd like to say..."Well..., why?"

Within Niche Q and inside of the superaffiliate program (included in your membership), there are reports, facts and figures telling you about several niche markets: web hosting, gaming, dating, health/wellness. Your job is to get into the nitty gritty of these markets to see what's happening. Forget this phase of your work and you'll hit snags, in ways you didn't expect. A lot of us have done this very thing so my hopes are that we'll help you save your money, using it where it's most needed (like hosting your own website,  paying for your autoresponder and getting access to accurate marketing information).

How Businesspeople Commony Get Into Trouble

Citing a prime example, business owners living within the U.S. must put their names on their DBA's (doing business as). This information is then carried over to the business bank account at time of initial opening, but if an entrepreneur incurs debt faster than he/she may reap in starter profits, it's easy to see how capable, intelligent people will incur excessive debt. Incurring this type of risk is called "carrying a high debt to income ratio".

It's okay to be frugal! Be so tight that you squeak but don't forget to spend your money on the business essentials you need. Those things are identified in your 8-Week Plan.

If you're in the debt boat to some extent, taper off spending at both business and personal levels, talk to your kids and your spouses by telling them what's happening so that they can work with you -- not against you. Take a deep breath and then adopt an aggressive debt repayment plan, if needed.

By doing this, you'll actually improve your credit by not carrying a heavy debt over the long run. It's counterintuitive but American credit systems weren't mainly set up to deal directly with consumers (on most debt negotiation) so you have to hire a pro (usually an attorney).

Getting Back To Being Even More Frugal

You want to be frugal when you're launching your business. Place your money in the business staples the Internet marketing industry uses. Reinvest early seed money you get from WA work or elsewhere back into your business during year one. This is done to grow into year two. 

Use free to low-cost IM means. There are plenty of resources at WA that you can use. By picking up skills related to article marketing and pay-per-click advertising, you're putting yourself in a position to work at WA...for other people paying you your early seed money. This early income will really save your bacon. The goal is to get your essential up-front costs covered: your domain name hosting, you web hosting, your monthly WA dues, your autoresponder, and maybe even your long-distance phone. Be willing to do whatever it takes within ethical and legal realms. This will help you protect your personal money better spent on prior family and home-related obligations.

If you're in over your head carrying the debt, don't beat yourself up. Please know -- you are not alone. We've had millionaires hit less than half of their net worth. There are 401K's half under.

On average, people head to attornies for debt consolidation when they owe anywhere from $50,000 - $200,000.  Don't wait that long but if you have, you can still settle a debt within 3 year's time or less. This is not an aweful thing, if you consider that a lot of people hit rock bottom during the meltdown. But..., I'm not suggesting anyone should run up debt when they can't pay back even .50 cents on every dollar -- a win considered by most attornies but recommended as an outcome most consumers should accept.

If you want to know more about this subject matter, feel free to post any comments or offer suggestions helping other WA folks. This is about helping people find credible resources they can trust (while avoiding debt consolidation agencies not delivering on their promises). Some agencies are good. Others are not, but this kind of aggressive action may be needed to spare your business from the toughest kind of closing -- bankruptcy.

Be weary of some MLM's claiming that they can put you on a debt-free date towards a millionaire reality. This claim is usually too far flung and these companies will charge heavy monthly expenses to hand you a lot of garbage.

If anything makes sense here -- that's great.

If not, post your comments or feel free to send me a private e-mail. I would be happy to refer you to WA experts and/or resources addressing and protecting your business interests.

In all posts, personal information remains confidential, but I do visit with buddies at a group level, tackling common business and/or Internet marketing problems. If there's something I cannot answer with 500% IM certainty, I will always recommend you to Kyle & Carson.

May this day find you peaceful and well,

bkb2012