Author: Tom Woods

At this point I love marketing so much that I’m in quiet awe when the tricks of the trade are used on me.

Case in point: I was looking online for a hotel room the other day.

Not only did the site tell me how many rooms were left, but it also told me how many people were considering that very room at that moment.

In other words: you’d better act now, or someone else will get your room.

That’s smart!

Scarcity gets people to act. That’s why it’s used so much and in so many different ways.

Scarcity is so powerful that Jeff Walker, whose Product Launch Formula has earned him revenue in the 8 figures, releases that product for only a single week each year.

People don’t like missing out on things. A strict deadline, coupled with a timer, pushes them off the fence. Otherwise they’ll mull over your offer forever and never take action.

If you’ve ever followed any of my Black Friday campaigns at LibertyClassroom.com, you know how I capitalize on this. And believe me: I wouldn’t keep doing it if it didn’t work bigly.

Here’s the what and how:

https://happyearner.com/timer-pal/

I’ve been talking podcasting with my email list this week.

Podcasts can help you grow your audience, your skills, your connections, and your income.

And it can really help your business, both in terms of positioning and sales. Your competitors do not have a podcast. Woods’s Law — nobody ever does anything — is your friend here.

I mentioned John Lee Dumas, whose Podcasters Paradise website I myself joined two years ago, and who earns a six-figure MONTHLY income from podcasting.

Here’s the replay of John’s most recent podcast masterclass. Believe me, you’ll want to set aside the time to watch:

http://www.eofire.com/podwebinar

If you do decide to join me at Podcasters Paradise, John’s excellent podcasting community, here’s a special bonus: if you use my affiliate link, I’ll jump on Skype with you for a 30-minute Q&A session about your existing or future podcast. After over 800 podcast episodes I’ve learned a thing or two, and I’d be glad to help you for free.

Watch the masterclass first, by clicking the link above. When you’re ready to join and if you want my bonus, use this link:

https://www.happyearner.com/getparadise

I want my kids to see their parents helping other folks out.

On the local level we enjoy giving anonymous help to people we know who need it. And my kids and I have started taking time to look through sites like DonorSee, GoFundMe, and Indiegogo, and we decide on causes we agree are especially compelling.

While on one of those sites with the kids over the weekend, I found myself looking through the entrepreneurial section. Lots of really clever ideas are being funded, sometimes very heavily, by a consuming public that sees their merits.

And it was there that I discovered the business idea I mentioned to you yesterday: card decks.

Here are some decks of cards (of all kinds, most of which aren’t traditional playing cards or even games at all) that generated interest on Indiegogo and Kickstarter:

Remember, this money is raised from BUYERS:

• Writer Emergency Pack, a deck of cards to help people cope with writers’ block, raised $158,109 on Kickstarter
• The Shorter Catechism Deck, of interest to Protestants, has raised 238% of the money it was seeking (with 16 days still to go in its Kickstarter campaign! It’s still running as I write this)
• A deck of feminist playing cards raised nearly $13,000
• Dan Ariely’s Irrational Card Game raised $314,870
• Lightbox Photography Cards, a 52-card deck to inspire photographers, raised $35,590

And believe me, I chose these pretty much at random. There must be hundreds of successful examples.

I had no idea decks of cards were a genuine business idea.

I’ll bet you could think of a good deck idea. Then what the heck: test it out on Kickstarter to see if there’s an audience for it.

But Woods, it’s not that easy — don’t I have to be an artist? And how would I produce the cards? Where would I sell them?

All good questions.

Answers:

https://www.happyearner.com/decks

I’m thinking of writing another eBook, this one called: Instant Online Business Ideas.

I’ve got a big idea I’ll be writing to you about in the coming weeks. One of my kids (Regina) and I intend to start in on it next year, and I think we have an excellent chance of making it a success. It certainly won’t hurt her college application, that’s for sure.

But here’s one I’ll bet you never thought of.

Card decks.

Not just card games, though of course some of those are quite lucrative: Exploding Kittens raised over $8 million in funding on Kickstarter, all from buyers.

But I’m talking about cards of all kinds. There is a huge market for cards in all sorts of genres: spirituality, self-help, humor, education, and more.

Thanks to lots of free online tools, creating a product like this is much easier than you think.

And if you think hard enough, you probably have one of these decks within you.

How about: questions to ask each other before getting married? I always thought that should be a thing.

There are plenty of possibilities.

You can find a bunch of proposed card decks that raised at least six figures on Kickstarter. In this area, the right idea can spread like wildfire.

I just finished reading Amy Harrop’s new guide to how to create and sell a card deck. Everything from coming up with ideas and content to design (you can do this even if you’re the world’s worst artist, like me), publishing, printing, pricing, sales, and more, is covered in detail.

The whole process, in other words, is laid out before you.

Could this be your hobby project that earns you a few bucks?

You won’t know until you give it a shot:

https://www.happyearner.com/decks

 

I know precisely one thing about knitting. And it’s this:

Kathy and Steve Elkins own a store that sells knitting, crocheting, and weaving supplies. But they do most of their sales online.

Why? Partly because they started a weekly podcast about knitting.

I first read about their podcast in early 2011. I remember thinking it was a good idea for a business to do this. Just for the heck of it, I checked last week: they’re on episode 468, and still going.

When they discuss a particular yarn or pattern on the show, they see a spike in sales on the relevant pages of their website.

It’s a great idea, and it works especially well because of Woods’s Law: Nobody ever does anything.

By which I mean: how many of their competitors have a podcast? The question pretty much answers itself.

There are all kinds of ways you or your business can benefit from a podcast. I have an extremely successful podcast, so take it from me: the guy you need to listen to is John Lee Dumas.

He’s the creator of his own wildly successful podcast, as well as the premier training and support site for podcasters: Podcasters Paradise, of which I am a happy member.

He earns six figures a month from his podcast. He knows what he’s talking about.

Be prepared to take notes at his free workshop for the curious tomorrow (Wednesday). You’ll learn a ton.

Grab your spot:

https://www.happyearner.com/paradise

(That’s an affiliate link, by the way. But if you sign up with it and then decide to join John’s Podcasters Paradise, which I myself belong to, I’ll hop on Skype with you for 30 minutes at your convenience and answer any questions you may have. Just drop me a note on my contact page.)

“It has brought me from utter obscurity to a recognizable figure within my niche in under a year.”

That’s what one of my listeners just said about his own podcast.

In fact, he just told an A-List potential guest, “I’ve finished up my interviews for the year. Let’s touch base in January.”

That’s a boss.

He can make sales to his audience (affiliate products or his own), all while giving away content for free. Everyone wins.

Where did he figure out how to do it? From John Lee Dumas, naturally, whose Podcasters Paradise site I myself joined over two years ago.

John’s the master: he went from sitting in traffic listening to podcasts on his way to a job he hated to making podcasting into his full-time living.

Curious? You should be. Attend John’s free workshop, as I did two years ago.

Remember Woods’s Law: Nobody ever does anything.

OK, I know that’s not literally true. But it’s close enough. Most people think writing books, launching podcasts, creating courses, or whatever, are all things other people do.

And that means you’ll have less competition than you would if Woods’s Law weren’t true.

Successful people are the doers.

First thing to do: check out John’s free workshop, where you’ll be impressed with how much you learn:

https://www.happyearner.com/paradise

(That’s an affiliate link, by the way. But if you sign up with it and then decide to join John’s Podcasters Paradise, which I myself belong to, I’ll hop on Skype with you for 30 minutes at your convenience and answer any questions you may have. Just drop me a note on my contact page.)

I want my kids to have every possible advantage.

Regina, my 13-year-old daughter, loves animals and hopes to pursue a veterinary career someday.

It turns out we happen to live in an area with a pre-veterinary program nearby that she can enter when she reaches high school age — which is next year.

Not everyone can be accepted into this program. Applicants need to stand out somehow.

My Regina stands out in numerous ways: she used to volunteer at an animal shelter when we lived in Topeka, she raised $500 for the shelter through a GoFundMe campaign, and she used her own money to sponsor pets — which made them more likely to be adopted, because she’d already paid the fee.

But I’ve suggested to her, without pressure, that another way she might stand out is with an animal-related podcast. (We have a more specific idea in mind, but that’s a house secret.)

Who else her age will have one? She will be viewed as a leader.

Will it require a lot of money? Not really: once you plug a microphone into your computer, you’re pretty much ready to go.

Will it take a lot of time? Not really: she can produce two episodes a month and not be an outlier in the podcasting world. Common Sense with Dan Carlin is one of the top-rated podcasts on iTunes, and it releases two episodes a month.

It would open doors and opportunities for her, without a doubt.

A podcast can do the same for you.

You won’t be just another face in the crowd anymore. You’ll stand out in your industry, since almost no one ever does anything.

You can build an audience, get to know interesting people, position yourself in your industry, learn and polish a new skill, and in general be different from everyone else.

It’s not nearly as hard as you think. Between my two podcasts I’ve produced nearly 860 episodes. It’s no big deal.

But it seems bewildering. I get that.

So I am sending you to the master, John Lee Dumas, who earns a six-figure MONTHLY income from podcasting.

Will you earn that? No, probably not.

But you can get out of your rut, grab the bull by the horns, and do something — which right away places you in the 20 portion of the 80/20 Pareto rule.

John’s free workshop walks you through the whys and the hows of podcasting, and even how podcasts can be monetized.

If that voice in your head is telling you this might just be an interesting idea after all, sign up for John’s next online workshop. Costs you nada. But hear him out: this could be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for:

https://www.happyearner.com/paradise

(That’s an affiliate link, by the way. But if you sign up with it and then decide to join John’s Podcasters Paradise, which I myself belong to, I’ll hop on Skype with you for 30 minutes at your convenience and answer any questions you may have. Just drop me a note on my contact page.)

I admit it: I’m a bit of a grammar snob myself.

To my mind, the decline of the use of “whom” is a horrific atrocity.

And I do know a bit about writing: my first major book was published by Columbia University Press, and their standards for formal writing are rather high.

Now to the email I received yesterday, in response to my story about the Nigerian guy who genuinely thought he’d earned $60,000 from me.

I began that story: “A couple years ago….”

NOT ALLOWED!

I was supposed to say, “A couple OF years ago….”

Here’s my correspondent’s commentary on those four words:

“Interesting why writers believe they must dumb themselves down to reach an audience. Is this how you reach ‘conversion’? One would think the paying customers you wish to reach would know the ‘of’ is glaringly missing. Or is your content so simplistic that a lesser educated audience is your goal.”

Now that’s just plain nasty.

Let’s see what we can learn from Miss Sunshine here.

(1) Drop people like this from your list like a hot potato. Normal people don’t write nasty notes about nothing to complete strangers. You’re going to be dealing with this person’s problems forever. You don’t need them. Someone who’s nasty to you was never going to buy anything, and since you are not a registered charity, that should be a decisive factor.

(2) Conversion IS what matters.

One of the best-known advertising slogans in history was “Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should.” Now strictly speaking, that should be “Winston tastes good, AS a cigarette should.” And no doubt our friend was outraged at that, too.

But it sold boatloads of cigarettes for Winston.

You are in the business of making sales. Use formal writing to your heart’s content on your own time. When you’re selling, speak the way that makes the sale.

Try to imagine just how fast our friend would have been fired by Winston for her pedantic corrections.

Good email marketing involves storytelling. Storytelling, in turn, involves speaking colloquially and in a natural, conversational style. It’s quite all right to say “a couple years ago.” Trust me.

And when people like our friend send you a nasty note, you can reply from the deck of a cruise ship while enjoying a fine wine and the cash your email marketing brought in.

Now if you weren’t interested in selling something online (whether a product of your own, an affiliate product, or a service) someday, you wouldn’t be on this site. And I’m telling you: you need to know how to convert visitors into sales.

You need to know when — as in the case of our friend — to ignore the know-it-alls.

I am positively luxuriating in the process of ignoring her.

I know more about formal writing than she does, yet she’s correcting me. As her correction shows, I also know more about selling.

Today’s the last day to grab Conversion Secrets, a free course on making visitors into customers.

Clunky landing page, but highly worthwhile content:

https://www.happyearner.com/conversion

A couple years ago, a guy from Nigeria — no, not the wife of a deceased prince; this was a real guy — wrote demanding to know where the $60,000 I owed him was.

Say what?

It turns out he was an affiliate of my Liberty Classroom. In the old days I offered a flat $30 commission per sale. He said he’d made over 2000 sales, and would like to know when he’d get the money.

I knew this was impossible, so I looked into his account: he had brought in 2212 clicks.

And zero sales.

So I explained to him the difference between visiting a website and becoming a paying customer.

“Do you actually know how to promote a site like this?” I asked.

I never heard back.

Now here’s the thing: would it have helped if he’d doubled or tripled the traffic he brought me?

He was bringing the wrong traffic. The traffic and my offer weren’t a match.

And that’s what we could all stand to remember: traffic isn’t everything.

Here’s what matters:

(1) The right traffic;
(2) An offer that converts (visitors into subscribers).

Killing yourself to double or triple your raw traffic numbers isn’t the only way to improve your results.

Suppose I get 10,000 people a week checking out my offer. Two percent of them buy.

I can double my sales in one of two ways: doubling my traffic, or doubling my conversion rate from two percent to four percent.

Well, I’ll tell you one thing: I’m not keen on exhausting myself trying to double my traffic. So maybe I take my existing traffic and convert more of it into customers.

How to do that?

I have just the thing for you: a free mini-course called Conversion Secrets.

Consume it however you like: videos, mp3s, or PDFs.

Personally, I’d rather watch my organs being harvested than sit through one of these “free courses” you find online. But I think you’ll agree with me: this one is actually worth your time. These are things you’ll need to know if you ever intend to sell anything online.

It’s being yanked in a couple days, so get your hands on it:

https://www.happyearner.com/conversion