When I read the results of the survey that we ran last week I knew I had done the right thing in acquiring AssociatePrograms.com.
I showed the results to my wife and we both became excited.
“What an opportunity”, we said to each other.
To be honest, I’ve been struggling with the thought of “How am I REALLY adding value to the world?”.
Sure I’ve created useful software and given lots of advice to help companies that are already making money – make more money.
I could say that I’m helping create jobs etc. which I guess is true. It’s just a bit too removed and doesn’t feel that tangible to me.
When I read the survey results, I had this sudden rush of “tangibility” of how I could genuinely help people in a real and meaningful way.
With any luck, in a way that might actually help them change their lives, the lives of their families and the communities around them. Real positive change that does actually add value to the world.
I have knowledge in the form of a growth framework that has kind of been stuck up in my head and has only really benefited a handful of companies.
I now have an audience of 35,000 people that if they are willing and able can apply this growth framework and hopefully grow an online business that gives them the vehicle to freedom and happiness.
I know that kind of sounds a bit grandiose and even cliche, but it’s hard not to explain it in any other terms.
You see, as I read through the survey results, I saw a VERY clear story.
Let me show you that story.
What I found was that most people aren’t trying to build a huge new company. In fact only 7.7% of people wanted to build a huge company. Most wanted to build either a lifestyle business, or grow a decent sized business.
Within the “other” category, most people commented on passive income and lifestyle businesses.
It seems that a large percentage are just starting out.
But interestingly, they have been at it for a while. Over 70% of people have been doing it for more than 1 year and over half (54.6%) have been doing it for more than 3 years.
Unfortunately, most people are not very happy with how things are going. Around 63.5% of people report that they are either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with how things are going.
It’s not hard to see why with over 85% of people reporting that their business revenues are less than $1000 a month. If people are working hard and not seeing the fruits of their hard work, it’s not a satisfying experience.
Here's the interesting thing. There is, for the most part, not much of a problem with skill level. Nearly 60% of you reported to have at least intermediate to advanced skill levels.
It also seems like most of you have enough time. I asked how many hours a week you have to dedicate to an online business and 77% of you reported that you have more than 5 hours a week to dedicate to your online business. Over half said over 10 hours a week.
As a side note, if you have less than 5 hours a week, I would challenge you on that. I know some people work two jobs and it’s impossible, but other people also waste more time than that watching TV or on social media.
Almost everyone should be able to find at least 10 hours a week to work on their business. If you got up 1 hour earlier you’ve just found yourself 7 hours of quiet focused time that can make a huge impact for forward momentum.
But it’s very clear what is holding you back. Check out this word cloud I created from the responses. The larger the words, the more times that word was mentioned in the responses.
This was like a lightbulb moment for me. It seems like you have pretty much everything you need to be successful. You just don’t have the focus and the direction to make a difference.
It’s like trying to start a fire with a magnifying glass. You can’t keep moving it. You have to hold it steady in one place for something to catch alight.
With the amount of noise around in the Internet marketing world, this is unsurprising.
This is why I’m really excited to be giving you the very same growth framework that I’ve applied to help companies grow into multi-million dollar businesses.
Unfortunately this isn’t going to be a push button solution and requires hard work to apply the growth framework in your business.
Will 2014 be the year when you turn your business into something great?
I hope that’s the case and you’ll let me help you as much as I can.
Are you ready? Let me hear your thoughts.
