Tyler Ellison was a freelance SEO working with clients, and has been able to achieve a large degree of success implementing the material learned in my program.
This is an interview with Carlos Valiente, a fulltime independent internet marketer who is able to be location-independent, and earn his living as an internet marketer.
Here is a screenshot Carlos sent me from one of his campaigns, of where he made over $600 in 3 days.
Hernan is a product marketer that advertises peoples products on Adwords, and was able to do very well for himself by applying the methods from my ebook ‘Adwords Buddy' back in 2014.
Brad McCloud is a fitness product business owner who had success in 2014 applying the methods from my first ever ebook I wrote called ‘Adwords Buddy', which taught people how to use Adwords.
A selfie at the English gardens in Regents Park, London
This is the first of a series of posts I'll be making of my travels around the world. This blog will be the main source of my updates (since my Facebook account was accidentally shut-off…long story), although I will be also posting updates to my new Facebook profile, so you can add me there if you'd like.
London, England – Lots of Learning
England was really great! I honestly wasn't that big of a fan on London, it was too big of a city for me, but here are two pictures of the English gardens at Regent's Park.
Fountain
some flowers
One interesting thing I observed about London was that the people there are very unfriendly and cold, demeanor-wise, during the day; but after the clock hits 6pm, everyone seems to run towards the pubs and loosens up a lot. Its kindof endearing; lots of the English people will throw their hands around each other, start singing some random song, and do a weird sort of drunken dance/hop when they're out at night, I thought that was awesome. Sorry I didn't get any videos, hah.
I was in London for the StackThatMoney London Meetup, which was basically for networking in my industry, over 600 people from all over the world attended. I was with my buddy Nick Mascetta and Scott; Nick and I actually decided to travel a bit and we went to Bruges, and are in Amsterdam at the time I'm writing this.
Charles Ngo and I after his Affcelerator event in London
I also attended a really cool learning program put on by my friend Charles Ngo called Affcelerator. I learned a number of things I've started applying immediately in my business (Facebook advertising) that's going to allow me to take my business to the next level, which I'm excited about. I have a testimonial video on my Youtube here. My main takeaways were: Facebook advertising tactics, creating ‘edges' for yourself (as opposed to advantages, which are shorter-lived), and playing the business game ‘Chinese-style'.
There were roughly a dozen people at this program, and one thing I was extremely surprised about was that people asked barely any questions. I'd say I asked more questions of Charles and Ben than everyone else combined. If you ask me, that's pretty ridiculous. Literally the only requirement Charles had before the start of the course for us was that you should come prepared with lots of questions. I personally think questions are the most important pillars necessary for learning to happen. To be more exact, I believe open questions (where you have no pre-concieved bias of what you believe the answer should be) are necessary for learning, as opposed to leading questions (where you do have a pre-concieved notion of what you believe the answer should be. #endrant 🙂
Dover, England – White Cliff Country
After London I went south to visit Dover, because I had heard of it in a song ‘The White Cliffs of Dover' on Guitar Hero. My buddy Nick was headed to Paris, but honestly I don't care much for big cities (or the French).
The place I stayed in in Dover was really cool, it was a 500+ year old house that was built for a knight, and was placed immediately below the big castle in Dover. Dover, and the county (Kent) Dover is in are the closest points in England to France, so there are numerous old castles built along the coast to protect against invasion.
I've been getting a little fat lately, so I decided to go for a really long run along the cliffs, but the first stop was to see the local museum, which was pretty interesting. I was pretty amazed people had lived in England for over 3,500 years. I also learned England and France were actually connected before the last Ice age (10,000 years ago), and that each centimeter of chalk on the white cliffs takes 100,000 years to form! That's a lot of work for 1 centimeter of chalk!
The Dover castle in the distance. Its closed during the winter unfortunately.
Dovers bronze age boat from 3500 years ago.
Jogging along the cliffs was definitely one of my major highlights though. Its absolutely breathtaking. One thing I found a bit sad though was there were two separate spots where someone had laid flowers and notes down on the edge of the cliff where someone had committed suicide. Really sad. That being said, it was really majestic scenery all about. I guess on a clear day you can see all the way to France, which is 23 miles away, across the channel.
Flowers at the edge of the cliff. Sad.
The beautiful white cliffs of dover.
I'm not sure why yet, but I've been taking a lot of videos of my walkabouts in various areas all over the world so I can remind myself of the scenery/shrubbery/views. I'm not sure how interesting anybody else will find these videos, but I'm embedding some of them below anyways so you can watch them if you want.
At the halfway point of my run, I came across a really cool beachside pub where I had a half-pint of beer, and made really nice conversation with an English man, and he told me a lot about some of the local history, English politics, and other interesting local stuff thats going on. Dover's a port town, so there's a lot of immigration; its a big issue all over England though. The UK isn't actually part of the EU, and it has a much better welfare/health/educational benefits than the other EU countries, so basically all the immigrants want to come to the UK. They actually had to move their border patrol to the French side of the channel because they had such a problem with Eastern Europeans and Turkish coming in illegally on boats then somehow escaping into the rest of England.
Wellington the dog in a pub at Kingsdown
A sea of green farms around Dover
Canterbury, England
I got back kindof late from my run so I think I caught a cold. Bleh. The next day I took a day-trip to Canterbury. I highly recommend anyone visiting England to visit Canterbury, its a really old town that is very distinctly English. The oldest church of England is there, and this was the Mecca for all British Christians for hundreds of years. I only had a few hours to look around before my ferry departed for Calais France (where I was supposed to catch a train to Bruges, long story), so I could only stay in Canterbury for 3 hours, but I wish I had at least another day or two to wander around.
The Canterbury Cathedral, which was built in 597 and is the oldest church in England.
Some ruins near the cathedral
An old restaurant and canal.
All-in-all, that was the English portion of my trip. If there's anything in particular you would like me to research out here (politics, views on ___, pictures of food, availability of ___, etc) let me know, and I'll try to include it in my next posting! I wasn't able to get many pictures in Bruges, Belgium (unfortunate…its another magical city), but I will have another posting go up in another week or so on my travels in the Netherlands, which is where I am right now.
Its 2:04 in the morning right now as I'm writing this.
I've just launched a record number of campaigns and ads, I already have positive ROI on some ads I launched earlier today, and I feel delirious from a long day of work but good.
It was just a month ago and one of my biggest campaigns died. A solid 5 figures per month worth of revenue gone, POOF. This industry is constantly changing, the offers come and go, the ad networks change, and advertising that once worked ends up dying out. The only constant you have is YOURSELF. This is why I believe firmly in only one mantra; no matter what:
Launch, Launch, Launch, Launch.
If you are not launching new campaigns, you are not learning; you are not growing. Marketing is a super competitive arena, its constantly changing, and the barriers are extremely low. Investing in yourself, and growing your own base of knowledge is the most powerful thing you can do.
What I love about affiliate marketing is that you directly get rewarded f0r the effort you put into it. If you spend your time on the computer messing around, you get nothing. However if you spend your time constantly launching new ads, new angles, new offers, new traffic sources, you will get massively rewarded.
Many people find it difficult to break into affiliate marketing. I feel this is because it is such a blend of the creative and the technical. Regardless of what other people say, you NEED to know basic programming. You also need to be an outside-the-box thinker to come up with new ad angles and figure out creative ways of reaching your audience. Usually when I see people fail to make it in this industry, it is either because they are unwilling to learn basic programming, design, or to think outside-the-box. Typical symptoms of magic pill syndrome aka shiny object syndrome.
What are you doing today to create more revenues for yourself?
Whenever you launch a new offer, angle, and/or traffic source, you are opening yourself up to acquire more revenues/profits for yourself. Too much of our time (mine especially) is spent wasting time on activities that have a low-correlation with money-creation. Charles Ngo has created an entire company structured around allowing him to launch new campaigns constantly. Hes a great role model to me, and incredibly smart for knowing where the most value is derived. This too is a direction I want to move my organization in.
A few things I've done to help assist me in launching more often:
always thinking to myself “Is this activity going to help me double my revenues?”
keeping a notepad at my desk with 1-2 activities I need to accomplish that day to feel like I am ‘moving the ball forward'. This may mean launching on two new ad networks, launching a new offer/vertical, expanding an existing campaign, etc.
What are some things you do to keep yourself on point, and ensuring that you expand your business?
All the time when I talk to people in my travels around the world I hear them complain about certain parts of their life:
I wish I could travel more often
I don't have enough money to do ___
I wish there was a software program that could do X
I'm trying to raise funding for my new project
I'm trying to find a programmer for my team right now…its so hard to find a good ___ developer these days
etc etc etc.
…and I feel this urge to give them advice. “There are lots of ways you can take your skills on the road and make money!” , “There are some really useful books you can read which will set you on the path to make more money either within your job, or working for yourself; have you read the Four Hour Workweek?” are common ways I want to respond to them.
Does anybody else feel this urge to give advice without being asked?
I've personally have found that whenever I give unrequested advice, people will not act on it, and I effectively end up wasting time/energy/effort on someone who's not looking to for a solution, but looking for a compatriot in misery.
Maybe its a pet-peeve of mine, but I've always been a solution-minded person, so its very hard for me to hear people with a problem, and not respond to them. Why would someone complain about a problem, and not seek a solution? It doesn't make sense to me at all!
Surround yourself with question-askers.
From my experience, the people who advance the most in life, and the fastest, are the ones who ask the most questions. Not dumb questions, but smart questions; those people stand out to me, and I go out of my way to help those people.
You Won't Get Anything You Don't Ask For
My first job out of college was a boiler room sales job, where I was cold-calling 100-150 business owners per day offering them SEO services. There were roughly 30-40 (mostly) guys on this sales floor I started on, so there was a very clear culture that had been developed within this tele-sales operation, and consequently lots of maxims, statements, videos, and whatnot that were passed around the office, and would be what I consider part of a larger ‘sales' culture. One of those statements was that “you wont get any sales you don't ask for“.
Now I don't do sales anymore, although I believe the same mantra applies to ANYTHING in life…you won't get anything you don't ask for.
Questions allow you to gain knowledge
When you ask a question of someone, they are able to teach you something. You allow that person to dig into their mental library, and pull out the most important lessons they can, and pass those along to you. This is growth-hacking in action, because now you are leveraging another person's knowledge. Even if you don't believe that person has an answer, asking a question (ie. ‘Do you have any ideas for how I can travel the world yet still make money as a hairstylist?' instead of ‘Its hard being a hairstylist, theres no way to travel with my line of work')
Questions allow others to feel more connected to you
Just by opening yourself up, revealing a potential weakness, and allowing someone else to give you advice, you are allowing them to feel more connected with you. Back in the boiler room I worked at, it was a well-known fact that to gain better rapport with prospects over the phone, you should ask them questions (ie. “Oh you have a 13 old son? How is dealing with them when they are that age? I have a son, he's only 7, so he just plays with his toys and skateboard now…”)
Questions allow people to think about themselves
When you ask a question, personal or business, you are encouraging a person to become introspective, dive into their memory bank, and think about themselves. This is key. People honestly don't want to hear about your problems. But give someone a chance to think about their own experiences, and help another person out, and you'll be very surprised at both the quality of information you get, and the resulting connection that can potentially be established.
As an affiliate marketer working for myself, and running my company without any formal training to do so, I've found asking questions to be the only reason why I've been able to stay in business for myself. As I'm sure many fellow entrepreneurs and affiliate marketers can attest to, its a lonely path starting your own business. There's noone to turn to when you need help, yet you have everyone in the world trying to sell you things. Free Consultation. Everyone knows its not free, and that the person you'll be meeting with for tax advice, legal advice, software advice, etc has their own agenda.
Running your own business is a series of ups-and-downs, but the most important thing that has carried me through has been taking the time to improve myself every step of the way. Ask questions and leverage other peoples knowledge.
On another note, this is my first post, so any feedback from people who know me on what they'd like me to talk about is greatly appreciated!
Its 2:04 in the morning right now as I'm writing this.![slide1[1]](http://johncrestani.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/slide11-300x175.jpg)
All the time when I talk to people in my travels around the world I hear them complain about certain parts of their life:
