Details about getting out of the im niche and getting into the self help/growth/spirituality/personal transformation niches

From: Sean Mize

To: Clients of Sean Mize:

As you probably know by now, I'm finally exiting the im niche space, and I’m entering a new marketspace, a new non-im niche, and it’s a fairly big niche (probably the 3rd-4th biggest online, outside of the make money online/dating/weight loss niches)

And I've had quite a few questions about what I'm doing there, and why I'm getting out of the im "how to start a new business" niche, and I've written a bit of a letter (understatement) that explains why I'm getting out - both what I don't like about working in the im space after nearly 10 years, and the big draw for the motivation/improvement type niches.

I'll start with some background that led me to write this letter . . .

Like I said, where I'm going is a pretty big niche (and comprises many sub-niches) and is, from all I can see, quite profitable (I know a number of full-timers there who are doing quite well) and so I thought it would be fairly advanced in terms of squeeze pages, sales pages, professionalism in sales copy and websites, and so on. I expected advanced conversion funnels, long-term powerful converting email campaigns, and so on - all the things that the infobusiness market has been perfecting for the last 5-10 years.

But what I’m seeing at first blush is squeeze pages, sales pages, conversion sequences, and so on, that aren’t nearly as polished as what we are used to seeing.

And it makes me ask the question: if these things are converting at a rate that allows multiple, multiple people to make a full-time income, what would happen if we applied the advanced techniques we’ve been using in the im space for years?

I think of Russell Brunson and Ryan Deiss and their advanced conversion funnels, and I realize how they were able to go in to other markets and generate $30 million dollar style businesses.

I think of Ryan Levesque and his innovation with surveys and survey (option) driven back-end email campaigns and again, million dollar businesses.

And it reminds me of when I first got started online and almost everyone on ezinearticles was using articles to get clicks to google-adsense optimized pages and they were making a living by people clicking those links. And I came into the market, and thought, what if I were to apply the squeeze page --> one time offer --> sales page --> 7 day email campaign principle to the clicks from the articles, instead of sending them to a google-adsense page? So I tried it out, and the rest is history. My team and I went on to write over 25,000 articles on ezinearticles, sending all the traffic to a squeeze page that lead to an advanced conversion system, and it became a very nice full time income for me for years to come.

When I started thinking about getting into a new niche, one that would more closely fit with my purpose and what I enjoy doing and teaching, I was thinking that it would be very hard work up front, doing lots of study to see what’s working, and having to have a heavy reliance on trusting that if I just work in my purpose, enough people will be attracted to that to continue making the more-than-a-full-time income my family has become accustomed to. And of course knowing that I simply had to trust God to provide the result, if I only do the work!

But now after about 10 days of digging into the niche, buying some traffic, talking with some of the big players in the market (people with 100,000+ subscribers) and looking at squeeze pages, sales pages, etc. I’m really beginning to think this is going to be really exciting - like $10 million exciting, that kind of thing.

And deep inside, there’s a part of me that just wants to quit teaching folks how to do it, how to start their own businesses and the nitty gritty details of what to do and how to do it.

And in fact, what I'm going to share with you next is part of why I'm getting out of the "teaching folks how to start a new business" niche.

Let me explain: Like most humans, I like to be liked, accepted, and to be patted on the back. Ok, just being real, I’m not a depressed, insecure person. But calling it what it is.

But no matter how hard I try to teach EXACTLY what I do and how I do it, no matter how hard I try to explain how to do things EXACTLY the way I do them, I get emails regularly that tell me how I’m wrong, how I do things wrong, how what I’m teaching won’t work, can I please come up with training that is more specific, that is more beginner, that is more advanced, that will work for someone who only can work 14 minutes a day, that will work for someone who has no knowledge of anything to teach anyone (why don’t they just go out and learn something to teach people???? Imagine showing up for a job interview and being asked, what is your experience or background, and saying, “I don’t know how to do the job, I don’t want to take the time to learn, but please hire me anyway” - but in fact, that’s what folks are asking for online!!!).

I’m accused of lying, of not telling it like it is, of creating bright shiny objects, of not giving the whole picture, of making training that’s too short (not deep enough), of making training that’s too long (I can’t listen to 10 hours of training to learn it, I can’t focus that long, can you please give me the abridged version), of not understanding the ordinary person (look, I’m ordinary, I started from scratch just like everyone else, I had to learn it the hard way just like they do).

And frankly, there’s a part of me that just doesn’t want to continue to have to answer the question, how do I get started? And then give the answer and be told, that doesn’t work for me, and finding out that they aren’t willing to do the same work I did. It’s frustrating.

And even as I write this, it’s my first (and hopefully my only) rant about this, it sounds like I’m whining and griping (who knows, maybe I am) but after 9 years of teaching people and only 1% take action and do the work (and subsequently get the results) I want to focus on what interests me even more and that is motivation, growth, goals, a spiritual emphasis on growth in your business, and so on.

And over the last about 3 years, I’ve been teaching on those topics, doing the weekly faith-based call, and teaching at a deep level on focus, action, goals, growth, etc, in my coaching call and other places and frankly loving it.

And finding that one of the biggest reasons people aren’t succeeding isn’t because they don’t know how to create a squeeze page (anyone who wants to, can learn that on youtube), don’t know how to write an email campaign (I have a great pre-recorded training on that, sure it’s like 10 hours long, but if it’s not worth 10 hours of study, I don’t know what to say; I remember when I paid someone $25,000 to teach me live about a topic I desperately needed to learn to take my business to the next level, he taught me for about 16 hours and I had to listen, and take notes and then I even took the time to listen to the recordings of our time together!!), don’t know how to write articles and create products (plenty of training online to learn how to do that).

And then of course there are millions of people online who have become successful without me!!!

But the one thing that I see that makes the very biggest difference in my clients lives isn’t when I teach some new traffic technique, or when I teach some new copy technique, or when I teach some email writing method, but instead when I teach on how to get ultra-focused and motivated to TAKE ACTION and do what they already know, and when they have spent 1 hour listening to me motivate in my own special way, with a skill that God has planted in me, they take action and get the job done!

And that’s really exciting to me!

And to my knowledge, I have NEVER gotten a complaint about my motivational training (except the occasional person who objects to my use of the name of Jesus once in 90 minutes of talking, it’s funny to me, someone else can swear 10 times in an hour and it doesn’t seem to rouse, but if I say “Jesus helped me” then it’s all of a sudden offensive, I guess I can accept that easier than I can folks telling me that my training is not effective).

So all of that to say, it’s really exciting to me to be getting into the goals/motivation/personal transformation niche and really change lives.

And live out my purpose in a greater, deeper way!

And that gets me back to what I wrote when I wrote this a few minutes ago:

“But now after about 10 days of digging into the niche, buying some traffic, talking with some of the big players in the market (people with 100,000+ subscribers) and looking at squeeze pages, sales pages, etc. I’m really beginning to think this is going to be really exciting - like $10 million exciting, that kind of thing.

And deep inside, there’s a part of me that just wants to quit teaching folks how to do it.”

And I went on to share how I’m, frankly speaking, tired after 9 years of teaching people how to build businesses, and I want to stop doing that. I’m considering closing my coaching program. I’m wanting to stop creating new im-space training. And so on.

But as I keep thinking about the amazing vacuum in the self-help/goals/growth/personal transformation market, I think that there is 1,000 times more potential than I can possibly tap myself.

I mean, if I work really hard for 10 years, optimizing at a high level, driving tons of traffic, and re-investing radically, I think I can get to $50 million a year in 10 years. But if it’s a $50,000 million dollar business (that’s $50 billion) like I think it might be (note the word might, I don’t know, I usually don’t share these kinds of things at my tea-parties, but I’m just sharing and baring here) I can only do 1/1000 of the business that’s there.

And who knows, maybe the people in that space know more than me. Maybe the reason the squeeze pages and sales pages and conversion sequences are so basic is because that market won’t convert to the higher-converting methods in most other markets online, but I just don’t believe it.

And so when I think that I can only tap a very small percentage of the market, and I think that there might be 10 or 20 or 50 people like you that know me and trust me, and if I don’t share what I’m learning and how I’m doing it, then maybe I’m being morally negligent.

I’ve taught in the past that if you know how to do something that can change lives, and you aren’t willing to share that with others, then you are morally negligent.

And maybe my desire to get out of teaching how to do this is selfish, is morally negligent.

And I started thinking, ok, what if there are a few people who will really take action, really want to build a business in the self help or growth or spirituality or personal transformation or maybe even the alternative health areas, and want to take part in what I truly believe is a huge business (even if it’s not $50 billion!)

Would it be morally negligent to NOT teach them?

But at the same time, I’m thinking, I don’t want a single person I’m working with to tell me it won’t work for them. I don’t want a single person to tell me it’s too hard. I don’t want a single person to tell me I forgot to show them how to create a graphic (I don’t even know how, I hire people for that), I don’t want a single person to tell me they don’t know how to create a squeeze (if they don’t it’s because they aren’t willing to take 2 hours and go to youtube and watch videos until they find one they understand, or just go buy optimizepress and put it on their wordpress site and let optimizepress do it for them).

Ok, maybe this is my out! I’ve offended every person I’m morally obligated to teach so they don’t want my help anyway!

But seriously, here I am thinking, I’m going to go in and do something amazing. And personally, I believe God has crafted this opportunity for me for a time such as this. It’s not of my doing. He asked me to start doing faith-based calls about 2 years ago and I’ve done it. I’ve done some other things.

But one thing I believe is that when God teaches me things, and there are others that need that kind of help, it’s my responsibility to pass that on in some way if given the opportunity.

So back to this project.

One way to do it would be to wait until a year from now and be able to say “I generated $xxxxx dollars and here’s how I did it” And that’s one good option. The problem I find with that approach is that when I look back a year ago at things I’ve done in the last year to have the year I had last year (God blessed me amazingly in my business), I don’t remember the details. So if I wait, the training can be accurate from the perspective of “here’s what I did (in terms of revenue and actual campaigns) but it won’t be current. Because much of what I do in my business is to take advantage of current opportunity as it arises. And in fact, that’s what I’m doing in the self-help/growth niche right now. I’ve spotted a unique opportunity that may not be there in 12 months. I’m in a very unique position and have spotted some very specific anomalies in the niche that may not be there in a year. So even if I say in one year what I did this year (one year ago by then) then it might not even be what could be done at that time.

It’s like me right now telling you what I did to get 25,000 articles on ezinearticles. It couldn’t be replicated today, at least not the way I did it. Because seo rules are different, ezinearticles rules are different, conversion rates are different. I can say, you can do something similar on lifehack or youtube, but I can’t tell you to do exactly what I did, cause it won’t work.

And I’m afraid that that might be the case a year from now in the self help/growth niche.

So I’m not too keen on that approach.

But of course, the other approach is for me to say, “come along, watch what I do, I have NO IDEA how much money it will make, I have no idea if I’ll find it’s so hard I’ll quit in 90 days and go back to im (I seriously doubt that, but I don’t know the future), I have no idea exactly what steps I’ll take.”

But I wouldn’t be willing to do it if I had to show folks “how to do” all the steps I’ll do. I would be willing to tell the steps, but not re-teach something I already taught and is already in my big package of training, like “how to write a sales page” - not only do I have multiple trainings on that in my big package training, I even have a sales letter template for beginners to work with, I wouldn’t be willing to re-teach how to create a squeeze page (if you don’t know how, go to youtube, if you don’t want to do it from scratch, get optimizepress) and so on.

And I can’t promise results.

I don’t even know what my own results are going to be, I certainly can’t promise anyone anything!!!!

So, I’m still thinking about this.

Part of me just doesn’t want to do it.

But if you are reading this, and you are thinking, boy, I really wish you would. This would be exactly what I need. I would LOVE to watch and see what you are doing.

And you really want to get into one of those types of niches - self help, alternative health, personal transformation, spirituality, faith, goals, etc., and you really want to see what I’m going to do - then maybe I’ll decide to do something live, something interactive, where you can see what I’m doing. And learn the advanced strategies I’m using. And take advantage of the particular holes in the market place right now, the unique opportunities I was referring to above.

Now, there’s one more thing that will scare away most everyone else:

I’m not doing this small.

I’m doing this big.

I did small before.

When I started online in this business in August 2006, I made $125 the first month.

In September I made $250

In October I wrote my first im ebook and my income jumped to $900.

Still less than minimum wage, and I was working like 40-50 hours or more a week.

And didn’t know if it would work.

In November I wrote my 2nd im book, and did $1600.

In December I learned how to do adswaps and released my first toolbox and did $3840

In January I launched my first coaching program and did $5540

And the rest is history!

But I’m not doing this one small like that.

I can’t afford to make $125 next month.

I spend more than that in a day.

I need to make $20k the first month out the gate.

To do that, I can’t start small.

I am planning to invest $3,000 - $5,000 or more up front, in the next few weeks.

And immediately begin to leverage that as the subscribers come in and they start buying from me (I believe I can get new subscribers at $2 - $3 each and make $10 - $20 per subscriber)

Not small.

And that’s what I’ll be doing, and if I do something where a few of you want to get together with me and I tell you what I'm doing and how you can do it right along with me, it will be big, and you'll have to do it big to be able to really do it.

Not small.

So if you are dead broke and want to get start scraping by with only $100 of borrowed money, this isn’t going to work for you.

I’ve been there, I understand. But this won’t work for you. Not the way I’m going to do it.

Sure, you can start small like I did 10 years ago and leverage up.

But I’m not teaching that.

I’ve been teaching it for 10 years and been getting told it won’t work, I’m not complete, whatever.

If I do this at all, and I’m not sure I will, it will be “not small”

So if you’re going to do what I’m going to do, you’ll have to be willing to invest something (it doesn’t have to be $3,000 to $5,000 up front, but you might not need to make $20k next month either to replace your im income that your family and others depend on for their livelihood).

So all of that to say, if you would like me to consider doing something live, something you can see what I’m doing, something where I give you the insider details on my strategy, what I’m planning to do, how I’m planning to leverage it, and you are willing to get in and follow along in a “not small” way, meaning you are willing to invest some money to leverage things and get started -

And I was thinking that I would work with each person personally, so I could give you some specific advice for YOUR NICHE and exactly what to offer for your giveaway, and your products and your product line.

And give you my blueprint of how I am going to build my business

And I was thinking I could set up a group where everyone who gets involved in this with me could brainstorm and communicate with each other.

And you could even do jvs together, do mailings for each other, etc. to help jumpstart things while you are getting started.

The whole idea is that you, along with 10 or 20 or so others, would be starting in the self help/personal transformation niches, along with me, and networking with each other, getting my master blueprint for what I’m going to do, plus getting personal direction from me on what direction to take in your own business - and really have a head start over others trying to get started in a new niche

So if you are liking the sound of this, you can see yourself digging deep these next 45-60 days to build a strong foundation in your niche or in a new niche if you aren’t already in the self help/personal transformation niches, and you’d like me to consider doing something like this . . . .

Then I’m going to ask you to do some things, frankly speaking, to jump through a couple of hoops.

These hoops won’t guarantee I’ll do this.

And when you jump through these hoops, you’ll be getting into a special, back door access communication with me that no one else can get in.

And I'm not promising any certain number of emails, instruction, secrets, or anything. I’m just telling you you’ll see a side of me you’ve maybe never seen before.

But as you go through each hoop, you’ll see a bit of my strategy.

You’ll see how I do things.

You’ll see some advanced psychology at work.

I’ll want you to make a couple of small investments.

To take a little limited action.

To answer some questions, to tell me why you want me to do it.

To tell me how much you are willing to invest in your business, and how much you really, really desire to make in it.

To tell me how hard you are willing to work.

To tell me how much you really want it, to tell me how much your life would change if you did it.

Now, I’ve considered making this hoop “just fill in your name and email below” and I KNOW what would happen. I’d get a few hundred people (or so) most of whom are just curious to see what I’m going to do, and only a few will be serious about building a real business (and like I said, this first hoop doesn’t promise I’m going to do it anyway, but if you jump through the first few hoops, even if I don’t do the big project in a way that involves you, you’ll see some of my insider strategy, it will be worth the process).

So I’ve decided not to do a “name and email” optin.

I’ve decided instead to make it a payment.

But I don’t want to “make money” on this payment, so I wanted to keep it low enough that you won’t miss it and it won’t make a noticeable difference at the end of the month to my own bottom line.

Just enough to separate the lookers from the serious.

If you are a looker, just look.

If you are serious, make a payment you won’t miss: First Hoop Payment

If you are serious, this is going to be fun - like I said, this first hoop doesn’t promise I’m going to do it anyway, but if you jump through the first few hoops, even if I don’t do the big project in a way that involves you, you’ll see some of my insider strategy, it will be worth the process, I promise.

In fact, the 2nd hoop will teach you so much about yourself and your business, that it's probably worth $1000 consultation with me (and it won't cost you a penny, only your time and your emotional energy as you do the hoop).

I look forward to seeing you on the other side, if you are serious!

Sean Mize