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Why I No Longer Do Joint Ventures or Sell Affiliate Products

Joshua Black — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:40:59 +0000

Since it’s Friday, I thought that I would stir up the pot a little and give ya’ll something to think about for the weekend. I’m going to tell you why I no longer believe in, or sell joint ventures or affiliate products.

Yep, I know that is probably going to upset a lot of people who have heard, or believe that the world of JVs and affiliate products is the bees knees… to that I say- It’s just not for me.

Now, if you are not a purveyor of information products, this doesn’t mean that today’s post will not apply to you. This information can work for anyone that is thinking about doing some kind of JV with another business.

Anyway, onward and upward. I have been getting literally bombarded by JV offers from around the world lately and most of them I ignore completely. If I can tell that the person is sincere, I at least send a “no thanks” email back, but for the most part the delete button is my best friend.

Let me tell you a story first, and then the headline of this post will make a little more sense.

I believe that the best use of the Inter-web is when it mimics the downtown of a large metropolitan city. Here, you have individual boutique shops, each one selling the stuff that it specializes in. In one shop you can get shoes. In another shop they sell music or clothing.

Each shop that you visit contains an expert that knows more about that particular product or service than anyone else in the area and you know that you are buying the perfect solution to your probalem, based on the quality of the service you receive.

The most successful shops sell things that you can only get in that shop. Nowhere else nearby.

This is why I don’t do JVs or sell affiliate products. I look around at the Internet and I see tons of websites that are all pushing the same thing. Instead of selling their own products or services, they are trying to leverage the work of others.

This would be fine, except that you can get that stuff ANYWHERE. There is no small boutique shop feeling when you go to an affiliate’s web site. You feel like you are in Wal-Mart.

If you have ever been in a car for more than 30 minutes (in the US at least), you can get off the highway and see almost the same thing each time you get out. There will be the same chain of hotels, the same fast food, and the same gas stations.

That is what affiliate marketing and joint ventures have turned the Internet into. Now, I know that you can make a crap-ton of money by leveraging your customer list with someone else. In fact, it’s something that I occasionally suggest to other people. If you don’t have a product, or you can compliment your services with others’ that is great. I just don’t do it myself.

I want to keep the Underdog Millionaire as one of those shops. I want to be that smiling shopkeeper that you go to visit when you have a very specific underdog small business problem.

Is there a time when you might want to be an affiliate? Sure. Getting your feet wet selling other people’s stuff is a great way to start an Internet business, but you are always at the mercy of someone else. When you are your own, complete shopkeeper you have all the control.

I can go in and update any of my information products at the drop of a hat, if there is something new and useful that I would like to add.

Sure, I have tried that stuff in the past. I have tried advertising for a few minutes as well and I know that is how the six-figure bloggers make most of their money. However, I just found it to be a distraction. I think that anything you put on your website that has the opportunity to take YOUR customer and lead them to someone else’s business is taking away more than it helps.

But alas, that it just my humble opinion.

If you are struggling with creating your own information product, or you are looking for a way to develop a new income stream for your business, info-products are perfect for just that. I developed a system where you can create your own information product entirely for FREE and the whole course will set you back less than 10 bucks.

Check out the Ultimate Information Product Report here.

Now it’s your turn… are you going to tell me to stuff it? Do you think there is merit in what I just said? Is there room out there for everyone to be successful if they focus on their own niche really hard, creating an Internet of virtual boutiques instead of clones? Tell me what you think.

Until tomorrow,

Joshua Black

Click the image to get the FREE Underdog Millionaire wealth Pack!

*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

http://www.product-pricing-strategy.com
http://www.how-to-business-network.com
http://www.ranking-higher-seo.com
http://www.UnderdogMillionaire.com/blog
http://www.sales-letter-system.com
http://www.closing-the-sale.com
http://www.information-product-report.com
http://www.UltimateUSPcreator.com
http://www.underdog-success-formula.com

_________________________________________

A Product Pricing Strategy Courtesy of Michael Jackson’s Glove

Joshua Black — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:49:18 +0000

Recently an auction just finished up for a whole heap of items from Michael Jackson’s estate.

The prized item of the night, his white,
crystal-studded glove, went for $190,000.

Wow.

Since the King of Pop is no longer moon walking
with us, people are scrambling for any little
piece of him that they can get.

…and willing to pay HUGE piles of cash to get
it.

So what does this have to do with your own
small business? EVERYTHING.

You see, when you are developing a product
pricing strategy, you are starting with your market.

You are deciding if you are targeting people with
lots of money or people without much money.

You are deciding whether or not you want to have
a product that has a high perceived value, or
a commodity-like, discounted value.

One of the lessons that I teach in my Underdog
Pricing Report: http://www.product-pricing-strategy.com
is that you can create heirloom value out of your
stuff, just by the value that place on it.

Hence, the glove.

Just look at many of the products that we covet
on a daily basis. Their actual manufacturing costs
could be a few pennies, but the business owner
deliberately decided to only make a few of something
in order to keep the perceived value and the price
way up there.
Remember that there is no such thing as a true
price for ANYTHING. All value is perceived by the
buyer.

Just by increasing your prices, you can increase
the perceived value.

Many times, small business owners that are just
starting out, think that they don’t deserve to
command a high price for their product, so they
price it low, thinking they will make a splash
in the market.

That is a huge mistake, one that I have made myself
in the past.

If you want your customers to think that your
product or service has that heirloom value
that deserves to get such a big bag of cash, then
you need to show your customers why.

Dust off that white glove.

Put on some Billy Jean.

Add so much value to your product that your customer
will feel like they are stealing from you!

Product pricing strategy could be the most single,
import feature of a business where most people
have no idea how much money and business they have
left on the table.

I have spelled it all out for you.

I pull back the curtain, lay it all out on the
line, and give you a TON of information packed into
a solid report on how you can put MORE money in
your pocket, while doing LESS work, all with
your pricing strategy.

If you want some serious CHANGE in your small business
I highly suggest you check this out. You won’t be
sorry.

Just a single tip from this report alone could
make you thousands of dollars.

click here: http://www.product-pricing-strategy.com

Until Tomorrow,

Joshua Black

*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

_________________________________________

Pea-ing on Your Small Business… Part 2

Joshua Black — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:02:04 +0000

So I was out driving again, and the kid with the pea stand that I talked about a few days ago, was back.

…and guess what?

There he was, sitting alone behind the most
beautiful pea stand you have ever seen.

All shined up. Great rainbow-colored umbrella.
Tons of good-looking inventory. Polite demeanor.
Perfect location with parking on a very well-
traveled street with a slow speed limit.

You couldn’t get much better than that.

Except for one thing.

No one in their right mind is going to interrupt
what they are doing and pull over to buy some
peas.

It just isn’t going to happen no matter how many
parking spaces there are, or how great the stand
looks.

This is a huge dillemma that many entrepreneurs
face… and you may have faced it too at some point.

When you are creating a new product, you need to
make sure their is a HUNGRY audience for it in
advance.

If you have to train your customers that they need
what you are selling, then you are taking the long
road to not-so-fun-ville.

This kid might be a pea expert.

He could probably sit there all day and spin tales
about the world’s biggest pea, or that one time
he was chased by a wild squirrel through the pea
field, but that won’t help him sell those round,
green, little buggers.

I don’t mean to get so preachy today, but it’s
such a critical thing that you have to make sure
that you are aware of, when you are creating
something new.

You are actually doing your customers a disservice
if you are creating the wrong product for them,
because you probably have the right idea inside
you. You just need to flesh it out.

If you already have an established business, be
weary of line extension items that may seem like
a really good idea, but in reality are just a bunch
of baskets of peas sitting on your shelf or in your
repertoire.

Kick over that pea stand in your own business!

Give your customers something they are really
hungry for.

People will pay really good, hard-earned money
to buy stuff they really want, but will hold
off to the last possible second to buy stuff
they need.

We might NEED peas, but we WANT a cheeseburger.
Guess which one gets purchased?

If you are looking for a new business to start,
or you want to learn how to develop your own
product, come on over to the Dark Side and learn
how to develop your own information product.

Click here for more information:
http://www.information-product-report.com

Watch your shoes!

Until tomorrow,

Joshua Black

*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

_________________________________________

Don’t Be Like Lady Gaga at a Yankees Game- Do This Instead…

Joshua Black — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:24:00 +0000

Over the weekend, the infamous Lady Gaga decided that she was going to crash yet another baseball game with her crazy antics.

…it went over like a lead balloon, since
the Yankees lost the game.

If Lady Gaga had been a member of the Underdog
Millionaires, she might have known better and
skipped her little escapade.

You see, instead of barging your business into
the customer’s life, you need to ease your way
in, by finding what they want, developing a
relationship and serving it to them shaken,
not stirred.

When you are out there in the trenches, some
times it gets really hard to ease up and not
want to SHOUT your marketing messages in the
faces of anyone that will listen.

…just look at our brothers and sisters in the
interruption advertising business. They get
paid based on how many people they shout at,
rarely on the actual performance of the ad
itself, why? Because they have no way to track
it.

Well, you and I know better, right?

We are going develop a plan for your customers
to go Gaga over your product or service.

It all starts with your USP and the biggest
promise that you are going to make for your
customers. Check this out:
http://www.ultimateUSPcreator.com

Once you have made that promise then you
need to develop a strategy for getting your
message across, and finding the most buying
customers as you can.

The way you do that is with marketing. However,
marketing plans can end up to be pretty pricey
and that is usually the last thing that a
small business owner has to throw around, money.

So, in order to be able to play with the big
kids and compete on a level that you deserve,
even though you might not have the budget to
get you there, I developed something.

It’s called the Underdog Marketing 101 course.

It contains 101 different FREE techniques for
getting more customers to your bank account, with
hundreds of tips in total.

If you can find something in there that will help
your business, then you probably never had much
of a business in the first place.

It’s not available yet, but you will be the
first to know, of course.

This is my largest course to date, and I know
that you will get some real value of this puppy.

Stay tuned. It’s coming soon.
So, what do you think about all of the interruption
advertising that we are faced with?

Are you using it successfully in your business? I’d
like to know.

What kind of methods do you use in your small
business in order to bring in customers successfully?
We’re all family here. Let ‘em out.

Post your ideas BELOW.

Until tomorrow,

Joshua Black

*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

_________________________________________

The Quiet Art of Networking… No More Shooting Your Customers in The Face

Joshua Black — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:32:59 +0000

Last night a man was robbed and at some point during the altercation the robber was kind enough to shoot the victim in the face.

Instead of doing what most mortals do and
keeling over from this lethal wound, by
some sheer chance of luck (for the first
time in human history as far as I know),
the victim caught the bullet in his teeth.

Superhero-style.

Of course this was a case of bad aim and
weird timing. I don’t believe the victim
was trying to actually catch the bullet.

…but in a case of weird timing and at
the expense of his front tooth, the guy
walked away from the incident unharmed.

Are you doing this to your customers?

Are you using interruption advertising,
or unsolicited phone calls in order to get
business?

Most of this form of advertising can feel
like a shot to the face for some people,
and at the same time, we marketers are
expecting each customer to catch that
bullet in their teeth and instantly want
to make a purchase.

It doesn’t work like that however.

Most interruption marketing doesn’t work
at all and the bullet drops the customer
like a sack of potatoes.

There is a better way.

That way is networking.

When you join a group of like-minded,
but non-competing inividual business
owners together, all meaning to help each
other out, you can get a FLOOD of new
customers banging down your door.

With a network comes the power of referrals
amongst the members.

When someone is referred it is no longer
an interruption. It’s an invitation.

When the person is invited, the tables
become turned and the customer may almost
feel as if they have to prove to you that
they are worthy of you service.

This is a powerful position to be in, and
the rate of closing is MUCH higher than
just walking down the street shooting your
customers in the face randomly with interruption
ads.

Think about it.

If you want to bring the awesome power of
networking into your small business download
my Underdog Networking Formula here:
http://www.how-to-business-network.com

Until tomorrow,

Joshua Black

*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

_________________________________________

Midwest Tornado Delivers Critical Small Business Tip

Joshua Black — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:25:44 +0000

Today’s Tip Sheet is going to be lightning-fast in honor of the nasty storm that happened a few days ago.

Over the weekend a pretty nasty set of
tornados exploded through the Midwestern
US (luckily all I got was some nasty
thunder and lightning).

In the aftermath a powerful small business
lesson was left to be dragged from the
rubble.

It’s the fact that we all need to add more
legs to our proverbial stools, with more
income streams, more customer streams,
and more marketing methods.

It will keep Dorothy and Toto from
taking your business with you the next
time a twister strikes (ex. your one and
only client leaves you).

Add a whole bunch of legs to your stool
and it will never fall over.

Just keep a couple on there and you will
be running toward the storm cellar with
nothing to come back to after the storm
clears.

Speaking of storms, don’t forget that
the prices of many of my products will be
doubling on June 12th, in order to closer
reflect their true value.

If you were on the fence about downloading
one of them, don’t dilly-dally or you will
miss out on the great, current deals.
Until tomorrow,

Joshua Black
P.S. My marketing book about 101 free techniques
for grabbing customers is almost done. Still need
to build the web site, but I expect it to be out
soon.

*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

_________________________________________

7 Insane Customer Magnets That Even My Dog Wouldn’t Touch

Joshua Black — Tue, 25 May 2010 13:43:55 +0000

I hope you’re paying attention today,
because this list is going to be something
that you will want to print out and
tape to the front of your refrigerator.

If you want to get a big ‘ol bag of
customers dropped on your front porch
like the stork dropping off a newborn
baby, then keep on reading.

Now, of course my dog is a marketing
expert as you all know from previous Tip
Sheets, but what you may not know is
that there are marketing activities that
he REFUSES to take part in.

Now of course he can’t participate in ANY
marketing activity…duh…he’s a DOG!
But you, my friend can benefit a TON from
these.

So, today I’m going to share with you 7
different techniques that you can use
in order to bring in new customers like
rats brought the plague.

…ok maybe that was a crappy analogy, but
you’ll get the idea in a second.
Anyway, here we go:

1. Do what P.T. Barnum did. Stage some kind
of outrageous event that will draw a crowd
and then pitch your business at the end.

2. Work on keeping your current customers,
not just focusing on getting new ones. Keeping
customers is FREE.

3. Never let your customers forget about you.
This is the heart of every good marketing plan.
Keep marketing to them until one of 3 things
happens: They die, they ask to quit, or they
move (and you have a local business).

4. Give your customers the biggest promise that
you can make with your unique selling proposition
(USP). This is a statement that will be the
foundation of your entire marketing plan. Learn
more about that here:
http://www.ultimateUSPcreator.com

5. Specialize, specialize, specialize. Become
the only life coach for bowlers, or the only
landscaper for agoraphobics, or maybe the only
internet store that sells toothpicks.

6. Position your business in the mind of
the customer as the ONLY one on Earth that can solve
his/her problem.

7. Reward your customers for coming back.
Now, I’m telling you all of this, because I have
a little something up my sleeve that I have been
working on for a few months now.

I have a new product coming out that will hand
you 101 different ways to generate a ton of new
customers into your business, for FREE.

Some of the ways are listed above, but I go into
minute detail in the book.

Make sure you sign up as an Underdog Millionaire,
because on the day of the book release I am
going to give a serious discount to loyal members
only (this product is going to be expensive, but
probably worth 100X your investment).

By the way, that picture up there is my dog, the marketing genius.

So, let’s here it from you… share with the rest of us. What are 2 more insane customer magnets that you can share with us? Post them below in the comments.

Then, when you are done commenting, Tweet about it to get yourself some free credit and some great traffic.

Until tomorrow,

Joshua Black

*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

_________________________________________

The Ultimate Pricing Strategy from Pablo Picasso

Joshua Black — Wed, 05 May 2010 14:56:20 +0000

It’s Cinco de Mayo, so I thought I’d
post about something Spanish on Ye Old
Underdog Millionaire Tip Sheet.

Yesterday the World’s most expensive
painting just sold at auction.

Pablo Picasso took the honors and
brought in $106 million for a painting
of his mistress that he created in the
1930′s.

With Tiger Woods and Jesse James in
the hot seat for their own mistress
missteps, I thought it was an ironic
and timely auction.

That being said, how can a dead guy fetch
such a big old bag of cash for a painting
that is not very good?

I am an art lover myself and this thing
just doesn’t do it for me.

Pablo has come back from the dead to teach
us a valuable lesson in pricing strategy.

What does an expensive, ugly painting from
a dead guy have to do with your small
business pricing strategy, you may ask?

Everything.

This painting fetched a millions of bucks
NOT because of the quality, but because of
the SCARCITY and the perceived VALUE that
came along with it.

There is only one of these puppies on Earth
and since Picasso is long dead, there won’t
ever be any more.

Now I’m not saying that you need to be dead
to have a great pricing strategy (that’s
a little counter-productive to the enjoyment
of owning a business).

…and no you don’t need to make just ONE
of something in order to make any money.

What you should try to do, is to give the
PERCEPTION of scarcity with your marketing.

When you price a product on the upper
scale of your market, you almost always put
yourself in the higher perceived value range,
just because you are up there.

If you don’t have the value to back it up,
you will never make the sale, but if you
raise your prices and add a ton of value,
all while mixing in some scarcity for your
product, you can make a ton of money.

…and have a lot of FUN along the way.

Try and think of some ways that you can add
scarcity to your own products and services.

I’d really like to hear about your ideas below
in the comments.

Leave a comment about a tip that you are using
in your own marketing to create scarcity and
fetch a higher price for your product or
service.

If you like that little tip and you really
want to know the whole enchilada (get it,
cinco de mayo) and get a huge pile of tips
and tricks to completely overhaul the way
you think about pricing in your business,

download the Ultimate Pricing Report here:
http://www.product-pricing-strategy.com

Until tomorrow,

Joshua Black

P.S. What’s your pricing strategy for your
small business? Leave a blog comment and let the
other Underdog Millionaires learn from you.

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

_________________________________________

3 Small Business Growth Secrets From a Karate Master

Joshua Black — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:16:25 +0000

It’s no secret that I am a martial artist,
but I rarely use that practice when giving
business advice.

So, I figured today I would get a little
Zen on you and weave a few secrets from
karate that will help you grow your small
business.

If you are fortunate enough to have a
karate teacher that is a real master, the
lessons extend way beyond just punching
people and learning how to defend yourself.

I am fortunate to have just that teacher,
so I will impart just a slice of that wisdom
today.

The martial arts way extends into the way
you live your life. It’s all the same.

You cannot have one life in battle and
another one at home.

This is a mistake that many people make,
thinking that they have one work life and
one family life.

…it’s all just one life and there are
things that you can do to grow your business
where you are also growing as a person at
the same time.

Here are 3 secrets that can help you grow:

1. When you reach the top (black belt) you
finally have the tools to BEGIN to really
learn about what you don’t know.

In business this is critical. When you start
out, you know nothing and everything is new.

However, once you become successful, that is
the time to really start to focus on the things
that you need to improve upon.

If you are not getting BETTER you are getting
WORSE.

2. The best defense is to not be there at all
when the attack comes.

In business, you need to develop a keen sense
of how to maintain your position so that no
one can take it away from you.

If you are not paying attention, you can drive
your company right into a situation where
your competition will see your weakness and
punch you in the porverbial gut and steal your
lunch money… or your entire business model.

3. The mirror is the best training tool.

In business you need to be able to stand back
and look at yourself with a very critical eye.

You need to be able to focus on the tiny
details where you might be missing something,
or a place where your customer service is lacking.

Every piece of your business is a REFLECTION
of you, so you have to maintain that critical
eye in order to improve and grow.

What do you think?

Were these tips helpful or did I get a little
too “woo woo” for you?

Let me know. I’m here to for you.

Until tomorrow,

Joshua Black

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

_________________________________________

5 Tips for Becoming a Small Business “Blacksmith”

Joshua Black — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:43:42 +0000

There was a day, just a few years ago
where if you wanted some bread you would
walk down to the baker and buy it.

If you wanted some meat, you went to the
butcher.

…and alas, if your horse has a flat
tire, you would go to the local blacksmith
and get a fancy new set of shoes.

Somewhere along the way all of that got
lost.

As consumers we got a little lazy and
as business owners we got a little greedy.

…and something weird happened.

We lost the craft, the ability to specialize
and REALLY help people by doing what we do
best.

Well, I’d like to put the craft back in the
craftsman/crafts-chick.

Of course you can’t go back to agricultural
times, or even the industrial age, but we
can become specialists.

We can become the absolute best we can be
in order to POSITION ourselves a tight spot
in our small business niche.

Here are 5 quick tips that you can use to
get your business back to a craftsman level
and it doesn’t matter what business you are
in. You can still be a craftsman:

1. Get a laser-focused niche market. Become
the public speaker for retired custodians, the
landscaper for lawyers, or the electrician to
the stars.

2. Create a unique selling proposition that
reflects that laser-sharp focus and tell your
prospects what you stand for.

Learn how to do that here:
http://www.ultimateUSPcreator.com

3. Never go for the brand extension becuse it
waters down the brand. Stand for something and
if you branch out to different products, brand
each one on its own.

4. Love what you do with the passion of someone
that can’t wait to start their day (the mark
of a true craftsman.

5. Never let your customers forget that you
are here to serve them. You do that with
sales letters.

…and you learn how to write awesome sales
letters here:

http://www.sales-letter-system.com
What do you do in your own business that
makes you a craftsman/crafts-chick?

Until tomorrow,

Joshua Black

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

_________________________________________

The Underdog Millionaire Blog » positioning

Why I No Longer Do Joint Ventures or Sell Affiliate Products

A Product Pricing Strategy Courtesy of Michael Jackson’s Glove

Pea-ing on Your Small Business… Part 2

Don’t Be Like Lady Gaga at a Yankees Game- Do This Instead…

The Quiet Art of Networking… No More Shooting Your Customers in The Face

Midwest Tornado Delivers Critical Small Business Tip

7 Insane Customer Magnets That Even My Dog Wouldn’t Touch

The Ultimate Pricing Strategy from Pablo Picasso

3 Small Business Growth Secrets From a Karate Master

1. When you reach the top (black belt) you finally have the tools to BEGIN to really learn about what you don’t know.

2. The best defense is to not be there at all when the attack comes.

3. The mirror is the best training tool.

5 Tips for Becoming a Small Business “Blacksmith”

1. When you reach the top (black belt) you
finally have the tools to BEGIN to really
learn about what you don’t know.

2. The best defense is to not be there at all
when the attack comes.