I have seen a lot of clients in my 7 years as a web developer and web educator… about 300, I am guessing.

Many came to me after taking some multi-thousand dollar “internet marketing coaching program”.  Very few of them recovered their investment.  I want to share their story with you.

99% of “internet marketing coaching programs” will try and fit you in a box… a box that has worked for the creator of the program… and then they give you 1000 things to do, but you fail at even the first thing, and by the time you realize this you are either past the refund deadline or you are too embarrassed and ashamed to ask for your money back.

The reality, which you know as well as I do, is that there is no formula for “making money online”… unless having a good product, good marketing, and a good sales and follow-up platform counts as a “formula”.

In addition, most of these programs try and teach you to become an “internet information marketer” (i.e., to sell digital products).  This is a sweet spot to be in if you can pull it off, but very few have figured that one out.

So here are two (relatively) simple ways to “win” on the internet

(we’ll revisit “internet information marketing” at the end, humor me)

The first way to “win” on the internet is to start with what we call a “passion business” (a hobby really), you want to reach a wider audience for your ideas, build a community, promote a cause, maybe a simple cause but an important one, like making your own baby food (this is a real example).

You may or not ever make any money at it, but if you are having fun, who cares?   Most of us begin there.  And if you don’t begin there, where can you begin?

Millions of otherwise very talented people are frozen at this early stage.  And it’s sad because this is actually the easiest part of building a web business: your sales and follow-up platform.  It’s what you learn in my 14 hour course.

The second way to “win” on the internet is only slightly more difficult:  you have an existing business that is already generating revenue, and you want to grow it, get a steady source of leads, or increase your rates and visibility.  This also I can help you with, 100%.

Your chances are very good with this second method.  It is much easier to grow an already successful business, than to start one from scratch.  Especially on the internet.

If you get that, you are ahead of most of the people who are trying to make money online.

But let’s move on, and assume that you are “going for gold” and you really do want to become an “internet information marketer”.  You know the risks but you just aren’t settling for anything less than passive-income, time freedom,  and location-independence.  Tim Ferriss has lit a fire in your soul that no common-sense can quench.

Well more power to you, because you are in a for a ride.

Remember the three factors:  (1) Good product, (2) Good marketing, (3) Good sales and follow-up platform.

You still need a good product.  I am not certain that I, or anyone else, can teach you that.  It needs to come from your creative genius.

But I can tell you this (and I will back it up with a real case study): it doesn’t need to cost you a fortune.  The real cost is your time and energy.

The case study is WP Academy

Check out my development server:

http://dev.wpacademy.tv/  (a development server means our work-in-progress)

This site cost me less than $1000.

The video trailer I had done for $50 on Fiverr (the guy who did it is for hire).

My point is this:  for $1000 (plus 2 years of blood, sweat and tears), I have created from my genius.

What is your genius?

Do you want to find out?

I can’t teach you your genius (and maybe it has nothing to do with the internet, which is cool).

But I know that if you don’t get started, you won’t find out.

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