Curt here :)

"What if"

Powerful words. Words that have led to every great innovation known to mankind. 

Henry Ford said "what if". 

Madam Curie said "what if".

Steve Jobs said "what if".

And now it's your turn. Your turn to transform your "what if" into something real. Something tangible. 

And it all starts with this ...

Thanks,

Give Yourself A Fighting Chance

You have the desire, the need, and the will.

What you need now is a fighting chance!

Are you ready to give yourself a fighting chance to succeed online? 

Are you ready to break free of the things holding you back and get
real clarity on what it takes to make it online?

If you answered yes, keep reading.

This is written for you!

Have you ever wondered why some people succeed wildly while others,
 with just as much drive and ambition, never seem to “break through” and achieve their dreams?

I have and have been blessed enough to know people on both sides of the situation. 

I know people who make thousands a day on autopilot. 

I also know people who work hard, want success 
with all their might and yet never seem to really get traction.

This weekend I spent some time thinking about this and came
 up with a few major reasons why people in the second group
 (those who struggle) are not YET in the first group (those who prosper). 

Please notice, I said they are not there YET. 

That is because I truly believe that anyone can succeed
 online if they follow a proven path, work hard and give
themselves time to succeed. I'm living it.

I have seen too many people break through to believe
 it’s just “luck” or “contacts” or being in the right place at the right time. 

Success is a formula. This is mine.


1 – A RELIABLE PLATFORM

If people can’t find you they can’t buy from you. 
This is true in the offline world and the online world too.

When I say “platform” I mean this –
 a home base where people can learn about you,
 get real help and find out about the products you sell or recommend. 

When I say “reliable” I mean this –
 the URL you promote today is the
 same URL you will be promoting 3 or 5 or 9 YEARS from now. 

My home base, my platform, is curtisfutch.info
 I can tell people to go to that site and find all that I do and offer. 

Simple … and very effective.

Far too many today are relying on other people for their platform. 

They choose social media as their platform,
 not realizing that some Millennial somewhere
 in California can wake up in a bad mood and put them out of business. 

If you doubt that is true consider the changes 
that Facebook, Google, and Microsoft alone have 
put their customers through in the last few years. 

Here is one of my favorite sayings about how important it is to OWN your platform.

When you build your house on rented land it’s the OWNER of the land who calls the shots. 

So avoid this mistake the quick and easy way. 
Have your own self-hosted WordPress blog and 
be the master of your own domain. 

Your own Platform – one you control – is step 1 in your journey.


2 – A SPECIFIC GOAL

Zig Ziglar used to say “You can’t hit a goal you can’t see”. Wise words. 

Far too many are wanting to “make money” online or “succeed” online. 
But they never stop to define what that means. 

They just want it. 

Take time today – even 15 minutes will do – and really think and pray
 (if you pray) about what succeeding online means for you. 

Does it mean …

• Making an extra $300 a month so you can pay off some bills?
• Earning your first $1000 online?
• Replacing the job you lost a year ago?
• Working from home because your health will not allow you to hold any other job? (That is how I started online)
• Making a fortune so you can leave your kids better off than you were when you began?
• Giving money to charities you support, feeding the hungry, bringing water to a village without a well? 

WHAT your goal is matters less than the fact that you have a goal. 

A specific goal with a specific deadline. 

Last thing – Do write it down. The power of a written goal simply cannot be overstated. 


3 – A HEART TO SERVE

In life, we ultimately get what we give. 

We give love, we get love. We smile at a stranger and get a smile in return (most of the time). 

Our acts of kindness come back to us in many ways. 

Some call this the Law of Reciprocity while others say this is how God made the world.

The bottom line for your business is this – you will succeed only when you are serving others. 

That could be a blog, or it could be promoting helpful products 
or it could be becoming a coach or consultant. 

But ultimately you are going to need to share with others to get what you want. 

When I say this to people they often say “Who am I? I don’t have anything to share?”

My reply is always the same. 

“You have SO MUCH MORE to share than you think!”

I could give you 1000 examples of this but will only share one for the sake of brevity. 

A client of mine had a recipe for baking a specific type of bread. 

He was passionate about it and the bread was healthy (yes, there are such things). 

But he did not know how to sell it online. So I helped him. 

In a few short months, he had orders rolling in on auto-pilot. Life was getting better. 

His goal was to make a few hundred dollars a month selling the recipe and to do it in an automated way. 

When we exceeded that goal he wanted to keep going. 

So we started selling kits of ingredients, starter packs and more. 

Did he get filthy stinking rich doing this? Nope. 

But he made great money (thousands per month) on autopilot for a very long time. 

And he built a list of prospects AND buyers so he could help them with great content
 by email (this was before blogs) and sell them more things too. 

Now think about this for a moment – here is A MAN WITH A RECIPE 
for baking a healthy and delicious bread and NO IDEA how to sell it online. 

But he had a GOAL. And that goal led him to seek out the help he needed and to take action on the direction he was provided. 

I’m willing to bet you have FAR more than a bread recipe going for you. 4 – THE RIGHT METHODS

If we were sitting at the same desk and I asked you what it took to succeed online I’ll bet you could tell me. 

Even if you have not put a system together in your own life you likely know what is needed. 

See if any of this sounds familiar?

You need to …

• Promote great products. 
• Define who is your ideal buyer. (Your avatar)
• Have a blog and post to it.
• Create a lead magnet.
• A product of your own so you can keep ALL the money.
• Do content marketing wherever you reasonably can.
• Have a squeeze page to build your list.
• Build that mailing list!
• Have an email follow up system. 
• Learn to advertise. 

Are any of those things you have heard before?

Of course they are! 

We all get sick of hearing them … until we begin to DO them. 

And then we see that they work. 

And then we wish we had started sooner. 

And that is THE moment where we are tempted to wallow. To regret. To beat ourselves up and feel like we missed our chance. 

So HERE is my message to you today. 

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE PAST DOES NOT MATTER TODAY

Last night really did end at midnight and today really is a brand new day. (Another Ziglar saying)

So what does that mean in the real world?

It means this – there is a proven process. 

You have been exposed to it already. 

You see it work for online marketers and other businesses who are doing it right. 

But you might not be doing it yet.

If not, don’t worry. TODAY is the day of new beginnings! 

So do this – take ONE of the things on the list above and do it today. Do the best you can do. 

That’s all you can do. Don’t compare yourself to others. 

And then do the same thing tomorrow. 
And then the next day. And don’t stop until you have done them all. 

Not sure where to start? 

Start with your platform … your blog. 

Having a home base is the first step.
Be sure to get one and then make it profitable as quickly as you can. 

It is SO much easier than you might think. 

5 – FOCUS

When I worked with Bob Allen on the Multiple Streams
 of Internet Income book we spoke by phone a few times. 

What I took away from those calls was his intense focus. 

To be candid, I was not used to that much intensity.
 I’m a Southern man and we are used to a little chit-chat before getting to the point. 

Not Bob.

He would often lead with “why are we talking today?” 

Now understand, he said it very pleasantly. He was kind. But he was focused. 

If I needed help with the project he was all over it. 

If our conversation about the project was over, so was the call. 

Not in a rude way – I want to be clear – but in a focused way. 

In working with other high achievers I have since learned
that this is not uncommon. They have goals. Clear goals. 

They have a real sense of the limited amount of time we all have to achieve our dreams. 

And they are focused. 

What might that mean for you? Here are a few ideas. 

• Check email once per day. Once. 
• Get on Facebook once per day. 
• Turn off all notifications on your phone, iPad, etc. 
• Write down the ONE thing you must get done today and do it before you do anything else. (Writing this article is mine).
• Work fixed hours and make sure to plan in some relaxation too. 

Simple but highly effective. 

So there you have my list. I hope you find it helpful.
Life presents us with SO many choices and distractions.
As the saying goes “1000 channels on TV and nothing to watch”. 

Make sure to put first things first in your life. 

If you are serious about succeeding online work at it like your life depends on it. 

If you are just “trying out” this working online thing consider
 finding a much more enjoyable (and less expensive) hobby. 

I believe you can accomplish ANYTHING you want if you have a clear goal,
a heart to serve others, use proven methods and never give up. 

And when you do those things, you will be living your best life indeed!

Check me out @ curtisfutch.com