Steve and Tim LIVE – Day 1

Ok.  Time for the live blogging to start.  I’m going to try and blog about what’s going on.  Please note… I am paraphrasing here, and adding my own spins to what I’m talking home from this event.

Tuesday 6-22

9:00

Steve is talking about the Introduction and the winners of Dinner with Steve.

First, the bad news.  Tim couldn’t make it.  So, once again, we still aren’t sure if Tim exists… of if he’s just a figment of Steve’s imagination.  :)

9:30

Steve is talking about his story, the story of the Hermansen Brothers, Ricambi, FastFittings.com, etc.

He recommends watching the Randy Pausch video.  The Last Lecture.  You can find more details here:

http://www.cmu.edu/uls/journeys/randy-pausch/index.html

10:30

Break Time.  Going well.  Steve is lots of fun to watch in person.  He’s an excellent speaker, and uses humor well.

As Steve has commented on in the forums… What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas.  So I’m being careful about what I comment on here, and what I release to y’all.

One of the things Steve talked about earlier, was “Brick Walls”.  He uses the definition from Randy Pausch

Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people.
– Randy Pausch ( 1960-2008 )

There are 3 Fears that Steve mentions.

1. Fear of Failure
2. Fear of losing “security”
3. Fear of losing prestige, title, office, big head count, etc.

Another key point he mentioned was… You need to honestly assess your strengths and your weaknesses.  Having a weakness isn’t a problem.  But ignore that weakness is.  You either need to find a partner, or learn a skill.

Another key point Steve talked about… is.  Failure Doesn’t Matter! If you fail… do it again.  Amit M failed 17 times before he hit the 18th AdWords campaign that was profitable.  If he had quit after 10, or 12… or even 17.  He wouldn’t be successful today.

Bob Parsons (from GoDaddy.com) sums it up well: 

The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.

One very important item that Steve has stressed over and over again.  Get A Partner.  From the start.  Get yourself a partner.

11:05 – Introducing the Business Plan

1. The plan is flexible
2. Modify it to suit your needs.
3. Diversify your work.
4. Find a business partner (didn’t we already cover this?)

For the diversity…  SEM BB, e-commerce, affiliate sites, adsense sites and buying existing website that is making a profit.

12:10 – Lunch

Lunch was great.  Chicken, potatoes, seasonal vegetables (roasted), green salad, rolls and a caramel cheesecake.  I feel a food coma coming on!

1:05 – Continuing the business plan – going into more detail on parts of the plan (SEMBB and ecommerce)

What do I do when my PayPal fees are so much?

Check into another merchant account, such as Authorize.net, however don’t go cheapest.. you need a quality merchant account.  Don’t bargain shop for one.

When do you create a 2nd store in the same niche?

It depends on the market.  Selling Bird Cages – one store.  “2 door bird cages” – probably not worth having a second store.

Ferarri parts – specific parts for the Ferarri F355 – Makes sense to have it’s own store catered specifically to the F355 customers.

Book recommendation from Steve: Advanced Google AdWords

2:45 – Secrets of Suppliers, Wholesalers and Drop Shippers – By Tracy

Tracy gave and Excellent talk on how to find suppliers, and how to take your e-commerce business to the next level.

Alas, I can’t reveal all of them… but it was good.

One of her points, was about finding a supplier.  She recommended contacting them first via email.  Then follow that up 24 hours later via a phone call.  It makes a HUGE difference in getting approved.

Don’t limit yourself.  As you grow, you may want to start keeping stock in inventory.  You can get inventory at discounts, and when your sales are high enough, you can hire someone to do your product fulfillment.  Yes, it’s not drop-shipping so much… but it may be the next logical step for your business.

3:15 – Back to more business plan ideas

Covering Buying Websites (cool concept, hard to find the sites, but pretty fail-safe if you follow Steve’s formula).  Also covering Affiliate Marketing.  Much of the info covered can be found in the various courses (such as CB2, NB2 and IMA), but the plans are streamlined to be making $100k profit in 6 months time.

Steve recommends using Escrow.com to handle the payments for purchasing the website.  You typically split the fees.  Very useful for handling the payment process.

Steve also covered AdSense websites too.  We are running a bit overtime, so we are putting the Info Product creation off until tomorrow.  Q&A is now in session.

The questions are pretty good.  Lots of common questions from various customers.  The nice thing is, they are questions that many of us have… rarely are the questions hyper-specific to a customer.

Of course… Steve generally gets cornered on the breaks, so I think many folks are asking their specific questions then.

5:30 – We’re done!

Day 1 is done.  Next step, is to eat some dinner, do a bit of souvenir shopping, and then go see Cirque du Soleil (the Ka show) with my wife, Brett and his wife, and Honey.  Should be fun!

Day 2 can be found here:  Steve and Tim LIVE – Day 2

Many of the tools and courses necessary for the Business Plan options can be found in The IM Advantage program from Steve and Tim.