“Ya, that’s why they send me, I am expert.”

by Andy Jenkins on April 2, 2010

This is what I mean by "Show AND Tell" - Tell 'em you're the expert... then SHOW 'em!

I always wanted to open an email with a quote from “The Big Lebowski”, but I’m sad because today I have to tell you about a couple of things I regret.

1. I regret that there wasn’t a course like this available to me when I was much younger, because I could have been walking the primrose path instead of hacking through the jungle with a machete half my life:

https://burchardgroup.infusionsoft.com/go/ExpertAcademyVideo1/ajenkins

2. I regret that I am telling you about the link above so late that this offer is probably closed right now. Sorry about that – but to make up for it, I’m going to write a newsletter instead. :)

(And Note: You should still get on his waiting list – I did.)

A lot of people might look back on the long list of “work I did in order to get money” and have a hard time calling that a “career”. Heck, I would too.

Video Editor, e-Commerce store owner, SEO Consultant, Teacher, Info-marketer… It doesn’t all really seem to have a common thread, but if I had to NAME a “career” for myself…

I’d have to say I’ve made a career out of being an “expert”.

Time and again, I’ve invested my time and personality into one activity or other in order to become not just GOOD at it, but an EXPERT.

I’m a passionate guy I guess, what can I say? When I’m into something, I get WAY into it – and I know a lot of other entrepreneurs are that way, too.

And that expertise has rewarded me in tons of ways – accolades, a sense of accomplishment, and of course, the income I needed to live the lifestyle I always wanted.

However, I think it took me FAR too long to realize that my EXPERIENCE, my EXPERTISE itself was of humongous value to other people who needed this info.

After all, there are folks who didn’t have the drive or passion or TIME that I did, but who could still massively benefit from what I’d taken the effort to figure out. That’s when I got into TEACHING.

And I have to tell you, I love HELPING people more than anything else I do. Even though everything I teach was learned in order to grow my own businesses, my favorite part is perfecting it and teaching it to others.

And that’s why I regret that there wasn’t a guy like Brendon Burchard around earlier, AND that the best you can do (for now) is get on his waiting list.

https://burchardgroup.infusionsoft.com/go/ExpertAcademyVideo1/ajenkins

And admittedly, that’s a little weird of me to do – BAD MARKETING and all that.

So here are the TOP 3 THINGS you can do RIGHT NOW
in order to start leveraging your expertise to HELP OTHERS.

If you know how to do something, ANYTHING well – you can probably find a way online to get paid teaching other people what you know.

1. Start a blog. Duh. A blog is where you can put yourself out there for discovery by new fans, and start interacting with your existing ones. Start writing about what you KNOW.

This is the foundation of everything else, so don’t just WRITE about your expertise, but get on the video bandwagon and DEMONSTRATE it, too. It’s not “show, don’t tell” anymore.

In the video age, it’s “show AND tell”. And remember, just the fact that you’ve MADE a bunch of videos about your topic is enough to convince people you’re the obvious expert.

2. Start a list: Duh. Get people to subscribe to your information in as many ways as possible – your blog’s got RSS, and you need to get some list management software so you can collect email addresses.

If you can’t think of stuff to mail, just email your blog posts. I do it all the time – works great! :) The reason you really want to get into people’s inboxes is because it’s a context of trust.

You should be putting your best stuff on your blog, and since the context of email is a lot stronger for influencing people, I can’t see why MORE people don’t deliver great content directly to the inboxes of their followers.

3. USE THEM! How many people have I seen and heard from that actually get started and set up the technical sides of Step 1 and 2 and then just GIVE UP? (Answer: tons, sadly.)

Listen, it’s going to be slow going to build up an audience at first, but you’re rolling a snowball down a hill. It’s going to pick up momentum, and at some point, you won’t be able to stop it if you tried.

Find other blogs in your niche (hopefully written by other experts) and comment there, offer to write guest articles, write ABOUT them and link over from your site.

These connections will pay off and you’ll be building an audience in no time, and you’re well on your way to becoming a legendary (and sought after) expert.

About Brendon’s “Expert Academy” lifetime training: You can get on the waiting list for this if you want to wait for a shortcut: https://burchardgroup.infusionsoft.com/go/ExpertAcademyVideo1/ajenkins

But if you get started with 1, 2, 3 above – you’ll have a head start when it opens again. Who knows where I’d be right now if someone could have taught ME this stuff way back.

I’d probably be typing this from my imperial palace on the MOON! But you know, California’s REAL nice, too. It pays to be an expert, I guess. :)

Until next time,
Andy “Oblivious Expert” Jenkins

P.S. What’s stopping you from building an audience of followers based on what you are already an expert at? Is it time, fear, laziness… ninjas? Let me know in the comments!

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The Dungeon Master’s Guide to e-Commerce (and Orcs)

by Andy Jenkins on March 25, 2010

Allow us to take a lackadaisical ride on my back-in-the-day-cycle. In the mid 80s, I was… a geek. Make that a capital “GEEK”.

On the weekends, my geeky buddies and I would huddle around an old cup-stained oak table in the dusty basement of my house with pencils, graph paper, little hand-painted figurines, and funky shaped dice.

That’s right, folks. We played Dungeons and Dragons… and I was The “Dungeon Master“. For those who never played D&D, you know how kids these days have the X-box and the PS3?

In those ancient, far away 80s, we didn’t have those game-o-ma-bobs. Back in the day, we needed the geekiest kid to pretend to BE the video game, so all the other kids could play.

That was me. My job was to describe everything in the game so everyone else could “see” the imaginary monsters and the treasure you found after kicking them to pieces.

PS3 had nothing on me, boss. :D

Now even though it sounds kinda weird, playing D&D in-and-of- itself wasn’t what made me a geek…

What makes me a geek is that when I get into something, I get WAY WAY into it. Almost unhealthy-like. Those afternoons spent pretending to be knights and dragons and wizards led to my fascination with real-world Medieval History.

Fast forward to the LATE 80s when I declared a minor in Medieval Studies. My friends in my Film classes thought I was just as geeky as those high school “cool” kids did.

After all - what good is all that useless knowledge of swords and armor in today’s super duper future internet world, right?

I made my first million dollars from selling replica swords and armor from my Medieval Replica and Fantasy Weapons e- Commerce Store. And it made me feel… generous.

I made a list of everyone I could remember who had joked about my lifelong preoccupation with swords and sorcery. And sent every one of them a shiny new hardcover copy of…

The Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide.

How do you think they like me now? It doesn’t say “Dungeon Dummy“… it says “Dungeon MASTER!” :D

Heh. Okay, enough storytelling for today – let’s talk BID-NESS.

When I first opened www.A2armory.com almost 10 years ago, things were SOOO much less complicated than they are now.

We carried NO Inventory, because everything that we sold was shipped directly from the distributor – so, when we got an order, we just let the drop-shipper do the work.

Writing product copy was pretty easy, too. I mean, I was already pretty experienced at describing awesome magical swords in language that spoke to the geek-at-heart.

But to be honest, I hardly had to use it. Due to some lucky timing, pop culture made “swords and junk” a hot commodity right when I was really hitting my stride.

“Hey, this sword is from The Lord of the Rings Movies. It’s called Sting and glows blue if there are nasty Orcs around. You already know how bad-ass it is, so… Visa or MasterCard?“

And all the pictures came from the manufacturer, so, that was like, copy paste done.

And basically, every time the distributor released a new product, WE released a new product – so it didn’t require much imagination or any fabricated reasons to run a “Sale”.

Yet, to this day, that little $50 a month Yahoo store was the first business anyone ever offered big money to buy from me (Mid-Six Figures).

The answer was “NAY, GOOD SIR!”

Even better, that little store is STILL ranked ALL over the place in Google, Yahoo, BING, sponging up all that free traffic.

And because an e-Commerce Store is surrounded by like-themed pages, the quality scores in AdWords are always 7+. And it still makes BANK - Each and every day.

Even though I’ve been-there, done-that, moved-on when it comes to setting up e-Commerce stores, I’m still a huge fan of the business model. And I think it’s GREAT for a lot of beginners.

Here’s WHY: ‘Cause it makes us focus and really work on the ONE thing that us entrepreneurs need to really MASTER – the skills needed to MARKET the HELL out of something.

Think about it – isn’t that where you’ve gotten jammed up in the past?

What product you’re gonna make, how you’re gonna make it, where can you get it made, what is the Unique Selling Proposition, what is the branding, what’s it called, blah blah blah blah…

I think the reason I took to e-Commerce so well is because all it really made me do was MARKET someone else’s already proven product.

Like I said, it didn’t take much to sell a Lord of The Rings Fan a Lord of the Rings Sword. People that searched for Medieval Weapons and found my store, too.

Right below WikiPedia on the first page of Google. Ended up bringing some pretty qualified prospects – cause believe it or not, that kind of search just don’t happen by accident.

Looking back, it was a GREAT way for me to start my Online Adventure, and lets be honest, I owe it a lot of props. Everything I learned there has led to what I’ve done after.

My first ever eBook was all about Yahoo Stores, the first money I ever invested in a Feature Film came from the profits of my e-Commerce business.

E-Commerce taught me conversion, it taught me SEO, PPC - it basically taught me almost all of the skillz I needed to prosper and thrive online…

…and I got PAID to do it. Paid *Well*, I might add. (Like a MASTER!) :)

So, I wonder if you’re trying to figure out where you should start? Getting caught up in the details, and not getting to the part where you DO marketing, and thereby get GOOD at marketing?

Maybe you’re like me, and e-Commerce will help you get out of your own way, and quit *pretending* to be a hero and score mad loot. You can do it in real life. You REALLY can.

Check this out: http://mixiv.com/vp/87367/22613/

There was NOTHING like that when I started. If there had been, I wouldn’t even have NEEDED such a strong passion to hit the ground running. I could have picked something and got right to it.

Who knows, maybe there was something even MORE profitable than sharp metal sticks. I guess I’ll never know… but YOU can find out. Try it. It worked for ME! :D

http://mixiv.com/vp/87367/22613/

Andy “Natural 20″ Jenkins

P.S. As “geeky” a reputation D&D has, I didn’t just play the game, but I couldn’t help but study info-marketing too. No lie!

D&D had its own line of info products (rules), a back-end (more rules), conventions, merchandise – even its own dedicated monthly publication! Sound familiar?

Maybe I should go to Hollywood and try to get Video Boss made into a Saturday morning cartoon! :D But that’s where I am NOW.

Where I STARTED, where I could have STOPPED and RETIRED (if it was in my nature)… was e-Commerce, done pretty much just like this:

http://mixiv.com/vp/87367/22613/

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Failure is just a test result away from success

by Andy Jenkins on March 22, 2010

Ready... Fire! WAIT! No, Aim... Ready... WAIT! FIRE! No, wait...

If you attended the webinar I had with Frank Kern last week, you may have heard me say this, but I think it bears repeating:

“Failure is just a test result.”

I try to think that everything in business (and life in general) is a test of one kind of another. Meaning that if you don’t get the outcome you were trying for:

1. Think of a possible reason why it didn’t work.

2. Implement a test that eliminates that possible reason and try again.

3. If it didn’t work, go back to 1.

I guess that’s just my usual “maximum verbosity” way of saying “Practice makes perfect.” :D One of my heroes said it best:

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Thomas A. Edison

Now, as much as I love that attitude, I have to admit that I’d *rather not* have to fail *10,000 times* in order to find something that works. There’s got to be a better way, right?

It turns out that we actually use Alternating Current (AC) to power the most of the modern world, contrary to Edison’s designs. AC was actually championed by Edison’s biggest rival, Nikola Tesla.

And in fact, Tesla actually worked for Edison early on and thought his trial-and-error process was B.S. too.

“If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search.

I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.”

Yeah! Now we’re onto something. If I can eliminate 90% of my work by applying a little theory and calculation, that means I only need to fail 1000 times. THAT’S do-able.

It might sound like a lot, but consider that with the internet, you can spend $100 on AdWords and get 1000 clicks to test nearly ANYTHING.

Failure online is a LOT cheaper than it was for Edison to try to make light bulb filaments out of every element known to man.

So how did Tesla do it?

“My method is different. I do not rush into actual work. When I get a new idea, I start at once building it up in my imagination, and make improvements and operate the device in my mind.

When I have gone so far as to embody everything in my invention, every possible improvement I can think of, and when I see no fault anywhere, I put into concrete form the final product of my brain.”

Man, wouldn’t THAT be awesome? There’s just ONE little problem. Tesla was dealing with harnessing little particles called electrons.

They move according to entirely predictable laws of physics and electromagnetism. So any electrical engineer can make a
*pretty good* guess about how they’re going to behave.

That’s the whole reason it’s even possible to harness electricity at all, and how we use it to keep the lights burning and wheels turning across the globe.

But as marketers, we deal with a much more UNPREDICTABLE force: human nature. If electrons were as unreliable as people, we’d still be cooking on wood burning stoves by candle- light.

The fact is, when you’re dealing with homosapiens like us, you don’t know ANYTHING until you do live testing. You can use the best theories and make a good GUESS, but you can’t ever truly predict.

Every single launch I do surprises me in at least some small way. BUT I learn a little more each time and that informs how I do the NEXT launch. And guess what? I do better EACH time.

That’s why I hereby recommend to you the hybridized Edison/Tesla/Jenkins method for solving the problems you find in your business.

You’ve got to be like Edison and be ready to test stuff right away and either proceed or fail and move on. But you want to waste as little time as possible, so you need to plan ahead like Tesla.

However: If you spend TOO MUCH time in the planning phase, it can make it hard to identify exactly why it’s failing because you’ve over-thought things. That’s why you need BOTH!

Get WHATEVER it is you’re testing in front of REAL prospects and customers as soon as possible. See how they react, then use your noodle, think of something to test and then adjust accordingly.

MAD SCIENTIST DEGREES NOT REQUIRED:

Now, all this talk of electricity and eccentric geniuses and entrepreneurs might make it seem like a big convoluted procedure you need to go through to test like this.

It’s actually REALLY easy.

You just take the time to INTERACT with your prospects, add value to their lives, and try to make em better every single time you talk to them.

Then, every once in a while, if you have an idea to bounce of them and test out, you can just ASK and they are HAPPY to help. For example:

If you feel like you’re failing, or you feel like you can’t fail frequently or fast ENOUGH: leave me a comment below to share your thoughts.

Until next time,
Andy

P.S. If you have just one takeaway from this newsletter, remember that what feels like a failure can really be just one minor tweak away from lasting success. How lasting?

http://www.centennialbulb.org/photos.htm

That’s a webcam where you can watch a light bulb from Edison’s time that’s been operating for 109 YEARS! Answer me this: If they can make them last that long, why don’t they ALL last that long? Conspiracy? Tell me in the comments below.

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I agree with SCIENCE: Multi-tasking is multi-failing

by Andy Jenkins on March 16, 2010

You ever find yourself unable to recall whether you remembered to do that thing you needed to do? You remember starting, but you can’t remember finishing. (Confession: this happened to me TWICE this week… so far!)

Shame on me!

This is just a symptom of a terrible disease that infects all of us serial entrepreneur types. It’s a trap that’s so subtle, we almost never see it. Ask yourself this:

Do you think that multi-tasking is not only *possible* but that you are *good* at it?

Fact: You’re wrong. I read this article a while back and dang if it hasn’t been unpleasantly stuck in my craw since then – I’m anxious to hear what you think, too:

http://chronicle.com/article/Scholars-Turn-Their-Attention/63746/

I used to *think* I was good at juggling 4 or 5 things at once because when I did, I *felt* like I had accomplished a lot.

But science is proving over and over that that *feeling* of increased accomplishment is nothing more than an ILLUSION.

Juggling is hard work. It FEELS like you have been busy – but once you stop juggling, you’re in the identical state that you were when you started. Juggling doesn’t advance ANYTHING.

But WHY are we so easily able to fool ourselves? We should be SMARTER than that, right?

It turns out that’s partly due to biology and evolution. Our brains are BIOLOGICALLY capable of paying attention to FAR MORE information than our memory is capable of recording or processing.

That’s because when you’re subject to the law of the jungle, you have to constantly search for threats, but 90% of the time, whatever catches your eye turns out to be nothing.

So the brain is BUILT to save your internal memory from remembering unimportant stuff and once you eliminate it from your vision, it disappears from your brain forever.

The problem is, when you multi-task, you can’t help but spread your attention WAY too thin. Memory and imagination require a LOT of processing power.

But Attention takes a lot of braincells too, and since it’s “older” in evolutionary terms, it gets preference over the more advanced parts of the brain.

You don’t use any LESS brain power – those brain cells are blazing at lightning speed, so you FEEL like you’re THINKING. But you won’t actually LEARN anything.

It might make more sense if you compare brain power to muscle power – you could use your muscles to say, build a shed in your backyard – OR you could run laps around the block.

BOTH would fatigue you, and your body would tell you that both tasks FEEL identical. But on one hand, you’ve accomplished something. On the other hand, all you’ve done is waste energy.

That’s not to say multi-tasking is ALWAYS wrong.

There’s just too much to get done with too little resources for us to NEVER try to do 2 things at once. But the key is in being selective.

If you’re doing “BUSY WORK”, you don’t have to occupy your big old brain. :) Mindless tasks SHOULD be multi-tasked.

But whenever you’re DEVELOPING your business, give it your FULL attention.

Any time you’re doing something NEW or trying to LEARN, you CANNOT multi-task and expect to absorb ANYTHING meaningful.

But it’s ultimately up to YOU to sort your workload properly.

And this is not just my opinion, but it is scientific FACT. Lab coats were involved. They might even have used beakers and Bunsen burners. And the metric system, too!

:D

But seriously, resist the temptation – fight the bad habits. Entrepreneurs like us really DO think differently than most folks…

But that doesn’t mean we have brains that are magically different. Just like computer hardware, there are limitations on what we can ACTUALLY do, and we’re not always the best judge.

Do yourself a favor.

Until the end of THIS month, when you are doing something you need to LEARN, turn off your cellphone, disconnect the wifi, and find a quiet, still place to consume that info.

See how much better you do, how much more you get done without distraction, and then come over to the blog and thank me. :)

NOTE: If this idea makes you *uncomfortable* then you NEED to do this exercise the WORST! URGENTLY! Because you’re addicted to that illusion of accomplishment, and it’s holding you back.

I promise you, it’s HURTING your business, and it’s HURTING your potential for success.

Until next time, CONQUER through FOCUS!
Andy

P.S. I know some of you are just itching to argue with me, but if you read the article here how do YOU interpret it? I had my doubts, but I’ve changed my mind.

Are you magic and can truly multi-task? Or have you fallen into this trap, too? Please share your thoughts here on the blog!

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I’d like to show you how NOT to build a list

March 6, 2010

Don’t you hate when this happens?: You see well-done sales letter or slick and pretty sales video… It’s WORKING. You’re reading or watching, you’re into it, and then BAM – you’re distracted with an Opt-In Form. WHY OH WHY would the seller do that? They’re driving traffic to a place where they’re trying to close [...]

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Shawn White Snowboards His Way To List Building Gold?

March 2, 2010

Did you watch the Winter Olympics? I watched the snowboarding competition for the first time this year and got to see Shawn White get his second consecutive gold on the half-pipe. And that’s why I want to talk to you today about list building. And no, I didn’t hit my head snowboarding or anything (not [...]

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If I had to start over from scratch…

February 24, 2010

People have asked me this question a LOT over the years I’ve been teaching online business: If you had to start all over from scratch, what would you do? Well, I’ve got a really good answer now, and I actually did the whole thing in public over the course of the past several months. After [...]

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Traffic Boss: Your Videos + Viewers = Sales. Instructions Inside.

February 12, 2010

You ever wonder why that wonderful independent film you love lost money and flopped, while that boring lame-fest movie you hated is breaking record after record at the box office? Hint: It’s NOT a matter of taste. You can go straight to Video Boss Part 3: “Traffic Boss” right now and find out what it [...]

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Did Google Waste 3 Mil on The Super Bowl Ad?

February 9, 2010

How ’bout them Saints? Nothing like a good comeback story, eh? As if it wasn’t exciting enough to watch an underdog upset, there was a moment during Sunday’s broadcast where I actually got tears in my eyes like a big ole’ baby. It wasn’t the game (After editing like a gazillion shows for NFL Films, [...]

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My Secret Video Creation Forumla is Free Today

February 7, 2010

Hiya, folks. Actually, I want to pull a Bruce Lee and scream “HIIIIIYA!” Because the 800+ comments on Part 1 of the Video Boss series have been so butt-kicking, I’m ready to go for a second round, and this time I’m not pulling any punches. http://www.thevideoboss.com/little-boss Today, we get started. All you need to do [...]

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