Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

[dking]

I'm posting this in "getting started" because I seem to be failing at it.

Its been 1 day shy of 2 weeks since I was laid off from the job that had a 8 hour daily commute. In that time I have devoted all the energy I can to putting together muses, planning them out, working with elance to attempt to farm them out,

Here is my status:
1. My own attempts to do everything myself - website, etc - are not getting any traffic. I don't know why.
2. My attempts to find VA's willing to do the work is failing after I select them and we agree on what needs to be done. I have sent several status update requests and gotten nothing back.
3. My attempts to use AskSunday to get simple, 20min or less tasks I planned out far in advance is not working because AskSunday cant seem to do its job.
4. I had to stop pumping money into muses due to the fact I have no income right now.
5. I'm being told by recruiters that if I want to go back to work and feed my family, I have to go back to the 8 hour commute to work at the same global software giant at 2/3 my previous pay because "nobody else is hiring".

My audio version of 4hww from iTunes was deleted in a freak accident a week ago; I cant read the printed copy I have due to my lack of eye sight, so I cant use it to check and see whats next. I'm not sure what to do next. Can anybody give me an idea of what the book says to do? Or just give me some advice?

I'm not looking for a handout.

[MJH]

Ok, Personally I would focus on No 1, Why your existing web site isn't getting any traffic. Solve that and it will hopefully help with 4 and 5 :)

Do you have access to the web log files? I find them an excellent source of information about exactly what is happening on your web site from the paths that your potential customers take to identifying competitors burning your Google Adwords clicks. (I've used log files entries as evidence in the past to get a refund from Google).

Are you not not getting many visitors to the site or are are the visitors you do get not making a purchase? Can you post a link to the site?

Happy to help with advice on analysing your log files.

[Stallion]

1. My own attempts to do everything myself - website, etc - are not getting any traffic. I don't know why.
Building a website and getting traffic to it are two different tasks.

2. My attempts to find VA's willing to do the work is failing after I select them and we agree on what needs to be done. I have sent several status update requests and gotten nothing back.
I haven't started with a VA yet (Starting Monday). I can't relate, but I may after Monday (lol). What do you have them doing? And what do you tell them to do(instructions)?

3. My attempts to use AskSunday to get simple, 20min or less tasks I planned out far in advance is not working because AskSunday cant seem to do its job.
Fire them.

4. I had to stop pumping money into muses due to the fact I have no income right now.
If you're doing anything with ebooks and stuff that doesn't require shipping, than you can continue on very cheaply if you want. You just have to understand that results will come at a much slower pace. There are definitely ways to get it to work. I decided to go down the road of affiliate marketing before I decided to go after a muse. I wanted to learn to sell, but I also learned the tactics of driving traffic and getting quality for free.

5. I'm being told by recruiters that if I want to go back to work and feed my family, I have to go back to the 8 hour commute to work at the same global software giant at 2/3 my previous pay because "nobody else is hiring".
I'm not sure where you live, but you can always find work, even if you make it yourself. I'm not talking about muses here because this would require your own physical labor. Walk people's dogs, do people's taxes, etc.

I think the book suggested in these situations that you can always cut expenses and find a way to get bye. If you really want too.

I know you've been burned by outsourcers and well hearing some of the horror stories I avoided them. I'm slowly easing into one just because the only way to automate my affiliate marketing income is to outsource the very work I do. I'm hoping that will make my descriptions to the outsourcer more concrete on what I want.

Just start cutting back on expenses, hold onto your webhosting and do the work yourself. You sound like you're almost there anyway. The process is getting traffic now and there are plenty of free ways to get quality traffic, like article marketing. Once you get the traffic, it is only a matter of time before someone buys.

[kamakiri]

I think that most self produced web sited are pretty much crap. If you want to design web sites, then be a web designer. If you want to make money, then make money. As was mentioned earlier building a site and getting traffic are 2 different things. If you Build it they will come only ever worked for Kevin Costner.

If you want some advice, then get your business plan up here on the forums or mail it off to a few of us. As I am sure you know, I'd be happy to tell you what you are doing wrong.

And lastly, why would you outsource anything? Time is the only resource that is evenly distributed everywhere. Without a job, income, or money you have no business outsourcing anything.

[andyYY]

Well,I would like to say that right now,Outsourcing it's gonna be hard.

I've posted few projects to test (a friend of mine it's a guru of web designing) if easy money followers would bid it and ask for more money with the classic "If you want it done,pay more" and it was a little bit depressing

BUT


There are a lot of indians,chinese,ukraine guys that rocks and will do it for you for a very good price.

Cut what doesn't work and focus on what works...
80/20...



and some of the guys from this forum really kick asses,follow theyr tips ;)

[Stallion]

And lastly, why would you outsource anything? Time is the only resource
You can't just trivialize it like that. Starting out, you don't always have unlimited money to piss away on outsourcing. It just isn't there. Tim didn't start outsourcing until he was making like , 40k/month? Tim also suggested in the book that you do it yourself, so you know how to train an outsourced group properly.

I'm sure once this guy gets a little cash flow and a muse or two under his belt, he'll be better equipped both financially and experience wise to outsource from the start. When you can barely pay your bills, you're not exactly looking to pay for outsourcing.

[kamakiri]

Tim didn't start outsourcing until he was making like , 40k/month?

Hmmm. I think we are saying the same thing. I am not trivializing outsourcing at all. I am saying that with zero income outsourcing is the last thing he needs because time is the only thing he has.

[Stallion]

Oh okay. I thought you were saying that he should just outsource everything lol.

[repguy]

I outsource only where I feel their is a benefit. I build my own sites and they are often much MUCH better than those I see from designers in India, with that being said I am a computer programmer by trade. Outsourcing only works where their is a positive gain where using it, as mentioned if the VA or whomever does not know what you want due to lack of you truly understanding it yourself they will be of no help. Also if this person is broke they would need to see that outsourcing would be the best way to spend their credit and it probably isn't, the best way would possibly be marketing, SEO etc.

It is as has been pointed out, later into an established muse that outsourcing is really worth it.

I would take a look at your product and market again, if it isn't working then you need to move to something else, if it can be made work focus on SEO and viral marketing.

[Stallion]

I outsource only where I feel their is a benefit. I build my own sites and they are often much MUCH better than those I see from designers in India, with that being said I am a computer programmer by trade. Outsourcing only works where their is a positive gain where using it, as mentioned if the VA or whomever does not know what you want due to lack of you truly understanding it yourself they will be of no help. Also if this person is broke they would need to see that outsourcing would be the best way to spend their credit and it probably isn't, the best way would possibly be marketing, SEO etc.
Diddo. I'm not a computer programmer, but I've been making webpages since I first got a computer. Back in the good old days lol. It's second nature to me and I'd probably spend my time making the webpage. I'd definitely outsource the daily operations, or put it in a position of automation as easy as I can.

I think the first muse I make, Once I confirm there are sales, I'm paying $49(one time payment) to have it hooked up with clickbank. They handle payments, refunds, they'll deposit right into your bank account automatically, and you can have affiliates sell your product. I'd probably have emails goto an outsourced virtual assistant. Hell, I'd probably wouldn't even do that. If they're emailing me, I don't want them as a customer lol.

I think for an ebook muse, I wouldn't have much to really outsource. I suppose if I was too lazy to write the book I could do that. Other than that, it's pretty automated in the first place.

I am flirting with outsourcing though next week. I'm going to get someone to do all the repetitive tasks that make me go nuts. Oh, and I got it bid down to $2.50/hr, so we'll see how that goes.

[camdengirl]

couple of things here - I'm a big believer in the power of positive thinking so I'm going to re-word some of your issues:

1. I am getting less traffic than I would like to my websites which I built myself.
Okay - so perhaps there's something wrong with it - try www.webceo.com for some simple easy to follow tips. Is the area too competitive? Perhaps try making it more niche?

2. I would like to find a VA who is responsive and reliable.
They are out there - however I understand your frustration. We recently worked with some outsourcers who were just terrible. They've actually just bought our VA system to use (KERCHING!) so that everything gets tracked and followed up on. Mostly I find that you have to be very directional and very specific about how you want things doing before you'll get good results. I'd suggest the "if I can't do it, outsource it" attitude is simply asking for trouble. How can you judge if they've done a good job or how long it should take if you don't know?

3. no comment! :p

4. I am temporarily restricting my spend on non-returning muses.
But if you had a muse which was guaranteed to bring in $$$$ each month you would spend $$ on it wouldn't you? Unfortunately there are no guarantees which is why most people settle for being the aging man in the BMW. It's not for everyone.

5. I am listening to recruiters, who mostly lie and wear incredibly pugent aftershave, in order to determine my life.
They're recruiters - it's their job to make you feel incredibly grateful that they are nicking 20% of your pay for the first year! Contact competitors to that company, ask to come in and speak to them regardless of any jobs they have avaialble to "get a feel for the market". Do you really want to go back to that 8 hour commute??? How about offering to go remote working at a reduced salary for your old company? That way you would save money and time.

6. Itunes is evil
Yes they are but if you email them and explain you have lost the audiobook and can provide a few details about when you bought it they may be able to give you a credit on your account. (Itunes, if you are reading this please don't nuke my account! And you can prove how wrong I am by being nice to this poor man....)

Remember to stay positive. I once had an assistant who would come in each morning and I'd go "How're you this morning?" bright and cheery - his response (said in an incredibly morose way): "I'm not dead yet..."

I can't tell you how much more I achieved once I fired him! :)

[Kursal]

1. My own attempts to do everything myself - website, etc - are not getting any traffic. I don't know why.

Let me know what the website is and I'll give you some pointers if I can. I currently work as a web designer and I'm not bad with SEO.

What are you doing for a PPC campaign? If you're purely relying on internet marketing at this time then you probably won't get too far without one.

[dking]

I fired AskSunday and complained about there lack of ability to do actual work.

I with I had better VA's, I have an elance VA job that is waiting on the final step; I just need to pay them.

I now have a 30-40 min commute home, in a FTE job I love in a start up that offered me equity, that I will lose in about 5 days based on the PIP because one of the main founders dislikes the fact that I'm blind and have Aspergers.. so I need to find another job or income stream.

Itunes wont refund or credit anything. :(

Recruiters are starting to dislike me because I always ask for more money.

My site was admittedly a possibly bad choice; After all it was an site created by me, the blind guy. Wont post the link because I don't want to get banned.

PPC? Pay per click? Why would I want to pay people to click a link? I don't get paid for clicking a link, why should they?

[officer_dibble]

PPC? Pay per click? Why would I want to pay people to click a link? I don't get paid for clicking a link, why should they?

Check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_per_click

to get an understanding of how PPC works.