Phew.  Yesterday's launch of First eBook Now was crazy.

Now, it's time for another weekly Internet Business Fortune Cookie. Last night I celebrated the launch of my latest eBook with Hot and Sour Soup from a new place. I had never eaten there before. The soup was good, and it struck me that sometimes you have to try something new to find something good.

The Cookie Speaks The Truth

As you know, everything you need to know about running an internet business can be learned from fortune cookies. Luckily the Cookie knows that this week we are talking about the importance of mailing lists to your online business, and was kind enough to serve up an appropriate lesson. This week's cookie actually hits right at the heart of getting started online:

“Reach for your dreams. Start with the Spring Rolls”

Of course, the fortune cookie is obviously referring to the fact that many people who are trying to make money online fail because they are overwhelmed by their own goals — completely paralyzed by the seemingly enormous nature of the task before them.

Many people have lofty goals like replacing their entire income or “escaping the 9 to 5 routine” of their day job or making $15,000 per month on line. Those are both great goals, and it is important to have the big picture. But at some point you have to get started.

It reminds me of the answer to an old question: “How do you eat an elephant?”

Of course, the answer is “One bite at a time.”

The Cookie Speaks About Lists — Follow The Cookie

Let's say that you have decided that you need to make $5000 per month on the internet, and you plan to do that with a email list. How big does the list need to be?

Well, let's say that you have been careful to cultivate trust with your list, and that every time you send out an email to them, an amazing 10% of your readers click the link to go see what it is that you are talking about. And, let's say that the members of your list really trust you, and that an equally amazing 10% actually buy. This seems possible since you only promote products that you actually believe in to your list. That means for every message that you send out, 1% (1 of every hundred) of the people you send to will buy.

Now, let's say you are really smart and you follow Spaulding's New Age eMail Marketing strategy. This means that you value your list and you only email an offer to them about once a month. The rest of the time, you are emailing your list helpful information.

Since you need to make $5000 per month with only one offer, you need to make $5000 every time you send out an email. Sounds scary, doesn't it?

Remember, 1 of every 100 people you mail to will buy. Let's say you are promoting $100 products, and that the commission is 50%. That means that for every 100 people you mail to, you make $50. Since you need to make $5000, you need to mail to 10,000 people. You need a list of 10,000 people.

Question: How in the world are you going to do that?
Answer: One subscriber at a time (Start with the Spring Rolls).

The Cookie Knows Best

Build trust and give people something in exchange for their email. There are 365 days in a year. That means that you only need 30 subscribers a day to hit 10,000 in a year. This is exactly the kind of thing that can be accomplished with viral eBooks using Leger's $7 Secrets formula. Actually, it can be done much faster than that if you can ad some real value and do something viral (but that is for another post).

So, listen to the cookie. Don't focus on the 10,000 subscribers — you will freak out and give up. Focus on the the next several dozen subscribers instead. Set some goals for this week, or for this month. And focus on keeping the subscribers that you have. Keep adding value. The subscribers will come.

Take some action like writing a report that people will value. Use some cool technology like $7 Secrets to get people to help you build your list. You can do it — just Start with the Spring Rolls.

Planning on taking some action as a result of this post? Let me know what it is by dropping a comment. Publicly declaring your intention to make progress is a great way to hold yourself accountable.

Have a great day.
Mark

Photo credit: Uploaded on July 17, 2006 by headcase