August 2002

Case Study
Marilyn Snyder
 

I am a rank beginner when it comes to Internet Marketing, but I have a long history of top level performance in the insurance industry. I have 'subconsciously' wanted to be a speaker for many years, but I kept ignoring what I really wanted to do.

Last November, I decided this was it and I started looking on the internet for information on how to start becoming a speaker.
I came across Tom Antion's Wake 'Em Up speaking program and ordered it. http://www.antion.com/speakervideo.htm It not only was full of information, but came with a consultation call with Tom also. The first thing and one of the best things I learned is that this is not a -'wave the magic wand and everything will happen tomorrow'- business. It takes hard work and dedication.

One thing I learned from Tom right away, and I believe is essential for everyone looking at this type of work, is how important an Internet site can be to your income. Since I was starting from the beginning, it seemed overwhelming, which direction to go in first!

I've had to keep my other career going to bring in money while I learn all of this, so that adds to the frustration of this taking longer than I want it to.

I would have to say without a doubt, that Tom's Mentoring Program is the best thing that I could have done. It not only keeps me accountable to get things done that I said I would, but Tom is an excellent resource in all areas of the speaking business and setting up a profitable internet site. (No, Tom is not paying me to advertise for him!!)

By next week, a one page website idea from Tom, should be up and running. Also, I've almost completed my 1/2 day seminar programs that I am going to do in the sales area for corporations. From Tom, I also learned that I can turn these into other products, so I will have more items for sale on my speaker website.

My goal for my speaking website is to have it running by the beginning of September.

One of the things that Tom suggested as a way to save money was to look for a teen who really knows computers, to help build your web site. It is very interesting to see what you can find when you look!

The closest big computer store near where I live is about an hour away, so I asked my nephew about people at the school or college that would be good. After not being able to think of anyone, my own nephew asked if he could give it a try and he is excellent at it.

A lot of it is new to him, but because he is so good at the computer, he picks it up much faster than I ever would and I just let him figure it out! The only problem we have is me - getting things to him that I think will take him a couple of hours and he literally has it done in a few minutes.

This has saved me not only money (even though I pay him pretty well), but the added headache and time of trying to learn all the ins and outs of the computer on my own. You don't have to look for that computer genius who has done it all, just someone who knows how to figure computer stuff out fast.

I'm really excited about Tom's new one-page website idea. For my first one-page website, Tom walked me through this very well. It took me a while to find an idea on Overture that had a low cost per click and a high number of click per month. But I kept at it and found one that was .05 per click and approx. 100,000 people had clicked on it in the month of May.

Getting my ebook written

E-lance is the website that Tom recommended for hiring freelance writers and researches. Their site is set up to easily maneuver through and post a job for an e-book to be written, but I learned that many of the bids were way out of my range and the cheapest one ($100.00) wanted me to give them all of the info! I stuck to a low bid, as Tom nicely pounded into my head, to keep the costs down, and I ended up with an excellent writer who was prompt and did a very good job for the money. This took 4-5 weeks, which I didn't think was bad at all, to get an e-book researched and written.

The part that seemed to be the toughest was the sales letter . . . , to make it look really great. But what it amounts to the most is just sitting down and looking at other sales letters that are out there, and then just doing it! So much of the problems seem to be exaggerated in our minds, until we sit down and take the time to do things.
 
The biggest time saver is using Tom's referrals for the things that you have to do. You can instantly trust who you are doing business with, and don't have to worry about if they are trying to take you for a lot of money when it is not needed. The two best examples of this are Global Presence for the website hosting and http://www.KickStartCart.com  for the shopping cart . . .. especially Kickstart. I would have to say since it is a bigger ticket item for your budget, it is great that Tom did all of the research to find a shopping system that is this good.

So, even though I am a beginner in Internet marketing, I have found that it just takes some work and effort to make progress just like anything else that is worthwhile. You also need good direction and advice because there is so much mis-information out there.

I hope this helps some people who are wondering if they can do this. I assure you that you can. Just put your mind to it and get good help.

Sincerely,

Marilyn Snyder
snyder@eot.com
 

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