Timothy Castleman

Here is my open and honest review of James Jones Kindle Triangulation course.

To see our $3,000 worth of bonuses go here: http://www.timandtanner.com/kindle

One of my goals in 2012 is to reach out more to fellow marketers.

I’ll admit I’m doing it for selfish reasons.

See I’m looking for a group of marketers who do something really rare these days.

That is, they actually do what they teach.

It’s sad to admit it, but my guess is 90% of the people who teach internet marketing or offline marketing have never done it.

They simply follow a fad, learn a little bit about it, and puke on a page long enough to sell it to you.

I don’t blame them entirely.

I remember being told – “just buy 3 books on the subject, take the best stuff from each of them, and whamo you’re an expert.”

Lucky for me I never fell for that trap and have just stuck to teaching on topics I’m involved in on a daily basis.

It turns out – I’m not alone.

Today I had the pleasure of talking with Lisa Gergets, author of the Amazon Minisite MegaProfits course.

You can learn more about her course by clicking HERE

We talked a little business but I was more fascinated with her “story”.

It turns out she moved from sunny Chicago to the middle of no-where Wisconsin – population 624 people.

She’s so far out in the woods not even Survivorman or Bear Grylls could rescue her.

When I asked her why she had an interesting answer:

“This is where I want to be, my family wants to be, it’s perfect for us.”

The answer itself isn’t as interesting as the question behind it is …

What is your definition of success?

I mean I doubt you’ll see any big gurus shooting their State of the Internet address from a little farm in Wisconsin anytime soon.

Most gurus show a lifestyle full of fancy cars, expensive homes, and blinged out watches.

That works for them – but what works for you?

Here’s why I ask.

A week or so ago I paid for consulting time from Guru X.

When we were going over income figures he kept telling me “dude you need to make more money …”

I asked him why?

“Because it’s how the game is won and lost. He with the most cash wins.”

The problem is – he doesn’t get it.

I don’t measure success like he does.

Sure the money is great.

But that’s not as important as the following reason I do what I do:

Freedom.

No alarm clock.

No boss.

No To-Do list or TPS reports.

No company bull*&%# or annoying cubicle co-workers.

I bet I’m not alone in this thought.

In a recent survey I read, over 70% of the people who responded said they would actually take LESS money for MORE freedom.

At the end of the day – isn’t that what we’re really after.

More money is nice.

More freedom is awesome.

What about you?

Why are you doing either offline or online marketing?

What’s your definition of success?

Do you agree with my definition of success or am I just full of it?

Hit reply and let me know – I’d really be interested in hearing from you.

Talk soon & don’t forget to reply.

Tim

I’m trying out a new webcam in my messy office

Here’s how to set goals (aka New Years Resolutions) without stress or frustration.

Watch the video and leave your comments below

This week I had to do an incredibly frustrating exercise.

I had to list out my values.

The problem was – I didn’t have any.

No, no don’t get me wrong – I have values but I had never given them much thought.

Here’s the exercise I did …

First I had to list 3 people in my life that I respect and admire and hope to be like.

I wrote down James Jones, Brian Johnson, and Dan Kennedy.

I really had to think about why I liked these guys so much and what really made me respect and want to be like them.

The first thing that came to mind was the fact they actually do what they teach.

It’s a strange concept I know – but you’d be surprised at the number of people out there who have a great idea, an awesome theory, or assumption and run with it.

Sadly, we’ve both probably bought products from these people before and by the time you see what’s really going on it’s too late.

The next thing that popped up was that they were open to two sided relationships. That’s a fancy way of saying they were willing to help me grow my business, while I helped them grow theirs.

This year has taught me an important lesson when it comes to this. I’m tired of helping others grow their business only to be rejected when I ask for help.

Both Brian and James have gone out of their way to help me grow, give advice and suggestions and been open to promoting me if and when it made sense.

There were others who despite me promoting for them time and time again refused to help me. I couldn’t get phone calls returned, emails sent, etc.

It’s a part of life – but it’s not a part of life I want to mess with.

Number 3 on the list was adding value to the lives of others.

This one is a little hard to measure for sure but still important to me. It’s a double edge sword being a marketer and trying to add value so this one is a little more subjective than I’d like.

Number 4 is a funny one. See I think people perceive me as constantly being negative and have a pessimistic attitude towards life.

While I’m guilty of that more times than not the fact remains I like to surround myself with generally positive people.

We all have rough days, weeks, hell maybe even months – but if you’re life straight from the Jerry Springer show – I’m not interested in being in it.

The last two are kind of important but to be honest I feel like I dick even mentioning one of them.

See I’d like to surround myself with 6 & 7 figure earners. Problem is, I don’t know a ton of them.

Hell I’d struggle to even name a handful of guys (and ladies) who match the requirements above and fit the income level I’d like to work with.

My theory behind it is this – you are who you surround yourself with. I’ve got a buddy – a great guy. He’s a little cheap from time to time but overall he’d be there at 3am if I needed him.

He has some real winners as friends.

And by winners I mean losers.

Guys who frankly I have a hard time hanging out with and wouldn’t want in my life.

Because he holds on to them – he doesn’t have room in his life to grow and meet other – less screwed up – people.

I’m all for loyalty to a point – but after that point it’s time to move on. Remember, no one forces you to be friend or interact with people you don’t want to.

Just because they gave birth to you, or were born as a brother or sister doesn’t mean you owe them anything.

And the last thing I put on the list is a dream request.

It will never happen, it will always disappoint me, but I’m leaving it there anyway.

I want people who are more than JV partners.

I want friends.

People who I can call and shoot the shit with – and not just about business.

The other day I called James Jones for an important task – I needed to know how to beat the roof level on Plants vs. Zombies.

That thing was tough!

Lucky for me he had the solution (as he normally does when it comes to all things zombie related).

We must of talked for 30 minutes and the topic of business never came up once.

That’s what I want.

Someone who can help me crush it with a product launch or an idea – but more importantly – a friend who can tell me how to kill zombies or make the perfect margarita (thanks Brian – they’re amazing).

Here’s my recommendation.

Take 5 minutes and do the exercise.

Simply list 3 people you admire and think about the values they have that you would like to posses.

I don’t want this to come off as some I’m better than everyone else type deal.

This is simply a road map or even just an outline of people who you want in your life.

And just as importantly – the people who you don’t.

Take time and do the exercise now … I’ll just wait here til you’re done.

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.

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I’m waiting … go do the exercise.

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.

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Yep, still here.

.

.

.

Dude stop screwing around and get to work.

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.

.

Ok I give up, go back to playing a game or something.

Talk soon.

Tim

PS: I value you. I thank you for being in my life and the lessons you teach me on a daily basis.

PPS: You rock

Most people think you need a ton of money to be successful when starting a new business.

While it helps, there are actually two powerful forces – that you already possess – that combined will provide you more money than you can imagine.

The first one of these forces is your mental capital.

Simply put this is everything that you have learned since birth.

A job, a specific skill, a talent, or even just a simple understanding.

Take a few minutes and answer the following questions…

1. What special skills do you have that you could apply to your current business or situation?

If you’re looking to do offline marketing, what skills that you already have, can you apply to getting clients.

Maybe you once had a sales job that taught you how to close prospects successfully.

Maybe you have some technical skills that allow you to make websites quickly and efficiently.

Or maybe you have some specific knowledge of SEO, Google Places, Reputation management,etc.

If you don’t have any specific skills yet, don’t worry.

There is plenty of ways for you to acquire that information – blog post, YouTube videos, books, course, consulting, and more.

The possibilities to acquire information are endless.

No matter what you decide just make sure that you put as much emphasis on actually using the information as you do acquiring.

Information without implementation (aka action) is worthless.

The second of these powerful forces is the one most people forgot or treat as an after thought.

That is your relationship capital – aka the people you know.

Most people screw this up.

In this ME FIRST society people are guilty of asking for something before giving.

That is a fatal flaw and can ruin your business.

One of the easiest ways to fix this problem is to serve someone else without expecting anything in return.

Recently, internet marketing legend Marlon Sanders hosted a webinar for my business partner and I.

I got several people emailing me asking me how I was able to get someone like Marlon to promote for my business.

The answer is simple – I promoted for him first.

I think Marlon has some awesome products – products that I have personally used and bought – so when the chance comes to offer them to my customers I rarely pass.

As a result of my constant promotion of Marlon I was able to get on his “radar” and eventually Marlon returned the favor.

More important that the promotion is the relationship.

I now consider Marlon a friend and someone I can reach out to for advice and insight for my business.

That would have NEVER been possible had I tried to use a ME FIRST attitude.

Here’s another question for you to answer …

1. Who are 5 people that you know that can help you move closer to your goal?

Don’t just think online only.

For instance there is a local hockey guy I know that I need to sit down with and pick his brain. He runs a retail business that allows him monthly trips to Las Vegas, a beautiful home, and a nice income.

It would be worth investing in that relationship for no other reason to learn how he built his business.

Now there are a few important things to remember when it comes to relationships.

One, not all relationships are created equal. Up until last month I was in a mastermind with 8 other successful online marketers.

Each one of them ran their own business and had different income and lifestyle goals.

But the truth was, I only considered a few of them my friends.

Truthfully, some of them wouldn’t even promote me (no matter how many times I promoted them).

While it sucks, the fact of the matter is only a few out of a hundred or so relationships ever really turn into a deep friendship.

That doesn’t mean I can’t seek advice and council from people who I consider acquaintance – it just means we’re not talking on a normal basis or having wings and beer together.

To them – it’s just business.

Second, you have to work on it. In the coming year I am actually going to set out time each day to build my relationships with others.

That means getting off the computer and contacting people I want to know via phone or Skype.

While not every relationship will be successful, the simple fact that I am planting the seeds in the garden will help when it comes “harvest time”.

One of the big reasons I was able to go from nothing to six figures was my relationships with other marketers.

They can offer advice, make introductions, open doors and so much more.

I really think relationships are the glue that can make or break your business (no matter what business it is).

Now if you want to get on the radar of some people but are starting at ground zero let me offer you some advice.

Pay to play.

That means become a customer of someone you eventually like to be “friends” or partners with.

This has yet to fail for me.

Long before Jason Fladlien promoted for me I was a customer.

I bought and used his product and achieved results.

When I did, I told him about them in the form of a testimonial.

Hell I bought one product for not other reason than I got 30 minutes of his time.

That’s where I planted the seed that came to harvest over a year later.

Here’s my promise to you … if you invest in these two areas in 2012 you will be successful.

Spend time figuring out your specialty and then learn about the people who can help you get to where you want to be.

Focus on skills and relationships and the money will come.

I don’t speak from some ivory tower, I speak for personal and direct experience.

A word of warning though – you cannot focus on one of these exclusively.

An awesome base of information without the ability to share it with anyone is just as bad as a world of friends with nothing to share with them.

Neglect one of these forces and the other suffers as well.

Well there you have it, the two powerful forces that once combined ensure financial success.

I wish you the best and look forward to hearing about your progress.

Watch the webinar replay

Check out the special offer here – CLICK ME

Here’s my video review of Justin Wheeler’s Cloak and Track WordPress plugin.

I am going to use this for my affiliate marketing sites to ensure that my commissions do not get hijacked or stolen by anyone.

To learn more about the plugin and to see it in action (again) click here – CLICK ME

Marlon Sanders has lost his damn mind

Check out the video to understand what I’m talking about:

Grab his discounted 72 hour sale price here – CLICK ME

Hey there -

Here is an affiliate email I sent out to my list.

I want you to see how simple and easy it can be to generate a decent amount of cash in a short amount of time.

Read and study the email and then post a comment with what you think about the affiliate email and also how many sales you think it generated.

***** SWIPE EMAIL ****************

Let’s try this again.

I’ve got a bad habit and I need to break it.

See .. I sent you an email earlier about these one click WordPress Themes

http://www.warriorplus.com/linkwso/19mdch/1142

In my excitement to tell you about them I think I did you a disservice.

You see, I forgot to mention some critical things you should know.

#1 – You have full developer rights to these themes (but only for 48 hours). That means you can use them on your website, your customers websites, and more.

Not to mention that you can build sites and sell them on Flippa or modify them to suite your needs.

#2 – These are one click install websites. That means you’ll be able to simply install them on your customers websites OR have an outsourcer do it for you

#3 – There is complete training involved. From installing the theme to setting them up – they have you covered when it comes to ensuring a smooth delivery and installation.

http://www.warriorplus.com/linkwso/19mdch/1142

These theme’s are beautiful. They are only $10 and that is WAY less than what you would pay for a single theme at WooThemes or similar sites.

Not to mention you get two different products as a bonus for you to use (including some free backlinks).

Now you can see the themes, bonuses, and more here -

http://www.warriorplus.com/linkwso/19mdch/1142

Here’s what I am going to do to help you out

I am actually taking one of these themes and going to use it for a client’s website redesign.

I am going to document the entire process – from hiring the people, to getting the theme setup, etc – and share it with you if you take advantage of the offer.

Now in order to get the training you’ll need to pick up the front end offer and the OTO. Don’t worry the OTO is more themes for you to use and some really cool additional bonuses.

To me the bottom line is this – you get some amazing looking themes for dirt cheap for you to use instantly to make money with.

Not to mention I’m going to walk you through how to use them with an actual offline client.

So grab the front end and the OTO offer here:
http://www.warriorplus.com/linkwso/19mdch/1142

Then send me a ticket at http://www.timothycastleman.com/help and I’ll hook you up with access.

Ok off to a meeting, talk soon.

Tim

********* End Swipe Email **********

If you’d like to learn exactly how I did this I’d be more than happy to show you starting Monday night.

Don’t forget the discount and bonuses expire soon – check it out the webinar replay here: http://www.snip2.com/re/lazy

Hey there -

I’m writing this at 9:25pm on Wednesday night, November 16th 2011 and I’m a little bummed.

See about an hour ago I got off a webinar I presented for James Jones where I talked about affiliate marketing.

Specifically, I showed them just a few ways I’ve made close to $200,000 as an affiliate in 2011.

The comments from the webinar were amazing and inspiring:

“Great webinar with tons of content Tim”

“Talk about over delivery”

“Thanks for finally giving me an Ah Ha moment”

You can watch the webinar here by the way – http://www.timothycastleman.com/james

The sales of the affiliate marketing training I offered however sucked.

One of my worst performing webinars ever when it came to sales.

So I went in search of answers as to how people could be so happy with the content yet only a few wanted to actually learn how to do it.

One of the main answers I got back was this … “it sounds good but it seems like a lot of work.”

That’s when I thought about this sign that hangs in my mom’s shop:

Here is what I want to tell you: everything in life worth having takes work.

That’s right – I said a dirty four letter word … the secret sauce of internet marketers everywhere … this stuff takes work.

Not a lot of it mind you.

I bet I honestly work less than 20 hours a week and I’m able to make six figures a year.

But I do work.

No, I don’t break big rocks into little rocks nor do I punch a clock or draw a salary (although I did for 12 years and there is nothing wrong with that).

I love what I do and wouldn’t change it for the world – but still at its most basic level … it takes work.

The sooner you understand that – the better off you’ll be.

Sure marketers will do their best to convince you there is a shortcut, an easy button, a loophole, or some other bullshit product but the reality is while there are millions of things out there that can reduce the learning curve you still have to do some work to get there.

I also understand this …

For some of you this is just a hobby.

A way to spend a little time, to learn some cool stuff, to have an emergency “break in case of job loss” backup plan.

That’s cool. I get it.

Hell I sat on the sidelines for years before ever getting off my ass. In fact, if I didn’t hate my job so much and the people I worked with I might have never gotten serious and gotten started.

But I did.

And it took work to get from there to where I am today.

It took time, energy, and money to get to where I am today and I don’t regret a single second of it.

You see because I put in the work, I got the rewards.

Not at first though.

It took time.

Time for me to go from $100 a month to a few thousand, and eventually $10,000 and beyond.

So let’s be really honest for a second.

If you’re serious about being an entrepreneur and not just a wantapreneur, then stop looking for the easy button and start looking for a solid business model to follow.

Yes you can buy shortcuts and things that speed up your business – but you’ll never be able to eliminate that dirty four letter word – work.

Find people who are doing what you want to do and model them. Buy some consulting time, buy a few products, reverse engineer products and promotions.

Look at everything they do on two levels:

1. What they are sending out, selling, etc
2. Why are they doing it

Sounds like a little bit of work doesn’t it?

Now you’re getting the hang of this.

If you honestly want to get from where you are to where you want to be there is good news.

There is plenty of opportunity out there and if you provide value to others you can change your life and theirs.

But there is only one thing that is going to get you there … and it’s dressed up in overalls and it looks like work.

Tim