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Over the last two weeks I’ve been hearing a few people talking about Mike Geary’s wildly successful product; Truth About Abs.
Mike started created the product back in 2004 because he was sick of his corporate job. It took him 2 years to get sales up to just $50,000 in annual income. Suffice to say, in the early days, he wasn’t setting the world on fire.
Today, his sales are over $1,000,000 a month (no, that was not a typo) – all from selling a $40 ebook. Wow.
I have heard that his is the #1 selling product on Clickbank. If its not, he’s got to be very close to the #1 product.
Best of all, his lifestyle is absolutely amazing. He lives in the Colorado mountains, never misses a powder day, and travels 10-15 days a month with his girlfriend.
I can assure that I’m working a lot harder than that!
Some Bizarre Coincidences…
Not too long ago, I attended the most recent San Diego Internet Marketer’s Party and while I was there, I had the chance to listen to a short speech by Ryan Lee – also known as the Continuity King – because he’s been so incredibly successful at generating recurring revenue with his membership site(s).
In stark contrast to many marketer’s membership sites, Ryan’s stick rate (he says) is often measured in years as opposed to months.
Mike Geary was an early student of Ryan Lee.
I guess Ryan must know what he’s talking about.
The Brain Works in Mysterious Ways
Last Saturday I woke up at 2AM – and I can assure you it wasn’t on purpose. I just woke up for no apparent reason….or so I thought.
Within minutes of waking up, my brain just started dumping all these ideas out one after the other. As I didn’t want to lose any of them, I used my iPhone to jot notes for each idea and then I emailed it to myself. In the morning, I realized that I’d sent myself 25 emails!
I guess this is the power of the subconscious mind at work!
Its Funny How Some Things Just Fall into Place
In parallel to all of this has been a few other, seemingly unrelated activities.
One of which was my hiring a writer to create my upcoming video course (like the one’s Nate does). From what I’ve seen of her work so far, she’s awesome.
The other key ‘unrelated’ activity that took place was that I invited my good buddy, Mike Cooch, to become a contributing writer on this blog.If you check out Mike’s bio, you’ll see “contributing writer” does not do him any justice. Mike is a highly successful entrepreneur whom I’ve admired and respected for all the years that I’ve known him. (Mike and I each built and sold the same type of technology services companies; hence how we met years ago).
I Have All the Pieces to the Puzzle
So lets take an inventory of some of the items floating around in my head and then I’ll explain to you how I plan to make them all fit together, and how that has lead to the goal of making $100,000 in 12 months.
- Mike Geary’s Abs course success inspires me
- Nate’s video course inspires me to do the same and then doing so helps me to find a killer writer
- My background in outsourcing tells me that I can do this with out much of my own labor
- I want Mike Cooch to get involved with OIL and he agrees
- I happen to hear Ryan Lee’s talk about continuity and really liked the idea – I just needed a case study that was not in the make money online (mmo) space so that I could do before I ever attempted to teach.
Project Scope
So here’s my idea: I want to build a health and fitness membership site, that delivers ongoing training, coaching, and advice, in video, audio, and written content; and I plan to do the entire thing with the labor of others.
The goal is to have the site either earn, or be worth $100,000 within 12 months of its launch.
I have some more ideas, too…but we’ll get to those in a minute.
The very first thing I wanted to do was to find a partner to work with…and wouldn’t you know it, while I’ve been cooking all this up in my head, Mike, much to my surprise, had been doing exactly the same thing! In fact, he’s already got a killer domain for it, too.
Aside from making money online, the thing that Mike and I are both hugely passionate about is health and fitness, so doing this is a natural extension of what we love.
Needless to say, Mike was instantly on board.
But What About All the Competition?
At this point, some of you are probably thinking; another health and fitness site? Hahaha…good luck with it!
If you are, I’d like to suggest that you aren’t looking at it through the right lens.
Do you know why there is over 160,000 books on Relationships for sale on Amazon? Because books on relationships sell!
When Mike Geary created his Truth about Abs ebook back in 2005, don’t you think there was already a ton of product available?
You bet there was! However, with the market for such a product being so huge, all Mike Geary had to do was execute his marketing plans better than the rest of them, and that is exactly what he did.
Back in June when I created Niche Site Mastery, do you think the Internet needed another course on how to make money with Adsense niche sites? Probably not; but despite that NSM has been hugely successful and earned me over $8,000 last month alone, and $18,000 since I launched it.
My point is this: with the Internet, there is never too much competition, so long as you create a better product and have a better marketing plan.
The Reason We’re Doing a Health & Fitness Membership Site
Mike and I both think doing this will be a huge challenge, and a ton of fun.
At a minimum, it will give us something very interesting to blog about over the next year – and you, our loyal readers, will get to come along for the ride!
In addition to the fun, I have no doubt that with Mike and I’s brains behind it, we’ll also make it pretty successful; and in doing so, we will have created a killer case study that we’ll then be able to use to help launch our own continuity program just like Ryan Lee did.
Two Key Ingredients to Mike Geary’s Massive Success
In the interview that I read, Mike talked extensively about how he uses affiliates and media buying to drive traffic to his offer. Niether Mike (my partner) or I have a ton of experience with either – and its an area that we both want to get good at, so the best way to do that, is to just go out and do it.
With Niche Site Mastery, I’m just now starting to get a little bit of affiliate promotional experience and so having another project on the go to help me learn even more is pretty appealing.
I Have an Addiction…
As some of you may know, I have a thing for fast cars and own a Lotus Exige S. See video below for some recent track footage…
More recently, I had the chance to go for a ride in a 2010 Porsche GT3RS, and all I can say is I want one!! The trouble is that they cost well over $100,000 for a new one…but you can get a used one for about $100,000.
Are you starting to see where the goal of making $100,000 in 12 months might have come from?
Some Crazy Ideas We’re Considering for the Affiliate Contest
If this project is successful enough to pay for my new ride, then I won’t really need my Lotus any more, and that got me thinking….
Free Lotus
What if I was to offer my Lotus as a prize for the top affiliate in the launch of our upcoming yet-to-be-named continuity program? Heck, what if it was the prize for the top affiliate in the Health & Fitness site?
Do you think that might get some people excited? Do you think that might catapult the launch to a whole new level?
I’m not much of a gambling kind of guy, but in this instance, I’d put my money on yes having a free Lotus as a prize might attract some people with some very large mailing lists!
Sponsors
As soon as my mind starting thinking big, it started feeding me with ideas for other sources of revenue. What about sponsorship of this project? Might there be companies interested in that? At this point, I have no idea, but I can’t help but think the answer could be yes.
So Now We Want to Hear What YOU Think…
I can’t help but wonder how many really smart folks are going to read this post and then how many of you might have some really awesome ideas or contacts that could help move this project forward at light speed.
If you do, don’t be shy!! Please comment below and lets get the discussion rolling!
- Trent
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35 Responses to $100K in 12 Months Project
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Who’s Trent?
Having sold his last business for over a million bucks in 2008 by the age of 38, Trent has since immersed himself in the study of internet marketing by going out and doing. Continue reading...
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Sounds like a great idea, I’ll be interested in being an affiliate too (though I’m still not entirely convinced that any of this really works)
Danielle,
Today I recorded a podcast with a member of NSM. 60 Days ago, he had no sites and no income. No he has 65 sites and is averaging $50/day! If he can follow my instructions and do it, anyone can. Stay tuned, I will publish the podcast in a few days and you can hear for yourself.
This DOES work
What I find frustrating (though hugely entertaining), is that I *know* there are £millions flying past my portfolio sites every day; I just can’t quite seem to grab onto much of it.
I do feel I’m close, but I think I’m still waiting for that eureka moment when I see all the dots join up and I see the results I want.
My sites feel like a car that turns over, but won’t quite fire. I probably just need to prime the carbs
You know what though, were it not for your site and coaching, I would have quit a couple of weeks ago. *Your* success is what is motivating me to crack the nut for myself x
Outstanding! This kind of cases is something what I need. I also have a plan and I believe that in next 90 days I will succeed, especially with your help
Excellent idea! While I am not quite ready to be able to compete for the lotus, I think this will be fun to watch how it unfolds.
Also, I just stumbled onto a cool site that you may like that is related to the health and fitness realm. I admit I was excited when I first read tim ferriss’ stuff, but I am 5 times as excited after checking out some of this new stuff. Check out bulletproofexec.com. (I am in no way affiliated, just a big fan and think it might be up your alley. Be warned: it is NOT traditional thinking.)
Thanks for all you share.
Hey Bryan,
Very interesting stuff…I’ve not got something to read tonight! Thanks for taking the time to share it with me and the rest of the OIL community!
Trent,
If the article you are referring to was on Tim Ferris’s blog, Mike says in it that “For a clarification on revenue, the way that Clickbank works is to take the processing fee and the affiliate fee out before the revenue ever flows into my account, so that $11MM ‘per year’ actually did not include gross sales numbers. With gross sales, it would be more around $20MM-$25MM per year, I’m guessing.”
Mike also mentions in the comments section that “Although affiliates account for about 50% of my total sales, I still produce about 50% of my sales myself through my own media buys.”
So on 50% of his sales he pays no commission (but does incur the cost of the media buy). Any way you slice it it’s impressive.
David
Wow, no kidding!
I KNOW you can do it Trent! There is not a doubt in my mind.
I also know that you will have some tips for me so that my site will win the Million Dollar Blog Project …
Hey Joe,
Thanks for writing and cheering Mike and I on!
Trent
I wish you luck and keep my fingers crossed for your success
I think that you are able to do it and you will. Godspeed!
Thanks Marek!
Hmnnn since the first day i came accross your site i knw you are up to something great. As per the car gift, i guess it’s cool if you use it as a gift and let it be open as well….
I wish you success in your launch and hope I get to that stage in my IM career as well
Sheyi
Thanks Sheyi!
I love how you answered the competition objection. So many people worry about “too much competition” when,in fact, many folks aren’t making money because their niche is too small … has too little competition … which means there aren’t enough buyers out there.
The new challenge sounds great. Sign me up for the affiliate program, I’ll take a run at that Lotus.
You are an entrepreneurial nut case… I love it. Everyone of your posts fires me up to get back to work on my own projects which is building up these 4 authority sites. Ive decided to narrow my focus and start building these huge sites that will be my passive income pillars.
I too have a 12 month goal. I plan to be making a full time income on these by this time next year. Wish you the best man ill definitely be eagerly following your efforts and learning in the process.
Thanks Aaron. All the best to you as well!
Should be an interesting 12 months.
Is that abs product any good? Could do with a sixer!
Think “get fit by 40″
Hey Trent -
Like the idea of the 100k in 12 month project. Very ambitious but makes for a great project. Definitely have to change yourself to new heights.
The idea of giving awhile your Lotus will definitely attract some attention. Gotta say you have great taste in cars. Those are both cars I wouldn’t mind having. Haha.
One day once my sites take off then maybe I’ll be buying one too.
I’m not yet committed to giving the car away….but it is an ideas that my partner Mike Cooch and I will be putting more thought into. If we think we can get an ROI for doing in, by by Lotus
Fair enough. Gotta think about it before you do it. Lotus is a great car though for handling. Not much room but still a cool car to have for fun if you can afford it.
This is should be an interesting journey.
Does this mean the Niche Site Mass Production Project is being left behind?
I’m going through some of your older stuff as I type Captchas in Article Marketing Robot. You know anything outsourcing, this is killing me
You know you can buy captcha credits from places like DeathbyCaptcha etc?
Makes Article Marketing Robot more usable.
Thanks Joe. I had heard of these services but didn’t realize how cheap it was. I normally just throw on a podcast or video and just plug away.
Hi Jason,
Heck no, the mass production project is alive and well…those 10 sites are done and climbing the SERPs. Most are on page two at this point.
Awesome new project, wish I actually has a list built lol
Watching that video makes me miss my Z4 (it’s back in Newfoundland and stored for the winter). That Lotus is such an awesome looking car.
I’m now a member of NSM and plan to make 150 niche sites within the next 6-7 months and record it on ym blog along with some different reports on backlink testing and so on. Very excited to see the results. You are a great inspiration also, good work on here.
Thanks Lindsay!
Newfoundland huh? ‘Ow ya gettin on?…. LOL
Oh not bad by’e!
Lindsay, this is a good thought and make sure you stick to it. Getting KWs these days are kinda easy (IMO) but ranking is the main thing. Make sure you use the best method available to get BLs and ur site indexed! Wish you success and i’m off to your blog!
Sheyi
Trent, I’m a big fan but I think you’re starting to bite off a lot of things around here. I hope you can chew them all.
Hi Rick,
You’re right…I do have a lot on the go, however, I have partners and or staff doing much of the work on several of the projects. For example…
- Launching 10 sites a week now takes almost none of my time. I have outsourced it all and need only review the sites and blog about it as part of the Niche Site Mass Production Project
- For the $100K in 12 Months Project, my partner Mike is extremely capable and will be sharing the workload with me. He’s also taken one blog post per week off my plate.
- Podcasts are down to a science and I can crank them out
- Niche Site Mastery is running smoothly and I only now spend time updating content, holding webinars, moderating the forum, and figuring out how to market it better
With that said, I still regularly put in 12 hour days…but as cash flow increases, I will continue to hire more
Looks like we’re going to be busy, Trent!
Mike
I’m motivated again Trent. I wrote something about you on my blog and I am pretty sure guys will wanna check you out too. You are a good source of inspiration and I really admire you. I’ve been building niche sites before you started in October 2010 but your success has sky rocket more than mine……….. I’m Jealous!
I wish you success and will be following your challenge as well. Hope to be able to cash in it too.
Sheyi Shobayo
The Authority Site Guy
Thanks so much