[Note: I’m thinking about giving away something away. For free. It’s going to take some significant time to put together. But if I’m going to bust my ass, then I want to make sure you actually want it (so I don't feel like an idiot). More details at the bottom of the article.]

So my second to last post, I said I’d write about . . .

The #1 Reason Why Internet Businesses Fail

Ok. This is going to be really profound.  You better sit down.  Ready?

Here goes . . .

The #1 reason why internet businesses fail is that they’re not selling the enough stuff to enough people at high enough prices.

I know. I’m a genius.

But bear with me here because the stuff that follows is really important. It’s . . .

Stuff That 99% of Internet Marketing Courses Aren’t Teaching

Businesses fail because business owners don’t ensure – BEFORE THEY START THEIR BUSINESSES – that they can sell enough stuff to enough people at high enough prices. In fact, most of them don’t know what “enough stuff” is.

And because they don’t ensure – BEFORE they start their businesses – that they can sell enough stuff to enough people at high enough prices, they make poor decisions about what products to sell and which markets to pursue.

The Tragedy of Internet Business Failure

Most aspiring internet business owners start off really excited and enthusiastic.

And the first thing most online business owners do is spend lots time & money creating a product (or e-commerce store or whatever), thousands of dollars on marketing, and endless resources trying to make their business viable.

Sometimes the business idea works to the tune of $200 or $300 per month, but most of the time (the vast majority of the time), energy and interest is quickly lost and the entrepreneur loses between $2k and $5k and (even worse) lots of hours.

In some cases, someone will spend thousands of hours building up a blog audience before they spend thousands of hours creating a product (and before they spend thousands of dollars marketing a product).  And they do this . . .

. . . only to find out that people really don’t want to buy their stuff.

Then the reality sets in that they have mouths to feed, a mortgage to pay, a long commute, a family they’d like to spend more time with, and insurance needs they can’t meet.

So they stop.

They stop because they realize that their internet business will likely will never provide for their family like it should.

And they stop because they’re paralyzed by fear that their idea will never work. Or they decide that internet marketing’s a scam… and only the "lucky" ever make any money with it.

But it didn’t have to be this way.

What a Taoist With a Whack Mustache Can Teach You About Business

A really long time ago there was dude named Sun Tzu who wrote a really old book called The Art of War. At one point, the Art of War says this:

“In war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.”

-Sun Tzu

As much as anything else, this statement applies to online business. For our purposes, Sun Tzu might well have said . . .

“When creating an online business, the successful person starts his company after adequate success is certain, whereas he who is destined for bankruptcy first creates a product and then looks to see if it will be profitable.”

-Clay (paraphrasing Sun Tzu)

You see, most internet entrepreneurs are destined for defeat because they “fight” first (i.e. start a business first), and afterwards look for victory.

They first create a business or develop a product, and then look to see if it will be profitable.

The reason why most internet entrepreneurs fail is because they don’t set themselves up for dominance BEFORE starting their business. They have no cold hard data that their business will likely work before starting out. Nothing.

The Next Sentence is Long. But Please Read It All. It’s Really, Really Important.

There’s No Reason At All, AT ALL, At All that you Should Have to Sacrifice Your Free Time, Your Children’s Quality of Life, And Your Hard Earned Money In Order to Create a Product that Won’t Sell or a Market that Won’t Make You Money

Here’s why . . .

The information you need to thoroughly and exhaustively research your market — and MUCH more importantly test your market — are almost entirely free. And quick. And easy to use. And accessible.

But Here’s the Big-Ass Catch (There’s Always a Big-Ass Catch)

I just said that the information needed to thoroughly research and test your market (often in less than 24 hours) is often free, easy to access, and quick.

The catch is that it can take years of trial and error, research, and testing to know where to look (i.e. what resources to use) and much more importantly, what to look for.

Which is why I’m thinking about giving you . . .

My Business Idea Litmus Test or The Factors I Look At When Evaluating And Testing a Market

I can’t believe how naive I am.

I sat down last night with the intention of writing down my business idea litmus test (i.e. the system I personally use to decide whether to enter a market or create a product) and giving it to you in this post.  Gratis.

Several hours later, at 3 AM, I was shaking my head.

I thought that the business ideas litmus test was only going to take a few hours to write.

But now I’m thinking it’ll take about 2 whole days to write.

So here’s what I want to know: do you even want this thing (i.e. the business ideas litmus test)??

Because I Don’t Want to Feel Like a Dumbass

I’d feel like a total dumbass if I spent 2-3 days non-stop working on this thing and no one downloaded it or wanted it.

So . . .

This is What I’m Going to Do

If you want the business ideas litmus test, enter you email address below BEFORE Monday. (If I end up making it I’ll send it to you at the email address you list below).

If you and enough other people get on the “interest” list (I’m thinking around 500), then we’re good to go.  I’ll use the interest list to send it to you.

If not, then no worries. (I’ll just use the 2-3 days to do visit San Diego or something).

P.S. I have some other big upcoming news. I’ll fill you in sometime in the next two weeks. At some point.  Can’t wait to break the news. (HINT: It’s not a product launch. It’s something bigger).

In my last post I left you with a cliff hanger.  I wish I could say that I was using ninja NLP mind manipulation tactics to keep you wanting more, however the REAL reason I ended the article where I did was much more basic: it was beautiful outside I wanted to go skating with my people.

Anyway, I’ll address the cliffhanger tomorrow.

In the meantime I want to share with you . . .

The Best Hate Mail Message I’ve Ever Received

Ready?  Here it is (bear in mind that it was a reply to my last article).

wha tha fuck is this? no meat all potato? c’mon cal you stringing my ass along for some mo  yo empyty headed mid-west hay rider shit again, I’m still getting treatment from that last virus you sent me here…

so wha it is going on with you? you can’t have finance & freedom boy, like I done tole you last time fore you dropped off the www you askin toooooo much…. you can’t have it all jez like Deida  said (is he for real? or is his real a real  f.u. sex addict guru, misogynist, rubber hose- panties boy)

you jus like the stock market always fluctuating & masterbat….

-J.H.

I know this was probably supposed to piss me off, but it really just made my day.  Thanks for the note, J.

–Clay

[Note #1: It’s been a long while since I’ve written. 500 people unsubscribed since I last wrote a post. But 6k people stayed. I’m glad you stayed.]

I’ll get to the main part, but first I want to say . . .

You Can’t Stop What’s Coming

I just “finished” a huge project. It’s deeply personal and important to me.

When it’s time to make noise about this you’ll probably hear about it. I’ll be marketing the shit out of it. No apologies about this now or later (I believe in this too much).

What I’ve Been Up to For the Last 4 Months

I wrote the last blog post 4 months ago, and it was a pitifully short one at that (by my standards). What happened after that is that. . .

Life Became Way too Good for Writing Blog Posts

The last post was on 10/24/09, and since then, life has been better than it’s been before. And up until now I’ve had no interest, whatsoever, in sharing it online. There was even a period when I slipped off the grid for a bit: I didn’t answer email and didn’t login to twitter. Friggin’ checked out. (Not that I really ever cared much about The Conversation™).

Lifestyle Design

You know that Four Hour Work Week stuff Tim Ferriss talks about? It can really happen. At least it did for me.

Speaking of which, check this out . . .

(That’s what we call bragging. Thanks for indulging me.)

Anyway, back to our feature presentation . . .

Strange Shit Happens When You Don’t Have a Boss

What happens is that you stop doing things you don’t want to do. And life gets really damn good.

It can also be really difficult, because ultimate flexibility denies you every excuse for not living the life of your dreams. When I’m unhappy these days, I have no one to blame by myself.

So I think I was telling you . . .

How I’ve Spent My Time Since October

I spent a lot of time exploring my corner of the upper Midwest and I managed to pack more life into the last few months than I have over the last few years.

For example I started training for a marathon (and lost all semblance of an ass . . .)

I spent plenty of time in dive bars playing table shuffleboard with people who’ve never heard of twitter. I went cross-country skiing on some of the best trails in the world, started playing pond hockey on city parks, passed out drinking amazing whisky more times than I’d like to admit, hung out with questionable folk singers, and met some of the best people I know.

My “mini-retirement” wasn’t spent on a foreign beach, it was spent among sacred geography in places I consider home.

And I decided to move back home. To Minneapolis.

I also . . .

Started Thinking a Lot About Death

Everything comes into perspective when you think about death. About the things that existed — and the struggles people have had before you were ever born — and the things and struggles that will exist after you’re dead.

I don’t want to go on for very long about this, but I do want to leave you with this quotation . . .

We do have a sense of what we are here for in the world. But we also know it is very difficult.
The world is motion. To enter into that motion is a ride. And it ends in *death.*
No one has succeeded in bringing into life the love they wanted to. Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, Gandhi, whoever you want to look at as a character in history who has done their best to bring love, to bring consciousness, into the world has had very limited success.
So will you.

That is, if you are looking for a result in your giving you will be disappointed.
The only result you will have in your giving is death. You will die giving.
Your choice is, do you want to die giving everything – giving your gifts – or do you want to die still holding back. Unable to give everything.
–David Deida

How I Paid for All My Down Time

Internet marketers who sell products on how to make money online are forever talking about how much they make and how they made it. I don’t have a product for sale, so I usually don’t like talking about this stuff.

But here’s a rough overview . . .

I sold stuff online. Not my stuff. Other people’s stuff. It wasn’t passive… it never is; there’s no such thing as passive . . . there’s just various degrees of not-hustling-your-ass-off (NHYAO) income (as opposed to passive income). I also did social media viral “traffic getting” for people (Fox Studios was a client, for example).

(Of course most of the stuff I tried didn’t work (the stuff that did work, however, made it all worth it). I had more than a few domains banned by Google, and more than a few CPA networks giving me bullshit fraud percentages that were wrong, and more than 200 of my 400 registered domains went unused).

I Also Hung Out With Other Sketchy Internet Marketers

Good people.

Anyway . . .

I Might Have Mentioned That Something Big Is Coming. Here’s a Small Hint . . .

“In war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.”

-Sun Tzu

The #1 Reason Why Internet Businesses Fail

It has nothing to do with SEO, or AdWords, or copywriting, or not knowing how to use twitter properly (give me a break).

It’s doesn’t even have that much to do with marketing or enthusiasm or sticking with it. It’s much bigger and obvious than that.

The #1 reason is . . . (stay tuned until next time)