The concept is simple.  Buy an empty lot, build a little office,  toss in  a desk and two chairs.   Go through the newspaper classifieds and buy a dozen used cars.  Hose the cars down, put on a fresh layer of wax, buff and shine, vacuum the carpets, Armor-all the interior and kick the tires to make sure the car holds together.  Get a bright shiny red pen and write a price on the windshield – add an exclamation point and circle.  Then wait for the customers to arrive.

Had I been born 30 years ago I would have tried being  a used car salesman.  I understand cars, know how to fix and clean them.  Nothing about the prospect of selling cars would of scared me.  Just like blogging – easy money.

But this website has taught me that I would have been a terrible used car salesman and would not of made any money – just like blogging.

A family walks onto the lot, I approach them.  They tell me what they want and I show them a car.  They like the color, it is clean and it runs.  Does it run well the father asks.  Yes, it runs well I reply with honest smile.  The man takes it for a test run.  Good acceleration, good brakes.  The kids like it too.  Daddy, buy this car.  The man looks at the price, then at the sky, then at his shoes and finally after a short pause at me.  The car is a little out of our price range.  What is your price range?  The man looks at his kids, then at the car and then at me.  He coughs out a price 40% lower then the sticker price.

The family drives off in their old car.  Another sale lost.  Haven’t sold a car in weeks.  I would have been a terrible used car salesman because I cannot convince people to buy at sticker price. That is why I am also not making money with this website.

It Is All About The Dazzle, Lights And Big Signs

Used car salesmen do not work with new content.  They are selling used cars, not making new ones.  Every used car lot has the same bunch of cars.  Being successful is all about how you present the used cars.

Successful  used car salesmen are flashy, fast talking, excited, and they can convince their customers that lemons are chocolate ice creams with rainbow sprinkles on top.  Their lots have blinking lights and neon sings.  Prices are crossed out, slashed and reduced.  They have the best deals in town.  Their deals will not last – limited time offers.  They have grand openings, clear out sales, end of years sale bonanzas.

They will do almost anything to sell you a car.  No restraint – it does not embarrass them to embellish.  The actual condition of the car is irrelevant.  It is everything around the car that matters – the salesman’s slick haircut, the sexy receptionist, the bright lights and exlamation marks.

Successful bloggers would be great used cars salesmen.  Especially the bloggers in my niche – ‘make money online’.  There is no new content in this niche (true for most niches except probably astronomy and Britney Spears)  – it is all used content.  Everything about making money has been said.  There is no new information – it is just repackaged information.

But there are good salesmen on the internet.  They can take used information, put lights on it, wax it, call it a limited offer, and make you feel like you need it.  They can take something that is free and sell it for $99.99.  It is not the information that they provide, it is the packaging they present it in.

Being a used car salesman is a talent.  Not everybody can do it.  Not everybody can get into the roles of adding value to something by making it sparkle and shine.

Becoming a successful blogger is the same as being a successful used car salesman.  It is not enough to just get a lot and put cars on it.  You need to get into character.  Your content is the least valuable part of the blog.  Everybody has content.  It is all about how you present the content.

Have a look at the successful bloggers.  There are some wild characters out there -  successful used car salesmen.  Cowboy hat, chest hair growing out in-between his top shirt buttons, proud father of a new baby boy.  A college football trophy on his desk.  You feel good around him –a friend.  All smiles and good news.  With all the lights and sounds of the lot every day is New Years Eve party.

Compare that with this blog – a parking lot with a bunch of old cars on it.  Someone approaches and asks, can I make money online?  In plain black unbolded text I reply, ‘ya maybe, but it’s a lot of work’.  No wonder nobody is buying cars from me.

Making More Money Online, What YOU Expect vs Reality, What YOU Should Do

The Problem Of Being An Organ Grinder…

The problem with being an organ grinder is that the monkey will dance only while the music plays.  So to make the monkey dance you need to be there to turn the handle round and round, over and over again.  You turn, music plays, monkey dances.

As an organ grinder, everyday you get up early in the morning.  Feed the monkey a date, shine the organ, and head to the streets.  You drudge along and push the organ to your allotted spot on the corner – the monkey still tired, sleeps on your shoulder.

At 7:30 you start.  Put the monkey on the organ, place the jar in the curb and step behind your organ.  Seeing the first group of people come around the corner you place your hand on the handle, heavy breath, sign, and spin.  For the next 8 hours the monkey will dance and you will spin the handle.  All day you hear the same melody round and round interrupted only by the sound of quarters clinking as they fall into the jar.

The monkey needs you to be there.  Without you spinning the handle there is no music, without music the monkey does not dance, without a dancing monkey nobody puts money into the jar.

The Problem Of Being An Employee…

The problem with being an employees is that your boss needs to see you dance.  5 days a week 8 hours a day you need to dance in front of your boss.  Your boss only pays if he sees you at the office performing the employee dance.

7:30 you arrive at the office and the music starts.  “Good morning boss”, “Good morning employee”.  You hang your coat in the cloak room, say hi to employee2.  Turn on your computer, go to lunch room, get coffee mug with company logo, pour coffee in cup, say hello to employee3, walk back to desk, check your email, the phone rings, you click some keys on the keyboard, 8 hours to go.  Your boss needs to see you dance for 8 hours a day.

If your boss sees you dancing for a month then at the end of the month he will throw money into your jar.

The major drawback of being an employee is that you only get paid while you are at work.  You only get paid if your boss sees you in the office.  As soon as you leave the office the money stops – you are off the clock.

To get money, you need to be in front of your boss going through the motions of an employee.  It doesn’t matter if you are adding value or not, only that you are there.  As long as you are spinning the handle the monkey dances.

This is a huge waste of your time.  The work that you accomplish in a day could be done in a couple of hours.  You are smart, you know what you are doing, you know the most efficient way to do your job – you could have everything done before noon.  But that does not matter.  You have to be there all day.

Also being an employee means that throughout the working day, regardless of what you are doing, you get paid the same amount.  One hour you are designing a product that will make the company 1000’s of dollars in revenue – you get paid $15.25 for that hour.  The next hour you are painfully relieving yourself from last night’s spicy chili dogs – you get paid $15.25 for that hour.

As an employee there is no way to value your time.  Each hour has the same value to you, every hour you get paid the same amount.  So the obvious thing to do as an employee is to try to do the least amount possible – the amount just above the point of being fired.  And why not?  Why work hard, why try to get things done efficiently, properly and quickly?  Regardless of how it is done you get paid.  Why get it done early?  You have to do the office waltz till 5pm regardless if you are done or not.

Being an employee sucks all creativity, productivity and incentive out of you while while you are there – and when you are not there you do not get paid.

Websites Are the Perfect Dancing Monkeys

In one hour I have to be at work.  The next 9 hours will be a complete waste of time.  So, to cheer myself up I will remind myself of the benefits of having a website:

• Websites work all the time.  You do not need to be there.  You can be clipping your toes, tormenting the cat, or wondering the street aimlessly – does not matter what you do – the website will be working.  You do not have to be always spinning the organ’s handle to make the music play.
• Working on your website you become a productive and optimized superhuman.  You do not look like you are working – You are working.  It is not a dance.  You are actually trying to get the most done in the least amount of time.  And there is a direct relationship between the quality of work and the amount you get paid.  The better your product the more you earn.
• As an employee you only get paid one time for your effort.  If you write a great report you will get paid the hours that where spent writing the report.  Even if that report is used by the company for years after you leave – you still just get paid one time.  But for a website the webpage you write keeps paying over and over again – potentially forever.  You only need to write it once.  Online it will be generating revenue for you 24 hours a days, every day, for years.

Websites are dancing monkeys that never stop and you do not need to always be there turning a handle round and round for it to dance.

So You Want To Be A Webmaster...Get in my Head, What YOU Should Do