Global Financial Crisis - So What?

1. Originally, I was going to title this post “My Respond to Global Financial Crisis” but with all the wailing going on TV and many other people echoing doom into my ears, I feel very compelled to say, “so what?”

2. Truth is, this is nothing new. Although the economy worldwide is deteriorating aggressively since late 2007 (since when has our country’s economy been good anyway?) - and I admit I was initially afraid that this might put a dent on my business - but I have every reason to believe that there are always opportunities to be seized, in good times and bad.

3. Money is like energy. It doesn’t get lost or destroyed; it just transfers from one hand to the other (unless you deliberately set the pile of money on fire of course).

4. That being said, there will always be people profiting from what many others would call bad times. The only sad part is only very few can see and seize such opportunities.

5. And what if I were to tell you that many of the events the world is witnessing now is actually orchestrated and manipulated in front of our eyes right now? At the risk of going off topic, I’ll discuss this subject another time.

6. When the financial crisis hit Malaysia and several other countries in South East Asia in 1997 through 1998, I remember my father was cursing and getting frustrated that his business was severely affected by it. Being 12 at that time, I was too young to understand. Now that I am in business for my own, the current global financial crisis made me more determined to explore opportunities and increase my Financial IQ (yep, that’s the keyword).

7. To me it’s simple. If the shark doesn’t bite me, why should I scream? While I sympathize with relatives, neighbors and people who have lost their jobs or businesses affected by the global financial crisis, I’m puzzled: why many others who aren’t affected aren’t maximizing their blessings?

8. I don’t waste time passing around the bad news. It may be real, but parroting the bad news doesn’t solve problems. Responding to it does.

9. Looking on the other side of the coin, the tough times that the world is facing now can also be seen as a test to many of us. The strongest will survive, the weaker will be perish.

10. For many business owners, they will finally get to see what they have been unnecessarily spending on, and use this opportunity to cut out the ‘dead wood’ from their operations.

11. And the employed will see the moment of truth whether they are truly an asset to the company they are serving, or otherwise.

12. Speaking of employment, this is one of the many big proofs that seeking employment is just as risky as starting your own business. While there are odds of failing at running your own business, it’s no safer in the world of employment. A lot of fresh graduates my generation are either jobless or have landed themselves in jobs and pays that “weren’t quite part of their plan”. And not to mention the risk of being laid off today.

13. So my response to global financial crisis? This is motivation for me to get smarter with my money - make, leverage, protect.

14. I recommend reading Rich Dad’s Increase Your Financial IQ. Go find it in your nearest book store or order on Amazon. This book was published in late 2007, just before the major worldwide financial crisis that we have all experienced in 2008. A lot of what was mentioned in this book holds very true and applicable today, more than ever. I won’t spill everything out from the book, but in short the best response to today’s global financial crisis and building your own wealth in tough times is exhibiting a higher Financial IQ.

15. If you are in business of any kind, this is also the best time to explore other income streams in recession proof areas.

16. Despite of the ‘doom and gloom’ news we keep hearing on the media and from the people around us:

(a) Google reports strong sales despite recession [NEWS here]

(b) Some companies like Wal-Mart thrive despite recession [NEWS here]

(c) Check out the 10 countries least affected by the US Financial Crisis here. (Malaysians, you will be surprised to see that our country is in the list. Not as bad as you think after all, right?)

(d) Home video sales and rentals are strong despite recession [NEWS here]

(e) Ski sales stay hot - read here.

(f) E-Commerce? So far not a disaster. CNET NEWS report so.

(g) Really, it’s not. LightInTheBox.com, an online Chinese distribution channel, tripled its sales in the final quarter last year. Click here.

(g) Amazon.com reports best Christmas ever.

(h) I pulled off a $100,000 product launch in November 2008. As I was wrapping up the launch, I eavesdropped on the radio announcing that unemployment rates were going sky high, and the same “financial crisis” message I kept hearing about all year long. Hmm…

(i) I don’t know verifiable is this since I’m not in the MLM scene, but Amway has reported a big jump in their sales in 1997 through 1998, the same period South East Asian countries went through a big financial crisis. I suspect the same will happen again this time.

(j) Health care jobs growing even in tough times…. news here.

17. What did I just say about money being like energy? We can choose to wait and let it happen to us, or respond and make a difference for ourselves and the people around us.

Other Readings You Should Check Out:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recession
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_financial_crisis_of_2008

CASE STUDY: $7315 in 72 hours

1. I wanted to experiment doing an online sale that can be pulled off in a quicker and faster succession compared to doing a full-scale product launch.

2. So I opened my Excel Sheet file where I have jolt down my “idea bucket”. After conducting a quick research by combing through the Main Discussions in the Warrior Forum and the search engines, I went to create an Information Product right away.

3. The product creation process took 2 days. I wasn’t writing an E-Book; I was doing a Multimedia Course.

4. The product I was creating was called Content Creation Secrets, named after the 2 hour presentation I had at the IPASS Seminar last National Day. Judging from the response of over 90 attendance, there’s a hot demand for this priceless skill - and what if you can create content on demand and sell?

5. Since I still have the PowerPoint slides, I did little modification to it and added new pointers. Then I turned on the microphone and fired away. I recorded over 5 different sessions, broken into 5 MP3 audios, in slightly above half an hour.

6. Now my voice isn’t exactly the sexiest but I focused on getting the work done than trying to strive for perfection (which is almost impossible because of the ‘uhhs’ and ‘ahhs’ I do on reflex!) So after the recordings were done, I submitted the MP3 audios to my sister to do the text transcription (omitting the ‘uhhs’ and ‘ahhs’ of course) and correct the grammar where possible. This is where having an in-house virtual assistant pays off.

7. While my sister was working on transcribing the audio, I worked on the sales letter and graphics for the product. I could do both on my own, and in spirit of challenging myself I chose not to outsource them. (besides, I am also working on a big project called Mega Red Packet so all the outsourcing efforts are going there)

8. The sales letter and graphics were done on the same day, and my sister finished the transcription by night time. I re-did the audio by following the printed transcription thus the quality of the audio is better - no stammering, audible mistakes, etc. All of the product creation aspects were taken care of over the weekend i.e. 2 days.

9. Day 3: I wrote the main sales letter that sells the Private Label Rights to the full-blown Multimedia Course. I kept one license for myself so I can sell it to the end-users at a later date, but for this round I wanted to release the Private Label Rights to my members and subscribers, who are mostly resellers and offline publishers themselves.

10. Next, I did a short video explaining the offer in 8 minutes. This is where having Camtasia Studio 6 comes in handy. I did the video, uploaded it onto YouTube and embedded the video on the parent sales letter, near the bottom of the headline. (SIDENOTE: have to keep the video under 10 minutes to be accepted by YouTube)

11. I didn’t sell the product right away. Since I didn’t plan for this to be a big launch (and I don’t want too many competitors by the time I sell this for myself to the end-users) I broadcast an email to my AMLOH Joint Venture Partners at AMLOH-Central.com to tell them about my upcoming Private Label Rights (PLR) Sale and if any of them were interested in taking part in promoting the 72 hour sale with me, I would send them the full info - their promotion link, promotion email and complimentary access to the product. I had also set a date for the PLR Sale to go live and expire in 3 days.

12. Since I still had some time left before the PLR Sale day, I added a One Time Offer quickly and priced it at $27.00. I was thinking that since I was going the customers in, might as well give them a shot at the One Time Offer and see how many of them would snap it up. I know one thing for sure: if I didn’t add the OTO I will never make more.

13. On the sale day, the order links went live on the sales page and I alerted my 9 JV Partners to start promoting the PLR Sale to their members and subscribers on their mailing list. I promoted to my own list too simultaneously. Other marketing mediums include Twitter and FaceBook. A follow up on all of these mediums was done the next day.

14. PLR to the product was priced affordable i.e. $47.00. Sales letter converted at 4.3%, probably thanks to the video I embedded. One Time Offer did its conversion at around 30%, meaning every 3 in 10 customers would also purchase the OTO.

15. Altogether, the PLR Sale made a total of $7,315.00 in 3 days. I was my own biggest seller, and the JV Partners made $2,312.50 leaving the admin (me) with $5,002.50 in gross profit. I suspect that if I had tried to sell purely on my own I would only have made slightly above $3,000. Still not bad for 3 days of product creation and set up, and the 72 hour profit was equivalent to 12 month’s pay in my previous office boy job.

16. Not to mention production cost was $0.00. I already had JVManager1, mailing list, hosting & domain, payment processors (PayPal, 2CheckOut), Camtasia Studio, PowerPoint, Word and PDF converter, and many others available, and they have already been paid for themselves along time ago. Thus it didn’t cost me a dime in the process to create the Multimedia Course.

17. I had done a similar 72 Hour Sale in September last year, and that brought in $4,241 in sales within 3 days. The $3,000 in increase in this sale is owed to having more JV Partners (the last one I had only 4), and this time product was multi-format (MP3 and transcript which sells better than just purely E-Books).

18. I have reserved myself a copy of the PLR license to my own product, which means I can still continue selling it to the end-users, thus will create another on-going income stream.

19. Oh, and did I mention that I did all these without leaving home?