Introduction

The terms self-help, personal development, personal improvement, personal growth, self-improvement, and information marketing are often used interchangeably. The industry is increasingly referred to as the expert industry in recent times because, according to Brendon Burchard, it’s where “experts” operate.

While self-help (also used without hyphen) is now viewed as derogatory because of the assortment of snake oil salesmen (call them charlatans) that prowl about, online and offline, seeking who to unleash their wares and cures, it was the term first used to describe the industry and was coined by Samuel Smiles, a Scottish Doctor, in 1859.

However, according to sacramentochiropractic.com, the origins of self help date back to the book “The Constitution of Man,” written by a Victorian phrenologist, George Combe, in 1828. It was followed by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Compensation” in 1841.

The personal development industry is estimated to grow to $13.2 billion by 2022, up 33.33% from the 2016 base of $9.9 billion. Quoting market research.com, Iulia-Cristina Uta writes, “the self-improvement market was worth $9.9 billion in 2016 and is estimated to grow to $13.2 billion by 2022 with 5.6% average yearly gains.”

Writing in brandminds.ro, and quoting Niels Eek, a psychologist, Iulia-Cristina Uta, elaborates, “Self-improvement is about consciously identifying and developing one or more facets of your life. From the perspective of an entrepreneur, self-improvement will often entail some sort of mental training but can mean anything from practicing stress management to valuable goal-setting. Professionals are often keen to learn things like time-management techniques (for better prioritizing tasks) and increasing productivity without compromising mental wellbeing.”

According to brandminds.ro, the self-improvement market is wide and encompasses a large variety of products and services which range from books, to e-books, online courses, coaching programs, webinars, “academies”, “universities”, “masterminds”, masterclasses, conferences, mobile apps etc.

Taking the digital angle, Hazel Davi, a guest blogger at virgin.com quoted various sources and research findings as pointing to the fact that compared to other age groups, millennials are the most driven to engage in self-development. Writing under the title, “What does self-improvement look like in the digital age?”, she asserted, “Millennials love self-improvement; whether it’s learning how to be an inspirational leader or change-maker, coding for beginners or Leaning In – they seemingly can’t get enough of it.” You can get the full article here.

Since its creation in 1859, the industry has become unstoppable with thousands of “gurus” peddling their wares to whoever cares to read, listen, view, try, and buy. When asked whether he was a “guru”, Peter Drucker had said, “The term charlatan was too difficult to pronounce so someone invented the word guru.”

In that regard marketresearch.com has this to say. “Consumers are realizing that there are many so-called “experts” now peddling a variety of online “masterminds”, “academies”, “universities” and coaching services. Too many, in fact. As a result, gurus are trying to figure out how to cut through the clutter while consumers are trying to identify legitimate, competent experts.”

According to sacramentochiropractic.com, September is National Self Improvement Month in the US. According to the blog, it’s “a time to reflect upon your life, set new goals and take strides to make personal changes in order to achieve the life you truly wish.”

The US is unique in this regard as the only country I know of with a full month set aside for self improvement. Any wonder the US is the global centre of gravity for self-improvement. The industry was estimated to be worth $11 billion in the US in 2018, according to webwire.com.

What I Wrote About the Self-Help In 2015

I’ve always been fascinated with the self-help industry since I stumbled on Brian Tracy’s motivational tapes years back. At about the same time, I stumbled on the Jay Abraham’s “12 Pillars of Business Success”. That led me to “Success Magazine”, and later “Excellence Magazine”, and I later became a huge fan of Tony Robbins, whose “Unlimited Power”, and “Awaken The Giant Within” I devoured.

That was long before the internet. Today the internet has put self-help in everybody’s palm. In 2015 I wrote a blog post on the subject for my fans and it was later published here. You can read it right here (see enclosed). The title is:

Does Attitude Really Determine Altitude?

Keith Harrell’s book screams, Attitude is Everything: 10 Life-Changing Steps to Turning Attitude into Action. Jeff Keller not to be outdone goes a step further and shouts, Attitude is Everything: Change your Attitude, Change your Life. Two of the fathers of modern motivational literature, Napoleon Hill, and W. Clement Stone, had in 1960 written what many consider the definitive treatise on attitude when Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude was published. Though it didn’t have the word attitude in its title, Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People was on positive attitude and was first published in 1937.

The very first ever book on positive attitude was entitled Self Help and was written by Samuel Smiles, a Scottish doctor in 1859, and sold 250,000 copies. Oliver Swett Marden latched onto Self Help and in 1891 published his Pushing to the Front, which according to him were notes of “inspiration and help to strugglers trying to be somebody and do something in the world” , which culminated in his lunching of SUCCESS Magazine in 1895.

According to the editors of SUCCESS Magazine, in SUCCESS, Marden “sought to inspire and uplift, to teach and to hold up models of success as a beacon for others who aspire to be the same.” With SUCCESS Magazine, Marden launched the “success movement”, otherwise also called the “self-help movement.”

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, which came out in 1937 literally set the success movement on fire and the movement has never looked back. At the time of Napoleon Hill’s death in 1970, the book had sold over 20 million copies.

The towering figures in this movement, excluding the founder Marden, and not necessarily in any order, include the early fathers like Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, W. Clement Stone, Earl Nightingale, Norman Vincent Peale, Denis Waitley, Wayne Dyer, and Og Mandino.

Next are the later-day followers like Zig Ziglar, Harvey Mackay, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Les Brown, and Tony Robbins.

With the advent of the internet, a new generation of success gurus led by Brendon Burchard has exploded in the scene with millions of followers.

Donald Trump, the real estate mogul [Now US President], is in a class of his own. His Think Big and Kick Ass In Business and in Life is one of the definitive bibles of the success movement.

The Self Help industry according to The Guardian, is $11bn strong in the US alone, with books in this space such as Chicken Soup for the Soul series selling over a billion copies. The book The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne, published in 2006, and the follow up film starring Bob Proctor, made waves the whole world and has been translated into 46 languages. The book has sold more than 19 million copies worldwide.

The book is based on one of the several tendencies in the self help industry called the law of attraction. According to this law, what you think about, you attract. If you think positive thoughts, you attract positive things. The reverse, according to the author, is also true. Viola, change your thinking, change your life.

John C. Maxwell, Wayne Dyer, Daniel Amen, Brian Tracy, and Marilee Adams are some of the more well known authors that have books on how thinking positive help change our lives.

So back to our question: does attitude really determine altitude? For the non cognoscenti, altitude refers to the level of your monetary success, the height of your achievement glory, the stupendousness of your wealth.

A deep look at some of the most successful people on the planet, whether in politics, sports, academia, business, and entertainment, to mention a few, however, shows no causal relationship between attitude and success, however defined.

George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Muhammad Ali, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Jordan, Nelson Mandela, Steve Jobs, Williams Shakespeare, Bill Gates, Ben Carson, and Oprah Winfrey, Tony Elumelu, Aliko Dangote, and Richard Branson, to mention a few, are some of the most successful individuals on record. How did each and every one of these individuals achieve stupendous success? One word: through grit.

By success, I don’t just mean financial wealth, because Nelson Mandela, one of the most successful leaders that ever lived was not a multi millionaire. So the one and only ingredient that separates successful people from others is grit, by which I mean hard work, burning the mid-night oil, iron determination, perseverance, standing for something, delayed gratification, and sacrifice.

Malcolm Gladwell tells us to succeed in any endeavour, you need 10,000 man hours of continued practice, that is, about 10 years in the trenches. Ten years of learning, ten years of focus, ten years of faith, and ten years of passion. Yes, ten years of sacrifice are what you need to reach the proverbial tipping point.

Attitude is a state of mind, of always expecting the best no matter what the world throws on your path. But attitude (the software) without hard work (the hard ware) will not put bread on your table, even if you are a comedian. As a comedian, you have to continually come up with fresh rib crackers otherwise you will become stale – and that calls for extreme hard work.

John H. Johnson of the “Ebony Magazine” empire fame said, “There is no defense against excellence”, and the boxing maverick, Don King, once said, “If you set yourself on fire, the world will come and watch you burn.”

Don King was talking about passion, zeal, and the determination to go out and make something out of yourself and not waiting for a dole out, social security or manna from heaven.

Are you ready for success? Then wake up, put on your running shoes, fold your shirt sleeves, put your hand to the plough and never look back and the gods of success will show up. Only hard work will see you to the Promised Land because the maker of the entire universe decreed that “He who does not work does not eat.”

Attitude alone my friend is not enough. You need a ton of grit to stand on. There is no other way.

 

Which Are The Most Lucrative Segments of the Self-Help Industry?

The self-help industry evolves with evolving technologies. While radio, TV, newspapers and magazines dominated in the 50s to the 80s, today the internet holds sway, with digitally delivered products in apps, MP4s, MP3s, videos via YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia and podcasts dominate.

Podcasts like the Tim Ferriss Show, The James Altucher Show, and Pat Flynn’s SPI (Smart Passive Income) Show, attract up to 100 million listeners combined monthly.

Oprah is in a special class her own, with OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) and The Oprah Winfrey Show attracting millions worldwide.

Sometimes it’s easy to mix up the medium, channel or technology with the market verticals. It’s important to note that technology is just a medium, or channel or mediator. For emphasis, if I train you on how to write a book face-to-face in the classroom or train you in the form of a webinar using a platform such as Webinar Jam, am I a trainer or a podcaster?

In all, the industry is categorized differently by different writers depending on where they  come from: media practitioners, industry experts, or technologists. With that in mind let’s review some market classifications.

Marketresearch.com identifies the following as the top nine market segments of the self-improvement industry:

1. Infomercials
2. Audiobooks
3. Self-improvement Books
4. Self-improvement apps
5. Personal Coaching
6. Motivational Speakers
7. Weight Loss Programs
8. Public Seminars
9. Holistic Institutes & Training Companies

Look at line 6, motivational speaking. This industry is in a class of its own with the living and long gone legends like Les Brown, Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, and Dale Carnegie the most celebrated.

To take your game to the next level, grab my book, “The Celebrity Speaker” here, and read my blog posts “The Little Known Secret of the World’s Greatest Speakers And How You Can Join Their Ranks” here, “How To Make 7 Figures In The Speaking And Training Industry” here, and “The Top 7 Mistakes Amateur Motivational Speakers Make” here.

One of the most prolific online trainers in the world today is Brendon Burchard, with over 2 million FaceBook followers, and over 1,000 YouTube training videos. The founder of the Expert Industry Association (now defunct), author of five books, including The Charge, The Millionaire Messenger, and The Motivation Manifesto, he has been endorsed by Oprah, the Dalai Lama, and of ex-CNN’s legendary anchor, Larry King.

Oprah.com refers to Brendon Burchard as “One of the most successful online trainers in history.”

In his The Millionaire Messenger, Brendon lists the top 10 fastest growing segments of the “expert industry” as follows:

1. Motivation Advice
2. Leadership Advice
3. Financial Advice
4. Business Advice
5. Marketing Advice
6. Relationship Advice
7. Spiritual Advice
8. Style Advice
9. Productivity Advice
10. Health Advice (including weight loss)

According to sacramentochiropractic.com, webinars, teleseminars, and other virtual communications methods are fast replacing face-to-face training. The fastest growing segments of the self-improvement seminar industry it asserts are:

• Virtual Seminars
• Virtual Events
• Virtual Coaching

Other than relationships, the most common goals that people want to achieve through self-help books according to sacramentochiropractic.com are:

• Increasing Happiness
• Weight Loss
• Success
• Money
• Spirituality

You can get more details here.

 

The Most Lucrative Self-Help Segments in Figures

According to marketresearch.com as quoted in brandminds.ro, the various markets related to the self-improvement industry and how much they are worth are as follows:

• Self-help audiobooks – $769 million
• Self-improvement books – $800 million
• Self-improvement apps – $27 million
• Personal coaching services – $1 billion in the US
• Motivational speakers – $1 billion per year combined

The details are here.

 

How You Can Join the Self-Improvement Industry?

According to Brendon Burchard’s Millionaire Messenger, you can share your expertise in seven dimensions and get paid as:

1. Author
2. Trainer
3. Speaker
4. Coach
5. Consultant
6. Seminar Leader
7. Information Marketing

Your book can provide the launching pad for your expert empire as experience by the following gurus will illustrate.

From being virtual unknowns, books helped catapult the following experts to stardom: Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hanson (Chicken Soup For The Soul), Jay Conrad Levinson (Guerilla Marketing), Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad), Tony Robbins (Unlimited Power).

With your book, you can start training based on the ideas in it, then start speaking which could lead to coaching, consulting, seminars and information products.

Personally my Bridges to the Customer’s Heart, a book on customer service, now dubbed The Customer Service Bible, has opened doors to Fortune 500 companies and to some of the largest corporations and the most respected CEOs and HRDs in Nigeria.

This is what the late Jay Conrad Levinson said, “Someone once asked me how much I made for my first “Guerrilla Marketing” book. The answer I gave was $10million.The book itself only paid me about $35,000 in royalties, but the speaking engagements, spinoff- books, newsletters, columns, boot-camps, consulting, and wide open doors resulted in the remaining $9,965,000.

The Three Pillars of Expert

Brendon Burchard in his Millionare Messenger identified three pillars of expertise. Though the three overlap, each drives and reinforces the other. Without going into details, here are they:

• The Results Expert
• The Research Expert
• The Role Model

The Top 5 Reasons You Should Stake a Claim In the Expert Industry

According to Brendon Burchard in the same The Millionaire Messenger, the top five reasons you should stake a claim in the self-improvement industry are:

• Your work is based entirely on your passion and knowledge.
• Your work activities center on “relating and creating.”
• You work anywhere and anytime, starting now.
• You do not need a large team.
• Financial income is disproportionate to any other industry.

The 10 Steps To Expert Empire

You may not be able to create the next Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram just yet, but if you want  an empire that can generate for you $10 million within 10 years – if you really work hard and follow the footsteps of the authentic gurus – you’ll not be wrong if you emulate Brendon Burchard’s guidelines.

Here are the 10 Steps, what I call The Foundational Principles, for creating an expert empire as Brendon lays out in The Millionaire Messenger:

• Step 1: Claim and master your topic
• Step 2: Pick your Audience
• Steps 3: Discover Your Audience Problems
• Step 4: Define Your story
• Step 5: Create a Solution
• Step 6: Put up a website
• Step 7: Campaign Your Product and Programs
• Step 8: Post Free Content
• Step 9: Get Promotional Partners
• Step 10: Repeat and Build the Business Based on Distinction, Excellence, and Service

This may sound too good to be true. Just 10 simple steps and you’re a millionaire. You’re quite right to be skeptical.  And even cynical, and dismiss the whole notion with the wave of your hand. But listen carefully and listen hard. While before it took donkey years to build a solid expert empire as Tony Robbins has done, thanks to the internet, you can build your empire today within a twinkling of an eye.

While it took Tony Robbins upward of 30 years to amass his $500 million in networth, it took the online business strategy guru, Ramit Sethi, just 15 years to build his empire –  now estimated at $25 million. Can you guess where his empire will be in the next 15 years?

Tim Ferriss, whose empire is worth $100 million, built his within 10 years. His first mega successful book, The 4 – Hour Workweek was released in 2007. He released The 4 – Hour Body and  The 4 – Hour Chef in quick succession. Before you could write any rebuttal against his “4 – Hour” claims, he released The Tools of Titans, and The Tribe of Mentors.

As at 2019 The Tim Ferris Show has been downloaded 400+ million times. Tim Ferriss as I stated earlier is worth $100 million and clocked 42 in 2020.

Another mogul, James Altucher, is in a class of his own. He is a contrarian with three iconic books, Choose Yourself, Reinvent Yourself, and The Power of No. His estimated net worth is $50 million.

While he has come a long way as a venture capitalist, it took him less than 10 years to skyrocket his profile to the stratosphere. His The James Altucher Show started in 2015 and as at today has had over 30 million downloads. So a good book worth reading may be all you need to kick-start your empire as the late Jay Conrad Levinson did with his “The Guerilla Marketing.”

To round off this section, this is what Pat Flynn of the SPI (Smart Passive Income) fame, who was one of the first “gurus” to jump into podcasting in 2009 has to say, “I’m not exaggerating that podcasting changed everything for my career, my business, and (really) my life. So much has changed since those early days of podcasting. Today, the podcast industry is booming at unprecedented growth rates. Technology innovations are making it super easy to record, edit, host, and publish a show. And brand super fans are increasingly craving the intimacy that a podcast’s audio experience provides.”

This is the best time for you to establish your empire. Though it’s not a walk through the park, if you follow the steps laid down in this ultimate guide, you’ll be a proud owner of a thriving empire in the not so distant future. Start with one book worth reading as these proud seekers are doing and it will make all the difference for you and your bank account. You can join my Book Writing Clinic here.

Who Are the Authentic Gurus?

As we have seen, the self-help industry dates back to at least 1828. Of course, that is not entirely correct. Motivating people, with oratory, dates back far longer. We can trace it to antiquity.  As Adlai Stevenson once alluded, “When Cicero turned to the crowds in ancient Rome, people said, ‘great speech’. When Demosthenes spoke to the crowds in ancient Greece and people turned to each other, they said: ‘Let’s march.’” So self-help dates back at least 2400 years.  However, it really took off with gusto with the advent of radio, TV, and now, the internet.

Here are the men and women that have made the biggest impact in the English speaking world, arranged not in terms of wealth amassed or age. Missing are Sir Richard Branson, and Oprah Winfrey, two of the biggest motivators of the modern era, because they belong to the billionaire’s list.

The Forerunners	The New Gurus
James Allen	Gary Vaynerchuk
Samuel Clason	Peter Diamandis
Viktor E. Frankl	Brendon Burchard
Napoleon Hill	Joe Polish
W. Clement Stone	Tim Ferriss
Dale Carnegie	Daren Hardy
Og Mandingo	Brian Clark
Jim Rohn	Daren Rowse
Charlie “Tremendous” Jone	Ramit Sethi
Zig Ziglar	Pat Flynn
Les Brown	Marie Forleo
Jay Conrad Levinson	Jon Morrow
Ken Blanchard	Derek Sivers
Brian Tracy	Ruth Soukup
Jay Abraham	Michelle Shroeder-Gardner
Jack Canfield	James Schramcko
Mark Victor Hanson	Neil Patel
Marcia Weider	Ryan Deiss
Tony Robbins	Rand Fishkin
Dan Sullivan	Brian Dean
Robert Cialdini	Michael Hyatt
Richmond Dayo Johnson	Jeff Goins
Alex Mandosian	John Gray
Tom Hua	Tracy Repchuk
Raymond Aaron	Danny Iny
Pat Mesiti	Stu McLaren
Dan Sullivan	Yaro Stack
Armand Morin	Dan Kennedy
Arianna Huffington	Matt Bacak
T Harv Eker	Ewen Chia
Darren Winters	Brian Koz
Jeff Walker	Rosalind Gardner
Marrianne Williamson	Darren Jenkins
Deepak Chopra	Janet Switzer
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer	Paul O’Mahony
Mike Stewart	Patric Chan
	Greg Cesar
	David Cavanagh
	Shawn Casey
	Simon Coulson
	Dan Kennedy
	Pam Hendrickson
	Mike Koenigs

 

Little Unknown Facts About the Personal Development Industry

• Tony Robbins is the richest self-improvement guru with net-worth estimated at $500 million as at 2019.

• The best-selling self-improvement book of all time is “Men Are From Mars, Women are from Venus” by Dr. John Gray with estimated 50 million copies sold.

• The best-selling book series is the Chicken Soup for the Soul with estimated 500 million copies sold globally, with Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen the co-authors of the first book in the series. Altogether, 1 billion products in the series have been sold.

• The world’s richest author is J K Rowling, with estimated net-worth of about $1billion.

• The best known online business strategist who does not regard himself as a blogger is Ramit Sethi with estimated net-worth of $25million.

• The biggest online trainer is Brendon Burchard with estimated net-worth of $22million.

Embarking on Personal Development as an Expert

 As a student or a learner, you must be clear on what you really want regarding your personal development, vis-à-vis, what you really need. At the higher order of things or at the strategic level, Dan Sullivan in his “The Dan Sullivan Question”, identifies three things people really need in their quest for learning:

• Clarity about your future direction
• Confidence about what you’ve already achieved
• Capability to achieve bigger goals

Studies have shown, e.g. the Hawthorne Experiment, and many gurus, including the late Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, have all emphasized, achievement is 10% physical and 90% mental. That’s why gurus emphasize the need for a “positive mental attitude.” Those who take their game to the highest level focus on uncluttering their minds first by unlearning, relearning, and learning.

Stephen Covey in his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People calls the process Sharpening The Saw, in reference to Abraham Lincoln’s wise saying, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.” So as a learner, continually sharpen the saw. Life today requires lifelong learning because the half-life of knowledge, that is, the time it takes what you know to become obsolete, gets ever shorter occasioned by unceasing technological change.

Stephen Covey used the formula “P/PC Balance” and the “parable of the golden goose and the golden egg” to illustrate the point. What P/PC balance illustrates is that there must a delicate balance between production and production capability. Learning increases your production capability. If you seek to increase production without a commensurate improvement in production capability (as in the parable of the golden goose and the golden egg, you’re doomed to fail.

The key to learning is finding the right teacher. But as the Buddha said, “When the student is ready the teacher appears.” Does that still hold true in a globalized world?

In today’s world where there are thousands of teachers and fake prophets and gurus in every field under the sun, the right teacher will not just magically appear, you must diligently search for one. Irrespective of the area you wish to master, there are excellent teachers. As a guide you may wish to begin with the list of “gurus” I gave above.

However, sometimes going to the big gurus may be counter- productive as you may not be able to afford them. And their level of knowledge may be too high for you. Look for unheralded gurus who can guide you until you’re ready to make the next leap. I, Paul Uduk can help you.

According to the Dreyfus model, there are five levels in skill acquisition as follows:

• Novice
• Advanced Beginner
• Competent
• Proficient
• Expert

The “conscious competence” learning model recognizes four psychological states:

• Unconscious incompetence
• Conscious incompetence
• Conscious competence
• Unconscious competence

Coaches and trainers divide most of their offerings into three categories: Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced. Depending on what you need as a learner, as opposed to what you want, and depending on your level of competence and existing skill, a good trainer will guide you accordingly to where to start.

Be humble enough to follow the guidance of your coach or teacher or instructor. When I started my banking career, I needed to pass certain professional banking exams to be certified  as a Banker, for instance, and I wanted to start at the advanced level, because I believed with my Masters degree then, I didn’t need the Basic. However, my coach gently advised me to start at the basic level and it paid off.

To select a coach, look at his or her pedigree: what has he achieved in his field. Is his or her achievement merely a paper certificate? Is there something to back it up, e.g. has he written a book in the subject? Look for references, testimonials from ex-students, check his blog and website to see what he has to offer. Use Google search features to get more information about the “Expert.” If you do that, you’ll discover who is who? 

 

The Skills You Need to Quickly Hone

The world, especially the world of technology, moves at a breakneck speed so constant learning is the new normal. Arie P. de Geus in his 1997 bestselling book, “The Living Company”, indicated that the half-life of knowledge, that is, the time it takes current knowledge to become obsolete, was 12 to 24 months depending on the industry.

Today the half-life of knowledge is less than 3 months. Today we’re talking about 5G technology that makes things happen instantaneously, e.g. Internet of Things (IoT). But do you know that Huawei, the Chinese Telecom juggernaut,  is already working on 6G technology that will render the type of smart phones we use today museum items?

Hybrid cars, driverless cars, AI (Artificial Intelligence) Machine Learning, 3-D printing, IoT (Internet of Things), Drones, Robotics are all becoming the new normal. If you’re not getting yourself acquainted with these new technologies and terminologies, you’re going to become a dinosaur.

At the personal level, you need to quickly acquire skills in the following areas:

• Effective Communication (including Public Speaking)
• Online Business
• Blogging
• Content Marketing
• Copy Writing
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
• Creative Writing
• Online Training (Webinars, Podcast)
• Coaching
• Mentoring
• HTML
• Coding
• Drone technology
• App design

You must also learn how to use platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, Zoom, Webinar Jam, Teachable, Thinkific, Podia, Pinterest, Instagram, Grammarly, Survey Monkey, Microsoft Teams, Audience management systems such as Infusion Soft, Ontraport, Kajabi, Mailchimp and get ready for even new technologies that are likely to invade the market tomorrow.

Personal Development and Financial Freedom for Experts

 

As I’ve already indicated, experts operate in seven dimension as Author, Trainer, Speaker, Coach, Consultant, Seminar Leader, Information Marketer. As in all spheres of human endeavour, the 80/20 rule applies.

Only 20% of experts are making the kill while the remaining 80% eke out a living on about $60,000 average salary per annum according to indeed.com.

To join the boat of those making it, every expert must jump onto the online business train. It’s already crowded out there but as the Chinese proverb goes, the best time to have started was 20 years ago, the next best time is now. Ramit Sethi started about 15 years ago and is worth about $25 million today. You too can get a piece of the internet cake if you make a push for it.

This is what James Altucher said. “Most Americans have only their salaries to provide their income, and often times that is not enough to live the life they want. It can feel hopeless…”

For many trainers, speakers, coaches, artist, and consultants, it can indeed feel hopeless. But it doesn’t have to be that way. If the earnings of the gurus I have highlighted in this blog post are anything to go by, there is still room for one extra guru. You could be that one extra guru. But only, if you’re willing to swallow your pride, and embark on learning new skills in the broad field of “online business.”  If you do, you’ll attain financial freedom as Marie Forleo, Ruth Soukup, and Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, to mention just three of the female gurus I learn from.

Without going into details these are the things you need to learn doing:

Learn Building/Doing What?	Example	Founder
Online Coaching / Platforms	Singularity University	Peter Diamandis
	Genius Network	Joe Polish
	High Performance Academy	Brendon Burchard
	B-School	Marie Forleo
	Elite Blog Academy	Ruth Soukup
	Super Fast Business	James Schramko
	Writers Den	Carol Tice
	Platform University	Michael Hyatt
	Tribe Writers	Jeff Goins
	IWT (I Will Teach You to be Rich)	Ramit Sethi
	Growth Lab	Ramit Sethi
	Growth Machine	Nat Eliason
	HPX Courses	Brendon Burchard
Marketing Online Learning Courses	Earnable	Ramit Sethi
	Serious Bloggers Only	Jon Morrow
	EBA (Elite Blog Academy)	Ruth Soukup
Super Blogs	Pro Blogger	Darren Rowse
	Copy Blogger	Neil Patel
	Smart Blogger	Jon Morrow
	The Linda Ikeji Blog	Linda Ikeji
Affiliate Marketing	Affiliate Marketing	Patric Chan
	Affiliate Marketing	Rosalind Gardner
Podcasting	The Tim Ferriss Show	Tim Ferriss
	The James Altucher Show	James Altucher
	Smart Passive Income	Pat Flynn
Mega Conferences	Traffic & Conversion Summit	Ryan Deis

 

Recommended Books, Blogs, Websites for Experts

The books I showcase in this blog post are the ones I’ve read and will help shorten your learning curve; the blogs and websites I highlight are the ones I follow, subscribe to and buy products; the gurus I’ve mentioned are the ones I know, follow and learn from. Obviously there are thousands I don’t know out there. As you diligently search you’ll discover new ones.

In addition to the recommended books, blogs, and websites, get my free eBook, How Experts Build Empire: The Paul Uduk Case Study. It’s a treasure trove of information for the beginner. You can get it here.

My Last Word

Carving a piece of the internet (online business) cake goes beyond having a website. It goes beyond being an expert on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and other social media platforms. It goes beyond running online training on Zoom, Skype, Go-to-Meetings, or Microsoft Team. It goes beyond launching training programs on online training platforms such as Teachable, Thinkific, and Podia. It goes beyond teaching on Udemy, getting gigs on Fiverr, Guru and Warrior Forum and a host of others. It goes beyond uploading a book or two on Amazon.

Making a kill online requires deep understanding of the strategies that enable you attract and acquire audience, develop evergreen mouthwatering products, develop a game plan that enables you to establish as a brand, market your value proposition, develop marketing and sales strategies and finally selling that brings in the cash through your well optimized sales funnels.

As you can already see, it’s much work and it can look overwhelming without a coach that understands the entire online ecosystem and how money is made. Even as an “expert” you need an “Expert Coach” to show you how online business works.

If Tony Robbins could subject himself to tutelage by his former mentee and student, Brendon Burchard, you have no excuse. You have nothing to lose but a lot to gain: cash jingling in your pocket, personal freedom, and more ability to impact the world. If you get the right coach, you’ll achieve the financial freedom and the type of life others can only dream.

I volunteer to be your coach. It would be an honour to work with you. Read and re-read this guide and allow it to sink in. Don’t stop there, download the e-Book version of it as PDF right on this website and make it your personal companion. Go ahead and download it, it’s my gift to you.

 

My Top Seven Recommended Books For Students and Experts 

1. The Invisible Sale by Tom Martin
2. The Millionaire Messenger by Brendon Burchard
3. Platform by Michael Hyatt
4. The Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss
5. Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield
6. I Will Teach You by Ramit Sethi
7. Wealth Beyond Your Imagination by Paul Uduk

My Top Ten Recommended Online Courses For Students and Experts 

1. Serious Bloggers Only (By Jon Morrow)
2. Earnable by IWT (I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi)
3. Elite Blog Academy  (By Ruth Soukup)
4. B-School (By Marie Forleo)
5. The Million Dollar Design (By Tracy Repchuk)
6. HPX Courses (By Brendon Burchard)
7. BWC – How Experts Build Empire Course For Newbies (By Paul Uduk)
8. iConversion Foundation Course (By Paul Uduk)
9. iBusiness Mastery Course (Paul Uduk)
10. iSchool Complete Course (The Experts Empire Program) (Paul Uduk)