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Saturday, November 25, 2006
Interview with Audio Expert Quentin Brown
Interview with Audio Expert Quentin Brown
http://www.mp3soundstream.com
I have a number of websites but this is my primary one at present.
******************************
1. Can you tell me about your business background?
I have spent most of my life in administration of some kind or another. Basically office type work. I branched out once and started a few businesses, however a few years later we had a wild economic ride here in Australia and I was forced into bankruptcy with 24% interest rates. I quickly retreated back to office work.
So my background is as a worker for companies. I started my Internet career with no real contacts or big data bases. I had very limited experience with computers except accounting packages.
2. As a person on the Internet, how did you get started?
Naturally after going bankrupt I had very little self esteem so I went back to the safe office work. I tinkered with MLM every now and then but with such a low self esteem I was destined for failure.
I started to use the internet about 7 years ago and while learning how to build websites started meeting a lot of great people online. As I started talking to them I was introduced to Internet marketing and tried my hand at a few affiliate programs.
Three months later I received my first cheque for $56 and I was hooked. It was the most fun I had ever had making money even though it was very small.
As I learned more how to market other people products I then started to build my own. E-books and how to manuals. I then branched out into software and other products which has resulted in my business having a wide range of products which has built in a good sustainable income.
I don't think you can do this initially because you would just get overloaded, however as you meet people and share what you know opportunities present themselves and you weigh up what is worth doing and what not to do.
It’s the old saying that when the student is ready the teacher will arrive.
3. How long have you been in business online?
Well I guess you could say 7 years but the first five were only part time just earning a little extra income to supplement my wage. I worked for a charity during this time so my income was not great.
As an accounts clerk I was getting pretty bored so I offered to build the charity a web page and so they bought me Front Page and I built my first web site.
People liked it so much I started to get other enquiries.
As I started to build more sites people wanted extra functionality so I simply went and did an online course and learned how to do it. I then wrote my first e-book called My Website and it sold and still sells quite well.
I have been a full time Internet marketer now since December 2002.
4. How did you learn what it takes to succeed?
Forums, online courses and tutorials
I was learning a lot form the forums so I also started fixing computers in the office etc. After five years I had moved from accounts clerk to IT manager. I used to get asked to fix something and I would say I have to think a bit on that one and race back to my desk and post the question on a forum. Within minutes there was an answer and the business thought I was a genius.
After a while most problems started to repeat so I was able just to fix problems without going to the forums.
I then started to apply all of this to my online business I had started and found that most of the same things were available for the business side. I started to do business online courses and tutorials and just started applying it all to my online business.
There are so many great mini courses and tutorials around today and many with videos so you can see exactly how to do things. When I started i had to work out a lot of it myself and use the hit and miss technique. While there were some great forums around people were a little more reserved about sharing their information.
5. Do you do all of your business online?
Initially yes, most of my Internet based business was online however as I became more successful I started to get asked to do seminars etc. So today it is about 80% online and the rest offline. I was retrenched in 2002 from the charity as I had built the IT side into quite a complex unit and they felt they needed someone with some qualifications. It was a joint decision and this is when I went full time. They now contract me back as a consultant. Plus I also do some other consulting work.
6. What can you tell me about your business in 7 sentences?
Basically my business is based around helping people to start their own online business. I also provide a whole range of software and tutorials which show people how to add streaming audio and video to their sites.
I guess this is becoming the main thrust of my business. I love technology and the different things you can do online.
Over the last couple of years I have seen a great demand for different media streaming techniques so I have been doing this more and more.
Because I also have a lot of my own websites I have my own hosting company and so I provide hosting for different people and also teach how to set up your own hosting business.
All this coupled with the consulting provides a good steady income. My favorite part though is helping people to do it themselves.
7. How do YOU get traffic to your website?
Traffic is always something people ask about. There are so many ways to drive traffic. Google adwords, articles, forums, seminars, affiliate programs, mini courses, newsletters etc. No one is more important than the other. Lets face it if you had a traditional business you would not just put an add in the newspaper. It is all about trying different things and then measuring the response.
When I started I used to depend just on search engine placement however I soon learnt that a great article or a mini course or a quality newsletter can drive a lot more traffic than just a search engine listing. Today search engines only bring in about 20% of my traffic.
Also it is important not to get too hung up on traffic. It is conversion we are really after. If I only got a 100 visitors and 80% of them converted into a sale I would be much happier than getting 1000 visitors with a conversion rate of 2% which is what a lot of people put up with.
I notice today that a lot of people get hung up on keywords when in reality it is the add that people see. If your add does not convert then it wont matter how many great keywords you have.
Traffic is great but conversions is what we are after so I spend a lot of my time on trying to improve my copy writing and adds to increase my conversions.
8. What do you like most, and least, about the Internet?
I think the best thing about the Internet is the ability to automate a lot of the daily functions of your business.
I think the worst thing is the same in that so many businesses automate so much that there is no service. I have developed a lot of word of mouth sales because I simply add personal service and answer my emails when people ask questions.
Of course when something is so easy to use and cheap you also get everything else that goes with that such as spam, rip off merchants etc. Much of this can be avoided so they are just downsides to the business and all businesses have some sort of downside.
I have sold more products because people have asked a question and I have responded in a personal email than anything else. They have then gone and told their friends and this has resulted in another sale.
The other thing I love is the ability to touch a global marketplace. I have sold products in over 41 different countries. I have developed relationships with people all over the world and this is totally unthinkable in any other format for the price which is basically free.
Finally the ability to research products and do market surveys for next to nothing is invaluable. A simple page asking some questions with a bonus for their time can tell you a lot about a product and what to develop. After all is is about supplying a need and to get this type of information can save you thousands.
9. Do you have any tips or advice you would like to offer?
My main tip is to give it time and look at everything you do over a period. I like to put everything in a spreadsheet and then you can see graphically how your business is going.
For example last year I was watching my sales and noticed I got some disturbing spikes every now and then over a six month period. I simply went out and purchased another ecommerce product and this balanced out those spikes so now my sales are a lot more consistent.
Many people dumped that particular program but over time it still has performed very well just has these occasional spikes. Without watching it over time I would have reacted the same way, but because I had good stats I was able to respond to the problem.
The other main tip is to track and watch what you do. It is not much use spending 50% of your time in trying to get your site perfected for search engines if it is only bringing in 10% of your traffic.
The Internet is a very fluid system and things are constantly changing so you must be prepared to incorporate these changes.
I think the other thing is to pick a niche or certain area and then become the expert in that area.
This narrows down what you look at and stops you jumping form one great program to another and really not achieving anything at all.
I always suggest people read From Good to Great by Jim Collins. This book outlines how you can not only grow a great business but build in some sustainability to it.
10. What are your goals and aspirations for the future?
My goals and aspirations for the future are very simple. I like doing charity work and I am involved in orphanages in Thailand, Mozambique and the Philippines. I want to keep making money online so I am free to visit these places and offer my services.
One thing I learnt once I became successful online is that while I had no money it was all important. Once I made enough that I did not have to worry about bills etc I had a lot of free head space. We see lots of people getting a lot of money and then crashing because they did not have something bigger than themselves to invest their time and energy into.
I was privileged to interview 5 millionaires once including Robert Kiosaki. Each one said that personal development was critical to their success. They would spend almost 70% of their time on developing themselves through tapes, lectures and books. When you look at the average person working I guess you could say they spend less than 10% of their time on personal development.
This is a key and something I do regularly.
11. Do you have an all-time favourite book?
Rich Dad Poor Dad Series. Robert Kiosaki
From Good to Great Jim Collins
The E-Myth Michael Gurber
The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell (Epidemics)
12. Can you tell me a little about YOU, as a real everyday person? (likes, dislikes, hobbies, pet peeves, fave food etc.)
I have been married for 30 years to my wife Pam. We have 4 boys of which two just got married. They are my best friends. I love travelling and meeting people which used to be something that scared me a lot. Have a staffy dog called mini and my dream car a white BMW.
I am in a ten pin bowling league that plays every week. My highest score is 267.
I love surfing, reading and good food. Favorite food is Spaghetti Bolognaise and Steak Diane with a Caesar salad.
I guess my pet peeve is politics. After working in large corporations most of my life I learnt to hate political justification in business, church, governments and family. I guess that why I love the Internet business so much because people can't get away with too much before they are found out.
Copyright © 2004 Anna-Marie Stewart. All rights reserved. This is one of 20 interviews that you can read today by downloading your free copy of Real Life Marketer Interviews Volume 1. To download, rightclick this link: Volume 1 and choose save file as.
Anna
http://annamarketing.com
Did you find this helpful? please leave a comment.
Thanks
p.s. Have you visited my Real Life Marketers Get-Together forum and posted your free ad yet?
marketing tips marketing online business information online marketing internet marketing
http://www.mp3soundstream.com
I have a number of websites but this is my primary one at present.
******************************
1. Can you tell me about your business background?
I have spent most of my life in administration of some kind or another. Basically office type work. I branched out once and started a few businesses, however a few years later we had a wild economic ride here in Australia and I was forced into bankruptcy with 24% interest rates. I quickly retreated back to office work.
So my background is as a worker for companies. I started my Internet career with no real contacts or big data bases. I had very limited experience with computers except accounting packages.
2. As a person on the Internet, how did you get started?
Naturally after going bankrupt I had very little self esteem so I went back to the safe office work. I tinkered with MLM every now and then but with such a low self esteem I was destined for failure.
I started to use the internet about 7 years ago and while learning how to build websites started meeting a lot of great people online. As I started talking to them I was introduced to Internet marketing and tried my hand at a few affiliate programs.
Three months later I received my first cheque for $56 and I was hooked. It was the most fun I had ever had making money even though it was very small.
As I learned more how to market other people products I then started to build my own. E-books and how to manuals. I then branched out into software and other products which has resulted in my business having a wide range of products which has built in a good sustainable income.
I don't think you can do this initially because you would just get overloaded, however as you meet people and share what you know opportunities present themselves and you weigh up what is worth doing and what not to do.
It’s the old saying that when the student is ready the teacher will arrive.
3. How long have you been in business online?
Well I guess you could say 7 years but the first five were only part time just earning a little extra income to supplement my wage. I worked for a charity during this time so my income was not great.
As an accounts clerk I was getting pretty bored so I offered to build the charity a web page and so they bought me Front Page and I built my first web site.
People liked it so much I started to get other enquiries.
As I started to build more sites people wanted extra functionality so I simply went and did an online course and learned how to do it. I then wrote my first e-book called My Website and it sold and still sells quite well.
I have been a full time Internet marketer now since December 2002.
4. How did you learn what it takes to succeed?
Forums, online courses and tutorials
I was learning a lot form the forums so I also started fixing computers in the office etc. After five years I had moved from accounts clerk to IT manager. I used to get asked to fix something and I would say I have to think a bit on that one and race back to my desk and post the question on a forum. Within minutes there was an answer and the business thought I was a genius.
After a while most problems started to repeat so I was able just to fix problems without going to the forums.
I then started to apply all of this to my online business I had started and found that most of the same things were available for the business side. I started to do business online courses and tutorials and just started applying it all to my online business.
There are so many great mini courses and tutorials around today and many with videos so you can see exactly how to do things. When I started i had to work out a lot of it myself and use the hit and miss technique. While there were some great forums around people were a little more reserved about sharing their information.
5. Do you do all of your business online?
Initially yes, most of my Internet based business was online however as I became more successful I started to get asked to do seminars etc. So today it is about 80% online and the rest offline. I was retrenched in 2002 from the charity as I had built the IT side into quite a complex unit and they felt they needed someone with some qualifications. It was a joint decision and this is when I went full time. They now contract me back as a consultant. Plus I also do some other consulting work.
6. What can you tell me about your business in 7 sentences?
Basically my business is based around helping people to start their own online business. I also provide a whole range of software and tutorials which show people how to add streaming audio and video to their sites.
I guess this is becoming the main thrust of my business. I love technology and the different things you can do online.
Over the last couple of years I have seen a great demand for different media streaming techniques so I have been doing this more and more.
Because I also have a lot of my own websites I have my own hosting company and so I provide hosting for different people and also teach how to set up your own hosting business.
All this coupled with the consulting provides a good steady income. My favorite part though is helping people to do it themselves.
7. How do YOU get traffic to your website?
Traffic is always something people ask about. There are so many ways to drive traffic. Google adwords, articles, forums, seminars, affiliate programs, mini courses, newsletters etc. No one is more important than the other. Lets face it if you had a traditional business you would not just put an add in the newspaper. It is all about trying different things and then measuring the response.
When I started I used to depend just on search engine placement however I soon learnt that a great article or a mini course or a quality newsletter can drive a lot more traffic than just a search engine listing. Today search engines only bring in about 20% of my traffic.
Also it is important not to get too hung up on traffic. It is conversion we are really after. If I only got a 100 visitors and 80% of them converted into a sale I would be much happier than getting 1000 visitors with a conversion rate of 2% which is what a lot of people put up with.
I notice today that a lot of people get hung up on keywords when in reality it is the add that people see. If your add does not convert then it wont matter how many great keywords you have.
Traffic is great but conversions is what we are after so I spend a lot of my time on trying to improve my copy writing and adds to increase my conversions.
8. What do you like most, and least, about the Internet?
I think the best thing about the Internet is the ability to automate a lot of the daily functions of your business.
I think the worst thing is the same in that so many businesses automate so much that there is no service. I have developed a lot of word of mouth sales because I simply add personal service and answer my emails when people ask questions.
Of course when something is so easy to use and cheap you also get everything else that goes with that such as spam, rip off merchants etc. Much of this can be avoided so they are just downsides to the business and all businesses have some sort of downside.
I have sold more products because people have asked a question and I have responded in a personal email than anything else. They have then gone and told their friends and this has resulted in another sale.
The other thing I love is the ability to touch a global marketplace. I have sold products in over 41 different countries. I have developed relationships with people all over the world and this is totally unthinkable in any other format for the price which is basically free.
Finally the ability to research products and do market surveys for next to nothing is invaluable. A simple page asking some questions with a bonus for their time can tell you a lot about a product and what to develop. After all is is about supplying a need and to get this type of information can save you thousands.
9. Do you have any tips or advice you would like to offer?
My main tip is to give it time and look at everything you do over a period. I like to put everything in a spreadsheet and then you can see graphically how your business is going.
For example last year I was watching my sales and noticed I got some disturbing spikes every now and then over a six month period. I simply went out and purchased another ecommerce product and this balanced out those spikes so now my sales are a lot more consistent.
Many people dumped that particular program but over time it still has performed very well just has these occasional spikes. Without watching it over time I would have reacted the same way, but because I had good stats I was able to respond to the problem.
The other main tip is to track and watch what you do. It is not much use spending 50% of your time in trying to get your site perfected for search engines if it is only bringing in 10% of your traffic.
The Internet is a very fluid system and things are constantly changing so you must be prepared to incorporate these changes.
I think the other thing is to pick a niche or certain area and then become the expert in that area.
This narrows down what you look at and stops you jumping form one great program to another and really not achieving anything at all.
I always suggest people read From Good to Great by Jim Collins. This book outlines how you can not only grow a great business but build in some sustainability to it.
10. What are your goals and aspirations for the future?
My goals and aspirations for the future are very simple. I like doing charity work and I am involved in orphanages in Thailand, Mozambique and the Philippines. I want to keep making money online so I am free to visit these places and offer my services.
One thing I learnt once I became successful online is that while I had no money it was all important. Once I made enough that I did not have to worry about bills etc I had a lot of free head space. We see lots of people getting a lot of money and then crashing because they did not have something bigger than themselves to invest their time and energy into.
I was privileged to interview 5 millionaires once including Robert Kiosaki. Each one said that personal development was critical to their success. They would spend almost 70% of their time on developing themselves through tapes, lectures and books. When you look at the average person working I guess you could say they spend less than 10% of their time on personal development.
This is a key and something I do regularly.
11. Do you have an all-time favourite book?
Rich Dad Poor Dad Series. Robert Kiosaki
From Good to Great Jim Collins
The E-Myth Michael Gurber
The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell (Epidemics)
12. Can you tell me a little about YOU, as a real everyday person? (likes, dislikes, hobbies, pet peeves, fave food etc.)
I have been married for 30 years to my wife Pam. We have 4 boys of which two just got married. They are my best friends. I love travelling and meeting people which used to be something that scared me a lot. Have a staffy dog called mini and my dream car a white BMW.
I am in a ten pin bowling league that plays every week. My highest score is 267.
I love surfing, reading and good food. Favorite food is Spaghetti Bolognaise and Steak Diane with a Caesar salad.
I guess my pet peeve is politics. After working in large corporations most of my life I learnt to hate political justification in business, church, governments and family. I guess that why I love the Internet business so much because people can't get away with too much before they are found out.
Copyright © 2004 Anna-Marie Stewart. All rights reserved. This is one of 20 interviews that you can read today by downloading your free copy of Real Life Marketer Interviews Volume 1. To download, rightclick this link: Volume 1 and choose save file as.
Anna
http://annamarketing.com
Did you find this helpful? please leave a comment.
Thanks
p.s. Have you visited my Real Life Marketers Get-Together forum and posted your free ad yet?
marketing tips marketing online business information online marketing internet marketing
All rights are reserved.
