Sorry for the long absence. Some of you might be wondering what I’ve been up to. Well, here’s what I’ve been up to.
As you know, we launched SocialSAM in July and the product has been very well received. Many people in the market place are aware of our platform and are talking about it to their friends.
We wanted to make our platform available to even more people. As a result, we came up with a new web asset called “Third Stage Business”. What is Third Stage (compared to a First Stage)?
A First Stage Business trades time for money. Consulting, coaching, etc fall in this category. A Second Stage is a company that have mastered time replication technologies and processes. For example, an author or someone selling books or DCDs. They no longer need to trade time for money. Unfortunately, they still need to constantly go out and seek new clients to sell their products to.
A Third Stage Business is a company that fulfills this simple criteria: “Provides ONGOING VALUE for ONGOING compensation.” Your Telecom company, your utility company, your web host company all fall under this. If you stop paying them, you stop receiving service. It is these principles that allowed me to build 1Shoppingcart.com…that enabled me to retire at an early age. Truly retire.
I wanted to show people how they too can build their own true Third Stage Business, so I put together a program that steps people through the thought processes and methodologies of a Third Stage Business.
Some people might say, “Isn’t that just the same as putting a membership website together?” It’s not. The biggest difference is (and I am generalizing) is that most membership websites fail in the criteria: “Provides ONGOING VALUE for ONGOING compensation.” They are good at the second part…but fail in the first. Most membership websites simply have a “all you can eat” gateway policy. Once you are in..you can download the entire library of content and leave.
So, over the last couple of months, I’ve been working hard on putting together a complete training program on Third Stage Business. I just want to spend 6 minutes to show you what is involved so you understand.
6 min video showing you what is involved in a launch.
I hear some of you say, “sheesh”, that’s a lot of work. It is.
Here’s the difference. I believe in “front loading” my work. This means, I invest in the time to do it right up front…and get paid for my work months..if not years to come. That’s the principle of a third stage business owner. I work hard now so I don’t have to later.
Sincerely
George Tran
Author of “The Social Marketing Manifesto”
Success Strategies for Small Businesses using Social Media
www.socialmarketingman.com
www.twitter.com/georgetran
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
George,
What a huge effort to make this happen! I do appreciate the effort and even more so, your generous sharing. Diane and I were working with an internet marketing mentor to get help with this kind of stuff. We got good help with the basic stuff she knew how to do – and not a lot of help with challenges specific to a Social SAM site/educational membership site. I’ve gotten a ton of ideas looking at how you did this – ideas specific to places we’ve been stuck. Thank you soooo much for your continued leadership and support!
One specific question – some of the information/videos on the SS welcome page make more sense to me in the thank you – follow up page (after email submission). Can you tell us the logic behind the sequencing you used?
–Karen
Hi Karen
Sorry for the delayed response. For some reason, this comment did not arrive in my inbox.
Could you please elaborate on your question about the Welcome Page? I am confused.
Sincerely
George