Grow your business faster with the best products

Confused About the Fastest Way to Grow Your Business?

I’ve been scouring the Internet for over a year getting to know who the best writers are and working out which products are worth buying. It took me about 12 months to get that sorted out.

In the course of my research I wasted hours, weeks, maybe even months following links and reading snippets of information here, there and everywhere. A lot of the advice I found was good but some of it wasn’t, some I already knew and some just confused me more. Unfortunately, when I was wading through all that information I could have been working on my business.

I hope what I’ve discovered will save you from wasting time like I did.

Why Pay For Information You Can Get Free?

We all know that most information is out there on the Internet free of charge. The problem is that it takes so long to find the good stuff and work out how best to use it for your specific circumstances.

Or you can learn it the hard way, but how long have you got? Not all the information for sale on the Internet is snake oil. I’ve discovered some products with invaluable information and shortcuts to success that would have taken the average business person ages to work out.

It’s taken me a year to get to the point where I can confidently say I’ve found some excellent products by people who are genuine, real experts in their fields and great teachers.

Most importantly, their products provide excellent value for money in two ways. They will:

1. Save you time – The tips and knowledge in these products would take months to amass and a lot of trial and error without the shortcuts to success they supply. When you buy one of these products you can cut straight to the chase, save yourself a lot of headaches and make sure your time is well spent.

2. Give an great return on your investment – These products all represent exceptional value for money and are the best learning tools to help you grow your business faster and more effectively. They’re not cheap but they do offer good value for money.

I’ve found two authors whose books or courses I recommend if you want sound advice and clear delivery. What I like about these two writers are the qualities I’m also hoping to provide: broad knowledge, deep coverage and inspiring writing.

When you’re thinking about buying a book or signing up for a course online the main questions are:

  • Does this information come from someone I trust?
  • Are they really an expert on the topic?
  • Do they know how to share their knowledge in an easy to understand and inspiring way?

I’m happy to be able to say yes to all of those questions when it comes to these products. If you’d like to grow your business faster I recommend:

Empire Building Kit by Chris Guillebeau

Suitable for anyone who wants to set up their own small business or who already has and wants to make it the best it can be as fast as possible.

The Empire Building Kit is an invaluable resource including videos with transcripts, case studies, a launch kit and daily emails helping you stay on track.

I signed up in April 2010 and I didn’t think the Empire Building Kit would help me that much because I’ve been running my own business for years but the daily emails are hugely motivational. Now I feel as if there’s someone in my corner who really wants me to succeed. The emails inspire me to keep going when doubt or laziness creep in. Find out more here.

Chris has several other products worth checking out too. Do you need advice on small business, travel or social media? Start here.

Cloud Living by Glen Allsopp

I tend be be cynical when I read things like:

“How I generated a 5 figure monthly income and built a 4000 subscriber blog in less than a year.”

Yeah, right! It sounds like hype and knowing the advice comes from someone who’s only just out of their teens doesn’t help. But I’ve done a lot of careful research over an extended period of time and Glen is the first person I go to for advice on Internet marketing. He’s the real deal and I don’t call him ‘boy wonder’ for nothing.

If you’re starting an Internet business this book will show you what’s possible and help you make your business a success. Even if you’re not interested in making an income from paid advertising or affiliate reselling every website needs visitors and Glen’s knowledge of how to get people to visit is well worth the cost price. Find out more here.

Are these affiliate links?

Yes. The main aim of my blog is to help people live their dream life by sharing empowering tips for life and work. The comments and feedback I receive from my readers are the best payment I could hope for and have sustained me for 14 months.

But to achieve my writing and blogging dreams I now need to run my blog as a business so I’ve opened a store. I’m an affiliate for these products and will be paid if you buy them. The price is the same for you if you buy them direct from the website or by using my affiliate link.

I only list products on the blogging resources that I personally recommend.

I want to keep my blog attrative and useful by avoiding ugly, irrelevant paid and pay-per-click ads. After a lot of thought and soul-searching I’ve decided that selling my own products and a limited number of affiliate products is the best way for me to help my readers without compromising my values.

So if you see something that will help you and decide to buy it you’ll be helping me. That’s the kind of win win situation I like. I hope you like it too.

Stay Tuned

Please subscribe for free email updates or RSS updates if you want to get my blogging tips.

Ready to launch yourself into the stratosphere right now?

Find out more about the Empire Building Kit now. Or click here to get my blogging book.

Photo credit: Will Ockenden
Author: Annabel Candy

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{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }

Anilia May 19, 2010 at 2:44 am

This post is precisely why I don’t mind clicking on someone’s affiliate link if I decide to buy a product. Like you said, there are sooooo many info products about online biz… I’ve dipped into some of them and have recently begun to avoid them. It just takes too long to wade through all the free videos and PDFs to decide if I trust the person who’s selling and if their work will be beneficial to me.

So if the affiliate is someone who’s opinion I value, and they’ve not only explored a product and put their stamp of approval on it, I’m THAT much closer to buying and don’t frown on their link at all. Makes my life so much easier and my goals so much closer to achievement.

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Jennifer Barry May 19, 2010 at 4:17 am

I really appreciate not having to wade through popups and animated gifs to get at the content here! I will have to check out some of these links. Good luck with the store :) I have already decided that I will do the trusted affiliate thing with my blog once I have significant traffic because I am iffy on the AdSense thing.

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Teresa Long May 19, 2010 at 6:01 am

Affiliate away, girl….I know you wouldn’t recommend anything that you didn’t believe in! Looking forward to your next blog already :)

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Audrey May 19, 2010 at 7:30 am

Looks like you’ve got some great ideas going here. I look forward to reading your next blog. You might enjoy a great book about business building called, Your Work, Your Life…Your Way (see 7keystoworklifebalance dot com/book). As a blogger I found this read to be invaluable as it has helped me tremendously in organizing my goals and setting new boundaries. You should check it out!

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Mars Dorian May 19, 2010 at 7:48 am

Yeah,

I luv to pay for high quality products, and Chris and Glen are guys that I completely like and therefor trust.

BTW – your new blog design rocks – it’s an epic leap from your previous one

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Annabel Candy May 19, 2010 at 8:44 am

Anilia, Jennifer, Teresa – Thank you, I really appreciate that support:)

Audrey – Thanks for commenting. I removed the link but left the information there so people can find it if they want. Just implemented a comments policy with regards to links – it’s in the legal section.

Mars – Epic! Yes:) Thank you. I think that’s true. It does feel good to reward people for a job well done by paying them.

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Audey May 20, 2010 at 6:29 am

OK – thanks, Annabel!

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Kate May 19, 2010 at 8:51 am

I’m pretty excited about your products…I’d ultimately like to develop my own, and I always look to you for inspiration and guidance. I feel a bit like a tiny duckling or something. It’s embarrassing. But there it is.

Also, I haven’t the slightest clue about how to get people to subscribe to my blog. I like how you’ve bluntly suggested along with many of your posts that people subscribe. But aside from that and trying to network, I’m not sure what else there is. Maybe I should read the book….

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Annabel Candy May 19, 2010 at 9:09 am

Kate – I’ve been there. I’m still there! Growth is slow, we have to be patient… and that’s hard. It takes ages in the beginning but growth is much faster when you hit 500 subscribers and when you hit 1000 it picks up more. You have a prominent link on your site for email subscriptions. I wonder if adding a line about privacy would help? Mentioning the word free is always good. The RSS feed is a bit tucked away – maybe you should pull that out. But most of all you just have to keep going and wait:)

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Brian Hayes May 19, 2010 at 10:54 am

Hey Annabel, just had a look at your Hot Spot, that photo of the sign at the top wouldn’t be the Lookout in Mt Isa in NW Qld would it? Looks familiar from my early days there. Regards, Brian Hayes Noosa Hot Properties.com

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Annabel Candy May 19, 2010 at 11:05 am

Brian – Probably! I found it on Flickr. I noticed all the Aussie cities listed so it seemed appropriate as I’m in Australia. Have to visit myself one day:) Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment.

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Sandra Lee May 19, 2010 at 11:45 am

These are really great products. I think this is an excellent direction, far better than including ads on your blog. I wish you the best of luck with your shop and writing projects.

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Jennifer Barry May 20, 2010 at 7:54 am

Hi Annabel, I have a technical question for you. Is there any way to subscribe to comments to a post? It’s handy to get comments in my email so I don’t have to check back to the website as often.

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Annabel Candy May 20, 2010 at 5:09 pm

Sandra – Everyone is so supportive of this. It’s amazing. Thank you!

Jennifer – Thanks for asking. We’ve added a link to subscribe to the RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/bloggingmentorComments Will that help you enough? If not we can look into other options:)

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Jennifer Barry May 21, 2010 at 3:30 am

Annabel – That’s great! Thank you very much :)

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Helen Crozier May 21, 2010 at 12:26 pm

Dear Annabel
Thank you for connecting on twitter via incredible Robin Dickinson’s Radsmarts blog. Your site will now also be on my daily read list. I love the visual impact and the content is fantastic. Great quality. I shall be using it as a resource I can see. I found the affiliate information particularly helpful and the comments. I look forward to getting to know you more and if I can be of any assistance to you – please shout out.

Helen Crozier
I transform technology into productivity.

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Veronica Ryan May 24, 2010 at 4:46 pm

I too have spent a long time researching and working to put a dream together. Thanks for the helpful links. Wishing you continued success.
Veronica

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Annabel Candy May 24, 2010 at 6:25 pm

Helen – Great to see you hear and thanks for leaving a comment. I bet you can help me some time! I’m hopeless with technology, I just like to design websites not do the behind the scenes stuff and it takes me ages to even send a text message on my cell phone.

Veronica – Good to see you here and hope it will be the first of many visits:)

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Boomer54 Mark May 26, 2010 at 12:40 am

I too look for recommendations on new products or existing products that are not hyped in an email blast to me with the wording eg “GO GO The doors are now open on this once in a lifetime limited qtys. and only 151 left.”

Breath of fresh air with your blog of only tested products and I have discovered the more you disclose the affiliate links the more people are comfortable buying from you.

BTW, I come to your blog for a bit of inspiration and motivation daily.

Keep up the great posts.

Mark

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Annabel Candy May 26, 2010 at 1:29 pm

Hi Mark, this feedback is incredible really, so glad I can provide a useful service here and even happier that this is a source of inspiration and motivation to you. Just what I hoped. I’ll be doing my very best:)

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