One of the things you always want to do as an internet marketer is leverage your success for future benefits. The more your market, local area or niche views you as an expert the more leverage that gives you in creating deals. The key is getting results, being excellent at what you do and then recognizing the opportunities when they come your way. It’s also important to avoid the wrong opportunities with people or projects that are not going to work out.
If you do internet marketing long enough eventually you will have a few percentage style deals that come your way and it’s important to figure out if it’s worth it to take on. We recently took on a project that will require a decent amount of leg work up front but that has the potential to pay us month in and month out for years to come. The project came out way as a result of a referral from a business owner who I had known for years, helped out in the past and never asked for anything in return….also a lesson in long time referrals.
So how do you decipher if it’s worth it to you?
Well, you have to analyze the whole picture.
Some key questions I personally look at are…
What are the main long term benefits? Potential Profit?
What are the compound benefits? These could be referrals, having a positive effect on other projects you run, building your list, etc.
How long will it take to reap those benefits?
How much TIME and/or MONEY will you put in/invest up front?
How likely is the project to be successful?
How well do you know/trust the person offering the deal?
Does your research back it up?
Then the bottom line…is it worth the trade off?
In the end you will have to decide and if it’s YES then you’ll be taking a risk. They won’t ALL pay off but if you are smart about it, they can reap huge long term profits.
The most important thing is making sure you only sink your time/resources into projects that have a strong likelihood of succeeding with clients that have a solid track record. Don’t take on deals where people are “hoping” and looking to get your time free because they don’t have the funds. Focus on relationships and projects that make sense and line up with your bigger picture.