How Alex Shelton Became an Internet Entrepreneur

Well here we are with another article in the “Why I’m Successful” series of articles; this time we have someone whom many of you will already know as the six figure renegade, Alex Shelton. It’s safe to say Alex has been very busy over the past four years getting his business off the ground and making some quite amazing leaps and bounds forward in the world of Internet Marketing. What is even more remarkable than the amount of hard work he’s put into his business and the amount of money he has made doing so is the fact he is just 20yrs old! That’s right it’s not a spelling error Alex is only 20yrs old and is already making a killing online with Six Figure Renegade. To those of you as young or maybe even younger than Alex, or for those of you that are just starting out in Internet Marketing make sure you read all of this article because Alex has given us a lot of great tips that I am sure you will enjoy. Don’t forget to head over to his site for more from Alex.

Quick Fire Questions

Best Business Purchase?
Apple MacBook

Favourite Business Resource?
This has got to be IM Giant, just something we’ve been working on.

Biggest Inspiration?
Dan Kennedy

Favourite Business Website?
Inc.com is my favourite

How I Got Started

Well I actually started my online business properly, about two years ago now, I got started working about 15yrs old, I left school at 15 and I actually went to work at ITV which is a UK television broadcasting company; and I was always really interested in starting my business in general, it wasn’t necessarily going to be online or off-line. However didn’t really have any decent ideas to get started with an off-line business, and I certainly didn’t have enough money to start an off-line business either. I loved using computers and thought, this online stuff is very profitable and it’s quite easy to get going too (or so I thought) and also had really low overhead to get started.

So really I started roughly around 4 years ago, but around a year and a half to 2 years ago I actually started taking everything a little bit more seriously and that’s when the business really started to flourish.

So right now I work about, well I try not to work too often. I work about three hours a day normally, so that’s about 20 hours a week. However that isn’t completely through all of the time, when I got to launch on I work harder than ever, and usually I’ll sleep for six or seven hours a day and then the rest that day is spent just focused on the launch, and working as hard as I can to get things as prepared as possible.

So usually when I’m traveling the world, is around three hours a day, I tried to just condense everything down; and I have actually been able to do that, so I’ve got it down to 3 hours a day which will consist of just checking my e-mails and just managing stuff. But if it’s around a launch date is a lot more.

So how much money well, up until just recently I had been making around $30-$40,000 in profit through click bank and various other promotions and stuff like that; but just recently we have got launches and stuff like that going on and we’ve just had our best one so far I think we process something like $320,000 worth of orders in just the last four weeks, so it’s really been a great month and right now we just tried to keep that going and yes it’s been very successful. So yeah, it’s been very successful and am pleased to say that we broken than $100,000 barrier now and were into six figures a month and that’s an ongoing monthly thing as well.

What Motivates Me To Continue To Be Successful

I’ve got to say that my first-ever job at ITV, and I was training to become a weatherman but as I said before I really wanted my business, I didn’t really like getting up early, and I really didn’t like working Sunday well, I just didn’t really like going to work to be honest I wanted to do something different with my life.

So, what really motivated me was the freedom and of course the money, I’m those people who are very motivated by money, I hate to say it and I will say that I obviously have got other motivations as well, but the money is a big aspect for me; it provides me with freedom allows me to look after my family and allowed to live our lives so yeah my two big motivational factors are freedom and money.

How I Work

Well when I’m back in the UK, I get up around nine o’clock and pretty much work all day that’s what I’ve been doing here I’m actually in the UK right now and I’m heading back to Bangkok on Monday. However when I’m away, and like I said before I been away for the past 6 or 7 months already, I wake up pretty much whenever I want; then now work for about two hours, go out and do some stuff go around the islands and whatever. I don’t into work late and I’m traveling I just go to clubs have a lot of fun, maybe chip meals later in the day but really is about three hours a day.

But the way that I manage that, the reason that I’m able to work only three hours a day whilst traveling is because I keep up communications with my employees, my support guys make sure that they have everything they need because if those guys don’t feel like they’re getting the support they need then it’s just really counter-productive for myself.

So I always make sure that my employees are okay, I very rarely deal with customers myself any more; don’t get me wrong I don’t mind doing it, it’s just that I feel that if I trained my employees to do it and they enjoy doing it then it’s best to just leave them to it and not get involved, and that really allows me to focus on other parts of my business which is great.

Also in terms of jobs I do myself, I mostly just project manage a lot now, I try to get quite a few projects going if I can because I enjoy doing it. I’m also in charge of making payments, organizing staff making as to make sure things are done on time, so if were getting some software developed or were getting some graphics through, I make sure everything comes together and then I pass it on to my tech guy or whoever, just to put it all into place.

How I Have Expanded My Business So Rapidly

I’d say that by getting really focused on one thing at a time, I’d never recommend anybody to be a jack of all trades; in fact I highly recommend getting very focused on a couple of things that will really make money, and also when the time comes you got to be able to expand; so don’t ever be frightened of taking people on so that they can help you out.

So really I’d say the biggest difference from then and now is that I have refined everything a lot more and I’ve become a lot more organized; I now have around three or four staff working for me now and they take care of different aspects of the business which basically allows me to have as much free time as I want.

So yeah always strive for automation and never be afraid to outsource stuff, just don’t worry about it and try it out because the chances are it will give you a lot more time to focus upon your business. Also at the same time try to refine things as much as you can so you can focus on the things that are really making you money,  one last thing to remember is that if something you are doing isn’t making you money, well some but not as much as you’d like then try doing something different.

What Makes Me The Most Money

I’d say the most profitable aspect of my business is, well there are different parts really, I’d say list building is one of the most profitable because I have very low overhead, but it makes an insane amount of profit each month. So I’d say if you haven’t started building lists just yet then look into it because you’ll be really missing out there.

I also think that another profitable aspect of my online business is really the volume of customers that we get in on the front-end and also optimizing the sales funnel where we can offer them different products and up-sell to them, as well as offer high-ticket items throughout the whole sort of process.

Webinars with other people are also very good, there a great way of making money in Forex, in Internet marketing in any niche that you’re in basically. But I’d say the whole funnel itself is the most profitable aspect of my online business, we have refined it in such a way that we get people in through low-end products and up-sell them through different stages of the up-sell funnel whilst making them really happy because they are getting all the resources that they need.

The Day I Realized “I MADE IT”

I’d say the first $100,000 in profit, that was probably the time when I realized that, you know; I can sort of relax, even though I had outgoing costs and stuff it was sort of like “I have a cushion now, I can expand my business”. So yeah that was it really I’ve never really been featured in the press or anything like that, but in terms of profitable days were now hitting $3000 and $4000 days alone with  Clickbank. We’ve also done a huge amount of money through webinars and list sales too.

So it really wasn’t about being featured in anything or anywhere; it was more a case of the success that we’ve had and just getting to that point where we no longer need to really worry about reinvesting into the business due to not having enough cash or anything other.

How did I feel and celebrate? Well I went out and did what any 20-year-old would have done , I basically rang a few friends and we went out and got rather drunk, I just had some good times with some good friends.

I Would Have Been Successful Sooner If…

I personally think I could have been a bit more focused and more organized, as I previously mentioned I have refined the business a lot, right down to 3 things which I call the pillars of marketing; which I think would really help your readers as it really helped make me the most money. Those three things are:

• Affiliate marketing
• Product Creation
• List Building

These three things are the things I’m the most focused on now because I have learned that it makes me the most money. So I feel like I could have been a bit more focused and done less procrastinating, but I’m glad I’ve been able to do it by now; I mean I think I’m pretty young still to have done what done so yeah I’m happy.

What You Should Be Focusing On

I’d say first and foremost focus on what is making you money, I mean I can see the potential in Facebook, Twitter and other social networks as they are obviously great for networking and stuff like that, but if it’s not making money then just let go and don’t focus on that any more. So I think you need to focus mainly on what is making you money now and then just expand it as quickly as you can scaling it up all the time.

Then, when you get to the point where you are pretty much putting in as much time as you can, you want to head over to oDesk and get people to help you out because it’ll take some of the strain off you and really help you expand quicker. I personally don’t think there is anything wrong with rapid growth especially in the Internet marketing industry, I think if you really want to be serious about making a six or seven-figure income online through Internet marketing then you really need to focus and just put in as much effort as you can.

So, put as much effort in at the start as you can and then once you come to the point where you can automate it all you will be able to become pretty much a project manager just like I am; and that’s how you really live the Internet dream and the Internet lifestyle, but you need to focus on making as much money in the start as possible. So really try to make as much money as you can with the money you’ve got and if you’ve got something that isn’t making money right now then just leave it behind and focus on the things are going to allow growth a lot more rapidly.

Why I’m Successful and Why You May Be Not

To be honest I’m not sure, I think it is probably down to the individual, in terms of personality. I think those that are successful are usually very determined people; I know that sounds pretty obvious but they seem to be VERY determined. They persevere they don’t give up; these are the guys that will put in that extra three or four hours a day instead of going to play on their Xbox or do something else.

These are the guys that really do make big sacrifices and don’t let anything get in their way, the really focused and successful guys always treat it like a business they never see as a money-making-scheme they basically treat it just like a proper business and that’s a really good idea because it is a business it shouldn’t be just a scheme.

So if you really want to live Internet lifestyle and travel the world whilst earning a bunch of money; you need to be as focused and determined as you would be at anything else really.Just remember to put in the hours and make a few sacrifices.  Whether that’s not going out much for a while or sacrificing some time with your friends or families remember it’s just a short-term thing and a long-term gain and that’s it really.

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