Interview: Craig Michaels
Back in April, Craig wrote a guest post on How To Make Money With PLR. He is a veteran Internet marketer with extensive experience in the world of private label rights content. Craig owns and operates the PLR Niche Club, where he combines his personal understanding of what marketers need from a content source with his experience in securing the best available PLR materials.
Craig is currently offering FREE instant access at PLR Niche Club and invites readers of this post to take advantage of the limited-time promotion.
Tell us a little background info about yourself. Where are you from? How old are you? How long have you been working in this industry?
Hi, my name is Craig Michaels, I’m from the Big Apple (New York) so naturally I’m versatile. I’m 18 years old and I’ve known about internet marketing for about 3 or 4 years now but have started to seriously set my foot into it since last summer.
What accomplishments so far are you the most proud of?
Successfully launching my own membership site PLRNicheClub.com =)
How did you come to learn about this industry? Why did you choose this career? When did you first realize the full potential in affiliate marketing? When did you first “hit the big time?”
During my early teen years my mother gave me a book on investing. After reading this book on investing I was intrigued with the whole idea of retiring at 40 a millionaire by only saving dollars a day. My curiosity lead me to HYIPs (high yield investment programs) where I lost a lot of money at the time on scams. From there however I learned about the Rich Jerk program (who hasn’t heard of him) and that introduced me to the world of internet marketing. Why’d I choose this career? Because I’m still young, if I can master this now it will free me up to focus on what I really want to in life.
What do you think it takes to be successful as an affiliate?
To be a successful affiliate you definitely need a big and responsive customer base, usually in the form of a list or blog.
What have been your biggest failures and frustrations?
My biggest failures? “Giving up” on internet marketing when I first learned about it 3-4 years ago. I’m glad that I finally put an effort back into it today, and I still don’t consider it to be an over-arching failure or frustration that haunts me.
What is the single toughest problem you’ve had to face, and how did you get through it?
My biggest problem would probably be my age. It can work against you and it can work towards you. As long as I operate my business maturely and respectfully the issue of age however becomes less important. In a marketing sense whenever you start off a sentence with “Teenage Marketer or 18-Year Old Marketer” what you are subtly implying is that this is something a kid can do so you can too. Obviously a tactic like this would increase conversions =)
Is there anything that you don’t like to do, that you just hate working on?
Like most people content writing is a bore. I outsource it every time I get the chance (or use PLR as a temporary resort).
What is the future of marketing?
I think to predict the future is futile since technology advances at such a tremendous rate. I do know that wherever there is an accessible stream of a large amount of people, there will always be marketing.
If it’s possible for you to share, are there any particular niches that you currently favor? Or that you aren’t necessarily in right now but that you would recommend?
There are tons of niches under-utilized out there. Stop smoking, Anti-Aging Sub-Niches, etc. If you look you shall find =).
What niche has worked best for you?
Internet marketing wise? I’m slowly developing myself as an expert in the PLR and Niche Marketing industry. Outside the IM industry? It’s fair game, all niches can be tapped into and profited from.
Which methods of promotion do you favor?
I love automation. You have to be smart with using software though, and always cover your tracks. Back in the day I use to make a lot of money through Myspace Marketing by creating hundreds of profiles and commenting thousands of people. Now I use a combination of tools (Scrapebox, Senuke) along with manual labor through outsourcing. I try to have most of the “grunt” work done by man or machine and I like to see myself as just connecting the pieces to the puzzle.
How have you made those promotion methods successful?
Slowly scaling up. Everything you do you need to make a business model out of it. This way the sky is a limit because your marketing is based off of a foundation.
Do you think anything particular in your past prepared you for this industry? Your education? Jobs you’ve held before?
There is no “formal” training for Internet Marketing, and if there is I am definitely not old enough to have properly experienced it. What has trained me the best? Reading. I read forums, books, and more. That, and I have always had an entrepreneurial drive.
What are your greatest strengths?
I can connect with people easily and I can identify their desires and ambitions. Marketing wise, this is a great asset, but on a personal level it helps you to develop meaningful relationships with people. Besides that I like to believe I am funny =)
What are your greatest weaknesses?
I don’t like to think I have any “weaknesses”. Most things I don’t like about myself I actively pursue on fixing them.
What motivates you?
The desire to be free. To make my own rules and life, to be my own boss.
What is the best advice you’ve been given and try to apply to your life?
As long as you’re living, you should have no reason not to work towards your goals in life. In this way – there is no excuses.
Who has impacted you most in your career, and how?
So many people. Most of these people aren’t even known, if I were to mention their name it would hold no merit since these are ordinary people like you and me.
What kinds of people do you have difficulties working with? Any good stories?
I guess if there were a type of person I would have trouble working with it would be a bossy person because I don’t like to be limited in my vision and if I am I usually don’t contribute to the project with the effort I should. Since the Internet Marketing field allows you to pick and choose who you work with however I have never had any personal problems.
What are some of your long-term goals? How much is enough? If money was no object, what would you be doing?
Long term goals? Financial security, a couple of houses, cars. Have businesses developed, open up charities and international organizations. I don’t crave money, so I don’t have a specific figure in my head that I want to earn I just want to have enough to live life the way I want and to influence others in a positive light.
Where do you want to be ten years from now?
CEO of my own company, multi-millionaire, and a bad-ass dude =)
How do you like to spend your free time? What does work-life balance mean to you?
I workout almost on a daily basis. It’s great for your physique and it’s great for your health. Besides that, friends and family are always important. Don’t chase money because it’s just paper, the real joy of life is in the relationships you share with people.
What is your greatest achievement outside of work? What are some of your unfulfilled dreams?
I’ve shattered many mental walls that I’ve placed in my mind about myself because of bad conditioning. My greatest achievement is that I have a real strong mindset at such a young-age and because of what I know my potential is almost limitless. As for unfulfilled dreams? None, all my dreams I’m working towards making happen.
