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One of the coolest thing about running this blog is the amazing people I meet, who are not just from my industry, but also in other industries doing really interesting things.
Outside of Internet marketing, two of my passions are tennis and dance music. This blog has already gifted me some great connections in the tennis world, but for the first time recently, I met someone from the dance world – DJ Sean Gallgher.
Sean emailed to introduce himself and explain what he is up to and I immediately took an interest in his story. Sean is a well traveled DJ from Vancouver in Canada, who has enjoyed an amazing career in the electronic music industry. What makes him particularly interesting, and why I invited Sean to do an interview, is that he currently makes his living by selling information products in the “How to DJ” market, which I think is just way cool.
Sean is currently living out a year in Mexico with his girlfriend, spending the time surfing and working his online business, earning a healthy $8,000 to $15,000 a month.
However the journey to get to where Sean is today was a rocky one. Although Sean has been successful as a DJ for a long time, his entrepreneurial career has been up and down, going as far as $100,000+ in debt with a failed online electronic music store, to taking a job selling cars (which he hated), to starting all over again with a new online business teaching how to DJ – and all of this before his 25th birthday!
Listen to this interview and you will learn a lot about perseverance, even in the face of some challenging situations, where most people would have opted to stay in a boring job in order to recover, rather than continue to risk the entrepreneurial path. You will also learn the very practical steps Sean has taken to set up his online information publishing business, including how he creates training videos, builds his email list and finds buyers for his products.
This is yet another success story that demonstrates if you are passionate about something, can teach it and others want to know how to do it, then you can sell what you know as information online.
After you listen to the interview, make sure you visit Sean’s website – How To DJ Fast.
Yaro
EJPodcast.com
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Thanks for sharing this Yaro. It’s an interesting story, and really provided inspiration to others. See, making money online is really simple, I mean simple, but not easy. Turn our passions into profits. If you love what you do, you don’t feel that you are working.
Cheers
Gary
Your right Gary!
Making money online is simple. Its doesn’t seem easy all the time but when you look back you realize how simple it is!
Do something you love and it won’t feel like work!
~Sean
I don’t know. Sometimes it can be tougher on you than working 9-5 in the office.
I disagree.
Any successful entrepreneur will tell you that they do what they love. And it you love your work then it doesn’t feel like work.
What sounds tough to me is getting up day after day to go to a job you dislike where you don’t control your future.
~Sean
StartupFreedom.com
Sean is right. As i’ve said, it’s simple, but not easy. Simple means, that you the system that you can apply, just do that consistently. and you will get the result that you want. I don’t know when, just do it consistently. It takes time before you finally get it. Why I said it’s simple? Because you already have the system that you can follow, but again, it’s not easy.
Hey Gary,
Its a pleasure to respond to your awesome comment.
You nailed it! Just apply the system (any system) consistently and you will find success! All you have to do is follow a system. Too many people give up just before success.
~Sean
—
Sean Gallagher
StartupFreedom.com
You are right somehow because the fixed jobs are great from some aspects as the monthly payments would be on schedule with no delays or problems but the online freelance working may be sometimes accompanied by uncertainly but can be very fun in most cases.
Wow! thanks DJ Sean for taking time to reply here. I hope you’re doing really well.
Regards,
Gary
Well I haven’t actually listened to the whole podcast yet, but reading about the perseverance does provide me some hope that possibly once my online empire will do something else than just dripping money 🙂
Currently I did an experiment and did manage to get
a product related to one of my passions (also tennis BTW)
on Nr. 1 on the Google search!
So while with this particular keyword I seem to be ahead of the huge competition,
competing for this same keyword I don’t think that there will exactly be a lot of people yet that will feel an urge to search for the word:
‘Tennis Ball Egg Timer’
Luckely I have the rewarding pleasure of knowing that
When somebody at Wimbledon accidently – for example after
playing for more than 11 hours – wants to use a
Tennis Ball Egg Timer to be able to wake up
for the next match…,
I will be the first in line showing up
in the list at the Search Engine.:)
Talking about peseverance!
All the Best,
To your Happy Inspiration,
HP
http://tennisball-eggtimer.blogspot.com/
Very well conducted interview Yaro… I really enjoyed it and can relate to so much of what he experienced and said. I went down a very similar path but in a different industry.
Jon @ WoodMarvels.com
Joe!
It makes me happy that you can relate!
I would love to hear your story. Fire me an email!
~Sean
“However the journey to get to where Sean is today was a rocky one. Although Sean has been successful as a DJ for a long time, his entrepreneurial career has been up and down, going as far as $100,000+ in debt with a failed online electronic music store…”
Another success story. But it shows us again, that before success, there were difficulties faced, and not just easy ones, but hard ones too!
“This is yet another success story that demonstrates if you are passionate about something, can teach it and others want to know how to do it, then you can sell what you know as information online.”
This is absolutely true. I think this is only because of the power of the web. The web has made it so much easier to do this. Even relatively small companies/individuals can compete with big ones on the web.
Nabeel
Hey Nabeel,
You’re right, there are always difficulties faced, but they’re never as bad as you thought they would be.
With every difficulty faced there is a lesson to be learned. Difficulties and “failures” are beautiful things.
As long as you apply the lessons learned to whatever you are doing next the difficulties actually lead you to success!
And to back up your second comment, some of the most successful entrepreneurs that I know that bring in $10 Million + (that I have interviewed on http://www.StartupFreedom.com) are very small companies. 1 or 2 people. Yet they are doing revenues of a large corporation!
Hope this helps,
~Sean
Another interesting story. The internet business has given a lot of people a chance to earn more by just staying at home. All we really need to do is be creative and the will to succeed.
Exactly Janice! If you have the will to succeed, you will tap into your creativity and find a way!
Yaro,
Oh yea, there are literally thousands of topics to blog about. Most people jut want to do internet marketing when they have a ton of knowledge in other industries but for some reason feel it’s just not good enough. Sean is a perfect example of using specific skills and turning it into a profitable business.
Spot on Anwar.
Its so true! People have experience in their industry but feel that they don’t know enough or aren’t successful enough.
The reality is that if you have even a moderate amount of experience and success in any industry, you know 1000 times more than people that are just starting out.
I learned this about internet business stuff. I hesitated when launching Startup Freedom because I’m not yet making millions of dollars per year like the Gurus. I thought “I’m not making as much as them. Why would people want to listen to me.”
The facts are that most people don’t know what an autoresponder is (automatic emailing system), what WordPress is, how to register a domain and I can help them do this.
If you can help a group of people thats all that matters!
Just do it! 🙂
~Sean
That is exactly the point. With so many topics you could write about and earn money from posting, why just limiting your ideas to only a few topics and subjects?
You’ve provided some really inspiring interviews recently, Yaro. I like his points about creating training videos and building email lists. As what you’ve said, they’re very practical but effective.
It really is that simple Julius, all you have to do is create something of value (ebook, audios, videos) and then focus on building your email list!
~Sean
I love reading success stories, I find them a great inspiration. Thanks Yaro!
Great interview, Yaro. While I’m not a DJ, this was so applicable to me – and anyone looking to get started. And Sean was so personable and forward with information and mistakes he’s made. Thanks for sharing this.
Aaron
Hey Aaron!
I’m excited to heat that this interview was applicable to you!
I tried to be as open and transparent as possible so that you know what it takes (not much) to set up a successful online business that you love!
Keep in touch,
~Sean
Very inspiring. It’s always great to see how successful people overcame obstacles and got back on their feet after several setbacks. That’s the hardest thing to do, but as Sean’s story tells us, it pays to persevere.
Great interview.
It really does PAY to preserver Michael! Well said.
If you have a dream or you want something you WILL get it as long as you stick with it.
~Sean
You know Michel, the reason why Sean and so many other bloggers succeed is because they have a goal and know what to do. The world of blogging is simply not just like putting up a site and begin adding content to that.
These interviews are awesome 🙂 I love them – always learning something new & valuable!
Glad you enjoyed it Marlen!
~Sean
Interesting interview. It’s one of the great things about blogging, that anyone can do it. It’s not restricted. As Aleks Krototski said recently on a BBC documentary – “The web allows anyone to have a voice, and allows people to listen if they choose.”
Great quote. Bang on.
Anyone can have a voice and as Seth Godin says “Anyone can lead a tribie.”
~Sean
And that is exactly why blogging has become so popular among thousands of people worldwide. Your single posts could appear on tens of other spots with ease and within a few minutes or hours and if your portal has been monetized well, the results would be outstanding.
Yaro,
You have done it again! These interviews are so powerful and they are such a great way to show the rage-to-riches possibilities that literally ANYONE with enough drive can do, in almost ANY product niche.
I have been promoting small business ownership instead of a rotten day job to all of my customers for years, and your interviews are a great resource for people that really want to know what it takes to make it in small business on-line.
-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire
Hey Joshua,
Thats awesome man! Keep up the great work with The Underdog Millionaire.
Drop me an email if you like. We should get in touch! 🙂
~Sean
There is nothing better than an interview with someone who has fought through adversity in order to succeed. This shows all of us new bloggers that there is sufficient hope in creating our own niche, as well as our own online business that could propel us to great new heights.
I agree, you can set up a blog and online business in pretty much any niche and make a living. You just need to do your research before hand and then show persistence when building the business.
Very nice I really liked it but I still felt that he didnt do enough market research!Haha.
If we want to succeed ,market research is very important and in my opinion he followed his passion.Not bad but IM is really tough if you dont do market research.
I agree John. I didn’t do enough market research. You can never do enough market research!
Here’s what I did for market research that I didn’t mention in the interview:
– Google keyword tool
– Message forums
– Talked to DJ friends to find out how often they get asked questions from new DJs
– Talked to DJ coaches in town
Then I tested the market before I invested in a product:
– I set up a 3 page test sales page:
The 1st page had sales copy and product info (for an ebook).
The 2nd page had pricing and order forum.
The 3rd page said “thanks for trying to order but we are currently out of stock. Your credit card info has not been stored and we will let you know when the book comes back into stock”
– I used Google analytics to see how many people clicked through to “buy” to the third page.
– I drove traffic from adwords to see what the conversion rates would be.
– My test, with a bad sales page and ebook was above break even for my cost on adwords traffic. So I figured that with a better product (DVD), better sales system and getting adwords dialled better this is a business that would make money.
Hope this helps!
~Sean
Another highly motivating and interesting story Yaro. Gotta say thanks over and over for everything you give us readers.
Paul
Hi Yaro,
Another great podcast! Your on fire! Ryan Lee, Fran and DJ Sean – fantastic inspiring stories.
One guru – in Ryan and Fran and DJ Sean are well on their way to “Guru Status”.
Where do you fit in Yaro? Probably in between where Fran and Sean are and where Ryan is – in terms of money anyway, we know you far ahead of them all when it comes to… tennis!:)
Keep up the good work!
AP
I think Yaro makes a lot more than I do right now. My business is doing well but Yaro’s blog is doing AWESOME!
~Sean
Well I’m confident I could take down Fran in tennis, however Ryan being in fitness, he might be good if he has the tennis skills and Sean, well I have no idea if he plays, but he can surf and that’s not something I can do!
I used to play tennis. We’ll get a match in sometime soon Yaro! You surf too?
~Sean
StartupFreedom.com
Hi Yaro
Tony Robbins and Brian Tracy are the “Life Coaches” who have led me to this point in my life. They both teach perseverance in the face of adversity as the pillar of success. This intereview only proves that out. Thanks for creating and posting it.
My blog
http://www.lifecoachingtools.com/
Once again another great story about how one’s passion can bring about success if used correctly. DJ Sean has a great story to tell as well as an even better ending. His failure in the beginning just further proves his perseverance to succeed.
Failures are the path to success! 🙂
~Sean
This shows that online business has unlimited opportunities. As long as you have a skill, you will be able to make money from it.
You don’t even need a skill. You can easily set up an online business by partnering with someone that has the skill.
There are millions of people that are experts at various different things that don’t know how to monetize their expertise.
All you have to do is come along and say “We’ll make a product (DVD, eBook etc) and you’ll get 20% of the revenue on the product forever!” What struggling “expert” would say no to that?
Awesome interview, so happy to find an alternative to Kunaki. Kunaki is good, but I’d love a similar set up with some more flexibility.
Vervante.com is an awesome alternative. You can put personal messages on the packaging, add stuff into your products like stickers or promo materials for up sells. Their customer service is amazing too!
For larger orders Disc.com is great too!
Hope this helps!
~Sean
StartupFreedom.com
I love Sean’s comment that he always looked for interesting jobs. And I love that he was persistent in following his vision. Thanks for bringing us his story.
– Kristen Emery California FHA Loan Officer
Very inspiring. Cool to see a fellow Vancouverite on here. 🙂
-Paul
Hey Paul!
You’re from Vancouver too?
Feel free to drop me an email!
~Sean
StartupFreedom.com
Very interesting interview. It shows to me that selling a product that is related to something you are passionate about is the best thing to do. 🙂
Dean!
You’re right because if you are passionate about what you do, this will keep you motivated to keep going when you’re going through a “dip” (a challenge, a down time etc).
Do what you love!!!
~Sean
StartupFreedom.com
Sean is great and his story is inspiring! Thanks for the share.
Great interview. I have friends in the DJ business who could learn form this guy. They ahve done good on their own but if they took it to the next step like this guy, they could be on different playing field.
Its not an easy business. The music industry is notorious for being highly competitive and under paying. This is why I decided to help all of the young DJs out there.
The thing is a lot of DJs don’t look for training. They want to be cool and do it themselves. So they take years to learn whereas in a month or two they could learn everything from a course.
Same as learning online business!
Great interview. I have friends in the DJ business who could learn form this guy. They have done good on their own but if they took it to the next step like this guy, they could be on different playing field.
Great interview! Could someone please spellout the fullifillment company he uses. I couldn’t seem to get the spelling for some reason.
Thankks
I would love to see some of his guides. I tried myself at DJing and failed lol
You can go and get free clips from the products on the newsletter. I basically took the best parts of the DVD series and give away little clips of them for free. 🙂
This is a very motivational post. It’s amazing what a little risk taking can do for a person’s career.
Taking risks is a part of being an entrepreneur.
Nothing incredible was ever made or discovered without taking risks!
Taking out $40,000 to start a business that I didn’t understand is not advisable though… Lol!
~Sean
StartupFreedom.com
True enough Sean. Jeez! $40,000 to startup a business in an unknown field is something I’d have to think long and hard about. I suppose in your case it was well worth it and you probably haven’t looked back?
I was young and naive. I didn’t understand the first thing about business or money.
Whenever I think about those decisions and that first business failure I think “Where would I be if I didn’t take out that $40,000 and start a business?”
A lot of aspiring entrepreneurs fall into the same trap though. Its a common misconception that it takes a lot of money to start a business.
~Sean
—
Sean Gallagher
StartupFreedom.com
Hi Yaro!
Thanks for the inspirational stories, as well as the tips for those interested in creating their own entreprenuerial journey.
I always appreciate the information you share; thanks, Yaro!
Great Podcast! I really enjoyed hearing how he failed miserably and then came back to dominate. that’s what is truly needed with entrepreneurs, persistence.
Persistance and focus!
~Sean 🙂
You can also get together with other business owners and sale their products from the site and take a commission out of it. So many different ways to make money in home based businesses, you just need to figure out which way works for you…
Exactly!
Figure out what you want and what your market needs. Then you can choose a number of different business models like:
– Affiliate marketing
– Blogging (I highly recommend this one!)
– CPA marketing
– Membership
– Information products
I just posted up a description of all of the different online business models and their pros and cons here:
http://www.startupfreedom.com/online-business-models/
Keep in touch!
~Sean
Really liked it.
Quite similar to my struggles. Really inspirational.
I wouldn’t say that I was struggling despite the debt and business failures because I always did what was fun. I did what I loved! Even selling cars was kind of fun. A novelty.
What did you go through?
I had some good ideas that went wrong in my initial ventures. All of them were fun but they were definitely not a great use of the cash that I had.
The part I really liked was were it sounds like your backs against the wall, 100K in debt and all that. I wasn’t quite 100K in debt but I had just blown about 30K on a venture that didn’t work out at all.
I thought about giving up but I kept plugging away and like you my friends (and girlfriend in my case) thought that I should concentrate more on a regular j.o.b instead of starting businesses.
Now I have started an online business, it’s been profitable since the first month and is growing every month. I hope it can continue to grow and be of benefit to people like yours and in a year or so be in a similar position to you.
Surfing in Bali though…
Hey!
It does sound like we have similar experiences. Spending money on great ideas that were fun but not very profitable.
I’m glad that you stuck to your dream and started another business. It must have been hard with your girlfriend of all people telling you to get a job!
I’d love to hear more about your business. Fire me an email!
You’re surfing in Bali? Damn! Thats the #1 place that I want to go!
Seriously email me! 😀
~Sean
I was reading up on it and thinking, well, there’s a fortunate entrepreneur to have it all so easy, until I read up on the part about his past failures. It’s pretty courageous to continue down the same road again and extremely commendable if you achieve great success on top of it. Stories like this are an inspiration to not just struggling entrepreneurs, but people that are finding it tough to find success in any area of life.
Till then,
Jean
Its funny because I and most people assume the same thing any time we hear an entrepreneurial success story. We think “it must be nice to have success so quickly”.
In reality 99.9% of success stories involved 10 years of grinding away through ups and downs.
Everyone has stories of struggles to tell!
~Sean
Another great interview Yaro, you are an inspiration to all these other guys coming through. Keep up the great work!
I agree, Yaro is an inspiration! I’ve been reading his blog for a while now! 🙂
~Sean
Great interview, its truly an inspiring story. It shows us that we should never give up and its never too late to start over. Thanks for sharing it.
Great point Bidet!
Its never to late to start something new!
It’s great reading about your success story Sean and thanks for coming online and talking about your story. The internet is truly like a revolution in the world of business nowadays.
My pleasure. I enjoy telling my story as long as it helps someone.
How do you market your products? And how did you come about making your own personal website? Did you make it yourself or hire a professional to do it? How much time out of the week does your online business take up??
I drove traffic from adwords to squeeze pages to get them on an email list. The email list offered them the products.
WordPress is free. I set it up. I paid a designer to make it look good and function better.
My business takes up 6-8 hours a day some weeks. Other weeks 2 hours 3 days a week. It all depends. Its up and down. If I am motivated and excited then I work. If not then I go out and play.
You also have to love what you are doing. If not, you will become bored and even find that you aren’t caring or putting enough effort into it as you should be…
I drove traffic from adwords to squeeze pages to get them on an email list. The email list offered them the products.
WordPress is free. I set it up. I paid a designer to make it look good and function better.
My business takes up 6-8 hours a day some weeks. Other weeks 2 hours 3 days a week. It all depends. Its up and down. If I am motivated and excited then I work. If not then I go out and play.
You guys are amazing! I am super impressed and you are both such an inspiration. The more I think about how I want to live my life, I realize that I truly want more freedom to spend time with the people I love (and of course more travel)! I am soooo happy for you guys and hope to be writing back soon with my new business:-)!
Hey Caroline,
I’m glad that we are an inspiration to you!
I look forward to hearing about your business and freedom!!!
~Sean
Being broke is one of the biggest motivator. But even then, sometimes you have friends and family who can take care of you. However, if it gets even worse, creativity booms. For some reason, I always got my best consulting offers when I really needed them. One can call it an accident, but I really think it was because I was pressed to be creative.
Sean Gallagher has kept billing me for over 5 months with NO login to the website and just ONE crappy DVD sent in my mail that shows me the BASICS of djing!! Stuff I’ve BEEN doing for years.
I’m not into DJ stuff, but this interview is really useful and can be applied to other business concepts.