Hallo zusammen
Dieses Interview mit Jonathan Kraft gehört zu meinen „All-time-favorites“ (… und ich habe Dutzende Interviews gemacht).
Mit viel Herz und Kopf zeigt Jonathan seinen Weg und seine Grundsätze auf, die Ihm Erfolg bescheren und ein Leben nach seinen Wünschen ermöglichen. Vieles davon lässt sich auch direkt auf das eigene Business übertragen.
Ich wünsche Euch viel Spaß bei der Lektüre, und wir freuen uns auch über Kommentare (in Deutsch oder Englisch)!
Beste Grüße,
Reto Stuber
Hi Jonathan, please introduce yourself.
My name is Jonathan Kraft. I am an Internet Marketer from Colorado, USA. I’m 31 years old, and have been a full-time Internet Marketer since I was 25. My wife and I are currently in the midst of a 2 year travel around the world, building our business(es) while we travel (so long as we can get an Internet connection). We’ve been to 20+ countries in our travels and will travel to many more in the next year.
Our site where we blog our travels is at http://www.CarrieAndJonathan.com. The largest traffic site (and oldest site) I have is at http://www.Strive4impact.com (started January 2002 – before that I was using other people’s hosting accounts and Geocities). And I’ve started sharing what I know about Internet Marketing at http://www.ThreeMoneyMethods.com.
My real area of specialty is Search Engine Optimization, though I have done a little in PPC and have worked with many content management systems. I’m currently improving my video skills, and improving my skills in finding and retaining quality people to help us accomplish our goals, while paying them fairly for their contributions. I’ve done quite a bit of outsourcing and have learned a lot through my experiences attempting to get things done by other people.
How did you get into internet marketing?
I started hand-coding web pages in 1999 for a campus radio station while in college. We built these pages without a WYSIWYG editor. Basically, we would open Notepad, type in <html><head></head><body></body></html> and then type some text in-between the body tags. I remember being really excited when I learned how to change the background color of a web page.
I was an exchange student in 2001 in Germany. My “web design” skills had improved a little (but not much) by then, and I put up a page to teach my friends how to make cheap phone calls to Europe. My first affiliate check was for $7.11, and it was from people clicking on ads. I was SO excited.
I remember buying my first hosting account in 2002. That was the most difficult $100 I have spent in my life. I debated whether or not to make that purchase for about 6 weeks, because I was REALLY broke, and living in a basement of a house while going to college. My monthly rent was $170, so spending $100 on anything seemed like a big deal.
It took me another 9 months after that to realize that I could partner with companies, put their products on my web site, and make money by helping other people find the best options for whatever they were looking for.
In 2004, I walked away from my job as a high school theater and German teacher. I loved teaching, but I was making less than minimum wage. If I’m going to volunteer my time, I’d rather just be a volunteer.
Since 2004, I have been working in Internet Marketing independently.
Is there anything you would do differently?
I would teach myself to stop looking at things I did in the past saying “If I only knew then what I know now.” You can’t get to where you want to be without going through whatever it takes to get there.
What I would do differently is stop punishing myself (which I still do today) for not knowing things I had no way of knowing at the time.
Many of the skills I have now, I wish I had then. But it’s easy to look at the past with the toolbox of today. 3 years from now, I’ll be looking at what I’m doing right now and wonder why I didn’t do it the easy way.
But it’s because doing it now, and going through the steps to get where I want to be, is what lets me look back and see “the easy way” (which only looks easy because I’ve already done it). It’s all a process. I would teach myself to respect and understand that in my moments of greatest frustration.
Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful internet marketer?
Be both tactical and strategic. Lots of tactics come along all the time. 10 years ago, we didn’t have Google. 5 1/2 years ago, we didn’t have YouTube. 3 years ago, we didn’t have Facebook. Two years ago, we didn’t really use Twitter. Knowing how to use different aspects of each of these systems is tactical. That’s good, and important. Integrating them all together forms a strategy.
I do have a very clear way to develop a strategy. I just need to get better at the steps for following it more myself.
Here it is:
Take time away from other people and away from noise – some place where you can focus and think.
– Decide what you want to accomplish:
– Make a list of how you will know it's accomplished:
– Make a list of all the things you will need in order to accomplish it (excluding the things which are assumed – in our case a computer and Internet connection are assumed):
– Create mind maps to show the daily/weekly/monthly process:
– Take your list and process and turn it into a checklist, especially if it's a repetitive process – then you can know what's been done and what hasn't.
– Find the people or resources you need (tactics).
– Identify the things (sometimes people) in your life that will stop you from doing what needs to be done (bring them into your awareness so that you can find ways to limit, eliminate, or at least be aware of them when they happen, because they will).
What are your most successful projects?
Wouldn’t you like to know?
Seriously though, the things which have been the most successful are the things I put the most thought, passion, time, effort, and energy into.
No secrets there.
For specific projects, there have been many, but I’ll give a couple.
I was the affiliate manager for the Fountain of Youth World Summit with my friend Kevin Gianni. Not only did that solidify our friendship, but also was great for me to just be able to focus on affiliates throughout the launch of the project. Having been an affiliate myself, I know what affiliates need and want, and it was fun to be in that role for that project.
I’m really proud of the work I did getting GreenJoyment.com off the ground in 2008, and need to get back to really creating a community there.
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
I don’t know about the “best” advice I have ever been given, but here are a couple pieces of advice that come to mind right now.
BoRyan Eberhard told me about a multi-file find and replace tool which let me edit 9,000 old web pages (I had created them one-by-one over 7 years,) all at one time. That one piece of advice saved me thousands of hours of work (that probably wouldn’t have gotten done without the tool).
“Shut up and do it.” – Eric Itzkowitz
“Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in life is to know when to forego an advantage.” – Benjamin Disraeli
Do you have any mentors or role models?
Really? This much of an open question? Okay, here goes the big name drop.
Tellman Knudson Mark Widawer Alex Mandossian Perry Marshall Rick Butts Joel Comm Len Thurmond Jill Whalen Shawn Collins Eric Holmlund Reed Floren Rick Raddatz Rich Scheffren Timothy Ferriss Seth Godin Patrick Shaw James Martell Paul J. Meyer Kevin Gianni Paul Myers Sterling Valentine Michael Cheney Armin Morin Matt Bacak Brett McFall Mike Litman John Reese Stephen Pierce Jim Edwards Robert Kiyosaki Dave Taylor Eben Pagan Frank Kern Napoleon Hill Timothy Ferriss Seth Godin …
What are the most valuable hints you would give someone who is just starting out?
Decide what you want to do, then find the tools to help you do it. Don’t try to find the perfect tool (or get sold on the latest and greatest thing) without having a clear idea of what you want to accomplish (and know how that tool will help you accomplish it).
Use WordPress. I was converted about a year ago, and can’t believe I didn’t do it sooner (see, there I go, looking at the past with the toolbox of today).
Any secret hands-on information you can share with our readers (e.g. great website, book, training, source …)?
There aren’t really “secrets”. There are just things that other people have figured out that you haven’t figured out… yet. But even if “they” told you the “secrets” you might not grasp them yet because of where you are at in your process.
Nowadays, there are very few times in the Internet Marketing world when I have a deer-in-the-headlights look. But it used to be that way. And give me 10 minutes (once I really get going) and I’ll probably do the same to the majority of people without realizing I’m doing it.
So, rather than any specific “secrets”, I highly recommend the following.
Read AND REALLY USE Think and Grow Rich
Read AND REALLY USE How to Win Friends and Influence People
Read AND REALLY APPLY Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and then Cashflow Quadrant (in that order)
Read The Four Hour Workweek and use what works for you and your business.
What are your preferred information sources about the internet marketing world?
It seems that I find out about things by being on people’s lists and by going to conferences. I wouldn’t say those are my “favorite” sources though. Lately I’ve really been trying to unsubscribe from anything I don’t read regularly. So in answer to this question, I don’t really keep up with what’s going on in the Internet Marketing world.
I think the Three Money Methods reports are good for understanding the landscape of Internet Marketing… but then I would… I put them together.
Anything else you would like to point out?
You don’t have to do it all right now, and you don’t have to do it all yourself.
At the same time, some things you really do have to just trudge on through the difficult work points so you can get to the light at the end of the tunnel. Working toward passive income from Internet Marketing is difficult (if done right and built for the long-term), but it’s worth it.
Right now, we’re traveling the world. That took some gumption on our part to set up our business and lives that way. And we also have had the help and support of so many people along the way.
If we have seen farther and done more, it is because we have been lifted on the shoulders of the giants around us in our lives. Get around good people. It makes all the difference in the world.
Jonathan, thank you very much for this inspiring interview!
Nice job on this article and congratulations on your wonderful successes!