A Truly Inspiring Story

Her name is Ladan Lashkari, and when I say she’s a young woman, that’s an understatement. At just 20 years old, she has a youthful look that defies the maturity she’s developed in such a short time.

I suppose in the online world, youthful success is not entirely unusual. The fact that she’s a girl making money on the internet becomes much more significant when you realize where she comes from. She lives in Iran. Ladan was born and raised in Tehran, Iran, and lives there to this day.

There are political, economical, and religious obstacles that make it difficult for anyone to be a successful internet marketer in Iran, and in most cases even more difficult for a woman to do so.

With respect for Ladan, I’m not going to get into the details of the specific political and religious barriers that many women face in Iran, but just be aware that this story runs even deeper than I’m able to write about.

If internet marketing was a wrestling match, she’s starting the competition with one hand tied behind her back simply because of the place she was born into the world.

Next obstacle: the language barrier.

Although you wouldn’t know it from her articles and sales letters, Ladan was not born into an English-speaking family. She started learning the language at eight years of age, and devoured every English book she could get her hands on.

Even at such a young age, she began to realize that her fluency in English would open up more doors of opportunity throughout her life. Throughout her teen years, this fervor grew as she tackled the language head-on.

A true entrepreneur, she decided that she wanted to become independent and produce her own income. When her family bought a computer, she quickly began experimenting with ways she could turn it into an income stream.

She tried all kinds of business; teaching Windows, graphic designing with PhotoShop, website design, and even learned C++ programming.

Even though she was able to make money through those avenues, she knew that there was a bigger opportunity out there.

At sixteen years of age, she discovered the world of internet marketing through the late Cory Rudl’s website. She bought and studied his internet marketing course, along with other ebooks and resources.

She knew right away that THIS was the business she wanted to be in.

Her friends and family tried to convince her that becoming a successful internet marketer in Iran would be IMPOSSIBLE, and that she shouldn’t continue to waste her money. If you’ve ever faced the negative energy of friends and family, you’ll understand that it’s a powerful force that can quench your enthusiasm and ultimately abort the launch of a new business.

Fortunately, her father believed in her, and the resistance of others made her more determined than ever to find success.

After about a year of learning and studying the business, she launched her first website, and the rest—as they say—is history. But that history has not been without its fair share of bumps and valleys.

Jumping into business forced her to take her English proficiency to a new level. For a long time it was difficult to read and comprehend the many technically-oriented ebooks that she acquired.
And if reading comprehension was a challenge, writing was an even bigger issue.

It would take her six hours to write and proofread an article, but her determination paid off. Today if you search for her name on a search engine, you’ll find a slew of her articles indexed all over the internet.

And as if writing weren’t enough, she wanted to write her own sales copy. Anyone who’s ever successfully written a sales letter will concur that being a good writer doesn’t make someone a good copywriter.

I’m amazed to say that Ladan is a good copywriter. Being a copywriter myself, I wouldn’t say that if it weren’t true. She applied the same vigor to learning the craft, as she applied to learning the language itself.

She studied articles and courses from the top copywriters, and practiced until she had developed her own style. While there is obviously some innate talent at work here, I’d say that she is also a testament that copywriting CAN be learned.

Starting her business was the beginning of a long uphill battle.

Because of the US embargo on Iran, she faces obstacles that most of us wouldn’t imagine. As I mentioned, her culture has already tied one hand behind her back. The language barrier effectively tied the other one. And the following problems essentially tied her feet…a situation that would cripple most marketers and paralyze them from moving forward in business.

Most people wouldn’t jump into a new business with their hands and feet tied. It’s impossible, right? Just don’t use the word “impossible” around Ladan…

To start with, she couldn’t get a credit card. That makes it pretty tough to buy anything online, wouldn’t you say?

My business relies on my credit cards for many things. Not a day goes by without several business-related charges to my credit card. As I think about it, many of the products and services that I use come from sites that ONLY accept credit cards.

She can’t open a PayPal account. Again, this limits her ability to make online purchases. It also rules her out of participating in a large number of affiliate programs that only pay commissions via PayPal.

Of course probably the biggest disadvantage of not having a PayPal account is not being able to accept PayPal payments. She estimates that this one issue is costing her many thousands of dollars in lost sales.

She can’t get a merchant account, so it becomes very difficult to sell anything online.

She can’t have a bank account in US dollars. So that rules out another possibility of making or receiving payments.

To make matters worse, she can’t have any bank account that accepts wire transfers. This cripples her ability to receive payments from affiliate programs to her bank account, or from merchant services for her own products. So even if she can find a way to sell a product online, getting that money into her own hands is a huge obstacle.

She can’t cash any USD checks. That rules out most of the other affiliate programs.

She can’t travel. It’s almost impossible for her to get a visa to travel outside of Iran. This means that she has not been able to go abroad to attempt to open up accounts, and she can not attend any internet marketing seminars.

Those are just some of the barriers created by the embargo. There are many more limitations imposed by the Iranian government.

On top of these physical barriers, she also faces another kind of discrimination that continues to this day.

In a business built upon online image and perceived trust, she has been severely disadvantaged by the way much of the world views Iranians.

As she puts it, “the reactions are not very pleasant.”

She thinks it’s mainly due to the way the media has portrayed Iran and Islam. This has made it difficult to be open and build relationships online, as she has found that even her own subscribers, customers, and business associates look at her differently when they discover she is from Iran.

She says, “some people even act like I am a terrorist”.

She has received “hate” emails through her websites and also on forums.

“I know who I am and where I stand,” says Ladan, “but what the media shows the world and what my country’s government does has nothing to do with me. So I just wish people in the west – especially the United States – would understand this difference.”

Let me ask you a few questions…

Do you have a credit card?

Do you have a PayPal account?

Can you open a US bank account?

Can you receive US checks?

Do you have the freedom to travel?

Could you go to an internet marketing seminar?

Maybe you didn’t answer “Yes” to ALL of those questions, but for EACH question you answered “yes” to, you are starting one step ahead of Ladan.

Let me ask you a couple more questions…

Are you fluent in English?

If you said “Yes”, take two more steps ahead.

Do people view you as a terrorist?

No? Take three more steps ahead.

If this girl can do it, so can YOU. It doesn’t matter how old or young you are…it doesn’t matter where you live in the world… it doesn’t matter what other internal and external factors are trying to hold you down.

You CAN succeed.

In spite of all her challenges, Ladan views internet marketing as an easy opportunity to take advantage of, and she encourages others to do as she has done…

“I think there’s nothing hard about it. It’s the perfect kind of business for people who want to be independent and work for themselves in a business that there’s no limit to your success.”

If you’re just getting started, she has more advice:

“When you are just getting started, you should know it might take some time to make the amount of money you expect, and you should keep on and don’t give up – no matter how people around you try to disappoint you. I think this is the most important and difficult part… it’s where most people give up.”

In the three short years that she’s been in business, she’s worked hard and implemented many strategies that she’s learned by studying other successful marketers.

Out of everything she’s tried, she deems list-building as the most important component of her business:

“Nothing is more powerful than building a targeted responsive list and building a relationship with that list.”

While her income may not yet be on par with the internet marketing superstars, she’s earning a living online that would impress even those of us living in a more generous economy (she recently earned $6300 USD in a month).

The thing that must be kept in mind is that she is making more money than about 95% of the people in her country, and bringing home more income than her countrymen who have 30+ years of experience in their careers.

I’d love to see what she’d be capable of achieving outside the restraints of her county, and so would she, which is one reason she is considering a move to a locale more conducive of her business—such as Canada or Australia.

She says the biggest key to success is: “Believing in yourself, and promising yourself that you WILL reach your goals and won’t let anything or anyone stop you.”

When I asked her what makes her different from those who fail, she said that her success is derived from her persistence in facing and overcoming challenges and obstacles.

She points out one of her favorite quotes from Ross Perot:

“Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touchdown.”

When she’s not working on her business, she enjoys reading self-improvement books (who would have guessed?), dancing, watching movies, spending time in nature, and going out with friends.

In other words, she’s just a normal girl with big plans and an indomitable positive attitude.
Today she has more than 20 websites, and she hopes to expand her business by 400% while continuing to help others find their own success.

You can learn more about Ladan and her business here…

As Ladan says:

“If a young girl who got started when she was only 16 years old, with no previous business experience, with English being her second language, with less than $30 to her name, in a country where you can’t have a credit card or PayPal account and is under a strict embargo from United States, and so much more limitations…

If such a girl can succeed, how is it possible that YOU can’t succeed – while you may not even have one of these limitations?”

Ladan will never give up.

I hope you don’t either.

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Ladan Lashkari wrote a fantastic post about time management : How to Have 72 Hours Everyday. Click on the link and it might just help you

Is network marketing dead?

There are a lot of people out there who are still unaware that network marketing has made some people rich and free. They are either ignorant to the fact that people are actually making money through network marketing or they turned a blind eye to it. Either way, they have not been exposed to enough information about network marketing. Although, I must point out that there is no get rich quick scheme, but there is a get rich quicker scheme.

Network marketing has been around for quite awhile and it has been getting larger and more lucrative every year. However, with the internet, there is now internet marketing. It is similar to network marketing, but it just uses the internet to reach out to the buyers. Network marketing or internet marketing is like having your own mini business. A “Plan B”. It is easy to set up and has low running costs as compared to the traditional “brick-and-mortar” business. The appeal of low costs and low maintenance attracts business minded people who want to try their hand at a business.

It is imperative that when setting up your business, you will need to provide value for money products or services to your buyers. This creates a trust and buyers are more likely to recommend you to other potential buyers. As you and I know, word of mouth advertising is very powerful. So, be sure that you do a good background check about the company that you want to partner with. Ensure that they are credible and will not shut down their business tomorrow. It is an added bonus if they have a physical office in your country so that they can provide you with the support needed.

The best part about internet marketing is that, you have the ability to create you business and watch it grow all in the comfort of your own home. There is no need for you to go for meetings and meet clients or prospects, because with internet marketing, the prospect comes to you.

Don’t get easily despaired if you don’t see success in the first few months. Just keep trying and tweaking what you are doing. Evaluate what is right and wrong. You don’t expect to lose weight after one day of dieting right? Same thing here. Have a goal and a plan to work towards it.

Click on my link to learn more about internet marketing

Why aren’t you getting traffic from your articles?

What is the point of spending a good amount of money for ghostwriters to write articles for you or even painstakingly spending 30-40 minutes writing your own article when people won’t read it anyway?! Well, the fact that you are reading this article means that you are aware of article marketing and just trying to find out why people aren’t reading your articles and not getting the traffic that you thought you would get.

This is actually a common problem. I have come across internet marketers who said that they have tried marketing using article marketing/ ezine publishing, yet there is no significant increase in traffic. It could be something not quite right with their article or their method of submission is not right. The benefit of article marketing is that, the writer has the ability to pre-sell their product to highly targeted traffic. To have a higher assurance that people will stop, look and click on your article, here are a few key points to take note.

1. The article has to have a catchy title. The kind that would make the reader intrigued enough to read the content, yet not give it away that you are promoting something. A title like “Why aren’t you losing weight?” would likely be clicked at more than something that says “10 ways to slim down”.

2. The body is just as important. The opening statement has got to be an impactful and interesting one. Write about something that gives knowledge to the reader, something that people are interested to read. Don’t deviate from the topic and write something irrelevant.

3. Don’t forget your resource box. This is the most integral part of your article. Although it isn’t part of your article, it is a separate body but this is the part that will lead the reader to your website. Ensure your link is there. Do write in third person, as if someone else is writing the resource box for you.

4. Finally, you will have to submit your article to directories. I would recommend that you submit them to at least the top 5 directories; ezinearticles.com and goarticles.com to name a few.

Why Ezine marketing?

Many internet marketers, which of course include affiliate marketers, get lost in the sea of options that they have to advertise their product. I am sure for any newbie, it would be very confusing and can get very frustrating because they might want to try all the methods but would not get results as their efforts are not concentrated. Other methods of exposing or advertising your product are by Pay-Per-Click, forums, blogging and email marketing to name a few. I suggest that you concentrate on ONE method first, get good at it before going on to try another method. So why ezine marketing?

Ezine marketing is to write articles about a particular subject of choice and then posting in ezine directories. The fact that you have found this article means that you are aware of directories but maybe you are just unsure of its advantages.

First, you can increase your target audience. The people who are reading your articles might already be interested in you subject field and thus, you gained their attention. Alternatively, someone new in the subject might find your article interesting and thus be more interested about you and your subject.

Second, is the exposure that you will get. Posting your articles in directories would mean that the whole world could potentially read your article. That’s just about Everybody, isn’t it?

Third, you can promote yourself through the resource box. It can introduce you as an expert in your field and it is free! Free advertisement! People will have more trust in your product that you have to offer if they can get to know a little bit more about you. Sometimes, if they can relate to you, they would most likely buy from you. Having your link in the resource box, points the reader to where you want them to go.

So, try ezine marketing for at least a month, writing 2 articles a week and posting the articles to at least 4 directories if not more. Then look at the results that ezine marketing will bring. Good Luck!

Blogging for Business and Pleasure

Blogging is now very commonly used by teenagers, stay at home mums, business and even politicians. It is essentially an online diary but it has evolved to serve more purpose than just and online diary. It is a powerful tool on the internet, apart from SEO, PPC and other marketing techniques. However, when abused, it can get the blogger (the writer) in trouble. For example, a teenager was arrested in Singapore for making racist remarks on his blog.

Blogs was used by many to write their rants and raves, their daily lives or anything else that they fancied. Some are anonymous; while others have their full profile on for anyone to read. The anonymity gives some bloggers the freedom to write about anything and not be judged by those who know them. For example, a quiet and shy person could find blogging as a way to escape as they can write about anything that they felt, which no one knew about.

People who blog for business have a different purpose from online journal bloggers. Blogs give them the flexibility to talk about their business as compared to a website where the contents are fixed are purpose driven. When they have a blog for their business, it gives the human touch to the readers. Readers can relate to their experiences and may want to take interest in the business. Even when members of the same company/affiliate have blogs, it would be a way to differentiate one from the other. It is like their identity.

However, it does not mean that when you blog, “that’s it! I’m going to rake in the money!”. Blogging is just the first part. After which, you need to expose your blog. I would recommend submitting your URL to as many link directories as possible. To do that, just go to any search engine and type “ add URL”. Another method recommended is to submit your blog in blog directories. Also, some bloggers use link exchange. This just means that you place the URL of the other blogger in your blog, and vice versa.