Can your passion make you $1 million? In “The Circle of Profit” book review you will uncover the truth behind the book and I’ll let you know what my own experience has been so far.
The Circle Of Profit- The Overview and Rankings
- Name: The Circle of Profit
- Author: Anik Singal- 99 out of 100
- Originality: 85 out of 100
- Practical methods: 90 out of 100
- Enjoyability: 60 out of 100
- Price: Kindle $10.46/ Paperback $16.97
- Maketimeonline.com Rating: 83 out of 100
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Simple methods to start using affiliate marketing
- Break down of the circle of profit and how you can start right now
- How to start making money online as you go
- How to create your own products using your own passion
- How to use email marketing to connect and engage with your audience
- Free videos to help explain each step
- So many practical tips throughout the book.
Cons
- Makes it sound TOO easy
- Selling of a FREE Webinar- which turns into a $997 course- The Inbox Blueprint
- Not a super enjoyable read as a lot of it is practical content instead of stories (there are some stories in there to balance it out- but it’s one of those books that you will need a pen and paper with you)
Who is “The Circle of Profit” For?
Anyone wanting to have a successful online business! It really does show you how to get started using email marketing and the 2-phase process that being an email marketer can make money online.
Phase 1 is using affiliate marketing to start earning an income through your online business. Phase 2 is how to create your own content to really expand your online business.
I have learnt a lot about creating an online business over the past few months. The more I have understood how online businesses work the more I have realised the importance of using email marketing (basically collecting email addresses and sending them regular emails).
Most people that make money online have an “email list” and I have heard from numerous people that wish they started collecting email addresses much sooner.
The reasoning behind this is that you have someones undivided attention in an email. If they read something on social media they can easily skim over it or not even see it due to the platform’s algorithms (techy stuff that each social media platform has to decide what you see on your timeline). You can build trust through emails and it will only be seen by people who have chosen to access it.
Anik suggests that a rough figure is $1 per month per email that you have. i.e. 10,000 email addresses equates to $10,000 per month (roughly).
It is 100% worth a read if you would like to understand how it is possible to make money online and it has helped me to learn so much!
So What Actually is “The Circle of Profit”?
It is an email marketing program. It shows you how to use affiliate marketing and eventually your own products to make money by emailing your audience. The main 2 things to do are collect email addresses and sell products.
THE 8-STEPS
1. Passion Product
Discover your passion! The idea is to find a niche that you are interested in. If you’d like more information on how to find this, I go into more detail in “how to find your niche” (the video on here can save hours of unnecessary work that I went through!)
2. Opt-in Page
Create an opt-in page with an offer of a free gift in return for the visitor’s email address. This is a standalone website that collects email addresses.
3. Autoresponders and Newsletters
An autoresponder is a programme that collects email addresses and automatically sends out emails. This is a crucial part of any online business and without email addresses (or an autoresponder) your online business won’t exist.
The 4 that he mentions are:
- SendLane (his own autoresponder)
- GetResponse (I am currently using this one)
- Aweber
- iContact
There are other free autoresponders such as Chimpmail or Mailerlite, but I have found both of these to block my account due to messages sent. They really notice affiliate marketing links and don’t allow these to be sent in an email, so they may not be the best ones to try with an affiliate marketing business (top tip- A workaround is to put your blog links into the emails and put the affiliate links in the blog posts, which seems to work fine on both free servers).
4. Get traffic
The fastest and easiest way to get traffic (visitors to your website- in this case, the opt-in page) is to buy it from the targeted sources. Traffic is the lifeline of every online business.
Anik mentions a variety of methods such as posting on forums or blogs (which appears to be outdated slightly/ are seen as spam on most blogs), Facebook advertising and email media (paying someone else that has an email base to send out an email for you).
5. Affiliates, Relationships, and Networking
Anik really knows his networking. He has built relationships with top-class entrepreneurs like Bob Proctor and Robert Kiyosaki.
He shows how having a good connection to other affiliate marketers can help you (and them) to build your own brands.
6. Passion Product
I thought this part of the book was amazing. Anik explains how to simply create a product within your niche that you can start selling.
This will be the long game and make the most profit in the long run but you don’t necessarily need it to start making money initially. His explanation of written, audio or video products and how you can outsource some or even all of it, means it doesn’t have to be a daunting task (obviously you pay for this with the money already made through affiliate sales!)
7. Sales Funnels- Frontend/ Backend
Anik talks about needing to know how to draft a proper sales message – written, audio, or video. Sales funnels are the key to multiplying your revenues.
I don’t disagree with him on that but I do know that getting upsells can be really annoying when you think you have just bought a product and it turns out the upsell is ACTUALLY the product you wanted. So make sure if you have upsells they are clearly different from the products you are originally promoting i.e. online course to personal coaching.
You have your leads and you have your sales. What do you do with them? Well, as with every other business – you sell them more stuff. This is the part that I found very hard to read when I first looked at it. However, Anik puts it in a way that makes it seem more honest and acceptable to me.
Selling is good and necessary. Have you ever found a great deal when out shopping? It may be a super cheap holiday or a bargain on a pair of trainers. Do you keep that info to yourself or do you tell all your friends about it? It’s the same online! If you find a great product that works, then tell your audience about it (equally tell them if you try a product and it was terrible)… they want to know!
8. Profit
Once you have everything down and connected – you launch your products. Either a full-blown time-sensitive launch or a rolling launch. You decide!
That’s when you make your money. And what do you do with the profit you make? You re-invest it into growing your business.
Make more products around your passions, drive more subscribers through your opt-in page, and create an authority in your niche.
Does this Actually Work?
There are so many success stories throughout the book. Anik mentions loads of “his” students that have been through the training and obviously they have all done amazing!
As with most salespeople, he forgets to mention the ones that don’t do so well. Reading between the lines on the huge success stories it is clear to see that most of these people had some experience of working online or a business already up and running. So it’s important to take these stories with a pinch of salt if you are brand new to working online.
What I must say is that I have spoken to a few people that have been through his inbox blueprint course (which he highly recommends throughout the book… so if you don’t like that sort of thing this is your warning about it!) All of these people seem to be very happy with the products and learning they have received from using it.
I’m yet to speak to anyone who is earning MEGA bucks or who have told me exactly the monetary results from the course, but I’m yet to speak to anyone who has hated it and found it a waste of time.
My own experience
So I read the book, I got super excited about it and thought I had found the answers to all the questions I was looking for. But (how did you know there was a but!!) it turns out it’s really hard to get people to give you their email addresses… Yes even though I was offering a FREE e-book!!
I set up my email list on Chimpmail.
I made an opt-in page and pretty much copied one that was in the book.
I spent time setting up my initial 10 emails to send out to all the subscribers I was about to get.
I spent a couple of days putting my free e-book together.
I used the Facebook advertising method and spent £20 to get about 3,000 relevant people to look at my advert.
I managed to get about 200 people to click on the link and view my opt-in page.
And I managed to get a big fat total of…. ZERO people subscribe to my email list!! (enter “throw the toys out of the pram” tantrum)
It was sooooo disheartening spending all that time creating the free e-book & email responses to have NOBODY even look at them!!! I then re-read the book (yes front to back). I realised I went wrong on step ONE!!!!! Step bleeding ONE!! I didn’t even clear the first hurdle (Muppet!) I realised I didn’t even check out if my “niche” was profitable.
This is a huge reason as to why I’ve written an in-depth post about “how to find your online niche” and made a video to show you step-by-step what you SHOULD do to get started (and just in case you were thinking about starting a niche of “health, success and happiness”… DON’T!!! It is so broad that it’s not even close to being considered a niche and pretty much includes every human on earth that is interested in it… which is why that won’t work online- you have to be clear and specific in what you do!)
I also realised I didn’t know how to sell. I have since learned that people buy on emotion… not logic. They will often justify the purchase with logic after they have been swayed emotionally. So my logical and bullet point adverts did not get people emotionally involved at any stage. You literally have to spell the dream out to them or hit a specific problem that they already encountered.
It’s a learning curve and I learnt heaps! I keep finding the following quote to be so relevant to my life currently:
“I never lose. I either win or I learn.”
That really helped me put things in perspective after this painful ordeal!! Check out my advert compared to some random advert I just saw on FB. You can see the difference right!?
My advert doesn’t solve anybody’s problem. It doesn’t really sell any dream. To be honest, it just looks like it will be a waste of time to even read it, so why would anyone give up their private email address for this!?
This advert is clearly solving a problem… How to run a PROFITABLE online business from scratch.
It’s something that some people would REALLY want. If they already know they want to start this, and the video of the guy can attract them in then they will give up their email address for FREE to receive a shot at getting what they want (btw I literally just found this so can you see how powerful FB adverts can be, Facebook knows that I have an interest in making money online to free up my time and so it specifically sends me adverts related to this!!)
How I make passive income online
It wasn’t that long ago that I was still trying to figure out how it’s possible for people to make money online.
I wanted to find a passive income system that ticked a few boxes:
- I could work on part-time when I wanted (I was still in a full-time job)
- Therefore I needed it to not cost a fortune to start and maintain
- Didn’t need me to sell stuff to my friends and family
UPDATE- In September 2018 that I found Wealthy Affiliate. At the end of 2019 I quit my full-time job to dedicate more time to it.
I had no idea where to start with an online business a year before, but this has shown me step-by-step what to do.
The best thing about it is:
- It’s free to start
- Qualified traffic is brought to you for free (just think about how you found this review… there was no money or time spent from me promoting this!)
- You get me as a personal coach to help you on your journey (someone that has been through the exact same process to help you avoid the mistakes I made, but not too far ahead to forget what it feels like)
- You don’t need ANY technical skills to start
When you try out this program you will see why so many people recommend it.
The Circle of Profit book review: The “MakeTimeOnline” Review Final Word
I think everyone should read this if they are interested in making money online as it has a step by step guide into setting up a profitable online system.
The information is all there in the book.
If you already have a business or some basic sales skills then this book would really compliment these skills with practical advice on how to use email marketing.
It really simplifies the process, which makes it easy to understand. However, it also means that it sounds really easy to do when, in fact, a lot of these things take time to learn or figure out. You still have to create content to get started such as a free gift and promotions to get people looking at your opt-in page.
Beware of the promotions for Anik’s courses such as the inbox blueprint. As I say I have only heard good things about this course but it does seem like it’s a product to get after you already have a clear niche and some understanding of how affiliate marketing works.
It comes at a steep price of $997 so you really need to be certain that creating an online business is for you.
Keep changing for the better,
Mike
P.S. Since you’re still here, I’m assuming you’re interested in making money online to free up your time. Click here to read my review of my #1 recommended program and join the form below to learn how to build an online business with no experience.
Great review Mike! I have heard of this book before but had no idea it could assist with my affiliate marketing business. I honestly didn’t know what it was about until I read this. This was a very comprehensive and informative review. I will definitely be putting this book on my list of books to buy!
Hi Dan,
Yeah, it is a great book that walks you through how to use email marketing. It has loads of great tips in too. I had no idea about how you could really make money online before reading this book so I personally found it super useful.
It is very practical though so if you’re following the steps it can take some time to get through it and apply it all. If you use an autoresponder already I’m sure you’d get some little tips on how to make it more efficient as well.
Thanks for you comment,
Mike
Awesome review, I know about Anik Singal and he knows how to write good self improvement books!
Have you read his newest book “escape”? There are many ads promoting that book.
Thanks for sharing, continue with the great work!
Rique
Hi Rique,
His book was very well written. This one was more of a practical guide and so I imagine escape is more of a self-improvement book from what I’ve found out about it so far. It definitely is very well promoted currently that’s for sure!!
It’s been added to the list and will get round to reading it soon. Have you read it yet?
Thanks for your thoughts,
Mike
Hi Mike, thanks for sharing this review.
It sounds like an interesting read and it was really great to see that you implemented the strategies in the book, shared your results, then discuss where you could have improved.
I found this to be very thought-provoking, and I’m glad I came across your review.
Will you be re-wording your Facebook ad and running it again?
Hi Stephanie,
Thanks for your comments.
I definitely made some mistakes trying out the strategies mentioned but I 100% found it the best way to actually learn what to do (or more specifically what NOT to do!)
I haven’t tried running it again as I realised the niche for this add wasn’t really a niche. I don’t think it would be possible to make much money online from a “health, success and happiness” niche as it is too broad and doesn’t really specify what it is that I’m doing.
Another great book is Seth Godin’s “the dip” and the important moral from this story is that sometimes it’s good to quit something. Especially if you realise it’s not the right route to take, apparently the most successful people tend to “quit” a lot of things. But what they are good at doing is sticking with things that they believe in and that they are making work.
Do you use affiliate marketing?
Mike
Great review. It sounds like a really good book to study. Thanks for the recommendation!
Hi Tricia,
Thanks for your comment. Yes, it really is a good book to look into if you are interested in affiliate/ email marketing.
I’m glad you enjoyed the review,
Mike
It’s really a thorough review of the book. You clearly state the pros and cons there. I like the 8 step of email marketing program. It gives me guidelines to start email marketing.
Actually, I plan to start learning email marketing recent. Your review prepares my mind. Email marketing is an essential skill in the affiliate market. If people want to earn more in affiliate market, they should consider master it.
But, I know it will take me a lot of time. If I learn the email market, I have to learn sales funnel too. Do you know how long I need to spend?
Thank you for your sharing.
Hi CT,
That’s great that you are interested in email marketing. I do think it is a pretty important part of affiliate marketing.
I don’t think there’s a “right” amount of time to spend on it. It’s completely dependant on what your goals are and how much time (or money) you have to spend on it. For example, the course Anik offers sounds like it comes with a ready-made system for you.
It can take 30 seconds to build an opt-in page but how effective it will be, really depends.
It’s all been trying things out and changing bits along the way for me. The main goal is to receive email addresses so if you find a way that works for you, then that’s all that matters.
Thanks for your comments,
Mike
I actually really like the idea of creating my products in my niche. But it is too competitive, does this book have tips for this?
Hi Furkan,
What is your niche?
The best tips the book gives you is about how to find a profitable niche. I wrote more information about this here if you’d like to find out more. The video on how to use FB adverts is possible the best part of this as it will give you an idea of whether your niche is too competitive or not.
Thanks for your comments
Mike
Great review. I will be looking into the purchase of this book further.
List building is a great organization strategy and asset to invest in. Also, to have a platform or system to keep it all together is the best.
Thank you for this review,
Lakesha
Hi Lakesha,
Thanks for your comments. It is a great book and so simple to follow.
Do you currently use an autoresponder?
Mike
I heard about this guy Anik Singal before. As a matter of fact, he has been sending emails to me almost daily. I never pay attention to them because I am not into his sales pitch. I am glad I read about your experience. It’s an eye opener. I have signed up with Wealthy Affiliate and it is the best.
Hey Carol,
I guess half the battle is being on people’s radar. So if you’re already aware of his name and you see 2 product’s by 2 people, you may be more tempted to go with the guy you know a bit about than a complete stranger.
The marketing world is still pretty new to me but he does a great job of explaining how to get started in email marketing. From what I’ve heard his courses are some of the legitimate courses out there too.
Thanks for your comment, I hope you’re enjoying WA!
Mike
Excellent post, Mike. I like how you outlined the pros and cons, who would benefit from such a book, and your own experience you’ve had with the book. Great article all around and one I’d be happy to recommend to anyone looking to get into online business.
Hey Todd,
Thanks so much for your comment. I hope the review provides enough information about how useful the book is. The information in it really is invaluable if you’re looking at getting into email marketing.
Thanks again
Mike
Hey, Mike!
“I either win or I learn.” That really is an incredible quote. It has gotten me through some rough experiences as well.
The best part about it is that it implies that you can’t fail as long as you keep pushing forward. And having the sense of not being able to fail, is truly an invigorating one. Even, if I fail miserably and horribly, people laugh at me and make fun of me, I embarrass myself or struggle so incredibly – it’s all good because I learned something. It also takes a way the feeling that many people have – that they have to be proficient in something right from the start.
Essentially the quote engross itself in the Growth mindset, which is absolutely necessary to have in life and that is also why it’s so incredibly powerful.
Above all though, I truly enjoyed the article, I’m looking to pick up e-mail marketing in some time, so I’m pretty much collecting all the information I can on awesome sources to learn from. In regards to that the book is also definitely something I will get, once I immerse myself in that part of online marketing.
Many thanks, Mike!
Cheers and have a Great One!
Matiss
Hey Matiss,
Thanks for your comment. You are so right and I can tell you will do well in life with your mindset!
The growth mindset is possibly the most important thing to become successful and you’re so right the quote really helps understand what this means.
It is impossible to fail if you don’t give up, so perseverance is such a crucial aspect of affiliate marketing.
I’m glad you enjoyed the review, the book does an amazing job of explaining what to do with email marketing.
If you have any more questions please feel free to ask.
Thanks again,
Mike
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the review! The book sounds interesting ( and useful!)
A few years ago I had an online store ( natural parenting products) and a bunch of clients/ followers who got excited with my posts/ videos and I feel I could have done much more with what I had ( If I had known what I know now!)
I’ve been thinking of starting something new for a while, maybe blogging or a website, maybe writing an e-books, so I am enjoying reading your thoughts and ideas. Maybe I’ll start soon… if only days had 100 hours!
Thanks!
Monica
Hey Monica,
Thanks so much for your comment, that’s amazing to hear! I bet you were brilliant with that too. I’ve actually just been writing another post about the book that got me into all of this in the first place (Rich Dad Poor Dad). Somehow I’ve related it to positive discipline that I’ve learnt from you so I’ll make sure to let you know when that goes out (probably Tuesday).
I know what you mean about the 100 hour days! Sarah and I started getting up an hour earlier a couple of years ago and I found this literally created an hour every day. We obviously ended up going to bed earlier but I found that time was quite unproductive anyway.
As I’m sure you know from when you did it before it doesn’t have to be too long that you spend on it, but it does need to be consistent. Even if you can find half an hour a day to write something I’m sure you could get started (and potentially increase it later).
The way I look at things now is… “what’s the worst that can happen?” You try it out for a while and realise you don’t enjoy it you just stop. So far I’m enjoying the process and it helps my head not explode with all the stuff in my head 😉
Thanks for reading, it really is a great book to learn more about the online world.
Mike