Make Money Online – Interview with Codrut Turcanu

Codrut Turcanu is a bit of a phenom in the internet marketing world. He has achieved significant success for his business since he first started making money online to support himself through University in Romania.

I was first introduced to him by another internet marketer several years ago when he designed a landing and download page for me.  We kept in touch and he has helped me on several occasions since.

Codrut is now a behind the scenes email and sales letter copywriter for some of today’s top Internet entrepreneurs, bloggers and developers in USA, Europe and abroad.

In this interview he shares some of his secrets of success to making money on the internet.

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Sandy Halliday: You live in Romania and earn your living online. Would you mind sharing a few things about yourself and your background for my readers?

Codrut Turcanu: Sure. I was born and live in Romania, Bucharest. Married, and with no children at the moment. We are able to travel the world and basically do almost anything we want, when we want and with the people we want.

I finished the law school but didn’t really practice the job as I was not excited by the perspective, although the information I gathered from the University was helpful enough to lead me open my company in November 2005.

I actually started online back in November 1999, when a high school mate told me about the idea of making money online. I think you recall the kind of “get paid to read emails” programs. I almost instantly got hooked on the idea and further inspected the opportunities. The rest is history.

I’ve been involved in almost any aspect of Internet marketing. Affiliate programs, email list building, blogging, copywriting, product creation, video creation, eBook PDF compilation, email writing, ad writing, sales letter writing, landing page design.

In the past 10 years I developed over 20 unique skills I can now fully monetize with the help of my contacts, lists and partners.

I have two mentors: marketing genius Jay Abraham and peek performance coach, Tony Robbins. I learned and continue to gather gold nuggets each time I read their books, hear their audios or watch their videos.

I can’t find better coaches in these fields other than Jay and Tony, although I analyze, learn and model other experts as well. I like learning from the true masters in their fields and model on their success mindset, patterns and behaviors.

Business is not a start and end journal it is actually a never-ending game where you continuously learn new things, adapt and improve on your performance.

Testing, tracking and tweaking is essential in any business, regardless your niche or industry.

SH. What made you choose internet marketing as a way of earning a living?

CT. I did not really have a choice but got straight into the “make money online” niche, as a way for me to start earning some money to pay for my University and support my lifestyle, at the age of 18. It wasn’t really a choice, although I quickly learned that you can’t make money online by hoping or dreaming. You need to be a doer, find what others are doing, how, and more importantly why, then “copy-cat” their mindset, patterns and behaviors. And when you do that, you’re not guaranteed to succeed, yet you’d be one step closer to reaching your objectives or goals.

Internet marketing is just a medium or channel of selling the right product to the right audience at the right time. You also have offline marketing and its specific methods, although the selling concept and principles are very similar and won’t change in the next 10… 25 or 50 years, unless something dramatic shifts into the human behavior and their buying psychology.

SH. English is not your first language. How difficult was that for you when you started online?

CT. Imagine you landed with a helicopter in a foreign country with just a dictionary and pocket change. That’s how I felt. Alone, with nobody on my side to guide me by the hand, and in a foreign area; I learned English by firstly reading articles, and books. I love reading business related books from marketing, advertising, copywriting to psychology, self-development, and so on.

I then started listening to audio tapes and watching YouTube videos lately, when the service was available. And I continue to do so even to this day. Getting peak performance is what I’m after each day. What about you?

Through practice you’ll get there! There’s no other alternative or substitute. People complain all day how hard it is to make money online, or how hard it feels like to build a list, or bring 20+ excuses for not starting their blog, and so on.

It is as hard to make money online as is for you to get up in the morning and exercise or go to your job. There are countless materials [books, DVDs, videos, etc] teaching you how to develop a skill, or how to achieve a goal, unless you start on your own to practice what you learn [theoretically] , you won’t go anywhere.

It is like you read a book on how to swim, but you’re afraid to jump in the water and try on your own, learning to swim. You won’t learn how to do that by trying just once. You have to try 10, 50 maybe 100 times.

Imagine throwing the ball in a basketball game, with no opponents. Try 25 times! You’d notice that you’d have more misses than goals. That’s human nature. We all learn through trial and error. Even the pros are sometimes missing – all of them!

SH .How did you get online? What was your first effort online in business?

CT. Good question. As I told you already, I dabbled with the so-called “lazy” make money online opportunities such as “get paid to read emails”, “get paid to click banners”, “get paid to fill out surveys”, later on finding that I could get paid per sale. And this is when I started to put more thought into making affiliate marketing work for me.

I recall once back in 2004 when I started to get some sales, I was kind of disappointed and wanted to quit promoting a product by Marlon Sanders. That guy was/is a great marketer, and his products were kind of amazing at that time. Although I brought 70 hits to my affiliate link, the sales were still not showing up in my inbox. So I decided [kind of shy] to email the affiliate manager and ask why I’ve sent a ton of traffic [I thought that spending a few days hustling for 70 hits would bring at least one sale, if not two…] yet no sales!

And the answer she gave me was shocking. She said that I’d have to bring in at least 150 hits, or 100 unique visitors to see a sale. And later on I’ve found about calculating conversion ratios, and what it really takes to make money with affiliate marketing, how to pre-sell products and get targeted quality traffic, and the fact that not all traffic is equal, and all this 101 basic stuff.

If you don’t know these things, you go nowhere. It is like you want to drive from your city to another city but have no clue how to do it. And you start asking other people, and they’re telling you to take the train. Others are telling you to take the cab, while others mention the plane. You’re kind of astonished. And you’re financial problematic too. You have less money to implement any of these methods, yet, you’re forced to go to another city, fast.

Look, if you condition yourself to succeed no matter what, if you put yourself with the back against the wall, like I did, if you design a goal and want to achieve it, make a deadline, then do whatever it takes [morally and ethically] to hit the target!

There are no shortcuts! Like someone once said — “There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs.”

SH . When did you start blogging?

CT. I can’t really remember. Back in 2005-6 I guess. It was not blogging what I did. I actually used the blog as a “product launch” platform. This is where I used the blog in combination with my list to pre-launch and launch a monthly coaching club/marketing program, and recall making $2,000+ a month. Then I launched a 3-month club using a very similar pre-launch method using the blog.

And the rest is history. Blogging is not rocket science, if they desire, anyone can learn the skill. A blog is not something new, but a site that you can use as a platform either for fun, or for business. You’re either playing games, or playing for profit!

SH .How did you come up with the idea of running a blog?

CT. I was already using blogs as product launch platforms and I quickly recognized the massive potential for brand building, product launches and lead/client attraction and follow-up.

When blogging and autoresponders are combined, sky’s the limit.

SH . How do you come up with ideas for content?

CT. There’s a ton of ways of doing it; I even wrote products on the topic. You can look around your room, and tie in a product or something from your house to your blog’s topic. You can visit Amazon.com or other similar web site

Ideas are everywhere. Getting content ideas is not a problem – that’s easy. The hardest, most difficult and tedious task is to actually find out EXACTLY what your readers want and need, then write to or about their specific problems, challenges and issues.

The most successful bloggers are those that blog about current news events, latest movies, latest products, or little-know tips that they’ve found in their particular niche/industry.

You can’t have a successful blog if all you talk about are topics or problems that you think readers want to know. You have to ask and solicit feedback from your audience, and read other blogs as well; that’s a never-ending task and skill you have to develop.

SH.  How do you mainly generate traffic to your blog?

CT. I never liked to actively hunt for traffic as it requires you to do repetitive tasks, which most are boring

There are two ways to receive or get traffic, you’re either spending all day blogging, commenting, forum posting, ad swapping, link exchanges, affiliate recruiting, or hire someone else to do it on your behalf.

And a bonus tip – develop [if you’re a programmer] or team up with a skilled techie, partner, barter or trade your service, or product, or whatever, and create a software tool that you give away. It builds your list and brings more traffic to your site than almost anything else.

Hunt for traffic yourself, let / get others do it on your behalf, or develop a program that others will wildly refer their friends to; there’s no other option!

SH.You used to use a cartoon image of yourself on your websites but recently changed it for your own image. What made you do that and do you think it has made any difference?

CT. Yes. I used that because I didn’t really want the “world” to know who I was, or who was behind my site/blog/project. And later on I wanted to change that, and actually added my real headshot on my blog. I was required to have one as I was actually wanted to guest post on a blog that I liked. And the rest is history. That was one of the smartest decision of my business career. I can now see clearly how people perceive you, and how they look at and talk with you, when you show your real face, and don’t hind behind a cartoon. People want to interact with a real human, with wants, needs and problems, just like them.

Although I knew this, I rarely gave though, until I was “forced” to put my real face out there. It helps to attract more business and clients, for sure.

SH. Was there anybody in particular who taught you what you needed to do?

CT. Not really. While I was reading books and bought thousands worth of materials, the best advice that came in was the one I found on my own, or noticed from others. You need to see how others are running their businesses, how they’re getting their traffic, and how they handle failures, then ask yourself “WHY are they doing this” and “WHY I am not”. Then start and do what they’re doing. Rapid implementation is KEY! Never being afraid of failure is another important aspect. I actually make a habit to do as many silly mistakes I can, so I learn from them. I find problems, which lead me to solutions. I won’t risk dumbly, although I like and prefer assuming risks, the smart way.

SH.  Your signature used to be “Succeeding against all odds” You have definitely done that. Have you any tips for succeeding online for my readers.?

CT. Yes. The sad part is that rarely does anyone take the tips seriously, particularly from a free interview they’re reading on a blog. If people would buy this interview, they’d be more inclined to actually start taking action and implementing the tips.

My best advice – read the interview again, print it if possible, if not, do whatever it takes to have a copy of this interview in your hands – make notes – asks questions – always condition yourself to succeed, either to reach a goal, get up from bed earlier in the morning, go to your job, do your best in whatever you’re working on, and so on!

You have the keys to unlocking your own success. Nobody else has your interest at heart more than you do. Nobody else is responsible for your success or your failures. It is YOU who has the keys in the hand!

I suggest anybody who thinks that Internet marketing and running businesses is a lottery ticket to actually go buy a lotto ticket and hope for the best. Professionals and entrepreneurs do not believe in luck, but in opportunities. They see opportunities in problems and are happy to come up with or look up for solutions.

This is what I do, on a daily, this is what I recommend. Is anybody hearing this?

Well thank you Codrut. You have certainly given us a lot of great tips.

If you have any questions or suggestions about this interview please comment below.