Chris Guillebeau’s Empire Building Kit (EBK) Review for Week 7 (Slightly Disappointing)

Chris Guillebeau is the author of The Art of Non-Conformity and Unconventional Guides. He runs a course called Empire Building Kit (EBK for short) that I purchased late 2011. I have been going through the materials week after week diligently and I have been impressed so far, except this week. Week 7 was a disappointment for me because it was a rehash of the very first webinar. The bright side is that the learning was reinforced and like Tony Robbins would say “repetition is the mother of skill”.

This post is a mind map summary of my learning notes from week 7. Enjoy! Click on the link to see a large version of my Mind Map for Empire Building Kit Week 7 (opens in a new window/tab).

The main lessons for week 7 of Empire building Kit were six questions that Chris had already answered in a webinar. Disappointment because it was not new content but reinforcement is always good:

• OK to run an anonymous business? Only for very good reasons but remember customers want value and trust and its hard to provide both if you are anonymous.
• Small markets? Always ensure that your market is *really* small before jumping ship. Listen to Jonathan Fields on markets because small markets can potentially be lucrative. Even very small markets like guinea pig owners are thriving.
• Building an empire as an affiliate? Don’t depend on others because affiliate marketing is a money making opportunity and not truly an empire. Start a business where you have control.
• Ignore PayPal? Do not ignore Paypal as it is the de-facto standard of payment accepted over 100 countries. Use PayPal payments in conjunction with other payment options and see which one performs better. Alternatives include Clickbank.
• How many prospects / readers before launching? At least 500 but 2000-3000 preferred but it is better to launch and analyze the results then relaunch rather than not launch at all. Remember in business nothing is really fatal.

Next Steps

There are several things you can do:

• Share this mind map with friends if you have enjoyed it via Twitter or Facebook.
• Agree, disagree or have questions/comments then leave a comment below.
• If you have purchased EBK, I’d like to connect with you.
• Check out Empire Building Kit (aff link) where you can choose from 3 different versions to purchase.

See you again next week.