SMCC Potraits

What’s your name?
Bryan Stephens

Where are you from?
I currently live in Brisbane, Queensland, however I spent most of my childhood in Adelaide, South Australia.
What’s your background and how did you get into Internet Marketing?
As a child I was interested in fishing, sailing and I was also strong in mathematics. I did some research and decided to study oceanography and meteorology with the intent of improving my sailing and getting a job as an oceanographer. As it turned out I completed my Bachelor of Science with honors but the studies did not really help my sailing (apart from perhaps psychological advantages) and I became a meteorologist rather than an oceanographer.
I have been a meteorologist for almost 20 years now, but several years ago I learnt, mostly via my dad’s influences, that passive income is the best way to gain financial freedom. I feel that Internet Marketing has a great potential for providing passive income, as long as you put in the effort at the start.
Back in 2002, my dad attended an internet marketing seminar in Melbourne and he shared some of his knowledge with me. I was excited by the idea and quickly got an e-book written via a ghost writer with the intent of making a fortune. Unfortunately, the book written was a heap of rubbish, so my project came to a quick halt.
I then learnt some information about Google Adwords and started making a little money by selling various affiliate products via ClickBank. It seemed that just when a product showed heaps of potential it would then take a huge downturn. It was quite frustrating at times and there were times when I was convinced that my affiliate sales were being stolen.
I then turned my attention into making Adsense sites. I started building some Adsense type sites with affiliate links on them. The sites would generally be profitable, but they did not make a huge profit. I worked out that I would need to make about 2 to 3 thousand sites to replace my current income.
Since June 2007, I have been absorbing some of the Knowledge of the SMCC group and I am excited about where it is heading.

How long have you been a member of SMCC?
I joined SMCC back in June 2007 via the Internet Mastery Secrets seminar.

Why did you choose Stephen as a mentor?
My dad made a special trip from Adelaide to Brisbane to attend the Internet Mastery Secrets seminar. I was not overly keen on going, but I thought that I would spend some time with my dad and I also thought that it may be useful to attend the seminar so that I could meet some potential contacts to help my Internet Marketing Business grow.
I told my dad that I was not going to spend any more money at the event as I felt that we had already spent enough money to gain knowledge about building an Internet Marketing business.

Many presenters gave their presentations and I was not tempted to part with any of my money to join their programs.
However, Stephen Pierce absolutely blew me away. I connected with Stephen more than anyone that I have listened to before at a seminar. On top of that, he offered an enormous amount of information to help internet marketers get into action along with continued support.

I was excited with what Stephen had to offer and then looked at my dad sitting next to me. I could see that he was also excited. We had a quick discussion and decided to join the mentor program with the intent of using it for our Trust account.
I must say that I am very pleased about joining Stephen and Alicia. I met them in a more informal way during UYMG Sydney and also at an Anthony Robbins seminar in Brisbane shortly afterwards and I must say that they are absolutely wonderful people.

What’s your niche/product/business?
I must admit that I am struggling to find my own niche. I do find that I like helping others out with their niches and internet marketing businesses though. I am helping my dad with a site about beating depression and also helping my son with his runescape site. My strengths seem to be in the technical side of the business as well as generating traffic. Dad says that my writing skills have improved considerably since I have joined SMCC.
I also have some friends who have very strong passions in a couple of exciting niches. I am going to be in partnerships with them to help them set up and maintain Internet businesses for their niches. So I guess that I will have a business of helping others in Internet marketing.

What’s your favorite thing about SMCC?
There are many things that I like about SMCC, but the part I like the best is that I have met many like-minded people who are willing to share information to help each other succeed. The SMCC mastermind groups and SMCC forum are classic examples of that.
I feel that the best way to succeed in Internet Marketing is to work as a team. A team can help promote other team mates web sites and help brainstorm ideas. They can also help inspire each other when things seem grim. There are plenty of opportunities to find teams in SMCC to help your Internet Marketing business prosper.

Biggest accomplishment so far?
On September 13th 2007, http://beatyourdepression.com/blog/attitude/ten-rules-for-being-human had more than 6,600 unique visitors in one day. This was partly achieved by participating in a traffic generation group created by Aldian. So that reinforces the importance of working in a team environment.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
My dad and mum have had a great influence on my life and it is tough to determine which of the 3 below I consider the best. Mum told me once that I should always look after myself first so that I am in a position of strength to help others. If ever I feel emotional about a situation that I feel is going wrong in my life I know that my mum will always come up with something totally amazing to help me out. What she told me here helped me out with a situation I was in about 15 years ago.

Dad has always told me to keep an open mind. When I was a child he would point to the stars and tell me about the possibilities that exist due to the unknown. This has helped me to develop an “outside the box” thinking attitude which increases my problem solving skills.

Dad recommended a set of books entitled, “total success library” for me to read. These books were written by Dr Robert Anthony, a close associate of Dr Joe Vitale of “The Secret” fame. This set of books was the best self development material that I have ever read and I feel that my life has improved since reading them. My girlfriend is currently reading one of them and she is incredibly impressed with it too. She asked if she could highlight parts that she liked. As it turns out, she has been highlighting just about every paragraph.

One thing mentioned in the books was something like “you always do the best you can for your present level of awareness”. I found this information very useful as it can be used for a number of things. If you are aware of this, then it is easier to forgive yourself, and hence forgive others. There is no right or wrong, it only exists for your present level of awareness (or belief system, as others have written in other books).

List your urls
My personal and Internet marketing Site – This is a site that I set up late last year so that I could write about UYMG Sydney and other internet marketing subjects. I have also written some other material about things that I have done in my life and have some free guides available for those that are interested.

Beat Your Depression – My dad is the star of this site and he shares his experiences and knowledge about depression and self development. He is in the process of writing an e-book, which I am sure will be very good. I mostly help with the technical processes, traffic generation and business structure of this site.
Best Rune Tips – I work on this site with my son. Corey loves to play Runescape and I play it with him too as part of a bonding tool. Corey has developed skills in blogs remarkably quickly and it is great to see him learn. The site is profitable too, just with Adsense.

Dog Guidance – This was my 1st real Adsense site that I created. I started this well before joining SMCC, but it does generate a profit. I do not know much about dogs, but it shows that you do not necessarily need to know much about a niche in order to make a profit. Another example of this is with another Adsense site I have created called electric guitar info. I have never tried to play the guitar before.

Investing Tips Information – I did mention that I did not have a niche as such; however I do have an interest in investing, budgeting and trading. I have shared some of my knowledge in this blog.

Sewing Steps – This was the first site I created after joining SMCC. I was had big ideas to get it going with my girlfriend, but unfortunately her interest in it declined. We have still done some good posts though, including the “how to make a kilt” post. We had some fun doing that. 

There are some other sites that I have, but I think that I have named enough for now.
And two fun ones, too!

Stumbleupon is a fun site to participate in and it has also generated heaps of traffic for me.

Runescape and Neopets are two sites that I have had fun with. They were great bonding sites for me with my son, who does not live with me. I actually learnt my 1st bit of html through neopets several years ago.

Got any hobbies?
I mostly spend most of my time on the computer doing internet marketing things, chatting to family and friends and playing games such as Runescape with my son.
I love spending time with my girlfriend, enjoying her lovely cooking and a glass of red wine.
I have a great interest in sport and have been involved with AFL (Australian Rules football), cricket, sailing, Taekwondo, volleyball and fishing.

What’s your favorite movie?
I am not much of a movie fanatic, but I did enjoy “The Secret” and “The Sixth Sense”.
Being named Bryan, I guess I should include “The Life of Brian” because I am not the Messiah; I am just a very naughty boy. 

To leave a comment for Byran, Please click here!