BILL CROSBY- Spotlight Interview (archived)

I first discovered Bill Crosby following a link to learn more about Twitter. He is the creator of The Twitter Traffic Machine, a training system to teach how to automate acquiring followers, provide those followers pertinent valuable content, target those people who are most likely to be interested in any products or services that may be offered, and potentially make money while doing all this. I have to admit as a customer of Bill’s, he did a beautiful job building the system.

I caught up with Bill at his Chicago home where he lives with his wife, Carolyn, and his three boys, ages 7, 5, and 2. Considering that he has an MBA in International Commerce and is a highly credentialed expert in Microsoft Excel, Bill speaks in layman’s terms. The interview was a great pleasure. Here’s what he said:

Stone: Bill, tell the readers a bit about your technical background.

Bill Crosby: Technically I’m pretty proficient. I used to have a company that did programming for the Federal Government in the mid ‘90’s. The way I got started there was- I was coming out of grad school with a $40,000 degree in Excel and said to myself, “I’ve got to find a way to do something with this, and I’ve got to do it quick.” Web technologies were starting to pick up and I said. “I can do that.” I had no prior knowledge but I knew I could figure it out so I started applying for government jobs to do web sites and landed one.

Stone: And was that your own company?

Crosby: I originally started the company myself, and I brought in someone who had a very comprehensive understanding of technology, much beyond what I had. Then I brought in another person who had great connections into the Federal Government to solve marketing issues.

Stone: So you saw an opportunity and rather than trying to go it alone, you brought in key people who had expertise in areas that were instrumental in finding success- very cool. That’s a fundamental business concept that eludes so many entrepreneurs. Now, you are full time with your enterprises on the web at this point, right?

Crosby: Very much so.

Stone: So how did you make the transition from government work to social media on the web?

Crosby: I moved from DC to Chicago in 2003 and decided to go into real estate investing – full time. I had dabbled in real estate in DC. I began to teach real estate, and that’s how I got into the information products business. I put together training programs, strategies on flipping properties. Right away I saw that it was a very viable business. People were willing to pay you for the information you have in your head. It’s a much simpler strategy than having to go acquire a property, fix it up, sell it- that process is very time intensive. I’ve always looked toward how do I decrease my time investment while actually increasing the results I get- in any business.

Stone: So Bill, how did you transition from real estate to social networking?

Crosby: I started looking at how do I get more leads so I can sell more real estate investment training products. First I purchased leads. I found myself spending $10-15,000 a month on pay per click on Google. I made the investment back, but knew there had to be a way to reduce the costs. That’s when I took a closer look at social media.

Stone: What was your first entry into social media?

Crosby: My Space- in April of ‘08. It was the hot thing then. There were around 70 million people back then and I wanted to go play in that sandbox, and get myself in front of that crowd of people. In October of ’08 I realized the immediacy of Twitter. I saw that there was a correlation between sending out a link and the number of people who clicked on the link. I saw Twitter as something I can use to drive immediate traffic to if I built it up.

Stone: What kind of returns were you getting?

Crosby: Very little. My first entry into social media was, “How do I make immediate money with this?” That’s the mistake most people make when they first get into social media. It’s the wrong approach.

Stone: I understand- from experience. I fell into that exact same trap when I first started. So what turned things around for you?

Crosby: It wasn’t until I reread, for the fourth time, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill that it really began to dawn on me. I said to myself, “Okay, not only am I doing this wrong- but I’m not going to be successful.” I decided to take a totally different approach and follow the steps in Think and Grow Rich this time. I’m going to put other people’s success first. Once I made that shift I started coming up with content that really started to engage people. The result: a loyal following. The Twitter Traffic Machine was the first major home-run that came out of that thinking.

Stone: How specifically were you trying to help people?

Crosby: My quest was-  how do I help someone figure out Twitter without having to spend the 2000 hours I spent on the darned thing trying to figure it out.

Stone:  When did you launch The Twitter Traffic Machine, and how has it done?

Crosby: We launched it on March 20^th.

Stone: So it’s been out for about 3 months. How would you gauge your success with it?

Crosby: Phenomenal! About 12,000 have purchased the system so far. I thing a big part of its success is that I give an unconditional 100%, no questions asked, money back guarantee with the system.

Stone: Have you ever had to refund the cost?

Crosby: Oh yea, lots of times. Sometimes it’s just not a fit. Sometimes they already knew the information. Sometimes they couldn’t understand it, even though we made it as simple as possible. The guarantee addresses the 900 pound gorilla in the room- “Is this guy a scammer?” There’s a lot of skepticism on the internet, I’m skeptical. You’ve got to address the concerns of your customers. This fundamental will have to be carried into the future. Web 3.0 is really going to be taking video and hyper-connectivity to the next level. The next 5 years will bring explosive growth.

Stone: Well, thanks so much for taking the time for this interview. We’ll look for you on the internet!

My interview with Bill Crosby was a great pleasure for me and an opportunity for you to get to know someone who is leading the charge in social media. My commitment to you is to continue to bring these leaders to AskKimandPhilStone. If you want to get to know Bill Crosby better, go to www.BillCrosby.com. Please let him know that you found out about him here. You can find him on Facebook, Twitter of course, and all through the internet offering great content and enlightenment. Thank you, Bill!