The Silent Avatar Speaks

If you’re into Internet marketing then maybe you can relate to to the title of this post….( or am I just being a touch sensitive to others marking shite loads of money straight from the wallets of “newbies”, and anyone else looking … looking …. looking … to make a quick buck? (sorry successful online business).

Let me explain…

My email inbox has been (yet again) bombarded with product launch emails.

If it wasn’t Mike Filsaime’s Traffic Fusion at $1495 (oops $1497) , it’s Rich Schefren’s Guided Profit System (at $2495.. oops $2497), or how about …

Look.. I’m not saying that these “systems” are not worth what they are asking for.. but either people are being crazy and digging deep into their wallets until they hit their credit card/s (Ker Ching),  or I’m just a tad disillusioned with the whole “up the ante lets rake in the money while we can game”.

In the space of 3 years I have seen product launches go from $97 to $497 to now $1497 and Rich’s latest offering at $2497!

Put your wallets away.. there is nothing that these guys can teach you that you can’t find by some diligent surfing of the Internet. Yes.. It may take time, but how about putting that $2497 into a BIG advert in your metropolitan paper and see what that gets you.

How about thinking strategically about where you spend your money for your online business?

How can this money be best spent right at this time to move me towards where you need to go?

$2497?

Think about it… a shite load of PPC! Just monitor your competitors, their ads, and see if the same ad keeps coming up week after week, after week. If it does? Just duplicate it with your own branding. Look.. no one keeps paying for PPC if it isn’t working.

$2497?

How about paying a crack SEO dude to really ramp up your site and get the traffic flooding in?

$2497?

Rent a Billboard for a week (or how ever long it gets you), in the most prominent spot in your city and stick your web address on it and a “tease offer”.

$2497?

How about outsourcing all the stuff you’ve never finished, never got around to, always wanted to add to your website, or have them blog like crazy for you, submit articles, research a niche? Hell for $2497 I could bring on board an outsource from from some far flung land that is prepared to work for months for me for that sort of money.

$2497?

How about hiring a PR dude to get you to speak at a Wealth Building Conference? (not for the faint hearted but definitely doable).

$2497?

For that I could catch a return flight from Australia and knock on Rich Schfren’s door and bug the hell out of him day and night until he sat down with me and talked turkey.

Now for all those reading who like to spend money on “Personal Development”, I say “You go girl!” (or guy). I am definitely an advocate for learning more of what you need to know about yourself, your self sabotaging patterns, and if you need to pay $2497 to find out what your constraints are then go for it.

Hell..  welt KNOW what our constraints are TIME and MONEY. But I’ll give you the link to shoot on over and sign your self up if you really want to…

You can do it here: https://ssl2.strategicprofitsystem.com/gps/

For $2497 I could get a one on one with someone like Rich Schefren for .. hmmmm.. maybe an hour or two.

Do you think I would pick his brains to bits.. do you think I would tell him what I want to do and then ask him “How do I get there”.

Do you think I would have a list of questions..take a recorder… video… do the whole shebang (and even take ‘em for lunch is that’s what was required?)

But you know what?…..

Do you really need to know what you don’t know?  Or … do you just need to know that you don’t know, and get someone who to find you the information you don’t know?

It reminds me of a story I read once.. it was about the guy Ford.. (you know the one.. the guy who made the first car.. the “Model T”). The story goes like this…

Henry Ford (congrats to those who got it right), wagered a bet with a friend that he could answer any question his friend put to him and get the answer right.

The friend accepted the challenge, and up for grabs was a considerable amount of money…

The friend asked him the question (insert your own wildly insane, hard as you can, bet you don’t know the answer question ’cause it doesn’t really matter what the question was he was asked).

The point is this…

Henry Ford picked up the phone, called his personal assistant, told him the question, and said get back to him with the answer.

Touche! Mr Ford!

Did he NEED to know the answer? No.

All he needed to know was how to find the answer, and he only had to pick up the phone and he had his answer. Do you get it?

You work hard for your money.. damn hard. Make it work for you, and stop making others wealthy, because now you know.

PS. This post comes with a disclaimer. Rich Schefren is the only man who I have got up at 4am in the morning to join a live video seminar he was hosting. The man’s a legend. However  he relies on people not to think about what else their money could buy. His list is so big, his contacts so far flung, his wealth (well.. I’ll leave that alone ’cause we know he’s not short of a dime) that he has at his disposal people just like Mr Ford had.  In a nutshell he has gotten rid of his constraints to building a successful business by finding out what he needs to know and then getting others to do the groundwork for him. How on earth do you think he manages to conduct workshops, teleseminars, run Strategic Profits, do product launches, and the thousand and one other things this guy does?

$2497 for the Guided Profits System?  Now it’s a choice not a “must have”.

I say.. Ease up fellas.. our wallets are not that FAT (and I’m not about to make yours fatter).

Of course, if you agree or disagree you comments are always welcome

Sphinn

Tags: Advertising, Business Tips, Internet Marketing, Online Business, Promotion and Marketing, Web Design by the silent avatar
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I’ve been an avid reader of Rich Schefren and Strategic Profits for some time now, and Rich’s post today focuses in the power of Joint Ventures for forging ahead in the Internet marketing world (and let’s face it.. everyone online is a part of the Internet marketing world).

When you’re strating out (or still holding a job and getting into an online business in your spare time) its’ a daunting task to think about who you can joint venture your product or business with, but with a bit of strategic planning, maintaining and building momentum for your site/product can happen quicker if you joint venture.

As Rich states in his post, joint ventures don’t have to be long term alliances, but need to be profitable for both parties. I guess the biggest joint venture partner is Clickbank. Clickbank gives you the opportunity to present your product to an army of affiliates and have them sell your product, however unless you have a “name” or a product that will simply blow everyone out of the water, you will find it difficult to get affiliates to promote your product. Of course the key is that joint ventures have to be profitable for  both.  Clickbank products can offer up to 75% or 80% commission (less fees).

So short of paying out $97 for Rich’s e-book (and I don’t know why it is that e-books seem to have this magical $97, or ending in $7 whatever), but it seems to be getting out of hand. It is worth the price tag? If it’s Rich Schrefren he’s got too much to loose putting out trash. Yes.. knowledge doesn’t come cheap from successful people , but then with a little creative thinking you don’t have to fork out big bucks to get ways to JV with someone.

STOP! Before you even THINK about JV partnership your product has to be good. No – make that great. There are too many products out there that fail to deliver, and your product has to be top notch and ideally solve a problem. If it doesn’t solve a problem then go back and create something that does – people want solutions to problems!

OK.. so lets look at who you can JV with…

Let’s start with the obvious…

1. If you have any sort of downloadable product then align yourself with partners who have customers who would also appreciate your product. Here’s an example;

• If you have an e-book to do with travel align yourself with travel agencies. There are a lot of independent agencies who would be more than willing to take a cut from your sale to have their consultants promote it for you.
• Taking this further you could also joint venture with sites who offer travel accessories (like luggage)
• You may even want o JV with an eBay “power-seller”. If they sell products similar to yours (and are willing to promote your product as am “add on” to their business.

Just start by making a list of businesses which can potentially profit from your product, write then a short letter asking if they would be interested in making more more (who isn’t), and invite them to contact you.

No doubt Rich has a hell of a lot more info to add so you can read about his post here along with his new book “The Complete Guide To Highly Successful Internet Joint Venture Partnerships“, and if your looking to emulate someone who has proven themselves successful grab a copy of his e-book and start putting his words into action.

Tags: Joint Ventures by the silent avatar
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I wrote about Rich Schefren from Strategic Profits and his  Attention Age Doctrine 2 in a previous blog post here and I was reminded today of the value of giving – that is giving of your time and your knowledge to increase your authority status (aka become a maven) to increase your business.

I was reminded about this when I travelled recently (see my blog post here)

If you read my post I gave an account of the service (or lack there of) from business generally and how it impacts on their customers.

What I don’t get is how big business just doesn’t see the value in giving something away for nothing.

Take my previous post for example.

There I was…  tired from doing the check- in shuffle and just wanting to get back home, when (after the obligatory flight attendant demo of how to fasten and unfasten your seat buckle), everyone on the flight was treated to dip, cheese and crackers and a drink of chardonnay or Cabernet sauvignon.

How civilised I thought! How nice to have this offered free (well maybe not free as we paid for the flight). I certainly wasn’t expecting it, but did it put a smile on my dial? Sure did.

But here’s the kicker… I’m not a wine drinker, and thought.. “that’s OK. They have given out coffee/tea (plastic) cups, I’m happy to have a nice hot cup of tea with the goodies”.

And if your’e not into wine a hot cuppa fits the bill nicely after a long day.

It wasn’t a long flight, but never the less the stewardess managed to dole out the delicacies, offer around the white wine, and follow up with the red wine while everyone was happily tearing open their little packages and settling back.

It was then I overheard the comment from another passenger “May I have a coffee please?”. This passenger had said what I was just about to ask.

The stewardess replied. “Sorry. I don’t have time to do coffee or tea this flight. There just isn’t the time”

What the?

I looked down at my tray table and the pristine clean plastic coffee cup and just shook my head.

I could hear myself saying (screaming)  “What are they thinking”?!!

In that moment I felt a second class traveller.  Having passed on the wine I was not considered important enough to service me (and others) with a hot beverage, all on the premise of not enough time.

My thoughts screamed “Not enough time?!” I’d just witnessed well enough time to do the rounds for the other passengers who took up the offer of wine, but as a non wine drinker? gong – you loose.

Was my money as good as the other passengers who were looked after? You bet.

Was my bum on the seat paying for a service, keeping people employed and propping up the economy? Keeping the shareholders happy? Dammed right it was.

The cost of a coffee or tea? Negligible.

The damage done to the business. Priceless.

Rich Schefren .. you might be on the other side of the world but brother… DO I GET IT!

Whatever you can give away. Give it.

Your customers WILL remember your generosity. The “gift” no matter what it is will be remembered long after the doors are shut, the lights turned out and your off to bed.

If you haven’t got your hands on Rich Schefren’s Attention Age Doctrine Part 2 then for goodness sake stop whatever you are doing and go read it here.

Your business will never be the same. Your motivation for being in business will never be the same. Your customers will love you.

Let the spirit of Christmas be year round. Just do it. Give all year round – not just at Christmas.

Till next post.. keep on giving.

As always feel free to leave a comment.

Tags: General by the silent avatar
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It’s a brave marketer who deliberately stirs the pot and posts a petition on his blog slamming the way a lot of Internet marketers go about their business and calling for action.

And there’s nothing like controversy to rally the troops who agree and start a movement. (does Gandhi ring a bell?).

We might not be living in India under oppression from the English, however we are living in times when the Internet and its anonymity, a convincing sales page, and a credible looking website all add up to people like you and me being ripped off mercilessly.

Well, Rich Schefren from Strategic Profits has decided to do something about it, and the ripple is becoming a ground swell, and it started with his report The Age Attention Doctrine 2 launched on December 7. It’s a must read for anyone in an online business.

At the time of writing this blog, nearly 700 have agreed with Rich (including me), and are petitioning marketers to clean up their act and deliver what they promise.

My hat’s off to Rich. For too long the boys club has been colluding together in their despicable tactics to stuff money in their wallets and he’s calling on integrity in the industry.

Nothing works better than by leading by example.

If you are going to make promises they better stack up. Consumers are fed up with being taken for a ride.

Share this video with your friends

Tags: Hot Off The Press by the silent avatar
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