I’ve been promoting several products for a manufacturer — but I guess I wasn’t doing a very good job! At any rate, I got one of those messages we all dread when I went to log in to get some new affiliate links:

“Your account has been removed from our database due to a lack of activity.”

Ouch. All of those links leading to nowhere (well, I’ll assume that the manufacturer was smart enough to redirect them to the appropriate sales pages!).

So of course I signed up again and got new links. But what about all of those old ones?

Because I had made the commitment a long time ago to use redirects in any situation where I leave an affiliate link, all I had to do was edit the redirect script for those products and upload the edited page to my redirect server. Now all of those links are good again!

It’s quite possible that this simple task — which took me no longer than 30 minutes, including re-registering for the affiliate program — may put hundreds of dollars in my pocket over the next couple of years. Assuming, that is, that my brilliant marketing strategy kicks in…!

Thanks for listening,
Tom

P.S. — I know that there are a lot of systems out there for managing redirects. I own several of them myself. In the end, though, I settled on a home-made system that works well for me. It’s pretty well documented and could be quickly turned into a product; if you might be interested in something like this, could you leave a comment? I won’t approve it but will see it — and would appreciate your feedback.

In other cases, the business deal simply doesn’t work out quite the way you hoped it would. For example, I’m getting absolutely no value out of a mentoring program I paid for (which is still active) because the mentor publicly insulted a friend over something that, in my opinion, should have been kept quiet. Yes, I could raise a stink about it, but why bother? From my perspective, it’s better to simply move forward and take care of Now. The world is big enough for both of us and I’ve become apathetic to his cause (hate requires negative energy and effort; apathy is much better because it frees you to do something else).

In another case, I invested a chunk of cash in another system. That one didn’t work out at all like I hoped it would. I understood the risks going in, completely trusted the person running it (and still do), and know that I’ll get at least some of my money back if some of the issues ever get worked out. Yet I still get emails and private messages at forums asking if I still “believe” this person or telling me that I’m a fool for trusting this “scam artist”.

No, the deal just went bad. That’s all. Furthermore, in keeping with my “move forward” philosophy, if I know that the deal simply went bad, I know that I wasn’t “scammed”. In the case with this person, were she to come forward with another business proposition similar to the one that didn’t work out, I’d take a serious look at it because I know and trust the person behind it.

(On a side note, I’m still holding on to the naive hope that I might see some money some day, even though it has been several months since I stopped investing in this deal. The nature of the deal was such that I should have been paid within 3-4 months at the most… Then again, if it happens, it happens; I’m not at all obsessed with it.)

So please; STOP calling every failed business deal a “scam”. It’s not. If you can’t handle some risk (and don’t have a plan to manage it), then go get a job (of course, that’s risky, too, since you aren’t in control of your paycheck).

And above all, don’t try to draw me in to a protracted argument about the merits of a person. While I might tell you my opinion (which I tend to not do in public nowadays for a very good reason), you have already convinced yourself about the “character” of this person, and nothing I say is going to change it. Your “scam artist” is my “friend” or “business partner”, and Who They Are is completely separate from What Happened. Enjoy your opinion while I move forward and take advantage of Now. And the sooner you learn to separate people from issues, the better it will be for you.

One final word: If you can’t afford to lose the cash, then don’t invest it in your business. Period. Calling somebody a scam artist when the real problem is your inability to manage risk is only going to lead to you running into even more so-called scam artists. Stop passing the buck and take responsibility for your own actions.

Thanks for listening,
Tom

The simple fact of the matter is that people got in the way the rest of the time. Or to be more accurate, people took precedence over my other activities. Travel gave me opportunities to renew old friendships and make new ones, not to mention the opportunities to network and learn new things. Upon my return home, I simply enjoyed the time with my wife and children so much that writing and working on my business became secondary in nature.

Of course, in the process, I sort of neglected you, my blog reader. That wasn’t intentional, and to be honest, I didn’t mean to do that. It’s too easy to simply ignore you, though — and that’s a dangerous thing to do, if you ask me.

So please do accept my humble and sincere apologies. It’s August, I’m back to writing and working (although the frequency of blog entries may suffer a bit), and I’m going to do my best to remember in the future that you, too, are an important person who deserves my attention. Doing otherwise wasn’t very smart.

Now which of my blog reading friends wants to look at 317 pictures of my summer vacation?

Thanks for listening,
Tom

P.S. — Don’t worry; at dialup speeds, I don’t have time to upload that many pictures! But you’re welcome to stop by the house to look at them if you are ever in my neighborhood…

Why am I eager to test it?

• It’s getting a lot of favorable reviews in the security community.
• It combines anti virus software with anti spyware capabilities in one package. No need for two applications!
• It supposedly is NOT a resource hog. That would be very nice… From what I can tell, it was written from the ground up instead of trying to build (and bloat) an outdated engine that can’t keep up with modern malware.
• It’s “next generation” software. Hopefully this means that it not only detects malware but also guards against behavior that is typically exhibited by malware (for those times when signature based detection just doesn’t work).
• It has rootkit detection.

So I’m going to install it on my computer and test it for several days. I’ll report back — and, of course, recommend it if it works as promised (!); if not, well, I’ll tell you about that, too…

Sorry, no names for now, but I did want to alert you about something that looks to be both new and promising in the computer security world. Check back soon for the final word!

Thanks for listening,
Tom

UPDATE: Here is the link to that new anti-virus software: VIPRE Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware Software by Sunbelt Software

I have another trip to take after my return from vacation but should have at least limited Internet access on that trip.

In other words, I’m abandoning the world. And I’m looking forward to the break. I’ve already deleted two draft blog posts today because everything seems to be annoying me (HINT: One of them is people who insist on calling today’s holiday the 4th of July instead of Independence Day. See if you can figure out the reason why). I think the break will do me good. I don’t like being negative, I don’t like flying off the handle at stupidity, and this time at the ocean should help me regain my perspective and get back to helping people.

Things should be back to normal (if there ever were such a thing for me) towards the end of July.

–Tom

I just wanted to say that because some people get upset once they realize it, for some reason. So be it; I just thought that I’d save you the time and trouble of possibly reading this blog for months before you realize that I’m in it for the money (among other reasons).

So what does this mean to you?

First, the only way I’m going to make money is if I can provide my customers (hopefully you — you can become one by purchasing this computer and website security interview — see, I just tried to make money!) with more value than what they give me in exchange. Money is a universally accepted instrument that represents value. In this case, when you give me $27, I need to convince you that I’m giving you at least $27 worth of value before you’ll pay me. If I can’t do that, you don’t pay and move on.

So who got more value? I always try to ensure that my customers get more value than I.

And the next reason why I’m so self-centered is best revealed in Dr. Robert Anthony’s Secret of Deliberate Creation course (oh no, not again! ). I’m listening to it again, and just today I heard about how we are constantly creating. That creation takes on the form of positive and negative creation. And we can’t help BUT create — we were made to create.

Now if we focus on all of the bad stuff around us and try to change others, all it does is drag us down to their level. In what may appear to be a paradox to most people, the only way to really help others is to focus on improving yourself. Focus on yourself, think positive stuff (more or less; I’m glossing over a lot), and things get better for you. And guess what? Once your lot in life improves, you have something to give finally, don’t you? And there’s a universal law about giving that says you get it back — just not from the same source you give it to — and you get back much more than you give.

So I do focus on making money so that I’ll have more to give. Heck, if I didn’t make money, I couldn’t even afford to pay to host this website and you wouldn’t be reading this. In other words, how can I help you if I don’t make money?

OK, this post may be a bit strange, but it was inspired by a thread that’s currently running over at Willie Crawford’s Internet Marketing Inner Circle (Argh! Another money-making attempt!), it’s spur of the moment and entirely impulsive, and I’ll probably regret it at some point in the future. But then again, who wants to read the same old boring stuff day in and day out?

Oh, one parting random thought: I absolutely despise people who try to take advantage of me. Both my wife and I are extremely generous, but if we find out that somebody took advantage of our generosity when they could have taken care of themselves, we’ll cut you off at the kneecaps. And don’t put one hand in my wallet while the other one is stabbing me in the back.

OK, now I’ll get back to being my nice old self…

Thanks for listening,
Tom

P.S. — I’ll be posting some “before and after” pics on my raw foods blog in the next day or so. I’ve lost over 60 pounds since January of this year and some of my readers of that blog would like to see pictures… plus I like to show off… So I’ll post a link here once those pictures are posted. If nothing else, you’ll know who I am so you can avoid me if you want!

If you want to get the new and improved Version 3 at the Version 2
price, then you need to click the following link (if you go straight
to the site you won’t get the discount):

http://rapidactionprofits.com/?e=FindOutMore&dc=RAP30spc

If this is something that you can use (and you probably can if you
sell products online or even think that you might someday — and Sid
hasn’t charged for an upgrade yet), here’s hoping you got there in
time to save $50.

Thanks for listening,
Tom

While I won’t go into details, I actually have had a $1,000 day, long before I joined, but I need more consistency in my business and finally decided to join about a month ago.

I’m glad that I did so when I did — because Dennis just announced that the price will soon go up. Dennis has recently brought on some people to help him run the site (a very good business continuity practice, by the way), plus signed the ink on a deal to provide yet another membership site free of charge (and this one makes 1K A Day good for even people who are new to online business building. Dennis has discouraged so-called “newbies” from joining in the past).

Here’s what’s included in your membership to Earn 1K A Day now:

• The superb (and active) member forum.
• Lots of free downloads courtesy of Dennis. And I do mean LOTS! Some are just for your use, but there are several that you can resell, depending on the license.
• Membership to Super Simple Marketing. This is the new addition and normally costs $27 a month if you purchase it on your own (you can click on these links to verify my claims). This is the membership that’s designed to help newcomers and helps fill out the gaps in Dennis’ site.
• Membership to Instant Cash Generators. This one will normally cost you $9.95 a month.
• Free access to Sell Your Writing Online. This also costs $9.95 a month on its own.

You can get all this, which would normally costs you $46.90 a month — PLUS access to Earn 1K A Day — for just $29.95 a month — IF you sign up before the pending price increase (which I think will happen sometime after the first of the month (July)).

If you decide to order using my links, please let me know by putting in a ticket at my Help Desk. While I can’t think of anything to add to Dennis’ excellent site, if you’ll put in a ticket with your forum userid, I’ll keep an eye out for you and do my best to help if you need it. I’ll also give you 30 days of no-cost access to my coaching site (which will be launching soon) — no credit card required (no forced continuity).

Again, if you want to get in on this incredible deal before the price increase, click here now to sign up. It will still be a great value after the price increase — but why pay more than you have to? And even if you cancel after a month, the materials that Dennis will give you (which includes his Five Dollars A Day Course) will be worth much more than the $29.95 you’ll pay for one month’s worth of access.

Thanks for listening,
Tom

P.S. — For blog announcement list subscribers: I’m not going to send an email on this post. While I strongly believe in the value and want to get the word out before the price increase to save you money, it is, in a way, a promotional post. If I should have sent it anyway, please leave a comment or send me an email (just hit “Reply” to my most recent blog announcement post email) to let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

Any questions?

On the one hand, we have The Internet Marketing Cure side of things (look down a few posts if you haven’t heard about it; the ebook is a free download and you can help disadvantaged children by getting the ebook through my link). On the other side we have what I’ll call the “Business As Usual” crowd.

They’re both right and they’re both wrong. As usual, the answer lies somewhere in the middle.

Right about the same time that I read The Internet Marketing Cure (TIMC for short), I also got my hands on John Delavera’s Turbo Big Bang — which contained a copy of The Delaverian Marketing Method (or TDMM for short). Scott, who distributed TIMC, basically says that the gurus are banding together and getting richer by promoting each other’s products and that’s a new paradigm is on the horizon (and it does smell like a lead-in to a product launch, but that’s OK with me).

John, on the other hand, says in TDMM that you’ll never grow past a certain point if you don’t have a network and a team. Furthermore, I think he says that it’s INEVITABLE that you’ll form these joint venture partnerships if you want to continue growing your business.

The solution? Yes, form your teams, but form them carefully. Don’t just join forces with “anybody and everybody”; instead, find individuals and entities that can strengthen you and your business. In turn, you have something to offer the others with whom you band together.

I’m 110% convinced that you can make a living online by yourself. I’m also convinced that you’ll never grow your business past a certain point without relying on others for help (hey, brick and mortar businesses do it! Do you see restaurant owners making their own napkins? Didn’t think so…). I’m also convinced that you have to choose your associates very carefully.

Above all, as TIMC pointed out, you have to provide value or everybody loses. In fact, that’s one of the most beneficial parts of TIMC — if you aren’t getting value from something, then why do you bother doing anything with it? Get rid of it? Stop wasting your time. Unsubscribe. Delete the ebook. Stop hanging out at the forum. Whatever. Just do something that’s going to be adding value to both you and your customers and your partners.

And if you’re wondering what you can do to offer value, then read my last post (and get the materials that I recommend) or go check out my Business Action Steps blog; I just made a post there about my new, short-term focus projects (the link is in my blogroll).

So, as always, exercise balance and provide value. And thanks to both John and Scott for TDMM and TIMC!

Thanks for listening,
Tom

One of the reasons for listening to these tapes so many times is that I often miss stuff the first time around. As you listen, you hear something that you want to think about for a while. Of course, while you’re doing this, you ignore what’s currently playing, so replaying the tapes can be quite valuable. You also need help with different things at different times in your life and career, so even if you think that you’ve obtained maximum benefit from something, dusting it off after a year or so can result in even more benefit from a tape set. In my case, it can take me many times before I realize something anyway, which is why I really want to practically memorize these tapes.

Another reason I’m obsessed with this tape set is that, as Brian says on the tapes, nothing happens until a sale takes place. That’s one reason why I don’t particularly care for the “Internet Marketing” term. It’s about business. It’s about sales. Marketing plays a role, but nothing happens until a sale takes place. So why do we put so much emphasis on marketing?

Internet Selling, anybody? Would that make me an Internet Selling-er?

People also have to like you and trust you before they’ll buy from you. So we need to communicate. They also usually don’t buy until after the fifth contact. Email is important, as is a blog. And so forth and so on. There’s just so much in this set that can help people like us as we work on our websites and business.

And these tapes are over 20 years old! Wonder if they have an updated version?

But moving on to the main point of this post, Brian also said on those tapes that people procrastinate in sales for one reason: fear of rejection. Instead of getting out in front of prospects, they’ll do anything and everything to avoid making contact because most people will reject their offer. They engage in non-selling “busy work” — checking email, checking messages, whatever — to avoid getting in front of a live human being who is qualified to make a purchase decision.

That’s the first thing that I want to point out. The reason for rejection is not what you might think it is. When people reject your offer, they are not rejecting you personally! Your offer is just “too” — too expensive, too complex, too unnecessary… In other words, your offer is not right for them.

But fear of rejection is the flip side of procrastination. Sales people procrastinate because they do not want to face the possibility of rejection, all the time ignoring the fact that the end result is the same: no sales. And if they did face rejection, somebody might actually say “yes”…

Of course, this also ties to those of us working to build an online business. In my opinion, we procrastinate because of fear of failure — but the difference between sales rejection and Internet business rejection is subtle yet distinct.

In our case (for those of us working to build an online business), our fear is not so much one of rejection; instead, it’s a fear that what we’ve been taught won’t work. Why write those articles? Why build that website? Why create that product? Why attend those live events? Why join that membership site? Why do anything, we say? It won’t work!

This “thinking” is, in many cases, completely unfounded. How do we know it won’t work? On what do we base our opinions? Have we personally tried it? Do we have first-hand knowledge of somebody who tried it and failed? If we do, what factors led to their failure? Or does it simply seem to be so unbelieveable that we write it off as improbable?

(NOTE: Following a proven plan will work. Keep reading for a place to get some “proven plans” that have worked for others.)

At any rate, the end result is the same. Instead of doing the things that will put money in our pockets, we do stuff like hang out at forums, do “research”, and flit from one idea and system to the next, never completing a single thing and never giving ourselves the opportunity to learn that something will work. We are always seeking but never learning what truly works.

In other words, my theory (not very eloquently stated!) is that we procrastinate because we truly fear that what we are doing won’t work. Like the sales person who fears rejection, we fear working on ideas that we think won’t make us any money. As a result, we have guaranteed failure before we’ve even tried anything.

Is there a solution? Yes! As I mentioned above, simply follow a proven plan and your odds of success are grealy enhanced (but nobody can guarantee it).

I recently joined Dennis Becker’s Earn 1K A Day membership site. Now in my opinion, Dennis isn’t one of these flashy “Gee, look at me rake in the big bucks” kind of goo-roos. If anything, Dennis would qualify as a “do-ru”, but a flashy goo-roo?

Nope.

But the membership site is solid. Great ideas, lots of extras to help you build your business — and all at one affordable monthly price. It also includes a copy of Dennis’ Five Bucks A Day report. The goal of that is to get you think of ways that you can earn five dollars a day, then focus on one of those ideas each and every week. While the report itself is awesome, joining the Earn 1K A Day membership site will drop you smack dab in the middle of an incredibly supportive community that will make the job easier.

But the biggest part of the whole thing is focus, and by joining the membership site, you’ll be able to bounce ideas off of people who have journeyed down the road to success before you. Remember, these are people who, like Dennis, are too busy working and being successful to act like a flashy goo-roo — but isn’t that what you want? Wouldn’t you rather bounce your money making idea off of a bunch of people who, from experience, will have a good idea of whether your idea will work? While it won’t guarantee success, it can certainly help you avoid an obvious failure (if you are teachable and willing to listen), and if you know that something has a chance of winning, won’t you be more inclined to work on it instead of procrastinating?

So is Earn 1K A Day the cure for procrastination? I won’t go so far as to say that, but if you dump the other stuff you have and work on that, it most certainly can help — if you let it.

So I’m glad to add Earn 1K A Day membership site to the list of business building membership sites that I can recommend. And I’d love to see you on the inside, with Dennis and me (and a lot of other people).

Buy some “failure insurance”, so to speak, and take a positive step towards healing yourself of your fatal case of “procrastinationitis” today.

OK, I’m starting to sound like a copywriter, I’ll stop!

Thanks for listening,
Tom

P.S. — I don’t see anything about a guarantee on the sales page, but since you’ll be signing up for your subscription with ClickBank, YOU are in control and can cancel it at any time. At most, you risk one month’s worth of membership fees — and the forum is full of valuable downloads that are worth far more than that. So why not give it a try?

Here’s that link again: Click here to join Dennis Becker’s Earn 1K A Day membership site

NOTE: My eyes are doing weird things as I finish this post, making proofreading difficult… I reserve the right to later edit this post. Thanks for understanding!

The newsletter won’t be anything “huge”, and I’m definitely not going to do it very often (perhaps once a week at most, and given my current schedule, even that would be a stretch), but I do want to make this option available in an effort to expand my marketing outreach.

I also care about my subscribers — and that’s where the issue lies. I promised that I would not use the list for anything but blog announcements (plus a few other clearly defined purposes), so before I can do that, I need your permission.

Pretty please?

So if you are currently signed up for my blog announcement list, could you do me a favor? If you don’t like this idea — in other words, if you dislike the idea of receiving an occasional newsletter in addition to blog post announcements — then please reply to the blog announcement email for this post and let me know. Remember, as a blog announcement list subscriber, you have the privilege of replying to the most recent blog announcement list at any time if you want to communicate with me (you can also use my Help Desk to talk to me), and of course I’d welcome any other input or feedback you’d care to provide.

You can also leave a comment on this post; that works fine, too.

I have an incredibly low unsubscribe rate for this blog announcement list; I hope that’s due to the fact that I only send what I said I would send… But that’s why I’m announcing this first and asking for your permission, and if enough people prefer to keep them separate, then I’ll do it that way. I prefer to combine the lists.

As always, however, my goal will be to provide value to you.

Thanks, as always, for your input and feedback.

Thanks for listening,
Tom

Eric is truly a nice guy. He showed up with his family (wife and children), which speaks volumes to a family guy like me (and it made me miss my children!). He’s also very soft-spoken and came across as humble to me and is willing to put up with a bit of abuse for a good reason (perhaps I’m revealing too much here…). I truly enjoyed talking to him and feel blessed that I was able to spend an evening of my life with people like him and Joel Comm.

I also appreciate Eric’s newsletter and blog. He’s definitely approachable and listens to people, and as a result, he’s changing the focus of his Internet business. As he puts it in a recent email to his list, he’s going to quit Internet Marketing.

Yes, Eric Holmlund is quitting Internet Marketing — and I’m looking forward to it. Why? Because he’s promised a series of lessons (free to his readers) to help them build their Internet business (so click on that link and sign up for his newsletter). Beyond that, I want to see the direction he takes to earn money to support himself and his family.

I also like his reasons for doing this (they are listed on his blog), and from my brief personal encounter with Eric and from being a long-time subscriber to his newsletter (and I actually do read his blog), I truly believe them to be sincere.

So I’m looking forward to watching you as you embark on a new road, Eric, and I definitely wish you the best. Just don’t disappear completely, please…

Best regards,
Tom

I tried to send you an email on this but you’re using one of those “no-reply” addresses. If I’m going to strictly follow Scott Boulch’s advice (look a few posts down), I should unsubscribe from your lists. But I’m not about to do that; you do offer value…

So I just decided to make my reply to your latest email a blog post and hope that you’re using Google alerts or something so that you’ll see it.

I received your email about your Outsource Mastermind and the “security leak”. It was enough to make me want to sign up for the seven day free trial. I’m sure the material is good, and with that particular offer, I wanted to see if it was something that I can use.

However, No Joy on the signup. You’re using that mcssl shopping cart that makes it a nightmare for me to input my information.

I live and work at a U.S. military base in Germany and have an APO address with a state code of “AE”. The shopping cart that you are using doesn’t allow me to easily (or with great difficulty, for that matter) enter my information.

It also doesn’t like my email address, presumably because I’m using a free, but extremely reliable, web-based mail system (it’s the same one I used to subscribe to your list, but I don’t want to publish it here for obvious reasons). That’s the one I use for everything because it’s reliable and I can get to it from anywhere (I travel a lot locally and internationally and “bounce” between computers a lot, so online accessibility is important to me).

I’d love to see what you have to offer and give it a try, but I simply won’t use that shopping cart.

I do hope you understand, and as a past “very satisfied customer” I do want to take a moment to let you know (hopefully in a nice way!) why I decided not to try your membership site. Hopefully others reading this will check it out, though!

Best regards,
Tom

Real business owners don’t run and hide when a customer walks into their store, do they? Well, if I’m going to run an Internet-based business, I need to be available.

So here’s what you can do if you want to ask me a question: simply go to my Help Desk at Protector Support and open a ticket. We can talk there. And I’ll deal with abuse if and when it becomes abuse.

If you want paid consultation or some type of coaching (or as I put it, “answers requiring thought or research”), I’ll soon have a solution for that available, too.

I’ll add the link to my help desk / contact system, as well as the link to the “paid” solution, to the main page of my blog soon. You can get there from any page on my blog by simply clicking on the big headline at the top of the page that says, “News By Tom Brownsword“.

One more thing: Scott describes a way to cut through the garbage when dealing with a guru. Without going into details, I’ll simply say that it looks like he practices what he preaches. I put him to a little test and he came through with flying colors… So get that ebook, OK (and help children in the process; see my previous post)?

http://www.theinternetmarketingcure.com/go.php/93303

Now back to the book again…

Thanks for listening,
Tom

P.S. — Correction to my previous post; Scott Boulch isn’t using aWeber; he’s using some other system — but based on my past experience, I’d be very surprised if he didn’t honor unsubscribe requests. And all of this is “initial reaction” — this whole thing could turn out to be a business model I can’t endorse — but it is kind of fun just blogging by the seat of my pants, isn’t it?

Somebody has finally written a “Cure”. Instead of just writing something off as dead and old, they have released a no-cost ebook that talks about the “Cure” for the problems associated with traditional Internet Marketing.

I’m a bit more than halfway done with this ebook at the moment (it’s 56 pages long) and I have to admit that adopting the thesis of this book is going to require a major paradigm shift for me. I don’t know if I’m ready for that, yet as I read it, I see what the author is trying to say and why he is saying it. And to be honest, I’m not sure if “another way” — i.e. “The Cure” — will work because I’ve never heard of this particular way of doing business before (yet I somehow “know” that it is real).

So can you do me a favor? Head on over to the following link:

http://www.theinternetmarketingcure.com/go.php/93303

Give up your email address (he’s using aWeber, so you can unsubscribe if you want after getting the ebook) and then download and read the ebook. Then leave a comment or three on this blog to tell me what you think.

And this guy (Scott Boulch is his name) is going to give me 50 cents for every copy of the ebook you download using my link. If / when Scott sends me the money, I’m going to be turning around and giving it to Children International (we sponsor two children there, and I’d appreciate it if you’d take a moment to look at their website and see if long-term sponsorship of a child is right for you).

For now, I gotta get back to reading…

Thanks for listening,
Tom

One quick side note: If you asked for email from somebody, it’s not spam. If you no longer want email from that person, click on the unsubscribe link or follow the instructions to be removed from the list. If they refuse to honor your request, THEN it is spam.

But back to the topic at hand… The Profit Prophecy.

Another email just popped into my spam box that was entitled, “Dear Fellow Profit Seeker”.

That person isn’t going to be around for long in this business, and it’s EXACTLY that kind of attitude that will ensure your eventual failure in business.

First, it’s spam, plain and simple. That person did not have permission to email me; in fact, I think I feel like doing a spam slap today…! That person either scraped my email address somewhere along the line or some unscrupulous marketer violated their own terms of service by selling my email address as a “verified opt in” or some such nonsense. I know of at least one person who does this and it’s in his terms that he does this; however, when I signed up for his list, it wasn’t.

Read those terms of service. I even go so far as to save a copy and have pulled them out to complain before. There was even one case (Dr. Andy Williams) where I said that I wanted to purchase something from him but wouldn’t because his terms were too one-sided — and he changed his terms. I’m now his customer (and he makes some great stuff, too… Look him up sometime!). On the other hand, I’m in the midst of another situation right now where an individual whom I respected and admired has chosen to use some very sharp terms on one of his sites and is now using them to slap me in the face when I need help. The result? He’s no longer allowed in my Inbox and I’ve also canceled another membership site of his that had decent Terms. And I’ll be talking about that once the situation is cleared and I have the final word.

So the first problem with this spammer was the fact that it was spam. But the second reason was even more insidious…

“Dear Fellow Profit Seeker”. THAT is a sure road to business failure.

Your goal in business shouldn’t be to solely get profits. In fact, I’m of the opinion that you shouldn’t SEEK profits at all.

So what should you be doing? You should be seeking to provide value, and in the process exchange value for value.

In in Internet-based business that sells digital products, this is extremely easy. For example, let’s say that I create a video course that shows you how to back up your WordPress blog’s database automatically and how to upgrade WordPress software in less than a minute. If you were to hire a consultant to set this up and teach you how to do it, you’d probably be facing at least a $200 fee (for two hours of service).

Would a video like that be worth, say, $25 of your cash?

You get the information for 12.5% of what it would otherwise cost you (IF the consultant knows my system; otherwise it might cost you more for fancy software). You get at least $200 worth of value for a fraction of the cost. And because I can sell it to more than one person, I’ll also win because I delivered value. And instead of having to perform $200 installs until the cows come home, I can do the video course once and sell it many times, freeing my time to do other things.

Will I profit? Yes. So will you if you choose to purchase the course (incidentally, this isn’t a hypothetical exercise; I will be releasing such a course soon). But my goal isn’t JUST to make a profit; my goal is to provide an incredible value to you that will help you protect your blog, your website, and your business.

My purpose is to help you succeed by protecting what you’ve worked hard to build. In the course of doing so, I can make a profit. But simply seeking a profit isn’t looking out for you, and those who get into the “make money online” racket without understanding that you MUST offer something of value in exchange for value aren’t going anywhere. Instead, they’ll just find their wallets being sucked dry by others who are better at it than they.

So that’s my Profit Prophecy: If you’re just after profits in your online activities, you aren’t going to go anywhere but down. Instead, offer value so that you’ll get value in return.

Thanks for listening,
Tom

obamarepublicans.com
obamarepublicans.net
obamarepublicans.org

I’d like to sell them as a set (obviously).

If you are interested, please leave a comment with your offer. I won’t approve it, but will contact you via email if I accept your offer. Note that your comment may be automatically approved if I’ve approved one from you in the past; in that case, I’ll “un-approve” it as soon as I possibly can.

Payment will be by PayPal and all sales are final. I will send transfer instructions upon successful completion of payment.

Thanks,
Tom

The problems were as follows:

• The email was about a domain auction.
• It was the first email I had received from this forum in over 14 months.
• Hence the email looked like spam.

What would I have done differently? Let me rephrase that question: What WILL I do differently?

I have a customer list from a product that I first offered several months ago (a couple of you blog readers purchased it). I’m going to be re-launching it soon and offering an affiliate program. When I do that, I’m going to add a couple of small items to the product so that I can offer an additional bonus when I announce the affiliate program to the product owners (they’ll get a two week head start before I open it to non-buyers).

In my case, since it’s been several months since I sent that list an email, I’m going to start off the email by saying something along the lines of “You are receiving this email because…”.

Simple, right?

I’m also offering the extra bonus (not sure just what yet!) because it’s been a long time since I contacted this list and I want that first re-contact to be a positive experience. Delivering a bit more value is a good way to it.

I’ll also re-activate the download links for a week when I send the emails in case anybody needs to re-download the product (I use Rapid Action Profits to manage that product, which makes it easy to do so).

You might want to keep these things in mind should you need to warm up an “old” list. Think of some way to make the person glad that you have re-initiated contact!

Thanks for listening,
Tom

It’s just that a lot of people who have made a difference in my online career are releasing some great stuff over the next few weeks. Partly because I know the materials are good (I’ve either purchased or been provided complimentary copies of almost all of this stuff and will say so if it isn’t the case), and partly because I want to return the favor for these people, I’ve decided to promote just a few more products on this blog.

For now.

If they don’t interest you, then please accept my apologies.

But this particular product — the Turbo Big Bang by John Delavera — is actually THREE products in one. All of them are going to be released later this year as individual products and at much higher prices (so says John, and I never known him to tell a lie).

The first product is The Delaverian Marketing Method. It’s not just another marketing ebook, believe me! John is a great guy, but like most successful people, he is, for lack of a better word, “driven” to succeed. This particular series doesn’t mince words; John isn’t going to waste time telling you to do stupid stuff. In fact, he tells you why a LOT of stuff simply won’t work if you want to be in business for a long time.

And he goes against traditional wisdom when he talks about market selection. That’s all I’ll say about that — other than you probably won’t hear anybody but John talk about trying to enter THIS particular market.

Another piece is ContePass. ContePass is a system that will quickly build web sites. I haven’t done anything with this just yet so I can’t offer a good review; however, if it says it in the sales letter, then trust John to do it (and if it doesn’t do what it says it will and John and his team can’t fix it, I want to know about it).

It also contains the Turbo Mass Media Collection, which is a set of tools to help you when producing videos (you *ARE* producing videos, aren’t you?). This CD will be mailed to me (and to you, if you take advantage of this offer). Since I don’t have it just yet, I can’t really offer much of a review of it (but I do trust John).

He’s also offering a bunch of bonuses, including (my personal favorite) access to Turbo Class #2. I paid for Turbo Class #1, and while I already knew a lot about outsourcing, being able to look over the shoulder of somebody who depends on it to not only make his living, but also write paychecks every week, was quite an eye-opener. It really is a valuable bonus — but it is an early bird bonus.

So if you are at all interested in learning more, don’t wait; click on the following link (after clearing your cookies) and order your copy today (there’s a 60 day total satisfaction guarantee).

Click here to secure your copy of John Delavera’s Turbo Big Bang.

If you do order, please submit a ticket at my Help Desk (be sure to include your transaction details). I’ll soon be opening an incredible “name your own bonus” site, and for trusting me before you see it, I’ll give you double the normal bonus that I’ll be giving after it’s open if you order Turbo Big Bang via the above link.

–Tom

P.S. — If you’ve ever considered joining John’s Turbo Membership, as I have done, pay attention to the special offer John makes after you order. It’s simply incredible. And even if you are already a member, there’s something there for you, too!

If you want to attend (and I recommend that you do; I would do so myself except for the fact that I’ve already exceeded my travel budget for the first half of the year), I recommend that you sign up NOW to avoid future price increases.

Mark also just sent out an email to those of us who are helping to spread the word about the conference; he’s asked us to let people know that the “block rate” (or discount rate for conference attendees) for hotel rooms is going to expire soon. So if you want to go but don’t take action now, here’s what you’re probably looking at:

• Higher hotel room rate
• Higher conference registration fee
• Higher airfare (for booking “last minute”)
• Less time to prepare using my bonus (keep reading for details)

Let me also say that, from past experience, you’ll get much more from the conference if you stay at the conference hotel. So please; take action now and sign up before this very affordable — and very good — conference gets more expensive.

Click here to attend Mark Hendricks’ Internet Super Stars Conference.

–Tom

My bonus offer is still available; see the original post about the conference for details.

I’ve been looking for a good quality “nickel script” — one of those that will increase the price by a set amount after every sale. There are some out there; the problem, as usual, is support.

Frank Haywood has taken care of that problem.

He released his nickel script today (and, of course, there’s a nickel sale going on). Frank knows his stuff, doesn’t hide behind the pseudo-anonymity of the Internet, and listens to people.

This particular one is neat because it’s filled with all kinds of features, including unique download links for each purchaser, allow buyers to sell the script, etc.

To check out all the features and purchase this script (before the price goes up AGAIN; it went up five cents while I was reading the darn sales letter!), click on the following link:

Click here to get Frank Haywood’s Nickel Script.

Be sure to post back if you purchase and let me know your thoughts!

Thanks for listening,
Tom

John has talked about the difference between “hanging in there”, “getting by”, and “being on a mission” the past couple of days. While there are definitely spiritual implications, I’d like to talk about the implications for your business on this blog (at least for today).

The main thought that comes to mind is that you can’t just be “getting by” if you are on a mission to build a successful business. Do you have a mission? If so, what is your tactical plan for executing it? If you have a mission and a plan and are executing it, then success should be yours, on its way, or you should be looking for another plan.

In my case, I’m now working from a plan and I’m starting to see a difference. I’d like to encourage you to find a plan and stick with it.

If you need a good plan, I’ll post a link within the next day or two to a plan that I recently purchased that I truly believe is one worth considering.

Thanks for listening,
Tom

I like to make blog posts via email because it’s almost automatic. In fact, I’ve created a crude prototype for a system that makes it very easy to blog by email and am actually using it to write this blog post. Once I’m finished, I simply click a button, which takes me to a “Success!” page that has a link to the page on my blog that, by visiting it, tells WordPress to take any emails that are coming in to my secret blog by email account and post them to my blog. So with just a couple of clicks, I can blog from any web browser in the world without having to enter my WordPress passwords or access my admin panel.

The reason I started this was because I didn’t like the way that standard email clients wrap lines at the 60 column mark. This made my posts look funny when they were posted. After testing several components, I ended up writing my own — and that one doesn’t wrap lines. The rest is just nice features to make it easier to use.

The new version of WordPress adds an additional feature to the Blog By Email mix. First, you still need a “secret” email account to which you will email your blog posts and you’ll need to both create that account on your web server as well as set up WordPress to access that account. Nothing new there. What’s new is that these posts are held for moderation and not posted until somebody with administrator rights logs in to your blog’s admin panel and approves it.

That’s a nice security feature but it’s not something I want because it breaks the way that I want to blog. Thankfully, there’s a work-around — which you should implement ONLY if you are willing to “break” this additional security feature.

Simply create a new user account in your WordPress admin area and use the email address that you’ll be sending the email from as the email address for that account — and then make that account an administrator account. Once you’ve done that, it will automatically make your posts active without being held for moderation when you visit the “post my email” page.

Again, PLEASE upgrade your WordPress software to the latest version.

I’ll make a post on one of my blogs “soon” that will tell you how to easily upgrade your WordPress blog. I can do it in less than three minutes per blog — and I use a dialup connection. Wanna know how I do it? Then check back soon (or even better, sign up for my blog announcement list so you don’t miss that post!).

Thanks for listening,
Tom

Not much has come up lately that’s worth mentioning on this blog, so I haven’t posted much lately.

So what have I been up to?

1. Completely rearranging everything in my basement office. It got to the point that I simply didn’t like it any more and it was draining my energy — so I’m completely re-doing it and de-junking it. I hope to be done sometime next week.

2. Possibly moving locally. My son, who is old enough to start Kindergarten this fall, wants to go to the American Kindergarten, and short of some incredible schedule inconveniences and expense, moving is the only way to make that happen. We’re going to look at yet another house tomorrow… Yuck (but necessary “yuck”!).

3. Changing habits. I started another blog on this website that’s devoted to my new lifestyle — an 80/10/10 raw food diet. So far I’ve lost almost 50 pounds and feel better than I’ve felt for years. Please take a look at that blog.

So one task is going to help me better focus on my business and the other two are for my family. Having just turned 50 years old, being here for my family — especially when you consider the fact that my youngest child turns 2 next month — is important to me. Of course, having the resources to “be” for them is also important, which is why I continue to work on building my business.

I promise to write more some day!

Thanks for listening,
Tom

I’ve ranted about Joel Comm on this blog before, mainly about the way he uses audio. I don’t like the pristine, tranquil silence of my office being shattered by Joel’s voice, yet I get it whenever I visit one of his sales pages. But it isn’t just Joel; it’s anybody who thinks that I want to hear their voice when I’d prefer to listen to my dog snoring (to each his own, eh?).

On the other hand, I genuinely like Joel. I had the pleasure of being teamed up with him in Los Angeles last month at Yanik Silver’s event (our team took first place in the scavenger hunt — and my five year old son and two year old daughter LOVED the dart guns. Thanks, team; you made a hero out of me to the people who matter the most!). We had a great time that evening as we ran all over the streets of Los Angeles, looking for little clues, taking pictures, and baptizing / drowning Eric Holmlund (you had to have been there… Eric was a great sport about the whole thing, BTW!).

See what you miss by not attending live events? Why not jump down a couple of posts and sign up for Mark Hendricks’ event — and take advantage of my bonus offer? You never know what might happen… and I’m sure the hotel for that event has a swimming pool… And in all seriousness, both of those guys — plus the rest of my teammates — are now “approachable” in the future should I want to talk to them (”Hey, remember Los Angeles?”). Can you say that?

Anyway, Joel recently came out with Version 4 of his AdSense Secrets ebook. He’s selling it for about $10. I recommend that you click that link now and get a copy.

The way he structured his offer, however, generated a lot of controversy because the offer includes a continuity program — at $30 a month — for another product.

I read the offer, noted the continuity program, and purchased it anyway. Why? Because I know from past experience that Joel honors cancellation requests should I choose to exercise that option. I can quit any time I want and Joel’s staff will take care of me. In my case, he went even further a couple of years ago.

I don’t remember which product I purchased but it included two free months in a membership site that I didn’t find particularly useful. I promptly forgot about it until I got billed for a month’s worth of membership! When I wrote and explained that I’d never really used the membership and asked for a cancellation, I also got a refund for that month’s fees.

Joel’s not in business to get people upset, and as he mentions on his website, he did make a mistake in the way he structured and presented his offer. He’s also taken some steps to make amends. He’s revised his sales letter, his order process (you can now order the book with or without the monthly continuity), he left clear instructions on what to do if you don’t want the continuity program, and he’s going to forgo his profits for a couple of weeks and donate all profits to charity. He also promised to not do it again.

Works for me.

Joel is “driven” — that’s a common characteristic of any successful person, regardless of their field. He is also the kind of guy that you won’t mind spending an evening with, as I know from personal experience. I don’t think there was any malice intended here; he simply wanted to keep on moving forward and didn’t think things through to their completion. Never happens to me… or you…

So go ahead and order Version 4 of Joel Comm’s AdSense Secrets. You now have the choice of doing it with the extra offer (which I think is worth considering) or without.

Just make sure that you mute your computer’s speakers first…

Thanks for listening,
Tom

P.S. Michel Fortin made a great post about continuity programs that is definitely worth reading.

Terry Dean has just released his “Internet Lifestyle System” course. I just ordered my copy and wanted to let you know about it.

Why? First, if you look up “ethics” in the Internet Marketing dictionary, Terry’s picture is there (along with a few others, of course). Terry Dean literally wrote the book on Internet business integrity.

Second, Terry truly does like to help and wants you and me to be successful. This course goes into a lot of detail that appears to cover all of the bases, plus it’s being offered by somebody who truly does know what to do.

Next, this package is an incredible value. He had me sold with the videos on how to set up Sony Vegas to make DVDs; the rest was just gravy. Except for the market research, training videos, and stuff like that…

And finally, I’m not recommending that you do anything that I haven’t done myself. I purchased it because I truly believe that it represents an incredible value that doesn’t come along very often.

I don’t have an affiliate link for his course, so I’m doing something totally weird here: I’m going to give you Mark Hendricks’ affiliate link. He’s the guy who is putting on the conference that I told you about yesterday.

Why am I doing this? Because Mark’s picture is in that dictionary, right beside Terry’s. He’s also provided some incredible value to me at a very reasonable cost and it’s just my way of saying “thanks”.

Click here to learn more about Terry’s course.

There’s a $100 discount for the first 200 buyers (plus an additional bonus for the first 50), so check it out now. Terry is also offering a three month guarantee, so there’s no risk.

Thanks for listening,
Tom

Now don’t get me wrong; almost any live event that you attend that relates to Internet marketing and Internet business will have some type of product for sale. In some cases, those products complement what was presented on the stage and can provide you with more comprehensive information. In other cases, the offer will include a substantial discount or a bonus that’s not usually available. The ideal offer will contain all three. In fact, I recently took advantage of such a deal at the event I attended at the end of last month. I saved over $1,000 on the package and qualified for a special contest in the process. I was quite happy and the information I’m learning is superb.

The problem is that a lot of these live events are really nothing more than a two or three day long infomercial (otherwise known as a pitch fest) — an infomercial for which you get to pay for a hotel, a plane ticket, the conference itself, restaurant meals… plus the time cost of being away from your loved ones and etc. Why should you have to pay for the “privilege” of sitting through The Infomercial Pitchfest From You-Know-Where?

You shouldn’t — and that’s why I rarely promote any live events or conferences from this blog.

I’ll make an exception for anything that Mark Hendricks puts on.

I first met Mark back in December 2005 at the first Live Event that I attended. Mark was a speaker there… No, check that: Mark was a TEACHER there. He provided solid teaching content during his sessions and made a definite impression on me. I’ve purchased several of his products (all of them good) and will consider becoming a member of his mastermind once I move back to the States. He’s that good.

Mark is teaming up with seven other individuals to put on what he’s calling the “Internet Super Star Conference”. Now you may look at some of those names and say, “Who are they?” — and perhaps with good reason. So let me tell you the story of one person I’m familiar with that will be speaking — David Perdew.

I don’t even remember where I first heard about David, but he offered a product called “The 60 Day Experiment” that basically walks you through how to build an Internet-based business in 60 days. He’s since gotten into some other things, and I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know him well inside The Internet Marketing Inner Circe, Willie Crawford’s membership site. Successful marketers are starting to join such paid membership sites so that they can focus on making money, developing partnerships, and building their businesses instead of having to deal with the forum trolls.

So David has a lot to say that’s worth listening to, and even though you may not have heard of him, I’ll certainly vouch for him. I even wish that I could travel to the event to meet him in person (alas, I can’t; too much going on at home this summer). And I’m sure that the rest of the speakers are top-notch or Mark wouldn’t allow them to even set foot on the podium.

I invite you to check out the sales page for this event (click here to learn more about the Internet Super Star Conference). It takes place in Baltimore, Maryland (at a nice but inexpensive hotel near the airport — not at one of those overpriced downtown hotels — and stuff like Internet access is included in the hotel price) the weekend of 14-15 June, 2008.

And I’ll sweeten the pot a bit.

To help you get more from this conference, if you sign up using the above link, I’ll give you a copy of my unpublished guide to getting more out of Live Events. It will eventually be sold; I just haven’t quite gotten it finished yet. This little offer will help motivate me to actually get it done…

It’s a great guide, written by somebody who has been attending such events since 1979 (that would be me!) that will take you from selecting a live event that best meets your needs, preparing for the event, what to do at the event, and what you should do once you leave the event. It gives you a step by step plan to squeeze every last cent out of your investment.

And I’ll make it even better by offering you free lifetime upgrades to the ebook. In other words, each update and upgrade will be emailed to you at no additional cost. I normally charge for version upgrades (even for registered owners); you won’t ever have to pay for it as long as you maintain your email address.

If you want to take advantage of this offer (and it’s open to everybody), here’s what you need to do:

1. Clear your browser’s cookies.

2. Sign up and pay for the conference using the following link:

http://www.tdbx.com/r/mh/issc/

3. Submit a ticket at Protector Support (my Help Desk). Be sure to leave a copy of your receipt. You will also need to leave a good email address, as I explained above.

4. Once I verify your purchase, I’ll send you a copy — via email — of my guide to getting more out of every live event you’ll ever attend (IF you apply what I’ll show you; it’s up to you).

One more thing: if you’re interested in attending, sign up for the event TODAY (and the price is quite nice right now as I write this on April 21). The price goes up on May 1 (and again on May 15 and June 1), and from past painful experience, I can vouch for the fact that Mark does keep his word; he will raise his prices. But I think it would still be an outstanding value, even at the final price.

So you get a non-pitch fest from one of the best teachers of Internet marketing and Internet business at a nice but inexpensive hotel, plus my guide to getting the most from any live event — along with free lifetime updates.

Here’s that link again: http://www.tdbx.com/r/mh/issc/

Thanks for listening,
Tom

Of course, the world is full of unscrupulous affiliates who will promise the world and deliver junk in return — or even worse, deliver nothing in return. OK, I can go one step further — the product they promote either turns out to be garbage or you never get it. So I’m always a bit suspicious of affiliate bonuses until the goods are fully delivered. Thankfully, there are a lot of affiliates who CAN be trusted, and as I find them, I’m going to briefly mention them on this blog under the category “Trusted Affiliates”.

Ralph Smith of TheIdeaDen.com recently offered a rather nice bonus on a product purchase that saved me about 25% on the purchase price while throwing in a couple of products that came with full resale rights. I’ve purchased items directly from Ralph before and been quite pleased with the experience, so I considered this particular transaction to be quite low risk.

Nevertheless, I’m happy to report that Ralph delivered exactly what he promised — and then some! There was an “unadvertised” bonus on the download page, which is always appreciated.

So thanks, Ralph, for your very generous offer, and “congratulations” for being the first affiliate in my “Trusted Affiliates” category. I’ll be looking forward to future emails from you!

For the rest of you, go check out Ralph Smith’s website.

Incidentally, I’ve decided to start working on a rather ambitious project that’s going to reward people every time they purchase a product using my affiliate link. Yes, EVERY TIME. I really do appreciate my blog readers, website visitors, list subscribers, and customers — and want to do something that will give back to them when they help me and my business. So keep reading and watching because I hope to have that ready “soon” (at “Tom Speed”, not “Internet Speed”! Remember, I’m still only doing this part-time).

Thanks for listening,
Tom

[EDIT] Actually, I’ve decided that there’s going to be a tie for the first “inductee” into my “Trusted Affiliates” category. Although I haven’t purchased a product using Robert Phillips’ affiliate link, he has made some special offers to me in the past and has ALWAYS delivered on his promises. So Robert, congrats — you’re now the co-number one in that category, along with Ralph!

I simply love it. When I get an idea, I simply click on a bookmark to get to the project headquarters, type away, hit “Post” (or something like that) — and the post almost magically appears on the blog of choice.

So why not just blog by email, you say? For a few good reasons:

* Almost every email client chops off my posts at 55 characters, making URLs and other items look weird when they post to my blog. Paragraphs also don’t resize properly if a person enlarges their browser window (my theme is pretty much CSS friendly and resizes nicely).

* I don’t like to fire up an email client at some public terminals.

* I MOST DEFINITELY don’t like logging in to my blog’s control panel from a public connection.

* My form is so drop-dead simple that it encourages me to write. And it’s almost fun!

And this little form is only the start. This form is going to be the first piece of a membership site that I’m building.

Now I’m going to be running this membership site a bit differently from most. As soon as this form is “ready for prime time”, I’m going to set up the membership site and start selling memberships. Of course, since there won’t be much in there at first, those first memberships are going to be quite reasonably priced.

However, as I add new tools to the site, the price will go up — but those early members will lock in their low rate (with one possible exception, which will be explained — and optional).

So what’s this site going to be about? It’s going to help encourage you and equip you to write. Blog posts, articles, newsletters… you name it, the tools you’ll need and want to do it better will be there. Just bring your keywords and your ideas (and if you need either of those, I’ll be sharing some great resources where you can get them).

Why a membership site? Why not just sell the tools? Because I want to form a “writers’ community” along with it — a place where people can learn to write better and improve the quality of a lot of the information products that are sold. Another reason is sustainability. A membership site that generates recurring revenue will help ensure the long-term survival of the site. We’ve all seen too many projects like this that died a few months after launch because the owner promised the world for practically nothing. I’m going to ensure that this site strikes a balance between being able to sustain itself and providing an excellent value to its members.

That’s enough for now; time to hit that “Send” button…

Thanks for listening,
Tom

Robert recently ran a survey on his blog where he was asking for his blog reader’s opinions on a wide variety of topics. I took a few minutes to answer his questions. In return, he promised to provide access to one of three products that he distributes online.

Well the survey has ended (you can check by clicking on the above link) and true to his word, Robert sent out the emails with the links to the products. The only “problem” was that he got lazy, and instead of figuring out which person requested which product, he simply sent all three links to everybody who participated.

The lazy bum! I expect Robert’s business to deteriorate to nothingness within days…

So check out Robert’s blog, and when he offers a bribe, take him up on it. You might also want to subscribe to his announcement list and/or RSS feed; I always find his blog posts to be worth reading.

Thanks for listening,
Tom

While it hasn’t officially launched just yet, you can sign up and start generating referrals. While the referrals are great, I truly do believe that Subscription Rocket is a great tool and would appreciate it if you’d take a moment to read the following post on that “other blog”:

Learn More About Subscription Rocket

Or if you already know about how great the original version was and just want to sign up:

Sign up for Subscription Rocket.

I was really excited to see this great tool making a comeback and truly urge you to take just a moment to sign up. It really can help you reach prospects you otherwise would have never been able to contact.

Thanks for listening,
Tom

Upon joining Turbo Membership, you start out with 1,000 points at the
bronze level. You then get 500 points every month to redeem as you wish.

Once you’ve saved up 3,000 points, you move to the Silver level, where
you’ll get 1,000 points a month.

Hit 10,000 points and you’re a Gold member (no, stop thinking Austin
Powers!) and you’ll get 2,000 points a month.

If you can resist the temptation and save all of your points, you’ll be at
the Gold level in about a year.

Want to get to Silver level in the vault almost instantly?

Just click on the link at the end of this post and join Turbo Membership.

Once you’re in, create your account in the Vault (Module 13), then PM me in
the Turbo Membership Forum (at TurboCommunity.com) and send me the email
address you used when you joined. I’ll verify it, then send you 3,000
points after you’ve been a member for at least a month. You’ll then have
4,000 points (assuming you haven’t redeemed any).

That way you can choose your own bonus — or even better, hang on to your
points and you’ll be at the Gold level and get 2,000 points a month after
just a few months. It normally takes a year to get to the Gold level (where
you qualify for 2,000 points a month) assuming you don’t redeem any points
for products; with this “boost”, you’ll be there in six months.

I recommend that you hold on to your points so that you can get to the Gold
level faster; after that, you’ll have 2,000 points to redeem each and every
month.

This offer is good until I run out of points (I need to keep 10,000 to stay
at the Gold level). There’s no time limit. If I do run out of points, I’ll
start a waiting list. At current point levels, I can extend this bonus to
ten people (or three blog announcement list subscribers; see the P.S. for
details).

Here’s the link you’ll need to start your Turbo Membership:

Click here for Turbo
Membership.

Thanks for listening,
Tom

P.S. — If any of my CURRENT blog announcement list subscribers takes
advantage of this offer, be sure to let me know (via PM in the Turbo
Membership forum). If you also include the email address you used to
subscribe to my blog announcement list, I’ll give you 9,000 points after
you’ve been a member for at least a month (instead of 3,000 points), which
will instantly take you to the Gold level.

If you’re not currently subscribed, sorry… But why not sign up now so
that you can take advantage of the next special offer for subscribers?

To find out if you can, click on this link (don’t wait; access is limited):

http://www.tdbx.com/r/plf/

Jeff Walker is going to re-release Product Launch Formula 2 at noon Eastern Time on Wednesday, April 2, 2008. It’s going to be a limited re-release.

Why? Because unlike Product Launch Formula 1, Version 2 is going to be different.

(Incidentally, Jeff just announced that he’s adding a “streamlined” version of Product Launch Formula 1 as a bonus for purchasers of Version 2.)

Each Monday, Jeff is going to upload a video for owners to watch. This will be followed with a LIVE teleconference where owners will be able to ask questions (if you have to miss it, don’t worry; Jeff will record it). And knowing Jeff, he’ll stay on the phone until every question is answered.

Jeff is also going to be running surveys and soliciting feedback to ensure that every owners’ questions are answered and that they get the help they need.

Add that to some of other incredible bonuses that he’s giving away and Product Launch Formula 2 turns out to be an incredible value.

As an owner of Product Launch Formula 1 and 2, I’d also like to add that Jeff really does value his customers. He’s personally answered several emails from me and has been known to host private receptions for his product owners at live events (I’ve attended one of them). I also sat next to him at dinner once and received quite an education! Jeff’s not going to run and hide somewhere; he’s accessible and truly does want to hear from his customers.

So enough already; since Jeff is running this version as a live training course, he’s only selling a limited number of seats for this course. So to make sure that you get one of them, head over to this link NOW (even if it is before noon; you can sign up for a reminder email, and Jeff doesn’t spam!):

http://www.tdbx.com/r/plf/

Thanks for listening,
Tom

First, the problem wasn’t with “LUALL.DLL” — it was with “LUALL.EXE”. My apologies for the confusion.

The solution I found was to download and re-install the Live Update software on my laptop. I did that and no longer get the error. I still can’t properly connect to the website; it could be that the incompetent home network administrator (that would be me!) has some setting wrong, or it could be that there are so many updates to download that the software times out on my dialup connection. If that’s the case, I’ll get high-speed access at the hotel over the weekend and will try to get things caught up there.

If you are experiencing the