From the opening theme that plays, to the sold out crowd, this event is the only event I go to that really has delivered the goods for several years in a row. It’s the only event that I continue to go to, even though I will be trying to attend several others this year (broaden my horizons, as it were). The speakers here, mostly not of the “not-professional speaker variety”, are really excellent .  While it’s very rare that I might learn something I didn’t already know, it’s always mind expanding, and they force me to think! The first speaker is all about  … subconscious training!

Sounds crazy I know, but in truth, your mind, and your outlook, directly determine your success, far more than any other single factor. You simply won’t succeed if you don’t have the right mindset, nor will you break through earnings and growth plateaus without addressing the need for changing the way you think about things.

But for me, it’s more about inspiration, honestly. I simply want to get inspired, feel the passion, and be ready to work when I get home.  I had to sign a non disclosure to get in here, so I can’t really pass on any tidbit of knowledge I might uncover.

My word of the day. Simplification! I need to simplify my life … from uncluttering my inbox, and unsubscribing to many newsletters, to focussing on fewer projects, and doing “less”. Yesterday, Neil Patel spoke about being cheap (in an hysterically funny and self deprecating way), and I am so much the opposite. I’m a spender on the not-so-important things, and I need to get it under control.  I’ll perhaps ponder that at the Mandarin Oriental in Vegas next month…

Ha - ok, after that perhaps, I’ll really try to reign it in. I don’t think I’ll ever become “cheap”. I lack that gene. I give away everything I have to friends and family. I can’t help it. It’s part of me. I pay for dinners. Can’t help it. My dad infused me with that. I buy friends and families presents. Can’t help it, family taught me to. I overdo everything. I give away absurd amounts to charity. Perhaps enough is enough?  It certainly bears further personal investigation.

Yes, I bought an IPad. I feel the need to make this my very next paragraph after talking about simplification. I own a lot of digital gadgets. I have a thinkpad, an apple, two PCs, a blackberry, droid and iphone, kindle, flip, kodak zi8, etc … I tend to buy all the latest gadgets. I don’t see that changing anytime soon. I really like these “toys”, but there’s no doubt they complicate my life. My tech gadget lust won’t change, but I do see these five things changing in my search for simplification:

1) Less Email, Less Gmail Checking. Specifically, not check my email first thing in the morning until after exercise and breakfast. A tough thing for a basement empire owner, such as myself, to accomplish.

2) One big Task prior to Email checking. Yes, I have to accomplish just ONE single thing, prior to checking my email. That “thing” should be long term money making. Specifically, additional money. A new JV, a new distributor, something “new”.

3) More face to face, less emails, texts, and anything that doesn’t end with a handshake. I know, it’s the antithesis of the way I’ve done business for years, and I’ve done quite well without it, but this is more of a social goal to future happiness. I want to meet like-minded people, in a world where everyone is becoming more isolated (myself included).  We’ll see if this works …

4) Yes, Content. Get back to what I love, creating content. Yes, Marketing is important, but I want to create some new, amazing, stuff. What stuff? Well, that’s coming …

5) To Do List the night before. Keep an ongoing to do list, that syncs to my mobile devices and that I can sort by specific categories.  In addition, it syncs to my Google Calendar.

My vision phrase - I’m happy, positive, healthy, fulfilled, and I change people’s lives for the better all over the world. Yeh, I know, needs a little work. Perhaps a bit too wordy …

And, last but not least, Gary Vaynerchuck (sp?) is absolutely amazing, and a great speaker. I have never seen his show, but I now know why it’s so successful. He’s really absolutely amazing. What an experience - last year, Tony Hsieh, and this year, Gary Vaynerchuck. Polar opposites in many ways (demeanor), but also similar in many key ways, these keynotes were truly spectacular.

First off, new versions of tweetdeck, hootsuite, and socialoomph are installed on my laptop(s), and my iphone, and blackberry where possible. I’m not big into social media (as I’ve told you previously, it’s a case of ROI), but I really threw myself into it for this week, to see what results may happen (if any). The Underground online seminar twitter feed hastag is #UG6, and my username is … MarketingCrazy.

This is the pre-day, but my head is already swimming with ideas. I wasn’t too psyched about this year’s pre-day, since it’s geared towards younger entrepreneurs, and I’m very, very, old (ok, so not THAT old. So far, I’m enjoying it far more than I thought I would, and even though there’s NOT a lot of meat (if any) in the presentations, there’s a ton of inspiration and stories that are truly motivating. It’s a pre-day … I came for the random piece of info, and so far, I’m very happy I did.

This hotel is great! It’s in a part of DC I have never been to, and I love the location and the rooms, and all the free perks (including pay once coffee - free refills all day!).  Expect me to be very wired …

My conference travel pack now consists of a: Macbook Pro 13′, a Thinkpad Edge (Red/AMD), my iphone, my crackberry, my flip camera and that’s it (isn’t that enough?). Shortly, I’ll be adding the Ipad to my road warrior arsenal as well as the latest Thinkpad X301 series when released.

Things are happening … If you’re here, direct message me at #MarketingCrazy on Twitter, or email to MarketingCrazy@gmail.com …

http://bit.ly/videobosses

This is a great course, by someone I trust to be real, and honest, and basically, really teach you what you need to know. This can truly skyrocket your successes.

It’s a step by step blueprint course, for everyone to use web video, make money from it, understand it, and know how to profit from it.

And it’s made for the common man! NOT the internet guru. Read on for the email copy I sent out earlier today. Here it is:

It made me sad to see Andy Jenkins’s last “Video Boss” video today.

There it is: http://bit.ly/videobosses

In case you missed it last week, Andy’s released 3 f.ree videos so far - revealing the exact tools and tactics people have needed all along to SEE the profit potential with online video for themselves.

Tens of thousands of people have watched Andy’s tutorials and learned how to make videos that SELL.

And those tutorials are PLENTY if all you want is to “play” with online video. But if you’re like me, it’s not enough to “play”… I see too much potential.

If you want to stop playing and become a Video BOSS, Andy has a LOT more to share with you in today’s video.

Watch the FINAL public “Video Boss” release here.

http://bit.ly/videobosses

And listen, this is a special EARLY notice from me to you (Andy told me it’s okay). You’re seeing this BEFORE the public.

For you, it could be just a start.

For EVERYONE ELSE, this really IS the END of Video B oss.

Don’t miss it,
MarketingCrazy!
http://bit.ly/videobosses

All free, unbelievably awesome info:
http://www.VideoBosses.com

All I can say is WOW. So much info for free, and so much more coming. This is the kind of stuff I like to see on the net, and is very cutting edge. The video is cool, relaxed, and straightforward. It’s NOT salesy, and there’s REAL information.

Warning: This is information that ALL business owners need to know - whether they are on the net or not. Everyone NEEDS to know about online video.

I’ll be talking more about this soon!

http://www.VideoBosses.com

He says it better than me, so I’m going to reprint his email here (and put in my affiliate links to go to the seminar), but I really hope you listen. It’s so disheartening to see so many people go to seminars where the sold goal (aptly executed) is to get you to have an emotional buying response (over-riding your common sense), spend a lot of money at each speaker’s “presentation”, and leave (often) in more dire circumstances than when you came.

Here’s the scoop, direct from my email, to your ears and eyes (care of Yanik Silver’s hand):

Good morning Agent Evan:

I’m about to reveal confidential and privileged information that you probably won’t hear from anyone else (and I know some people definitely won’t like the fact I’m breathing a single word about this).

You see, I’ve been on the inside of a lot of seminars as a guest speaker and know
exactly how the ‘game’ works.

Here’s the deal: The host will invite a bunch of people to speak at their conference with two considerations in mind. #1 - How large their list is to promote the event and #2 - How well they can sell product at the back of the room.

For the most part (with very few exceptions) it’s true and here’s the other dirty secret…

Most speakers are not paid one thin dime to show up at these events. They have to pay their own pay for travel, hotel and meals. So before they even step foot on stage they are hundreds if not thousands in the hole. That means the only way for them to get compensated for showing up is to sell, sell, sell! Usually this translates to the fact they *have* to spend lots of time pitching their products and services. Really hammering the audience getting them to buy. Essentially their presentation is a thinly veiled commercial.

Why am I telling you all of this?

To show you yet another reason the Underground® seminar is different. I’m paying for the speakers to be there. I’m picking up the tab on their airfare, hotel and taking them out to some awesome dinners. They’re not there to sell you their products or services. (In fact, many of them have nothing to sell.)

Plus, I didn’t pick my speakers for their ability to fill the room. Many of them couldn’t
sell one ticket because their lists could give a flying fig about Internet marketing. I chose them strictly for the content they’d deliver to you for their real-world ventures.

—

http://www.UGOSeminar.com

—

Actually I’m so serious about delivering immediately useful content here - that I’m even putting up $10k of my own money. You get to vote for the speaker who gave you the most directly impactful information you can take straight to the bank. The winner is going to be awarded ‘Top Underground Marketer’ and they get a huge plaque. Plus they get a $10,000.00 check that goes to their favorite charity. (THEY sure don’t need the money!)

Now I can tell you one thing for sure - most of these guys and gals are super competitive. That means, they are going to go all out trying to outdo one another vying for “the crown” while you sit back and soak it all in.

Remember this event is not bringing in the same usual ”suspects”. I’ve managed to
uncover a secretive group of real-people making real money online *NOT* selling “how to make money online” info.

These ‘under-the-radar’ successes don’t advertise their accomplishments because they don’t need to nor want to. They are quite content to make their money “in the dark”  (while keeping their mouths shut and their secrets very close to the vest).

Look, it only takes one good idea to make this worth it for you. Don’t you think from a group of people selling $30 million online, all the incredible attendees and VIP guests you might pick up one or two new ideas?

My Internet buddies attending are coming here to learn NOT to socialize in the back-of-the-room like at typical seminars. And you can bet I’ll be taking tons of notes too.

http://www.UGOSeminar.com

February 3, 2010:

This is huge because you’ll save a full $1000.00 before the price increase but more
importantly the biggest bonus of all will vanish if you miss this deadline… When you sign http://www.UGOSeminar.com

Hopefully - I’ll see you there!

And that’s what he wrote me, and like he, I hope I see ya’ there….

UGOSeminar.com

Why is the Underground Online Seminar so Necessary? This is why you need to drop everything you’re doing and COME. This event continues to set the standard for actionable content, and step by step planning, that helps you build a dominating business on the internet.

Regardless of your niche, this conference has always delivered REAL cash into my pocket via actionable step by step items that I immediately put into practice. This is the ONLY conference I made it to last year!  This is my first conference of this year. I go because it’s not hype, there’s minimal pitching, and I meet interesting people, and learn top notch and cutting edge material that helps me.

In plain terms, it helps me make money, and without it, I’d make less. Come join me! Use this link below, and drinks are on me (no, seriously - let’s get together for dinner or drinks):

UGOSeminar.com

I love this internet marketing event, and that’s why I’m recommending it. I’ll be reporting (daily) from the floor on MarketingCrazyMinute.com, but nothing beats being there. This is a great conference, and I applaud Yank Silver and the folks over at Surefire Marketing for putting on such a stellar event, year after year.

Why did you have to, overnight, kill my Kindle and make it worthless? Why, Amazon, did you not innovate in TWO years after creating such an innovative device? Any Why (Amazon), did Kindle EVER have a keyboard? These questions may never be answered, as the game is over. Apple Wins.

They haven’t yet gotten to price, or connectivity, two very important aspects of the new device, but so far, I am very impressed with battery life (yay - but still does not have replaceable battery), games, screen, books, and portability factor.

The event is hot, and from a marketing standpoint, well - we could study Apple for a decade. However, remember, it boils down to exceptional products that are amazing. They market well, but their products also speak for themselves. Yes, there’s much we can learn here about marketing, but we have to create amazing, life changing products, first and foremost.

So, the Apple Ipad is unveiled … Back to the event.  More Soon!

And the fact is, very few people do know it. Prepare for Internet Marketing knowledge that will be commonplace in 2011, but for now, is cutting edge. Only three fortune tellings for now, as I’m off to the movies (all play, and NO work, not good - so here’s my work).

1) The Year of Universal Search screwing everybody up!

What is universal search? it’s when a search engine brings in items from other properties, and puts your organic search results (that you’ve spent years creating) toward the bottom of the page (yikes). It’s when, instead of 10 organic search listsing, there are only 5, below youtube videos, google news clippings, comparison shop and search engines, etc…). It’s the process by which a search query, on all major search engines, returns results not only from it’s organic listings, but from myriad (”universal”) locations.

Oh, and it hurts!  And it’s going to hurt you … unless, you can ->

2) Be Everywhere in 2010

I hate Web 2.0, as you know. Hated more in 2008 than now, but still - what a waste of time. Argh, so much time spent in front of the computer versus at the movies, or on a beach. However, if you were #4 in google for removing “soap scum” and are now not even on the first page below all the youtube videos, news clippings, facebook pages, yelp reviews, and other “universal search” items that are appearing above your hard fought for organic search listing, you’ll immediately see the need to be everywhere.

It just got a whole lot harder (or a whole lot easier, depending on your perspective) to snipe someone’s top listing, or lose yours. A well done Youtube video can take #1 search rankings away from you in a week or less. A well crafted yelp (or insert web 2 property, flavor of the day) review can easily knock you off your pedestal.

That being said, it also allows brand new people to get into the game, if they understand what a game changer this is, and know how to capitalize on it. Let’s pray they don’t (or at least don’t read this blog, since I’m going to pretty much give all that away).

3) Local Search is king, and all the Search Engines know it …

The direction of the world is local. Local this, that, and the other thing. I’m just getting my hands around this power, and work, that will be involved in the rapidly growing local search market. It’s huge and the tools coming online, including google’s own local search business center, are massive. Every search engine, and every SEO firm, are creating tools like mad to harness it - even me.

So, apart from me ranting about these changes, and how it’s going to actually require me to work to keep my dominating web presence in every niche I play in, what exactly am I recommending?

You mean, apart from the enormous amount of work it would require to “be everywhere”. Time to learn Youtube - it’s now the second biggest search engine behind google (yes, it’s #2, Google is #1). Time to learn Facebook and Twitter (and by learn, I mean have a presence there). Time to focus on your local search listings, and time to make sure your Yelp listing are truly up to snuff.

And yes, this is on top of (and in addition to, as well as relation to), Hubpages, Squidoo Lenses, etc … Why do I get the feeling I may have to work really hard this year? Darn it! I’m going to do that right after I get back from Hawaii …

Until then, what are your game changers? Write em’ below!

Also, take a look at our new MarketingCrazy Podcast and Online Business daily video show, http://www.MarketingCrazyMinute.com

Just a few month ago, and throughout the summer, we were noticing that things were getting quite rough. Sales were down across the board, advertising costs were way up, and we were questioning … well, just about everything. The news was filled with negativity, yes, everyone spoke of the rebound coming …

I’ll be honest. I didn’t believe it! I still don’t believe it. We are simply NOT turned around. We are NOT over the hump, and I predict things are going to get a whole lot worse. I see the entire rebound we are currently experiencing as entirely irrational, and I urge great saving, and even greater caution, in the coming year.

That being said - I have to admit when I’m wrong. And, based on our own results, I have to say … We sold a lot of stuff this last two months. It’s like all of America seemed to buy into the “hype” of the ending recession, and started spending like mad. It’s out of control, and we did very, very well. I’m shocked (but very happy) …

And believe you me, this has a great impact on our upcoming January, where I predict things will continue to go gangbusters on the web … We are currently refining our strategies, and predict a stellar January! Beyond that though - we think the irrational exuberance is going to wane, and we see some tough times in 2010. While I can’t argue with our exceptional November and December results, I also, can’t really say we saw it coming. How long can this kind of spending continue?

No, I am not complaining. Just making note of the fact that the country has not dealt (at ALL) with the housing issue, foreclosures, or bank financing (like my small business maybe being able to get a LOAN to expand even faster). These are troubling problems, and stand in the way (I believe) of any true recovery.

That being said - to the victor go the spoils, and in this instance, as we’ve “figured out” internet business, we’ve been strong victors. So ends a crazy 2009, and what will almost assuredly be a crazier 2010 …

Lessons Learned: Spend Less!
-> We went crazy with adwords and landing page testing, and paid the price. I am an avid tester, and PPC buyer, but we overdid it, and we paid a heavy (six figure) price. 2010? We’re going to do LESS, but more targeted, PPC. Think … hand done SpeedPPC campaigns.

-> Focus, Focus, Focus … We’re going to greatly trim our niches, and where we focus our energies. We cut down 100 sites this year, and we plan to trim 200 more in 2010. That’s right. 200 sites, bye-bye. In fact, we’re going to give MarketingCrazy members first crack at buying these sites and domain names (for very cheap).

-> No More Buying Internet Marketing Courses! Ha - I’ve promised this before, but this year - no way. We’re going to create one, that’s going to blow everything else out of the water. To do that, we’re going to need to stop reading everyone else’s for a moment. Yep, that means I’m going to drop out of the 100+ email marketing lists for the following year. Yay!

In my next post, I’m going to detail the top 3 game changers of 2010, with regards to internet marketing, and I’m going to tell you our plans of how we’re preparing to deal with them. What are you three things you’re planning for 2010?

YOU ARE RIGHT!

But a good percentage of you might try anyway, right? Why is that? Never-ending hope? That’s rigth! Every day I am hounded by products that promise this (or that), with no work. Not just less work, but NO work.

For the newbies, let me cut to the chase - buy NOTHING, EVER that’s main selling point is that there’s NO work involved. Never, Ever, buy a single thing that starts that way. In fact, buy precious little that ANYONE is ever trying to sell to you on the internet …

Do those words confirm your worst fears?  That everyone on the internet is a scam?  Here it is, said by an internet millionaire, whom is sure as hell out to sell you something, confirming your worst fears. Pretyy scary eh? Yet, not scary enough, because…

That being said, many of you will purchase anyway, lord knows, I do.  I’m a spendaholic. I buy no less than a course or tool a week. I’m a true-bred US Consumer though. I get panic attacks if I’m away from Amazon.com 1 click orders for a day. I fear I may have become addicted to the purchase process of internet marketing junk…

So, now that I have come clean, and protected those internet beginner’s whom might listen to me in their quest for internet freedom and lifestyle, let me share a single golden rule!  This, learned from tens of thousands of wasted dollars …

If a product’s main selling point is its lack of work - it’s NOT for you.  It’s likely a scam.  Simple as that! Why? Well, simply put, if you really want to make money, you DO want to work.  We’re smart people - we realize that success does require work. In truth, we simply want to work smart - we’d like to save time, but we know there’s going to be a significant time commitment regardless of what we invest in.

So, where do you start? Where do you start if you really want an internet business? I wish I could give you a solid answer. When I look at the sheer amount of misguided information, to say nothing of the scams, fraud, and outright lies out there, I tremble for those getting started. Honestly - it’s not a path I’d like to tread. I’m happy I got my training in relatively early …

So what brought this rant of a post about? Well, the 10 offers in my box, each terribly similar to the last, each landing page well crafted (very well crafted), and an honest fear that … how can I break through that amount of noise? Honestly, how can anyone not willing to sell out, or honestly trying to stick by their principles EVER break through the sheer amount of hype-noise? It’s a scary marketplace not just for consumers, but also for the real internet marketing teachers, and business builders and consultants …

It’s a scary prospect, and one I will ruminate on as I buy my next course on how to make money without a website or a list …