If you are, I’ll bet you find building an online business quite difficult.

The Internet is awesome because you have a worldwide audience. The Internet is a pain in the butt because you have worldwide competition.

That competition means EVERYONE is clamoring for attention. The next website is only a click away. Those websites are filled with shiny new gadgets. There is more free content online than ever before. And there are more items being sold than ever before.

Worst of all, it appears your audience’s attention span is dropping with the use of both TV and the Internet.

The good news is that there’s a solution…but it won’t be found in being NORMAL!

You need to become an extremist for your viewpoint.

Look at those who stand out. They’re a voice. They’re extreme in their viewpoint.

For example, take any political talk show host that’s popular. Are they “normal?” For example, is Rush Limbaugh normal? Neither the people who love or the ones that hate him would likely consider him “normal?” And that’s a key there – most people either love him or hate him.

Now take any of the stars that come out of “reality” TV. Are the ones who stand out and recognized normal, just fit into the group types? No. They STAND OUT.

That’s what I’m talking about when I’m pushing you to become an extreme writer, an extreme internet business owner, and an extreme stand out personality.

What kinds of strategies can you use to become extreme in your writing?

The big one is to QUIT being a parrot. Quit repeating what everybody else says…and get a voice. Maybe someone will disagree with you. Great. That means they’re listening. The worst thing your audience can do is simply tune you out.

Here are a few idea jogging questions to get you thinking about what you can write about…

1. What are some of the biggest lies commonly told in your industry?

2. When have you been the angriest in your business life?

3. What’s the biggest mistake of your life…and how does that relate to your subject?

4. What’s the big vision for your business – how do you want to uniquely change the world?

5. What are some of the best qualities of your competitors? What COULD you recommend them for?

6. What’s one personal or business story that changed your life? What’s the biggest “life change” you had?

7. What do you “stand for” in life and/or business?

Write a post or email about a couple of the ideas above. And be real in it. Give a story. Let them know how you feel.

I looked back at my previous posts on this blog…and #1 in comments…is still the totally OFF TOPIC post about my golden retriever Rocky dying last year. It has zero to do with internet business, yet it had the largest response.

The secret here is I wrote the post the next morning when I still very upset. My emotion was obvious.

What can you write about where your emotion will shine through?

This applies to blog posts, emails, sales copy, videos, etc. Show yourself to be a real person instead of just a content machine.

In addition be willing to meet with your customers and clients OFF the internet instead of just being an online personality.

This is somewhere where I’ve been a little lacking as I have to admit to being somewhat of a hermit. I don’t like traveling so don’t go to most business events (and I don’t always like what goes on at many events).

But I am speaking at an upcoming event in Orlando, Florida in January 2010.

As someone who moved out of Indiana because of the cold, where could be a better location to be than Orlando in January?

Find out more about the internet super stars conference here…

There is a special discount price for anyone who reserves their ticket before December 1st. So check it out today. You don’t want to miss out on the special pricing (even the normal price is much lower than other events of its type and many individual internet marketing products).

Check out it out for a very pleasant surprise…

It has been a long time since I did one. Personally I found it frustrating at first…you have all these pieces and don’t know where to start.

So you start off slowly by putting together some of the outside edges.

Then you look for specific colors such as the sky or anything distinctive to fill in.

The further along you are in the process, the easier it gets. The picture begins to unfold in front of you.

It all just seems to come together as you do one step at a time.

Similar to running an internet business.

Someone brand new to internet business hears all those confusing phrases (like autoresponders, blogs, upsells, affiliates, etc.). They’re confused about where to start and how to get going. And they’re often sold products that promise them instant wealth by simply clicking a few buttons – which makes the confusion much worse when they don’t see anything happening that quickly.

It looks like a confusing puzzle.

But if you take it slowly and start by filling in the edges (which would be choosing your first market to get started in), and then getting your first site up…you’ll see that it gets easier and easier the further you go along in the process as everything just seems to come together.

Each day is another step closer to the goal…and you can see your business taking shape before your eyes.

At least that is how it SHOULD be…BUT there is another problem in the internet business world.

We always feel like we’re missing something. Maybe there is some “secret” you haven’t tapped into yet. Maybe you need to get another viewpoint.

So BEFORE we finish our puzzle, we go out and buy 3 more puzzles. And instead of letting them sit on the shelf until we finish the first one, we dump them all out on the table.

Now you have a half finished puzzle plus 3 additional ones all mixed in together.

If you thought it looked confusing and frustrating when you started this puzzle, you couldn’t have imagined the half of it. Now you have 4 puzzles sitting in front of you all mixed together, not knowing where any of the pieces go. Unless you are a super puzzle master, your chances of success just went down the toilet.

I’ve never seen anyone do this when putting a jigsaw puzzle together, but I’ve seen thousands of people do this in their internet business.

How Do You Escape This Danger Zone?

Pick a system. Follow it. Sure, you can bring in other SUPPORTING information from other experts, but stick with the business model you’ve chosen. Apply persistence and passion to keep it moving forward.

Because it’s so important to follow a step-by-step system I’ve recently added a NEW addition to my Monthly Mentor Club over the past month.

Previously you received a huge load of bonuses on how to create products, run PPC ads, write ad copy, etc. You still get those plus a couple of more surprise bonuses not listed.

You also received a monthly PRINT newsletter along with the PDF edition which you can download online. You still get these print issues. This month is all about building an irresistible offer and online brand to dominate your marketplace.

A couple of months ago I started added companion online videos to go with the print newsletter, normally an hour or so (more or less time is possible depending on the subject). You still get these for watching in the membership area.

Join now to get all these benefits…

So what’s the new addition?

There is now a monthly online training series for the first 12 months you’re a member. The back issues of the newsletter have been taken and organized into a step-by-step system to follow for building your business. All these issues are downloadable in PDF form OVER a period of 12 months. This means you get access to the ones about choosing your market the first month…and then each month after that builds upon what you learned before.

Why is this important? It means that while you’re getting your monthly issue in the mail, you’re also able to access a step-by-step module in the site. Perhaps one month’s issue is more advanced than what you need right now. Read it. Use the portion that applies. Then come back to it later. Login to the membership area and follow the NEXT PIECE OF THE PUZZLE in the online site.

The cost for all these new additions…no price increase…YET. It’s all about making it easier for you to get the results you want from your business.

November’s print issue is sent for mailing tomorrow morning at 9 AM EST. If you want to get a copy sent to you, subscribe today.

I’ve covered before that it’s entirely possible to build a profitable business doing something you don’t enjoy…but the big question is WHY would you want to do that?

There are SO MANY opportunities online. There are so many ways you can make money. Why force yourself to do something you absolutely hate.

Here’s a video I enjoyed that really demonstrates the “passion” you can have in business. I didn’t especially enjoy the ‘language” he uses or agree with him fully on the message, but the passion is evident.

Gary Vaynerchuk is well known online from his Wine TV site.

This video would be rated PG (so please don’t watch if you’ll be offended).

It’s only half true. The truth is the money is in a relationship with a list. People buy from those they know, like, and trust. It’s those factors that make it so important to build a list.

For example, I work with Glenn Livingston quite a bit. He has entered more than 17 markets successfully. In every single one he did his research…so he knew the prospects better than the competition.

But that research was only one element of the success. He then used that insider knowledge to build opt-in email lists loaded with information and point of difference benefits.

The email series is what separated him from any competitor….it had more in depth content based on what they already wanted than available anywhere else.

You’ll notice I follow the same approach in this business. I share quite a big of information here. I also do surveys at times to find out what my readers and customers are looking for. In addition, notice how many ways I give you the ability to subscribe to my list.

- You can subscribe in the box at the top right.
- The first 3 visits to the site you are presented a way to subscribe at the bottom of every post.
- I also have a footer ad appearing to ask you to subscribe.

All three ways to subscribe are for the same list. I also run squeeze pages that ask you to subscribe to this list (so that makes a fourth way).

Can you see what I want a new visitor to do?

Yes, that’s right. I want them to subscribe.

Then I want to follow up by providing information, sharing parts of my personal story, and letting them get to know me. Let me follow those steps of Knowing, liking, and trusting.

I also offer products and services focused on helping you reach your goals. Some offers are for you, while others may not be. No offer is 100% perfect for everyone. I’d love to say it was, but it’s not.

How do I build the list…over the long-term I obviously use search engine optimization and pay-per-click heavily (I generate a lot of visitors now through Google and the other search engines).

Search engine optimization takes a lot of time. And pay-per-click takes money.

What about when you want to build a list FAST – and you want to do it without spending any money?

Simple. You have to figure out how to tap into other people’s traffic sources. Notice I said it was simple, not always easy.

Who already has the traffic and subscribers you need…and how do you set-up a Win-Win-Win deal where the list owner, the customers, and you all win?

Basically you have to figure out WHAT the list owner/site owner wants most – and how to provide it to them.

Here are a FEW ideas of how to do this effectively.

1. Write guest posts for high traffic blogs.

A majority of blogs in any industry will accept guest posts…if the post is exclusive and filled with high quality content.

You provide value (a great article) in exchange for the link back to you…and a chance for their subscribers to get to know you.

Why does this work? Because I’ve yet to meet anyone who publishes TOO MUCH CONTENT. Nobody says, “Wow, we sure have too much content around here. We don’t want anymore.”

They’re always looking for more content. If you can provide high quality content that matches their theme and helps their subscribers, you’ll often find this a way to tap into their traffic.

Why are the majority of guest posts rejected? Because they’re simply promotions for their product or their site. NO ONE wants you promotional piece, but they want your content piece. If you wouldn’t think of sending the article into a magazine on the subject, don’t suggest it to the blogger either.

2. Write content for someone else’s membership site.

This is similar to #1. But instead of writing for a free site, you write specifically for a PAID membership site. Or you provide audios…or videos to the site.

Not as many people will view your content, but the ones who do are PAYING customers. Buyers are worth much more than free subscribers (by a 10 to 1 ratio or even more).

Are you a member of any membership sites? What could you create or already have that you could offer their subscribers for FREE?

Perhaps you sell a related product that fits perfectly in with their theme. You could provide a copy for all their customers.

The same principle applies here as in #1, it has to be GREAT content instead of a promotion for your offer. In fact, it has to be even BETTER CONTENT since it’s part of a paid product.

3. Do list mailing trades.

Trade a mailing with another list owner.

They mail for your list. And you mail for theirs. No money has to be exchanged. You don’t need to be an affiliate.

Simply find other publishers with list sizes comparable to yours…and mail for one another.

Instead of promoting a product, promote the freebie they get for signing up for your list. I have a couple of clients that used this as one of their primary list building methods. They built up a basic list (of a few hundred) and then immediately set to growing their list by finding others to cross-promote. They’re growing their lists by hundreds every week (at zero cost).

4. Setup a squeeze page for your affiliates.

Take a look at the majority of internet gurus. How do they promote their products and build their lists? Affiliates.

What are they doing for a month (or even longer) leading up to their big product launch? They’re promoting “content” and getting their affiliates to send over subscribers.

Build that list using free traffic where you only pay when a customer buys your product/service.

The key here is to create strong momentum coming into the launch…and having a high conversion system to pay your affiliates.

5. Promote a low cost product with 100% commissions.

Have you seen all those offers for $7, $10, $14.95, and $19.95 digital information products?

The purpose of these isn’t the profits you can make. Sure you can make a few hundred dollars (maybe even a couple of thousand with a big list). The real purpose is building a list of BUYERS.

You can also set these up through Paypal so all the money is given to the affiliate. They promote your $10 product…and keep ALL the money. You get the list.

That’s a pretty enticing offer for the affiliate. In addition it’s not uncommon to get a 10% conversion or higher on this type of offer.

If you’re beginner, which one would you feel is easier…writing sales copy for a $10 product or a $100 product?

Would You Like a Complete Step-By-Step System for Building Profitable Lists Fast?

Lee McIntyre built a highly profitable list from scratch starting with no contacts, no products, no JV partners.

Find out how he did it…and how you can follow in his footsteps in the Super List Building System.

He’s one of the few people I feel who really knows how to teach in a simple easy to follow manner (probably because his last job was as a teacher).

Click here now to find out more…

Someone decides to make a break from the routine. They step out and become an entrepreneur. But many of those who have taken the first step…they overcame their initial fears of starting their own business…they still go back into the routine. They simply follow along and do exactly like others.

For example, you’ve probably noticed that in the internet marketing space the majority of people sound the same. They make the same overarching promises. They promote the exact same items – often all at the exact same time. In fact, many of them even use the exact SAME email.

I recently did an affiliate promotion, I was given an affiliate email to send out. In the email it talked about my “good friendship” with the author. The first thought in my head was, Hmmm, I’ve only spoke to him once on the phone. I wouldn’t call that a good friendship. Sorry. So that had to change.

What About Content?

Then I noticed there wasn’t any content in the email. That had to change. I don’t like sending very many emails or blog posts that don’t include content. Even if you don’t take advantage of my offer, you still walk away with value and with ideas for your business you didn’t have before.

Things weren’t worded in the email the way I would have done it. So change again. Basically I rewrote almost everything (except the title of the product and the author) before sending it out.

It had to not just be from me. It had to be me. My name was in the from address so I had to feel what was written was from me. Nothing else was worth sending.

And that’s a key principle to those who are successful and those who aren’t. I’ve been doing this for more than a decade now and I’ve seen people from both sides – those who are successful and those who aren’t.

Sometimes both those groups do very similar activities. They might both focus on building a blog and list for example. Yet one achieves success much faster than the other.

Often the difference comes back to them simply injecting their personality and style into everything you do. They put themselves OUT THERE on the line.

That’s Not Always Easy

I know how hard that is at times. The internet is a cold place. If you put your personality and style out there, you’ll find thousands of people who want to “judge” you for it. Some won’t like you. Some will even tell you how much they can’t stand your very existence. And you have to develop that thick skin to keep moving…and keep building your audience.

That’s it. You’re building YOUR audience – the ones who like you and like your style. It’s not going to include everyone, not even everyone in your chosen market. You’ll build a core group that wants what you share and wants to do business with you.

And that’s what makes the difference. Are you building your core audience today…or are simply going along with the flow?

How Lee Did it

One of the “names” that seemed to fly up out of nowhere is my friend Lee McIntyre (I do consider him a friend as we’ve chatted multiple times). He has even posted a testimonial for me here about a coaching call I did with him.

Why did he succeed faster than almost anyone I’ve seen? He didn’t just join the crowd. Instead he did things his own way. He showed personality and his style. He got out there and did what it took quickly.

He developed his unique systems for building a list and profiting from it.

That’s right. Instead of focusing just on building a “free list” like so many others have advised, he zeroed in on building a smaller list of paid customers and targeted followers. That’s why even when his list only numbered 603 subscribers he was outselling lists of tens of thousands.

When he shared his list building methods with other marketers, some of them were outright shocked of what could be done even with a TINY little list.

To share with others what he did and why it worked so well, he did a step-by-step webinar training called the “Super List Building System.”

Because I believe in this product and it’s value, I licensed it from him.

This full DVD training course shares how to build a super responsive list without spending even a penny in advertising, why small lists can out earn lists of tens of thousands, and how to build powerful relationships with your subscribers to where they’re eagerly awaiting your next email.

Click here now to find out more…

Should you copy everything Lee does exactly? Nope. You should use his system, but apply YOUR personality and style to it. The world isn’t looking for another Lee McIntyre. One is enough of them. But they are looking for the REAL YOU.

That’s what you should be looking for in a course like this…the opportunity to find a system to follow that ALLOWS the real you to stand up and be noticed…no matter where you are today.

Click here now to find out more…

If not, you must not be doing it right!

Glenn Livingston recently posted to his blog about why he felt the Work/Play attitude was a wrong way to look at things.

Of course I agree. I have a LOT of fun in my business, but I also had a few disagreements with his original post. So we emailed back and forth for several days about them.

We decided to get on the phone with each other and discuss what we felt the work/life balance meant to each of us….to you.

Would you like to…

- Have more fun while working
- Discover several fun and easy brainstorming exercises
- Find a few new techniques for improving your website conversions
- Learn how your personality affects your online business style
- Improve your business while enjoying your life.

If so, this 48 minute mp3 audio is exactly what you’re looking for. And it’s FREE.

We mention our sites in the audio, but don’t do any direct promotions. It’s simply here to help you have more fun at work.

Please note there is a clicking sound at the very beginning. That goes away pretty quickly (in about 20 to 25 seconds)…and we really start digging into the material after a few minutes.

Click the little play button below to play the audio or right click below and choose “Save Target As’ or “Save File As” depending on your browser.

You’ll notice that both click and I were having fun while doing the audio. It’s a very free form discussion.

Here are a few of the resources we talked about on the audio.

Wow - Losing Money Sure Is Easy!

You’ll learn more about how this strategy works Monday when I post a free audio Glenn Livingston and I did together on How to Have WAY More Fun in Your Internet Business.

Since we’re always talking about how to make more money, let’s turn it in reverse and have a little fun coming up with ways to lose money from our websites.

If your goal is to make money (like most readers), maybe you should make sure you’re not following any of these tips (because a few of them are rather common).

Strategy #1: Buy EVERYTHNG you can get your hands on about internet marketing but don’t put any of it into action.

With all the product launches going on every week, I’m sure you could easily spend $50,000 over the next year doing this. As long as you make sure not to apply anything (even better if you don’t actually read it), then it’s a guaranteed way to lose money. Doesn’t get much better than that when your goal is to lose money online.

Strategy #2: Spend a majority of your time in the social networks.

Since social media people are often the hardest people to sell to, spend a majority of your time here to make sure your business isn’t profitable. They can generate a LOT of traffic to your site which doesn’t click on ads and doesn’t buy products. And isn’t that really your goal when you want to burn money?

Strategy #3: Subscribe to EVERY single email list you come across.

You want to make sure you’re getting tons of offers every single day…especially if strategy #1 and #2 aren’t emptying your bank account quick enough. You’ll be teased and tempted with all the missing “secrets” keeping you from being successful online. Especially make sure to stay on all those lists that ONLY sell products and never offer any content whatsoever.

Strategy #4: Choose a tiny micro-niche market where there aren’t ANY competitors.

If there are competitors there, it means someone must be making money. And we don’t want that. So make sure to narrow your niche down to the point where you have zero competition – no one at all is competing against you. Because if you do this, it virtually guarantees you a market where no one else has ever made a profit.

Strategy #5: If your market does have competition, make sure to do everything exactly like them.

Obviously every competitor in the market knows more than you. So you should simply parrot exactly what they’re doing and saying. Don’t start any arguments or stir up any controversy. If you make yourself EXACTLY like them, then people won’t be able to tell the difference…and they’ll have no reason whatsoever to listen to you or buy from you. And that’s the goal, right?

Strategy #6: Buy the most expensive, highest traffic keyword phrase in your market on Adwords and send them directly to your home page.

Most of the time the highest traffic keyword is NOT the keyword targeting specific buyers. It’s just people looking for initial information. So if you go for it right from the beginning, you can be almost assured to lose money. And to guarantee you lose money, send all those visitors to a general home page on your site. The less specific about what they’re searching for, the better it is for making them leave quickly.

Strategy #7: Jump on EVERY brand new traffic scheme immediately.

You’ve probably heard how you have to jump on new traffic techniques immediately. Look for these “loopholes” constantly and always take advantage of them. Avoid any long-term proven traffic methods (like seo, PPC, affiliates, etc.). Whatever is the newest and most hyped solution must be the best!

Strategy #8: Build dozens of different sites all at the same time.

What if one site doesn’t work? Create dozens of them…all at one time. That way you’ll have multiple streams of income…even if you do lose your sanity in the process. By building your market wide you only have time to do the minimum for each site…and won’t ever be burdened by profitable steps like backend products for each market.

Strategy #9: Copy the big product launch sales letters exactly for your market.

Since they’re using them, they must work…even though they have tons of other pieces coming before the sales letter. You’re heard of a swipe file. Make sure to put all these sales letters intended for current “hyped up” customers into your swipe file instead of what the big mailers send out by direct mail (where they spends months working on the copy with the top guns competing with each other).

Strategy #10: Join a Mastermind group of people who just sit and around and complain about what doesn’t work.

Sometimes these are commonly referred to as online forums, but other times they can be a local business group. Mastermind has been proven to help people make more money. So to make sure it helps you lose money, only join groups where people don’t have successful experience in the topic. That should help. And then follow the most common opinion that everyone votes on…instead of listening for any golden nuggets that do appear at times.

There you have it….10 ways to make sure you lose money online. If you’re currently doing any of these, you’re going the right direction for that goal. If you want to turn it around and make money online, figure out how to eliminate these from your “Internet plan.”

But the real question is what are your goals? And to get deeper into the heart of the matter…

What Does Success Mean To You Personally?

Here’s the funny thing. We could have several dozen people comment…and the likelihood is success would mean something a little different to each person reading this.

Does success mean earning a million dollars a year?

Does success mean owning your home debt-free and a large RV where you can travel the country?

Perhaps success means you can travel to two dozen countries this year?

Maybe success is earning enough to pay your simple bills while you get to spend time home schooling your children?

Maybe success is having time to spend down at the homeless shelter helping out because your bills are already taken care of?

Or perhaps success is simply being able to do a job you love and are good at?

Maybe it means working a few hours each day to finance your free time of hobbies and other interests.

So What is Success to You Personally?

That’s the first question you have to answer. Because unless you know where you’re going, how could ever plan to get there?

Let me give you an example of a mistake in coaching others I’ve made at times in the past in regards to this.

One of my personal definitions of success is to have work outsourced and have NO in-house staff. I don’t want in-house staff. Period. Because that is a portion of my priority for success, at first I translated that same qualification to others when coaching them. I was wrong.

I found several clients DEFINITELY want in-house staff. They love staff that works in a office with them. One of their definitions of success is a fast growing company with team members working together in an office environment. If I tried to enforce my definition of success on them, it would cause them emotional pain.

What good is it to build your business around someone else’s definition of success…including mine?

One aspect I’ve found is that:
Success is not a destination. It’s a journey.

Your definition of success will change in the future.

For me in the very beginning of my online business, success was simply defined as GETTING OUT OF DEBT and being able to pay my bills (all my jobs up until that point didn’t even pay enough to make a living).

As you can expect, my goals and my definition of success has expanded since then.

My next definition success became, “Creating enough passive income to pay all my monthly bills without having to work.”

Then…it expanded to, “Creating passive income streams WHILE ENJOYING the work I do.”

Then it moved onto, “Creating low hassle income streams while helping others create Internet lifestyles and enjoying the work I’m good at doing.”

Notice how in none of those really mention a specific amount of money. Obviously my definition of success includes having more than enough for myself and to give to others, but I FOCUS more on how the money is generated than I do on the overall amount. Am I having fun while doing it is more of the key now. For example, coming to me and saying, “I have a way you can make an extra $25,000…” doesn’t even catch my attention (partly because everyone tries that pitch). But if you came to me and said, “Here’s a way you can have even more fun in your business…” you have my attention.

In addition, I added in that balance in the rest of my life is just as important. This includes relationships, exercise, playing with my dogs, eating healthy (somewhat healthy, OK maybe just healthier . It includes finding and following my purpose/calling from God.

In the beginning, I just desperately wanted to be able to pay my bills. That was a VERY STRONG motivator. Creditors calling you all the time can do that…give you a sense of desperation. Working 12 hours a day – even if I hated every minute of it – was OK. If that was what was required, fine. But that motivation eventually went away BECAUSE circumstances changed.

How do you stay motivated? You expand on your definition of success.

Your own personal definition of success grows over time…and it is more than just one simple answer. It incorporates your entire lifestyle.

Once you DEFINE success, now you can start building your plan for moving towards it…following your journey of success.

No wonder so many people are “lost in internet business.” They’re trying to make a journey without knowing where they’re going. I’ve learned enough from working with clients now that I have to find out what their definition of success is…and what they really want. If you try to build the business based off a model and plan they don’t enjoy, they’ll never have the dedication and committment necessary to see it through.

With every business decision…ask yourself, “Does this fit with my lifestyle goals?”

So the big question is what does success mean to you? Feel free to post in the comments about this…and your opinions on the subject. If everyone were to post their definition of success, we’re likely to see dozens of different answers (and they’d all be right answers for the individual who posted them).

Posts about it are ALL over the place. No point in linking to all of them. Do a quick search for “FTC and Bloggers” and you’ll be overwhelmed with posts.

You might have even heard it was the end of online marketing…the end of affiliate marketing…or the end of blogging.

Everyone has been yelling, “The sky is falling.”

The good news is that’s not true. It’s not the end of the world. The bad news is that you might have a few changes to your sites.

Here is a link to the FTC PDF about it.

Here is another PDF the FTC has published showing example testimonial scenarios.

Mike Young has published a PDF you can download for free here called, “How to Comply With the New FTC Compensation Guidelines.”

I’m not a lawyer…don’t play one on TV…and should be completely ignored when it comes to any legal issue.

What is causing the biggest issues and frustration for everyone involved is that the FTC seems to have purposely left everything as unclear as humanly possible. It’s so unclear in a few places that only the government could have created it. The example testimonial scenarios they released later makes a little more sense than the original.

This is likely so they have strong ammunition to go after whoever they want without regards to what’s ethical or not. They simply don’t like to lose.

I think the basic idea behind this is good. Get rid of the scammy fake blogs that are just there to promote garbage. Get rid of those overhyped testimonials from endorsers who may have never even used the product. Force people to honestly say when they’re making money from something instead of keeping it hidden.

Who could disagree with any of that? It’s the application that leaves some to be desired.

Because of this confusion, you even see many of the big internet gurus telling you to eliminate all testimonials – just remove them all.

They’re wrong.

Here are a few key points that may affect you.


#1 – Bloggers need to fully disclose any relationships with people, products, and sites they review.

On blogs I see this as a very good step.

You’ll notice I already regularly tell you I get an affiliate commission for some link, someone sent me a free copy of their product, or that someone is a friend of mine. This is a for-profit blog and I make no excuses for that. This change will simply mean I’ll be even more conscientious about making sure all readers know this.

I think Michel Fortin did an excllent job of posting his blog Disclosure Policy here.

This hits those bloggers who do paid reviews more than anyone else. In addition if you’re a reviewer and people send you free copies of their products, you need to state this now. Again no big deal. A lot of people talk quite a bit about transparency in blogging, so I don’t understand why they would get so upset about having to reveal this type of information.

The bigger difficulty comes when you move over to social media and sites like Twitter. How do you reveal your correct connection to something when you’ve very limited in the number of characters you can use? That’s going to more difficult and confusing about what needs to be done.

#2 – You can be held responsible for what your affiliates say about your products.

This one is another one that is going to cause a lot of hassles for us small businesses. You need to police everything your affiliates say about you on their sites, in their blogs, and in their emails. Wow…that’s a lot of work.

For some, it’s going to discourage them a little from having “open affiliate” programs. Instead they may focus on having invitation only affiliate programs or all affiliates have to be approved first (not a bad idea actually).

But the reality is that we should have already be monitoring what affiliates say about us. What promises are they making? Whenever I’ve seen affiliates making hyped up claims, we’ve contacted them with the threat to remove them completely. Now we’ll have to do more in this area in keeping an eye on our affiliates.

If you think about it, network marketing companies have already had to do that for decades. They had distributors and had to watch what their distributors shared. Now we have to do the same with any of our affiliate distributors (for those of you who run 2 tier affiliate programs there are even more similarities).

#3 – Testimonials must be more representative of typical results.

This is a hairy one. What is the typical results for example for someone who buys an internet marketing ebook?

In my OPINION the average result is that they completely ignore it and buy another one without ever using it. Then of course they generate exactly zero results.

But notice I said that was my opinion. From the FTC’s examples, it sounds like we simply need to be much more clear about the testimonials and how they achieved the results.

What else was behind the results that we’re not seeing.

For example, in the internet marketing field you sometimes see someone said, “I bought so-and-so’s product…and made $83,000 in just 3 days.”

Will the typical customer get those results? Nope. No way. Not going to happen. Why did they do so well?

Perhaps they already had a large customer list. Perhaps they already were making $300,000 monthly and one tip helped them bump the response way up. For example, with coaching clients I’ve found it much easier to take someone who is at $10,000 a month to $20,000 a month than it is to get a brand new beginner from $0 to $1,000. It’s because of momentum. Just making a few changes to their sales page can sometimes do that.

So the FTC wants to make sure we being more clear on WHY someone achieved much better than typical results to give people a better understanding. This means we will have to go in more detail about what happened and why.

Instead of being lazy and just letting testimonials come in, we need to contact our best ones and find out more details. In other words, turn them more into case studies instead of “hiding” anything going on behind the scenes.

Here’s another example. If you’ve ever looked at “weight loss” ads in men’s magazines, they often feature a man who makes an incredible transformation. Yet if you look closely he appears to be very muscular (such as an amateur bodybuilder who’s been training for 5 to 10 years) with just 20 pounds or so of extra fat on him.

He loses weight incredibly quick, but it’s quite possible he is USED to already doing that because of competitions. He bulks up and then loses weight. Perhaps the product they’re selling only influenced him with a couple extra pounds or he did it one day quicker (assuming the product does actually work). To not reveal that factor is being very deceptive.

Recently I asked my subscribers for testimonials and feedback. Below are some of the ones I received. Many of them seem like they would still be fine under the new regulations, BUT take notice of the first one. It is most definitely NOT what the typical customer can expect…not even close. This is one of the ones I’ll have to check more into.

Very few people ever generate $60,000 in 10 days. This means I’d need to contact David and find out more details about this before I could ever use it. The typical beginner won’t get that result. So how do I classify him and what sets him apart from the typical buyer? That’s what I’ll have to find out now.

"Terry Dean has played an instrumental part in my success online. His protege' instruction on Joint Venture Marketing alone led me to generate over $60,000 in sales in just 10 days! If Terry says "this is what's working", you can take it to the bank."
Dave Lovelace
Pinehurst, North Carolina
30DaysTo1K.com


Here are some of the other ones without specific income claims.
And a special thank you to EVERYONE who sent in a testimonial even if I don’t have yours listed here.

"As an Internet Entrepreneur...Have you ever felt alone? I mean REALLY alone. I felt like it was usually the blind leading the blind or me just solo on a journey to space...beating my head along they way. At last I had been granted what I was looking for. A Mentor that REALLY helped me. Other Mentors say they will personally help you but then come to find out that their assistant will help you at best! Terry personally emails you and speaks to you on the phone! He also happens to be a courteous, kind person who is full of integrity - now that's hard to find. I feel like I struck gold!"
Nancy Hayssen, New York, NY
LookSexyNow.com


It has to be! If your whole existence is about making enough money to support your lifestyle, that’s a very dreary life indeed.

Being an entrepreneur is about using everything you are to enrich those around you while living a life you love.

And someone who finds themselves in that position doesn’t want a “four hour work week.” Why would you only want to work four hours a week if you enjoy what you do?

When I first started online, YES, it was about the money. There was no question about that. I couldn’t make a living delivering pizzas or signing people up for credit cards in front of a store. It just wasn’t happening. Each month we went deeper in debt.

In fact I hated the very word “work.” It was what you did to just barely scrape by to get enough money to have fun. But today things have changed quite a bit. I do have a few of those “passive automated income streams” everyone talks about. And I definitely live below my means.

So why keep working, expanding, and growing in business?

It’s simple. You find work that is ALSO FUN. Without meaningful work, you will experience a feeling of “something lacking” in your life. In some cases, you can’t quite put your finger on it. It just feels like there is something missing.

On the other side of the fence, when you find yourself putting in too many hours doing things you don’t enjoy, you quickly burn out. In fact, I’ve found it possible to burn out on something you enjoy by doing it too much (I’ve had that happen both in work and in hobbies).

So there is also a point of balance in your life. Let’s see how long your marriage and family last if you all you do is work (and your health for that matter if sleep and eating habits are sacrificed).

A big key here is to find work you enjoy…that you have to pull yourself away from. Instead of dreading work, you look forward to it and love it.

The recent recommendations I’ve made for Steve Little’s PerfectBizFinder program can help you with this…

If you were like me and hated ALL the work you did before becoming an entrepreneur, how do you go about finding work you love and your life purpose?

Here are a few ideas and exercises that may help you.

#1 – Write your obituary.

I first heard this one back in college. Plan your obituary for decades in the future (be optimistic here). What accomplishments will you have made? What will you be known for? How will you be remembered? Keep it light hearted as you write this (don’t discourage yourself). It should be a fun exercise, because you’re going to the end result. Then you can work back from that point. If you’ve accomplish such-and-such by the time you die, what steps lead you up to that point? What should you be doing now?

#2 – What would you do if you could not fail?

If there was no chance of failure, and no one could stand in your way…what would you be doing? I like this question because it’s often our fears that hold us back from becoming who we really want. EVERYONE has problems with self-esteem in some area of their life. Where is fear holding you back? Open up a word processor and start writing about this. You may write several dozen versions of this before you come to the real bottom line (there is a lot of junk on the service from other people’s opinions, desires, etc.).

#3 – Who are you heroes and who would you most like to meet?

Who are your heroes? Who do you look up to? Why? What have they accomplished that you identify with? What did they overcome? What connection is there between them and your life purpose? You’ll often find there is some connection (although not always directly) between what they’ve accomplished and what you want to do. And remember, your heroes don’t have to be famous. They could be someone who influenced you in life. What common values do your heroes and you share?

#4 – What do you LOVE to do?

What do you love to do? When you’re doing this activity, time just seems to fly by. You’re in the zone where you time has no meaning to you. In business, you may find this only happens with a few very specific activities. How can we focus more of your time doing that (and outsource the rest)? In fact, I’ve found that most people LOVE certain elements of what they do already. Part of the entrepreneurial process is discovering those and finding ways to spend more time there.

#5 – What is your true purpose in life?

Open up your word processing program again. Ask yourself that question. What is your true purpose in life? Answer it. Then answer it again. Refine your answer. Just like a copywriter may write several dozen or several HUNDRED headlines to find the attention grabber, follow the same strategy here. Keep answering the question until you feel the connection…till it hits you emotionally. You will “feel it” when you’ve hit something that connects with you.

What to Do About It

Once you find your purpose, what can you do about it? While some people are able to accomplish this through their job, the majority find they have to become an entrepreneur to really let their gifts shine. Find a business model that allows you to focus on this. Then build a team you can delegate or outsource to for all the activities which don’t suit you and your gifts.

Click here for a resource to help you find your perfect business…

It’s not just about the money. It’s about building a lifestyle you love. And that’s not accomplished simply by working as little as possible. It’s about discovering who you are…and how you can best build sellable value for others.

The links above are to an affiliate program for the PerfectBizFinder manual and monthly membership site.