Antics of a Direct Response Marketer

Today in the mail I got a direct mail piece for a gym chain. It was ok, but definitely could have been better. How would you improve it (leave a comment)?

We can’t all be Gary V.

Hell, I wouldn’t want to be.

Not because I don’t like the guy, or have a huge amount of respect for him (I do), it’s that I simply don’t want to spend all my time focusing on just one thing. I’ve never found something so interesting it made me think ” I want to dedicate my whole life to this”. If you have, cool. But I haven’t.

And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

I like to think I take the Michael Gerber/ Tim Ferriss approach to business. I want a business that fuels my lifestyle, not consumes it…

That’s why I’d rather have a system than a passion when it comes to my marketing business (and we’re all in the marketing business).

I find I can spend more of my time doing the things I enjoy, like making spray paint art for people, if I hire an outsourcer, give them a system to follow, and tell them to plug in “X niche”.

That’s really why I’m in marketing anyways, to make a lot of money without doing a lot of work. I’m not interested in being a Guru or a pseudo-celebrity, that’s way too much work.

So that’s going to be the new focus of this blog with embarrassingly bad grammar. To report on systems that are simple and easily outsourced that can fund the life of your dreams.

So follow me on twitter, subscribe to this blog, and sign up for my list. Your about to find out how great, and how simple, life can be.

This video was taken while I was at JV Alert in San Diego.

I met a lot of amazing people while I was there, but Jason stood out. His genuine attitude to help and his incredible knowledge on all things marketing were truly inspirational.

Jason man, if you read this and ever want someone to come sleep on your couch and come up with even more crazy marketing ideas. Let me know!

I was out in San Diego last week for Ken McArthur’s JV Alert Live. It was a great event, and a great experience.

To top it off I got to go surfing for the first time and we got most of it on video!

My girlfriend had a rough day at work a day or two ago so I bought her flowers.

Little did I know it’s NOT the thought that counts like the old saying goes….

Here’s some fun video from this year’s #msc

Dan Kennedy is famous for saying “You don’t own a service business. You own a business that markets services.”

That quote gave me a bright idea today that I want to share with you, and feel free to steal it make a bunch of money with it…. Just send me an email about it when you have success.

Ok, so here’s the whole conversation as it played out in my head…

If a person, say an electrician, decided to step back and think they have a “business that electricians services” they could easily double or triple their income, and do a whole lot less work in the process…

That person could start a business with a general name like “Midwest Electricians Group” (MEG for the rest of this example) and then contact all the other electricians in the area and present them with a brokering style opportunity, much the same way Real Estate works.

What do I mean? Ok let me get a little deeper….

So say you start MEG. You then contact all the other electricians around and say “join my organization and you can save thousands of dollars a year on advertising. You’re probably paying way to much and getting very little results as it is, so instead of wasting your money, get under the umbrella of MEG and we’ll do the promotion work for you.”

So then you start charging everyone who joins $300 a month to be part of your organization.

You than start producing advertising for all media under the MEG name.

All business starts coming through you and you simple dowel out the work evenly to all the members of the organization.

Everyone gets to keep their own business but doesn’t have to find work themselves. Hell, they could even have little “MEG approved service” on the side of their truck.

The Electricians can do what they want to do (which is electrical work) and they don’t have worry about advertising … and at the same time you are creating a large recurring income that won’t fluctuate much because these guys are counting on your service to get them jobs.

The beauty of this is in it’s simplicity.

If you have 20, or 50, or 100 Electricians paying you $300 a month… You still only need to run one ad. Because you are simply promoting the MEG brand that everyone else is paying to be part of.

The whole thing could easily be run from a 2 person office and be “full-time” in about 20 hours a week.

(Small disclaimer: this is just an idea. I’m sure there are some kind of issues with being considered a General Contractor in the electricians field. However you could apply this model to just about any business from freelance artists to sex toy party reps.)

Have you ever been to an internet marketing conference or event like the Midwest Super Conference?

You might not know this, but 99.9% of all those who “claim” to be “internet marketers” or people who “make money online” have NEVER been to ANY live continuing education event whatsoever.

So, the .1% that DOES go.. guess what happens to them?

They are the .1% of people actually MAKING it happen and making an income from the internet.

With most others… it’s just all talk! No action or results.

So, I’d like for you to consider coming to an event that takes place in less than 30 days from now, the Midwest Internet Marketing Super Conference and watch and participate in specialized knowledge training that will put you in the .1% bracket of people who ARE successful online.

The speakers are hot, (current topics that people want to learn about) The attendees and VIPs that will be there are killer to connect with.

At one of the last Midwest conferences, Mark Hoverson was able to make a connection and JV with another attendee that allowed him to make over $60,000 just from that one connection.

So, if you see the value, check this out, it gets even better…

Jeff has a limited amount of VIP and FREE tickets ($697 value) that he is giving away right now on his website and it’s quite possible, by the time you read this, all 200 seats will be completely picked over and the event will be sold out. (some people are clamoring to get a free seat right now)

So, quickly, click on this link and find out how people like Dr. Scott Lewis was able to increase his income over 800% from one of the speakers, that is attending this year’s event or how…

Wendy Robbins was able to go from $10,000 in credit card debt to over $10,000,000 in 4 short years!

or how….

“Last week, I was just a bum on a surf board, this week I made five million dollars. Thanks Harlan” – Frank Kern (Harlan is speaking this year!)

Nothing like this exists out there, you just have to read the website and then I hope you can come out to Minnesota this year to attend!

Click here to learn more about the Midwest Super Conference

A lot of people “guru bash” these days, and say ‘they all just promote each others launches and it’s impossible for anyone else to break in…’

I personally think that kind of attitude will get you NO WHERE – but those people do have a point.

So the big question becomes – How do you get connected with people who can help you promote your products?

There are the usual ways: Twitter, forums, Skype, etc. but all of those fail in comparison to talking to someone face to face and really getting to know them (having a beer while you talk is optional).

The connection and trust that can be formed so quickly in person would take you months, if not years, to achieve in any online medium… Not to mention that online, most big names are busy people and have “gate keepers” to handle most of their email and phone calls. It’s practically impossible to send someone a friendly ‘hello’ anymore.

But there is a way around this dilemma. A way too, not only get past the gate keepers and get yourself noticed, but to connect with a person face to face.

(You do want to show them you’re the genuine article and someone worth doing business with, right?)

Conferences!

Call them conferences, call them seminars, call them whatever you want… But they are, hands down, the best way to connect with anyone in this game and make them friendly to your cause.

You’ll have big name players, that you have been dying to meet, sitting right next you with no one to “forget” to mention you called.

It can be the chance of a lifetime and is the real “secret” behind internet marketing.

To get yourself started, I recommend a free conference that is right around the corner. It’s called the Midwest Super Conference and this year it’s running September 11th – 13th .

It’s the premier event in the midwest and is going to be jam packed with incredible speakers and potential JV partners.

To find out more click on the link below:

Midwest Super Conference

I’ll see you there!

I am now Jeff Mills’ new Affiliate and JV manager.

I’ll be taking care of his current affiliates to make sure they have everything they need to be successful and will also be on the look out for new affiliates.

I’m really excited and think I’ll be able to serve everyone well.