19th November 2008. Fairly typical - with some nice twists.

Here are some highlights of what happened.

* Created 3 articles/mini-reports for new membership site

* Visited a new hospital which may be a future venue for our CHD program

* Published an opinion piece on my blog, “Playing by Rules”

* Drafted an email to send my list

* Prepared a ‘Christmas special’ offer for my Twitter list

* Updated 2 niche blogs, added new income streams to them

* Set up a new PPC campaign on Google Adwords

* Negotiations for purchase of new equipment for our heart surgery unit

* Networked with team members on next planned surgeries

* Outlined a breakthrough business idea on TIMIC private forum

* Got 2 pleasant surprises - one was a donation from Terry Wygal

* And the other was one from a ’secret’ special donor - thanks!

* Freshened data on the header of my blog about donations ($23,745 this year!)

* Caught up on Twitter, where I’m nearing my 2,000th follower

* Posted a comment on a thoughtful post by Kevin Nations on Facebook

* Wrote this post!

… and the evening’s still young, nowhere near the ‘end of my day’.

Just thought I’d share some bits of it - so you know what occupies me, and why.

See a common thread?

EVERYTHING I’ve done today is taking me closer to my goal.

And I’m relishing and revering the important milestones - the donations and
my donors, the sales and my clients, the progress and my team.

Like I told my list in today’s email,

“I’m honored to hear from you. I enjoy it. That’s the reason for publishing this
ezine. Seth Godin taught it to me - POWERFULLY. Attention is a PRIVILEGE.
Thank you for giving me yours.”

Is this what you’re doing too?

I’ve decided.

I’m going back to being a maverick.

Because I can.

Long ago, I made the choice to specialize in pediatric heart surgery, when not many in India were willing to hinge their future on the uncertainty of pursuing what was then a non-existent sub-specialty.

After graduating, I made the even more unusual choice to follow a charity-based route to funding operations for families who could not afford the high cost.

I’m very possibly the only heart surgeon in the world who engages actively in an infopreneur business to generate a portion of this cash - in essence funding my passion through a business.

And yet, surprisingly enough, I’ve let ‘conventional wisdom’ condition some of my thinking and actions lately.

It hit me suddenly with a flash… I’m tired of ‘playing by rules’ - especially when they are rules someone else set.

This thought ran through my mind while making the decision to price my new program at a ridiculously low level - ignoring and flaunting the traditional ‘funnel’ approach of getting them in the door with a low-priced entree, and working customers up the product-profit continuum.

I not going to play the game that way any longer! I’m bored with it!

• Who ruled that maximizing your value comes from raising your prices?
• Who dictates that having more money is the end-goal in life?
• Who decided that getting more customers and squeezing higher profits out of their every transaction makes you a more successful business-person?

Not me.

And not Frank McKinney, that maverick real estate genius who also happens to be a very successful, profitable and HAPPY business owner, who says this in an interview…

“I’ve met my share of unhappy billionaires. In the same time, I’ve met my fair share of happy homeless people. What’s the difference? These people got to the top rung of the corporate ladder, they got there, put their hand on their forehead, looking out over the horizon, and say to themselves: ‘IS THIS ALL THERE IS?’ “

I’ve realized that for many, the focus is on what’s in their bank balance - because it’s an easy to measure metric, a more or less universal score-card one can use to compare and contrast.

Yet that very nature has built into it an inherent value/judgment system that leaves more people disenchanted or vaguely frustrated in the end - if that’s the only yardstick they use to measure the rich tapestry of Life.

I’ve never been guilty of that. As a school-boy, I had a plaque on my desk (and took that message pretty seriously too) which read:

“Remember, money is not everything”

… and then, in smaller print at the bottom:

“But also remember to make a lot of it before talking such nonsense!”

Money is important. It also isn’t everything. It gives you the freedom to choose which rules you’ll play by.

And in the game called Life, that’s probably the best thing money can buy!

.

You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.

Yet too little emphasis is placed on this element of marketing. Here’s a case study that might help.

Right now, I’m in the market for web designing services. For a long time, I’ve been thinking of an ‘image overhaul’, and have been holding in-house brainstorming sessions to refine and fine-tune my branding… and now am going to change the website design to align with it.

I saw a friend’s website make-over, liked it, found a link to the design service that did their work, and filled in the contact form on their website indicating my interest and inviting them to get in touch.

On the next business day, I got a reply. It’s below:

That’s it!  Nothing more.

Now, maybe it was because I hadn’t slept well last night.

Maybe it was because I was feeling irritated about an annoying incident yesterday.

Or maybe it was because of the minor argument I’d just had with my daughter.

(Hey, your prospects are having their own minor ‘life incidents’ happening too!)

Whatever the reason, I was a little more ‘hyper-sensitive’ than usual - and my first reaction was:

“What gave the idea I wanted “cheap” - not ‘best quality’?”

And there, in that instant of time, the sale was lost!

That sub-liminal first impression, where I got the feeling that this person was probably being condescending to me because I live in India, created a feeling of antagonism that’ll prevent me spending $3,000 or more with their business - or the even bigger pay off that’ll come from spreading word to my vast network of business owners.

It made me wonder how much more effective their process could be with one simple tweak. For instance, what if they had sent me this message instead:

= = = = = = = =

Hi Dr. Mani,

Nice to hear from you! : )

Are you looking to completely redo your brand? Also, I believe you are located in India. The labor is cheaper there and people talented! Why do you look to us for the web work then? : )

We are delighted and honored that you thought our web designing and rebranding services good enough to meet your discerning standards, and are extremely grateful for the opportunity of being able to serve you and meet your needs.

Our XYZ company has been a leader in cutting-edge web design, programming and branding for XX years. We have designed over (number here) websites spanning the range from small home-based business websites to corporate websites with hundreds of pages for $(revenue here) organizations.

As you are no doubt aware, a good, clean, impressive web design gives a very critical ‘first impression’ to your visitors and prospective customers - and as our ecstatic clients frequently tell us, we are good at helping deliver that powerful impact - consistently.

Here’s what M.S., one of our recent clients, shared after we designed her site:

“testimonial here”

(We have dozens of similar ‘delight testimonials’ on file and will gladly share them with you if you wish)

So I’m confident that we can help you with your web design and re-branding needs, whatever they may be, and are eager to get started.

First, to kick this off, I’d like to know a few more details about your proposed plans. Could you please spare a few minutes to answer the attached 5-part questionnaire and email us back? Or if you’d prefer it, we could call your office or home at your convenience to discuss this further - please send me your contact number and preferred time to call.

I’m excited about having you as our next client, Dr.Mani, and will eagerly await your reply so that we can begin working together soon.

If you have any other questions, clarification or concerns, please feel free to ask me and I’ll do my best to address them at the earliest.

Best wishes

(Name here)

= = =

Notice how the structure flows. The reply starts off acknowledging the prospect’s taste and judgement in selecting them as a service provider, and at the same time creating a ‘position’ for the business in my mind.

That is reinforced by the next paragraph that showcases the company’s experience, skill and client portfolio.  The testimonial(s) that follow stack on further ’social proof’ about this quality - and all the while, the prospect is able to keep reassuring him/herself that the choice s/he made about picking this business was the right one!

After building up value, the next step is to initiate dialog, placing the client’s needs and expectations up front, seeking to learn before giving any suggestions, advice or opinion. And by offering to do it in a way that’s convenient and comfortable to the prospect, you take away all resistance to moving ahead to the next step in the relationship.

The upbeat tone and excitement conveyed through the email would also energize a client and sustain the energy needed to follow up and close the deal.

Yet the ‘first contact’ reply I got from this otherwise skilled web designer was a ‘lame duck’ missive - that I perceived as a personal insult about my ability to pay top dollar (in all likelihood, that was NOT the sender’s intention, but hey, email is IMPERSONAL… so bend over backwards to make things clear!)

Here’s the thing. A message template like the one above might take you an hour or two to draft (I do it quicker because it has become habit)… but even if it does, the same template can be used over and over for HUNDREDS of prospect queries, making it the best investment in your business.

Look at the numbers.

If you were to run an ad in a magazine, newsletter or website, it probably will cost you $50 to $5,000 - and you may get 1 or 2 or 20 leads from it per run, because most readers will not be in ‘buying mode’ at the moment.

For pay-per-click campaigns, too, you’d spend more than a few dollars to get barely qualified ‘warm’ leads.  Ditto for other lead generating systems.

Yet, a web form attracts your BEST prospects - those hot for your product or service, who found you on their own (by actively seeking out solutions) and whom you got for FREE.

Just by filling in that form on a web designer’s site, I saved the business owner around $100 of ‘wasted’ advertising!

The ‘first contact’ email or phone call or letter or in-person meeting you have should reflect this reality.

Make your first contact WORTH $100 to your prospect - they’ve ‘paid’ it to you already!

Hope this is of some value to you. Please share your thoughts in a comment. How would you refine and fine-tune this process?

P.S. - I was just thinking. If this web designer was reading my blog (and again, if your prospect sends you links, you should ALWAYS explore them to get a feel for who they are, and what they’re about), they probably are getting over $3,000 in value from this post - from the business they’ll salvage by implementing this concept in their process.

So, they should probably offer me a discount for that much on their services, right? Or am I just dreaming?!

.

By now, you’ve no doubt heard of Yanik Silver’s Maverick Business Insider and the impressive package he’s put together for the launch of a monthly newsletter with CD.

You’ve heard or read glowing reviews from delighted affiliates who are boosting the program to the sky and higher.

Smart, shrewd and savvy as you are, you no doubt figured out already that part of the reason is the juicy affiliate commissions that these advocates stand to make from saying good things about this product.

And maybe if you’re like me, you prefer making buying decisions based on balanced and fair reviews rather than profit-driven hype, and you’ve been longing to see a glimmer of reason rather than an unabashed love-fest.

Well, I’m Going To Give It To You!

I’ve just spent 2 full hours reviewing Yanik’s new product for you.

No, I do NOT think Yanik’s newsletter is the biggest thing since sliced bread (gasp!)

And as raving a fan of Yanik’s as I am, I’m sufficiently distanced from this promotion to give you a fair, unbiased analysis of what’s good and what’s not - so YOU can make the best choice… for yourself!

The Offer

There are many components to Yanik’s offer, and I’d like to deal with each in order.

In the introductory package, you’ll get:

- a print book, 34 Rules for Maverick Entrepreneurs
- a poster of Yanik’s 34 Rules for Mavericks
- a flow chart of a profit process he shared with an exclusive group at Baja
- a DVD presentation of the same process, Leverage Points
- the first issue of ‘Maverick Business Insider’, a monthly newsletter with CD

The Book

When I first opened the envelope, I started reading the book. And couldn’t put it down!

The initial part is a slight elaboration of the ‘34 Rules for Mavericks’ that’s a popular post on Yanik’s blog - it has some personal examples and insights from his life and business.

Interesting, but I did NOT think it life-changing as the sales letter may indicate. The core value is in the 34 points - and those are free as a blog post anyway!

But then, when I reached the second half of the book, I read faster. With more interest and attention. And even annoyed my wife by totally ignoring what she was saying for a gripping half hour.

What’s in it?

An interview with one of my heroes, real estate maverick Frank McKinney, founder of the Caring Home Foundation.

The powerful lessons that Yanik so masterfully extracts from this multi-millionaire in an interview is well worth paying a MULTIPLE of what the introductory pack will cost you.

While reading it, I kept highlighting portions to share with you. Thought-provoking and life impacting insights like this:

“I’ve met my share of unhappy billionaires. In the same time, I’ve met my fair share of happy homeless people. What’s the difference? These people got to the top rung of the corporate ladder, they got there, put their hand on their forehead, looking out over the horizon, and say to themselves: “IS THIS ALL THERE IS?”

Did that hit a nerve?

Do you want to be in their shoes?

I’m sure you don’t. And Frank’s interview has the seeds of the path to follow. All that he does is rooted in the philosophy:

“To whom much is entrusted, much will be expected.”

(Frank and I spoke on the phone once for around half an hour, and he mentioned this to me during that conversation).

He has taken profits from building and selling multi-million dollar sea-front homes, and used them to build residences for the homeless desperately poor in Haiti - a project I have been a proud sponsor and supporter of for almost 2 years.

Frank McKinney is a man you definitely want to know, follow and learn from. This book is a good introduction to a man I deeply admire and respect.

The ‘34 Rules for Maverick Entrepreneurs’ Poster

It’s all that it’s cranked up to be - a nice, quick, easy to look at summary of the 34 Maverick Rules.

What I liked most about it was that it’s suitable to display promimently where you’re working - so you can frequently refresh your memory about the important things in your business.

I’ve got it on the wall of my workspace… see!

The DVD and Flowchart

There’s hype - and then, there’s POWER-copywriting.

Yanik is one of the best direct response copywriters I’ve studied, and so I am NOT surprised at how he’s built up the value of this single sheet of paper.

Well, not having watched the DVD yet, I can’t condemn it or put down the value of this flowchart, but let’s get real, guys. If you expect owning a sheet of paper to put $15,000 into your bank account… YOU’RE DREAMING!

What it displays is a nice set of ‘leverage points’ in your business that you are very likely under-utilizing, and if you correct or maximize, could grow your profits nicely.

Worth $15,000 really? Maybe. Maybe not.

But then, all you’re paying is a miniscule 10 bucks, so what are you complaining about, hey?!

The Newsletter - Maverick Business Insider

This is the REAL ‘product’ - the rest is essentially icing on the cake!

And I looked at it critically, because that’s the bit on which you will be basing your decision to continue with the monthly subscription membership - or canceling after the free trial ends.

The first issue is an in-depth interview with Mike Geary - who is set to make $3 MILLION this year… selling ONE ebook!

Now, regardless of what ANYONE tells you, it is NOT easy to do this… and you’d have to be dreaming if you believe anyone’s going to hand you the key to the vault, as well as share all the nitty-gritty details in a single interview, and sell it to you for 30 bucks.

That said, this is a fairly thorough and probing interview, and I learned a few interesting things about Mike’s process. It is indeed one that can be duplicated and modeled, in any niche, and with any product.

There’s also a lot of focus on the important elements like attitude, mindset and discipline - things which many ‘tactical’ manuals ignore, leaving most buyers disappointed that they can’t replicate a winning model.

The interview is available both as an audio interview on CD, and a printed transcript (I like this, because I prefer reading to learn, while you may like to listen to audio better, and we both win!)

So, to address the big question:

Can YOU Make $3 Million Selling an Ebook After Reading This?

Yes - and no.

Yes, if you’re like Mike, can handle situations and overcome obstacles like him, if you’re motivated to the same level as he was.

But let’s assume you are not - and can only achieve ONE TENTH of ONE PERCENT of what Mike’s done. Then instead of $3 million, you’ll only ever be able to make 3,000…

And That’s Not Too Bad, Is It?!

Especially when you consider that all you’re paying for it is SHIPPING AND HANDLING costs… everything else is FREE!

Can you spell WIN-WIN?

That’s what you get from Yanik’s trial offer - and when you see his Mavericks Rule #2, you’ll see what’s behind this deal:

Rule #2: Strive to create 10x to 100x in value for any price you charge. Your rewards are always proportionate to the value you provide

So does this mean I’m saying you should go ahead and sign up for Yanik’s
“Maverick Business Insider” monthly newsletter subscription?

NO.

What I am saying is
TAKE IT FOR A TRIAL RUN.

The free trial offer is completely worth the money. All you’ll pay is around $10 (or maybe a bit more) to cover shipping and handling. In return, you get the book, the poster, the flowchart, the DVD, and the first newsletter issue (in print and audio CD form)

All this with no commitment, no obligation - and you can cancel any time if you’re not totally delighted.

But Yanik knows you may STILL be hesitating.

So he’s pulled out the stops with a last-minute bonus that he only just announced. If nothing else clinches this deal for you, this will.

This is directly from Yanik’s email today:

Okay I think this is really going to get some people excited. I’m giving
away a special over-the-top, 1-day LIVE event called
‘Maverick Business Insider Extravaganza’.

And even better, if you can’t make it live - you’ll get the DVDs sent from the business sessions. Conservatively I’d say this bonus is worth $495 (probably
a lot more!)

So where’s the catch?

It’s logical. Good times don’t last forever.

The deadline is this Friday for this SUPER-bonus.

Are you convinced enough to go ahead and risk a S&H charge to
get your free trial of the first newsletter issue, “Maverick Business Insider” - with no obligation to continue with your subscription at all… plus win a SUPER-bonus worth $495 to meet Yanik live for a day-long event?

Remember, you don’t have to continue with the monthly subscription if you’re not totally delighted. It’s quick and easy to cancel - and you still get to keep all the goodies in this trial pack.

I see this as a ‘Very Good Deal’ - how about YOU?

FULL DISCLOSURE: All links to Yanik’s sales page from this review are
my affiliate links. If you choose to accept the trial offer, and then continue with your subscription, I will be throwing in a set of monthly bonuses for as long as you continue as a paid subscriber.

If you think this use of affiliate links and the attempt to incentivize you with a bonus are indications that my review itself is biased and weighted unfairly in favor of the product, then you don’t know me well enough… or have little experience in the value of a Yanik Silver product.

Either way, you will understand the truth
after receiving your trial pack!

But if ONLY the thought of me getting an affiliate referral commission is holding you back, then here’s something you won’t normally see being done in affiliate promotions - here is a DIRECT NON-AFFILIATE LINK that you can click on to take the free trial (and no, I won’t make a penny if you click it!)

http://www.MaverickBusinessInsider.com/

I’m doing this because YOU taking advantage of this useful information, especially the life-changing Frank McKinney material, is more important to me than a few extra bucks in referral fees!

.

Have you ever dropped a pebble in a pond, and watched as the ripples spread in increasing concentric circles, often reaching far beyond the spot where your stone hit the water?

In just the same way, things you say, think about and begin ripple and grow in the cosmic whole of humanity that connects us all together.

Today, I woke up to fantastic news on Twitter. Terry Wygal said this:

A thrill of deep gratitude surged through my body, awakening me once more to the awesome, incredible and limitless power I was in contact with - the collective force of our humanity.

Everything I do online is connected, in some way or the other, with my core purpose of helping children live. As a heart surgeon treating seriously ill kids born with heart defects, my biggest challenge and fondest hope is to live in a world where children live out their potential, happy and healthy.

It is this mission, driven by a deeply held stubborness expressed in the phrase, “I will NOT accept a child dying!” that has kept me on course for 13 years now.

It has woken me up (or forced me to stay awake) at unearthly hours, exploring ideas and putting into place systems to help generate the money needed to fund expensive treatment for those under-privileged families who cannot afford it.

In the beginning, I worked in dark isolation, with few if anyone believing in the concept (at times, I doubted it would work myself!)

Slowly, as I carried on with persistence beyond any logic or rationale, there was an impact. The first ripple.

When I raised enough money to fund the first operation, it was a landmark, a watershed, a touchstone… one that validated what had been only a hope, a prayer… and proved it could actually happen.

And at critical moments, the right people appeared… to create ripples that again spread and reached new shores.

My friend Paul Myers introduced me to the Warrior forum. This brought thousands of highly successful marketers into contact with the work I’m doing - and resulted in enormous support and encouragement that has helped fund many operations.

John Reese is one of our biggest donors - and he created many ripples of his own, each of which spread further, creating awareness and donations for CHD.

My friend Seth Godin included my case study in his “99 Purple Cows”, exposing my CHD efforts to another large group of people, creating another ripple.

The always generous Ian del Carmen dropped another pebble that made ripples - when he saw my CHD video, and then created a software tool that anyone could use… and made it a vehicle to spread the CHD message.

My role model, mentor and good friend, Willie Crawford, was responsible for making many more ripples take off from the intial one. It was through Willie that I first heard about Carrie Wilkerson, the ‘Bare foot Executive’ - who just last month raised funds that will sponsor one more heart operation.

In fact, it was Carrie’s post on Twitter that drew my attention to Terry’s fundraising efforts at this event - which will fund one more child’s operation.

Carrie and Terry are also exposed to another ripple - one created by my teacher and motivator, Yanik Silver. They are both members of Yanik’s Maverick Mastermind group… and (coincidence?) Yanik is one of the longest standing and generous supporters of my work online.

There are hundreds of people I haven’t mentioned by name. People like Rosalyn Bronstein who, even when she had to work on a public access computer, didn’t let that stand in the way of helping spread CHD awareness - she actually posted notes on hospital bulletin boards in Boston!

Many more people made ripples reach further. Some of them are listed in our honor roll of donors (you’ll see the latest at the top of this blog).

They are folks who saw the ripple created by my first ‘pebble’.

They created new ripples of their own.

And many others saw those ripples - and realized it came from the first ‘pebble’.

Today, we have a wide spread, only tenuously connected, yet passionately supportive network of donors and helpers who are spreading the word about congenital heart disease awareness, raising funds to help little children live.

I am proud of having cast the first stone.

I will be throwing many more.

I know how far the ripples reach.

Won’t you join me, please?

.

16 minutes long.

Life-changing.

Touching.

Watch it now!

Twitter is widely praised as a ‘relationship building’ tool. It’s tempting to extend that into thinking of Twitter as an effective medium to arrange joint venture deals.

Here’s a recent experience.

For background, remember I have a “Twitter Rule of FORTY” which is that I follow only 40 people, so that I can focus on a small group, engage in mini-conversations and build deeper relationships rather than spread them across a large group.

This philosophy is relevant when it comes to the concept of using Twitter for JV deal-making… you’ll understand when I share the numbers.

I sent 15 out of the 40 people I’m following a short Twitter Direct Message (DM), saying this:

Here’s what happened:

• 4 said “No”, they could not promote (for various reasons)
• 3 said “Maybe” they will promote it (to my best knowledge, they haven’t yet)
• 2 ignored the note and carried on regular conversation about other things
• 6 have not communicated with me since then

Incidentally, I also sent the invitation to 2 people I am not currently following - and one of them agreed to help promote it.

My analysis:

• Joint venture deal making on Twitter is pretty much the same as on any other communication medium, with similar response rates. I regularly have 1 in 15 people I contact about helping with a promotion respond, and Twitter seems the same.
• One good thing is you get a reply - even if it’s a “No”. With email or letters in the mail, you often will not hear back for a long time, and that leaves you guessing and wondering.
• Relationships do not guarantee or automatically lead to joint venture deals. People still could say “No”. In fact, most of them did!
• In light of these lessons, if you are on Twitter primarily for wheeling-n-dealing, then you’ll be better off with a different strategy than my “Rule of FORTY” - and may probably do better with the ‘thousands of followers’ method.

Like almost everything else I test in my marketing, there are many powerful lessons I will carry away from this experience. (Hope this helps you too).  And based on these lessons, there are some changes I will make to enhance the value of Twitter to my overall approach.

This is possible because I have an over-arching STRATEGY to using social media. It helps me evaluate other things in a specific context and take steps that might otherwise seem random and even silly.

Do YOU have a social media marketing strategy?

Would you like to have one?

If yes, my short 15-page ebook will be a useful guide. It’s called “SOCIAL WINS - How to Develop Your WINNING Social Media Marketing Strategy“… and you can get it here.

Not a detailed road-map, but a short list of bullet-points and probing questions to get you THINKING about what you’re doing on social media.

Trust me, without a guiding strategy to everything you do on social networks, you’re spinning your wheels and wasting hours and hours of your life on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other places.

Ignore it only if indulging your addiction, scurrying down rabbit-holes and frittering away your productive time sounds appealing! Otherwise, check out SOCIAL WINS - today.

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Last night, I went to bed with a smile on my face.

Because of Mary’s email.

I have lovely friends around the world. Many I’ve met through my email list. Some are very young. And some, like Grandpa Bill, are in their mid-eighties.

One of the nicest, warmest, kindest people I’ve got to know over the years is a 76-year old grandma, Mary Kathryn Donachy. At first, I thought of her as just another subscriber with a hope and dream of doing something online.

And then she sent me a digital clipping of one newspaper story about her (yes, Mary has been in newspapers, radio, even National talk shows - because of her passion). It opened my eyes to the inspirational hero she was.

• Believe it or not, she learned to use computers around age 70
• She had zero knowledge about online marketing - but a burning passion
• After personal hardships that would crush most others, she has emerged stronger

And after a steep learning curve, figuring out how to approach her niche, create an information business around her passion, and working her agonizing way through the baby steps to set up her first website, she now has broken through.

Big time.

This is yesterday’s email that made me smile:

- - -

“WOW!

I am so excited today!! Autism Today, my favorite autism website is going to back my work. I have their full support!!

Isn’t that exciting? Think now of how many people I can reach.

Know what??

I will never be able to thank you enough for all you have done to help me thus far.”

- - -

What is Mary’s passion?

Her grand-daughter. A sweet child named Jenny. And Jenny is autistic.

Mary has been her primary care-giver for years. She takes such pride and joy in raising her autistic grand-child that it shines through in everything Mary says or does. The passion is what first caught my attention in our email exchanges, showed me this is someone special.

Her passion made Mary relentless in her pursuit of her goal.

Her passion gave her energy to overcome hurdles.

Her passion encouraged her to keep on keeping on.

I encourage you to visit her website - just to share in her passion. It’s contagious. It will reach across the web page and envelop you. And you’ll be a better person for it.

“The Autistic Touch” is at http://www.theautistictouch.com/

Mary publishes an email newsletter which I also encourage you to sign up for - to see how simple, clear, yet incredibly powerful writing can be… when it comes from the heart!

Mary’s email newsletter is free - click here

My journey as an email newsletter publisher and email marketer has been so richly rewarding because it brings me into contact with some fantastic people.

People whom I may never have heard of or met otherwise.

People who willingly allowed me into their deeply meaningful lives.

People who share their joys and frustrations with me - like a good friend.

People who inspire and energize me beyond belief… just by doing what they must.

If you want to set your first step on this fabulous journey to being an ezine publisher and email marketer, I invite you to visit the Ezine Marketing Center.

And if you want to fully experience everything the rich tapestry of Life has to offer you, tap into your own special PASSION.

My PASSION manifesto is about just that…

Today I’m publishing a guest post by well-known Internet marketing
expert and joint venture master Willie Crawford.  It’s called:

Do You Keep Your Promises? WHY Many Internet Marketers Don’t!

First of all, this is not a slam of Internet marketing, or of
my fellow Internet marketers, as much as an observation.

I recently finished teaching a 6-week teleclass on how to put
together lucrative joint ventures. I spent 2 hour each of the
six weeks teaching teleseminar attendees how to roll out a
product using joint venture partners with large list, busy
websites, and great name recognition and trust.

One of the things I felt it necessary to emphasize was that
just because a lot of big name marketers tell you “yes” that
DOES NOT mean that they will promote your product and hand you
a successful launch.

I did teach my “students” how to actually get these big name
marketers to follow through on their promises

The sad fact is that the majority of “big-name” marketers who
tell you that they will help with your promotion… probably
WON’T.

The reason for this is simple…

They often say “yes” to too many people.

They are often asked to participate in dozens of promotions
each week.

Today alone, there are ELEVEN ongoing product launches that
I know of in the Internet marketing niche.

So you may ask why they don’t simply say “NO” to more JV
requests. I think the answer there is two-fold.

1) They seem afraid that they might miss out on something that
looks better than it initially appeared to be. So, they say
yes to JV requests where their initial gut feeling is that it’s
one that they should pass on. As things unfold, and the product
turns out to be one that they could NEVER offer to their lists,
rather than telling the product owner, they just politely
continue to encourage them.

They simply fail to tell the product owner that they find too
many things wrong with their product!

2) We all like to appear nice… most of us hate saying no.

So, some of us say maybe when we actually mean no.

Many people say yes, not considering that “really” a commitment,

and hoping that the product will somehow “go away.”

There are an awful lot of really bad product being
continuously produced, and unless you have a mentor like me,
who will tell you like it is, the product owner is often
“killed with kindness” when they would be better off if
someone told them that their product “SUCKED” before they
put too much time and energy into it.

I personally ask my clients and students:

1) What makes you think that the market really wants your
product?

2) What evidence do you have that they are already buying
a product similar to your?

3) Why are YOU the right person to be offering this product,
and in that format, and at this time?

So I don’t waste my students and clients time… partly in
the interest of self-preservation.

I know that once I encourage them to proceed with a product,
that they are very likely to ask my help in promoting it

If YOU are an Internet marketer who is often asked to promote
products, how do you avoid adding to the problem?

You say no more often. You should politely say no MOST of
the time if you are approached as often as I am.

If you are the product owner, you do two things:

1) You make absolutely certain that your product is top
quality AND something that the market actually wants.

2) You ally yourself with likeminded marketers and you bounce
your ideas off them.

You’re not looking for people who will say what you want to
hear.

You’re looking for people who care about you enough to tell you
the TRUTH about your product.

A good place to find people like that is my own “sounding board”
- The Internet Marketing Inner Circle.

The Internet Marketing Inner Circle, or “TIMIC” as we often call
it, is a private membership site where we openly discuss tons
of marketing related ideas and topics…

And we’re very open and honest with each other!

Check us out.

There IS a problem with Internet marketers not keeping their
promises, although I suppose it’s no worse than in other
industries.

My hope is that by discussing it here, we raise awareness in
those who will do something about it by making sure that THEY
are not a part of the problem.

Willie Crawford
Proud TIMIC Member

I held two Twitter Games recently, and found them a very interesting and entertaining way to engage my Twitter audience - and profit in the process.

Here are some lessons from the Twitter Game experience which you might use if you wish to try out the idea yourself. It’s just one more Twitter Profit tactic to add to the others I share in “Twitter Profits - How to tweet your way to riches!“.

The Twitter Game

A Twitter Game is just something you play on Twitter. I chose to play a trivia quiz. You might pick any other. Just make sure it’s something fun and likely to interest your audience.

Give-away Prizes

You’ll want to have prizes to give winners. My first event was called the “TWITTER PROFIT Game” - and the first person to answer each question correctly won a copy of “Twitter Profit”, my ebook about effective Twitter use.

The second was the “SOCIAL WINS Twitter Game” because winners got a free copy of my ebook, ‘Social WINS’. That one is about formulating an effective social media strategy.

If you don’t have your own digital products to give-away as prizes, you’ll probably have to source them from someone or partner with a product owner. You could have physical products as prizes, but will lose the energy and momentum that comes from instant gratification.

Build Buzz

With my first ‘Twitter Game’, I emailed my list announcing the event a few hours before it began. The second time, I started tweeting about it 4 hours earlier, and repeated it once every hour. I also invited my followers on Twitter to spread the word.

If you plan a well organized pre-launch campaign, you could easily create a loud buzz around your Twitter game.

Play the Game

The Twitter Game itself was simple.

First, start with any rules or conditions. Keep it simple. My games had only 2 rules.

After a minute (or sooner), click on the @Replies tab - and check if anyone got it right. You might also use Twitter Search for this.

Announce Winners

When someone got the right answer, immediately post a note acknowledging them - and asking them to watch out for a DM (direct message) with the download link.

This serves 2 purposes. Winners are delighted to hear about it - and will excitedly tell their friends. And others won’t keep posting answers well into the next question!

Then, go on to the next question and repeat until the game is over.

Keep Players Engaged

On Twitter, most users have short attention spans. Your Twitter Game must be entertaining and engaging if you want to keep many people involved.

So even as the game is in progress, try and engage in conversation with the people in it - encouraging those who were too late to win, or even a short “Oops, that wasn’t the right answer!” to those who got it wrong.

Also, keep the game short. My first game lasted 30 minutes - and I feel it was more engaging than the next which went on for an hour.

From your MARKETING.

Yes, my Twitter Game is also a marketing vehicle. Here’s how I did it.

1. Brand your game. I named my Twitter Game by the title of the prize ebooks I was giving away. A day after the first quiz, when I did a Twitter search, I found the word “Twitter Profit” mentioned around 35 times!

2. Link to the sales page of the prize. You can do this legitimately at different stages of the game. Once at the beginning, to show players what the prize will be. And at the end, to let others know what the winners got. And as many times as you can get away during the game itself!

3. Upsell winners. By offering a related product or service at an attractive discount on the gift download page, as an upsell or cross-sell, you can get happy winners to even buy something from you!

4. Offer discounts. In both Twitter Games, I created special order buttons with discounted pricing on the gift reports. So during the “SOCIAL WINS Twitter Game”, followers could buy the report for less than half the regular price.

5. Add urgency. I created special offers that were time-limited. For the first 10 minutes of the “TWITTER PROFIT Game”, you could buy Twitter Profit for $15 off - but then the price went up every 10 minutes by $5.

And these are the obvious ‘marketing’ activities - there’s a lot more that you can do in a more subtle and under-stated style.

1. Market through your questions. For my trivia quiz, I chose to spotlight achievements by India and Indians - and picked news-worthy items about this. You could frame questions about your niche, your business, or your products too - without being too blatantly self-promotional about it.

2. Affiliate marketing through a quiz. One of my questions was about Mark Joyner’s “The Kaizen Club” - for which I am an affiliate. While sharing the correct answer, I slipped in my affiliate link! (Caution: full disclosure of your affiliate status is good practice).

3. Invite word of mouth. Get your winners excited about telling their friends they won. From time to time, remind players to tell their followers about the fun game that’s going on.

4. Build value into your offers and gifts. Tell people what your prize reports are really worth, and selling for. Reinforce the value to winners - so they realize what they’ve just won is precious.

What numbers to expect?

With very little pre-quiz buzz, I had around 15 people playing the first TWITTER PROFIT Game. The second event had more people, mainly because I promoted it more, it had 8 questions, and lasted an hour. You can expect many players if you promote your Twitter Game energetically.

Here’s what is more exciting.

I had 2 sales of Twitter Profit in the 30 minutes of the quiz. And counting upsells, the Social Wins Twitter game had 5 sales in all during the event.

That’s a whopping 20% sales conversion of ‘players to buyers’!

Why does this happen? Frankly, I don’t know. Maybe people like having fun - and don’t mind buying when it’s a part of this!

One buyer had little time to spare playing the game to try and win a free copy, and so ordered at the special discount right away. And one winner took the upsell because it extended the benefit of the gift he had won.

And don’t forget - every winner of a free copy of your product is a potential future buyer whom you can impress and delight with the solid value your gift provides.

Benefits from Twitter Games

You get to make sales. Yes, that’s nice. But not the primary benefit.

You get extended visibility. People like having fun, and tell others when they do. Your name and brand will spread widely over the Twitterverse.

You get affiliates. Folks will see your product mentioned, check it out, and may sign up as affiliates, generating passive sales and profit.

You get followers. Each time I do a Twitter Game, my following increases - and keeps growing over the next few days, in a ripple effect.

You get to have fun - and make many people happy. And if that doesn’t matter to you, you’re probably missing most of the point to playing Twitter Games anyway!

So… do you want to play next time?

Get to hear about my next Twitter Game - follow me on Twitter at @drmani

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