Direct Response

Would you rather be the jack-of-all-trades or the master of a few?

Some of the smartest people I know in the industry are plagued by the ”Smart Man’s Complex.”   SMC occurs in people that are literally smarter than just about everyone around them.  Subsequently they take on too many projects at once and try to do everything themselves.  Delegating tasks is hard for people with SMC because they adamently believe they can do-it-all.

Here’s the issue:   Time is a scarce commodity.   With limited time in each day, it is prudent to spend time on the activities that PROVIDE THE GREATEST RETURN ON INVESTMENT.  This is a critical point, and one that is geared at the commenters of my last post: http://directresponse.net/3-reasons-to-buy-the-best-computers/.  Several commenters suggested that I go out and build my own computer or install the latest and greatest hard-drive.  Since I’m a direct response marketer and not into building my own computers (even though I’ve gone through the A+ certification training), I’d prefer to pay the extra money to have the professionals build it for me.

Sure, I might save 1-2k by ordering each part separately and then snapping it all together.  But how much time am I going to spend building it?  And what if something goes wrong?  Will anyone support it?

See the thing is that I am 100% focused on 4 projects right now.  New opportunities hit my desk every week, and yes, I leave a lot of dollars on the table when I pass them up.  There’s a good reason why.  The money I leave on the table via passed up opportunities is money that I will make in exponential multiples on the projects I qualify as worthy of focus.

The key is identifying those opportunities from the beginning.  In my last post I noted 2,000 leads a day on a clients account was my goal before purchasing the Dell Precision Workstation.  Someone commented that 2,000 leads a day might mean “10-20k a month profit.”  In fact, 2,000 leads a day means $280k a month in profit.  If it were 20k a month in profit I wouldn’t focus my attention on it.

Again I’m a direct response marketer, NOT a computer manufacturer (even though I used to build computers when I was a broke college kid). I trust Dell and have no qualms paying a premium because:

1. I know what I’m getting is top quality.

2. I don’t have a minute to spare in my day let alone hours to “build a computer.”

3. If something happens to my Alienware, I have top notch support to take care of it for me. Time spent trying to fix-it is time spent away from large revenue campaigns.

FOCUS on projects that have longevity and the highest ROI.  Sure, if you’re stuck in a nickle and dime mentality you’ll always find ways to pinch pennies.  It’s like a coupon shopper at grocery stores.  Couldn’t the hours spent finding the coupons to save $20 get used to generate more revenue than the measly savings?  For some people sadly enough the answer in “NO.”  For the majority of the readers of this blog, the answer is unequivocally YES!

Crunch the number and discover what projects you should devote your full attention to.  Then hone in on them and reject any “distractions” that come your way.

And that’s also key, rejecting distractions.  There’s all types of distractions that come your way.  Quickly identify them and respectfully move on.

I charge $350 for 1 hour initial consultations on projects that people present to our team.  The fee is in place for us to weed out the dead-beats up front.  It also allows me to analyze  important facts about the campaign such as:

- Does the project have a unique value propositions that consumers will buy on a large scale?

- Do the owners of the campaign have the financial wherewithal to scale?

- Who are we competing against?

- Would it make more sense if we owned the campaign internally.

- Are we going to have the ability to work with the owners of the campaign in harmony?  My group is pretty demanding and not the easiest to get along with.  We don’t suffer fools gladly.  After all, direct response marketing isn’t about making friends, it’s about making money.

If it’s a good fit we ink it up and get laser focused on making it succeed.

Even when you find your focus always keep your eyes open for good opportunities.  It doesn’t hurt to entertain notions and queue them up for a later date.

Keep a laser focus on your core projects and avoid time-wasting pitfalls!!

A few weeks ago my partner Rob Shibley was telling me about his awesome new Alienware setup.  Rob went into how his work efficiency changed overnight.  Instead of waiting in pain for 30 seconds while his Outlook loaded, it now loads in less than a second.

As I listened I felt insanely envious of his new setup.  My HP laptop was plagued by slowness.  Two years ago it was a pretty good computer, now it’s a dinosaur.

I visitied Alienware.com and ordered a top of the line laptop – custom made with all of the bells and whistles.  Two weeks later it came in and I powered it up:

It is AWESOME!!!!!!!  Alienwares are the highest end laptops money can buy.  Typically used only by hardcore gamers, Alienware laptops are equipped with the best of the best technology.

Rob is not a gamer.  He told me that he views business as a game, that’s why he bought an Alienware.  Good point Rob!

My new Alienware laptop is out of control.  It takes less than 5 seconds for Windows to powerup and start programs instantaneously.  Here’s a few of the benefits you can enjoy with a top of the line Alienware laptop:

1.  Save Time

Don’t wait on your computer, have your computer wait on you.  Those seconds wasted add up to minutes.  Minutes add up to hours and hours add up to days.

2.  Make More Money

Faster computers allow you to get more work done in a shorter period of time.  Your efficiency will increase manifold.   In return you’ll make more money.

3.  Less Aggravation

There’s very few things more aggravating then having to wait on your computer between tasks.  If you’ve ever found yourself getting frustrated over program crashes or slow computer speed, put an end to it today.

Maybe your working with a “good enough” computer today and just aren’t ready to make the investment.  No problem.  I suggest you set a business goal that is achievable in the near future.  Once you hit that goal reward your business and yourself with a state-of-the-art computer.

P.S.  My next investment in technology is a Dell Precision workstation.  I sync up my devices through SugarSync.com so I can literally access my desktop from any machine I use.  All files are synced and shared.

Before I pickup the Precision, I have to hit a business goal.  The goal is 2,000 leads a day on one of my clients campaigns.  When we hit it here’s what I have lined up:

I always get a good laugh when a newbie advertiser reaches out to us and postures as if they’re bringing a good deal to the table.  Here’s an example of a conversation I had today with a nice guy that has no clue about online direct response marketing:

“Could you send me over details about the type of value you can add to my campaign and why I should choose you over the affiliate networks we’re working with right now.  I’m going to take my ecig online and start a penny auction.  Right now we’re working with Copeac and think they might do a good job.”

Nugga Pleazzzzeee.   Nobody on the face of the planet is working with Copeac these days.  I mean come on, where were you when their fraud schemes were exposed by the Federal Trade Commission this April???

Copeac Get’s Hit By The FTC
Official FTC Lawsuit

Business is all about bringing the better deal.  And shrewd leaders in any industry can quickly sniff out bullshit.

That’s why it is so important to act with candor when you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.  i.e.  We have taken on clients in the past that have come to us and said “Look, we are superstars in TV and Radio advertising, however we just don’t understand the online space.  We respect your time and  we’re more than glad to pay for it if you would educate us during a campaign buildout.  Afterall we don’t work pro bono, so we wouldn’t expect you to either.”  EXACTLY!!

There’s good reasons why my team rejects 99.99% of the “opportunities” that hit our desk.  Some opportunities could potentially make millions, but after legal reviews, often the risk just doesn’t outweigh the reward.  Think about it, who in their right mind would want to create an offer that makes $350 million dollars, only to have it taken from them under a FTC forfeiture claim ( just like Jeremy Johnson did – who by the way is still sitting in jail).   HINT: Making a few hundred million dollars with a non-compliant offer doesn’t make you invincible.  It makes you a target.

Other opportunities might present challenges that we simply cannot in good faith get past.  i.e.  We received an email from an advertiser who owned a new clothing line.  After one look at the clothes I just couldn’t imagine for the life of me who in their right mind would buy his brand.   The jeans were ugly as shit, skin tight, and SELLING FOR $400+!!!  Ouch.  I’m not even sure if these would make it on South Beach.  Even though the advertiser wanted to drop a good dime to “test it out online,” I told him that I didn’t feel comfortable spending his money because I was convinced we’d lose it.  Even though we would have received a $10,000 management fee for the 7 day campaign, it just wasn’t worth it.  In the end the owner of the tighty blues would have been an unhappy camper – not worth it.

Back to “Brining The Better Deal.”  The wealthiest people on the planet have mastered this concept on all scales.   Take for instance Steve Jobs and his Apple iPad.  Steve master-minded a device that brought more value than the present value of $599 for many Americans.  By bringing the better deal, people forfeited their money in exchange for his device.

Same principle is applied to the world of online direct response marketing.  There are thousands of offers in this space.  If you want to gain traction from the top agencies or a tier-1 traffic source, then you need to have a rock-solid value proposition.  i.e. Arguably the members of our group are the best in the industry at creating offers and running traffic.  That means that we can take any ideas that cross our desk and build out top convertering/viable offers.  Therefore when you present an offer for buildout, the deal needs to add more value than the current value of the deals we already have in place.   The deal also needs to have an element that would add more value than we’d receive by building it out and owning it ourselves.  Otherwise it just doesn’t make good business sense.

Everybody has their masters.  There are people in the industry that I work with that add ENORMOUS value to our clients.  These groups are our masters.  When I ask them to handle an aspect of the campaigns, they already know I’m bringing them a 1+1=10 deal.  Unless things are rock-solid, I’m not going to waste their time.

You don’t want to get labeled as someone that brings a lot of frivolous deals to the table.  That’s a surefire way to lose credibility in the industry.  Instead garnish the reputation of someone that ALWAYS BRINGS THE BETTER DEAL.  You’ll win every time.

Here’s a few quotes that define my core beliefs:

Just As Iron Sharpens Iron, So One Man Sharpens Another - Proverbs 27:17

Find Your Limitations and Exceed Them – Anonymous

A prince must imitate the fox and the lion, for the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves. Those that wish to be only lions do not understand this – Niccolo Machiavelli 

Don’t Work For Money, Let Your Money Work For You – Robert Kiyowsaki

Work Hard, Play Hard – My Father told me this as a kid, but he didn’t invent it

Never put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies – Robert Greene

Win through your Actions, Never through Argument – Robert Greene

Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky – Robert Greene

When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest, Never to their Mercy or Gratitude – Robert Greene

Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure – George Edward Woodberry

Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success – Dale Carnegie

Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune - Jim Rohn

I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody - Bill Cosby

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no point in being a damn fool about it - W. C. Fields

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm - Winston Churchill

Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing – Thomas Jefferson

Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage – Niccolo Machiavelli 
 

What quotes have had an impact on your life? 

Lately, I’ve been getting asked what I feel is the future of where the Internet marketing and affiliate marketing space is headed towards. I realized this back in 2009 when it all hit me one day.

The best way I can simply explain is by splitting the affiliate space into three main components: advertisers (the person who owns the product), affiliates (all the
guyswho get paid a commission to market the product), and the networks (the middleman who brings the advertiser and affiliate together).

Each one of these three components makes a pretty decent margin with all the revenue they generate. I’ve been fortunate enough to be on all three sides.

The affiliate makes anywhere between 25-50% net margin afterthey get paid their CPA or commissions from the advertiser and subtract the cost of getting the traffic to the
advertiser’s site. The network makes their 20-35% margin for being the middleman. And the advertiser makes their 20-40% margin long-term each customer they acquire. Of course, all these margins vary depending on the industry, type of product/service, etc., but you get the point.

Now what if you eliminate the network and went straight to the affiliate? Or even better, what if you already knew the affiliate side and now learned how to properly build your own online offer/campaign? Not only do the margins increase, but more importantly, you can dominate the industry. How so?

Let me give you an example. If most of the affiliates are capped at paying $0.50 per click in order for them to make their margins and still be profitable, then they will try to get as many $0.50 clicks of the same type of traffic. They can’t really go much higher, or else their margins start to dwindle. They don’t have much room.

Now if you’re an advertiser buying your own traffic directly with no affiliates or network, raising t to $0.60 or even $0.70 should be no problem. This will allow you to get more traffic than anyone else and get the larger market share. These direct advertisers will almost always win at the end.

Now we are many years away from that happening, but it’s happening more and more each day. Not only myself, but I know other advertisers who are doing this exact thing. There’s nothing holding them back and they are some of the biggest and most successful people in the Internet marketing space.

I’ve been told that learning to be a super advertiser is the “holy grail” of the affiliate space because you have complete control of your destiny. I’d have to agree.

About the Author

Peter Nguyen is a super advertiser who has built out some of the largest and best converting CPA campaigns in the industry. He is also the founder of Advertiser360, the most comprehensive course ever created to build your own product or service online.

The 80/20 Principle, also known as the “Pareto Priniciple,” states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

In this webinar Rick Del Rio of Limelight CRM, Hersh Sandhoo of Webmation, and I delve into what the 80/20 principle means to direct response marketers.  Special thanks to Rick Del Rio’s staff for recording/editing the webinar!!!

Click Here To Listen To The Webinar

What does an Internet Marketer have to do to get some respect around here?

When a lawyer reveals his profession, it’s hard not to be impressed. You can almost taste the blood, sweat and tears that have gone in to his degree. No matter how slippery he may seem, you can at least appreciate the hard road travelled to get where he is.

However, when an Internet Marketer reveals his profession, you can forget the acknowledgement of his endless hard work. No way, dude. You won the lottery, got lucky with some data entry, and now you owe it to the world to show them your secrets.

“Oh so you’re one of those Internet guys? I’ve been looking to do that stuff too. Wanna show me how?”

It would be easy to mock the intelligence of industry outsiders, until you realise that much of our industry actually consists of industry outsiders. Nobody seems to know shit about what they’re alleged to be working on, but everybody is content that they’ll one day make money from it.

I am one of the biggest cynics of the Internet Marketing ecosystem in all of it’s circle jerk glory. It’s clear that a select few individuals have the right idea, and that’s why they’re rich. But most people fail to understand the real workings of the driving force behind success.

This can be through ignorance, through a lack of application or because so many people wanting to make money online are absolute freeloaders who are prepared to offer nothing of substance in return.

Yes, Internet Marketing has a rather severe case of freeloaders hanging from it’s balls. There are those who “get it” and make great money, and those who quite clearly don’t. They view the industry as one gigantic get rich quick scheme, and treat it as such, which ruins the reputation for the rest of us.

If you spend your fledgling marketing career bumsurfing every last blog in the pursuit of a magic success formula, I could personally care less. That is, after all, your own choice to waste time. But what really gets on my nerves is the attitude of expectancy from those who pursue not just a pointer here or there, but fully fledged personal consultancy in the form of constant emails, IM questions and even chatter on a Friday night out.

I’m not sure which of these drones I would rather spend my time with, but I have met an abundance of both:

The really bad marketer with lots of obvious questions that he’s quite capable of answering himself.

“Well hurrdurr, you want to know how I think that offer will perform? Shut up and go find out.”

Or the guy who sees your flash car, fancies a slice of the high life and demands to hear the inside scoop on this new money making craze…despite having never touched a website in his life.

“So what shall I teach you first, oh future millionaire? How to build a landing page, or how to switch off the capslock?”

If it sounds like I’m lambasting every poor marketer who ever had to start from scratch, that’s not my intention at all. We all have to learn, and we all have questions along the way. But the most important quality you can develop right here and now is intuition. The ability to think on your feet without requiring seventeen second opinions and a dedicated thread on Digital Point.

Intuition is everything to an Internet Marketer. Why? Because clues to success are all around you. Everything you could possibly need to make a living online is right in front of your fucking eyes in the form of successful websites, services and products you use every day. These did not fall from trees and spout in to glorious profits overnight. They all required intuition, vision and a lot of lessons learnt along the way.

My problem with the Internet Marketing industry has always been the assumption of entitlement. Those in the know are perfectly enlightened to the fact that success in this business is typically just as hard fought as any other.

But then you have a sizable majority of freeloaders. Those who wince at the thought of investing in good services, who expect secrets drip-fed to them in the form of multiple ebook purchases when business knowledge can only truly be accumulated by actually doing. They like to ride goodwill, and their “right to free information”, all the way to the bank.

I don’t know which bank these mopes belong to. But it’s probably blessed with very quiet paying in queues.

I had a perfect example of this freeloading culture delivered to my inbox last week. A typically enthusiastic (and fairly successful) affiliate asking for a few tips and pointers to drive his business to the next level, which I was happy to provide. But one of his questions was this:

“I don’t really want to pay for a dedicated server. Can I scale my websites profitably using shared hosting?”

Well, of course, you may be able to, but just how serious are you about succeeding in this industry if you’re not prepared to invest in some of the basic “business upgrades” along the way?

It’s not the server that causes the problem, but the complete disregard for value. This guy is shooting himself in the foot by making budget business choices (when he was quite capable of paying the premium), presumably because he falls in to the common category of Internet Marketers who believe that…

Cheap is always best, free is always better. Whatever I don’t have to pay is money saved.

It’s an attitude that manifests and rears it’s ugly head so often that I’m almost tired of talking about it.

Investing in your business, through acquiring the help of suitable services, is a very small price to pay if it gives you a direct competitive advantage over the average Johnny Nobody entering the industry on a hope and a prayer.

I guess a freeloading mindset can be forgiven if we’re talking about investments alone. Most people place great value on their bank funds, and rightly so. But where it cannot be forgiven is in the freeloading attitude that Johnny Nobody somehow has a right to the tricks and secrets of other more experienced marketers.

Does this same guy go up to lawyers and ask for their best legal advice so he can share the glory of jumping in to their professions many years down the line when it actually looks prosperous? No, because this is different. This is Internet Marketing, where it seems perfectly fine to jump in at the deep end and enjoy a modicum of success. Well have fun drowning, Johnny Nobody.

If you’ve been burned by an ebook that failed to deliver on it’s promises, shame on the author. If you’ve been burned by several ebooks that failed to deliver on their promises, shame on you. You’re probably an information freeloader. A marketer who could be making much better use of his time by showing some intuition and taking action to produce something…anything…just something to show for his time!

I hate telling people I’m an Internet Marketer because it presents two very obvious problems.

1. Most people are overly keen to hear how this can work as a profession. So keen, in fact, they’ll badger you all night in the pursuit of their own day job exit strategy.

2. The industry has become a joke upon itself. So much misinformation and so many false income claims have made the titles “Internet Marketer” and “Professional Scam Artist” interchangeable. It’s becoming very difficult for a newbie to succeed when so much bullshit exists that is only ever a single Google search away.

Nine times out of 10, Bullshit is the first result for Internet Marketing related searches.

I would dearly love to see all beginners attacking the industry with intuition, honesty and a desire to learn for themselves. To not expect overnight results, but to treat it like any other business where money is made through hard work. Maybe then the rest of us would be perceived as actual businessmen rather than lottery winning freakshows.

But isn’t that a paradox?

Those of us who are already successful can’t be too keen on seeing such a growth in healthy competition. It would affect our own businesses. Which leaves you having to ask, “Where is the sense in trusting the judgment of others and their secrets and tricks, over your own initiative?”

And the answer is that there is none!

Test your own theories, make your mistakes and carve your own success. It may turn in to a painful learning experience with many lost dollars along the way, but so is the path of all true businesses. You are only entitled to great riches if you have something great to offer.

About The Author

Finch is a direct response marketer and blogs on Finch Sells. He writes advice for the “working class” affiliate, helping individuals to be more creative.

Why is it that so many advertisers get fixated on dominating just the US market?

The world is a big place.  These days it’s sad to say that it’s a lot easier and much more luctrative to market internationally vs. domestically.   Here’s why:

1.  Regulators are on a suing rampage.

2.  The US Economy is in the shitter.  Take a look at some startling stats:

- There are over 5.5 million Americans that are unemployed and are not receiving benefits.
- All over America, state and local governments are selling off buildings just to pay the bills.
- State and local government debt has reached an all time high of 22% of U.S. GDP.
- 1 out of every 7 Americans has at least 10 credit cards!
- The US dollar is so badly inflated that Steve Forbes predicts the US will go back to the Gold Standard in the next 5 years.

3.  The FTC is on an all out witch hunt to crucify direct response marketers in the US.  While I believe in a number of the lawsuits the FTC has brought forward in recent history, there’s a number of rules they’ve enacted that are pure rubish.

Things like disallowing counters on websites or striking down on advertisers for creating “a false sense of urgency” is just bs.  Creating a sense of urgency is what direct response marketing is all about!  It’s how we sell things, which in turn creates jobs and stimulates the economy.  Hello!  FTC go after the bad guys and stop nit-picking on things that are harmless to consumers.  BTW – just got another PayPal scam email while drafting this post – shouldn’t you start addressing that vs. “false sense of urgency!”

4.  International media is less expensive.  Let’s face it, the cost to acquire a customer in Canada is about 1/2 that of the US.  In France it’s about 1/10 of the cost of Canada.  Bottom line is that international media is super inexpensive.

5.  In South America, Canada, UK, Australia, France, Spain, and other select European countries, customers are less likely commit fraud.   They revere American made products and are much less likely to ask for a refund or chargeback.

Overall there’s billions of dollars to be made in international markets.  If you find yourself focusing exclusively on domestic marketing than I strongly encourage you to expand abroad.  Not only will you make more money, you’ll also hedge yourself from the risk of putting all your eggs into 1 basket!!

As a 21 year old Marketing and Advertising college student, I began to see a big disconnection between the classroom and the real world.  I put in the hours and read all the textbooks, took all the notes, and joined all the clubs.

 But as I began stepping my foot into the real world, it became clearer to me that school and the real world are not one and the same.  And that college degree was no E-ZPass to the highway of success.  It was only after landing an internship position at Direct Response Agency that I learned a life changing lesson.

 The best education comes from experience.

 A lesson I continually learn every day since I began interning for Rich at Direct Response Agency.  I’ve learned what it takes to be the best at what you do.  Not only being placed in the experience of what a successful company looks like, but also the behind the scenes long hours and hard work it takes to get there.

 I was quick to get some real world direct response experience. Experience no classroom could ever teach me.  And something more than just myself would be benefiting from as well.

 Rich came across FastFrame of West Chester.  A local framing store in West Chester, Pennsylvania that had been going through a bit of a rough patch.  It found itself on the brink of going out of business.  After using their great services and recognizing their potential, Rich knew that he had the ability to boost this business back into full gear.

 It would have been easy to write a check right then and there.  Putting a band aid on the problem for a little while before things fell right back to being bad.  But our motto at Direct Response Agency is:

 You can give a man a fish, and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish, and you’ll feed him for a lifetime.

 So instead, Direct Response Agency created a philanthropy campaign designed around saving FastFrame of West Chester from extinction.

 We sat down with the owner of FastFrame of West Chester and began to discuss every aspect of the business.  From how the job gets done, where it gets done, and how fast it gets done.  Discovering all the features to the business and turning them into benefits that sell.

 We went to work with our elite website designers on creating a landing page that would convert.  We decided on a very enticing call to action offer. After submitting some simple information, you would receive a 50% off coupon for your entire purchase.  This would inform, create action, and organize customer information.

 The result was a landing page that displayed enticing wording, graphics, and coloring that showed what FastFrame of West Chester can do for you.  We were determined to turn this business around, so we made sure that every aspect of this landing page was selling the business.  We collected testimonials, displayed product graphics, and wrote copy that sells the business on its own.

 Our programmers built out the page so it took you to a convenient verification page.  While simultaneously downloading your printable coupon.  Creating as much ease in the process as possible.  On both the landing page and the verification page, was a three step process on how to redeem and use your coupon.  Visually explaining the steps creates a much easier process in the customer’s mind.

 In order to drive large amounts of traffic to the landing page, we spent the time to research high trafficked organically ranked keywords for the domain name.  It was important to find a domain name with the extension of .com, .net, or .org.  These are the most commonly referred to extensions.

 After much review, www.BestFraming.com was created.  Drawing over 6,500 monthly searches.

 There are many small businesses going through the same struggle as FastFrame of West Chester right now.  Direct Response Agency is continually putting all our resources to good use as we continue to build and monitor the success of this campaign.

 If you have the resources and the time, it is important to give back to your community.  If you have been giving back, leave your stories below!

Have you ever read Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad? 

If you have then chances are that it changed your life.  In fact, out of every book I’ve ever read and all life experience combined, Rich Dad, Poor Dad has had the biggest impact on my career.

When I was growing up my parents always pushed the notion that conventional education was everything.  It went something like this: ” ‘you have to get a college degree to get a good job…’, ‘education is the key to success’, ‘if you want to have a good life then you have to go to a good college.’ “  Like most of my friends, I bought into this nonsense.  That is of course until I met James Smith.  (In my parents defense, the path to formal education was all they knew.  Work hard in school, get into a good college, then go work for another man.)

It was the summer of 1998 and I was pumping iron at Gold’s Gym (at that time it was more like pumping lead as I was a pretty skinny dude).  The guy on the bench next to me was taking a bar with 225lbs. and throwing it in the air and catching it on the way down.  I couldn’t believe my eyes. 

Fascinated by this dude’s strength, I asked him for some pointers on working out.  I suppose that he was sympathetic to my rail thin size  because he ended up going all out by creating a diet, supplement, and work out plan for me.  After following the plan for 8 weeks I gained 12 lbs. and increased my bench press manifold.

One day James asked me if I wanted to come hang out at his club.  “Club?” I asked.   “Do you work there?”  “No” James replied.  ”I own it.”  Mind you that James was only 29 at the time.  Additionally he was very humble.   That day I watched James walk out of the gym and get into a beat up green van.  The first thing I thought to myself was that this guy was going to kill me if I “met him out” at his “club.”

I walked up the the front desk and asked the receptionist what the deal was with “James.”  She told me that he was a big time business/club/bar owner in the area.  Say What!  “Then why does he drive a beat up green van around town?” I asked her.  She said she didn’t know.  (Years later I would find out that James drove around a beat up van because vehicles depreciate in value.  His mindset was that his daily vehicle took tons of miles on it so why invest in a nice car!)

After finding out that James was legit I hauled a bunch of my boys up to his club.  At the time we were 16 so I was the man because I got us in a college bar.  Moreover I had an “inside connection” with the owner.  Hahaha Awesome!!!!!!!!!

That night I asked James what college he graduated from.  I was expecting him to say something like “Harvard” or “Yale.”  Instead he said that the only time he ever went to college was to crash parties.  Then how was it that James was able to achieve levels of success that even the most educated in this country have never seen?

The answer lies in  Rich Dad, Poor Dad, a book that James highly recommended I read.  Rich Dad, Poor Dad is written in parables and is ostensibly a story of Robert Kiyosaki’s early life.  Robert’s biological father, known as the “Poor Dad,” was a highly educated man that lived paycheck to paycheck.   When he sought a raise, he would go back to school to achieve new degrees.  After each new degree Poor Dad’s raises were nominal at best.

Robert’s best friend’s father was a high school dropout.  You know what else he was…a multi-millionaire, aka Rich Dad. 

One summer Robert scored a job at Rich Dad’s grocery store.  There he began to learn a basic principle that changed his life, and when I read it my life changed too.  Here it is:

Don’t Work For Money, Let Your Money Work For You.

Rich Dad surrounded himself with people that were much smarter than he was.  He also knew how to put his money to work.  By hiring cashiers, bag boys, accountants, lawyers, and smart marketers, Rich Dad’s money worked for him while he worked on growing his business.

The same priciple applies to direct response marketing.  The best campaigns require little to no work on the part of the campaign owner.  Traffic, call centers, marketing, forecasters, processing, fulfillment, returns, legal, accounting,  upsells, and advertising are all handled by others.  The campaign owner’s money works for him.

It’s all fine and dandy so long as the Rich Dad puts his money to good use.  One pitfall I’ve witnessed is careless spending once the money starts working for you.  When you start pulling in loads of cash you should pay even closer attention as to where your money is going.

James once noted that it was the little expenses that you have to keep track of.  The reasoning is that little expenses aggregate to become big expenses.  Big expenses such as purchases of commercial properties or new equipment are trackable.  Little expenses are like cigarettes.  Over a short period of time you’d hardly notice their effect.  Then one day you wake up with cancer and you’re dead.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad tought many of us that it doesn’t take a college education to make it big in this world.   Think about it, when was the last time someone cared where a successful direct response marketer went to college?  It’s irrelevant.  What is relevant is what you’re doing today to make a difference.

So ask yourself this question: Are you working for money or is your money working for you?

For those of you that know Zac Johnson I needn’t say anymore.  For those that don’t, know that Zac is not only a prolific blogger and affiliate, he’s also a shrewd advertiser.  Zac recently did a post (not paid) on Direct Response Agency.  Thanks for the love Zac and right back to you!!

Hey Guys – I started using SugarSync based on Rob Shibley’s recommendation. I now have all of my computers and mobile devices synced together. It took less than 5 minutes to download and setup.

I highly recommend SugarSync.  And NO they didn’t pay me to say that, lol!!

The more active you are in the business world, the more personality types you’re going to deal with.   Some of the most successful guys I know in the online space are also the most humble.  Take for instance Jason Akatiff, owner and operator of Ads4Dough.  Jason is one of the most non-chalant and humble guys I know.  One would never expect that Jason is one of the largest affiliates in the world and runs the best affiliate network out there.

On the exact opposite end of the spectrum there’s the guys that let success get to their heads.  This group makes a few million dollars and quickly forget that they’re as human as the rest of us.  The “Rich Jerk” is the quintessential money-got-to-your-head internet marketer:

Regardless of the personality type you’re dealing with, if someone adds value to your business ask yourself this questions: Would you rather be rich or right? Let’s be rich and make everyone else feel like they’re right.

Don’t let your ego get in your way of success.  Who cares if someone is cocky, thinks they’re better than you, or whatever.  So long as they add enormous value to your business make them feel the way they want to feel.  Feed their egos while they feed your wallets.

My friend Brian Hamilton had me cracking up the other day.  He said “Rich, every time I deal with an unreasonable or overly cocky guy in this space I just picture them as a talking meatloaf.  Because I’m just going to take a bite out of their face.  They feed my family.”  LMFAO – so true Brian!!

Keep your mind on the goal: success.  Always keep your opinions to yourself.  Your goal is to win business deals, not fruitless arguments.  Be Rich, Not Right

Last year I purchased TeethWhitener.net, a niche domain name that I quickly got ranked at the top of the search engines.  Using Flippa.com I turned this $97 investment (domain name + minimal work in getting the exact match domain name ranked) into $6,000.    

I would have spent more time working on the domain name however I chose to focus on DirectResponse.net instead.  Let’s face it, I’m just not as enthusiastic about Teeth Whitening as I am about Direct Response Marketing  

At any rate, last week my friend Zac Johnson sent me an email with a copy of his new book on how to use Flippa.  It was an AWESOME read and gave me a lot of new insight on how to maximize Flippa.   One thing you ought to consider is using Zac’s guide as an exit strategy for your online businesses.  Take a look at some of the subpar domain names that sold recently on Flippa – for A LOT of money:

CLICK HERE to read Zac Johnson’s guide to killing it on Flippa.  It’s a must read.

P.S. Zac Johnson is taking over the social media advertising for one of my Inc. 500 clients.  Zac is one of the most thorough guys I’ve ever worked with.  I anticipate that he’ll hit between 10-15k a day in profit by the end of the summer.  His advertising tactics are right on point.