A few weeks ago, I was on the porch knocking back a Modelo Especial working and I noticed one of my friends walking up to the front door.

So I eased on down the steps, let him in, and invited him to up to the porch to take in the scenery with me.

He readily agreed so I grabbed us both a couple of Mexico’s finest beers and we took our seats.

But something was wrong. My (normally laid back) buddy was all weirded out.

“Poor bastard’s probably suffering from a beer deficiency”, I thought as I went to grab us a few more.

They didn’t do the trick so I finally asked him what was wrong.

Turned out he’d been disappointed with a recent “Guru” experience.  I’m not talking about spiritual guru stuff here …I mean “get-your-shit-together-in-business” stuff.

That type of Guru.

No, there’s no drama to report …nobody felt ripped off or hosed or anything. It’s just that the relationship didn’t work out as planned and my buddy was bummed.

“I really thought this was the guy who would take me where I want to go”, he said.

And There You Have It …The Root Of The Problem Revealed

See …here’s the deal (and this is what I tried to explain to my friend without sounding all high and mighty):

YOU are the only person who can take you where you want to go. There is no Guru, teacher, mentor, author, speaker, shaman, or whatever who can or will do that for you.

Ever.

Sure, they can show you cool stuff. They can show you what worked for them, they can give you encouragement and motivation …and they can help you keep your head on straight when the going gets weird.

But in the immortal words of Hunter S. Thompson,

“When The Going Gets Weird, The Weird Turn Pro”

And what that means in the context of this little rant is simple:

DON’T FUCK AROUND AND EXPECT SOMEONE ELSE TO SAVE THE DAY.

They won’t. Hell, they can’t! Not even if they want to. Only YOU can.

So whenever you’re considering buying advice, coaching, mentoring, seminar tickets, or whatever – understand this:

They Are All WORTHLESS

…Unless you’re bull-headed enough to immediately put what you learn into action. (And then get right back to work when your first attempts inevitably present some challenges).

And if you’re waiting until you get some big amazing revelation before you actually do something, you’re going to be waiting a long time. There ain’t one.

Well, that’s not entirely true. There is one …but it’s just kind of anti climatic. Here it is:

Some Stuff Works, Some Doesn’t.

And the stuff that’s worked for lots of other people will probably work for you too …if you put in the effort.

See …that’s the key word there.

Effort.

Let’s juice it up and add the word “educated” to it.

Now we have “educated effort”. And that’s a hell of a thing.

See, with “educated effort”, you can do anything you want.

Add in a little “determination” and you’re damn near unstoppable.

Then throw in a little bump of what my teacher Dan Kennedy calls “stick-to-it-iveness” and you WILL get to where you want to go.

Let’s take a look at the last part of that sentence.

YOU. Will. Get. To. Where. YOU. Want. To. Go.

We didn’t say “[INSERT GURU HERE] will get you where you want to go”, did we?

Nope.

YOU.

All a Guru can give you is education.

But the fact remains that’s only 25% of what you need.

You still need throw in 25% effort, 25% determination, and 25% sticktoitiveness.

…And that’s the 75% that YOU and ONLY YOU can provide!

So that’s why

YOU are really the only Guru who can EVER get you to where you want to go!

Hell, how much education do you need, anyway?

Imagine a guy wanting to lose weight (ahem). How many books does he need to buy? For the love of God, it’s easy! Put the fork down and walk around for a few hours a day.

Do that for a month or so and you’ll weigh less. (Duh!)

That’s been the winning formula forever, right?

But There’s A Gazillion Dollar Industry
Delivering “New” Weight Loss Stuff Every Day!

There’s a new diet book every 20 minutes or so it seems.

And the books aren’t the problem. I’m sure they all work if the reader takes the education they just got, adds in a lot of effort, determination, and sticktoitiveness.

But that clearly doesn’t happen. People just keep buying books and gizmos that go unused. Same thing happens in the marketing world. We buy courses and seminars and then jump to the next one …without implementing any of the stuff we just learned.

Why?

Because The Short-Term Pain Of Effort Is Often Perceived
To Be Worse Than The Long-Term Pain Of Failure

There it is. The ugly truth.

It’s hard to get out there …try …work like hell … probably hit a few road blocks …and then keep busting ass until you succeed.

It’s a LOT harder (and less fun) than buying the latest “shiny object” and enjoying that temporary mental “high” that comes from the false sense of productivity you get from making the purchase.

But the fact is, the ONLY way you’ll get anywhere is to realize that YOU ARE THE GURU and that ONLY YOU can make it happen.

So if you keep on buying advice without putting forth determined and consistent effort to implement what you’ve learned, you will NOT succeed.

But if you’re willing to endure the short-term discomfort that stems from stepping outside your comfort zone and actually working like crazy for a while, you’ll get to where you want to go.

All the “Gurus” can do for you is give you the car, so to speak. It’s still up to you to get gas and actually drive it.

My Challenge To You

1. Don’t buy any advice this month. Go back and re-read whatever you’ve bought in the past. It’s still good.

2. Turn off the damn computer and write down all the good stuff you learn. On a legal pad. (OLD SCHOOL!).

3. Review those notes and write down every possible action you could take to start making money immediately. Do whatever actions jump out at you. Don’t over think this. Just do it. Life is short.

4. Write a new offer for your products. You’ve probably bought a ton of stuff on writing offers and copy …so dig it out of the closet and put it to use. Nothing happens until something gets sold. So start selling (and quit buying).

5. Take the money you would have spent on whatever new marketing product you were thinking about buying this month (but didn’t) and use that money to drive traffic to your offer.

That’s right! Invest in business instead of buying more stuff about business. Revolutionary concept!

6. Measure the results of your activity (note the word ACTIVITY!) and tweak accordingly.

7. Repeat 1-6.

Oh – and if you’ve ever looked for a magic formula, that’s pretty much it.

I know because I’ve been at this now for 11 years and I’ve tried everything.

It’s simple:

1. See what worked for other people.

2. Try it for yourself.

3. Adjust according to results.

4. Repeat.

Now Let’s Kick Some Ass

We’re heading into the 4th quarter and ’tis the season to SELL THE HELL OUT OF YOUR STUFF.

This is the time of year when people love to buy things more than ever …and that means your odds of success are even greater!

So get to work and let me know how you’re doing with my challenge. Leave me updates in the comments below.

Technorati Tags: frank kern, Guru, Marketing Guru, Online Marketing

I just interviewed Internet marketer Mike Filsaime for an hour and a half to get to the bottom of some of the rumors floating around the blogosphere. Doesn’t it make sense to go straight to the source instead of guessing what he’s been up to?

In a nutshell, here are eight things you should know about Mike Filsaime…

1.    Mastermind Memberships. Like Napoleon Hill, Mike Filsaime has been a member of many mastermind groups over the past eight years as he’s built his business online. Right now, he’s a member of three different mastermind groups, including Russell Brunson’s group, Yanik Silver’s group (100 or so members), and the Syndicate mastermind group. No member of any of these groups is responsible for the actions of other members any more so than you would be responsible for the actions of one of your competitors if you both were members of the local chamber of commerce.
2.    The Syndicate Mastermind. “The Syndicate” is a tongue-in-cheek renaming of an informal mastermind group of marketing guys, including Mike Filsaime, who first started talking with each other about tech developments and online business at all of these Internet marketing seminars where they kept bumping into each other as speakers, attendees, etc. This is a closed-mastermind that communicates daily via email like any like minded group would in a yahoo/google “group.” The mastermind ends there. Members will talk one on one or meet at events just as they do (more often than not) with non members of the mastermind.

The group’s existence is the worst-kept “secret” on the Internet because members have repeatedly talked about it publicly. However, some of those “exposed” as members are not actually members.

For example, while Mike Filsaime is in a “separate” mastermind group with Russell Brunson. However, Russell is not a member of the Syndicate mastermind.

Mike Koenigs is also not a member of the Syndicate Mastermind. Mike Koenigs simply lives near and is friends some of the mastermind members in the syndicate (2 of them.)

Many marketers online are friends offline and will love to “talk shop” and find ways to do joint ventures and relationships develop.

3.    JV Partners. As part of systemizing his business, Mike Filsaime has streamlined how he selects JV partners. You can read more about it at http://marketingdotcom.com/an-open-letter-to-all-jv-partners/
4.    Product Launch Calendars. Like movie studios that check when a competitor has scheduled a blockbuster movie to release, Internet marketers like Mike Filsaime keep and check calendars for launching their products and services so that releases don’t conflict. If you filmed a movie, you wouldn’t want to release it on the same day as another big movie was coming out because there are only so many people going to the movies that weekend. That’s recognizing some dates are better than others for making money on your investment. Similarly, there are mastermind groups that keep calendars for tracking launch dates already announced by group members and others. To see a similar calendar anyone can use to determine what dates their competition has already scheduled product launches, go to Mike Merz’s JVNotifyPro.com.
5.    Promoting Each Others’ Products as an Affiliate. Being part of a mastermind group is no guarantee that someone will promote Mike Filsaime’s products (or yours for that matter). You can learn from each other in a mastermind but your economic interests are not the same. Sometimes it makes sense to promote for another group member’s product launch. Many times it doesn’t because you’ve got higher priorities. And even when there is promotion between members, the level of participation ranges wildly from sending out one email to a small sublist as an affiliate to putting on a full court press with multiple emails, videos, webinars, etc.
6.    Affiliate Tiering. Mike Filsaime, like most Internet marketers with affiliate programs, has a tiered structure. A, B, and C affiliates are treated differently based upon what they bring to the table per launch…not because of who they are but rather how much they support. Support is not determined by sales only, it is more a combination of the results produced by your over efforts. Mike is more likely to reward a B-tier affiliate with a small list that goes “all out” to promote than an A-tier affiliate who sends out one email blast. Like everyone out there, Mike started as a C-tier affiliate and worked his way up. A system that rewards marketers for working hard makes sense both short-term and long-term. One doesn’t get classified as an A-tier and ride the gravy train by not promoting.
7.    Pricing. Products and services are priced based upon market research and testing. For example, if a product doesn’t convert well at $1,497, it might do very well at $997. Similarly, a $77 product might outperform the same product at $57. But when pricing, there’s a huge difference between selling an eBook and a multimedia course that contains a dozen DVDs, group coaching calls, etc. The amount of work and value put into the latter justifies a higher price point. But the high dollar products carry risk. Most customers buy these using multi-payment plans. If value isn’t delivered, they will either stop paying or ask for a refund. That’s why it’s important to over deliver value no matter what price you set – It is good practice to get advice on your offer and positioning for other experts in your industry to do what is best for your business. An offer is “What the buyer gets and how he will get it” as well as “What the buyer will pay and how he will pay for it.” Getting consulting from a peer about how to create an offer is not price fixing it is simply advice on what to sell and what to sell it for.
8.    Charity. Mike Koenigs and his wife have a charity, JustLikeMyChild.com, which some Syndicate members support by attending fundraisers and through donations. While Mike Filsaime has not had the opportunity himself to attend one of these charity events, he did make a one-time donation of  $500 last year to the charity as well as several other charities. Accusations that the charity was set up by the Syndicate or is used by the mastermind members for money laundering are absolutely false and absurd. The charity is not owned or controlled by anyone other than Mike Koenigs. Any contributions are voluntary and not coordinated by anyone other than the charity itself.

I’ll probably get flamed for doing the interview and posting this online. But I did it to clear the air in the blogosphere.

Always do your research, don’t rely upon gossip, and when in doubt, go to the source and ask questions. At a minimum, it will give you more information so that you can make an informed decision as to what’s real and what’s just idle speculation.

To your online success!

-Mike Young

P.S. Here is a note written by Mike Filsaime posted here without editing or comment.

I am writing this today about a blogger, Jason Michael Jones. He goes by the name “Salty Droid.”

Jason Jones is obviously very smart, witty, very funny, and has one of the best writing styles you may find around. And what many may not believe is that I actually agree with much of his “philosophy.” In many ways he is right about a lot of things.

But he and I differ in many ways. Jason Jones is a mean spirited person and incites hate. He uses profanity to degrade and humiliate people. His goal is to embarrass and humiliate people and he does a good job at it.
I simply can not imagine anyone wanting to be a part of something like that but I am not surprised by it. As Dan Ariely would refer to that is “Predictably Irrational” that anyone would look up to a person like this. But it is what I will refer to as the “Lynch Mob” effect. People tend to act terrible as a group in ways they would not act alone. Jason Jones wants to knock people down. I am not sure why he seeks significance from this. He wants to save the world from predators’, that is good. He just choose to do it in a mean and vicious way. He refers to me as vicious.

Jason Jones uses TABLOID tactics to get attention. He is the equivalent of a “Camera Wielding, Celebrity Chaser on a Moped.” These people are sensationalist. They hurt people for to make their points. As a tabloid would show unflattering pictures, so too will Jason Jones. He will take pictures of people and use Photoshop and audio and edits to make people look evil and edit audio and video to take messages out of context to support is allegations of illegal activities that simply do not exist.

He calls that helping people. I call it wrong. I call it mean.

Jason Jones is the person that will watch someone fall, take credit for their fall, and then kick them when they are down. There maybe a place for that, in tabloids and that what he is looking to do.

Jason Jones seeks to embarrass people, and has done a good job, by getting his hands on private property. Contrary to popular belief, this is not given to him by insiders as his readers suggest in comments (that he will not correct.) The truth is he steals it off servers. Marketers make mistakes with a loophole you could call it in cloud computing like s3 Amazon by not securing the ACL settings. What that means is if I see one video on your website I can remove the file name to expose the hundreds of audio, video, and .pdf files you store on there for your records.

Jason uses this personal information to attempt to humiliate. This is the same as getting your hands on a private intimate sex video of Hollywood actors  and posting it on your blog to prove what a jerk a person is. There is room for that in this world. People love to see people fall. This just don’t want it to ever be them.

It is simply tabloid. You see it in Hollywood, Sports, the Music industry, Celebutants, and high profile individuals. And yes, we see it in our industry. You simply don’t care about people you never heard of.

But some of us have a big spot light on us at all times. Every word you say on stage, calls, video, your blog, is ready for ridicule, counterpoints, and expose. People want to call you a hypocrite. You will make mistakes. You are foolish to think you are anywhere near perfect. But “some” people can’t wait for you to make a mistake so they can say “See, I told you this guy is a scammer.”

Jason Jones has nothing to lose. If you fall, he will write about you as if he takes credit and warned the world of you. He did it with James Arthur Ray, he did it with Bernie Madoff.  No one likes what they did. But you don’t see the news dealing with it with hate. They report the best they can with facts. Jason Jones incites a hate mob. And he does it well. And I find it sad but expected.

I wish for anyone, he does not puts his sights on you. He has nothing to lose like I said. He will seek to embarrass you and to watch you fall.

The truth is, he does have readers. Very much like the Howard Stern effect. Not everyone likes him, they want to see what he does next. A bit of virtual “rubbernecking” you can say. He has fans. And he has haters. I never wanted to address this on my blog as I did not want to make a person of HATE famous. But I felt it was time to speak on this.

He has “hunches” about me and many. For me, I can say he is wrong. He can knock himself out trying. But his accusations are really nothing more than conspiracy theory. Quite Comical at times. More often very hurtful. I am not going to lie to you. I try not to read it because I am human and the hateful words he says hurts me. It hurts my family, and it hurts my staff. But that is the price you pay when you are a leader in any industry. Think about that.

There will ALWAYS be people that participate and grab torches. He and his loyal followers will make fun of this and try to further humiliate me. It may work for a few hours, but at the end of the day, I know in my heart what I strive to do. He and I both try to make the world a better place. He does it with hate and trying to knock down people, or kicking them when they fall. I don’t see that helping anyone.

I wake up every day and find a way to provide value. If you want to know the truth about me, ask my friends, my family, and my CUSTOMERS and those that have been to my events. Those are the only people that matter. You will find a few unhappy people, It is to be expected. But the overwhelmingly, my products have helped thousands of people. I know this because I am told often that I was a major influence and inspiration to people.

I have donated tens of thousands of dollars to nearly 10 charities over the last few years. If a person down on their luck emails me for my $47 or $1997 product, I give it to them. I fly out people down on their luck to my office that I do not know, or I pay for their ticket to an event that they can’t afford and put them up in a hotel.

I love to entertain. I love to laugh. And I love to make a living helping people. To some, teaching how to make money makes you a scammer. I can live with that.

I have made mistakes. Small ones ,and some big ones. I will again although I hope I don’t. I feel I am growing as a person, a marketer, and a business man. There are things I have done years ago that would not be part of my business model today.

To those of faith I say, let those who are without sin cast the first stone. (That one means nothing to someone that is not a person of faith.) But what I am saying is, I know in my heart, I wake up every day and ask how can I provide the most value in my BUSINESS (meaning I will be compensated, as money is a by-product of the value you provide) and help people get what they want out of life.  If I make a mistake, I know Jason Jones will be there to kick me. To his readers, I ask that you investigate things for yourself. That is all. I know where my heart is and I will keep trying better every day.

To Jason Jones, I am not looking to embarrass you or do an expose on you. (Because you are perfect maybe.) So this should be my first and final word. So if you want to continue to trash me, I will wake up every day and keep providing value. You can Photoshop me, call me names, I won’t play your game. I will make great products and provide great free information. I will keep helping as much a I can in my heart. To the readers of Jason Jones, if you hate me, I understand why you might, Jason Jones’s blog gave you good reason with bad and hateful point of views. I simply ask that you ask the customers. But think twice about what it says about you to be cursing, and supporting a hate site. Read the Jason Jones’ blog with a fresh perspective. Is this something you would want your kids to support and admire. You want to change the world, you can do it by support the tabloid hate, or by providing value to this world.

As for me, I am not fighting him or you. I am going to wake every day and  try to enjoy life and help people and provide value. So get your torches out and chase me, or stop worrying about me and change the world the best you YOU know how.

My best friend told me yesterday, “Our destiny is- We are on a collision course with DEATH.” You and I are racing towards death. It is inevitable. There is nothing we can do about it. So what matters is what good we can do in this world from now until that day.

LEAVE A LEGACY. One that you can be proud to show your children.

So I am not going to worry about this Jason Jones. I am going to go work on my business. He can worry about me if he wants…

And in the words of Forrest Gump, that is “ALL” I have to say about that.

I wish you all success! (Even Jason Jones. He seems angry in his heart. I hope he decides to help people in a more valuable way.)

Mike Filsaime

Technorati Tags: internet marketing, Marketing Guru, MarketingDotCom Marketing Dot Com, Mike Filsaime, Mike Young, Online Marketing

In my interview with him today for an upcoming Mediabistro feature, Godin says, “I’ve decided not to publish any more books in the traditional way. 12 for 12 and I’m done. I like the people, but I can’t abide the long wait, the filters, the big push at launch, the nudging to get people to go to a store they don’t usually visit to buy something they don’t usually buy, to get them to pay for an idea in a form that’s hard to spread … I really don’t think the process is worth the effort that it now takes to make it work. I can reach 10 or 50 times as many people electronically. No, it’s not ‘better’, but it’s different. So while I’m not sure what format my writing will take, I’m not planning on it being the 1907 version of hardcover publishing any longer.”

Read more here: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2r44CC/www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/authors/new_york_times_bestseller_seth_godin_to_no_longer_publish_books_traditionally_171395.asp/r:f

Technorati Tags: Bestselling Author, Marketing Guru, Meatball Sundae, New York Times, Purple Cow, Seth Godin