I wasn’t even going to write this blog post but then it occurred to me…

… I haven’t had a good ole rant for a long time – like… almost a week! Plus, I’ve been holding off making a public statement and taking a stance on this issue for too long. And that just ain’t me. Nobody is ever gonna die wondering what I think about something I consider to be important. Those who know me well know that you can take that to the bank.

So, what am I cooking up today? Well, I just want to rave on about everyone’s favorite misery whinge at the moment and throw my 2 cents into the ring.

It seems as though Internet Marketers are forming up into TWO big opposing groups – those who wish to deceive and con versus those who don’t. I will call the former group the “Decepticons”, mainly because that is what they are mostly about – deceiving and conning.

Just in case you aren’t familiar with the concepts of the movie “Transformers”, here is the Wikipedia definition of a Decepticon:

“The Decepticons are usually depicted as the antagonists in the fictional universes of the Transformers toyline and related comics and cartoons, and the enemies of the Autobots.”

In other words they are the “bad guys.” So, moving along with this theme and relating it to Internet Marketing …

Decepticons will use false subject lines such as:

- “Notification of Payment Received”

That’s a real nasty because it tricks people – especially beginners – into thinking they have made a sale. So they eagerly open the email to see what the payment was for and then they get presented with some crap like: “Now that I have gained your attention…” Well, it sure gains mine – I start hunting for the UNSUBSCRIBE link straight away.

That deceptive subject line is bloody awful! I’ve even seen several experienced marketers use it. They should get a damn good kick up the a** for it.

Here’s another very “popular” misleading subject line:

- “RE: (and anything they type after that)”

This is designed to trick you into thinking that somebody is actually replying to you because that is the prefix given to ALL replies to emails that you send. Again, a trick – and a pretty moronic one at that. Why? Because the instant that you realize that the email isn’t personal you lose TOTAL interest and wonder who this putz is. Then you get annoyed that they would play such a trick on you and… UNSUBSCRIBE!

Here’s another commonly used Decepticon subject line:

- “Your Order Confirmation”

This is yet another trick to get you to open the email to see what the heck you are supposed to have ordered. When you realize that you have been conned yet again… yep… UNSUBSCRIBE!

Are you starting to see a pattern here? These Decepticons are SO bereft of talent that they have to resort to trickery and con-artistry to try to get you to open up their crap and then HOPE that because you did that you will either click on something that will take you to a sales page or an opt-in page to surrender your details for – wait for it – even MORE of their JUNK!

Now, here’s a particularly untalented Decepticon subject line that is doing the rounds FAR too often and is all the “rage” at the moment:

- “Your Order #RU256790843”

I can’t even believe how dopey this is and yet SO MANY would-be marketers are using it. Even worse there are so many fledgling marketers blindly copying this ridiculous ruse. It seems really strange to me that ALL of these deceptive subject lines all carry the prefix RU. Why not XT? Or ZBU? Nope. Monkey see, monkey do. (Give the chimp a peanut) They are ALL #RU. They might as well be #RU-anIDIOT. So, when somebody fools you in this way what do you do? Hint: Look above – it begins with U and ends with E!

There are several other “popular” Decepticon subject lines equally as misleading as these but I won’t bore you with any more. You have probably seen them anyway.

Do you like them?

I sure don’t. And it would seem that NOBODY else does either. But the dill-brains using them just continue to use them to build massive lists that are becoming MORE and MORE unresponsive by the day. Very soon anyone engaging in email marketing will have to have a list of 100,000 just to get 100 opens. And that 100 will be the greenest of green raw beginners on the planet. And when THEY wise-up they won’t be opening these emails either.

Rampant adswapping has caused this malaise. I’m not against adswapping. I think it has its place but so many people now are so feverish to build an enormous list that they will stoop to almost any level to fool people into handing over their name and/or email address. So, rather than be creative and tell the bloody truth, they resort to misleading people.

What the Decepticons clearly have NOT factored into their equation – quite apart from the rising percentage of people unsubscribing from virtually ANY email contact – is the MASS de-sensitisation of ALL those receiving these deceptive and highly misleading emails. Even after a relatively short period of time most people wise up and stop being fooled by them.

Like you, I am on 100’s of lists. I rarely unsubscribe – unless somebody sends me endless worthless junk that’s been around since the first moon landing OR they pound me mercilessly with far too many emails.

I was talking to a colleague the other day who found himself on a list where the owner began to barrage him with 4 emails per day and then ramped it up to 8. Yes! 8 emails per day – EVERY day! That is abusing the system if I have ever heard of it. What if everyone started doing that? No wonder autoresponders are becoming more expensive to use and are breaking down more often.

Some Decepticons also think they are pretty clever by hitting the space bar 20 or 30 times before they add the mandatory unsubscribe link too. Well, not only is that unethical and against the TOS of most autoresponders but also – how STUPID! Even a rank beginner can drag the scroll bar down to where it is hiding at the bottom of 10, 20 or even 50 folds of white space. Deceptive and… dumb!

When this is all said and done, there are still people out there in marketing cyberland who will send you GOOD information – not all of it demanding your name or email address on EVERY occasion. Some will point you to blog posts, some will just send free information and some… just a few, like me, will even send you the occasional NO opt-in pdf. But even when the honest and ethical people do these things the ignore rate and the unsubscribe rate is still very high because of what the Decepticons are doing.

It has almost reached epidemic proportions. In fact, I take that back. It has. It’s now a PANDEMIC. It hurts everyone, fills up everyone’s email account with tons and tons of useless junk and desensitizes everyone. And don’t expect it to stop any time soon. The ONLY time it will stop is when open rates are so LOW that the Decepticons finally realize that all they have been doing is sh*tting in their own nests OR stronger rules of the CAN-Spam Act are invoked.

What are your thoughts? What are the email subject lines and tactics that you detest the most? Have your say. In fact, RANT all you want. You can disagree with me if you want too. If you want to blast me, go ahead. Just be prepared for the return salvo. Seriously, say what you want. If you have a reasoned argument that disproves what I have said above then I will NOT censor you. I promise.

While I’m at it – here’s another PROMISE – I will NEVER send you a misleading or deceptive email subject line. I’d rather be creative than follow blindly the lead of the Decepticons. Plus I have too much pride in what I do to be so banal.

For me… I’ll be an “Autobot” any day of the week.

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Well, today something happened and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. It’s all to do with attitude.

I’ll bet you know people who have wonderful attitudes. I’ll also bet you know people whose attitudes stink too.

Today I came across somebody whose attitude was abysmal. It stunk to high-heaven from the moment I laid eyes on him. Let me tell you what happened…

OK. I’d been working in my office since early morning and I really needed a break, so I decided to go out and buy some lunch. I drove to a local fast food outlet that sells all that really healthy stuff – you know… chicken, chips, soft drinks. Only joking. But that’s where I ended up. I just needed FOOD! Anyway, in I walked and ordered my food.

The young lady behind the counter was pleasant but quite young and obviously inexperienced. So I made allowances for that while she took some time to ring up the order, take my money and give me back the change. No problem. No big deal. Then in HE walks… this guy.

I turned and casually glanced at him because there was a bell on the door and I wasn’t doing anything except just standing there, waiting.

He has this angry scowl on his face and looked like he was REALLY enjoying his day – probably his whole life. Not! Anyway…

… he walks up to the counter and growls: “Chicken and chips!” No smile. No greeting. His body language is saying it all.

I’m thinking two words: “Rude pr*ck!” Sorry for that but it’s exactly what I thought.

The young lady rings it up. Then he decides to go to the refrigerator and grab a drink and something else. So, the girl cancels the cash register entry then rings it all up again to get the new total. Pleasantly enough she says, “That’s fourteen dollars and sixty cents thanks.”

Rude pr*ck – I’ll call him that (because that is EXACTLY what he was) – opens his wallet and retrieves a crunched up ten dollar note and just throws it on the counter in front of her. I watched him do it, sighed and mentally just shook my head in disgust. The young lady had her hand open to receive the money. She looks at him enquiringly and he just looks back at her.

She repeats the amount owed. He opens the side flap on his wallet, pulls out five dollars in coins and drops them onto the counter so they run everywhere.

I take a deep breath…

This reminded me of a certain boofhead who incurred my wrath at the bar of the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas in January – only he was in the reverse position. He was the so-called “service provider” – the bar-tender. I won’t go into it here but those who were with me at the time saw what happened to his BAD attitude that day.

Back to the story at hand…

… The young lady picks up the coins and puts this guy’s money in the cash register. She’s obviously rattled and closes the cash register. Remember the amount? I was thinking: “Oh, oh. Now she’s so upset she’s forgotten his change.”

I’m also thinking… “if this guy arcs up he’s gonna have more than a 80lb waif of a young girl to deal with.” Coz I am FURIOUS with what I am witnessing. In my book, there are NO EXCUSES for this rudeness.

Rude pr*ck, in a nasty tone says: “I suppose I’ll get some change!” He glances at me with a snaky look on his face so I squared up to face him and just stared at him. If he was looking for support then he was looking at the WRONG guy!

Well, what he said just wasn’t QUITE rude enough to have me intervene. And I can assure you, my reader, that I don’t take too kindly to this sort of thing – bullying, rudeness, false “superiority” over other people. So I just stood there and drilled this guy with the icicles coming out of my eyeballs. He looked at me several times then went and sat down and shut his mouth. Thankfully.

I felt really sorry for this poor kid. Why should she be subjected to this treatment? I see it a fair bit in my travels and I wonder what the proponents of this rudeness get out of having a lousy, stinking attitude. Is it some sort of perverse thrill? Or don’t they even KNOW they are doing it? Do they live such hideously miserable lives that they just want to spread their infections?

I thought about it while I waited to get my meal. Then I remembered something. I remembered him opening his wallet. The scrunched up ten buck note he pulled out was all that he had in it. It made me wonder if his attitude was a result of his lack of money or if his lack of money was a result of his attitude. The latter I would suggest.

I have always been of the belief that, when dealing with people – especially people working in lowly-paid, menial jobs – that a drop of honey is more valuable than a gallon of vinegar. Anyway, I made sure that I thanked the young lady and gave her a big smile before I turned and gave the guy one last BLAST of a look that left him with absolutely no uncertain impression that I was NOT impressed with his disgusting performance.

I may come back and tell you about the beggar woman that I observed in Los Angeles a few years ago. That’s an interesting story too.

So, what do YOU think? Have you had similar experiences? Share them with us.

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Are you sick of the same old results? Change your thinking and change your outcomes. To learn more click the banner below:

“You cannot teach a person anything, you can only help them find it within themself.” – Galileo (1564-1642).
Your JOURNEY to now has created the LIFE you are living.
Improving yourself will enable you to fulfill your DESTINY.
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Well, we’ve ALL seen them – sales pages making OUTRAGEOUS claims for income and wealth. Do you believe them? We’ve seen – Rich Jerk, Rich Janitor, Rich This, Rich That, blah, blah, blah… And now we have the latest variation of this theme – the Rich 16 Year Old.

It would seem that headlines and claims are now becoming more and more bold, outrageous and even aggressive, so it goes to follow that people are probably NOT believing them. Hence, in the dog-chasing-its-tail syndrome, the claims are becoming more and more ridiculous and sensationalistic.

My headline here is PATENTLY ridiculous. I deliberately made it so just to show you how stupid things are getting. What prompted me to do this? Read on…

I recently received a spam email from somebody (supposedly) about a 16 year old girl who is SUPPOSEDLY making millions with “her” system. There was also the provocative claim that she had recently made $405,179.29 in just 45 days. And then she claims: “That’s $119,738.50 in my pocket in the last 7 days, and I never even had to leave home for it!” Heady stuff huh? Against my better judgment (*sigh*), I decided to check it out. I was curious – and therein lies a little LESSON in itself, but I will press on.

Well, there she was – a picture of her. A couple of them. In one picture she was proudly displaying Cickbank checks. In the text, she was claiming to be a bit of a brat (probably true at that age – LOL). She said she “didn’t care.” (Whatever! – the favorite word of teens around this age. If you know any teens or have teens of your own you will KNOW what I mean… WHATEVER!)

While scrolling down the sales page I was looking at I noticed a picture of an expensive late model Bentley sedan with some stickers on the windscreen suggesting it was hers and some words below the picture saying: “The Rich 16’s $220,000 Bentley, before I’m even officially licensed to drive, haha.” Interestingly, the number plate had been blurred out. I could only think that this was to prevent those who would have the wherewithal to check the plate – and determine who the true owner was – from doing so. So, there was a little HINT.

Then there were all the usual screenshots of Clickbank checks and account information. Curiously, there was also a copy of a letter from Clickbank with certain sections conveniently blanked out. What struck me as odd is that all the names in all the letters and the Clickbank checks were ALL blurred out. Why? The young lady had already identified herself and told us her name. She’d already signed off using her name at the bottom of the sales letter too. Her identity had already been established – unless, of course, she was using a pseudonym (in which case it would have been more credible if she had stated so).

The letter displayed was from the Clickbank Premier Elite Program. I don’t doubt its authenticity. What I do doubt, however, is WHO it was addressed to. The picture of the envelope it came in also had the name blurred out. So, in my mind, at least, the value of those pieces of “PROOF” was immediately diminished by the suspicion they aroused.

Was the envelope and letter actually addressed to the alleged 16 year old or were they addressed to somebody else? Their inclusion just weakened the entire page. Besides, everybody knows those Clickbank screen shots can be photo-shopped. Does ANYBODY believe them?

Also, in the text of the letter it stated in the opening sentence: “This letter is to confirm that (name obscured) has been receiving payments (words removed) for our retail website, Clickbank.com, since November of 2006.” Um… the 16 year old says on the page that she isn’t good at math. Fair enough. But I am. That means she started 4 years ago which would have made her 12 years old. Another HINT that all may not be kosher with this promotional material.

My detective nose started to twitch. So, I spent a few minutes digging around and lo-and-behold… I found an almost identical page from a more “credible” source that used the SAME graphics – minus the insertion of the 16 year old girl’s persona and her deliberately portrayed “I don’t care what you think of me” attitude. It reeked of the “Rich Jerk” sales page from some years ago. A clone attempt. The other site displayed the same product, same color scheme, very similar information. In essence, it was the SAME.

Well, maybe she (or the person behind her persona) really is an affiliate of the original source. I don’t know. But the way that the sales page was written it suggested that this young girl had miraculously stumbled across a system of her own that had heaped wealth on her very quickly. Of course, this is playing up to the age-old greed and “me too” component in all of us. Brain thinks: “If a 16 year old kid can do this then the system she is using MUST BE INCREDIBLE.” Next brain thought: “I WANT this!” Sales psychology 101 in action.

Now, I’m not averse to using “creative” headlines myself. Heck! Look what I did with this. But they have to have some honesty and the entire presentation needs to be CONSISTENT. In this instance it isn’t. The whole page is just too contradictory.

Nevertheless, there are dozens of people promoting it. I checked it. There they are – all out there with their Clickbank hoplinks. I wonder if they are using the “system” themselves or are just blindly whoring it to make commissions off the unwary. The latter I would suspect.

So, what next? What about this for an OUTRAGEOUS HEADLINE?…

“The BILLIONAIRE FETUS Reveals How It Became Wealthy Online While STILL in Its Mother’s Womb – NO Computer Skills Necessary.” (“wah-wah: How could I get a computer in here anyway? Goo-goo-ga-ga”)

SUMMARY: Don’t believe everything that you see or hear. Do your DUE DILIGENCE. Remember, if there’s a few bucks in it MANY people will promote it and SOME will promote ANYTHING and more than a few will just blatantly rip-off anyone and everyone.

Interesting footnote: In between me starting and finishing this blog post, the video at the top of the so-called 16 year old’s site has now been removed from YouTube because of – wait for it… “terms of use violation.” Interesting huh?

You can add your comments to this discussion in the area below if you so desire.

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Are you sick of the same old results? Change your thinking and change your outcomes. To learn more click the banner below:

“You cannot teach a person anything, you can only help them find it within themself.” – Galileo (1564-1642).
Your JOURNEY to now has created the LIFE you are living.
Improving yourself will enable you to fulfill your DESTINY.
************************************************************************************

I just thought I would say a couple of things in the hope that what I offer here can be assimilated into your thinking. And if you get my IDEA then I’m hoping that it will free up some of your “mind-space” for creativity rather than blanketing it with a useless negative emotion.

NEGATIVE EMOTIONS:

Negative emotions stifle creativity. When your mind is open or “free to roam” it can create marvelous things. We are ALL capable of this. But… some of us are locking down that creativity. And one of the worst things for that is frustration.

Frustration is your enemy. It will cloud your thinking.

I see a lot of frustration in many people from time to time. It’s very easy to see when people speak about it openly but, if you can “read between the lines,” it’s there in so many comments. It’s in the language. It’s in what is said and even sometimes in what is not said or even counter said or contra said.

Even worse than frustration is the negative emotion we know as anger. Anger will completely destroy your creativity.

WHAT CAUSES THIS?

Frustration occurs mainly because you are comparing YOUR personal “struggle” with the apparent ease that others are having. But what you see is only YOUR struggle. You don’t see and therefore don’t KNOW what goes on behind-the-scenes with other people. Consider this: You may be comparing your greatest weakness with another person’s greatest strength. How silly is that?

Anger occurs when you believe that you are being treated unfairly.

AN EXAMPLE:

For instance, I can’t speak German. To compare myself with ANY German-speaking person will leave me feeling inadequate. But do I want to speak German? No. I am also completely USELESS at golf. If I suddenly developed a burning desire for playing that game (which I won’t – just not interested in it) would it be fair for me to compare myself with Tiger Woods? Uh-uh. And yet, that is what I feel so many people are doing.

We all get frustrated at times. I get frustrated sometimes too. But I slap myself out of it real quick before it gets me down.

AN ANALOGY FOR YOU TO CONSIDER:

Let me share with you this analogy that I have used so many times in my dealings with other people on this matter. In fact, it’s part of my “Journey, Life, Destiny” Personal Development HOME STUDY Course. (See banner below)

Think of YOUR journey (in your chosen venture) as a being given a pack of cards. There are 52 cards (and a couple of jokers) in the deck. You are looking for the Aces. An ace signifies success (in whatever you are trying to achieve).

Every deck is shuffled differently because we are ALL different – different strengths and different weaknesses.

GOING THROUGH YOUR DECK:

So, you start turning over the cards in your deck, one-by-one. Your first five cards are 2, 7, 3, 9 and 4. No aces. Now, at this point, some people will throw up their hands and immediately say “Give me another deck.” These are the impatient ones. (Are you like that?)

Little did you know that the very next card you turned over could have been an ace. The chance of turning up one of those 4 aces is getting better with every card turned. But you became impatient and frustrated. So, you start again. You start turning the cards in a new deck… 5, 5, 6, 10 and 3. Aaagh! Time to tear the hair out! “GIVE ME ANOTHER DECK!”

Then you look across at another player and the very FIRST card that person turns over is… an ACE! Aaaaaaaaagh!

DAMN! What is wrong with YOUR deck?

Well, the answer is nothing. You just haven’t tried long enough or hard enough.

Then somebody else in the same field of activity turns up an ace on their 15th card. DOUBLE DAMN! Frustration and negative emotion sets in and you get down on yourself.

You demand another deck! And your very first card is… a joker. Jokers are those people in life who seem to exist only to upset, rip us off, ridicule and/or annoy us. We all have to deal with them. They are part of life. It’s how you respond to them that determines how badly they will affect you.

You grab the rest of the deck and throw it all over the floor in anger. Then you brood about how UNFAIR everything is…

Have you ever felt that way? I have. But let’s think about it.

WHAT HAPPENED?

What did the other players do that you didn’t? The obvious answer is that they persisted. Have you given yourself long enough to succeed? Are you comparing your strengths and weaknesses unfairly with the strengths and weaknesses of others? In other words, could you be comparing one of your weaknesses with one of the greatest strengths of another person? If you are doing that then you are ALWAYS going to be disappointed.

WHAT ARE YOUR CHOICES?

Basically, you have three choices:

1 – Keep chopping and changing decks before you give your deck a decent opportunity to produce,
2 – Just stop trying and get out of the game completely. Maybe try another game. Or…
3 – Keep turning over the cards thereby improving your chances card-by-card.

So, what are YOU going to do?

Well, if you are persistent enough you will keep turning those cards over. The odds are that you SHOULD turn over an ace in every 13 cards but if you don’t then you should know that the more cards you turn over without finding that elusive ace the better your chances will become.

Be persistent enough to give yourself the opportunity of winning.

HAS THIS HELPED YOU?

I hope this short analogy has helped you. I use it often. It’s an original idea that I had many years ago and I’ve never seen anybody else view things in this manner. Has it helped you? I hope so.

PS: Feel free to make a comment below.

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Are you sick of the same old results? Change your thinking and change your outcomes. To learn more click the banner below:

“You cannot teach a person anything, you can only help them find it within themself.” – Galileo (1564-1642).
Your JOURNEY to now has created the LIFE you are living.
Improving yourself will enable you to fulfill your DESTINY.
************************************************************************************

Even the prettiest, most chock-filled-with-information website on the Internet that gets little or no traffic might as well be closed down. It’s USELESS!

Let’s think for a moment about a traditional bricks and mortar store. Why do you think the leases and rents in popular shopping malls are so high? Because THAT is where all the traffic is! Those are the locations where the highest profits will be made.

The owners of those stores pay fortunes in rental space for those prime locations.

Back to websites…

… how is YOUR website going? Are you getting plenty of traffic? What’s your Alexa Ranking? [yeah, I know – it’s only a rough guide but check out the AR of this site.]

More traffic = more sales, providing you have targeted products to sell to that traffic.

If you want to learn how to get MORE traffic to your websites then CLICK on the banner below:

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Are you sick of the same old results? Change your thinking and change your outcomes. To learn more click the banner below:

“You cannot teach a person anything, you can only help them find it within themself.” – Galileo (1564-1642).
Your JOURNEY to now has created the LIFE you are living.
Improving yourself will enable you to fulfill your DESTINY.
************************************************************************************

First, I will reveal that I have read all three of Stieg Larssen’s “Millenium” series books:

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,
The Girl Who Played With Fire and
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

All of them are EXCELLENT! They are all well plotted, contain highly believable characters and have great story lines. There were a few things I didn’t like but I won’t dwell on those. Rather I’d like to praise this author who, sadly and very tragically, died before any of his books were published. What a TALENT the world has lost. That saddens me a lot. It’s a bit like losing John Lennon or Michael Jackson or many of the other seriously talented people who die far too young. I think the rest of us get deprived when geniuses like this die before they should.

Now, I’m a very harsh critic of literature. In my opinion, most authors suck. I’ve read 1000’s of novels and most of them fail miserably to deliver a decent story with believable characters. I rate Larssen right up there with the contemporary crime and thriller uber-writers such as Nelson DeMille (my favorite) and Michael Connelly and Lee Child.

But, back to the film…

It’s quite long – about 2.5 hours and it’s sub-titled from Swedish. It’s a bit hard to read at times but it’s acceptable and you do get used to it after the first 15 minutes. The filming and acting is sensational and, well… you already know what I think of the story.

The main character is Lisbeth Salander a totally flawed young woman who has several facial piercings (which I detest) and tattoos (which I also find generally unappealing on women). However, on her they were kind of… alright. She is also asocial, bisexual, punky and rather weird all-round. But, when you read the book and understand the character’s background (also explained to a far lesser degree in the movie) then you will know why she is like she is.

Hers is such a sad childhood and it makes you feel angry to know that some people have suffered like this for real. The injustices that she has endured make you want to enter the story yourself and just wrap your arms around her and protect her from evil. Mind you, her character would probably punch you right in the nose for that.

Salander is played by Swedish actress Noomi Rapace. Any red-blooded heterosexual guy who watches this film will just about drool at the transformation that Salander undertakes in the last scene. It’s pretty spectacular. Think about the transformation scene in Pretty Woman and double it. I gotta say, I just about fell off my seat! Overall, Rapace does a brilliant job in her portrayal of Salander.

Oh yeah, there’s a male lead too. Mikael Blomkvist is played by Michael Nyqvist. He’s OK. He’s a journalist tasked with finding out about a 40 year old suspected murder in the seriously strange and wealthy Vanger family. Very few of them are likeable and some are just hideous characters.

There are some highly detestable characters in the books and the movie. You’d like to take a baseball bat to so many of them. Mind you, Salander does effect some punishment on one particularly disgusting individual and in my heart I was cheering her on.

Without a doubt the show-stopper in this movie and all the books is Salander. She’s big on meting out her own form of justice, not the least of which are her talents as a computer ha*ker.

I can’t wait for the second and third movies. I rated this one at 9 out of 10 – subtitles and all. I also rate all the books similarly. This is TOP SHELF reading and movie watching at its very finest. Get the books. Read them. They are so well written and entertaining. Go and watch “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” – it’s brilliant too.

PS: Would you like to have the time to go an watch a movie whenever you wanted to? Like when other people are at WORK? Well, a couple of my colleagues, Alvin Huang and Joel Chue, have a program that will allow you to make enough $$$ on the side to give up that 9am to 5pm lemming-like existence. Click on the banner directly BELOW (Job Killer) to find out how:

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Are you sick of the same old results? Change your thinking and change your outcomes. To learn more click the banner below:

“You cannot teach a person anything, you can only help them find it within themself.” – Galileo (1564-1642).
Your JOURNEY to now has created the LIFE you are living.
Improving yourself will enable you to fulfill your DESTINY.
************************************************************************************

Only the name has been changed to protect the identity of the person involved.

Let’s call the individual… “Mike.”

I think there is a really important LIFE LESSON here so I am going to reproduce EXACTLY what was said between me and Mike. Here is what happened so you know how this came about…

I sent some information to my list of subscribers and received several pretty nasty unsubscribe email messages. This was one of them…

From Mike:

“You have sent me pure junk since I signed up, I am not stupid and dont wish for you to attempt to make money off of me, greed is a sin.

If you want to help me then mentor me for free and help me earn an income, but I can safely assume that would be too much trouble and not the greatest of investments hey?”

My reply:

Mike,

Your comment would have to be one of the most ill-informed and disingenuous
emails I have received for quite some time.

Let’s take a look at a few things:

1 – You signed up for my Time in Motion ACTION Planner. That was FREE. Have you ever used it? Have you even read it?
2 – I have a MASSIVE amount of information freely available on my blog. It covers so many aspects of Internet Marketing. Have you looked at any of that?
3 – Also available on my blog – completely FREE are:

* The Perfect Storm – a writing manual
* Adswaps manual
* Copywriting manual
* Mindset manual <--- maybe you would benefit from that
* Twitter manual
* Power of Choice

And a bunch of other stuff – ALL FREE!

You say “PURE JUNK” – what, in YOUR opinion is PURE JUNK? Please tell me.

Also, HOW am I attempting to make money off you?

Mentor you for free huh? What ELSE would you require for free? Should I buy you a domain name, a website, build you a blog, buy you an autoresponder? You see Mike this all points to one thing – your rudeness and anger clouds your mindset.

I’m actually glad you have unsubscribed because with an attitude like yours you just don’t have what it takes to be successful right now. Waken up to yourself and stop thinking that everybody owes you something. And get out of your mind that everybody wants to take money off you. The only thing you have in your wallet is moths anyway because it’s VERY obvious that you wouldn’t pay anything to improve or educate yourself.

You cant expect help from people by being rude and abusive.

Have a great Easter and think about why you find yourself in this negative mindset because it is stopping you dead in your tracks. That little piece of advice is FREE too Mike.

Regards

Gary

Mike’s Reply:

Gary,

I have no shame to admit that you did accurately guess a few things right, I am a
man of honesty and can openly admit this.

1. I never actually received this book, but I can assure you that I have read hundreds of others.
2. Information is great. I can find information everywhere I look and even when I try to meditate.
3. Adsense costs money, A domain cost money, Twitter is useless if you dont have a website to promote, Choices can be limited, I dont choose to sit in for 5 days at a time, I have no choice I am too broke to leave.

I am angry, I am angry towards myself and God for putting me in this hell hole. I am angry because I keep loosing my job, I am angry that I cant leave my house, I am angry because I dont have no friends and by the looks of thing no future, I am angry that I have been suffering with migraines for 8 years now and cant find a cure, I am also angry that I am fighting a spiritual battle in mind that is making me feel suicidal, I want to change my life so much, but because of a peice of paper everytime I try to attempt to build something of value I cant do nothing with it.

Some of the most profound self help books I paid nothing for, and actually in all honesty its how I choose what to read. If someone is giving away a free book their intent is clear.

I dont sit around and do nothing, I have wrote 80 pages of a guide to help people also, but what the heck shall I do with it. I have no means of promoting it, forget all these free websites they are useless, the book is not great but when you have a thumping headache/pain in your head from the time you wake up to the time you go bed, then your creativity is kind of drained.

I will move into my positive mind and I hope soon, and when I do my life will change, but right now my negative mind is killing me. I have alot to do on this planet, and will succeed regardless of how weak and desperate I feel.

I am bankrupt at 23 and cant even afford to pay bankruptcy fees, I owe court money and have a distress warrant out for not being able to afford them, you try staying positive!

My reply:

Mike,

To be honest – I didn’t expect a reply from you. So, I give you credit for that.

None of what I said in my reply to you was what you call “an accurate guess” Mike. It sticks out like the proverbial Pit Bull’s OO’s.

Yes, from what you say below, you are going through stress. You are being challenged to see what you are made of. I have been through these times myself.

Lashing out at people is only gonna make things even worse for you.

Not EVERYBODY wants to take your money. But you have to pay your way in this world. Your bankruptcy is a result of poor decisions that you made and maybe some bad luck along the way as well.

Have you been to a doctor for this migraine? Try this: Figure out what side of your head the most pain is on. Left or right. Then take your opposite foot and press around the ball of your big toe until you find a spot that is REALLY painful. Press on that point with the tips of your fingers or thumb at the same rate as your heartbeat. Do that for 3-4 minutes. It’s even better if you can get somebody else to do it for you. It’s called shiatsu and it does work. I have helped dozens of people using this technique over the years but here is what I find – the ones who refuse to believe it cannot be helped. They say it’s all bullshit and they put up with their headache. Those who refuse to endure a couple of minutes of pain also put up with their headache. Their CHOICE!

Those who take the bit between their teeth and work through the TEMPORARY pain are the ones who get rid of their migraines.

You may also be allergic to food substances and additives. Try this: Write down EVERYTHING you eat and drink over the next week and record when you have the headache. Compare your food and drink intake with how you feel. I can tell you from experiences of my own that chocolate, tomatoes and cucumber are migraine foods for many people. It can also be the comination of food.

Mike, I want you to look very carefully at these two sentences you wrote:

“I am angry, I am angry towards myself and God for putting me in this hell hole. I am angry because I keep loosing my job, I am angry that I cant leave my house, I am angry because I dont have no friends and by the looks of thing no future.”

See the KEY word there? “ANGRY.” Yes, you are angry. And that is precisely why you keep losing your job. WHO in their right mind wants a perpetually angry person around them? Tell me that! What friends are you gonna attract when you are always angry? Gang-banger types, that’s who. Other ANGRY losers.

You will attract what you give out. And that is what you are “offering” the world at the moment Mike – anger. And I can tell you this too. All it will do is cause you MORE pain.

Being angry at God is a futile and senseless way to be Mike. He is TESTING you mate and you are proving to Him that you are unworthy of His help.

Learn to be more calm and reasonable.

I can tell you this – when I read your angry email the first time my initial reaction was “what a shithead.” Sorry, but that is what I thought. But I decided to email you to find out why you behave this way.

I believe that you have the capacity inside you to get out of your terrible situation. But… it MUST start INSIDE you. You probably have a hell of a lot more to be thankful for than some poor kid in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Haiti. Start looking at the positive things in life instead of focussing on all the crap. And stop GIVING crap. Coz when you give it that is all you will attract. More crap, more grief and then more anger. Like a dog chasing its tail.

You ALREADY know that what I say is true because you also said:

“I will move into my positive mind and I hope soon, and when I do my life will change, but right now my negative mind is killing me. I have alot to do on this planet, and will succeed regardless of how weak and desperate I feel.”

But, if you keep lashing out at people in frustration – like you did with me – then all you are doing is suppressing your blossoming into the being you truly want to be. Therefore, your first challenge is to MODERATE your behaviour. Take your aggression out on a punching bag or at the gym – NOT on other people. That is what I do. I train EVERY day to release the crap that people (like you) throw at me for NO good reason. In fact, as soon as I get done finishing this email, that is EXACTLY what I will do. And I will be just a little bit better today than yesterday for doing that.

Finally, Mike, I can tell that you are educated and fairly intelligent simply by the way you write. You have ability over and above the average 23 year old. With a bit of training you could be very good at the written word. That also is quite obvious to me. I’m a very experienced writer and I can spot talent in just a few short sentences and paragraphs. Your sentence construction clearly tells me that you have talent. Use it!

I want you to have this: [POWER OF CHOICE] Please read it. You will see that the person in the story could be YOU! Don’t waste your life Mike. Life is too precious for that. Embrace all the good that you will find WHEN you look for it. It’s there mate. You just have to be LOOKING for it.

I’ve spent over an hour writing this Mike. That is time that I could have been using doing something for myself but I chose to GIVE that time to YOU. I sure hope you appreciate it. In all the thousands of people online that you could have abused, you chose me today. And I have invested time in trying to make you see where you are going wrong. Maybe God, in His mysterious way, made me do it. I don’t know.

Best Wishes

Gary Simpson
Internet Marketing TEMPLE for Newbies

Just in case you are wondering – the original information I sent was a FREE offer from another marketer.

OK. Over to you. Was I too harsh with what I said? Do you think I helped this guy or did I just make things worse? If I get a reply from him I will post it below. Tell me what YOU think.

PS: If you haven’t checked out Alex Jeffreys e-book then take a look. It costs NOTHING to look. The book is free and you can learn a few things from it.

===> ALEX JEFFREYS’ The Guru’s Nightmare – Time to Put the Horse’s head in the Guru’s Bed

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Are you sick of the same old results? Change your thinking and change your outcomes. To learn more click the banner below:

“You cannot teach a person anything, you can only help them find it within themself.” – Galileo (1564-1642).
Your JOURNEY to now has created the LIFE you are living.
Improving yourself will enable you to fulfill your DESTINY.
************************************************************************************

Whether you love him, like him or loathe him one thing is CERTAIN – Alex Jeffreys is going to be a force to be reckoned with on the Internet for many years to come.

Oh, I KNOW you may be getting POUNDED mercilessly with emails about his latest coaching course and his pre-launch book called “The Guru’s Nightmare” and all the razzamatazz that goes with a major launch. But HEY – that’s the Internet. It happens. I get them all too! I get many 100’s of emails a day. I’m not immune to getting all manner of promos – day in, day out.

Well, here’s my take on it. You can get aggro, annoyed, peeved, saturated, poly-unsaturated… whatever. But, why not do the SMART thing?

What’s that Gazza?

Take ADVANTAGE of it all! Learn HOW he does all this stuff. Study it. See how it all goes together. Learn from it. Educate yourself. And a good starting point is to download his latest e-book and read it:

===> ALEX JEFFREYS’ The Guru’s Nightmare – Time to Put the Horse’s head in the Guru’s Bed

Yeah, I KNOW it has spelling mistakes. Lotsa people have told me that. OK. There’s spelling mistakes. He swears a bit in it too. The guy makes buckets of cash. So shouldn’t that give YOU hope?

Don’t let little things stand in your path.

Something else… you know what I have found over ALL the countless hours I have spent on the Internet? The ones who get the angriest and the most frustrated, negative and downright ABUSIVE are the ones who…

… are making NO money. And they take it out on the messengers – people like me.

All I have ever done is write a stack of e-books, reports, manuals, courses etc based on my own experiences and knowledge. Yet I still get comments like this when certain people unsubscribe:

“Hey, you thing who call yourself gary. Suck my A**!”

Nice huh? [That was word-for-word BTW]

I see that as a VERY frustrated and anguished cry for help. Abusive yes. Nasty yes. VERY nasty actually! Could I help a person like that? Maybe.

Then again, maybe they are SO aggro, negative and nasty that it just clouds their every waking moment. Maybe they are oblivious to OPPORTUNITY because of their internal anger and frustration.

SHOULD I help somebody like that? Would you?

There are SO many wonderful people in this world – people just like you who just want a bit of a clue and some information that will help them on their own online journey. And that’s what I TRY to do here… at this place I vicariously call the TEMPLE.

Yeah, I KNOW I crap on about things and do some crazy stuff and try to make people feel happy through laughter. Or make them roll their eyes north with some of the things I do and say.

Oh, I FEEL a philosphical moment coming on …

[PHILOSOPHICAL MOMENT]

In the overall context of all things past, present and future, life is really short. So why not have fun?

[END OF PHILOSOPHICAL MOMENT]

I see so many grumpy-asses in my travels and you know what? I actually feel sorry for these people because by their own volition they are having a stinking, miserable, loser of a life. Why? Huh? Why should that be so? It’s their choice.

Oh, and while I am on that very subject – CHOICE! See that e-book over there “The Power of Choice” ? Have a look. It’s just over there (on the left). IF you haven’t read that then you are REALLY missing out on some powerful stuff. I was on fire when I wrote that. I honestly believe I had some sort of divine power running through me when I penned that. [I do occasionally have my moments and that SURE was one of them...]

I won’t say any more about it other than to tell you that it has gone into over 40 countries (at last count – about 2 years ago) over the 8 years it has been available online and the comments I have received have been PHENOMENAL!

Anyway, I won’t detain you any longer with my musings. Except…

… soon I hope to have a product available that will teach you step-by-step how you can make your first HUNGE ($100) online. It’s a manual I have been slaving away over for the last 3 days. And no, it won’t be free. Sorry. But the last 7 e-books I have created HAVE been free. I don’t really wanna be known as the free-whore. I have expenses on the Internet too.

I reckon if I can show you step-by-step the best method of how to make your FIRST hundred bucks then that’s gotta be worth something. And then you can make another $100 and then another $100 and so on. So that’s DEFO gotta be worth something. You see, I talk to people a LOT and I get texts and emails [and carrier pigeon messages - only joking!] from SO many people who are SO frustrated because not only have they NOT made a hundred shmucks – they have made JACK SH*T! And they are frustrated and even embarrased about it. So, tell me…

… do you think a manual like that would be helpful to you and what do you think something like that should be worth? Be fair. I’ll take whatever comments (or emails) people tell me into consideration.

As usual, my Best Wishes to you,

PS: If you haven’t checked out Alex Jeffreys e-book then take a look. It costs NOTHING to look. The book is free and you can learn a few things from it.

===> ALEX JEFFREYS’ The Guru’s Nightmare – Time to Put the Horse’s head in the Guru’s Bed

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Are you sick of the same old results? Change your thinking and change your outcomes. To learn more click the banner below:

“You cannot teach a person anything, you can only help them find it within themself.” – Galileo (1564-1642).
Your JOURNEY to now has created the LIFE you are living.
Improving yourself will enable you to fulfill your DESTINY.
************************************************************************************

Being “busy” can destroy your ability to get things done. Let me say that again…

Being “busy” can destroy your ability to get things done.

How many people do you know who are so busy being busy that they never seem to get anything worthwhile done? Does that describe you, maybe even just a little bit?

Being busy all the time, through necessity, is a curse. Being busy all the time, for the sake of it, is just sheer madness.

Continual busy-ness eventually leads to stress, particularly if results are minimal. You see, it will get to a point where something has to give way. It’s like filling a balloon with air. Eventually no more air will fit inside the balloon and it will do the only thing it can. It will burst.

It’s OK to have busy periods through each day, each week, each month and each year. However, you also need time to relax. Time to re-charge the batteries.

People who are continuously busy over long periods suffer from two main problems:

1 – they have difficulty saying “no” to anyone
2 – they have difficulty delegating tasks to others

Let’s look at each in turn.

First, those who cannot say “no.” I have a saying: “You can’t save the entire world.” No matter how good your intentions are, you cannot be everything to everyone.

Make a list of those who need and DESERVE your time. They are the ones you should give priority to. Anyone else comes next – if you have the time to spare.

A wise man once said, “work always expands to fit available time.” It’s true. But it is only true if you ALLOW it to happen.

You can always do the odd favor for someone on the odd occasion. Learn to say no in a nice way. Here is one such way: “If I get all my own work done, I will consider your request.” What does that really say? It says your work is important. If you get it done you will help. Naturally, if you cannot get it done you cannot help. It’s a soft way of saying no. Usually the asker will then go and find another person to ask.

By saying no you actually help other people to grow. Imagine if you always said yes to tying up your daughter’s shoe laces. If you never said no she would still be asking you to do it at twenty years of age. By saying no you make her learn to do it for herself. Remember the old saying about giving a hungry person a fish to eat versus teaching the hungry person how to catch their own fish to eat? well…

… there are some people in this world who not only want you to PROVIDE the fish but they want you to scale it, clean it, cook it and serve it up to them for dinner with a side salad. And if they don’t like it they will complain to you. Do you know those type of people? I do. We all do.

By saying no we can free up more time for ourselves and those who need or deserve our time the most. Do not become a slave to the wants and demands of others.

Turning to the second problem, delegation – learn to enlist others to perform tasks that they are better equipped, or have more time, to do.

If you run all over the place attempting to do everything yourself you will never have sufficient time to do anything properly. Delegation is the art of a true leader. The secret to successful delegation is to build the importance of the task into the mind of the person you are delegating it to. Then, when they do it, thank them and praise them sincerely for the things they did well.

Don’t ever think you are irreplaceable, PARTICULARLY at your employment. Somebody gave me a definition once of irreplaceability in the workforce. It went something like this: “Get a bucket of water, roll up your sleeve and thrust your arm into the water. Now pull your arm out. The time it takes for the water to settle back into position will be about the same time it will take to replace you!”

Learning to say no and being able to delegate will allow you to perform the tasks you really want to do and really need to do yourself at a much higher level of proficiency.

AL Williams wrote a book called “All You Can Do is All You Can Do But All You Can Do is Enough!” (ISBN: ). Catchy title, isn’t it?

In his book, Williams says: “Don’t worry about things you can’t change. Focus on making your part of the world better, because when they click your lights out for the last time, you can’t have any regrets.”

Like I said earlier – you can’t save the whole world. Don’t even try.

If you want to be more productive, try to re-organize the way you plan your time. You can do this by:

- making a list of things requiring your attention,
- prioritizing the list,
- doing essential things first, non-essential things last,
- after every third task, rewarding yourself in some small way,
- continuing to work your way through the list in sets of three.

At the end of the day review your list. This is important because it will allow you to see how MUCH you have done and achieved. I do this all the time! Achievement will drive you forward to more achievement.

So, now you don’t have to be busy, busy, busy and get little done. You can just be busy achieving what you want.

Best Wishes to you,

PS1: As usual, all comments and questions welcome!

PS2: Click on the banner below for some awesome free information on how you can improve your lifestyle:

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Are you sick of the same old results? Change your thinking and change your outcomes. To learn more click the banner below:

“You cannot teach a person anything, you can only help them find it within themself.” – Galileo (1564-1642).
Your JOURNEY to now has created the LIFE you are living.
Improving yourself will enable you to fulfill your DESTINY.
************************************************************************************

Two of my friends in this industry – Adam Spiel and Jit Uppal – are offering a fabulous Internet Marketing Mentoring Course. Both Adam and Jit are very successful and EXTREMELY knowledgeable. I also know them to be highly honorable guys. I’m pleased to call them both my friends.

Here is a quick video that I recorded with Adam in January 2010 at the Mirage Casino Hotel complex in Las Vegas. We recorded this during a break in the many seminars that we both attended on… you guessed it… INTERNET MARKETING! In the video we discuss Adam’s MENTORING course. I saw a “sneak” preview and I was impressed. Watch the video. It’s under 2 minutes so it doesn’t take long at all. [NB: You might need to let the video buffer first]

Oh, and watch me TWIST Adam’s arm… LOL!

Adam Spiel and Jit Uppal’s Internet Marketing MENTORING Course

Oh, and here is a picture of me with Adam Spiel’s (Spielsy) partner Jit Uppal (the Jitster) in Las Vegas in January 2010.

Best Wishes to you,

PS1: As usual, all comments and questions welcome!

PS2: Click on the banner below for some awesome free information on how you can grab your lifestyle:

************************************************************************************
Are you sick of the same old results? Change your thinking and change your outcomes. To learn more click the banner below:

“You cannot teach a person anything, you can only help them find it within themself.” – Galileo (1564-1642).
Your JOURNEY to now has created the LIFE you are living.
Improving yourself will enable you to fulfill your DESTINY.
************************************************************************************