iWebEarth

Have you ever noticed that it seems everyone wants to go along with the crowd?

Someone decides to make a break from the routine. They step out and become an entrepreneur. But many of those who have taken the first step…they overcame their initial fears of starting their own business…they still go back into the routine. They simply follow along and do exactly like others.

For example, you’ve probably noticed that in the internet marketing space the majority of people sound the same. They make the same overarching promises. They promote the exact same items – often all at the exact same time. In fact, many of them even use the exact SAME email.

I recently did an affiliate promotion, I was given an affiliate email to send out. In the email it talked about my “good friendship” with the author. The first thought in my head was, Hmmm, I’ve only spoke to him once on the phone. I wouldn’t call that a good friendship. Sorry. So that had to change.

What About Content?

Then I noticed there wasn’t any content in the email. That had to change. I don’t like sending very many emails or blog posts that don’t include content. Even if you don’t take advantage of my offer, you still walk away with value and with ideas for your business you didn’t have before.

Things weren’t worded in the email the way I would have done it. So change again. Basically I rewrote almost everything (except the title of the product and the author) before sending it out.

It had to not just be from me. It had to be me. My name was in the from address so I had to feel what was written was from me. Nothing else was worth sending.

And that’s a key principle to those who are successful and those who aren’t. I’ve been doing this for more than a decade now and I’ve seen people from both sides – those who are successful and those who aren’t.

Sometimes both those groups do very similar activities. They might both focus on building a blog and list for example. Yet one achieves success much faster than the other.

Often the difference comes back to them simply injecting their personality and style into everything you do. They put themselves OUT THERE on the line.

That’s Not Always Easy

I know how hard that is at times. The internet is a cold place. If you put your personality and style out there, you’ll find thousands of people who want to “judge” you for it. Some won’t like you. Some will even tell you how much they can’t stand your very existence. And you have to develop that thick skin to keep moving…and keep building your audience.

That’s it. You’re building YOUR audience – the ones who like you and like your style. It’s not going to include everyone, not even everyone in your chosen market. You’ll build a core group that wants what you share and wants to do business with you.

And that’s what makes the difference. Are you building your core audience today…or are simply going along with the flow?

How Lee Did it

One of the “names” that seemed to fly up out of nowhere is my friend Lee McIntyre (I do consider him a friend as we’ve chatted multiple times). He has even posted a testimonial for me here about a coaching call I did with him.

Why did he succeed faster than almost anyone I’ve seen? He didn’t just join the crowd. Instead he did things his own way. He showed personality and his style. He got out there and did what it took quickly.

He developed his unique systems for building a list and profiting from it.

That’s right. Instead of focusing just on building a “free list” like so many others have advised, he zeroed in on building a smaller list of paid customers and targeted followers. That’s why even when his list only numbered 603 subscribers he was outselling lists of tens of thousands.

When he shared his list building methods with other marketers, some of them were outright shocked of what could be done even with a TINY little list.

To share with others what he did and why it worked so well, he did a step-by-step webinar training called the “Super List Building System.”

Because I believe in this product and it’s value, I licensed it from him. And I’m offering to you as a special Halloween deal.

From now through noon EST time on Nov 3rd you can get an extra $100 off this full DVD training course which shares with you how to build a super responsive list without spending even a penny in advertising, why small lists can out earn lists of tens of thousands, and how to build powerful relationships with your subscribers to where they’re eagerly awaiting your next email.

Click here now to find out more…

Should you copy everything Lee does exactly? Nope. You should use his system, but apply YOUR personality and style to it. The world isn’t looking for another Lee McIntyre. One is enough of them. But they are looking for the REAL YOU.

That’s what you should be looking for in a course like this…the opportunity to find a system to follow that ALLOWS the real you to stand up and be noticed…no matter where you are today.

Click here now to find out more…

Wow – Losing Money Sure Is Easy!

Sometimes the best way to brainstorm is by going in reverse. Instead of stressing yourself out trying to figure out the solution to the problem, have fun coming up with ways to make the problem MUCH WORSE than it already is.

You’ll learn more about how this strategy works Monday when I post a free audio Glenn Livingston and I did together on How to Have WAY More Fun in Your Internet Business.

Since we’re always talking about how to make more money, let’s turn it in reverse and have a little fun coming up with ways to lose money from our websites.

If your goal is to make money (like most readers), maybe you should make sure you’re not following any of these tips (because a few of them are rather common).

Strategy #1: Buy EVERYTHNG you can get your hands on about internet marketing but don’t put any of it into action.

With all the product launches going on every week, I’m sure you could easily spend $50,000 over the next year doing this. As long as you make sure not to apply anything (even better if you don’t actually read it), then it’s a guaranteed way to lose money. Doesn’t get much better than that when your goal is to lose money online.

Strategy #2: Spend a majority of your time in the social networks.

Since social media people are often the hardest people to sell to, spend a majority of your time here to make sure your business isn’t profitable. They can generate a LOT of traffic to your site which doesn’t click on ads and doesn’t buy products. And isn’t that really your goal when you want to burn money?

Strategy #3: Subscribe to EVERY single email list you come across.

You want to make sure you’re getting tons of offers every single day…especially if strategy #1 and #2 aren’t emptying your bank account quick enough. You’ll be teased and tempted with all the missing “secrets” keeping you from being successful online. Especially make sure to stay on all those lists that ONLY sell products and never offer any content whatsoever.

Strategy #4: Choose a tiny micro-niche market where there aren’t ANY competitors.

If there are competitors there, it means someone must be making money. And we don’t want that. So make sure to narrow your niche down to the point where you have zero competition – no one at all is competing against you. Because if you do this, it virtually guarantees you a market where no one else has ever made a profit.

Strategy #5: If your market does have competition, make sure to do everything exactly like them.

Obviously every competitor in the market knows more than you. So you should simply parrot exactly what they’re doing and saying. Don’t start any arguments or stir up any controversy. If you make yourself EXACTLY like them, then people won’t be able to tell the difference…and they’ll have no reason whatsoever to listen to you or buy from you. And that’s the goal, right?

Strategy #6: Buy the most expensive, highest traffic keyword phrase in your market on Adwords and send them directly to your home page.

Most of the time the highest traffic keyword is NOT the keyword targeting specific buyers. It’s just people looking for initial information. So if you go for it right from the beginning, you can be almost assured to lose money. And to guarantee you lose money, send all those visitors to a general home page on your site. The less specific about what they’re searching for, the better it is for making them leave quickly.

Strategy #7: Jump on EVERY brand new traffic scheme immediately.

You’ve probably heard how you have to jump on new traffic techniques immediately. Look for these “loopholes” constantly and always take advantage of them. Avoid any long-term proven traffic methods (like seo, PPC, affiliates, etc.). Whatever is the newest and most hyped solution must be the best!

Strategy #8: Build dozens of different sites all at the same time.

What if one site doesn’t work? Create dozens of them…all at one time. That way you’ll have multiple streams of income…even if you do lose your sanity in the process. By building your market wide you only have time to do the minimum for each site…and won’t ever be burdened by profitable steps like backend products for each market.

Strategy #9: Copy the big product launch sales letters exactly for your market.

Since they’re using them, they must work…even though they have tons of other pieces coming before the sales letter. You’re heard of a swipe file. Make sure to put all these sales letters intended for current “hyped up” customers into your swipe file instead of what the big mailers send out by direct mail (where they spends months working on the copy with the top guns competing with each other).

Strategy #10: Join a Mastermind group of people who just sit and around and complain about what doesn’t work.

Sometimes these are commonly referred to as online forums, but other times they can be a local business group. Mastermind has been proven to help people make more money. So to make sure it helps you lose money, only join groups where people don’t have successful experience in the topic. That should help. And then follow the most common opinion that everyone votes on…instead of listening for any golden nuggets that do appear at times.

There you have it….10 ways to make sure you lose money online. If you’re currently doing any of these, you’re going the right direction for that goal. If you want to turn it around and make money online, figure out how to eliminate these from your “Internet plan.”

Do you have fun at work?

If not, you must not be doing it right!

Glenn Livingston recently posted to his blog about why he felt the Work/Play attitude was a wrong way to look at things.

Of course I agree. I have a LOT of fun in my business, but I also had a few disagreements with his original post. So we emailed back and forth for several days about them.

We decided to get on the phone with each other and discuss what we felt the work/life balance meant to each of us….to you.

Would you like to…

- Have more fun while working
- Discover several fun and easy brainstorming exercises
- Find a few new techniques for improving your website conversions
- Learn how your personality affects your online business style
- Improve your business while enjoying your life.

If so, this 48 minute mp3 audio is exactly what you’re looking for. And it’s FREE.

We mention our sites in the audio, but don’t do any direct promotions. It’s simply here to help you have more fun at work.

Please note there is a clicking sound at the very beginning. That goes away pretty quickly (in about 20 to 25 seconds)…and we really start digging into the material after a few minutes.

Click the little play button below to play the audio or right click below and choose “Save Target As’ or “Save File As” depending on your browser.

You’ll notice that both click and I were having fun while doing the audio. It’s a very free form discussion.

Here are a few of the resources we talked about on the audio.

The number one key to success online is focus. Are you focusing on achieving your goals while eliminating all the distractions online (there are many shiny objects to pull your attention away)?

But the real question is what are your goals? And to get deeper into the heart of the matter…

What Does Success Mean To You Personally?

Here’s the funny thing. We could have several dozen people comment…and the likelihood is success would mean something a little different to each person reading this.

Does success mean earning a million dollars a year?

Does success mean owning your home debt-free and a large RV where you can travel the country?

Perhaps success means you can travel to two dozen countries this year?

Maybe success is earning enough to pay your simple bills while you get to spend time home schooling your children?

Maybe success is having time to spend down at the homeless shelter helping out because your bills are already taken care of?

Or perhaps success is simply being able to do a job you love and are good at?

Maybe it means working a few hours each day to finance your free time of hobbies and other interests.

So What is Success to You Personally?

That’s the first question you have to answer. Because unless you know where you’re going, how could ever plan to get there?

Let me give you an example of a mistake in coaching others I’ve made at times in the past in regards to this.

One of my personal definitions of success is to have work outsourced and have NO in-house staff. I don’t want in-house staff. Period. Because that is a portion of my priority for success, at first I translated that same qualification to others when coaching them. I was wrong.

I found several clients DEFINITELY want in-house staff. They love staff that works in a office with them. One of their definitions of success is a fast growing company with team members working together in an office environment. If I tried to enforce my definition of success on them, it would cause them emotional pain.

What good is it to build your business around someone else’s definition of success…including mine?

One aspect I’ve found is that:
Success is not a destination. It’s a journey.

Your definition of success will change in the future.

For me in the very beginning of my online business, success was simply defined as GETTING OUT OF DEBT and being able to pay my bills (all my jobs up until that point didn’t even pay enough to make a living).

As you can expect, my goals and my definition of success has expanded since then.

My next definition success became, “Creating enough passive income to pay all my monthly bills without having to work.”

Then…it expanded to, “Creating passive income streams WHILE ENJOYING the work I do.”

Then it moved onto, “Creating low hassle income streams while helping others create Internet lifestyles and enjoying the work I’m good at doing.”

Notice how in none of those really mention a specific amount of money. Obviously my definition of success includes having more than enough for myself and to give to others, but I FOCUS more on how the money is generated than I do on the overall amount. Am I having fun while doing it is more of the key now. For example, coming to me and saying, “I have a way you can make an extra $25,000…” doesn’t even catch my attention (partly because everyone tries that pitch). But if you came to me and said, “Here’s a way you can have even more fun in your business…” you have my attention.

In addition, I added in that balance in the rest of my life is just as important. This includes relationships, exercise, playing with my dogs, eating healthy (somewhat healthy, OK maybe just healthier . It includes finding and following my purpose/calling from God.

In the beginning, I just desperately wanted to be able to pay my bills. That was a VERY STRONG motivator. Creditors calling you all the time can do that…give you a sense of desperation. Working 12 hours a day – even if I hated every minute of it – was OK. If that was what was required, fine. But that motivation eventually went away BECAUSE circumstances changed.

How do you stay motivated? You expand on your definition of success.

Your own personal definition of success grows over time…and it is more than just one simple answer. It incorporates your entire lifestyle.

Once you DEFINE success, now you can start building your plan for moving towards it…following your journey of success.

No wonder so many people are “lost in internet business.” They’re trying to make a journey without knowing where they’re going. I’ve learned enough from working with clients now that I have to find out what their definition of success is…and what they really want. If you try to build the business based off a model and plan they don’t enjoy, they’ll never have the dedication and committment necessary to see it through.

With every business decision…ask yourself, “Does this fit with my lifestyle goals?”

So the big question is what does success mean to you? Feel free to post in the comments about this…and your opinions on the subject. If everyone were to post their definition of success, we’re likely to see dozens of different answers (and they’d all be right answers for the individual who posted them).

The big news lately for anyone who owns a business are all the new rules the FTC which will be in effect December 1st, 2009.

Posts about it are ALL over the place. No point in linking to all of them. Do a quick search for “FTC and Bloggers” and you’ll be overwhelmed with posts.

You might have even heard it was the end of online marketing…the end of affiliate marketing…or the end of blogging.

Everyone has been yelling, “The sky is falling.”

The good news is that’s not true. It’s not the end of the world. The bad news is that you might have a few changes to your sites.

Here is a link to the FTC PDF about it.

Here is another PDF the FTC has published showing example testimonial scenarios.

Mike Young has published a PDF you can download for free here called, “How to Comply With the New FTC Compensation Guidelines.”

I’m not a lawyer…don’t play one on TV…and should be completely ignored when it comes to any legal issue.

What is causing the biggest issues and frustration for everyone involved is that the FTC seems to have purposely left everything as unclear as humanly possible. It’s so unclear in a few places that only the government could have created it. The example testimonial scenarios they released later makes a little more sense than the original.

This is likely so they have strong ammunition to go after whoever they want without regards to what’s ethical or not. They simply don’t like to lose.

I think the basic idea behind this is good. Get rid of the scammy fake blogs that are just there to promote garbage. Get rid of those overhyped testimonials from endorsers who may have never even used the product. Force people to honestly say when they’re making money from something instead of keeping it hidden.

Who could disagree with any of that? It’s the application that leaves some to be desired.

Because of this confusion, you even see many of the big internet gurus telling you to eliminate all testimonials – just remove them all.

They’re wrong.

Here are a few key points that may affect you.


#1 – Bloggers need to fully disclose any relationships with people, products, and sites they review.

On blogs I see this as a very good step.

You’ll notice I already regularly tell you I get an affiliate commission for some link, someone sent me a free copy of their product, or that someone is a friend of mine. This is a for-profit blog and I make no excuses for that. This change will simply mean I’ll be even more conscientious about making sure all readers know this.

I think Michel Fortin did an excllent job of posting his blog Disclosure Policy here.

This hits those bloggers who do paid reviews more than anyone else. In addition if you’re a reviewer and people send you free copies of their products, you need to state this now. Again no big deal. A lot of people talk quite a bit about transparency in blogging, so I don’t understand why they would get so upset about having to reveal this type of information.

The bigger difficulty comes when you move over to social media and sites like Twitter. How do you reveal your correct connection to something when you’ve very limited in the number of characters you can use? That’s going to more difficult and confusing about what needs to be done.

#2 – You can be held responsible for what your affiliates say about your products.

This one is another one that is going to cause a lot of hassles for us small businesses. You need to police everything your affiliates say about you on their sites, in their blogs, and in their emails. Wow…that’s a lot of work.

For some, it’s going to discourage them a little from having “open affiliate” programs. Instead they may focus on having invitation only affiliate programs or all affiliates have to be approved first (not a bad idea actually).

But the reality is that we should have already be monitoring what affiliates say about us. What promises are they making? Whenever I’ve seen affiliates making hyped up claims, we’ve contacted them with the threat to remove them completely. Now we’ll have to do more in this area in keeping an eye on our affiliates.

If you think about it, network marketing companies have already had to do that for decades. They had distributors and had to watch what their distributors shared. Now we have to do the same with any of our affiliate distributors (for those of you who run 2 tier affiliate programs there are even more similarities).

#3 – Testimonials must be more representative of typical results.

This is a hairy one. What is the typical results for example for someone who buys an internet marketing ebook?

In my OPINION the average result is that they completely ignore it and buy another one without ever using it. Then of course they generate exactly zero results.

But notice I said that was my opinion. From the FTC’s examples, it sounds like we simply need to be much more clear about the testimonials and how they achieved the results.

What else was behind the results that we’re not seeing.

For example, in the internet marketing field you sometimes see someone said, “I bought so-and-so’s product…and made $83,000 in just 3 days.”

Will the typical customer get those results? Nope. No way. Not going to happen. Why did they do so well?

Perhaps they already had a large customer list. Perhaps they already were making $300,000 monthly and one tip helped them bump the response way up. For example, with coaching clients I’ve found it much easier to take someone who is at $10,000 a month to $20,000 a month than it is to get a brand new beginner from $0 to $1,000. It’s because of momentum. Just making a few changes to their sales page can sometimes do that.

So the FTC wants to make sure we being more clear on WHY someone achieved much better than typical results to give people a better understanding. This means we will have to go in more detail about what happened and why.

Instead of being lazy and just letting testimonials come in, we need to contact our best ones and find out more details. In other words, turn them more into case studies instead of “hiding” anything going on behind the scenes.

Here’s another example. If you’ve ever looked at “weight loss” ads in men’s magazines, they often feature a man who makes an incredible transformation. Yet if you look closely he appears to be very muscular (such as an amateur bodybuilder who’s been training for 5 to 10 years) with just 20 pounds or so of extra fat on him.

He loses weight incredibly quick, but it’s quite possible he is USED to already doing that because of competitions. He bulks up and then loses weight. Perhaps the product they’re selling only influenced him with a couple extra pounds or he did it one day quicker (assuming the product does actually work). To not reveal that factor is being very deceptive.

Recently I asked my subscribers for testimonials and feedback. Below are some of the ones I received. Many of them seem like they would still be fine under the new regulations, BUT take notice of the first one. It is most definitely NOT what the typical customer can expect…not even close. This is one of the ones I’ll have to check more into.

Very few people ever generate $60,000 in 10 days. This means I’d need to contact David and find out more details about this before I could ever use it. The typical beginner won’t get that result. So how do I classify him and what sets him apart from the typical buyer? That’s what I’ll have to find out now.

"Terry Dean has played an instrumental part in my success online. His protege' instruction on Joint Venture Marketing alone led me to generate over $60,000 in sales in just 10 days! If Terry says "this is what's working", you can take it to the bank."
Dave Lovelace
Pinehurst, North Carolina
30DaysTo1K.com


Here are some of the other ones without specific income claims.
And a special thank you to EVERYONE who sent in a testimonial even if I don’t have yours listed here.

"As an Internet Entrepreneur...Have you ever felt alone? I mean REALLY alone. I felt like it was usually the blind leading the blind or me just solo on a journey to space...beating my head along they way. At last I had been granted what I was looking for. A Mentor that REALLY helped me. Other Mentors say they will personally help you but then come to find out that their assistant will help you at best! Terry personally emails you and speaks to you on the phone! He also happens to be a courteous, kind person who is full of integrity - now that's hard to find. I feel like I struck gold!"
Nancy Hayssen, New York, NY
LookSexyNow.com


"Terry Dean consistently provides more valuable, actionable advise than anyone else out there. I consider myself quite lucky to have the opportunity to learn from, and work with, a legend like Terry Dean. It is quite an incredible experience."
Travis Giggy
Fort Collins, CO
Smallbusinessvictory.com

"Just yesterday Terry’s coaching program rescued me when I was feeling “lost”. Without his guidance, I would not have felt confident about what to do next. And when I get “lost,” it’s easy to just stop action. Terry’s personalized help made the difference and got me back on track right away."
Phil from Austin, TX

"Terry, Your personal coaching was a valuable experience for getting started online. When I was afraid and discouraged, you help me overcome my fears of making money online. In fact, when I decided to become a copywriter, you encouraged me by telling me how much I could make, and the incredible amount of knowledge and experience I’d pick up as a result of being deeply involved with my client’s marketing campaigns. Your advice has paid off big time for them – and me! Thanks for everything,"
Kevin Dawson

Walled Lake, MI
Onlinefinancialcopywriting.com

"Terry, I am so grateful for all the information, guidance and opportunities your provided me with. Your help allowed me to finally create my own lifestyle. I am a nature buff and I can now enjoy spending more time with my family and the freedom of exploring trails with my VTT of go fishing for trout or walleye whenever I feel like it – well, whenever the weather permits that is. I must also say that I come back to your blog for more information and inspiration. I find it’s always time well spent and it often gives me the right focus to optimize my results and the ideas how to leverage the numerous resources at our disposal."
Claude LaBadie
Shawinigan, QC, Canada
ClaudeLaBadie.com

"Terry Dean is the only Interent Marketing Coach that I really TRUST! His products are awesome. I specially like the Terry Dean Monthly Mentor Club where members get monthly newsletters with in depth tactics and techniques that can be applied to get more traffic and sales."
Yetti Chiu
Singapore
Yettichiu.com

"Hi Terry, I’ve been following your teachings for about 1.5 years now. I have your Internet Lifestyle Retirement System and I’m VERY impressed with this high quality product that teaches the nuts and bolts of starting and running a profitable Internet business and yet still have a LIFE. This is one of the best IM products that I’ve ever bought and I highly recommend anyone serious about building a profitable Internet business get his or her own copy of the Internet Lifestyle Retirement System DVDs! You focus so much on achieving a lifestyle that one wants, instead of just stressing how much money you can earn in x amount of time. What is the point if you can earn a lot of money but have to work life a slave? I’m also an avid reader of your blog. You put out incredible information for free and I’m sure that many marketers have learned and benefited a lot from your teachings, just as I have benefited from yours. Keep more great stuff coming Terry! "
Welly Mulia
Jakarta, Indonesia
Welly-Mulia.com

"Over the past few years I bought 2 of Terry’s products. One is called “Network Marketing In The Internet age” which he recorded with Frank Garon and the other product that I got from Terry is his “Email Marketing Mastery” course. These 2 products were both fantastic and they helped me drive home the importance that if i want to be as successful as Terry, I need to focus on building an email list and also building a relationship with them at the same time. Terry, thank you so much for everything that you taught me over the past 2-3 years. You are the best and I do love your customer service support too."
Tal Fighel
Toronto, Canada
Work-at-home-income-directory.com

"Hello this is Semmy I want to said personaly thank you to Terry Dean.. He is not only give me a good value product but he also teach me how to start an internet business and start to enjoy my live.. I really love his Internet lifestyle system.. I watch again and again.. Because I want to learn from Terry how to earn more work less and enjoy my life.. Thank you very much Terry!"

Semmy Lauw
Myminisitegraphic.com

"Hi, my name is Terris Muhammad. I am a business consultant operating in the Chicago area. I am making Internet marketing the central piece of my total marketing campaign. Terry’s book, INTERNET INTEGRITY, has given me the strategies and tools to make Internet marketing a working success. I have four business degrees obtained within the past seven years: Master of Information Systems Management Master of Accounting Finance Management Master of Business Administration (International Business) and, Bachelor of Science – Information Technology (Client-Server Model). I also have a B.S. otained some years ago with a major in philosophy. Terry’s strategies for online and offline marketing are both academically and operationally sound. Terry gives business and Internet industry best practices that are consistent with the latest practices in use today. Terry’s blogs are loaded with useful tools that stretch you to grow your business."
Terris Muhammad
Terris Business Consulting Worldwide
Waukegan, Illinois

"Terry, I read your blog regularly and I use your site as an up-to-date and valued resource. The information is very valuable, and I’ve used it secure my first web site consulting gig with more in the works. Great stuff that is helping me a LOT! Keep it coming!!"
Jeff M.
Dallas, Texas

"I’ve always found that what you said was worth reading, listening to, practical and very worthwhile knowing, for just about everybody that wanted to grow his or her own business on or off line. To be honest…..you couldn’t find a better mentor at your side."
Byron Welch
A
d-vitam.co.uk

"Terry’s material has educated me about how I need to proceed in creating an internet marketing approach. He is the first mentor that has made sense and I appreciate his support."
Karl Bunkielman

The big news lately for anyone who owns a business are all the new rules the FTC which will be in effect December 1st, 2009.

Posts about it are ALL over the place. No point in linking to all of them. Do a quick search for “FTC and Bloggers” and you’ll be overwhelmed with posts.

You might have even heard it was the end of online marketing…the end of affiliate marketing…or the end of blogging.

Everyone has been yelling, “The sky is falling.”

The good news is that’s not true. It’s not the end of the world. The bad news is that you might have a few changes to your sites.

Here is a link to the FTC PDF about it.

Here is another PDF the FTC has published showing example testimonial scenarios.

Mike Young has published a PDF you can download for free here called, “How to Comply With the New FTC Compensation Guidelines.”

I’m not a lawyer…don’t play one on TV…and should be completely ignored when it comes to any legal issue.

What is causing the biggest issues and frustration for everyone involved is that the FTC seems to have purposely left everything as unclear as humanly possible. It’s so unclear in a few places that only the government could have created it. The example testimonial scenarios they released later makes a little more sense than the original.

This is likely so they have strong ammunition to go after whoever they want without regards to what’s ethical or not. They simply don’t like to lose.

I think the basic idea behind this is good. Get rid of the scammy fake blogs that are just there to promote garbage. Get rid of those overhyped testimonials from endorsers who may have never even used the product. Force people to honestly say when they’re making money from something instead of keeping it hidden.

Who could disagree with any of that? It’s the application that leaves some to be desired.

Because of this confusion, you even see many of the big internet gurus telling you to eliminate all testimonials – just remove them all.

They’re wrong.

Here are a few key points that may affect you.


#1 – Bloggers need to fully disclose any relationships with people, products, and sites they review.

On blogs I see this as a very good step.

You’ll notice I already regularly tell you I get an affiliate commission for some link, someone sent me a free copy of their product, or that someone is a friend of mine. This is a for-profit blog and I make no excuses for that. This change will simply mean I’ll be even more conscientious about making sure all readers know this.

I think Michel Fortin did an excllent job of posting his blog Disclosure Policy here.

This hits those bloggers who do paid reviews more than anyone else. In addition if you’re a reviewer and people send you free copies of their products, you need to state this now. Again no big deal. A lot of people talk quite a bit about transparency in blogging, so I don’t understand why they would get so upset about having to reveal this type of information.

The bigger difficulty comes when you move over to social media and sites like Twitter. How do you reveal your correct connection to something when you’ve very limited in the number of characters you can use? That’s going to more difficult and confusing about what needs to be done.

#2 – You can be held responsible for what your affiliates say about your products.

This one is another one that is going to cause a lot of hassles for us small businesses. You need to police everything your affiliates say about you on their sites, in their blogs, and in their emails. Wow…that’s a lot of work.

For some, it’s going to discourage them a little from having “open affiliate” programs. Instead they may focus on having invitation only affiliate programs or all affiliates have to be approved first (not a bad idea actually).

But the reality is that we should have already be monitoring what affiliates say about us. What promises are they making? Whenever I’ve seen affiliates making hyped up claims, we’ve contacted them with the threat to remove them completely. Now we’ll have to do more in this area in keeping an eye on our affiliates.

If you think about it, network marketing companies have already had to do that for decades. They had distributors and had to watch what their distributors shared. Now we have to do the same with any of our affiliate distributors (for those of you who run 2 tier affiliate programs there are even more similarities).

#3 – Testimonials must be more representative of typical results.

This is a hairy one. What is the typical results for example for someone who buys an internet marketing ebook?

In my OPINION the average result is that they completely ignore it and buy another one without ever using it. Then of course they generate exactly zero results.

But notice I said that was my opinion. From the FTC’s examples, it sounds like we simply need to be much more clear about the testimonials and how they achieved the results.

What else was behind the results that we’re not seeing.

For example, in the internet marketing field you sometimes see someone said, “I bought so-and-so’s product…and made $83,000 in just 3 days.”

Will the typical customer get those results? Nope. No way. Not going to happen. Why did they do so well?

Perhaps they already had a large customer list. Perhaps they already were making $300,000 monthly and one tip helped them bump the response way up. For example, with coaching clients I’ve found it much easier to take someone who is at $10,000 a month to $20,000 a month than it is to get a brand new beginner from $0 to $1,000. It’s because of momentum. Just making a few changes to their sales page can sometimes do that.

So the FTC wants to make sure we being more clear on WHY someone achieved much better than typical results to give people a better understanding. This means we will have to go in more detail about what happened and why.

Instead of being lazy and just letting testimonials come in, we need to contact our best ones and find out more details. In other words, turn them more into case studies instead of “hiding” anything going on behind the scenes.

Here’s another example. If you’ve ever looked at “weight loss” ads in men’s magazines, they often feature a man who makes an incredible transformation. Yet if you look closely he appears to be very muscular (such as an amateur bodybuilder who’s been training for 5 to 10 years) with just 20 pounds or so of extra fat on him.

He loses weight incredibly quick, but it’s quite possible he is USED to already doing that because of competitions. He bulks up and then loses weight. Perhaps the product they’re selling only influenced him with a couple extra pounds or he did it one day quicker (assuming the product does actually work). To not reveal that factor is being very deceptive.

Recently I asked my subscribers for testimonials and feedback. Below are some of the ones I received. Many of them seem like they would still be fine under the new regulations, BUT take notice of the first one. It is most definitely NOT what the typical customer can expect…not even close. This is one of the ones I’ll have to check more into.

Very few people ever generate $60,000 in 10 days. This means I’d need to contact David and find out more details about this before I could ever use it. The typical beginner won’t get that result. So how do I classify him and what sets him apart from the typical buyer? That’s what I’ll have to find out now.

"Terry Dean has played an instrumental part in my success online. His protege' instruction on Joint Venture Marketing alone led me to generate over $60,000 in sales in just 10 days! If Terry says "this is what's working", you can take it to the bank."
Dave Lovelace
Pinehurst, North Carolina
30DaysTo1K.com


Here are some of the other ones without specific income claims.
And a special thank you to EVERYONE who sent in a testimonial even if I don’t have yours listed here.

"As an Internet Entrepreneur...Have you ever felt alone? I mean REALLY alone. I felt like it was usually the blind leading the blind or me just solo on a journey to space...beating my head along they way. At last I had been granted what I was looking for. A Mentor that REALLY helped me. Other Mentors say they will personally help you but then come to find out that their assistant will help you at best! Terry personally emails you and speaks to you on the phone! He also happens to be a courteous, kind person who is full of integrity - now that's hard to find. I feel like I struck gold!"
Nancy Hayssen, New York, NY
LookSexyNow.com


"Terry Dean consistently provides more valuable, actionable advise than anyone else out there. I consider myself quite lucky to have the opportunity to learn from, and work with, a legend like Terry Dean. It is quite an incredible experience."
Travis Giggy
Fort Collins, CO
Smallbusinessvictory.com

"Just yesterday Terry’s coaching program rescued me when I was feeling “lost”. Without his guidance, I would not have felt confident about what to do next. And when I get “lost,” it’s easy to just stop action. Terry’s personalized help made the difference and got me back on track right away."
Phil from Austin, TX

"Terry, Your personal coaching was a valuable experience for getting started online. When I was afraid and discouraged, you help me overcome my fears of making money online. In fact, when I decided to become a copywriter, you encouraged me by telling me how much I could make, and the incredible amount of knowledge and experience I’d pick up as a result of being deeply involved with my client’s marketing campaigns. Your advice has paid off big time for them – and me! Thanks for everything,"
Kevin Dawson

Walled Lake, MI
Onlinefinancialcopywriting.com

"Terry, I am so grateful for all the information, guidance and opportunities your provided me with. Your help allowed me to finally create my own lifestyle. I am a nature buff and I can now enjoy spending more time with my family and the freedom of exploring trails with my VTT of go fishing for trout or walleye whenever I feel like it – well, whenever the weather permits that is. I must also say that I come back to your blog for more information and inspiration. I find it’s always time well spent and it often gives me the right focus to optimize my results and the ideas how to leverage the numerous resources at our disposal."
Claude LaBadie
Shawinigan, QC, Canada
ClaudeLaBadie.com

"Terry Dean is the only Interent Marketing Coach that I really TRUST! His products are awesome. I specially like the Terry Dean Monthly Mentor Club where members get monthly newsletters with in depth tactics and techniques that can be applied to get more traffic and sales."
Yetti Chiu
Singapore
Yettichiu.com

"Hi Terry, I’ve been following your teachings for about 1.5 years now. I have your Internet Lifestyle Retirement System and I’m VERY impressed with this high quality product that teaches the nuts and bolts of starting and running a profitable Internet business and yet still have a LIFE. This is one of the best IM products that I’ve ever bought and I highly recommend anyone serious about building a profitable Internet business get his or her own copy of the Internet Lifestyle Retirement System DVDs! You focus so much on achieving a lifestyle that one wants, instead of just stressing how much money you can earn in x amount of time. What is the point if you can earn a lot of money but have to work life a slave? I’m also an avid reader of your blog. You put out incredible information for free and I’m sure that many marketers have learned and benefited a lot from your teachings, just as I have benefited from yours. Keep more great stuff coming Terry! "
Welly Mulia
Jakarta, Indonesia
Welly-Mulia.com

"Over the past few years I bought 2 of Terry’s products. One is called “Network Marketing In The Internet age” which he recorded with Frank Garon and the other product that I got from Terry is his “Email Marketing Mastery” course. These 2 products were both fantastic and they helped me drive home the importance that if i want to be as successful as Terry, I need to focus on building an email list and also building a relationship with them at the same time. Terry, thank you so much for everything that you taught me over the past 2-3 years. You are the best and I do love your customer service support too."
Tal Fighel
Toronto, Canada
Work-at-home-income-directory.com

"Hello this is Semmy I want to said personaly thank you to Terry Dean.. He is not only give me a good value product but he also teach me how to start an internet business and start to enjoy my live.. I really love his Internet lifestyle system.. I watch again and again.. Because I want to learn from Terry how to earn more work less and enjoy my life.. Thank you very much Terry!"

Semmy Lauw
Myminisitegraphic.com

"Hi, my name is Terris Muhammad. I am a business consultant operating in the Chicago area. I am making Internet marketing the central piece of my total marketing campaign. Terry’s book, INTERNET INTEGRITY, has given me the strategies and tools to make Internet marketing a working success. I have four business degrees obtained within the past seven years: Master of Information Systems Management Master of Accounting Finance Management Master of Business Administration (International Business) and, Bachelor of Science – Information Technology (Client-Server Model). I also have a B.S. otained some years ago with a major in philosophy. Terry’s strategies for online and offline marketing are both academically and operationally sound. Terry gives business and Internet industry best practices that are consistent with the latest practices in use today. Terry’s blogs are loaded with useful tools that stretch you to grow your business."
Terris Muhammad
Terris Business Consulting Worldwide
Waukegan, Illinois

"Terry, I read your blog regularly and I use your site as an up-to-date and valued resource. The information is very valuable, and I’ve used it secure my first web site consulting gig with more in the works. Great stuff that is helping me a LOT! Keep it coming!!"
Jeff M.
Dallas, Texas

"I’ve always found that what you said was worth reading, listening to, practical and very worthwhile knowing, for just about everybody that wanted to grow his or her own business on or off line. To be honest…..you couldn’t find a better mentor at your side."
Byron Welch
A
d-vitam.co.uk

"Terry’s material has educated me about how I need to proceed in creating an internet marketing approach. He is the first mentor that has made sense and I appreciate his support."
Karl Bunkielman

To me, being an entrepreneur is about more than just the money.

It has to be! If your whole existence is about making enough money to support your lifestyle, that’s a very dreary life indeed.

Being an entrepreneur is about using everything you are to enrich those around you while living a life you love.

And someone who finds themselves in that position doesn’t want a “four hour work week.” Why would you only want to work four hours a week if you enjoy what you do?

When I first started online, YES, it was about the money. There was no question about that. I couldn’t make a living delivering pizzas or signing people up for credit cards in front of a store. It just wasn’t happening. Each month we went deeper in debt.

In fact I hated the very word “work.” It was what you did to just barely scrape by to get enough money to have fun. But today things have changed quite a bit. I do have a few of those “passive automated income streams” everyone talks about. And I definitely live below my means.

So why keep working, expanding, and growing in business?

It’s simple. You find work that is ALSO FUN. Without meaningful work, you will experience a feeling of “something lacking” in your life. In some cases, you can’t quite put your finger on it. It just feels like there is something missing.

On the other side of the fence, when you find yourself putting in too many hours doing things you don’t enjoy, you quickly burn out. In fact, I’ve found it possible to burn out on something you enjoy by doing it too much (I’ve had that happen both in work and in hobbies).

So there is also a point of balance in your life. Let’s see how long your marriage and family last if you all you do is work (and your health for that matter if sleep and eating habits are sacrificed).

A big key here is to find work you enjoy…that you have to pull yourself away from. Instead of dreading work, you look forward to it and love it.

The recent recommendations I’ve made for Steve Little’s PerfectBizFinder program can help you with this…

If you were like me and hated ALL the work you did before becoming an entrepreneur, how do you go about finding work you love and your life purpose?

Here are a few ideas and exercises that may help you.

#1 – Write your obituary.

I first heard this one back in college. Plan your obituary for decades in the future (be optimistic here). What accomplishments will you have made? What will you be known for? How will you be remembered? Keep it light hearted as you write this (don’t discourage yourself). It should be a fun exercise, because you’re going to the end result. Then you can work back from that point. If you’ve accomplish such-and-such by the time you die, what steps lead you up to that point? What should you be doing now?

#2 – What would you do if you could not fail?

If there was no chance of failure, and no one could stand in your way…what would you be doing? I like this question because it’s often our fears that hold us back from becoming who we really want. EVERYONE has problems with self-esteem in some area of their life. Where is fear holding you back? Open up a word processor and start writing about this. You may write several dozen versions of this before you come to the real bottom line (there is a lot of junk on the service from other people’s opinions, desires, etc.).

#3 – Who are you heroes and who would you most like to meet?

Who are your heroes? Who do you look up to? Why? What have they accomplished that you identify with? What did they overcome? What connection is there between them and your life purpose? You’ll often find there is some connection (although not always directly) between what they’ve accomplished and what you want to do. And remember, your heroes don’t have to be famous. They could be someone who influenced you in life. What common values do your heroes and you share?

#4 – What do you LOVE to do?

What do you love to do? When you’re doing this activity, time just seems to fly by. You’re in the zone where you time has no meaning to you. In business, you may find this only happens with a few very specific activities. How can we focus more of your time doing that (and outsource the rest)? In fact, I’ve found that most people LOVE certain elements of what they do already. Part of the entrepreneurial process is discovering those and finding ways to spend more time there.

#5 – What is your true purpose in life?

Open up your word processing program again. Ask yourself that question. What is your true purpose in life? Answer it. Then answer it again. Refine your answer. Just like a copywriter may write several dozen or several HUNDRED headlines to find the attention grabber, follow the same strategy here. Keep answering the question until you feel the connection…till it hits you emotionally. You will “feel it” when you’ve hit something that connects with you.

What to Do About It

Once you find your purpose, what can you do about it? While some people are able to accomplish this through their job, the majority find they have to become an entrepreneur to really let their gifts shine. Find a business model that allows you to focus on this. Then build a team you can delegate or outsource to for all the activities which don’t suit you and your gifts.

Click here for a resource to help you find your perfect business…

It’s not just about the money. It’s about building a lifestyle you love. And that’s not accomplished simply by working as little as possible. It’s about discovering who you are…and how you can best build sellable value for others.

The links above are to an affiliate program for the PerfectBizFinder manual and monthly membership site.

A couple days ago I posted a message introducing you to Steve Little and his Entrepreneurial Strengths Survey.

Did you take it?

(If not, you’ve got to check it out – plus it’s free)

Wasn’t it impressive how accurate the results were?

When I took the survey, it revealed strengths that took me 5+ years to learn in my online business. If only I had something like this available to me when I started!

For example, you’ve probably heard about how being an extrovert is required for being an entrepreneur. I’m most definitely NOT one! I’m an introvert and proud of it.

Trying to FORCE myself to become an extrovert like some people suggest was frustrating me to no end. Hearing all the advantages extroverts have was always painful also. Instead I’ve learned to focus on the advantages introverts have.

I apply good listening skills to coach clients. Instead of working in large groups, I prefer private clients or small groups. I also enjoy working alone in my office on writing, creating videos, etc.

It took me years to realize my personality had advantages to take advantage of and let shine.

In Steve’s Survey, he goes into 6 core entrepreneurial compentencies. The extrovert/introvert is simply the first one. You may be surprised like I was when I first took the test.

I scored totally opposite of what most people consider to be an “entrepreneurial skillset” in several areas. Yet each of these areas has presented very specific advantages I’ve learned to use over the years.

Let his survey help you find and apply your strengths instead of taking as long as I did.

Click here now…

I have a copy of my full report printed out on my desk. I’d be interested in seeing your results also (and how you feel your entrepreneur personality affects your business). Feel free to share your results here.

I also want you to know that this survey is not even the half of what Steve has to offer you.

He is a 40 year veteran entrepreneur and he has made it his mission to help as many people as possible become successful entrepreneurs by finding and creating their perfect business.

Take a couple minutes right now and take the survey.

Once you complete it, Steve will send you your customized 24 page report detailing all of your strengths and weaknesses (also free)

He will then continue to teach you valuable lessons in being a successful entrepreneur like:

- The difference between being an entrepreneur vs. proprietor

- How to find out if you are a Lifestyle Guru or a Growth Maven

- The 11 Golden Rules to running a successful business

- How to master what he calls “The Value Principle”

- How to discover your Entrepreneurial DNA®

- Plus much much more.

You’ve got to check it out – It can change your life!

Be sure to let me know what you think.

Note: The above links are affiliate links to his free survey. After you take the survey you will also be offered his ebook and membership site (but no purchase is required to receive full survey results).

A couple days ago I posted a message introducing you to Steve Little and his Entrepreneurial Strengths Survey.

Did you take it?

(If not, you’ve got to check it out – plus it’s free)

Wasn’t it impressive how accurate the results were?

When I took the survey, it revealed strengths that took me 5+ years to learn in my online business. If only I had something like this available to me when I started!

For example, you’ve probably heard about how being an extrovert is required for being an entrepreneur. I’m most definitely NOT one! I’m an introvert and proud of it.

Trying to FORCE myself to become an extrovert like some people suggest was frustrating me to no end. Hearing all the advantages extroverts have was always painful also. Instead I’ve learned to focus on the advantages introverts have.

I apply good listening skills to coach clients. Instead of working in large groups, I prefer private clients or small groups. I also enjoy working alone in my office on writing, creating videos, etc.

It took me years to realize my personality had advantages to take advantage of and let shine.

In Steve’s Survey, he goes into 6 core entrepreneurial compentencies. The extrovert/introvert is simply the first one. You may be surprised like I was when I first took the test.

I scored totally opposite of what most people consider to be an “entrepreneurial skillset” in several areas. Yet each of these areas has presented very specific advantages I’ve learned to use over the years.

Let his survey help you find and apply your strengths instead of taking as long as I did.

Click here now…

I have a copy of my full report printed out on my desk. I’d be interested in seeing your results also (and how you feel your entrepreneur personality affects your business). Feel free to share your results here.

I also want you to know that this survey is not even the half of what Steve has to offer you.

He is a 40 year veteran entrepreneur and he has made it his mission to help as many people as possible become successful entrepreneurs by finding and creating their perfect business.

Take a couple minutes right now and take the survey.

Once you complete it, Steve will send you your customized 24 page report detailing all of your strengths and weaknesses (also free)

He will then continue to teach you valuable lessons in being a successful entrepreneur like:

- The difference between being an entrepreneur vs. proprietor

- How to find out if you are a Lifestyle Guru or a Growth Maven

- The 11 Golden Rules to running a successful business

- How to master what he calls “The Value Principle”

- How to discover your Entrepreneurial DNA®

- Plus much much more.

You’ve got to check it out – It can change your life!

Be sure to let me know what you think.

Note: The above links are affiliate links to his free survey. After you take the survey you will also be offered his ebook and membership site (but no purchase is required to receive full survey results).

As you know, I’ve been talking a lot lately about finding the perfect business model for YOU personally.

Recently I met a millionaire entrepreneur named Steve Little. After speaking to him for only a few minutes, I knew his message was right in line with what I’ve been seeing with the results of my clients.

He has created an fantastic survey which tells you all about your individual entrepreneurial strengths.

Click here now to go to take the free survey…

Then he teaches you how to leverage those strengths into the success you desire with a series of 20 excellent video lessons.

And he’s made what it all available to you for free.

Click here now to go to take the free survey…

Go check it out. It only takes a minute to get your survey results but the insight you get is invaluable.

Let me know what you think.

Click here now to go to take the free survey…

It doesn’t matter if you’re looking to start a business right now or you’re already in business, you’ve got to hear what he has to say.

Please note: The above is an affiliate link to the free survey and the course he also makes available.