When do you call it quits?

During motivational speaker seminars, football game locker rooms, and in a bunch of motivational books, there is a lot of cheerleadering and saying "Never give up!". Well the reality is in business, there are times you have to abandon things, and quit.

In my case, I pulled the plug on Better Life Technologies Friday and I am out of business. After seeing my costs go through the roof, and not having sufficient income, I pulled the plug. My DBA had the same name as another company here around 10 years before I registered it. The prospects I got to make sales were spotty. And, all and all, I just didn't get into the money. So, I pulled the plug. Sad to see things end this way, but now I go back into the job market and see if I can work, and collect unemployment.

Anyhow, due to my total wipeout, I am going to stop doing entries here until I can manage to demonstrate a track record worth speaking on. To occupy my time, I am going to design some board games.

Well, there ARE times to say enough and end something. Don't let anyone else tell you. Ideally you should end failures early and let good things ride, but knowing which is an art.

So, signing off until whenever... Good luck everyone.

I am going to be taking at least a week off from here.

I need to refocus on things and rework some material I have. I will be looking to take a least a week off. It could run longer. To be notified when I will be back, please sign up on the left for subscription, so you will know when I am active again.

Thanks...

There are three kinds of stupid (Global Online goes belly up)

Welcome to the world of "passive income" and get rich quick. I had made mention of this importer I had invested in. I also managed to get others to put money into it. Well, the end result of Global is here: http://www.grassmueckgroup.com/global_online.php

Yep, thing went belly up. It was bad that I was out $600, but worse that I promoted it, costing people more money. I do have shame over it.

Anyhow, I might as well bring up a topic I had in mind in relation to this. This was stupid on my part. The area I played in here was one of high risk, because made you violate a basic principle of investing, that being to do your due dilligence and get the financials for any investment you do. You need to seriously crunch the numbers before you do anything. Unfortunately, when you play in the area of HYIPs and grey area investments, you have no chance of seeing the books. So, you are doing a crapshoot. In most cases, you will end up losing.

Ok, now back to three kinds of stupid. These kinds of stupid are see in the cartoon, Aqua Teen Hunger Force. They have three main characters in it. One character is child-like in nature, and ignorant of the world, and easily duped. Another one has major character flaws, a lack of integrity, and outright greed. The third is intellectually smart, but fails in the area of practical intelligence and understanding the world. All three of these are types of stupid that if someone displays any, they are likely to run into serious problems in making bad decisions.

Unfortunately, my involvement with Global likely involved all three, and blind trust in places I shouldn't have.

Next Sucker Syndrome

Whenever you don't provide any value in what you sell, except the promise of making a lot of money, you fall into the "Next Sucker Syndrome" (aka, the "Last Guy in Gets Screwed"). In other words, you sign up for a network marketing opportunity where you hope to recruit the "next sucker" so that he can then recruit the next and so on. This mentality drives speculators in bubble markets and people who engage in gifting programs. Often time, program jumpers are people who fall prey to "The Next Sucker Syndrome" but suck at lining up the next sucker.

All and all, if you get into this, I just hope you aren't the last sucker in.

Greasing the slide, weeding the garden.

Greasing the slide is a term that refers to making your sales pitch so appealing that your prospect can only say yes. To make this work, you have to do what I call "weeding the garden". This involves addressing issues that your prospect may have problems with, to allow their desire to buy to come through. In other words, get rid of the objectionable weeds (pun intended), so that they will then act on what they really want.

In other words, get out of your way by getting their reasons to hesitate out of the way. By the way, this involves a LOT of listening.

U.S. Mortgage Foreclosure Filings Rise 90% in May

This is for those who happen to believe that they are safe looking for work in the job market and working a job. Most people reading this blog likely are aware of it. Anyhow, here is the link:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=av3bqU7edFDs&refer=home

June 12 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. foreclosure filings surged 90 percent in May from a year earlier as more homeowners fell behind on their monthly mortgage payments, RealtyTrac Inc. said.

There were 176,137 notices of default, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions last month, led by California, Florida and Ohio, the Irvine, California-based seller of foreclosure data said in a report today. The median price for a U.S. home slid 1.8 percent the first three months of 2007 as the housing slump entered its second year, according to the National Association of Realtors. The filings rose 19 percent from April.

Turn your weaknesses into a strength.

I think of Scatman John, the musical legend when I write this. Scatman had really bad stuttering during his real life. He decided to do something about it and took up the musical form scat, using his stuttering as the basis of his music.

A key in business to turn any weakness into a strength is to see how that weakness can generate into a solution for other people's needs, and thus be able to sell it.

An example would be a bad habit you are able to succeed inspite of. If you are lazy, and make money, you show people you are lazy but still make money.

Go here to learn more about Scatman John:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scatman_john

How much can you afford to spend on an opportunity?

A basic rule of thumb to use in determining how large of a program one can afford to buy is to take about half of what one can afford to spend, and use it to acquire the opportunity. The rest needs to go to cover overhead. For example, if you have about $2000 saved up, you would end having around $1000 to acquire an opportunity. If you have $1000, then you would have about $500 to spend. For a more accurate assessment, figure out what your entire operating expense will be, from a phone line to getting a computer, to covering a merchant account, and add a MINIMUM of 25% for marketing (this includes advertising, printing up business or sizzle cards, and so on).

What you do NOT want to do is buy an expensive program, and have no money to operate.

The Three Foot Rule.

I just became aware of something called "The Three Foot Rule". While, like all advice given, it has a bit of truth, apparently this is pitched to network marketers as to how to build their business. It is the cold call method of social interaction. Pretty much anyone within three feet of you is supposed to be a person you pitch your business opportunity to.

Anyhow, to learn all about the horrors of this, check this video out:


So, in a nutshell, if you want to understand the true meaning of the three foot rule, it is this, if you practice it, people will think you are a weirdo with a third foot, that should be locked up in a cage in some freak show. Now, it is good to enage a lot of people to practice socialization skills. But, to turn everything and spin everything into a chance to pitch your opportunity is warped.

True leadership doesn't sell money.

I thought this video I saw on My Space, on true leadership and building a downline, is very on target. True leadership is about inspiring, not selling money.

The Inspiration Economy for Marketers

Add to My Profile | More Videos

I plan on writing soon on what to lead with besides money (the comp plan).

Selling your dreams for a bowl of soup.

The title today's entry aludes to several Biblical verses, where Esau sells his birthright for a single bowl of soup or stew. It is a sad state of affairs where a person sacrifices long term goals for short term need.

Well, how many people manage to do this with your life? How many people sacrifice their dreams as a result? Look at yourself and ask if you had done that with your dreams, sell them out for a bowl of soup. If you have, ask yourself when you will do something about it?

You are the guardian of your list.

Do not treat your list as something casual. If you don't care about your list and feed them things that are irrelevant or harmful, your list is going to shrink. You need to assume, if you want a good list, that people will eventually take your recommendations on faith and act on them. If you are careless in how you build it, and don't do the due dilligence for your people, then you will end up having people blacklisting you, and even possibly bad mouthing you to everyone they know.

What story does your happiness depend on?

I want to focus this entry on the concept of happiness. In the case of myself, I happened to be chatting with some woman over the Internet who was fuming that no one remembered her birthday. She plays in an online world called "Second Life", and she was all upset no one sent her back whether or not they would attend her birthday on there. Well, I hadn't sent anything else, and she was fuming at me, saying I hated her, and so on. It wasn't even her birthday, mind you, just pre-birthday.

Contrast this with myself, and Myspace. Dave Ramsey dumped me! He was in my top 24 and he drops me for whatever reason. Maybe I ended up borrowing money sometime, but I have no idea. Do I let this bother me? Well, just some, but I move on.

The lesson here? Well, how about you not bother to make up stories to make yourself miserable, or reach conclusions that may not be true. How about a simple leaving things as a mystery and that is that?

The world's best compensation plan (In My Humble Opinion)

I believe if you took a 1Up and put it in a residual mode, and put at least 50% of total costs in that, and then forked off up to the remaining 50% into a 3 by X (10 seems to work) matrix (same amount on each level). This would be the world's best compensation system. The 1Up allows people to go past the Matrix, creating paylines, and the Matrix provides a way to combat the breakaway mode. In addition, the Up works to motivate people not to get lazy (as they tend to do in Matrixes, waiting on spill over). By working it this way, with the split, you would only need to get two or three people in to break even, which helps. The Matrix also makes a person more comfortable bringing people into a program. While the Up part goes to the sponsor, the person who is brought in goes in the downline of the Matrix who brought them in. Everyone wins here. The Up is used to get people in profit, while the matrix is used to provide spillover and connection of people. I call this an Up Matrix (or Up and Up Matrix).

There is NO network marketing program on the planet that uses this compensation plan now. There is ONLY one on the planet that uses the 1Up residual (1Up and Up System) and that is Your New Fortune in EDC. You can learn more about that here: http://www.1UpandUp.com

Of course, you need to have a bunch of products and/or services that are worth the money, so people will stay in the program and believe they are getting their money's worth out of it. It is the quality of products that keep people in an MLM and are competitively priced. This is one reason why I carry Invisus (http://Invisus.BLTeks.com) my only MLM at this point. It costs $15/month, and while somewhat more expensive than usual Internet security, it carries a lot more, plus American tech support. And, $15/month is affordable by people, particularly if it makes computers happy.

Some basic facts about Aussie Up Compensation plans

If you are going to consider an Aussie Up compensation plan, there are some basic things you need to know.
1. The comp plan is one of the most lucrative out there.
2. The comp plan requires you to have havie more skills of any other comp plans, or owning systems than compensates for you having these skills. You have to be good at getting people qualified relatively quickly, so they can get you new sales. The people you will be constantly dealing with are new people who likely don't know how to sell. In a 2Up, the amout of people you are dealing with will get larger and larger.
3. The comp plan is a breakaway model. This means that once your people are qualified, you don't get any more payments from them (Unless you use an Up and Up, http://get.1UpAndUp.com, which is residual). This means thaty the comp plan breeds increasing numbers of competitors in the marketplace you don't make any compensation off of once they are qualified. It is like to be said under this, "there are not fat cats on top getting rich off your efforts while they do nothing".
5. What usually happens in Up compensation plans is the sponsor is a heavy marketer and relies on someone else to close, or they are excellent closers. They will tend to go into robomarketer mode and not be available. The system, once they do large number of sales, forces them to get more impersonal forcing them to implement more and more system solutions to keep things going. Due to the demands, Aussie ups end up getting marketed as if there was no leverage behind them.
6. Aussie Ups are geared towards one time sales from people, but leveraged. You don't get long-term residual income from them.
7. If you don't like your upline, you won't make it work, as you are passing sales to him to get qualified. If you dislike your sponsor, you will sabotage things to prevent him or her from getting anything. On that note, you work an Aussie up, you need to have your people like you.

In my case, I am involved with EDC Gold, which runs an Aussie 2-Up. What I am able to do, in EDC Gold, is guarantee a person will be fully qualified in EDC Gold within 60 days after they sign up under me. This guarantee, which I am able to act on, enables me to address a LOT of the issues people would have if they sign up typically in an Aussie 2-Up. If this interests you, please sign up here: http://60DaysEDC.BLTeks.com

Now a word from our sponsor: Never Cold Call

Watch this videos on why Cold Calling is dead, and is no longer needed, by Frank Rumbauskas:


I HIGHLY recommend the material by Frank Rumbauskas. To learn more go here: http://NeverColdCall.BLTeks.com/

If you are interested in learning why Frank knows his stuff, check this video out:

Can I borrow $50,000?

I am on Myspace and I get this message with someone asking me, who isn't even on my friend list, asking if they could borrow $50,000.

Ok, I will give you one guess what the answer is. I will also leave it to figure out why I posted this, and figure out what it has to do with cold calling and prospecting people you don't know anything about you or your business before you contact them.

Is The Rich Jerk filing bankruptcy?

The blog world is one where word spreads fast, and people will report just about anything (you can Google the words Rich Jerk Bankruptcy to see what I mean). Well, here is an interesting story. You have one blogger report that a "close business associate" of his, in the know, says The Rich Jerk is reporting that he is selling his business to avoid bankruptcy, and the blog world jumps all over it. Well, apparently the Rich Jerk wrote him back, said it false and threatened to sue him. The blogger listed proof of the sale, which since has been pulled. You can go here to learn more on this:
http://www.shoemoney.com/2007/05/22/rich-jerk-kelly-felix-selling-the-empire-to-avoid-bankruptcy/

What is the story here? It is entirely possible The Rich Jerk is looking to sell his business and move on. But, you have the news in the hands of a competitor and it is spun all sorts of ways. Or maybe The Rich Jerk is trying to avoid debt. Well, you had some other forums label RJ's stuff as an MLM (oh yes, file it with all the other MLMs, because they are all scams, right?). And you have this blogger I describe do a tear down, and have himself showing his great six figure income google check.

Don't believe a word of it or the hype. What matters is you, and your success, not this Internet blogging rumors and teardowns. Shoot, don't even believe what I have to tell you, and take it at face value. I am just one person who has made some money on the Internet, and been through the paces. I had a business associate once tell me that discussion forums are filled with people with their own agendas who look to tear down others to promote themselves. I would personally not be surprised that the Rich Jerk is facing the same now. RJ has run one of the most successful affliate marketing programs ever, and I am sure others are jealous of him.

My thoughts on The Secret and The Law of Attraction.

I have had given some thought to the whole Secret and Law of Attraction craze. My take is that it is generally valid, but isn't the whole truth. What one DOES in life also has a big role in what one gets out of life, and not just what one thinks. The Law of Attraction is mapped to how the human mind works and thoughts and emotional states. I also believe The Law of Attraction is VERY valid in human relationships, and people bring with them causalities that can impact you as you draw them. I believe The Law of Attraction makes one more in tune with things that cause things to happen, rather than is a cause of things to happen. Also, it isn't the complete truth. There are other truths and laws, and it isn't the complete truth. There is sowing and reaping, and having wisdom and right understanding. Also, having SKILLS people have are very important.

Also, I want to add, as a Christian, I feel the Law of Attraction can be made out to be more than it is. When left alone and ignorant of the other laws at work in the universe, the law of attraction can be seen as "The Law of Presumption" or (The Law of Assumption), where you operate under presumptions that are false. There is things to be said about accurately speaking the turth. There are times that things can be bigger than you, and your thoughts aren't going to change it.

On that note, I mention my Success Principles eBook again. It goes into other principles, outside the Law of Attraction, that are key to success. You can get ahold of the eBook, by signing up for it here: http://RevTEAPage.BLTeks.com.

How to survive a distributor recruiting war.

Let's say you are in a program where multiple distributors are recruiting the same people, or recruiting into different competing programs. You are in the middle of this. What do you do so that you don't cheapen the program, cut a deal, overpromise, and still get the sale? Well, first, you need to be selling people on they money making potential. When talking about the business side, and making money, you need to show them that you are the best fit for them, and can help them make the most money. Second, you need to avoid going negative on ANYTHING, the other distributors or other programs. You can point out some weaker points, and the facts, but avoid being nasty if you can. Third, if they decide not to go with you, then you need to wish them luck and be on good terms with them. Fourth, keep on becoming the best person you can be, so you can help your downlines succeed, and show people you can. On this last point, if you have a good upline (You should always get one when you sign up. Not a robomarketer, but someone who can coach and help you succeed), that is another thing you can use to recruit people. People want to feel secure you can help them succeed.

Do all of the above and you will recruit better, and avoid having to cut deals with people to win the recruiting war.

Robert Kiyosaki on how to build wealth.

Robert Kiyosaki speaks on the the ways to gain financial freedom.

About Get Rich Quick Promoters

I write today on those apparently hugely successful individuals who make a lot of money in "sure" things that pay abnormally high rates of return, and you would swear they have a lock. You may of seen these types (hint: they usually hang out in HYIP forums and running their schemes on the bottom as signatures). They pitch their money making opportunities, and show how much you they make. Charles Ponzi was a prime example of that type of person. I am not going to speak on their opportunities, per se, but how they operate.

Want to know how these individuals get a lot of money? They know how to sell and market. They build huge lists, and collect referal commissions off people who sign up. Often times they will take all or some of the money out of their opportunities, and walk off with a HUGE profit in the process. In their case, unlike the other people, it doesn't matter if the opportunity crashes or not, they made their money.

Such individuals are very seductive. You can swear they have the Midas touch, and you can't go wrong. Well, guess what, they don't get rich with their own money. They will get rich off other people's money. They will often test an opportunity enough to see that it is persuasive, and their primary concern is that it sells well, rather than it is solid investment.

The Get Rich Quick Promoter is a prime example why you don't blindly look at earning statements or what they are doing and believe that they tell you things that are a lock for yourself. People can make money in these get rich quick schemes early. It is the long-term that counts. And, I do NOT mean that the person you are dealing with has been doing it a long time, just his opportunities are sustainable long term. Ponzi riders who jump from Ponzi HYIP to Ponzi HYIP are prime examples of this also. These promoters feel NO remorse that you lost money following their advice either. They believe it was your fault that you listened and trusted them to begin with.

I will add one more comment in closing here regarding actual investment opportunities. Some do have a limited time window to them, and do require time to act. Some investment opportunities do have a limited shelf life.

When is the best time to start a home-based business (part 2)?

I will be doing another post later today with my own content later during the day, but someone sent me this link, which fits in well with my when is the best time to start a home-based business question I posted earlier. It is a few years old, but the basic truths will remain from this point on, even in the face of globalization. Also, it does ask the question about what you would do when you are downsized. Guess what, even as the economy picks up, you are at risk of downsizing. Anyhow, check out this video to see why I have said yesterday is the best time to start a home-based business:


If you think you are safe, think again. Remember the talk about the "jobless recovery"? Well while things have improved some, the economy is still barely creating more jobs than it needs to sustain the growth in the population.

I am using Feedburner to allow email subscriptions to this blog.

This is a bonus entry for the day here. I am using the following website to allow people to get email subscriptions to this blog: http://www.feedburner.com

If you have a blog it is a way to do email subscriptions to your blog. Also, if you had any problem with the verification link, copy the ENTIRE URL and then paste it into a web browser to confirm.
I tested it and found out a - symbol that was in the URL at the end wasn't picked up. I had to copy and paste it in to confirm it worked.

Intended schedule for Blog posts.

My intended schedule for Blog posts from this point on is Monday through Friday, with the weekend off to work on content, and taking some time off. I intend on doing one post a day, and will eventually get regular with the time of day that day's entry will be added. I will do at least one entry a day, or likely more than one, if one of the entries is a promotion on my part, or news like this.

The only way you fail is if you quit or run out of resources.

Persistence is a trait one needs to develop for success. It may take multiple times to get what you want. The only thing that can stop you from putting an effort is you. Of course, there is the other thing that happens, and that is you run out of resources. If you run out of time, money, strength, and so on, you will fail. On that note, it is important to try to pick things you have enough resources to succeed with. And, on this note, I will mention my Success Principles eBook again. Description of persistence is in there, along with needing sufficient resources. You can get ahold of the eBook, by signing up for it here: http://RevTEAPage.BLTeks.com.

You can now get this blog via email!

Hello all! Rather than having to visit this blog to see if I posted anything, you can subscribe to the blog and receive messages in your email box when there is a new Blog entry. I may not do an entry every day, so it is a useful step to do. Note the link to the left.

Give yourself a good name. You must brand and market yourself first.

If you want to have any success on the Internet, you are going to need to brand and market yourself. I said YOURSELF. I did NOT say your COMPANY, or your BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY. It is key you lead with yourself, and sell yourself. In the business opportunity arena, people will face multiple people they can sign up under, so you are competing against other people out there to build your downline. Yes, you do have competition, whether you know it or not.

So, on this note, you need to give yourself a good name on the Internet. Picks some clever name that fits who you are and matches success. It needs to stand out. Bobby Bland just isn't going to cut through the noise. But, "Big Bucks Bobby", for example, might. You need to stand out and differentiate, in a way that shows success.

The Rich Jerk has been particularly noted for this, complete with the obnoxious image, that works, because is selling success. I brand myself as "The Rich" ("Not a Jerk, just Rich") for branding reasons. And the last part is to differentiate myself from "The Rich Jerk". My name is Richard, so Rich and "The Rich" are natural play on words with this, and more valuable than Richard. I could also possible go with "Dick", but Rich works better for me.

Anyhow, you must brand and market you first, not your business opportunity. People who lead with their business opportunity and company replicated website sell to the Borg real well, but not ordinary people.

How I managed to get over 1000 friends on Myspace in about a month.

Ok, I wanted to speak a bit about my experience with Myspace. I happened to sign up MONTHS ago for it, after someone said people were making money. Well, I created a basic profile but didn't do anything with it. Well, in EDC training I managed to get some basics on how Myspace works and went to work. I came up with some things I learned on my own, and some basic rules. In the process, I managed to get over 1,000 friends in about a month or so of actually trying to be active on here. Note, I did NOT use a robot friend adder. I actually tried one early, but it proved too much of a headache. This was done organically. Anyhow, that being said, here is what I did:
1. I worked on my profile to make it look interesting to people. I have multiple music videos on there, of songs I like that have a message. My favorites in the video section is diverse and show a bunch. I have some risque songs in there that I like. They are NOT on my front though.
2. I would then search out things I was interested in, and people and profiles involved with them and request they be friends. I also looked for people and profiles that would add just about anyone who wanted. Think here politicians. A great way to get friends is to do friend requests with individuals running for president (I requested friends with everyone but Hillary). Companies and business that want to market also count (I had True on there for awhile, and also The Roaming Knome is still on there). Fictional characters from TV shows also count. I have a bunch of characters from Heroes on, and I like the show.
3. After you get accepted as a friend, either individuals who want to add you, or individuals who you added, you then post a thank you for the add message on their profile. This is proper etiquette, polite, and also is advertising. And ONLY put a nice thank you there. Do NOT put advertising in it. AT MOST you can do a one liner. What you want to do is extend your network, not sell your business opportunities. Your profile can do that, but don't overdo it. When you start to approach 1000 friends, it gets cumbersome, but still worth it. Just limit the times of day you get on. Also, like the thank you, send out Happy Birthdays to people, no matter how small, when it is their birthday. The object is proper exposure.
4. Sign up for all groups that interest you, particularly in areas of people who may buy from your business.
5. I make sure my top 24 list is organized by category on each row and filled with people of interest who say success. I have ONE personal friend on there, Dave. Everything else relates to the image I am carrying out. The top 24 list is a key part of your branding. Who you have on it says a LOT about you. For example, unless you have some quirky reason to keep Tom on there, don't have him in your top 24. He likes to jump on there. There is no reason to remove him from your friend list either, but he doesn't belong in your top friend list. I have Tek Jansen on there for Colbert, because it says sci-fi.
6. Early on if you get cam girls and other scammers who just want to add you (and aren't carrying viruses), allow them to add you and post a thank you for an add on their website. Once you get over 500, and particularly 1000, you can reject them. At that level, you also start to clean up your friend list to remove friends that were deleted. Also note that people will have bogus profiles. I lost Anthony Hopkins off my top 24 because of this. Wasn't the real actor. I happened to Anthony Hopkins, so this was close enough.
7. What you have on your front page is important to, as far as friends and videos go. If you like a musician and have one of his videos on your front page, that is more likely to get an add. My having Jesus on there helped me get Creflo Dollar, who is supposed to be real hard to get. I guess having Jesus helps.
8. Expect a bunch of no's early on though. It happens.
9. Monitor your comment section to. Make sure they help with your branding and image.

Doing this, I managed to get over 1,000 friends in about a month. I also get people inquiring about what I am doing. A good Myspace pages can be used in your marketing your business opportunities. Just play by the rules and protocols there.

Also, one more thing. If you are a real person, and aren't going to O.D me with spam, do add me: http://www.myspace.com/BLTeks . I am always looking for new friends, particularly ones that won't get their profiles killed, I will get you added. And you will get a nice thank you for the add message on your profile in the comment section.

A word from our sponsor: Invisus makes computers happy!

Ok, time for a bit of a commerical here. I am going to plug Invisus a bit. Invisus managed to get my laptop here to shut down correctly. On the intial NO COST (tech calls are no cost) consultation call to get going, they troubleshooted a few things on my computer and now it powers down correctly and is running well. Had I taken this into a PC repair shop, it likely would of been in the $50-$100 range, and I would of been without it for at least a day. Now Invisius provides the tech support primarily for virus related issues, but they will do a few tweaks also if it helps fix your computer, even if not virus related. They did this with me.

Anyhow, that is my testimonial, and is advertising because I am selling it (and distributorships also). Well, anyhow, all I can say is Invisus makes computers happy! My laptop is.

To learn more, go here: http://Invisus.BLTeks.com
If you would like to learn about Invisus as a business opportunity, visit here:
http://InvisusOpp.BLTeks.com

When is the best time to start a home-based business?

People will ponder when is the best time to start a home-based business. The answer is a simple one: yesterday. People will hem and haw about this. Be hesitant, and wait. They think they really don't need to, because their job is doing well. They think they are safe. Usually people will decide to start a business is when they bills start piling up. They want a quick fix. Well, I hate to tell you this, but if you expect a home-based business to be a miracle, you will be disappointed. You delay, you have a chance of getting downsized. The best time to start is when you have a job, and cover your bills. I had delayed years doing this, because I thought I had a job, and the job supposedly didn't let me do stuff on the side. Well, then came the downsizing, and with myself on unemployment to pay the bills, I was handicapped.

Why it is important to get started ASAP is that a home-based business is like a baby. It needs a lot of tending to and nurturing. Early on, it is just like a baby, in that it will cry and demand attention, and needs its diapers changed. As a parent for it, you will need to learn how to take care of it, and get it to grow. Your objective is to have it grow up so it can then take care of you (you quit your job).

If you wait, wait, wait on this, you will then have to become a parent at the least convenient time. So, all I can say is that the best time to start a home-based business was yesterday. But, since you can't, you need to get on it today. Ok, now, this doesn't necessarily mean that you start SELLING or BUY a business opportunity today, but you do your research and develop your business plan. Set a timetable to start and commit. If you delay, things have a good chance of getting more difficult later. You are losing time. In case of myself, I started BLTeks before I even had any products or services (I was sorting that out).

So, in other words, get started today! Do something and set yourself a timetable to act, and plan. Don't wait until you lose your job to do this. And think in terms of having a business, not just bringing more money in. Your business can be your additional streams of income, but a business is a bunch of systems that work together than make sure your streams of income remain safe and continue to flow.

Or, your other choice is to become roadkill in life, groveling for whatever work comes along and remain a wage slave. This path is easier in one way (you don't need to change), but the toll it takes on your life is much harder. Plus you end up paying the price when your circumstances tell you to, rather than when you can afford to pay. I will say, given the current economic situation and globalization, you can't afford to NOT have a business. Even your career is a business now (look at the industry that has sprung up saying you have to sell and market yourself to get a job). The days of lifetime employment are over, and your career is a business. The difference with the job as opposed to a real business, is what they sell you is a false sense of security.

[Update: Check out part 2 for a video on what I am talking about]

Taking blogging weekend off.

I will be away from blogging this weekend. Need time to think of more post entries.

On a side note, I will praying for my downline that they are successful.

Bob and the magic beans (a parable on business opportunities)

There once was merchant named Bob, who promises people that if they bought these magic beans, they would magically plant themselves in the ground, tend and care for themselves, and all of a sudden sprout up a bunch gold beans that would magically deposit themselves in the bank for peasants who bought them. Bob said that the magic beans worked amazing well, and all people had to do was buy the beans and they would become rich.

Bob sent out messages to people speaking about how amazing the magic beans were, and you would fill your bank account, guaranteed. Bob spoke of a trip to anywhere in Parableland, to anyone to show them how wonderful the beans worked.

Bob stated that you didn't have to do anything, just buy the magic beans and you would get rich.

Of course, a bunch of people bought these beans, expecting that they would work wonders. They even told others about how amazing the beans were, so that they would end up having people cover how much they paid. Stories were popping up all over about Bob's Magic Beans. The beans were magic. They didn't even need people to do anything. Oh, it wasn't mentioned you had to keep giving Bob's bean supplier money to make the beans work properly.

A flier was produced, advertising the beans. On it were show how much gold the beans produced for people. You had a Gail who made a ton of gold in less than a week. There was a Jim who also racked in a bunch of cash to. The beans did look like they worked wonders and made everyone rich.

Bob would sometimes get nasty in what he said though. He would say a competing set of beans weren't as magical. He also was proud to announce he didn't even have to tell anyone else about the beans, because the beans would tell others. He said this telling cost nothing to. He put out announcements, and hired people to send the message around to, telling them how he didn't even have to get money to advertise the beans.

Of course, Bob went on to live happily ever after in his castle he managed to get selling his magic beans. No one knows what happened to the rest of the people who bought the beans. There are rumors some also retired, and others who wondered exactly whether or not the beans actually worked. Of course there were those who bought the beans, like they had bought 20 other sets of magical beans in the past, and they didn't work for them this time either. Maybe these people are cursed, but they never seem to have magical beans work wonder. But, these people keep buying the next set of beans that come along. They have been accused of being bean jumpers, but they keep saying it is always the beans fault. They say the next set of beans will work for them, or at least they beans won't lose their magicalness.

Anyhow, a simple question here is: Have you bought any magic beans recently? If you have, are they next to the shelf of other magic beans you bought in the past? How many times have you done this, and have any of them worked?

Marketing and mentoring are different. And the 60 Day Challenge

Just a brief post today, as a reminder. You may think that if you are signing up under a heavy hitter, that will guarantee success. Well, flat out, if the guy is a great marketer, there is no guarantee he would be any help to you. I know I once had an upline who later whined that he received no residual income. The guy knew how to market, but he sucked at training. He was never available.

Anyhow, on this note, I am going to announce my EDC Gold 60 day challenge. If you sign up under me in 60 days, you will be fully qualified in EDC Gold, and this is guaranteed on my part. If you want to learn more on this, visit the website: http://60DaysEDC.BLTeks.com .

I am now an Invisus distributor.

Just an update here. I have added Invisus as a product line for BLTeks. They provide the best firewall, anti-virus, spyware, and identity theft insurance combination out there. And you get solid, out of the United States FREE tech support (you speak to tech who is in the United States). Anyhow, check it out here: http://Invisus.BLTeks.com . The service is needed also, and only costs $14.95 a month (plus $14.95 for the all the software).

If you are interested in checking it out as a business opportunity, visit here: http://InvisusOpp.BLTeks.com . In the area of network marketing, Invisus has NO competition, considering all they offer. I used their tech support to get set up and the tech was real good. They helped to get things set up and clean up my computer a bit. You can make good money if you work this as a serious business. This is NOT a get rich quick thing, but it is primed as a good opportunity. Reasonable start up costs, and only 5 customers or so (or reps under you) and your monthly costs are covered. Start up costs are less than $300 also.

Invisus is a straight up MLM here, like Telebay, so it isn't get rich quick. Payouts are higher than Telebay.

Canary activities.

Miners would often bring a canary into a mine with them to indicate when the air was getting toxic. The canary would end up dying and the miners would get out.

Canary activities are like this. They are activities if you find yourself doing them, they are a sign that you are not doing the right things and your business is not being profitable. Most of these activities are unproductive time wasters, often times making you feel like you are doing something that is helping your business. If you take the bigger picture you realize they are not.

In the case of myself, I happen to get on Myspace to promote the business. I then realized I was gravitating to multiple times during the day to check on things, and add friends. Well, all I needed to be on there, AT MOST is twice a day. When it goes three or four times, then I am wasting time. The activity is a canary activity to indicate I am being unproductive.

Other examples of canary activities are surfing the web, getting into irrelevant IM chats, surfing the web doing "research", and cleaning up your desk for the 50th time. You could be spending time writing good ad copy, calling leads and so on.

Remember cost per result. Canary activities have POOR cost per result. They are distractions and not result getters.

Rejection doesn't matter. Cost per result does.

It is human nature to fear rejection. People take it personal and allow it to bend them out of shape. Well, let me say that rejection doesn't matter. What you have isn't a fit for everyone. Maybe what you offer doesn't mesh with their values, or is out of their budget, or they just don't have time for it. When you are in business you will be sorting through a lot of leads to find ideal prospects who sign up for what your business offers.

Well, while rejection doesn't matter, what does matter is how much it costs to get your desired results. If you have something that will generate very poor results, but costs next to nothing in time or money or anything else you have, do it. Of course, as you work up a better use for your time and money, you can consider dropping it. Anyhow, let me give you an example of what I personally use.

An example of something like this is myself putting business card sized sizzle or drop cards that carry classified ad information that get people interested, in a cheap card holder (made out of a coin envelop), with the business card sticked on front of it. The cost of the cards and display is cheap. The time effort is minimal. And the results are poor. But, I get occational calls from them. In other words, it works, but poorly. Is it worth doing? Yes. I actually got one woman to sign up for my no cost Telebay service for Internet phone service due to the cards. Not great results, but still worth doing. I personally believe also having the cards out enables me to deduct my drive expense. My use of Traffic Swarm is another example. I have gotten numerous leads from Traffic Swarm.

When you are starting out, with low cash and resources, you may have to lean on such activities that generate poor results but are cheap. Just don't take the poor results personally.

Are MLM network marketers lazy?

This is double post night. I was originally going to just do one subject, but recent happenings had me wanting to write this.

I believe MLM can work if people work it. A good MLM program providing real value to people, and solid training is great. However, I believe that some MLMers have a bit of a lazy streak to them. Let me give you some of the mentality I have seen:
1. The belief that all you have to do is find a few heavy hitters for your downline, and you are all set. Believe you get two in a binary (one on each side of course), or as many others wide in a matrix and you are set. In other words, hit the lottery.
2. The belief that you don't want to learn, work or grow. You believe that you don't need to know anything and the product will sell itself. Just believing people will actually word of mouth it for you.
3. The belief that you should find the easiest possible program that people with no skill can become rich if they sign up, so that these people can see how easy it is. Read my no rich caveman blog entry. You sell them that, you are selling people a bill of goods. Now, I am NOT saying that a program should be hard to work, just shooting for the easiest program so you can seduce the unable to get educated in, is playing with fool's gold. People won't get qualifed in Ups and will drop out in MLMs.
4. Believing a matrix will magically provide all the spillover you need. Companies now put in minimum sign up requirements in matrix programs because people tend to get lazy when they sign up.
5. Believing all you need to do is telling your warm market of your wonderful opportunity and you will get rich because they will magically sign up.
6. Believing you don't need to learn how to market at all, and all you need to do is practice one elevator pitch you deliver to everyone you bump into and they will sign up.
7. Believing all you need to do to be successful in an MLM is to get in early enough that people will just jump on the opportunity because it is new. All these startups are just great at signing program jumpers. By the way, guess who gets the invites to these early opportunities? The skilled list builders and heavy hitters. Organizations want to trust their growth to people who can build downlines. Lazy people and unskilled almost never get these (well, if they have a heavy hitter who has pity on them they might).
8. Believing that if you keep jumping from one opportunity to the next, you eventually will find a winning program because you got lucky (and the breaks described above will fall your way).

If you treat your network marketing opportunity as a business, and set out to become competent and skilled and able to get others trained who then can train others, you can do well and become a big earner. If you think your business will work itself, you are deluding yourself. Maybe you hit the downline lottery, but most won't (the downline lottery winner usually goes to people who are known to be able to recruit well, by the way). I would say most people who fail in network marketing, fail because they believe what I wrote above is the truth. It is the mindset of the lazy and unlearned. Oh yes, and if you are part of a one time sale Aussie Up system and you believe this, you will do even worse than in an MLM, because in the Up system, you are rewarded for your skill to a greater degree. The Up system gets you new business, but it is your job to get your people qualified and market and sell yourself.

Want to know the failure rate in network marketing? Try around over 90%. Direct selling is marginally better. But still, the unskilled fail and most people don't even get profitable. The reasons are because they don't know how to run their business and have the mindset I described above.

If the failure rate is over 90% why do it? Well, because network marketing companies usually provide you some form of training and some people you can emulate for success. The cost of entry is far less than in franchise model. About the only other thing open is affiliate marketing over the Internet, which usually is no cost, but doesn't provide you any sort of leadership and training on how to sell or list build. This is why network marketing works. The trick is to learn how to run it as a business (not having lazy, lottery ticket buyer mentality) and find something you believe in that people want to buy. Of course, you could always get a job in insurance sales or real estate. But then, guess what, you are back to the business of selling, and skill.

In the case of myself, I once I got some knowledge on the art of marketing over the Internet and list building, I have been able to get into profit relatively quickly in about every program I have joined. Of course I look to join only programs I believe in that have value at this point and am picky.

No more Blog entires until Monday. Blog may be down a few hours Sunday.

Just giving a head's up here. I did tripple entries today to cover Friday and the weekend. On Sunday, I am looking to change the URL of the blog here to get rid of Rants of the Rich. The blog may be down a few hours on Sunday to faciliate this change. I will look to be back Monday.

I will be looking next week to speak on Costs per result instead of rejection and blog on what I call "Canary activities", which serve as a measure of whether you are being productive or not.

Why I market Your New Fortune as The 1Up & Up System

I currently market the lower end program in EDC, Your New Fortune, as The 1Up & Up System . You may be wondering why I do this. Well, one thing that is important when marketing, is to have a distinct and unique message that stands out. It also helps that you have a unique product or service. Because of this, I have rebranded Your New Fortune under the name The 1Up & Up System , and advertise the only residual 1Up system. Your New Fortune is the only program to use The 1Up & Up System . Anyhow, to learn more about it Your New Fortune and The 1Up & Up System, visit this website: http://Get.1UpAndUp.com .

Your New Fortune can get you making over $100 a month with only 3 people, and also provide a way for you to make additional income of $495 (plus a 5% residual on future sales). The 1Up & Up System site wil explain how the compensation system works.

A comparison of EDC Gold to Perfect Wealth Formula

You may of seen either or both of these advertised over the Internet. To provide a comparison of both, I created the following web page: http://EDCorPWF.BLTeks.com . You can compare both these programs and see if either or both of them is right for you.

Stupid earnings statement trick.

What you see here is pending earnings (over $40,000) from the No Skill Income surf program I was doing that is switching to a Hedge Fund. The money is pending to my bank account, and I am hoping to get it soon. I blotted out information to protect myself and who is involved here and the payment processor. This is an actually statement.

I am posting this to show you how anyone can throw an earning statement out, blot out this and that on it, and make themselves a big earner. It doesn't mean the money is actually in their back account or it is a legitimate statement. Photos can be doctors (shock and horror) and such may not be an indication of what unskilled Mr. Lazy would be able to do.

Anyhow, don't fall for earning statements. Look beyond, and know YOU are responsible for success, not some magic "system" that promises the moon and stars without doing anything.

Shopping for a sponsor, part II. Buying what is positive.

I recently picked up Perfect Wealth Formula. I was considering it and felt it as a complimentary product to what I am doing to EDC. It allows you to get in at $597 now, and will have people grandfathered in at the $900 level soon (check it out to see). Different products, different price point, and different compensation system (it uses a subaffiliate compensation system). Well, I had to buy it from someone. I had multiple choices. The one I went with didn't bash EDC, and is also a top earner with that. Others I looked at were saying negative things about EDC, even those in the program. Considering I like EDC it was important I find someone who likes it also.

What is the lesson here? In the area of selling and marketing one may have to go negative from time to time, or at least do a comparison of what they are selling compared to a competitor. However, if you base your sales pitch on why a possible competing product sucks only, and speak on how much money you are making, you can risk losing sales.

Yes, it is important to be honest, but also important to be positive. People who weren't with me, who ripped down EDC in front of me, lost a sale.

Shopping for a sponsor (upline) and dealmaking.

I am writing this entry to address two topics I have run into recently, through my looking to expand what BLTeks offers. These topics are trying to find a sponsor (upline) for a program you might want to join, and "dealmaking". These two will often times are intertwined. What I will say here, in a nutshell, do NOT join a program because you got into the cheapest. I will explain below what to look for. And the unwritten rule of "go with the first person who told you" is unwritten for a reason (you can end up failing if you follow it to the letter).

When looking for a sponsor, figure one thing on top: Will this person help me make the most amount of money in my business? You are in business to make money. That is what matters. What you should be looking for is whether the person will join and partner with you in what you are currently doing, will they help train you to be successful, and do they the resources to help you market better? Go for the top dog here in these, not the guy who cuts you tbe best deal. And, note here, I am NOT saying you necessarily join with a heavy hitter. It is possible the heavy hitter is a robomarketer, and knows how to sell, but is unavailable to help you. Not all are like this, but some are. A person may end up so successful they don't have time for you. This means a "smaller fish" may be your best partner.

As for dealmaking, can I share a secret with you? People do this in just about every program. I don't care if the program says it will throw you out if you make a deal. I had someone flat out try to make a BIG deal with me, cutting back on qualification requirements and cutting my costs to join. This was in a program that said they would be thrown out if they did. Dealmaking on costs is supposed to be to help a friend out and so on. Or, maybe someone brings more to the table than you have, and the deal helps balance things.

To wrap up, two points. First, go with who will help you make the most money (not the cheapest). Second, if you do take a deal, keep it quiet. Don't tell or advertise to anyone. People may expect you to do the same. If a company let's you make deals and tell, do make your deals progressively more expensive for future people. Don't cheapen yourself.

By the way, I will share the new things I am involved with, once I get them up and running and kick the tires on them. I want to announce all of them together. One is not set yet.

Sales is a derivative.

In the world of financial markets, there are things called derivatives. They are financial instruments whose value is based off something else. To read more on this, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_(finance)

I make mention of this, because sales is the same way. The value and income potential in something that is sold, is derived from the value of the product itself. What someone is buying has to have a greater value to the buyer than what they pay.

How does this relate to network marketing or other business opportunity areas? Well, simply put, unless you are running some sort of Ponzi scheme, what you are selling, EXCLUDING THE ABILITY TO MAKE MONEY, has to have equal or greater value than what people pay for it. The ability to make money off of it, is an added bonus. People who buy into these schemes are buying a lottery ticket, not a business.

A problem that happens a lot in network marketing is that what is being sold is pitched with the opportunity, so often times what is being sold without the ability to make money (business opportunity), is less. This can lead to people dropping out or not promoting.

So, to sum up, sales is a derivative based off the value of what is being sold. Remember this if you want to sell anything. I personally base what I pick around this. In my case, I am offering The 1Up and Up System (Your New Fortune under my brand name) now because it is providing training and the ability for people to make money selling e-commerce solutions to business, making additional money. There is a base value there.

Find your voice.

I once read a book on doing standup comedy. The write goes on to explain in one section of a book, how each comic needs to have material that fits their personality and who they are. He explained that a blonde woman tried to use Bill Cosby's material and it just didn't work.

Anyone on this note, I mention it is the same for anyone else in business, when it comes to marketing. You need to have your material match you and who you are. You need to represent yourself in the most positive genuine light as possible, and what you have to offer. It has to stand out as unique or you will get lost in the mix of other voice. Also, being positive is key here. Because you come off as bleh, no one is interested. There is enough bleh in the world.

So, in a nutshell, find your voice.

A subdomain redirect trick for web marketing.

If you aren't familar with subdomains, they are the first part of a URL name that will typically replace the www. in a URL web address. A company could end up referring to their support department by going: support.company.com, rather than www.company.com/support . This saves on typing. I use subdomains heavily.

Any I use subdomains to track how effective an add campaign is going and find out where people are finding a page from. For my success principles eBook, I have several URLs: RevTEADoc.BLTeks.com (for people who find out about the eBook through this blog), MyTEADoc.BLTeks.com (for people who find out about the eBook on Myspace) and TEA.1UpAndUp.com (for people who find out about the eBook as a bonus offer on my 1Up and Up System web page). All these subdomains redirect to one URL I am using to reference where the most recent version of the Success Principles eBook exists.

By using subdomains in this manner, you can track where people find out about your web page from. I am able to then go through my control panel with Hostgator and find out how many times a subdomain was access. This enables me to track how frequently a web page or marketing campaign is resulting in a web page I have being accessed.

I also am posting this here so, in the event people see this weird set of URLS all around BLTeks.com, so they can get an idea why I am doing it.

My Success Principles eBook is now available.

Since I have been on Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/blteks), I have received repeated requests by people for information on how to make money and be successful. In response to these requests, I have revised and made available a 14 page Success Principles eBook I created in 2006. It is called "Three Essential Areas: Success Principles" and can be downloaded here: http://RevTEAPage.BLTeks.com

This will give you an overview of my thoughts on essential principles for success. In the eBook is a link to be able to download whatever the latest version of the doc is at the moment. I am likely to do some revisions from time to time, but the core should remain the same.

Even Ponzi tried to be legit. A brief review of "Ponzi's Scheme" by Mitchell Zuckoff

I had finished the book "Ponzi's Scheme" by Mitchell Zuckoff recently and decided now to get a brief review of it up.

I found the book a very interesting read and worthwhile reading to anyone who is involved in trying to make money in high yield promised income or who wants to get rich quick. What you see shown in the book is the era of the roaring 20s where people were money mad and people schemed to get rich. Into this enters Charles Ponzi. He was an immigrant with big dreams of becoming rich. Along the way, he gets in trouble with the law, and thrown in prison. He gets out and still schemes and dreams. He is a man of the people, charismatic and popular.

Along the way, he believes he finds his answer in some European postal coupons called International Relay Coupons. He decides to capitalize on exchanging them in America for cash and returning them for huge returns. But, due to his lack of money, he decides to borrow money from others, and promise them a return of 50% on their money after 45 days. He thought he had it locked up, but had some loose ends. Well, postal officials get ahold of this and shut the acquiring of these coupons. While it wasn't illegal, it was unconventional and questionable. Ponzi is stuck. Rather than return the principle, he tries to buy time and get other ways to make money to pay back the investors, using their own money to pay previous investors. Then he is tripped up, and the house of cards collapses and all "Rob Peter to pay Paul" scams get named after him, eventhough that isn't what he was planning from the beginning. In this, as the book points out, Ponzi was a get rich quicker, and not a scammer. He desired to get rich quick, and wasn't looking to intentionally rip off people.

As a person seeking to make money and gain financial freedom, there is several lessons you can learn from the book:
1. People can sincerely mean well, and sound sincere, but can have a business plan that won't work. It doesn't matter if the intention is pure, the market is its own reality.
2. People invested with Ponzi because he was paying. Just because a program is paying, doesn't mean it will keep paying forever.
3. Ponzi made himself a man of the people, and was very popular, and charismatic. Just because someone is charming and speaks on success, doesn't mean what he is offering is good.
4. Ponzi was a bit vague with the how to's on how he made money to investors. A common theme I notice in all high risk, get rich quick, HYIPs, autosurfs, or any other normal return programs is they are vague with how they do it, and you have no access to their financials as you would with normal investing.
5. Ponzi called in an audit to buy time. I have noticed that with all high risk programs there tends to be delays, hiccups and excuses give for things being delayed.
6. Ponzi promised 50% return after 45 days. This was considered unrealistic. What is interesting is today opportunities will promise returns even larger than this. A reason why such large returns are unrealistic is that markets tend to drive down the returns on investments and value them based around the risk level. In cases where information is incomplete, or someone possesses special knowledge, they can get returns larger than normal. However, expecting more than 50% return over more than 45 days is likely a red flag. As of now, I don't know anything that works that gets returns in this ballpark.
7. Get rich quick schemes go back as far as man has been around and had the idea of wealth.
8. There is a difference between people who want to get rich quick and peddle these schemes and scammers.
9. If someone shows airs of success and is paying, people will flock in droves to the person, amplifying the appearance of success.
10. People will launch opportunities before the problems are worked out, and hope to fix them later. And, despite these problems, people will buy into the opportunities. If you have seen prelaunches that go on FOREVER, you may recognize this. Individuals have had sudden brainfarts and out have come a new opportunity they are pushing.

There are other lessons one can get from the book, but these are off the top of my head. I recommend anyone interested in making money to get ahold of this book, particularly if you are playing in the area of HYIPs, autosurfs, or any other high risk program. At least you will learn what a real Ponzi scheme is, as opposed to just a rob Peter to pay Paul one.

The 1Up and Up System has returned! Now reloaded with more cash.

This goes out to people looking for a network marketing opportunity that pays well and can get you profitable in a hurry. If you know typical MLMs, they will require you to get a BUNCH of people in before you break even. It is nice to get the residual income, but it can take a LONG time to do it. Anyhow read on if you are looking for an alternative.

If the idea of getting in profit with only 2 or 3 people, plus receiving bonus payouts of around $500. In additon, with only an handful of people, people can start to bring in multiple hundreds of dollars a month in residual income. If this interests you, check out The 1Up And Up System . This system is the only 1Up compensation system that pays residual income. In addition, the only opportunity using The 1Up & Up system, provides a way of making addition bonus payouts of around $500 each.

The 1Up And Up System is back and reloaded with more cash! Go here to learn more about how it works, leave contact info and learn more about the only business opportunity that uses it: http://get.1UpAndUp.com

Know where to tap.

There is an old joke that involved a factory owner and a mechanic who was brought in to fix a problem with a machine. The owner observed the mechanic tap the machine twice and it started up. He then hands the factory owner a bill for $500. Upset over how he felt he was ripped off, the factory owner demands the mechanic give him an itemized bill to justify the expense.

The mechanic hands him back a piece of paper:
Tapping the machine: $5 per tap (two taps)
Knowing where to tap: $490

The moral of the story? Get skills. One isn't paid in business for how hard they work (number of taps), but what they know (where to tap). A key to success in business is to reduce things to as few taps as you can.

April 2007 the Surf for Cash industry died.

I am passing this belated obituary notice regarding the Surf for Cash (autosurf) industry. This industry sprung up a few years ago, had a high point with 12 Daily Pro, and people had continued to try to make it work. The industry had been noted for, besides outright fraud, failed investments, glitches, member fraud and cybertheft. The idea was to get people to look at web pages (surf) in exchange for paying them high interest on money they put in.

The basis of blog entry is the news that a major surf for cash company, running multiple programs, is leaving the industry completely. They were noted, paid well. However, this company ran into multiple problems and found the rates unsustainable. They are going into the hedge fund business, in addition to their other side companies they run. I currently have over $40,000 waiting to be received from them, and hope they make it and pay out.

Once I get funds out, I can mention the company itself and what they are doing now. Until them, I am not going to mention them. Anyhow, people who are involved with the surf for cash business (or had been) probably know which company I am referring to.

The reality is the rates surf for cash programs pay are NOT sustainable. They are higher than what Charles Ponzi promised, and just is not sustainable. That is the reality. Again, get skills, and don't expect that you can do some low skiled job pay you. Want to do something no skill and get a lot of money? Well you better have a bunch of money to invest and be lucky.

The web market revolution begins!

Maybe you caught word of Promo Black Box. It is a revolutionary set of tools and training to turn your web site into a money making machine. For more information, visit the website and check it out. Contact me if you have any questions you may have about it.

The site is at:
http://PBB.BLTeks.com

Growth is your only option!

In life, there are challenges. During these times, it is easy to think retreat, to give up and think you can save your way out of a situation. Prudent managing of money is important every time, and a budget (please don't call it that, call it a "money management system" or you won't do it) are is essential, but no one got rich by cutting costs. In good times or bad, it is the same. They key is growth. Everyone needs to grow, themselves and their business.

Ben and Jerry go into their book "Ben and Jerry's Double Dip: How to Run a Values Led Business and Make Money Too" about how they were faced with a situation with their business where they had the options of staying the same, decline or growth. In response to this, they decided growth was really the only option.

Well, if it is good enough for Ben and Jerry, it is good enough for me.

New name, same URL.

I have changed the name of the Blog from "The Rants of The Rich" to "The Revelations of The Rich". Paying respects to the Law of Attraction, I felt it needful to drop the rants (which has violent overtones and often related to negativity), and replace it with revelations. Still my giving two cents, but a bit more position.

Defintion of rant here:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rant

You can't please everyone, but watch your sig!

I have been using MySpace to end up promoting myself and network for my business. I have been getting out there and making friends. Well, I think I finally got it nailed down. But I get blasted by some teenager on there for being a comment spammer and telling me to die. I know earlier on I overdid it a bit, but now I happened to reduce it to a one liner at the bottom of my signing a thank you to being added with: "My blog on being Rich: TheRantsOfTheRich.BLTeks.com". YES I am marketing there, and getting people to visit here, but not overly so.

All I can say is watch you sig and don't do it. Well, I also had someone else inquire into what I am doing, and if that translates into business, then that is what matters. One won't please everyone, but it is important not to overdo it either.

Basic net etiquette gives one 1-3 lines below their sig to promote. Please respect that.

A job is something that turns unlimited effort into a fix expense.

People who think that having a job is great because of the supposed security they have, may be failing to realize they are taking their unlimited effort and turning it into a fixed expense for a business. About the only place one can get around this in a job, is in the area of sales. But, when it comes to just about every other profession, you set yourself up to become a fixed expensed for a business, that enables them to maximize their profitability.

Why do people go for this? Well, part of it is conditioning not to think as a business owner. Another one is a false sense of security people having, that they would be safe by just pleasing an owner of a company and making themselves into a fixed income wage slave. Well, my experience tells me that, the first change in economic conditions will result in you being at risk of being downsized. Oh, and forget a pension when you retire to. Companies, over half of them now in the United States, have shifted to a 401K setup where what is put in, including matching bonuses, is all you get out.

Ask yourself, is doing unlimited effort for a fixed amount of money, while really having no promise of lifetime security, REALLY worth your total focus? If not, have you given thought to starting your own business?

The Rich has a Myspace page.

If you want to learn more about me, visit my Myspace page. You can see it by going here: http://www.myspace.com/BLTeks .

Cavemen don't get rich!

There is an auto insurance ad with the tagline of "So easy a caveman can do it."

Again, I will take a shot at the whole "duplication" and "replication" racket again. Money comes from mastering skills. If it is "So easy a caveman can do it", then odds are, it won't make you rich. This DOESN'T mean people can't master skills. Skills are learned and take time to master, and selling is one of the easier jobs people can have. It sure beats digging dirt.

Anyhow, if you think something a caveman can do will make you rich, ask yourself when the last time you saw a rich caveman... outside of the auto insurance ad.

My experience with passive income and no skill income programs...

I figured now would be a time I could go into my experience with them. Here is a list of programs I have done, and my experience with them:
1. 12 Daily Pro (No Skill Income): I borrowed money on my credit card to put money into it. It collapses right before I could get the money in. I decided to start a business with the money.
2. Passive income importer startup: Managed to get over $1,400 in commissions from people recommending it. Also, I put $600 of my own money in. Currently, they are being audited by the S.E.C and payouts are frozen to people until the S.E.C approves. There is discussion of merely returning the principle back if things don't go right. Apparently they broke some obscure rule or two, and the S.E.C came down. If this works out, I will be getting over $10,000 from the investment I made here. But it is at risk.
3. A travel club that paid returns on purchases (Passive Income): Started out fine, but has run into problems with hackers stealing funds, and checks being delayed due to changes in the payment plan over time to new purchases. Checks apparently were being paid "like clockwork" up until I got involved.
4. Two surf programs with one company (No Skill Income): I borrowed against my credit card, maxing it out. Went fine several months. Right before I was about to get funds out, things started to go wrong. First they said they were having problems with the server, then they said they were having fraud on the part of members. Surfs are now set to go through relaunch, and I am awaiting to get paid. It is going over 3 months now since people have been paid consistently. The company is now looking to get set up with the S.E.C to engage in legitimate investing. Company is also going through an auditing process. Their excuses sound like a "dog ate the homework", but I wait and see.

This is my experience with Passive Income and No Skill Income programs. I press on with EDC while waiting for issues to get ironed out. With EDC I am in decent control, and depend on my skills, plus I have gotten training also. With their release of Promo Black Box in May, I will be able to make around $500 per sale, plus a 5% residual on future sales to the same business.

Procede in these type of programs at your own risk, and make sure you can afford to lose what you put up. These programs are of greater risk than your own business because you have less control. One thing I have found is any glitch and delay can drive one to possibily panic. I know I have had to deal with it.

If you teach a man to fish...

This saying is something I read awhile back in the forum (the lesson at the end is my observation):

It is said that, if you give a man to fish, he will be hungry tomorrow. But, if you teach him to fish...

Well, the relevant way to express this statement, if you are selling is:
It is said that, if you give a man to fish, he will be hungry tomorrow. If you teach a man to fish, he will then realize he needs a rod, some lure, a boat, training, and cleaning equipment, which you then can sell to him.

The meaning of this line here is that, if you education customers to why the need something, you create a demand for what you are trying to sell.

A word on "No Skill Income" (NSI) Programs

I am commenting here on something I am calling "No Skill Income" (NSI) Programs. These are programs like passive income programs, but require people to do things that anyone can do and require no skill.

NSI programs are arguably a "Holy Grail" in the business opportunity arena. Even network marketing gets pushed sometime like this. Just join program X and do these three simple things and you will make a TON of cash.

Well, want to know the truth? Unless such programs are actually have people doing investing in a business in some manner, where the money is used by the company to make money, what is being pushed is a lie.

In reality, people make money in one of two ways, if they aren't working a job. You either have your money working or you own systems that make you money that enable you to leverage your time. The former is investing, which is a skill unto itself of due dilligence and checking out legitimacy. The later is being a business owner, which involves not only doing due dilligence but effectively running the systems you own so they are profitable. Included in this is the skills of sales and marketing (list building), cashflow management, record keeping, and hiring (hiring includes finding specialists like lawyers and accountants to do your paperwork). All these skills are learned and take time to master. There are also others, but these are mentioned as examples of skills used in business.

In the business opportunity arena you get a majority of people who want to make money without developing any new skills. They will jump from one opportunity to the next thinking that it is the opportunity that is the problem, when it is themselves that have the problem in most cases. Each time, they will try to seek out something promising to be more and more of a sure thing while requiring less and less skills. Then someone rolls out what looks like a "passive income" program, but it is a no-skill program, particularly when individuals fail to effectively research and do due dilligence. Treating things like crapshoots and blindly just doing is NOT doing due dilligence, it is gambling.

All I can say is get skills of SOME sort and keep learning, and don't expect to find something that will just drop in your lap, and demand NO skills from your part and expect it to work miracles just because you joined. Your success and failure are up to you. End of story here.

New URL AND New Name.

Ok, in my prior entry, I had kept the URL, but changed the name. Now, the name is changed. If you want to reach this site in the future, enter: http://RantsOfTheRich.BLTeks.com .

Same URL, new name.

Ok, I changed the name of the site. Say hello to "The Rants of the Rich". I was kicking around this name change. I was thinking it sounded better, and stood out. The word "Blog" is now on the tired side (queue Wired Magazine list).

HYIPs are scams you can't win with.

In keeping with passive programs, I will post my two cents. These flat out are scams. I am not talking longer term high-yield passive programs, but those that promise 40%-50% return a day, or hourly, that will often say "backed by ForEx and other investments". If they worked right, but were a scam, you could do what is called a "hit and run". Put your money in, get interest, then pull your money out and ride the growth on the interest, pulling out a certain percentage of the amount like clockwork. However, want to know why you can't win? Admins of the system will freeze withdrawals, preventing you from getting funds out. And then the entire thing collapses. Oh, there is an off-chance you may get some funds out early, if you are lucky. But, most of the time, you will lose.

Well, this is my experience with them.

Are passive programs worth it?

I have been pondering when to do a post on passive programs here. I decided now was the time.

You may see these programs on the net. My experience with them is that they have a LOT of ups and downs with them. Because once you put your money in, you can do nothing to change anything. These seems like a good thing if you have no confidence in your ability to recruit or sell. But the inability to change anything means that when things go wrong you are in a helpless spot.

My advice here is to treat them like you would if you were investing. Due your due dilligence, and then only put in what you can afford to lose, and then wait. Don't panic, and know you can lose the money going in. Even autosurfs here would qualify.

A word on replication.

Network marketers LOVE to throw the word around about "replication". The concept is one that if you have a replicatable enough system, you will have mass success. It presumes that life consists of humans like "The Borg" and your objective is to clone these people.

Replication is a myth. People can get TRAINED, if they are motivated to. Systems can be REUSED by mass numbers of people, particularly in the internet. Ideas can be shared and reused, but replication? It is a myth. If you think you will just find some simple system and just follow three steps and make TONS of money, you are sadly mistaken. Eventually these steps to grow old and wear out. And if everyone does the same thing (gee, we replicated the prototypical rep for a company) it gets old. People see it a mile away and end up disapppointed.

Again, replication is a myth. Training, and reuse of systems that work are not.

Is the money in the list?

There is an expression, "The money is in the list". Well, this is true ONLY if the list you have consists of people who want to hear from you. If you buy some list of luck warm prospects, who signed up some form to get a free videogame system, and then you spam them with a money making opportunity, well that list isn't worth anything. There is no money in the list. If you stole someone else's list and tried to spam, that isn't worth much either.

So, is the money in the list? Only if it consists of people who want to hear from you and what you have to offer, preferably your OWN list you built. List building is a top skill that, if you acquire a skill at it, you will make money.

Is network marketing a scam?

Network marketing (also goes by the name MLM, although not all network marketing companies are MLMs) has often been knocked as scams and pyramid schemes (most times by people who failed at them). Most people do fail at them, which leads to this. Often times, you will get pitched to you an MLM that promises you the moon, and then tries to have you sell products you can buy at your local supermarket or health food store for more than 50% off. I could name multiple possible ones I feel are scams, but that is not the point here.

Despite all this, is network marketing a scam? While prone to scams and where the entire idea becomes to make money recruiting, network marketing does offer you a chance to make legitimate money, if the products and/or services the company is offering is one you feel is worthwhile. Of course, there are some who will pervert this and speak of how much earning potential is there, and show the "Hall of Heavy Hitters" to get you thinking that you can do it (without any training, just sign up).

But, I will say network marketing is NOT a scam. It can be a legit opportunity to make money. Not all will get you rich, but if you acquire the right skills, you can make money. And, if you find a legitimate list of products and services, you will be doing a favor for people you provide these products and services, beyond the get rich quick bit.

And a 1Step System person complains about my Truth About Passport to Wealth site.

The world of home business has its ups and downs. You try to market and you tick people off. Here I am, I have a webpage comparing EDC Gold (what I sell) vs Passport to Wealth (a recent competitor that I consider a knockoff), and I get a complaint from someone who is selling the 1Step System (I used to sell it but dropped it). The person says I sounded like I was too negative and scared. Anyhow, I will leave it to you to decide. If you want to see the site, go here: http://TheTruthAboutPassport.BLTeks.com .

I personally find EDC Gold offers a great value, and will soon be providing a way to make $495 per sale of some leading/bleeding edge marketing tools to small businesses. I will post more on this as more information arises. If you want to learn more about EDC Gold and the other programs in EDC visit: http://Dubbs.BLTeks.com . This redirects to a site by a top money earner in EDC Gold.

TooDamnEasy.com is TooDamnStupid.com

Ok, excuse me a minute here for this rant. It is based upon a bit of a snap judgement, but I believe it is sound. It is just I went through the Opportunity World magazine and saw this ad for toodamneasy.com .

Go visit the site here: http://www.toodamneasy.com .

Flat out, this appears to be a gifting program. I am using this rant to explain why gifting programs suck, and why this web page would represent why marketing for gifting programs suck.

A gifting program is based upon the premise of "the last guy in gets hosed". This means, you pay in hopes of getting the next sucker in, so you can get a payday. You get nothing in return for this, except the hopes of getting paid. In other words, "the last guy in gets hosed". This is why gifting programs suck. Now it is true that with opportunities, the last guy in can get screwed, in gifting programs their mission is to do this.

Now, why do I pick on this site in particular? Well, go to it and see. The guy's proof is how much money he is making. That is all he pushes. Yep, look at me, I am making money. Watch me count it in my bill counter. See the proof? You don't believe I have this pile of money here? Well, guess what, I do... click click click... the bills are counted.

Ok, I am off the soap box here.

Welcome to my Blog. The Rich posts his first entry.

Hello world! This is the first entry by yours truely, The Rich. I am not a jerk, just Rich. Anyhow, I will post my vents, rants, good news and bad news and what I consider straight talk on the nature of business, life and so on. I can't guarantee every day, but I will rant here from time to time, particularly when I see something of interest or what I consider stupid.