Home

Blog

Products

Your Portable Empire University

Contact

About

Humor- The Cult of Pat

Free Articles

Sign in for free "work at home or from anywhere" information! Email

Reader Responses to "the Big Lie"

I've never gotten a response like this to a blog post- both the number of responses and the depth of the responses is very gratifying.  I'll post representative samples here...

Hey Pat Let's get a bit woo woo and metaphysical about The Black Swan. The folks who buy the 'make your internet millions in seven days' courses are the folks who are thinking about lack. They're the folks who NEED to make money. They're focused on not having money and so they buy the latest $997 course and end up with less money. It's the folks who follow their passion who'll attract the genuine gurus and the useful information. And it's these folks who'll end up making their internet millions. Or at least a steady steam of passive income. Well that's what I reckon anyway. Colin   Your "Black Swan" article is yet another example of syncronicity for me.   I recently recieved a message from Bob Proctor.  In his message he quotes Eric Hoffer, "In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."   It tends to illuminate the changing paradigm from Mediocristan to Extremistan.   Our world is changing and the powerful are on the precipice of losing their power while those who are quick to learn the new paradigm are poised to grab it.  Just look at all the recent MBA grads working at jobs outside of their business education, metaphorically flipping burgers.  And see the recent millionaires living a life of excitement and uncertainty.  Then realize the complete polar opposite of the approaches they took to what they believed was the path to success.    Bob says, "The world is moving from an intellectual to a spiritual vibration. The rules for winning have changed dramatically and the majority of the populations are still living with the old rules.  There are an enormous number of people in every community who have worked hard and disciplined themselves to follow the only rules they know...still they are losing."   Taking the tried and true path to a conservative safe future, is no longer the safe road.    Only by being willing to step out and put yourself on the leading edge daring to claim your divine greatness, going for your dreams without hesitation [Joe says, "The Universe likes speed."] can you be in a position to meet your Black Swan.     PEACE Scott    Believe in Magic!   Dear Pat, I really appreciate your honesty and sincerity reflected in the article I just read on your blog about 'The Black Swan'. I owned and operated my own highly successful and profitable produce marketing company but am now looking to express myself in new ways.  Of all the hundreds of pages I've read from success and marketing gurus, I would say that you and Joe Vitale communicate with the most honesty and genuine care for people. Thank you for sharing so much. Hi Pat The Black Swan is a fantastic article.  I have tried for a long time to do things to please other people and at the end of the day you can only please yourself.   I have learnt now to be myself, and I this was the way your article was going.   When you re yourself and create things because you like to do them, the people who resonate with your voice will find you and those that don't like what you have created probably wouldn't buy from you anyway.   Most of the successful gurus can't really give anyone a truly replica table system because often the bit that really makes things work is "them" and their "personality".   This is one of the reasons I like the Portable University so much.  Everyone is treated as an individual. Each person can offer their tips and suggestions for what has worked for them and others can pick and choose the bits that are appropriate for them.   There are general guiding principles, without a fixed structure, which works better for most people, IMHO.   Many of us on the forum are Black Swans and Mavericks, who want a guiding hand without a rigid structure.   Your article really hit the mark for me.   Thank You With love and Abundant Blessings Amanda Goldston Tarot and Intuition Coach FREE Angel Card Reading http://www.AngelsofAbundance.com   Intuition and Tarot Coach http://www.AmandaGoldston.co.uk       Totally loved  May 28, 2007    -Black Swans and the Big Lie   It's a great article! I loved how you really smacked some people around, telling them not to go broke doing everything that the so called "gurus" out there are telling them to do.   I was one who didn't know the good boys from the dumb boys.. when I first started. Thank god for Joe's email list!   I would have never found the real players online... that really have taught me a million good things.   This article will slap some of the so called "gurus" upside the head too.. and for that I thank you. ;-)   It's about time!   To our continued learning and success!! Tonya Pat - I just read today's blog from beginning to end - every word. I'm glad I didn't go with my emotions in February and drop you from my mail list. I thought that anybody, fellow musician or not, who didn't respect Deepak Chopra was a waste of my time. You're still wrong about Dr. Chopra, who wrote the first medical book for laymen and almost single handedly, some help from Andrew Weil, started the alternative health industry, but today's blog was the best I've ever read and will become a resource and a source of inspiration to me for many months to come. Sincerely,   Nancy Webster Pat responds:  I respect Depok as a speaker and teacher.  As a writer, I've got some questions... Pat, You are amazing and I thank you for the Black Swan information. I will definitely read the book but more importantly, I will paint a picture of it, that way I can see it and feel it everyday and focus on action. You are so right about taking action,  I can see now that my failures to generate internet income have come from not having the action mindset.  Even in your networking book you talk about it by simply starting a mastermind group. Thanks again Pat. Respectfully, Stephen Voight

May 28, 2007    -Black Swans and the Big Lie-

The internet marketing world is kinda like an onion, or maybe it's not. A lotus flower?

What it is, is scalable. Like being a rock star, a best selling author, or an NBA basketball player.

Hang in there, I'm going to explain this, and tie it to internet marketing.

Lately I've been reading “The Black Swan,” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. It's fascinating.

Taleb describes the world as being divided into Mediocristan and Extremistan.

Mediocristan is where most people live.

Some of the characteristics of Mediocristan are:

Occupations are not scalable (we'll talk about scalable in a minute).

The most typical member is mediocre.

Winners get a small segment of the total pie.

Corresponds to physical quantities- like height, weight, etc.

Easy to predict from what you see and extend into the future.

 

Extremistan looks like this:

Scalable.

Wild and random.

Winner take (almost) all.

Corresponds to numbers- i.e. Wealth, Google hits, etc.

Things are changed rapidly by a small number of extreme events.

Hard to predict the future from past information.

I don't want to give too much away. I want you to read this book. However, let's look at the word “scalable,” because it's the absolute crux of the biscuit. The author recommends Mediocristan, by the way. Extremistan is dangerous.

Let's look at scalable in terms of income. A high-school English teacher's income is NOT scalable. It's going to be exactly what it is. No matter how good or bad the teacher is, their income will fall into a very narrow range. Most jobs provide income that is not scalable.

Bill Gates has an income that is scalable. So does J.K. Rowling. So does Mick Jagger. So does Tom Cruise.

Here's where you want to focus- if someone tells you that they're a high-school English teacher, you can predict what their income is, because they all make about the same amount of money a year.  More importantly, you can predict how much money YOU will make if you choose that career path.

In Extremistan, there's no predicting what YOUR results will be.

Take acting, which is a very scalable career choice.  The incomes range from less than zero to mega-millions, and there's no way to predict which way it's going to go for any individual who decides to become an actor.

If someone tells you they're an actor... well, you could ask them, “at which restaurant?” Most actors don't make a living from acting. The vast majority have to do something else to keep themselves in torn jeans and ramen noodles.  

Tom Cruise, on the other hand, makes enough money from acting in one movie to support a small town for a century.

He gets a guarantee, of course, but it's based on how many people buy tickets to his movies. Same deal with Bill Gates and the rest of the gang. Mick Jagger's income is scalable because, even though he was a child when he wrote “Brown Sugar,” and we can assume stoned on heroin and dressed like a fop- every time the song is played on a juke box, on the radio, on the internet, or in a bar, Mick (and I just checked- Keith Richards co-wrote the song. We can assume he's still stoned on heroin and dressed like Jack Sparrow, I guess.) make more money. They've written a lot of songs, and the royalties on just one hit record can support you for a lifetime. The royalties on their catalog is.... well, let's just say that their income, when written down, probably looks like a long-distance phone number to a foreign country. Possibly a direct dial phone number for another planet.

Bill Gates and his little company get a royalty for every copy of their operating system that's installed on any computer anywhere. Bill and his company have other software products, too. It adds up.

Let's remember- Mick and Keith just had to write each song once. Then they recorded it once. The thing they create then acquires a life of its own, and goes out and makes them money. Forever, apparently.

The same deal with actors, and writers. J.K. Rowling's books sell tens of millions of copies before they're even released. Then the stories are made into movies. The books and movies go forth in a rapidly replicating army and send home the spoils. Again, apparently forever, and with no further effort on the part of J.K.

Now, I can imagine a high-school English teacher reading an article in People magazine (actually, that's all too easy to imagine, unfortunately), and thinking about the unfairness of it all. Or a waitress, who (she says) is just waiting tables while she finishes her book...

Here's the problem with scalability. It's definitely in Extremistan. For every J.K. Rowling, there are millions of writers who will never get their first book published. J.K., herself, was almost one of them. Just as all the major record companies passed on the Beatles, many publishers sent J.K. Rejection slips, if they responded at all.

But that's the cussedness of Extremistan. J.K. Rowling's first book, which has hypnotized and enthralled most of the world's population, didn't stand out. Publishers, whose job it is to recognize brilliant, or at least, marketable, writing, didn't see anything to get excited about when they read the first Harry Potter book.

One imagines them hanging themselves, one after the other, as they contemplate their lost commissions.

The Harry Potter books are what Nassim Taleb calls “Black Swans.” You'll want to read the book to understand why. The important thing is that before the Harry Potter book came out, J.K. Was writing in coffee shops, and probably complaining about the price of a double latte.

That first book changed everything. At least for J.K. Rowling. For the millions of other struggling writers, it didn't change a thing. There's no lesson for them to learn. Nothing to model. It was an unexpected and unexplainable event that wasn't based on history, can't be duplicated, and changed everything in the book publishing world.

That's what Black Swans do. September 11, 2001 was a Black Swan. (I just deleted a long, angry screed about the way it was manipulated, lied about, so on. You're welcome.)

In my opinion, the movie “The Secret” was a Black Swan. Prepare yourself for the backlash, as every hack on the planet contemplates their own “law of attraction” gusher. Can a McSecret hamburger be far behind? Toothpaste that attracts whiter teeth? Perfume? Just wait.

There are lessons to be learned from that movie, and the marketing of the movie, but I'll bet they haven't learned it.

What on earth does any of this have to do with internet marketing? Well, it's interesting enough even if it didn't have anything to do with our chosen topic, but I'm of the opinion that it's very much relevant.

If you go to internet marketing seminars, or read sales pages, you'll be told things like “success leaves clues,” “if I can do this, so can you,” and “follow these easy steps, and you'll be guaranteed to make money.”

Hell, I've said each of those things myself.

I'm sorry.

They're lies.

Internet marketing is not as scalable as acting or songwriting, but it is scalable to an extent. It's not as dangerous as a career in acting, but it's much more dangerous than a career teaching high-school English.

Unlike schoolteachers, when someone tells you that they're an internet marketer, you have no clue what their income is.

One famous marketer, who teaches that “success leaves clues,” will probably make about fifty million dollars this year. Ask him to point to any one of his hundreds of coaching clients who will make that income, or within an order of magnitude of that income.

They don't exist.

Is the problem the lack of clues?  Are they lousy detectives?  Or is it something else?

That's a good thing to know before you sign up for anybody's coaching program, by the way. Ask to talk to past clients who are making a recurring income from what they learned, and can prove it. That one piece of advice is worth the price of admission, in my opinion.

Modestly, I could tell you that my Portable Empire strategy is the most fool-proof way to learn internet marketing and make a good living doing it. I have dozens of clients and past clients who are making a living in internet marketing. I have at least two who are probably making more money than I am, at least right now while I've been writing books and building Universities.

Unfortunately, I have hundreds of clients and past clients who haven't made a dime from internet marketing, and probably never will.

Why?

You tell me. I don't know.

I know the system works, and can point to a rapidly growing stable of people who have learned it, used it, and are making steady money with it.

Why doesn't it work for everybody?

Well, there's a whole herd of elephants in the room that nobody's talking about. First of all, you have to develop the confidence to embark on an entrepreneurial life, which isn't for everybody. It's risky, even when it works.

Then, you have to have a certain amount of ability. You need to be able to absorb information, and the faster and deeper you can do that, the more money you can make. Then, you have to be able to communicate. Some people can write. Some talk. Some make videos.

I teach relationship marketing, and to develop relationships you have to communicate.

Or you could do what I'm coming to think of as metrics marketing. I'm just learning this stuff myself, but there's huge money in choosing niches based on existing demand, creating some kind of product page- usually with affiliate products, using SEO tricks to drive traffic to the site, and monetizing it with affiliate commissions and adsense.

That requires a different set of skills, and finding the good information is tricky- but, it may be less dangerous overall than personality marketing- unless Google changes their algorithms again, which I can guarantee that they're going to do continuously.

But, to even play, you've got to absorb the information on how the game works, and then have the math and stat skills to use what you've learned.

The 'net is full of marketers who are mis-diagnosing this problem, and then selling solutions to their misdiagnosed malady.

“We're not being “corporate enough,” one guy says. Then he tries to sell you a spot in his coaching program, where he'll teach you to be a very business-like internet marketer.

Bullshit. Some of the most successful marketers I know are the opportunity seekers, who hang out in their gym shorts, smoking cigars in their hot tubs, and work when they want to. They don't need to be more “corporate.” They just need to have the opportunity to exercise their talents and skills, and the time and space to keep their heads clear enough to do what they do, which they couldn't teach you if they tried.

Their success leaves clues, but they're pretty worthless clues unless you've got similar skills, aptitude, attitude and dedication.  You don't.  There's nothing there to model.

On a related subject, I got into a debate last night with a buddy who is disgusted with the “high-dollar, hard-sell, cookie-cutter” products and product launches that have become the fashion since John Reese and Jeff Walker let that particular genii out her box.

I don't get it.

John, and his team, had the first “million-dollar” day- at least, that's the story- and they did it with a product that sold for a thousand dollars.

My position is that if you bought the product, were able to absorb the information in it, and actually used it, a thousand bucks is cheap for that product.  No harm - no foul.

If you can send targeted traffic to a website at will, which is what that product teaches you to do, you can make all the “thousand dollars” you want. It will pay for itself quickly.

That's a lot of “ifs.”

I know one guy who bought that product and hasn't even opened the box it came in.

Is it worth a thousand dollars?

No.  The unopened box is not worth a thousand dollars.  The information inside the box is worth many thousands of dollars, but you've got to open the box, absorb the information, and take action. 

Ultimately, you're responsible for opening the box.  The marketer who sells you the information is off the hook, assuming the information is good and is delivered in a timely fashion. 

“What about,” my buddy asked, “the people who max out their credit cards, spend their kid's college fund, and ruin their relationships chasing the dream of making the big home run. They buy all the products, go to all the seminars, and end up with nothing but debt and broken dreams.”

(I'm paraphrasing, and dramatizing. I'm pretty sure that's the gist of it.)

“And what about you? You had Joe Vitale to help you.”

Well, let's take those one at a time. (keep reading)

You can control how scalable your experience in internet marketing is. It's really, really easy for just about anybody to make more money than a high-school teacher, if they learn the basics and apply them. You can do this for $39 a month at the Your Portable Empire University. You can get the basics from books- I recommend mine, but Jim Edwards and Joe Vitale, and Bill Hibbler and Joe Vitale (noticing a pattern?) have good ones. Willie Crawford has a great free email course.  Mark Joyner will let you into Simpleology for free, and the free stuff there is very, very good.

You should be able to learn everything you need for less than a grand.

If you're maxing out your credit cards and spending your kid's college money chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow- stop it. Just quit doing it.

Buying more products, going to seminars, and hiring coaches is something you should do to help you actually DO your business.  They're not a substitute for action.  Take action.  Use what you know.  Learn what works for you.  Once you've implemented everything you already know, then it's time for more products, seminars and coaching.

There.  You can't say that nobody warned you.  I'm warning you.  You don't need to do it. 

Go build a modest business, and reinvest your profits in more education. Hell, until you've started the process of building your business you don't even know what you don't know, or have a framework to hang the information on.

Now, let's address the “riding on the guru's coat-tails” issue.  It's a fun ride.  I recommend it.  I can even teach you how to do it. 

When you're first starting out, you're going to need some help.  Joe Vitale was kind enough to help me.  But...

In the four years I've known Joe Vitale, he's co-written with dozens of people. Some of them have gone on to build businesses, some of them have completely disappeared.

If you've got a great, marketable idea that will make him money, Joe will probably work with you, too. I don't make any promises. After your first successful joint-venture, he'll be willing to listen to your pitches. After your twentieth, he'll probably give you the benefit of the doubt.

He's a rational human.

We've made a lot of money together, and he's one of my dearest friends, but if I present a dumb project, he'll tell me it's a dumb project and he won't do it.  

I've seen enough of my coaching clients establish relationships with “gurus” in their niches that I know that anybody with a great, marketable idea, can hook up with a guru and get it to market. There's an entire module at the University on pitching joint-ventures.

Most of the preceding paragraphs on gurus and coat-tails are beside the point, however. My meeting Joe, and becoming friends with him, is a Black Swan.

It changed everything for me, and it exists in a vacuum, because I couldn't duplicate it, can't explain it, and I can't teach you how to do it.

If you've got the ability, and are willing to do the work, you can learn how to create a marketable product. If you've got a product that will definitely, definitely, make money, then you'll have no trouble finding people who will help you sell it.

That's not the same thing.

However, I can assure you that if you create a series of products that make money (you can learn how to do that), and have reasonably good social skills (you can learn that), and then you go to one of the larger internet marketing seminars- you'll find lots of people with big lists who will want to work with you.

I can't guarantee that you'll make any life-long friends there, though. That's the Black Swan part.

Nassim Taleb recommends that you stick with Mediocristan. I haven't finished the book, but I think I disagree with him.  I think that if you were to talk to former Enron employees, or Cobol programmers, you'd find that the downside is identical to Extremistan, and the upside is severely curtailed. 

When I started in internet marketing, I didn't have anything to lose. I had no reason to not swing for the fences. If I struck out, I was right where I started. I wasn't going to be more broke. I was already penniless.

Luckily, I've hit a good string of base hits, and even had a modest home run. My worst month is so much better than my previous best months that, for me, Extremistan feels like home.

And, remember, there are ways to hedge your bets. Take incremental risks. Do NOT max out your credit cards or impoverish your family. The beauty of internet marketing is that you can create digital products, which cost nothing to create, store, ship or market.

I recommend it, but I don't guarantee your results. Your mileage will definitely vary, and anybody who tells you different is blowing smoke up your tail-pipe.

And remember that the past is completely irrelevant when it comes to predicting the future. I submit that regardless of how comfortable you think you are, you should keep one eye steadily trained on the bleachers.

In “The Black Swan,” the author invites you to consider the turkey. For the first thousand days of the turkey's life, culminating on the Friday before Thanksgiving (we're assuming an American turkey... and I'll skip the easy joke, here.) the turkey's life is pretty idyllic. Plenty of food, other turkeys to hang out with, life is good.

The turkey has no reason to think that that particular Friday is going to be any different from any other day.

The butcher knows different.

The difference (other than the obvious) is information.

Be smart. Immerse yourself in good information, and use it.

Don't be a turkey.

comments?

 

 

5/24/07  Harnessing the Power of the Universe-

In today's Austin American Statesman, there is a cool article about Dr. Joe Vitale.

It starts out, "It's 10:45 a.m. and Joe Vitale has already harnessed the powers of the universe several times..."

You can read the rest HERE.

It's always cool when friends get in the paper.  It's been happening a lot. 

 

 

Earlier this week, my buddy Cindy Cashman was on the front page with here sweetie Mitch.  They're getting married in outer space. 

Yep.  The story is HERE.

There's a lesson in this.  Both Cindy and Joe are masters of publicity.  Joe taught an amazing late-night course on Hypnotic PR at UnSeminar1, which I still refer back to for inspiration and resources.

Cindy, in addition to being an amazing human and now, the first woman to get hitched in outer space, is a hell of a marketer.  She's made millions by promoting products that wouldn't have been noticed without her publicity skills.  For example, her first big break-through was a blank book.

So, let's give them both a hand.  First, for doing something newsworthy.  Second, for using their PR skills to get the word out.

BTW, that video of Joe, along with several more hours of Joe teaching copywriting and the "mindset of success," is at the Your Portable Empire University.  Cindy's there, too.  Those videos are just a small part of the amazing content you get free, just for being a member of the "U."

Check it out- it could be you on the front page next time!

 

5/23/07   Detectives at work- on the future!

In a dark and private room, cigar smoke swirled around three internet marketing experts, and the cameras rolled.

Hidden away from prying eyes and ears, these experts discussed their secrets and strategies. 

Come on.  I can sneak you in.  Watch this...

As they drank black coffee by the gallon, and smoked cigars by the dozen, they loosened up- and it really got juicy.

 

The story began at a seminar, where Craig Perrine, Eric Farewell, and myself discovered that we had a lot in common. 

We liked good wine, good cigars, and insider information about internet marketing.

We made a good team.  Craig has built million-name lists for his clients, and is a master at email marketing.

 

 

Eric has worked with some of the biggest names in internet marketing, and has made his clients millions of dollars.  He's been backstage and behind the scenes when the cutting edge stuff was created, and has amazing resources.  He's got the "nuts and bolts" stuff wired.

And I've developed the "Portable Empire" strategy, which is rapidly creating successful marketers.  I've authored two books on the subject, and run the Your Portable Empire University.  

We could learn a lot from each other.  And, when you pool the knowledge that we have, we cover the entire spectrum of internet marketing.
 

 

What would happen, we wondered, if the three of us got together with video cameras and discussed what we know?

What if we acted as if the camera was a beginning internet marketer, trying to find his/her niche, and start a business?

We could be detectives, searching for clues to how to start from "zero" and make your first dollar... or your first thousand dollars... 

We ended up with two days of dynamite video that should be the final word on choosing a niche, finding a problem, creating a product to solve the problem, and getting the money.

What's funny is that by the second day, our camera operator- Rodney- was helping us produce the video.  He would tell us what was clear, what was "too complicated," etc.  It was amazingly useful information.  Because Craig, Eric and I live in the internet marketing world, it's easy for us to speak jargon and BS- because it's not jargon and BS to us.  Having a civilian in the room, who didn't know the vocabulary, was very useful. 

 

By the end of day two, I was coffee-buzzed, cigar stoned, and we had nine hours of video in the can. 

I can't wait to see what we did... I intend to be pleasantly surprised.

By the way, producing a video in a cigar bar is fun, but it's got it's challenges.

The up-side is that you can smoke cigars, there's a wealth-oriented ambience, and there's good coffee and pleasant conversation.

There is a down-side...

On Sunday, the poker game commenced.  You've seen some of these guys on TV.  Some of them have permanent places in Vegas.  The "buy-in" was just silly.  You'll be able to hear some of their excitement on the videos... they were in the next room.

I told you our room was private- it was behind the poker room.  That's private.  It's not necessarily quiet, though.

Cigar bars have excellent ventilation systems.  Those aren't quiet, either.  I'm going to have to get a couple of good boom mics.  I'm using stereo condenser microphones, like you'd use over a drum kit in a recording studio.  The quality is excellent, but they pick up everything. 

While we were busy making movies, the video that I did of Joe at UnSeminar2 continued to rock YouTube.  We've had over 9,000 views so far.  I'm embracing Web 2.0.  Each of those views gets a view of Joe that they've never seen before.  They also get introduced to the Your Portable Empire University, the UnSeminar, and me.  That's all good.

There are some lessons here for you, if you want them.  The obvious one is that pretty soon, you're going to get a chance to grab the videos, along with transcripts, camtasia training videos showing how to do basic stuff like set up a clickbank page, build a sales page, etc., and possibly some coaching...  you'll want to grab that as soon as you can.

The other lesson is that with video you can make nine hours worth of products in nine hours.  Of course, there are going to be a lot of hours of editing, and some more behind the scenes work to make it a viable product...  but, just imagine how long it would take you to write a book that takes nine hours to read! 

Grab that video cam and get to making products.

I keep saying, "video is NOT the wave of the future.  Video is what's happening now."

It's true.  I'm not sure what the wave of the future is.  If you know, email me at pat@patobryan.com and tell me.

I suspect that projection holograms will be part of the story.  In the meantime, as the web gets bigger and faster, video is gonna be the game, and I'm shooting another one tomorrow.

wheeee!

May 20, 2007  The Request Line Is Open- Twice!

Request Line #1

What if you could sit down with Dr. Joe Vitale, and ask him what his secret is.  How does he stay so productive?  How does he write so many books, and create so many products?

How does he stay inspired?  How does he stay focused?

Well, in a way, you can.  I'll be videotaping Joe next Tuesday, and the topic is "The Secret of Productivity."   If you've got any questions for Joe about productivity, send 'em in.  I have no idea what we'll actually cover (and I like it that way), but I can promise that I'll show Joe your question.  There's a very real chance that the piece of the puzzle you're looking for will magically appear.

Request Line #2

This weekend I'll be sequestered in a very posh cigar bar in North Austin with Craig Perrine and Eric Farewell.  We'll be in a private meeting room, and we're holding a very private symposium on Internet Marketing.  Of course, we're videotaping the whole thing.

We'll be covering the subject of "choosing your niche" from several different angles.  Then, we'll be discussing "then what?"  Once you've chosen your niche, what do you do next? 

I'm pretty tickled to hang out with these guys.  Craig has spoken at just about every seminar in the galaxy, and is an internet marketing guru.  Eric has worked with several of the heaviest hitters in the field, and has been the "secret weapon" of some very successful businesses. 

We've all got our own takes on this subject, and I'm looking forward to a spirited discussion.  I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing gets out of hand.  Completely.  Actually, I'm looking forward to it.

If you've got any questions about choosing a niche, or niche marketing (which is kind of a different thing), or the nuts and bolts of building a business around a niche- send 'em to pat@patobryan.com.  We'll check email throughout the weekend, and include all the questions we can.

Speaking of "nuts and bolts," I was reflecting on that phrase recently.  We say it all the time, but what does it mean? 

Well, nuts and bolts hold stuff together, right?  If you're going to build something, and you need to hold stuff together, nuts and bolts are pretty handy to have around.

This weekend, Craig, Eric, and I are going to explore the "nuts and bolts" of choosing a niche and starting a business. 

It would be pretty expensive to get the three of us together and ask us questions.  This weekend, you can get your answers for free.  pat@patobryan.com

May 19, 2007   Web 2.0, video, and the future...  is now.

Let's celebrate! 

Dr. Joe Vitale and I hit #1 on YouTube, in our section (how to, DIY).  This video got more hits than the clip from Joe's Larry King appearance, and is catching up  to Saturday Night Live's spoof of "The Secret."  It's gone seriously viral.  Keep reading, and I'll tell you exactly how we did it- and how you can, too.

Pour yourself a glass of wine, or an herbal tea, or a strong cup of coffee, and let's talk about Web 2.0, video, traffic, and what those things have to do with each other.

If you haven't seen the video, scroll down... it's in a previous blog post.  Or click HERE.  But be sure to come back, because you're gonna want to learn how we hit the top at YouTube- so you can do it, too.

I bought video cameras to record the UnSeminars.  You've probably got a video camera, too.  The question is, what to do with these cameras, right?  How can we use them to drive traffic to our websites, and monetize that traffic?

I didn't have a clue, so I put myself where the clues were. 

At a recent seminar, I used my patented "red-wine and cigars" persuasion techniques to get a little quality time with some people who are using video, webinars, and social networking to build brand recognition (which really isn't quantifiable, but is useful), and to drive traffic and make sales, which is quantifiable, useful, and fun.

Here's what I learned, and how I used it to hit the top on YouTube.

In today's online video environment (we'll look back at this and grin... think TRS-80), it really doesn't matter what kind of video camera you use.  There have been some success stories with phone-cams.

Once you've got some video recorded, you'll want to edit it.  Add an introduction.  Create titles.  Yesterday, I was at the Office Depot in Austin, and I saw that Adobe is selling Adobe photoshop elements bundled with Adobe Premier Elements for about a hundred bucks.  I used Premier Elements to edit the UnSeminar1 videos.  If you're not ready to pony up the $1,200+ for Final Cut Pro and the $7,000+ for a Mac tower to run it on, Premier is your next best choice.  You really can't see much difference in the final product.

 The focus is on content.  Whether it's mentos and diet coke, or Dr. Joe Vitale speaking on the Mindset of Success, you've got to start with interesting content.  The competition for attention is tough, and it's not all from teen-agers.  Huge corporations like Procter and Gamble, Sony, Ford...  are pulling money out of their traditional advertising channels and hiring graffiti artists, skate punks, and underground "connectors" to get attention using advertising methods that the suits haven't quite caught up with.

The suits aren't stupid.  We need to get in and get established now, before they look up from their diet soy latte's and realize that the game has changed.

So, step 1, grab some kind of video recording device and use your imagination to create something interesting.  The trick is to visualize who you're trying to interest, and then imagine what they would stop and watch.  Edit your video into a clip that's a little less than ten minutes long.  Right now, ten minutes is the edge of the envelope for clips on YouTube, and pretty much anywhere else. 

You'll want to have some kind of commercial text at the end of your video clip.  That last frame is what stays on the viewer's screen in most video playback environments.  On the clip of Joe that I put at YouTube, I put "There's more at http://www.patobryan.com/pesp.htm"

If you can hold someone's attention for ten minutes, you win.  If you make your clip so interesting that they want more, and go to your sales page, then you win and make money.

Once you've got your video edited down to a ten-minute (or less) clip, go to www.youtube.com and get an account.  It's free and fast.  Then upload your video.  Almost immediately, you'll have access to an HTML link to your video, and a separate HTML code snippet for embedding the video on your website.  Google tracks all plays, as long as you use their code- so the people who watched the video on Joe's blog and here on my blog, got counted toward our total score

The next step is to tell the world.  If you're already enrolled at the Your Portable Empire University, then you know how to do that, and probably already have a list of people you can contact.  If you're not already enrolled in the University- click HERE now.  Quick.  I can only cover the basics of Internet Marketing here on this blog.  Over at the University, we go deep- and I answer questions.  There's a reason why my students are becoming successful.  Go see.

Under your video is a place for comments.  So far, we've got four or five pages of comments, and one was slightly negative.  You can remove negative comments, but I left that one- because it was so silly that I could easily come up with a funny response.  Then, others commented on my response, and the conversation kicked into high gear.  That's a good thing.  That's interactivity, and it's powerful.

The comments section is also where I pointed out that that video is only nine minutes out of hundreds of hours of video that's already online at the University.

If you've got a good, responsive list... even better, if you've got some friends with big, responsive lists... you'll be getting traffic.  The more traffic you get, the higher you go on the YouTube charts- and the higher you go, the more people will see your video, and click on it, which pushes you higher in the charts.

This gives you (and your friends) an excellent reason to send out more emails.  Hitting a high spot on YouTube is news.  It calls for a celebration, and you want your readers to celebrate with you.  They're part of what you're celebrating- and you're part of what I'm celebrating.  Joe and I couldn't have done this without your help.  See- more interactivity. 

Your goal is for the video to go "viral."  That means that without any further effort on your part, your viewers get so excited about your video that they pass it on to their friends, who pass it on to their friends, etc.  Viral marketing is tricky, and honestly, there's a lot of luck to it.  The video of Joe has gone viral- we keep getting hits, although we're not really promoting it. 

Once I realized that we had a hit on our hands, my next question was "what else can we do?  What would be even better than this?"

Luckily, I've got two guys in my office who live online, and watch a lot of video.  I asked Zonker, the 19 year old SEO wizard, and he informed me that he knew where ALL the video directories were.  So, I asked him to post the video to every directory he could find.

Here's Zonker's list:

www.metacafe.com
www.video.google.com
www.video.yahoo.com
www.dailymotion.com
www.youtube.com
www.zippyvideos.com
www.veoh.com
www.flurl.com
www.veoh.com
www.sharkle.com
www.grouper.com
www.vmix.com
www.ourstage.com
www.stage6.divx.com
www.infectiousvideos.com
 

I haven't tracked the traffic at those sites, but I can tell you that traffic to the sales page that I promote at the end of the video has picked up nicely.   It took him a little over an hour to upload the video to all of those directories.  And there is real value to having seven thousand people at YouTube, and unknown thousands at the other video sites, watch the introduction that promotes me, my UnSeminars, and my "brand." 

But wait.  There's more.

The future is now.  I'm sitting in front of my TV, watching the "current" channel.  It's mostly video content provided by the people who watch the channel.  The network provides cool VJs, and a hip environment- but their production costs are next to nothing. 

Think about that.  It's Youtube on the television.

A few minutes ago, they ran a clip on a woman who designs "green" modular homes- which would be perfect for my place in Terlingua.  During the informational clip, which was basically a walk-through of the house, discussion of the price, and a conversation with the designer, they also gave the address for her website.

I immediately went there, saved it to my del.ici.ous favorites, and may buy one.  And who knows how many hundreds of thousands of people did the same? 

By disguising her commercial as content, this home designer got free distribution of her infomercial on national TV.

And then- here's the kicker- the station ran an advertisement encouraging their viewers to create advertisements for the products that advertise on the "current" channel.  If they choose yours, you get $1,000.  If your ad is used by the advertisers outside "current," you can make up to $50,000.

If you've read Robert Cialdini's books, you know that what they're doing is operating at several levels. 

1.  If you make a commercial for a product, you're going on record as being in favor of that product- which has serious psychological hooks for you.  Read the book, you'll get it.

2.  $1,000 for a TV ad is a bargain, no matter how you look at it.  From the point of view of Nike, even $50,000 is the CATERING budget for a commercial.  They can't lose.  At the very least, they get free advertising, and an increase in loyalty from the people making the ads.  Best case scenario, they get an ad they can use on mainstream TV, on their website, on cell phones... for just $50K.

3.  If you're sitting at home with a cheap video camera and need money, fifty grand will buy a lot of cheetos and diet coke.  It's real money for real people.  It's play money for people who make national commercials, but most of us aren't going to be able to pitch our ideas to Sony or Nike or Apple.  Who knows?  If they pick ours at $50,000, maybe they'll hire us to make one with a real budget.  The odds are better than the lottery, and it's a lot more fun.

So, to those people who are saying "the future of the internet is video," I'd like to point out that the future is happening right now. 

If you really want to explore this, get yourself over to the Your Portable Empire University right now.

 

Dr. Joe Vitale at UnSeminar2

This video answers two questions:

1.  What are the UnSeminars really like?

2.  What kind of content is at The Your Portable Empire University?

If you're not already a member of the University, you're missing out on some amazing training- training that would cost you thousands and thousands of dollars to get otherwise.

The ability to attend the Unseminars in your own home, or at the local coffee shop, is really priceless- some of the people who are attending the University are well on their way to building very profitable businesses.  You can, too.

You're also missing out on some very special people.  It's amazing to watch as the members form mastermind groups, help each other with projects, and form JVs and partnerships.  You can watch all this in real time, and be a part of it, by clicking HERE.

 

 

Marketing in a Vacuum- don't blink.

First- I want you to go look at a product that Dr. Joe Vitale and I came up with a while back.  I had forgotten about it completely, and then a customer stumbled across the sales page somehow and bought it.  I saw the payment come through and thought, "what is this Wisdom of Wealth, and why is this payment in my Paypal account?"

I actually had to do a Google search to find the sales page, and then guess until I was able to find the download page.  And it blew my mind.  It's a lost treasure.  And I had forgotten about it completely.

I'm going to redo the sales page, and probably raise the price, but you can see it in all it's ancient glory, and at the original price.  Here's what's in it:

۞A FREE copy of "Think and Grow Rich"

۞The "Unlimited Success Workbook, volume 1" based on "Think and Grow Rich."

۞The "Unlimited Success Workbook, volume 2" based on "The Law of Success."

۞The "Unlimited Success, volume 1" home-training audio course- 12 lessons.

۞The "Unlimited Success, volume 2" home-training audio course- 15 lessons.

The home training courses are perfect for your MP3 player, and we've even included a link to a program that you can use to "rip" and burn CDs of the audio courses, and SEVEN SECRET BONUSES.

Just imagine my surprise...  I FORGOT about this product!  And I'm the one who made it, put it online, and wrote the lame sales letter!  27 Audio lessons based on Napoleon Hill's "Law of Success," and I FORGOT IT!    Click HERE to see the very cool product that Pat forgot.

Now, let's talk about vacuums, making space, and why it's a good thing.

I was re-reading a Dan Kennedy book today- one of the "No BS" series.  As I change and grow my business, I find it useful to refer back to his books on time management, sales, and running a business.

The Internet Marketing business kinda reminds me of the music business.  It's possible to be in either for years, and actually achieve some success, without realizing that you're actually running a business.

Dan's a crusty ol' soul, and his politics are silly, but he wrote some great books on business for entrepreneurs.  Highly recommended.

Anyway, Dan was talking about how creating a vacuum can be a good thing.  Take 3/4 of the clothes out of your closet and give 'em away.  You'll be surprised at how fast that closet fills back up.  In my case, my wardrobe keeps improving, completely by accident.  Friends lose weight and bring me clothes. Betsy might see a shirt that she thinks I'd like.   Since Betsy and my friends have much better taste in clothes than I do, improvement is inevitable. 

Apparently, those clothes have parties in the closet, and those parties must get pretty rowdy- soon there's no room in the closet for another t-shirt.

I've seen it in my own life in other ways- twice, in the last couple of years, I've rented a U-Haul truck, and brutally hauled everything in my garage to either Goodwill or the dump.  It seemed like the garage might be a cool place to park my car.

Right now, my garage is full.  Floor to ceiling.  Wall to wall.  I have no idea what's out there.  Obviously, it's nothing I want or need. 

I'll eventually go rent that truck again, and soon nature will do what nature does and the garage will fill back up with whatever it is that it gets filled up with.   The car will probably never see the inside of the garage.  But, it's a fascinating thing to watch.  Nature doesn't love vacuums.

You may find that you have other kinds of vacuums.  They will fill.

Paper is amazing.  I thought we were going towards the paperless office era.  Not my office.  Occasionally, I'll scoop up a few boxes of the stuff and then put the boxes in the closet.  I know where to find it if I need it.  Only once in the last three years have I had to go through those boxes- when I needed to find a contract that should have been filed.  That's the second half of the lesson, I guess.  Some paper needs to be filed.  Some you can put in boxes and put in the closet and pretty much just forget about forever.  The trick is to know which is which.

And, it doesn't matter how many boxes are in the closet, and how brutal I am about just averting my eyes and shoveling the paper out of sight... almost immediately my office fills up with paper again. 

Nature doesn't like vacuums. 

When I made the switch from blues guitarist to internet marketer/author, I went through an interesting phase where I had to "lose" some "friends."

The people who I used to talk with about "how hard life was, how mean club owners are, how musicians are taken advantage of, how artists have to suffer... " well, I didn't want to talk about that, or hear it, either.  So, the people who could only talk like that had to go.

Since I wasn't playing guitar in bars any more, it was pretty easy to lose track of them.

As soon as I was ready for them, they appeared.  It's a fluid process that continues.  Some of my friends who have moved on to other interests have less time for me, now.  Each seminar brings more interesting people to take their place.  It's an organic process, and I've come to welcome it.

The conclusion I've drawn is that if you delete what you don't want in your life, and focus on what you do want, then you'll attract what you do want... but (and this is the big but), you have to make room for the new.  

I think that's why meditation is so useful, and why so many top marketers meditate regularly.  If you clear your mind, you make room for new thoughts to come into it.  If your mind is constantly cluttered with self-talk and noise, or if you're cramming television and trash into your mind... well, there's no vacuum for nature to work with.  Try cleaning out your mind and focusing on what you want to appear there.  Once your mind has some space to work with, it's pretty amazing what bubbles up. 

Which brings us to you.  What can you delete from your life, to make room for something better?

The trick is to realize that everything in your life needs to "serve" you.  Well, not everything.  Betsy's an exception.  Especially on Mother's day.  But, in that realm of things that are subject to change, what, in your life, isn't serving you?

You might consider going to your closet, taking out the clothes that you're gonna wear "someday," and haven't worn in years, and giving them away.

You might want to look around your work-space, and see what you can live without.  Put it out of sight.

How about "friends."  Notice that I put that in quotes.  Real friends will be supportive of you no matter which direction you travel.  "Friends," in quotes, may be jealous of your success, or try to keep you from getting "above your raising."  That's an East Texas term for doing better than your parents.  That's one of the reasons I had to get out of East Texas, by the way.  I was definitely determined to do better than my parents, and I had lots of friends who disapprove(d). 

Anyway, in your heart, you know the difference.  If someone is holding you back or dragging you down, you might want to consider spending less time with them.

When it comes to relationships- that's a hard one.  Dan tells the story of a friend of his who has a wife who has a crisis every time Dan's friend starts to get successful.  Consequently, Dan's friend has to stop what he's doing and deal with his wife's crisis. 

She wrecks the car.  She gets sick with mysterious ailments.  She sabotages his meetings and won't let him travel.

So, he's not successful.  She then gives him a hard time for not being successful.

That's a tough one.  I hope you never have to deal with it.

I know what I'd do.

If you've read this far, you deserve a reward, right?

Colin Joss has created a an e-book that he'd like to give you for free.  It's at www.1hourebook.com.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Behind the Scenes-
Secrets From the Big Seminar
5/6/07

 

Another thing that I heard a lot of, both at the invitation-only pre-seminar on Thursday and the Big Seminar Friday-Sunday, was "give your best content away."  Somebody finally noticed that if you want to build a relationship with your customers, you might want to give them something of value, instead of big promises, sales letters longer than the Iliad, and slick NLP-drenched copy.

Well, duh.  Again.

That's what I've been teaching at the Your Portable Empire University, and that's what I've been telling my coaching clients.  For years.  Maybe that's why my clients are building profitable businesses, while other people's clients are learning just enough to need to buy the NEXT product, the next program, and so on and so on.

Over at the University, we've got lots of refugees from other programs.  They say they've learned more in a week at the Portable Empire University than they learned in months with other programs.

We all know what it takes to set up a Portable Empire™.  At the University Forum I posted the blueprint just last night:

You may notice that there's nothing in that blueprint about junk marketing.  No manipulation.  No BS.  Just give lots of value for free, find out what problems your subscribers are having, and help them solve their problems.