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The next question was really just another way to ask the first question. 

I'm determined to keep my mind open on these subjects- for now.  Where I land will determine what I do next. 

I invite you to join me.  Take a hard look at those questions and answers.  That's who we are.  If you're a product developer, like I am, then there are some interesting possibilities presenting themselves in the cracks and crannies of this data.  And some fascinating temptations.

I'm finding spirituality to be strangely seductive.  And seduction to be strangely spiritual.  Odd how those two things can intersect, isn't it?

Stay tuned...

Comments?

 

June 23- The State of the Universe

The Survey is over- But, it was so much fun, that we'll be doing more very soon.  I'll post the results after I figure 'em out.

Time zooms by so fast, and my personal journey has been such a mind-blowing experience- sometimes I get confused.

Confusion is the state right before clarity- you've probably heard that before.  Of course, the instructions on the box don't say how long or deep that state of confusion can get...

So, to speed up the process, I thought it would be fun to pool our knowledge.  I set up a survey HERE that will allow us to all look at the State of the Universe, the meaning of life, and some other questions that are really tugging at me.

I know, from hanging out at the Portable Empire University forum, and the absolutely silly amount of email I'm getting, that I'm not the only one curious about these questions.

So, while I'm rambling here, go take the survey, and I'll wait.  After you take the survey, you can keep reading to find out what prompted such a strange and potentially controversial survey.  What's Pat up to now?

 

Questions and Answers- Who's lying to whom, here?

I got an interesting email in response to today's blog post- and I think it deserves a response.  The questions are in green.

I have a question for you. I went to one of your promotional pages. You say that you didn't know how you were going to pay the rent, your car had a ton of miles, you were working for 50.00 per night as a blues guitar player. So, if things were that bad and you didn't have any extra money - as you are relating to so many of us - where did you get the thousands of dollars it takes to set up an online business, not to mention the 25K that Joe Vitale charges, now I know he is your neighbor or you are his guitar teacher not sure, if you live in a trailer I am not sure how you can be his neighbor.

I recommend that you read my article, "The $100 e-book business."  I don't know where you got the idea that it costs thousands of dollars to set up an online business- but, it's really easy to start one for less than a hundred bucks.

The part about being a blues guitar player, and working for $50 a night (if I was lucky), is all true.  You can do a Google search on my name, and you'll find all kinds of references to my music career, as well as my art career.  Neither of which paid the bills.

And yea, Joe and I live in the same small town.  His estate is less than five miles from where my trailer was.  The trailer was repossessed a few years ago.  If you keep reading, you'll find the story about how Bill Hibbler introduced me to Joe in 2003.  It was Bill's idea for me to trade guitar lessons for marketing lessons.  It was a damn good idea.

The rest of the story is that Joe introduced me to internet marketing, and I created a product (actually, several products) that he thought would sell.  We formed an informal partnership.  He does the marketing, I create the products.  We're both happy with the arrangement, and we've both made lots of money from it.

I don't live in a trailer anymore.

Now, maybe Joe did your letter for free, as I see the marketing is all the same now and everybody is selling it. But, I have a hard time with believability with your story. When you're flat broke you don't have the $400.00-$2,500.00 to spend on a website let alone all of the other stuff you need to know and pay to set up and then the marketing costs - several thousand or at least hundred dollars more, where did you get the money or did Joe give it to you, and if that is the case we all don't have a Joe.

It seems to me all of this hype like yours and so many out there is not about how too or the product it seems to be about give me 39.00 per month and I will send you a bunch of links to purchase other peoples products and that is how you are making your money, but the point is still how much initial investment in the items I mentioned, and why do you not tell about that side of the story in your letter, tell us the truth before you get our money and let us see if we have the investment.

If you were as broke as you say you were, that should be a genuine concern and addressed honestly by you, if you have been here you know how hard it is to come up with that kind of money. Do you see our point? Do you see the believability issue here?

I use Microsoft FrontPage to make websites, which drives my graphics people crazy.  They're trying to get me to switch to Dreamweaver- and they've just about talked me into it.  Bottom line:  my cost to make a website is $0. 

If you don't want to learn how to build a website, go to rentacoder.com and hire it done.  I've bought websites for as little as $20, and as much as $50.

Here's the deal on websites.  A domain costs about $8.  I buy mine at Godaddy.com.  Hosting can be as cheap as $4 a month.  You definitely don't need to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a website.

Joe has never given me any money, although he's quite generous with cigars and books.  I've given him cigars, parties, and a resonator guitar.  Of course, we split the money we make on the products we do together... but, I think Joe would agree that I pull my weight.

About that $39 a month.  Once you log into your account at the University, you'll have access to over $10,000 worth of training immediately.  Nobody will try to sell you anything else. 

You will find hundreds of hours of audio and video training, a series of online classrooms, and a warm and loving community.  No sales pitches.

About the believability issue- money is not the barrier to entry in the internet marketing world.  Action is.  And attitude.

So, how much did it cost you to get started and where did you get the money and how much did Joe and his pals do for you for free, that they are not going to do for us? It seems this is just selling everybody's products.

I had no money.  I did have some talent, and a desire.  And fear.  Let's not forget fear.  I learned very early on that if I created products that people wanted to buy, it was easy to convince people to sell them.  We split the money.

Go create a product that people will buy.  People will beat a path to your door.

Besides, it is really hard to believe all of you, we want to but Joe is all about the secret, take only inspired action, think your way to the end you want and wait for the inspired action to guide you, and yet you are saying to take action now the only way to get out of the hammock. What about the law of attraction? What about the right opportunity presenting itself, the money appearing, Joe's comment on the secret "if you want $10,000 just intend it" and it will come to you. The universe will stand on its head to accommodate you, the hows are the domain of the universe.

I don't subscribe to that point of view.  I do believe that negative self-talk can debilitate you.  I do believe that you attract what you focus on. 

Could it be that you're focusing on how hard it is, and how unfair it looks to you?  You might want to consider focusing on the outcome you want, and staying open to the possibilities that present themselves.

And remember, Joe talks about Inspired ACTION!  Sitting on your duff and intending will not, in my experience, accomplish much.

So, again, where did you get the money you needed to get started because there is a cost, there is always a cost and a flat broke person just doesn't pull that kind of money out of thin air and if you used Joe's intending, it still came from somewhere and you would be shouting on the roof top that story, instead I see the same ole Dan Kennedy style of marketing with no real product, just by my monthly membership and create your own and we all just keep paying to buy the same products through affiliate programs, doesn't that sound like internet mlm's.

I'm telling my story.  I didn't have any money.  I took action.  It doesn't cost money to get an internet marketing business up and running.  It does take action, and you need some information.  You can learn that information at the University.

I love Dan Kennedy, as long as he's not talking politics.  I've read his "No BS" books about twenty times each, and I keep them close at hand at all times.  They're gold. 

I have hundreds of "real" products for sale.  My affiliate programs are all 1-tier.  No upline.  No downline.  No MLM from me.  Ever.

I don't know why I am choosing to jump on you, I guess it is that your story just doesn't make sense so I am not sure how true it is or if it is embellished a little to make it sound more spectacular, I know how that works, like the pumped up testimonials so many say to get etc. I know that is marketing, but save the crap and just get to the real bottom line, you give me money and create your own little rags to riches story, no matter how true it is

You might want to read my blog.  I documented the whole thing- from the first product to today.  There's no "crap" to it.  And, it's not unbelievable.  I didn't do anything that anybody else couldn't do- if they did the things I did.  You may not have my skills, but when I started, neither did I. 

I had to learn how to set up an autoresponder.  I'm sure Bill Hibbler could tell some funny stories about my stumbling first tries.  I had to learn how to make a PDF file.  I had to learn how to create opt-in pages and "buy now" buttons. 

I had some writing talent, some music talent, and a pretty good work ethic.  You've got your own talents.  If you're smart, you'll learn to maximize your skills and talents.

by the way, I have know people who have joined similar marketing schemes and they outright lied about their success, just to get a check and so on and so on. So it seems to me to be just one big pyramid. I don't know, you tell me.

OK.  I'll tell you.  There ain't no "similar" marketing scheme.  The University is unique.  I built the resource I wish I would have had when I started out.  There's nothing else like it.

The testimonials on the University sales page come from real people.  Some of them put their email addresses and web sites with their testimonials.  Once you join the university, you'll meet them.  But, for now, email them and ask them if they're lying.  Ask them if I paid them for the testimonials. 

There's no pyramid.  The people who give me testimonials don't get paid when someone joins the University.

Where did you get the money to pay for start up and marketing because I know you didn't sign people up right away, maybe you lived in a trailer a long time ago, maybe you have two cars, I don't know but is sounds very fishy to me. and i know your response, well you don't have to buy. but it is just getting out of control and all of you are losing credibility as more and more people join in and lie about their stories. I just want to meet someone out there in the internet marketing game to tell the truth, no embellishment, just the truth. and the truth about the cost of keeping the business going - very expensive. I know because I have friends who have joined.

Again, it doesn't cost much to start the business.  I wrote an article that explains how to do it for less than a hundred bucks.

My son Patrick and I lived in a nice single-wide trailer for several years, until I couldn't make the payments.  They were about $350 a month.  When we got kicked out of the trailer, we moved in with my girlfriend, Betsy.  Betsy's a saint.  We're still together.

I just have one car, but it's a nice one.  I'm really not a car person, although I do love to drive.  I just don't have the car gene.  I do have eight computers and twelve guitars, though.  Video cameras. A recording studio.  A nice little cabin in the desert. 

Speaking of having things that cost money- I've also got two teenage sons. 

Nobody who's joined my University will tell you it's expensive.  It's not expensive to study at the University.  It costs $39 a month. 

It's not expensive to start an internet marketing business, or to keep it going.

Actually, that may not be completely true.  For example, when I started, I paid $4 a month for web hosting.  Right now, I'm paying close to $600 a month.  That probably looks expensive, but it's not.  I own dozens of websites, the University eats up a lot of bandwidth, and I've got weeks of video and months of audio on my servers.  I need big, fast servers, and they're expensive.  However, providing all of that content makes me money- more money than the servers cost.

I hope that clears up your questions.  Thanks for the stimulating email.

 

June 19, 2007 -Three Magic Stories-

In a South American city, which shall remain unnamed, it is sweltering hot.  The city shimmers through the heat waves that rise up from the street- the city looks like it's been projected on a sheet that's waving in the wind.

Birds sit in the wide-leafed trees and call to one another, but they don't move.

Inside the green adobe house, it's relatively cool.  There's no air-conditioning.  Sometimes there's no electricity at all.  But, the design of the house has been perfected through the centuries- shade and ventilation, along with the thick adobe walls, keeps the interior of the house relatively cool.

In the kitchen, under the lazy ceiling fan, a young man sprinkles magic pixy fairy dust that he bought from an American Internet Marketer onto his huevos con queso y machacado (eggs with cheese and dried beef) breakfast.

Across town, in a similar adobe- this one painted white, and marginally cooler- another young man is wrapping his frijoles refritos (refried beans) in a warm, home-made tortilla.  Before he eats it, he spoons on some salsa made with tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro and garlic. 

Before we discuss the shooting, and the miracle, we should note that all of the shop-keepers- in fact, everyone in the market square besides the young man with the pixie dust, had the same traditional breakfast of beans, tortillas, and salsa. 

In spite of the heat, both young men must go to the market.  Although they've never met, a half-hour later, they're within ten feet of each other in the open-air marketplace at one in the afternoon- when the shooting begins. 

Two rival gangs- one financed by the local cocaine cartel, the other financed by the town mayor, coincidentally choose that moment and place to settle a few differences.  Birds fly from the trees in a wall of color at the noise.  Melons burst, and bottles break as the hail of bullets slice through the market. 

Fortunately, in the heat of the day the market was sparsely populated.  Unfortunately, of the eight people who were either selling or buying, all but one were left silent in a pool of blood. 

Who was left standing? 

As the rival gangs speed away from the marketplace, a young man rises from his dusty hiding place behind a wooden fruit stand, steps over the bleeding shop-keeper, and runs back to his green adobe house-  where he says a prayer of gratitude over his small bag of magic pixie fairy dust.

What conclusions can we draw from this story?

Well, it's obvious, isn't it?

Don't ever eat beans for breakfast.

Isn't that the conclusion you came to? 

There's no such thing as magic pixie fairy dust, and if it did exist, it wouldn't really have magic powers- but if you'd like to buy some click the "buy now" button below.  For just ten dollars ($10), plus shipping and handling, I'll send you a small bag of the identical powder that (?) saved the young man's life. 

June 12, 2007  Magic and Giggles

I'm on record- well, CDs and online audios, anyway- as saying:

There ain't no secret
I'm just gonna tell it
You gotta make a product
Then you gotta sell it

That's from a song I wrote and recorded with Joe Vitale and Bill Hibbler a couple of years ago.

There are a lot of models for running an internet marketing business, but that's the one that has worked for me.  I recommend it.  It's what we're doing over at the Your Portable Empire University (YPE-U- Yippee-University).

Lately, I've been exploring video.  I still love to write.  As a matter of fact, I'm writing right now.  However, in the last year I've written two books, and it damn near wore me out.  I don't mean to complain, but writing 63,000+ words that actually work together is a major undertaking.  And, it's solitary work.

Producing videos, at least the way I do it, is a little more relaxing, and it can be a team sport.  It can also be unvarnished magic.

Last week, I spent a few hours with my friend, Dr. Joe Vitale.  There have been lots of instances when we've both wished we had remembered to bring some kind of recording device.  Sitting on the square in San Marcos, or having a relaxing dinner and cigars, conversations with Joe quickly turn into memorable moments that really should be captured and shared.

This time, I just happened to have my video camera.  I'll tell you how you can get the whole thing later this week.  It's gonna change the way you DO everything.

Check out this short excerpt.

Another video project was a different kind of magic.  Silly magic.

I sat down with Craig Perrine and Eric Farewell in a very swank cigar bar in North Austin.  Our goal:  line out in detail how to find, monetize and dominate your niche. 

The final video is the absolute best course ever made on the subject.  However, it wasn't all work. 

The parts you won't see on the final video are in this bloopers video.

It was a hoot.

 

June 6, 2007  Visiting America

It was back in 1972 that I stopped watching television.

Cast your mind back to 1972....  Roger Staubach took the Dallas Cowboys to the Super Bowl.  Bloody Sunday.  1st scientific hand-held calculator, the HP-35, introduced for $395.  Sen Strom Thurmond suggests John Lennon be deported.  U.S. airlines begin mandatory inspection of passengers and baggage.  President Nixon leaves Washington D.C. for China.  Congress approves Equal Rights Amendment (never ratified).  Evil Knievel breaks 93 bones after successfully clearing 35 cars.  North Vietnamese troops enter South Vietnam.  Barbra Striesand, James Taylor, Carole King and Quincy Jones perform at a benefit for George McGovern for President.  Apollo 16 astronauts explores Moon surface.  White House "plumbers" break into Democratic National HQ at Watergate.  Bruce Springsteen signs a record deal with Columbia.  Nixon and Haldeman agree to use CIA to cover up Watergate.  "Hair" closes at Biltmore Theater New York City after 1750 performances.  1st article exposing Wategate scandal (Bernstein-Woodward).  Moody Blues release "Nights in White Satin".  Last American combat ground troops leave Vietnam.  Bobby Fischer (U.S.) defeats Boris Spassky (U.S.S.R.) for world chess title .  Chuck Berry's "My Ding-a-ling," is #1 .  President Nixon (R) re-elected defeating George McGovern (D).   16 plane crash survivors rescued after 70d, survived by cannabalism.  Kim Il-song, becomes president of North Korea.  Nixon halts bombing of North Vietnam and announces peace talks. 

Why did I stop watching TV? 

I became aware that the way people talked, dressed, and thought was being directed by television.  Although we only got three channels (!),  At midnight, the screen dissolved into a test pattern.   We all watched religiously.  Uncritically. 

Opinions, beliefs, and styles were being packaged in New York and Hollywood, and installed into minds all over America, and the world.

At the time, my friends and family were convinced that I was paranoid.  Today, you can read books by the people who were creating these early propaganda and commercial campaigns.  You can find out exactly how they did it.   You can learn exactly what worked, what didn't worked, and what's working right now.

They sold us our presidents, our world-view, and how to process current events the same way they sold laundry detergent.  Very effectively.

BTW, that relic to your left is the HP-35 mentioned above.  It cost $395, or about the same as a basic computer costs today. 

Anyway, I decided that I'd program my own head. 

Today, that's a whole lot easier.  With the internet, you can learn as much about current events, politics, art, music, education...  whatever you're interested in, you can get as close to the truth as you want.  I study politics as a hobby, and the internet is a gold mine.  Want the original text of the "Project For A New American Century" Manifesto?  It's online.  Want a copy of the picture of Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein shaking hands over an arms deal?  It's online.  Pictures of George Bush in his cheerleading outfit at Yale?  Yep.  Blogs from Iraq?  Got it.  Videos of what politicians actually said, as opposed to what the news media is reporting?  Just a click away.

Of course, that's just a hobby for me. 

For the professional marketer, the internet is a treasure trove of information and training.

Want to look over Michel Fortin's shoulder while he writes a sales letter?  Watch Joe Vitale speak on the Law of Attraction?  Listen to David Garfinkel explain his copywriting secrets?  Check out the latest web 2.0 marketing strategies?  It's all there.  Just a click away, and it comes to you at light speed.

Until recently, there was a wall between the people  who provide the content on TV and the people who consume it.  Unlike the internet, where information bounces both ways, and reflects and refracts through blogs, web pages, and newsletters, TV was a funnel that started in some executive's office and ended up in your brain- and the information only traveled one way.

From the selling of the war to the selling of this year's fashions, the world was divided between those who told the story and those who consumed the story. 

Kinda like in 1972, except on hundreds of channels, 24 hours a day.

A few months ago, I was sitting at a table with Joe Vitale, Craig Perrine, and Bill Hibbler.  Joe was flying out the next morning to appear on the Larry King show.  He also had some fascinating TV deals cooking that he shared with us in confidence.  Bill and Craig had their own TV stories to tell.  The conversation was laced with references to shows and actors that I had never heard of. 

Hell, I'd never seen the Larry King show.  I didn't even know who shot JR. 

So, after 35 years, I went shopping.  Got a large flat-panel TV.  Called up the roadrunner people and got digital cable.  I decided to visit America.

And, with one very important exception, nothing has changed.

Anybody who follows politics and current events online will be appalled at the TV news.  If you're getting your news from TV, you're not getting any news at all.  In TV shows, the same old games are being played.  Product placement has become so sophisticated that they can add products, billboards and logos on t-shirts, after the fact to the highest bidder using digital editing techniques.  Performers with high "Q" ratings are still reciting lines written by corporate persuaders, and those lines are still being repeated in coffee shops and living rooms across the country.

But, there is one very important exception.

Sitting on the couch, remote control in hand, I was cruising through the channels and came across Google's "Current" channel.  Have you found that one, yet?

It's TV 2.0.

Almost all of the content is generated by the viewers.  It's like YouTube, but it's broadcast TV.

Instead of sitting back and letting the TV tell them what to think, these people are grabbing their video cameras and going to the source.  Arms bazaars in Afghanistan.  Protests and rallies in New York, Brussels, and Amsterdam.  The sites of today's news. 

And the point of view isn't from the protected perch of a network icon.  It's from a civilian with a camera, who is seeing exactly what you would see if you were there, and recording it. 

I think this is a very big deal.

There's a hole in the wall.  As the distinction between online video and TV continues to erode, that hole is going to get much bigger, and eventually that wall is coming down.

It's about time.

Instead of hearing some corporate hack's hardly disinterested interpretation of something that's happening, you'll be able to see what's happening and interpret it for yourself.

That's huge.

From a marketer's point of view, this is a paradigm shift that ranks with the invention of movable type.

For example, at the Your Portable Empire University, we're basically running a TV station for internet marketers.  There's enough content there to keep you busy for days, and we're adding more all the time.

Joe Vitale and I hit #1 on YouTube a few weeks ago. Over ten thousand people have watched Joe speak at UnSeminar2.  Originally, there were less than 50 people in the room. 

Notice, they didn't watch some talking head tell them about it or interpret it for them.  They see and hear Joe, and can draw their own conclusions.

Marketers are using videos on their sales pages, on their blogs, and more and more of us are using video to get our ideas to our customers.  I'm spending a lot more time producing videos than I am writing, these days.

I can remember a particularly cynical acquaintance saying, "a free press is only useful if you own a printing press."  Today, printing presses are cheap.  Video recording and editing gear which used to cost as much as a house now can be had for the price of a night on the town. 

What does this mean for you?  Well, first of all, it means that you don't need to wait for me to tell you what this means for you.  Whether you're focusing on building your business, saving the world, saving the whales, or just telling your story- now just may be the best time in history.  The wall is coming down.