My hat is off to Landon.  He had a brilliant idea.  I can honestly say that I wish I had thought of that...

More importantly, he took inspired action and made his idea a reality.

So far, he's made about $500.  I predict that he gets his million.  I also predict he goes on to have other ideas and takes the action necessary to make his ideas into reality.

There are actually several profound marketing lessons in this short video.  Watch it.  After you're through laughing, take a few minutes to let it sink in.  This kid was not satisfied with "a job," he wants the big bucks.  And, he's found a way to make it happen. 

Let it inspire you- can you top The Fart Site?

In a bookstore in Erfurt, Germany- in the AngerPlatz, next door to the pizza restaurant- on the second or third floor- there is a small section of books in English.

That's where I found Douglas Adams' Salmon of Doubt- his last book.

In that book, there is a reference to a road sign in New Mexico.  I had assumed that Douglas had created the sign out of his extraordinary imagination.  It was a plot device that pretty much had to be there or the story wouldn't work.

As we drove towards Santa Fe, I told Betsy the story of the odd road sign in the book.  I told her about the "half a cat" and the woman that Dirk Gently was rude to because she was too beautiful.  Far too beautiful to go out to dinner with him.  So, if she wasn't going to go out to dinner with him, he was going make sure that it was on his terms...

To my complete surprise- a while later she said, "there it is!" 

We drove by- again, I assumed that if there's one, there must be more. 

Nope. 

We retraced our path on the way home, and found that sign again.  I took approximately 100 pictures of it from all angles.  For some reason, knowing it actually exists, and that Douglas Adams had worked his book idea the other way- seeing the odd sign had started his mind down the path to the plot...  well, it's just a better world with that sign in it. 

Back in the Texas Hill Country, it was raining.  It is raining.  According to the weather forecasters, it will continue to rain.  I've never seen anything like it. 

Soggy, humid, and inconvenient.  I miss New Mexico.

It reminds me of when I would come back from touring Europe (click HERE for some history- it's a web page I set up after one of my tours.  Some pretty cool pics of the Black Forest.)

After a tour, I would return to Wimberley, and discover that it was seriously deficient in castles, cathedrals, and cobblestones.  Also, everybody spoke English, which was weird after hearing German exclusively for a month or more.

The feeling now is that Wimberley is seriously deficient in majestic mountains, 180-degree sunsets, and Northern New Mexico cooking.  Tex-mex just doesn't cut it after you've eaten in Santa Fe and Taos.  There's a great patio restaurant in Taos called, I think, Antonios, where you can have all three.  You sit in the open surrounded by hollyhocks, with the mountains in the background on all sides and flaming sky as far as the eye can see while extremely polite waiters bring you Roswell Alien beer and the best Mexican food you've ever tasted...

After you eat, you can walk across the street and look at the art galleries- Miguel Martinez' big-eyed beauties stare back at you through the gallery window.  Malcolm Furlow's psychedelic coyote looks like it could jump through the window, although it doesn't look especially dangerous.  It would probably ask you where the Grateful Dead tapes were.  During the day, you can walk through the galleries and see the originals of the paintings that you normally only see reproduced in magazines.

Santa Fe is worse, or better, in that the food is at least as good, the art is more international, and everything is nose-bleed expensive.

Wimberley doesn't have that.  Not at all.  We've got tired quacamole, limp tostadas, hot sauce that isn't, and a steak house with an attitude- and it's a surly one.  All the pretensions and condescension of a 4-star restaurant without the quality.  The art galleries are all bluebonnets and cutesy cabins in the field. 

Luckily, I've got a Portable Empire.  It doesn't require mountains or majestic vistas.  I can run it from home as well as from the road.

Just turn on your laptop interface to the "real" world.  That's the value- the real value- of the 'net.  It's a port-key- just touch it, and you're magically transported to somewhere else.  When they figure out how to deliver chile rellenos through the thing...

We're ramping up for the release of Your Portable Empire- How To Make Money Anywhere Doing What You Love.  Six weeks from now I'm going to be a best-selling author.  Pretty exciting stuff.

By special request, I'm offering a very intense and personal mentoring program, which includes phone consultations, email (pretty much unlimited) consultations, a private 3-day seminar and is limited to just ten people.  It's kinda expensive.  It's selling out quick! 

Actually, I thought it was already sold out, but during the interview process a few of the applicants washed out. 

If you're ready to get serious about your Internet Marketing business, click HERE.

Another bright spot- over at the Your Portable Empire University, I was gathering up testimonials for the new sales page- and it's a thing of beauty- click HERE- and I had a few "proud daddy" moments.

Check this out!

I've been telling you for months that the Your Portable Empire University was the best Internet Marketing site on the planet, but of course, ME telling you isn't really gonna be real persuasive.  You know I won't lie to you, but you also know that I have a financial interest in the site, so I'm not real objective.

However, when the people who are there tell you, you should definitely listen.  If you're not attending the "U" regularly, then you're missing out on some pretty amazing stuff.

Like this:

Okay, so now you've found an interesting problem, and chosen a delivery platform- how do you actually make the product?

My favorite way is to let somebody else make it for me.  I'm not talking about out-sourcing, although that's certainly a solution.  I'm talking about getting someone else to solve the problem, either by interviewing them in person, on the phone, through e-mail, or some other form of communication.

The delivery platform you choose will dictate how you get the information.

For example, lately I've been having a lot of fun with video.  It's a fast, easy way to create products that have a high perceived value.  For the "Secrets of Productivity" DVD that I recently did with Dr. Joe Vitale, creating the product took about two hours, counting driving from my house to Joe's, setting up the camera, and then breaking down the gear and driving home.

It took about three hours to edit.  So, for a total investment of five hours of my time and a couple of bucks for the video tape I had my master DVD, which I took by Daniel's shop.  Bonnie Boots did the graphics.  We've sold out.  When you divide my share of the money by the hours it took me to make it, I'm one of the highest paid videographers on the planet. 

See, I told you it was easy.

You can make astounding video with an inexpensive camera and cheap software.  My first videos were done with a little Sony camera ($300) and Adobe Premier Pro editing software ($75).  These days, I use a 3-chip Canon XL1S camera, Final Cut Pro software, and edit on a huge Mac Pro tower with a stunning wide-angle screen. 

That's overkill.  I just like gear the way some guys like cars.  Later, after you've successfully marketed a few videos, go by the Apple store and let the kids show you what I'm talking about.  If you're like me, the gear-lust will overtake you and you'll find yourself putting skid marks on your credit card. 

But, do NOT let the lack of gear stop you from making videos.  For the kind of videos we're talking about, the information is the focus.  You don't need George Lucas quality effects.  Just do it.

Audio works the same way.  I've got a high-dollar audio program on my computer- the same one I use to make my CDs.  Mark Joyner and several other marketers have discovered Audacity, at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/.  It's almost as good, and it's FREE!  Go get it.

Once you've got the software on your computer, a couple of microphones (I use MXL large-diaphragm condensors- about $50 apiece.) and some kind of innie-outie box (I use a Tascam US 122), and you're set.  I buy my music gear at www.musiciansfriend.com or at Guitar Center.  If you've got a Guitar Center nearby, you'll probably enjoy the shopping experience.  Since they're both owned by the same corporation, the prices are the same whether you buy online or go to the store in person.

Once you've got the gear working for you, go find an expert.  I'm lucky- I've got several major internet marketers within an hour's drive of my house.  I'm rich in experts.  You may need to add a phone adapter to your recording rig and call experts on the phone. 

Don't forget that you're an expert, too.  You don't have to know EVERYTHING about a subject to be an expert on that subject.  You just have to solve the specific problem your customer has.  A little reading.  A few internet searches.  However, if you can snag an acknowledged expert, you might sell more product.

The delivery method most people use is e-books.  They're easy to make and free to deliver. 

There are lots of fun ways to get an e-book produced without cutting into your cocktail hour.

When Dr. Vitale and I did "The Myth of Passive Income," (www.mythofpassiveincome.com) we just asked a bunch of experts to write a short chapter on their typical day, and how it related to making or receiving passive income.  We got 23 responses.  Joe wrote a chapter.  I wrote a chapter, and then I put all the chapters together.  That was the project where I learned how to make PDFs. 

We sold a lot of those e-books.

You can also interview an expert, and transcribe the interview into an e-book.  In my book, Your Portable Empire- How To Make Money Anywhere Doing What You Love, three of the chapters are nothing but interviews with experts. 

Mark Joyner had a cool idea on tonight's teleseminar- you could do an e-book on the biggest mistakes you've made.  Or the biggest mistakes other people have made.  You could save somebody a pile of money by helping them NOT make those mistakes.

Perhaps the easiest way of all is to find a book in the public domain, scan it into Microsoft Word (or OpenOffice), turn it into a PDF, and sell it.  Public domain is a little tricky, because the laws changed a lot through the years.  Tony Laidig has writen an excellent book, called The Public Domain Code.  If you're going to play in the public domain, get it.

Let your mind play with this- there are literally hundreds of ways to come up with products if you'll just let others do the work.

You may be asking yourself:  "Why would these experts give me the time of day, much less write a chapter or a book for me?

Here's the trick.  Invite them to put links in their chapter to drive the readers to their products.  Also encourage them to sell the e-book to their list.  It's a pretty attractive offer.  They write a short chapter for a book that's going to be bundled with chapters from other marketers.  All the authors sell the book to their lists, which drives readers from ALL the lists to each author's sales pages.  Everybody wins, everybody's list gets bigger, everybody makes money- and you sit back and rake in half the cash for doing not much.

Now, go make something!

Had I thought about it, I might have chosen Roswell as a destination.

I've been wrestling with my inner game, lately. 

Well, here I am in Roswell, surrounded by thousands of imported woo-woo types, who really, really belive that exactly sixty years ago an alien spacecraft fell to earth right here. 

The government came up with obvious cover-ups about the whole thing.  Weather balloons, etc.

I find the whole thing fascinating.  I'm delighted with the pageantry.  There is an alien hunt this weekend.  There are learned and scholarly discourses about where the aliens come from, what they have to do with crystals and the cross, and, for all I know, what kind of underwear they endorse.

Works for me.

I get up in the morning, grab some coffee in the lobby, and power up the laptop.

I check the news (boy, are we living in interesting times!), check the orders, check the email...

There's a lot going on.

The Niches 101 video project I did with Eric Farewell and Craig Perrine is threatening to actually get finished.  Joe is going to speak at the National Speakers Association shindig.  Several friends checked in.  Cool.

I look around the lobby- checking it for aliens, or the sort of people who believe in aliens.  They all look relatively sane to me...

In a few minutes, Betsy (who has spent the morning losing and finding her cell-phone adapter) and I will grab the Nikon and the big video cam and head for town. 

If I find any aliens, I'll try to get an interview.

At the very least, a town that has made an industry out of a rumor is interesting.  After you factor out the restaurants, hotels and clubs, almost all the other businesses have something to do with the alien industry- and the restaurants, hotels and clubs rely on it, too.

I'd love to see the business plan.

At some point, we'll find some Mexican food.

Once you get as far west as Fort Stockton, which is where we spent the night on day 1, you run into a whole different world of Mexican food.

The first time a waitress asked me, "red or green?" I had no idea what she was talking about.

Back in central Texas, the question is "corn or flour?"

The "red or green" question refers to the sauces that cover the enchiladas which are flat.

The "corn or flour" question concerns tortillas, which aren't part of the deal here, and are also flat.

Flying saucers, apparently, are flat, too.

Here in Roswell, they're everywhere.  The McDonalds has one that appears to have crashed through its playground.  The signs on the businesses all have flying saucers.  The chandeliers in the local hamburger emporium are made from little ones.  Maybe the big ones mated?  Alien hunters surprised a herd of flying saucers and trapped the young ones and made lighting from them?  I'm sure I'll find someone here who believes that.

I'll report back here with my findings.  The video will have to wait 'till we get back to Texas, and back to the video editing gear.

After we've fully explored Roswell, and the aliens, we're heading for Santa Fe.

In addition to my music career, but before I learned about Portable Empires, I had some minor success as an artist.  Do a web search- you'll find my paintings all over the place. 

They're also in some galleries, and a lot of private collections.

I'm feeling an urge to re-explore that part of my creativity.  Why not?  With a Portable Empire, you only need about an hour a day to keep things rockin'.  I've got plenty of time to paint.  I just haven't had any inspiration to paint.

Last week, Betsy and I wandered into a restaurant in Austin and I saw some paintings that really triggered an urge to sling paint around.

The Zen Archer strings his bow and shoots- we just found out that Santa Fe is having an absolute orgy of one-a-year art shows in the next couple of weeks.  Planning is a waste of time.  By letting go, we're finding exactly what we need.  Cool!  And the Portable Empire makes it a breeze- by spending an hour in the hotel, or at the coffee shop, I can keep the business growing.

The real challenge for an artist- really for anybody who is running a business- which is what an artist is doing, whether they know it or not, is publicity.

This guy to your left is Alan Abel, and he is the master of Fearless Publicity.

Stay tuned.

I'm gonna share what I learned from Alan (and Joe) and suggest a way that you can master Fearless Publicity- very soon.

And now, off to track the aliens.