How dependent are you on the advice and courses sold by the so called “experts” and “gurus” of Internet marketing?

If you are getting most of your instructions and advice from guys you’ll never meet that are good at writing sales letters and selling $900+ “shiny object” courses then I can quite accurately estimate how much you’ve made online so far…

zero.

How did I estimate that number with such brutal accuracy?

Simple - I read the email I get from readers.

Does that hit a little close to home for you? I know about this issue because I get email every day from people that feel “burned” by the very industry I’m in.

Some of those experts selling big courses are great guys with great ideas, but I have a new theory of success online that is based on having watched thousands struggle while only hundreds or even just dozens seem to succeed. I’ll tell you in a moment what the common factor of success is. It has nothing to do with which course(s) you buy by the way.

Before I reveal my one word success ingredient I have to rant about the industry I’m in…is that ok?

Here are some things that annoy me about this industry. Do you agree with these?

• It’s always the same guys with big email lists endorsing each others big launch products.
• Bragging about how much you sold of a ‘how to sell online’ course DOES NOT qualify you as an expert.  We are smarter than that.
• Why can’t your customers all get together and interact with each other? Anyone can start a discussion forum in 15 minutes. Do it. What are you trying to hide?
• After all the hype for weeks leading up to a launch why do you never bring up that same idea later AFTER the launch? (It’s because you’ve moved on to the next launch right?)
• Simply having a big mailing list DOES NOT make you a marketing genius worthy of my time and attention. The good idea that got you that big list does not make you an expert on all things Internet related. Stop pretending it does.

End of rant.

How is it that some DO actually go on to success in spite of these pitfalls and “shiny objects” that so easily distract?

My answer is one word.

Relationships.

You just don’t see that many lone wolf success stories online.

The people that I know that are making good progress online have a community of like minded people available to them that they can access anytime they need to. They share ideas, successes and failures. They speak openly and get the advice they need from those that have made it. They disagree, argue points, change their mind, and try new things based on what they learn and share with others.

Relationships are IGNORED by most online entrepreneurs, but not by me. For me they are CENTRAL.

My main membership website not only encourages this type of interaction…it DEPENDS on it.

Examples:

Each of my two membership sites has active, open discussion forums. I don’t keep my customers separated from each other.

On MySilentTeam.com we have a few dozen experts contributing to the site. These are top reputation people making money by means other than selling “how to make $” courses. I have a relationship with each one of them and our members are encouraged to do so as well.

We’ve just recruited 20 members of MySilentTeam.com and crowned them “content managers”. These folks are the ones keeping pulse of the content and instructional needs of the site based on their RELATIONSHIPS with other members.

I’m at the top of the org-chart. Not to brag, but my recent independent nomination as ‘the most trusted marketer online’ caps off a leadership team that is unquestionably the best on the web. After all, relationships are built on TRUST right?

It’s impossible to overemphasize how different MySilentTeam.com is as a result.

We FOCUS on (instead of avoiding) building trustworthy relationships online.

The one thing that many of the “experts” DON’T want you to do is hang out with other customers and compare notes about how crappy, complicated, lacking etc. their latest big launch product was. That scares them to death. This means they aren’t going to tell you how to pursue relationships with their other customers.

I on the other hand want that interaction. I recognize that the BEST IDEAS and most creative strategies DON’T COME FROM ME…they come from the synergy of an active online community that grows with or without my involvement. I benefit from the community as much as any participating member does.

Does that make sense?

I hope so.

If you like this free blog and newsletter I promise you will LOVE MySilentTeam.com.

Will you be member number 4,085?

…we are waiting for you!

Final tip: Don’t be a “lone wolf”.  There are also plenty of free forums online that you can use if you aren’t ready to invest in a community like MySilentTeam yet. The bottom line though is I just don’t see a lot of people out there making it on their own online. If you are trying to do that you need to find a community to spur you on.

Jim Cockrum
Proud Founder
MySilentTeam.com
A community of success built on trust

Please leave a comment, question or rant of your own below. We love feedback around here!

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Want to succeed in life or business? Hang out with people that are already doing what you’d like to be doing. Get into a conversation with them.

I just recorded an audio for you that is a “conversation” with me. After you listen be sure to take my one question survey and then leave me a comment below with your questions or feedback.

Here’s the audio:

Can’t see the play button above?
Here’s a link to the MP3 audio:
http://www.MySilentTeam.com/SilentJimdotcom-March2010conversationBlog.mp3

Links Mentioned in the audio (and other stuff worth seeing):

• One Question Survey
• Kevin’s Story  :A friend of mine that was nearly killed…and what we are doing about it
• MySilentTeam.com
• OfflineBiz.com
• Traffic Geyser: My Favorite Traffic Generation Tool
• My New Book: Best20Ways.com
• My recent “Home School Biz” Interview With Susan Whitehead Home School? Check this out!
• Proven eBay Course I  (We had a HUGE success rate…& Proven eBay Course II is coming soon)
• Most Trusted Internet Marketer…Me??
• Aweber.com (My favorite email list growth tool)

Have a question or comment about ANY of this? Click the comment button below and let me know about it…

Often when I address an audience I’ll give the following disclaimer:

“CAUTION, what you are about to hear just may make you certifiably UN-EMPLOYABLE. If you are thrilled with your current employment situation and aren’t seeking independence please DO NOT LISTEN TO ME.”

Here’s the problem.

After listening to me for very long…

You won’t be satisfied with a 9-5 job making someone else rich anymore once you realize how easily you can get into your own business online.

You’ll soon see your boss as a hurdle, your co-workers as sheep, and your commute as a complete waste of time away from family and your important life purpose.

Check out the below email I got yesterday from a reader that proves my “CAUTION” is accurate and necessary! This poor guy will NEVER have another job in his life. I’ve ruined him…

…another victim who will never again be employed. I hang my head in shame (not really).

Members of OfflineBiz.com will be getting a copy of the interview I’m going to conduct with Marcus - the author of the following email:

***begin email***

Jim,

I’m not sure how often you get emails to tell you what your words and efforts have done for people, but I wanted to be sure to be one of those who let you know how much you helped me.

My life on the internet began back in 1999, when I would visit yards sales and flea markets and buy old hot wheels and sell them on eBay. I did it for fun and made some money at the same time. I never really expanded that business because I received several promotions in my real-world job and I was working all the time. Then my wife and I started having kids, and the time got away from me. I took some time to dabble with affiliate websites, made a little bit of money there, but mostly found I was just playing with the search engines to understand how they worked. I did this off-and-on for several years.

I was enjoying a successful career in my real-world job until 2007, when that world completely imploded. I found myself out of a very high-paying job. I had been a mortgage banker (no, not the ones that made bad loans) but since all of our banking lines of credit were disappearing, our firm could not survive. I was told I could keep my job if I gave up my salary. With a big mortgage, car payments, a wife and three kids that was not an option.

I soon took up a position with a software company managing their sales and marketing. I began applying some of the things I had learned while dabbling in internet marketing earlier, and while I was only making about one-third of my prior salary, I felt it was an opportunity to grow and get back to where I was. The company began to grow as a result of my efforts and was acquired by another firm. My reward was that I was let go since my position was “no longer needed.”

I vowed that would be the last time that would happen to me. I had been reading your newsletter and saw your OfflineBiz.com site and decided to check it out. I realized after several hours of reading that I could take my knowledge and sell it to other businesses, small businesses and make a living doing it. I felt fortunate that I had some experience, but I wasn’t sure people would see the value. But the ideas I got gave me confidence to offer my services.

On occasion I would come back to the OfflineBiz forum and leave some tips that were working for me. I enjoyed those times, as it was rewarding. My business picked up steam, particularly once I convinced a few web design firms to let me do their internet marketing for their customers. Their business and mine took off as the success stories came rolling in. I built an entire team that processes my projects at my direction, and I have offered every service from wordpress web design to link-building to email marketing to video marketing to Adwords to Facebook Ads. Among my customers I have been known as the “lead generation” guy, as I have been able to succeed where ad agencies failed. By the way, that was my secret, to target the scorched earth of ad agencies and help those customer believe in marketing again.

It has been a year and a half, and I am happy to say that I reached the six-figure mark in revenue in my offline business. I expect to that by August of this year as well. I have been able to increase my prices and still sign more clients.

And I have you to thank for the confidence to go DO IT.

Thank you for a great forum and newsletter. Without it I am not sure where I would have ended up.

Thanks,
Marcus Cudd

Click the comment button below to let us know what you think.

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Can I read your mind for a minute?

Do you LOVE Fridays? Do you live for the relief of a “no work” Saturday? Do you ever refer to Wednesday as “hump day” because you are getting through the half way point of the week?

Do you have favorite days of the week based on your work schedule?

If so I have a warning for you…

If that’s you then I’m willing to bet that you haven’t got the “Internet mindset” yet.

I’ll bet you have significant debt, probably don’t like your “job”, and wish you had more time to do the things you love.

You see, my family and I go to the zoo on Tuesday afternoons while it’s empty - never on a Saturday. We live our schedules shifted away from “traffic jams” and crowds.

Our kids have one-on-one tutoring from the best possible teacher they could ever have - their stay home mom.

We hit the parks, malls and restaurants on OUR schedule. I don’t have a favorite day of the week since I got fired in 2002 and started relying on the web for my income.

There’s a real freedom found in being in control of your own financial future.

I’m not lording this over you - I’m challenging you to make this mindset a reality for you and your family. Sometimes I even have to check my watch late in the day to know what day of the week it is (on the rare occasion that I wear a watch). It’s a great feeling.

Can you relate? Is 2010 the year you start loving lazy Tuesday afternoons instead of living for the weekend?

The cure to a “weekend mindset” is to surround yourself with people that challenge you forward. That’s what MySilentTeam.com is all about.

What are your thoughts? Does this make sense to you or not? Leave your comment by clicking the comment button below.

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If there’s a predictable way to double, triple or even get FIVE TIMES your investment when selling on eBay it’s by using local auctions to source your inventory.

Mr. Adron Wood is living proof.

We’ve just added another bonus to MySilentTeam.com for all members to enjoy!  It’s a brand new course about profiting from local auctions. It sell at his website for $197 (intro price in effect for a few days) and you can grab a copy TODAY (it just launched), or pick it up as a bonus for joining MySilentTeam.com

Finding profitable items to sell on eBay can be as simple as attending local auction in your community. You’ll have to know what you are looking for, and frequent readers of my newsletter and blog probably have a pretty good idea.  What you know so far is child’s play compared to Adron though. He has been making a killing for 10 years by attending occasional local auctions and snapping up the eBay treasure!

Newbie tip: When buying inventory to resell on eBay always check the expected sell price BEFORE you invest. You can do this by checking recent “completed listings” on eBay for a small snap shot of recent listings, or for a longer period of research time try hammertap.com or terapeak.com as research tools.

Get Adron’s course by clicking here and save $100 because it’s just been launched at an intro price, or…to save even more…

Join MySilentTeam.com and get access to all the great courses and bonuses that we are constantly adding. You’ll find experts, support, training, encouragement and the success tools you need to make 2010 the best online business year of your life.

Have a question or comment? Please click the comment button below and tell us your thoughts. Did you ever buy anything cheap locally and sell it for big bucks on eBay? Tell us about it!

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1. Being an “author” will slowly stop being a big deal. Pretty soon EVERYONE will be an author. Ten years ago the idea of having your very own print on demand self published book was outlandish. Ten years from now it will be common place. For now it’s still impressive to tell people “I’m an author”. Take advantage of that. Get your ideas out there NOW. Use YouTube, articles, a blog, an ebook whatever…but be an AUTHOR. Be an expert. It’s NEVER been easier.

2. Real world business will continue to be confounded by the fast paced business style of the Internet. Take advantage of this trend by joining OfflineBiz.com.  Members of that site stay up to date on what works online without having to be a technical nerd to make it all happen.

3. The car you drive, the house you live in, the ‘toys’ you have etc. will mean less and less compared to your “influence” as measured by your online audience. Strange things will happen in the world of business as the “little guy” destroys the big guy. For example, A 13 year old in a small town in nowhere Nebraska will bring companies like Pepsi Co. to its knees because of the loyalty and size of his audience on Youtube. Influence is the new gold standard. Grow your audience and give them reasons to be loyal.

4. Good ideas, great ideas, bad ideas, wrong ideas and all sorts of other ideas will continue to pound and distract the masses. To get things done you need a clear mission and you must follow a clear path with supportive peers along side. That’s what MySilentTeam.com is all about. Find a community and support it. Grow with it. Start your own community. For goodness sakes BE PART OF A GROWING COMMUNITY ONLINE.

5. It’s going to get harder and harder to be a “scammer” online. The honest and worthy will rise even more quickly and the bad guys will fall faster than ever. Honesty will be very self serving to the point that even the dishonest at heart will start to catch on and use these strange new tactics called “honesty and customer service” as a self preservation tool.  Customers are already demanding the twitter feed of CEO’s before they’ll buy a widget…it’s going to get worse (or better depending on your perspective).

6. There will be no such thing as “bad content” online. It will get harder and harder for junk to raise to the top. The good will get better and the bad will disappear.

7. Those reading this article will be followed by HUNDREDS or even THOUSANDS who are eager to learn the secrets of this online business world that they’ve always scoffed at. Suddenly WE are the smart ones that have job security while they are getting laid off from big companies (like Pepsi that was forced into layoffs when it got nearly shut down by a 13 year old a few paragraphs ago).

8. Thousands of new ways to profit from all of the changes will continue to FALL INTO THE LAPS of those paying attention. Change = opportunity. This is going to be a decade of massive rapid changes on and offline. Pay attention and enjoy the ride! All of this “change” is stirring up a lot of business possibilities!

What is your favorite prediction? Any questions? Did I forget something? Leave a comment - click the comment button below to read comments left or to leave your own. The wittiest/most insightful/most honest (in other words my favorite comment) will get a $100 credit towards MySilentTeam.com or OfflineBiz.com or my books…take your pick. I’ll give you 7 days and then chose a winner.

Dozens of  readers voted and we’ve picked a winner! Andrew and Doug (comment #2  and #49 below) received first place with more votes than anyone among our readers. Here’s the top 5 vote getters (comment number and the vote total):

#2 Andrew: (tie 1st/2nd)
# 49 Doug: (tie 1st/2nd)
#16 Susan: (tie 3rd/4th)
#47 Jan: (tie 3rd/4th)
#14 Carolan: 5th place

Andrew and Doug - contact us for your $100 credit towards OfflineBiz.com or MySilentTeam.com.

Susan, Jan and Carolan - contact us for a $25 credit towards either!

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If you think you are getting exposed to TOO MUCH information about online marketing and Internet business ideas try spending a day in my shoes!

Here’s how I manage it:

Can’t see play button? Here’s the MP3 Version

Have a question or comment? How do you deal with information overload? Please click the comment button and let us know.

Below is an email I got literally minutes ago. My response to the email is below that.

What do you have to say to Tim? Leave a comment below and lets support Tim with our encouragement this Christmas season.

Jim,
My wife Linda bought me your book “Silent Sales Machine” in hopes it would help my need to be successful at a online business.

I find myself in  a position of being disabled, but still with a drive of not being disabled. I just cannot accept that this is all there is.

While not having the income yet to do much of anything, I still have the drive, but I really don’t know what to do with it. I am still in the process of reading your book.

I am a slow reader these days, and would love to share with you my thoughts.

Thanks Jim for sounding like you care, and look forward to reading the rest of your book.

Best Regards, Tim

My reply back to Tim:

Tim-

The beauty of Internet business is that success isn’t reliant on gender, sex, education, technical skill, looks, physical abilities, or even intelligence! (Trust me I have proof!)

There is a world of opportunity out there and I hope something you read in my books, blog or sites inspires you on to bigger things than you ever imagined.

Hang in there and make your mind your sharpest tool. It’s all you need in this new world.

God Bless you and Merry Christmas!

What do you have to say to Tim? Leave a comment below…address it to Tim if you would please.

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Here’s a link to my latest stunt on eBay

I’m getting a bit of a reputation for my crazy eBay stunts.

You’ve told me that you like when I put my stuff right out there on eBay for the world to see!

I think it might be why more and more people are starting to believe me when I tell them my ideas are working…

You see, it’s easy for “experts” to sit back and tell you that their latest and greatest amazing product is worth some over hyped arbitrary price isn’t it?

blah blah blah $997
blah blah blah $1497
buy now only blah blah $497

Are you like me?

Don’t you just stop listening after awhile?

The question is what would these amazing $997 and $1497 products sell for on eBay where open bidding determines the price?

I think more “guru’s” should put their reputations on the line like I do and put their “great ideas” up for sale on eBay. Let’s see what the open market really thinks of their stuff!

Let’s see what their customers really think!

I’m happy to report that there is no fear here!

It’s called putting your reputation on the line and having NO IDEA where the chips will fall.

Again, here’s a link to my latest stunt on eBay.  I’m putting it all out there.

If the above link doesn’t work for you just put this number 160386298470 into the search field on eBay.com. You’ll know you’ve found it when you see my cute family pic recently taken in beautiful Guatemala (100+ day family trip paid for entirely by my eBay and Internet biz).

Back to the point though…

This is a simple auction. The winner gets one year of (correction made) LIFETIME access to my two membership sites, OfflineBiz.com and MySilentTeam.com AND a one hour talk with me about YOUR online business.

If you are a member of MySilentTeam.com check out the important “insider” info on this stunt.

Why am I doing this?

Like I said, I am attempting to prove the “street value” of my membership sites. Thousands of members now pay monthly and they are likely to bid as well as several non-members. I’m hoping that this “social proof” will lead to new memberships as people recognize the real value of membership at these two industry leading sites.

There are many good marketing lessons to be learned by following this exciting auction as well! I’m expecting a lot of bidding and views on the auction.

Keep an eye on the auction counter that ticks up with each time a new visitor hits the auction…it’s fun to watch.

When you visit the auction be sure to click the “watch this item” button to see how it unfolds.

As always - leave a comment by clicking below! I love to hear from you good or bad!

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I’ll let you in on a secret.

The world of internet marketing is fraught with scammers and bad guys.

Maybe you already knew that.

Perhaps you’ve already been burned…maybe even badly.

If that’s you I’m so sorry.  I really wish I would have met you before that happened. I’m truly sorry for those rip off artists that got to you.

For those that don’t yet know…

Here’s how the ‘bad guys’ work when it comes to ‘coaching’:

It’s sad, but I estimate that 80% of the ‘online coaching’ being sold looks just like that.

Think about it.

How can you actually ‘coach’ a hundred people that all walk through the door at the same time? The call center and the coaching floor is constantly hiring and firing trying to maximize the bottom line which all comes down to $/lead.

You’d think this would be a big FLOP as a business model, but I can tell you that there are ‘coaching’ companies hounding me CONSTANTLY for my leads promising to put several hundred dollars per lead into my pocket if I’d just sell out.

Wow…I could be RICH if I’d just lower my morals a bit!

I won’t sell out though.

My reputation is too important. On top of that it’s just not the right thing to do.

THE GOOD NEWS:
The Internet is making it hard for scammers to hide.

In a world where it’s becoming nearly IMPOSSIBLE to fake a good reputation it is significant to note that I’ve had literally TENS OF THOUSANDS of customers over the past TEN YEARS and have coached many people as well.

You’ll be hard pressed to find more than a small handful of complaints on the ENTIRE INTERNET.

By ‘handful’ I mean less than five. I guess you can’t please EVERYONE!

Go ahead, scour yahoo, google, aol, MSN, IMreportcard.com and see what you come up with. You are smart. You know how to make informed decisions.

The few complaints you do find are old and long ago resolved.

Do the same thing with any expert before you trust them with your hard earned dollars.

MORE EVIDENCE of my reputation:
http://www.mysilentteam.com/public/470.cfm

Here’s how my coaching department operates: