I was having a talk today with a very entrepreneurial friend, and we got to discussing the whole "Info-preneuring" thing. That's when you sell your expertise about something. You could say my book, Captain Kirk's Guide To Women is like that.
However, we were talking about a person who teaches this from an online aspect, and well.... she is NOT an expert. I've learned that if you make $5 doing something, you'll make $25 teaching other people to make that 5. So, it reminded me of something I wrote a while that can be found here:
http://www.elevenfreakinthousand.com/fullofshit.asp
Here it is:
"Internet Marketers" are:
FULL OF SH*T!
Bones Rodriguez Tells the TRUTH and challenges the rest of them to do the same- and you Get the WHOLE STORY!
Date: Monday March 17, 2008
From: Bones Rodriguez- Actor, Author, Entrepreneur
Let me explain what I mean:
At first, the sheep newbie buys a whole lot of information from guru internet marketers whom they admire because everyone realizes that working 40 hours a week for 40 years is a recipe for misery and poverty.
After spending a lifetime of money on everyone’s ideas, the sheep learns some concepts and techniques, and gets up the guts to put them to work. They MIGHT have their own business, but quickly discover that:
it’s FAR easier to sell to the “internet marketing” crowd than any other.
As the crowd gets bigger and bigger, only a small percentage throw their hat into the “guru” ring- the pie grows faster than the new gurus can proclaim themselves.
So, they start becoming “affiliates” using the same information. Maybe they even write their own.
There’s nothing wrong with any of this.
Yet.
After a while of learning to “build a list”, they start promoting their own products to the list. After they have made a few sales, they realize that they actually CAN create an income, and even learn to recommend other people’s stuff.
This is where the slope gets slippery, and the sheep changes into a wolf.
Having run out of their own information, and having run out of sales, the wolf looks to the “other guys” to either be affiliates for them, or knock-off someone else’s information, repackage it, and sell that too.
Suddenly, they’re part of the “in” crowd, where they buddy-up with other wolves, and wear each other’s sheep costumes; “promoting” each other, but really just shearing the same people over and over.
And the wolf who gives the biggest kick-back wins.
I can’t help but twinge a little every time I notice someone does a “big roll-out” of some product that’s basically a knock-off of someone else’s, and the wolves all promote it to each other’s sheep.
They have a big celebration, and pat each other on the back:
“So-and-so made $100,000 in one day! You can do it too!”-
They’re not lying; the guy DID make that- and they’re happy because they all know that next week, it’ll be their turn.
When everyone is selling the same thing, no one is selling anything.
I was headed down this path; I was writing new stuff, and finding new people, and started to get to know a few of the gurus.
They’re stressed out, constantly needing to make new products, and FEED on each other’s lists like junkies.
Again, they didn’t MEAN to do it; it just came with the territory. And now they’re trapped, because stopping would mean going back to misery and poverty.
If a sheep wanted help, their usual answer was another product that addressed their particular problem. If they didn’t learn it, it’s their responsibility.
Whereas it MIGHT help the sheep, it DEFINITELY helped the seller.
I’m not saying that it’s on purpose, and I’m not saying everyone does this; actually, most of the information given out is great. However, if we’re all saying the same thing, and all promoting each other, all while shearing the newbie sheep, there’s something wrong, isn’t there?
I say “we” because I was headed in that direction, but I had to stop. I wish I could sit here and say that the moral implications are what stopped me, but they weren’t-
I just wasn’t good at it.
Sure, I could have learned, and I could have “buddied-up” better, but I just didn’t. Somewhere I knew it was all wrong, and I felt like a fraud.
Fortunately, I found something that pays me based on how well I help OTHER people.
If I shear them, I get almost nothing.
But if I HELP THEM, then I get paid wonderfully.
So, I’m inviting YOU to help me actually HELP people, and get paid based on it.
To get paid on actually HELPING PEOPLE create an income, and HELPING them learn the new mindsets, new attitudes and new successes that the new world needs.
The whole “promoting each others’ stuff” is getting ridiculous, and leaning towards the immoral.
You HAVE TO know what I‘ve been describing.
Yeah, you do.
Again, I’m not saying that it’s on purpose or insidious, but I AM saying that someone has to stop it-
I’m asking if you’ll help me rescue the sheep, find them a home, and STILL be paid residually and magnificently.
If that sounds like a challenge you’d like to take on, email me.
Let Your Light So Shine Before Men,
www.BonesRodriguez.com
