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No one does it like Yanik. The Underground Online Seminar is underway … Yes, I’m incredibly bummed not to be at SXSW, but no doubt, I’ve made a great choice.

From the opening theme that plays, to the sold out crowd, this event is the only event I go to that really has delivered the goods for several years in a row. It’s the only event that I continue to go to, even though I will be trying to attend several others this year (broaden my horizons, as it were). The speakers here, mostly not of the “not-professional speaker variety”, are really excellent .  While it’s very rare that I might learn something I didn’t already know, it’s always mind expanding, and they force me to think! The first speaker is all about  … subconscious training!

Sounds crazy I know, but in truth, your mind, and your outlook, directly determine your success, far more than any other single factor. You simply won’t succeed if you don’t have the right mindset, nor will you break through earnings and growth plateaus without addressing the need for changing the way you think about things.

But for me, it’s more about inspiration, honestly. I simply want to get inspired, feel the passion, and be ready to work when I get home.  I had to sign a non disclosure to get in here, so I can’t really pass on any tidbit of knowledge I might uncover.

My word of the day. Simplification! I need to simplify my life … from uncluttering my inbox, and unsubscribing to many newsletters, to focussing on fewer projects, and doing “less”. Yesterday, Neil Patel spoke about being cheap (in an hysterically funny and self deprecating way), and I am so much the opposite. I’m a spender on the not-so-important things, and I need to get it under control.  I’ll perhaps ponder that at the Mandarin Oriental in Vegas next month…

Ha - ok, after that perhaps, I’ll really try to reign it in. I don’t think I’ll ever become “cheap”. I lack that gene. I give away everything I have to friends and family. I can’t help it. It’s part of me. I pay for dinners. Can’t help it. My dad infused me with that. I buy friends and families presents. Can’t help it, family taught me to. I overdo everything. I give away absurd amounts to charity. Perhaps enough is enough?  It certainly bears further personal investigation.

Yes, I bought an IPad. I feel the need to make this my very next paragraph after talking about simplification. I own a lot of digital gadgets. I have a thinkpad, an apple, two PCs, a blackberry, droid and iphone, kindle, flip, kodak zi8, etc … I tend to buy all the latest gadgets. I don’t see that changing anytime soon. I really like these “toys”, but there’s no doubt they complicate my life. My tech gadget lust won’t change, but I do see these five things changing in my search for simplification:

1) Less Email, Less Gmail Checking. Specifically, not check my email first thing in the morning until after exercise and breakfast. A tough thing for a basement empire owner, such as myself, to accomplish.

2) One big Task prior to Email checking. Yes, I have to accomplish just ONE single thing, prior to checking my email. That “thing” should be long term money making. Specifically, additional money. A new JV, a new distributor, something “new”.

3) More face to face, less emails, texts, and anything that doesn’t end with a handshake. I know, it’s the antithesis of the way I’ve done business for years, and I’ve done quite well without it, but this is more of a social goal to future happiness. I want to meet like-minded people, in a world where everyone is becoming more isolated (myself included).  We’ll see if this works …

4) Yes, Content. Get back to what I love, creating content. Yes, Marketing is important, but I want to create some new, amazing, stuff. What stuff? Well, that’s coming …

5) To Do List the night before. Keep an ongoing to do list, that syncs to my mobile devices and that I can sort by specific categories.  In addition, it syncs to my Google Calendar.

My vision phrase - I’m happy, positive, healthy, fulfilled, and I change people’s lives for the better all over the world. Yeh, I know, needs a little work. Perhaps a bit too wordy …

And, last but not least, Gary Vaynerchuck (sp?) is absolutely amazing, and a great speaker. I have never seen his show, but I now know why it’s so successful. He’s really absolutely amazing. What an experience - last year, Tony Hsieh, and this year, Gary Vaynerchuck. Polar opposites in many ways (demeanor), but also similar in many key ways, these keynotes were truly spectacular.

Whew, I made it! And it’s simply no fun to take a red eye flight from SFO, let me tell you. But, like most time’s I leave for a convention, there was an immediate surge of productivity (even on the plane ride here).

First off, new versions of tweetdeck, hootsuite, and socialoomph are installed on my laptop(s), and my iphone, and blackberry where possible. I’m not big into social media (as I’ve told you previously, it’s a case of ROI), but I really threw myself into it for this week, to see what results may happen (if any). The Underground online seminar twitter feed hastag is #UG6, and my username is … MarketingCrazy.

This is the pre-day, but my head is already swimming with ideas. I wasn’t too psyched about this year’s pre-day, since it’s geared towards younger entrepreneurs, and I’m very, very, old (ok, so not THAT old. So far, I’m enjoying it far more than I thought I would, and even though there’s NOT a lot of meat (if any) in the presentations, there’s a ton of inspiration and stories that are truly motivating. It’s a pre-day … I came for the random piece of info, and so far, I’m very happy I did.

This hotel is great! It’s in a part of DC I have never been to, and I love the location and the rooms, and all the free perks (including pay once coffee - free refills all day!).  Expect me to be very wired …

My conference travel pack now consists of a: Macbook Pro 13′, a Thinkpad Edge (Red/AMD), my iphone, my crackberry, my flip camera and that’s it (isn’t that enough?). Shortly, I’ll be adding the Ipad to my road warrior arsenal as well as the latest Thinkpad X301 series when released.

Things are happening … If you’re here, direct message me at #MarketingCrazy on Twitter, or email to MarketingCrazy@gmail.com …

Ok, I’m interrupting my vacation in Hawaii to bring you this message, since it’s about to go live, and this link gives you early access. As you know, I rarely, rarely, promote anything … this is one of those things. Go ahead, check it out now, see if it’s for you:

http://bit.ly/videobosses

This is a great course, by someone I trust to be real, and honest, and basically, really teach you what you need to know. This can truly skyrocket your successes.

It’s a step by step blueprint course, for everyone to use web video, make money from it, understand it, and know how to profit from it.

And it’s made for the common man! NOT the internet guru. Read on for the email copy I sent out earlier today. Here it is:

It made me sad to see Andy Jenkins’s last “Video Boss” video today.

There it is: http://bit.ly/videobosses

In case you missed it last week, Andy’s released 3 f.ree videos so far - revealing the exact tools and tactics people have needed all along to SEE the profit potential with online video for themselves.

Tens of thousands of people have watched Andy’s tutorials and learned how to make videos that SELL.

And those tutorials are PLENTY if all you want is to “play” with online video. But if you’re like me, it’s not enough to “play”… I see too much potential.

If you want to stop playing and become a Video BOSS, Andy has a LOT more to share with you in today’s video.

Watch the FINAL public “Video Boss” release here.

http://bit.ly/videobosses

And listen, this is a special EARLY notice from me to you (Andy told me it’s okay). You’re seeing this BEFORE the public.

For you, it could be just a start.

For EVERYONE ELSE, this really IS the END of Video B oss.

Don’t miss it,
MarketingCrazy!
http://bit.ly/videobosses

This is so important. Video Marketing is the wave of today, and the wave of the future, and frankly, one of my old mentors just blew the lid of this thing.

All free, unbelievably awesome info:
http://www.VideoBosses.com

All I can say is WOW. So much info for free, and so much more coming. This is the kind of stuff I like to see on the net, and is very cutting edge. The video is cool, relaxed, and straightforward. It’s NOT salesy, and there’s REAL information.

Warning: This is information that ALL business owners need to know - whether they are on the net or not. Everyone NEEDS to know about online video.

I’ll be talking more about this soon!

http://www.VideoBosses.com

Ok, I had to share this! Hot on the heels of my post, Yanik Silver sends out an email blowing the lid off of what’s really going on at many supposed internet marketing conferences. Ok, so maybe not blowing the lid, as almost everyone knows this … but MAYBE you didn’t.

He says it better than me, so I’m going to reprint his email here (and put in my affiliate links to go to the seminar), but I really hope you listen. It’s so disheartening to see so many people go to seminars where the sold goal (aptly executed) is to get you to have an emotional buying response (over-riding your common sense), spend a lot of money at each speaker’s “presentation”, and leave (often) in more dire circumstances than when you came.

Here’s the scoop, direct from my email, to your ears and eyes (care of Yanik Silver’s hand):

Good morning Agent Evan:

I’m about to reveal confidential and privileged information that you probably won’t hear from anyone else (and I know some people definitely won’t like the fact I’m breathing a single word about this).

You see, I’ve been on the inside of a lot of seminars as a guest speaker and know
exactly how the ‘game’ works.

Here’s the deal: The host will invite a bunch of people to speak at their conference with two considerations in mind. #1 - How large their list is to promote the event and #2 - How well they can sell product at the back of the room.

For the most part (with very few exceptions) it’s true and here’s the other dirty secret…

Most speakers are not paid one thin dime to show up at these events. They have to pay their own pay for travel, hotel and meals. So before they even step foot on stage they are hundreds if not thousands in the hole. That means the only way for them to get compensated for showing up is to sell, sell, sell! Usually this translates to the fact they *have* to spend lots of time pitching their products and services. Really hammering the audience getting them to buy. Essentially their presentation is a thinly veiled commercial.

Why am I telling you all of this?

To show you yet another reason the Underground® seminar is different. I’m paying for the speakers to be there. I’m picking up the tab on their airfare, hotel and taking them out to some awesome dinners. They’re not there to sell you their products or services. (In fact, many of them have nothing to sell.)

Plus, I didn’t pick my speakers for their ability to fill the room. Many of them couldn’t
sell one ticket because their lists could give a flying fig about Internet marketing. I chose them strictly for the content they’d deliver to you for their real-world ventures.

—

http://www.UGOSeminar.com

—

Actually I’m so serious about delivering immediately useful content here - that I’m even putting up $10k of my own money. You get to vote for the speaker who gave you the most directly impactful information you can take straight to the bank. The winner is going to be awarded ‘Top Underground Marketer’ and they get a huge plaque. Plus they get a $10,000.00 check that goes to their favorite charity. (THEY sure don’t need the money!)

Now I can tell you one thing for sure - most of these guys and gals are super competitive. That means, they are going to go all out trying to outdo one another vying for “the crown” while you sit back and soak it all in.

Remember this event is not bringing in the same usual ”suspects”. I’ve managed to
uncover a secretive group of real-people making real money online *NOT* selling “how to make money online” info.

These ‘under-the-radar’ successes don’t advertise their accomplishments because they don’t need to nor want to. They are quite content to make their money “in the dark”  (while keeping their mouths shut and their secrets very close to the vest).

Look, it only takes one good idea to make this worth it for you. Don’t you think from a group of people selling $30 million online, all the incredible attendees and VIP guests you might pick up one or two new ideas?

My Internet buddies attending are coming here to learn NOT to socialize in the back-of-the-room like at typical seminars. And you can bet I’ll be taking tons of notes too.

http://www.UGOSeminar.com

February 3, 2010:

This is huge because you’ll save a full $1000.00 before the price increase but more
importantly the biggest bonus of all will vanish if you miss this deadline… When you sign http://www.UGOSeminar.com

Hopefully - I’ll see you there!

And that’s what he wrote me, and like he, I hope I see ya’ there….