If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

No, this isn’t a joke. Far from it, this is my breakfast! Here it is, in all its glory. Cofee Press made fresh Peet’s Major Dickason’s blend, and an Organic Vegetable Fritatta (3 eggs) … Yum!

Association and Tribal Marketing
brought to you by The Marketing Crazy Association of America

Here I sit at Yanik Silver’s Underground online seminar, hearing about “Association Marketing”. Interesting, but not too on point to what I actually do. Of course, many of my niches have associations already, and most are very poorly run, so there’s no doubt there is some opportunity there. However, I also know, I’m not that motivated to do it.

No passion, not doing it!

After the “make money” motivation is removed, you’ll be amazed at the things you won’t do, simply because you’re not interested enough…

No doubt, the difference between having “members” rather than “customers” is likely huge, however, after reviewing what is necessary in creating a real (not a fake) association, I’m likely not the right person (or perhaps I am the right person, at the wrong time).

Interesting stuff, as the second day of the Underground Online seminar starts. I’ve already met people from across the spectrum of just starting out, to multi-million dollar businesses. I enjoyed the opening speech given by Godaddy CEO, Bob Parsons, whom shares many heartfelt lessons and stories from going broke to find scary amounts of success (and creating some darn funny superbowl commercials).

(pass, 10 hours of classes, dinner, and dancing)

Now it’s 8am, Saturday morning, and I’m hearing about direct marketing. I wasn’t so sure that anything could hold my attention at 8am, however this person is actaully quite amusing. Drayton Bird is his name, and I just purchased two of his books. Not that I read that much (not nearly as much as I should), but I just got the new Kindle, and I’m dying to give it a spin!

Now, Tony Hsieh of Zappos.com (no longer just the best shoe store online, but rapidly becoming the best STORE period), is sharing his ten core values of the company. Such a “Deliver WOW through service”, and “Create fun and a little wierdness”, and “be humble”, there is little doubt, this is the company to model, and a company that’s leading the pack in dynamic corporate culture (not to mention… profits).

He makes the point that it’s not necessarily important what you’re companies core values are. It’s more important that you simply have them, and commit to them. That you are willing to hire and fire over there.That they are something you are committed to growing and adhering to… Of course, if you are just starting a company, you may not know it’s core values. Where do you start?

You start with your own personal core values of course, and that’s not so simple a thing to do. It takes a lot of personal introspection to figure out what your personal values are. What’s your guiding light?

This is quickly followd up by the seven steps to build a billion dollar company. Ha. Yes, a billion! Loved these seven steps, and no, I’m not going to write them out for you … the actual philosophy behind them, is more important than the list themselves. Finally, he transitions too…

Happiness.

Yes, Happiness!

Not the Tony Robbins version, he points out, but actual true Happiness - how we, as people, can be happy. What drives us, and how we can attain it…

Very interesting way to end - I loved it. Ate it up! As you’re all aware, my businesses, and the way I run them, are very much centered around several core principles, two of which are…

1) Making the world a better place in some way…
2) Happiness through work, play, and freedom…

Gotta love that! More soon (or not). Keep it Crazy…

ps - Go buy something from Zappos right now! I mean it, right now… See what its like.

Ok, so I’m off to Washington DC, for the super top secret Underground Online Seminar. The Underground Online Seminar is one of the ONLY seminars I still attend on Internet Marketing. It is NOT recommended for newbies, and thus, I don’t tend to promote it very much, but it is a great seminar.

It’s the one event, each year, that I don’t miss!  Run by Yanik Silver, it’s packed with absolute mover’s and shakers - most of them million to mullti-million dollar businesses (i.e. small businesses), and a few billion (yes, billion) dollar guys out there too.  It’s a crazy committed, energized, focused and absurdly high level group of people.  I love it - it brings the best out of me.

Those who’ve been following the blog know that I ran into Tony Hsieh of Zappos (the billion dollar online shoe store) last year, and this year - well, I’ll be shmoozing with the best. Unlike other conferences, where I sit outside and drink coffee (yeh, ahem, sure.. it’s coffee…), this one, I will likely be inside the conference room taking copious notes.  I always learn a ton here - but it’s usually very high level stuff, thus most useful for people already making serious money online.

This is my chance to regroup.  It’s my chance to learn from, and ideally, be inspired by, other like-minded people. I only hope it can re-invigorate me. Why do I need to be invigorated? Again? Because, when you build Basement Empires (i.e. automated online businesses), you tend to make a lot of money, you tend to invest a lot of time and energy, and you tend to start valuing your free time less and less, as you have more and more of it.  You no longer, necessarily, have to work for that next paycheck. You wake up every day, with a fresh slate.

No where to be - nothing you have to do. How you craft your days and nights are entirely of your own design.  Not many people have that kind of freedom - yet all full time Basement Empire owner’s will likely experience it.

The paycheck is coming, whether I sit on the beaches of Bondi, or play in nightclubs of Rappongi Japan. In fact, It’s hard to even turn off the dollars short of simply, taking down your websites.

I don’t mean to say I don’t value my free time! That came out wrong. I meant to say that, since my free time is limitless (beyond me getting older - which I am acutely aware of), I tend to work less, and play more. I play much, much more. As you can tell, I travel, a lot! I need to be re-engaged so my energy can be focussed back towards work.

Boy do I need this! If there is one thing I lack at the moment, it’s focus!

Being around these people, many of them, as, or more, successful than myself, there’s no doubt I’ll feel that common feeling of slacking - as I see and hear the amazing tales of their accomplishments.  I’ll yearn for that same type of rush.

And at the end of the day, what does that? You need to be engaged by your work. Beyond the money it can make you, beyond the freedom it can bestow upon you, you need to love what you do. You need to be inspired by what you can accomplish, and what you can bring to the world.  That’s what will bring me back to work, day in, and day out.

The fun of teaching, and the goal of helping others get online, and create a great community - that’s my future inspiration. I know I love it - I know I love to do it.  I know that people’s success will be that which fuels me forward.  See it come together, be part of it - http://www.BasementEmpires.com

Don’t forget to sign up for the email list below, and I’ll update the blog from the event! Maybe (just maybe) a picture or two…

Here I sit, at my favorite hotel (one of them at least), the Moana Surfrider, in Waikiki. They have large, wooden rocking chairs, where I can relax, have a cup of coffee, and write a great blog post (ok, so maybe it won’t be great, perhaps just good … It’s early). Internet Marketing Time!

Hold on, forget that, Just saw the most amazing sunrise! Absolutely fantastic. Last night, I was out late, dancing the night away at a local club. I’m always amazed at the insane ratio of men to women on some of the islands. Coming from San Francisco, where I’ve heard the ratio for the entire area might be 1.5 men to each woman, it’s rereshing to go to areas where the tables are turned.

Anyway, I’ve been traveling now for another month. Just returned from a Mexican Riviera salsa cruise, and headed straight to Hawaii (to recover from the excessive eating…).  From here? It’s back to San Francisco, for a little real work.

And yes, I do real work.  I think it’s so easy to concentrate on the dollars we make, versus the work we put in, but it’s naive to believe that people at my level (or really any level of success) are not working at all. Especially internet marketers. They love to sell the dream! They love to speak of their millions, and not of the hard work used to create it.

Yes, I have worked hard. I really loved what I did, but I worked very hard at it. I now reap the rewards, and have for many years, but it’s only because I put in the real time early on.  Are there shortcuts? Oh yes. Yes there are. But to long term wealth - and not flash in the pan “good months” - you have to lay a foundation. I laid that foundation, and now … well, now, I indeed work less than any other internet marketer I can think of.

Then again, I’m not a guru (self styled). My aim is to teach people, yes, but not to be in the spotlight (unless required). I’ve never been much of a spotlight person (although… I do shine regularly). :)  I’m going to teach people how to build an online business, and how to profit from it in the long term.  I’ll teach the shortcuts, yes, but I’ll mainly teach the foundation.

We’ll save the self-created recession speeches for another day. Rest assured, the bankers and wall street exces have squandered your taxpayer money, and those that didn’t, are merely hoarding it to weather the storm that is brewing. There is no one using the supposed “bailout” money to help anyone else. It’s the biggest scam, money grab, I’ve ever seen (and perhaps, will likely ever see). Go Paulson - the guy is a genius, and sold the package to Congress much like the Iraq war.

There is so much we can learn from this, it’s astounding. However, for now, I’ll just rant. The articles about how we can use all this to our benefit will appear on Basement Empires.

I know, a bit negative for a guy sitting in a rocking chair on a beach in Hawaii, but you probably already knew all that. The point is … help is not necessarily coming. It’s up to you to take action! I always preach action, but now, I really believe it’s necessary. Weathering this storm will not be easy for those simply starting out, but acting on (our) good advice, there are real businesses to be created out there, and hopefully, you’ll be starting one.

In the past, I’ve preached this lifestyle of running an automated internet business from one’s passions to everyone. Lately, I’ve had a change of heart. I’ve come up with three pre-requisites. Each of which is suitably vague, but required at some level -

1) You must be an entrepeneur at heart.

I struggled with this one, but in the final account, you must want to run your own business.  You may never have pictured yourself as a business owner, but that’s exactly what Basement Empires are all about. Taking your passions, and turning them into an automated business empire.

2) You must like your computer…

You’ll be spending a lot of time with it. If you are a complete newbie. Hate technology. Don’t want to sit in front of your computer, at all - this isn’t for you. I came across this issue with some coaching students, and now, I see that I need to state that this is part of the lifestlyle. You must like computers, and at least be interested in becoming very literate about them.

Some internet business models don’t require this at all. I’m leaning towards Basement Empires having this as a pre-requisite.

3) You must be an action taker…

The “winners”, time and time again, are self motivated “do-ers”. You give them one task, they come back with five, and two dozen questions. They want it, and will work tirelessly to achieve it (whatever “it” is).  We make the process of taking action easy - by laying out a game plan, and a set of detailed steps.

However, in the final account, if you don’t actullay act on them, nothing will get accomplished.

Now, the good news? It takes only a minimum amount of action to put you head and shoulders above the multitudes. Most people will not take any action at all. They’ll visit a website like http://www.BasementEmpires.com, and they’ll move on.  Perhaps shockingly, only 1 in 10 will even join! Crazy eh?

This is true across the board. To be in the top ten percent of businesses in your niche, likely, is very easy. To be in the top one percent is harder, but likely far simpler than say … holding a day job. To be in the top of that one percent - well, that’s really tough. Really, really, tough. Because no one gets to that level without being a daily action taker … and those guys, they’re hard to beat!

So, what am I? I am a daily action taker (of course). I do one thing, everyday. I do, literally, one thing to move my business forward, every day. Most days, it’s only one thing that gets done.  On rare days, it’s more (no, email is not what I’m talking about - but actual real work). My entire process of taking action boils down to doing at least one thing, every day, to move the business forward.

This puts me in the top one percent.

Can you do one thing?

Signing off from the beaches of Hawaii, with a rambling rant of a blog post! Anything I didn’t cover in there? Global warming perhaps?

Keep it Crazy!

MC