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Think you can’t do it? Think you can’t make 2k a day with no hands?
YOU ARE RIGHT!
But a good percentage of you might try anyway, right? Why is that? Never-ending hope? That’s rigth! Every day I am hounded by products that promise this (or that), with no work. Not just less work, but NO work.
For the newbies, let me cut to the chase - buy NOTHING, EVER that’s main selling point is that there’s NO work involved. Never, Ever, buy a single thing that starts that way. In fact, buy precious little that ANYONE is ever trying to sell to you on the internet …
Do those words confirm your worst fears? That everyone on the internet is a scam? Here it is, said by an internet millionaire, whom is sure as hell out to sell you something, confirming your worst fears. Pretyy scary eh? Yet, not scary enough, because…
That being said, many of you will purchase anyway, lord knows, I do. I’m a spendaholic. I buy no less than a course or tool a week. I’m a true-bred US Consumer though. I get panic attacks if I’m away from Amazon.com 1 click orders for a day. I fear I may have become addicted to the purchase process of internet marketing junk…
So, now that I have come clean, and protected those internet beginner’s whom might listen to me in their quest for internet freedom and lifestyle, let me share a single golden rule! This, learned from tens of thousands of wasted dollars …
If a product’s main selling point is its lack of work - it’s NOT for you. It’s likely a scam. Simple as that! Why? Well, simply put, if you really want to make money, you DO want to work. We’re smart people - we realize that success does require work. In truth, we simply want to work smart - we’d like to save time, but we know there’s going to be a significant time commitment regardless of what we invest in.
So, where do you start? Where do you start if you really want an internet business? I wish I could give you a solid answer. When I look at the sheer amount of misguided information, to say nothing of the scams, fraud, and outright lies out there, I tremble for those getting started. Honestly - it’s not a path I’d like to tread. I’m happy I got my training in relatively early …
So what brought this rant of a post about? Well, the 10 offers in my box, each terribly similar to the last, each landing page well crafted (very well crafted), and an honest fear that … how can I break through that amount of noise? Honestly, how can anyone not willing to sell out, or honestly trying to stick by their principles EVER break through the sheer amount of hype-noise? It’s a scary marketplace not just for consumers, but also for the real internet marketing teachers, and business builders and consultants …
It’s a scary prospect, and one I will ruminate on as I buy my next course on how to make money without a website or a list …
July 6, 2009
Mass Control 2.0: Review of the Four Day Cash Machine, Results from Mass Control 2.0 4 Day Cash Machine
Drum roll please … I promised you some results (in my previous post), good or bad. Here it is, results from the Mass Control 2.0 4 day cash machine experiment.
So, here they are: Internet Marketing Results 101. I like Frank Kern. Really - this guy is a riot. Funny, smart, and deserving of attention. The full course I can review a bit later, but the 4 day cash machine was presented simply, straightforwardly, and so a baby could do it IF (and only if), he had his basic internet marketing skills down (autoresponders, list, landing pages, sellable product, etc …). Let’s get to the stats, right after some basics about my execution:
1) I completely turned off my brain, and tried to follow instructions to the letter (not one of my strongest skills mind you). So, you’re getting Internet Marketing Results 101, from someone whom has graduated 701 (i.e. 7 figures).
2) I did the exact plan, mirroring the landing page, AND 4 follow up emails, exactly, with no changes. In fact, I even left the word “Dog” in there instead of my chosen market. Whoops! So, my market has nothing to do with dogs, or dog traing, and this of course brough up some pretty funny questions.
3) I did this work myslef. No employees, no outsourcing. It tooks about 7 hours. I did the web stuff, AR’s, buy links, thank you pages, upsells, all by hand (and all by lonesome). I loved it - but felt constrained to follow instructions to the letter. There were many ways I felt I might improve results, but I did not want to do anything to throw off the expriment.
4) I chose a 12k cold list, filled with what was, at one time, targeted optins. The list had not been mailed in over 1 year. Of the 12k list, 10.5 were sent each email, and around 8k active received them.
5) My open rates were around 8-10% or less, using all the chosen headlines. 1ShoppingCart was my mailer - and yes, Aweber might have done better.
6) My product was $137, with two upgrades at $47 each.
and … care to guess? How many sales?
Sales were 20.
Upsells were 7.
Thank you sales were 2 (not talked about here, but results in ongoing income).
So, what do you think? For the newbie, I think it’s extasy, and opens up a new world of possibility. For the expert, it’s a disaster that I am REALLY GLAD I DID!
Ok, so the results stunk (from my perpsective), but the process was something I hadn’t done in years, and I did enjoy it. The feeling that a) I might be missing something, and b) there might be huge sales from this, and c) I didn’t know exactly what would happen was … really quite fun. Will I do it again - No. Will the learning process improve my existing marketing? Yes. I think it will.
Honestly, this covered such basic stuff, and the real money, as I’ve said before, is all in the basics. The fundamentals! It’s not the next big thing, the new software program, the silver bullet, but rather, returning to the fundamentals of Internet Marketing, again and again, that creates real money on the internet. It is through trial and error that almost all internet marketer’s succeed! It’s that, and obsessive testing, tweaking, and tracking. 
But you all know that already, right? If not, perhaps it’s time for you to visit the upcoming Basement Empires? Regardless, this brought me back to earth.
Other stats? Can you believe, only 61 people unsubscribed? Crazy eh? Makes me think FEWER people than reported ever saw the email. That’s just too low an unsubscribe rate!
Even more funny, are some of the emails I am recieving from friends whom are also great marketers, whom are testing out the exact same thing. I can’t name names, but I’ve gotten the exact emails from various people in various niches. It’s hysterical. I have sent them emails to confirm their results as well, so I may be able to post a follow up message.
And, now … the review of the Mass Control 2.0 course? The first course like this I have purchased in a long time (and now I went and purchase Russel Brunson Micro Continuity too, argh…). Perhaps we’ll hit that in a later issue.
So simple! I use to do this all the time, but admittedly, I have integrated most of it, automated most of it … and I haven’t thought about this method in years.
Now, with the arrival of “the box”, I have attacked the first task… the four day cash machine method. I am very familiar with it…
So, I got the Mass Control 2.0 impressive box in (but I’m beyond being impressed by fancy boxes). That being said … I was impressed. It was a nice box! Organized, clean, and easy to understand. I started with the four day cash method, to see what my results would be. Granted, this isn’t an important test for me (I am truly interested in the COURSE and what it teaches), but there’s so much hype around this, I had to see what would happen…
Specifically, what would happen if I followed HIS instructions to the letter. I would not change anything! I would simply follow the instructions perfectly…
I have now put in a total of 5 hours of work. I have made the landing page, setup the list, ARs, thank you ARs, bonuses, etc … I suppose it might take others a little longer, but I had most of my things in place already. I believe the instructions focus a bit too much on the email (getting the click) versus the landing page (getting the sale), but I will implement SOLELY based on what I’ve been given.
I am turning my brain off (for this exercise only)
I have sent out the email to the coldest list I have, of about 11,000 people. I mean, this list is quite cold, and we rarely contact it beyond the follow up system we initially integrated into it. I have setup the method, exactly as told, and now … people are arriving at the landing page.
What’s going to happen? Stay tuned … this is just day 1. We’ll update the results tomorrow!
What else? I just purchased the MicroContinuity program (Russell Brunson) … Love the sales procces.
June 14, 2009
Mass Control 2.0, Frank Kern’s Internet Marketing Product - Oh my God I am Such a Sucker … Or Am I?
No, I can’t review it just yet, and yes, I will review it soon, and no, I am not going to post an affiliate link for it, nor sell it, until I see it, use it, touch it, and put it through it’s 30 day test period. Even then, It would be a miracle if I ever sold this, or marketed it. For, lo’ and behold, in a moment of stupidity, and dreams of grandeur, I have purchased Mass Control.
For those unfamiliar, this is yet another huge guru marketed product, with an absurd price tag, outlandish testimonials, and promises of internet riches. It begs the question though …
IS IT TRUE? DOES IT DELIVER?
One would think I’ve stopped asking this question! I certainly preach others to (stop buying, start doing), but … everyone wants to keep learning, right? I do! I want to believe I can keep getting better at what I do. And yes, I like to read some of these sales letter, and still get excited.
If you want a mass control review, and was thinking of purchasing this massive two thousand dollar product, then I’m about to make your decision about Mass Control either a whole lot easier, or a whole lot harder. Either way, don’t believe the hype - if it’s sold out now, it will likely be on the market again shortly. Perhaps it will be called Mass Control 3.0? Wow - that does have a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?
Anyway, I ordered it, and I plan on devoting actually two days to it. Now, many of you already know, I make thousands of dollars a day on the internet, and for me to devote two days to anything (beyond travel or a gorgeous, intelligent, entrepreneurial brunette), is a massive opportunity cost. I plan on actually devoting two days to plan the four day launch that Frank talks about. He claims you can recoup the cost of the course and more (in just four days). Or at least that’s what I think he claimed.
Of course, for it to be worth it, I not only have to recoup the cost of the course, but recoup the days of opportunity cost. And guess what?
Other people might simply return it if it didn’t work, but my opportunity cost, and the value of my time, is so ridiculously high, that returning it does not “make me whole”. Not even close. Basically, I need this thing to work, as intimated, and I’m going to do all the work, all the preparation, all the hours of note taking, planning and implementation, to try to do a launch beyond my typical 20-xxxxxk AND …
I’m going to take you guys along for the ride. You lucky few who have stumbled across this blog get to come on board another crazy launch (relaunch really), in the dance niche. Using Mass Control, and a massive ad budget, and NO affiliates (well, maybe SOME, haven’t decided yet), I aim to give Frank Kern’s Mass Control a real review.
Guess what, I’m going to tell you what happens. I have the time, did you get lucky enough to stroll across this page? Did your web surfing finally pay off?
Anyway, no updates on when and where quite yet, but I’ll bring you a long for the ride, I promise! Until then ->
Anyone else out there purchase Mass Contorl? Anyone else out there have a Mass Control review (that isn’t just some trumped up affiliate link)?
SHARE IT!
To Real Marketing Success, The Honest, Straightforward, and totally Crazy Way!
MC (MarketingCrazy)
PS - I will admit, I like Frank. i want him to hit it out of the park, I really do. I want this product to deliver! I could use another new car (I think I want the latest Lexus IS Coupe). 
Good Luck Frank, I promise to try my best to use and apply your material!
April 30, 2009
Butterfly Marketing Script Review - Review and Hands on Use of the Butterfly Marketing Package (BFM 2.0)
This is not going to be an in depth review of Butterfly Marketing, I’m not sure a real review of it exists anywhere on the internet, and I don’t have enough time to write one. This is more a telling of my personal experiences with the package.
First off, I paid for it when it first came out, years ago. Yes, $1500. The script simply didn’t work at that time. It sold to a ton of people, but really, no one ever got it to work at that time. Crazy eh? It’s crazy that so many people could buy a piece of software that actually didn’t work, and not complain, but hey, it happened. The theory, and step by step ideas behind what a Butterfly Marketing website is, and how it is laid out, is what made the package worthwhile. The script was, for all intents and purposes, worthless.
Since I buy so much, and since I barely give anything more than a day of my time, I simply filed it with my other materials that failed to deliver, did not promote it, and moved on to something that actually worked as a membership site (JV Manager at the time). JVManager was great, and since has transformed into a new package (the name slips my mind). We also used the theory and practice behind Butterfly Marketing, as a way to build a couple of our sites.
With the release of Butterfly Marketing 2.0, I decided to give it another try. Specifically, the integration of one click upsells was enticing. However, sadly, after one full week, my team has failed to get the BFM 2.0 script to work as well. Total failure, from a team that installs, maintains, and creates multiple successful membership sites, and scripts.
What hope does that leave for the common internet marketer? The internet marketer whom does not have teams of people at the ready, nor millions of dollars to waste? Let me tell you, it likely does not bode well.
Not only that, my team simple can’t seem to get any support, or help. Even on the help forums (forget actual real support). It seems that we can’t actually find ANY single working Butterfly Marketing script out on the internet that actually uses the one click upsell part of the script. Everyone has free sites, or use Paypal or 2checkout as their payment providers (either one of these renders the one click upsell feature unusable). There are scripts working out there, definitely - but only with the minimal functionality (after how many years?).
So, after a week, I am amazed yet again. I’m amazed I tried it again. I’m amazed I had a team work on it. I’m amazed I fell for the marketing hype (again). I’m amazed that the script still doesn’t work. I’m incredibly amazed that I can’t find a single working version of it (using authorize.net and the one click upsell feature), after they sold 15,000 of them! I’m amazed that there is no uproar, no blog posts … why?
Well, those whom sell (and buy) A LOT of stuff on the internet know the answer. People simply move on. Like it or not, thats’ our nature. We’ll blame ourselves, or our execution. In fact, most people that get it will never even try it (shelf-ware). In this case, with the latest release, it’s free (only shipping and handling), so likely people don’t feel like they should complain.
Isn’t that incredible? Please help - do you know of a working Butterfly Marketing script that’s actually working with Authorize.net and the one click upsell feature? I’m asking for my team, more than myself, so they don’t feel like they were again asked to work on a script (for the 2nd time) that actually simply doesn’t work.
For those whom are looking for software that works. We use the following:
Amember: 9 Sites, harder setup, cheap, needs plugins, not completely setup and forget.
Membergate: 4 Sites, easy setup, expensive (but cheap in the long run), complete setup and forget
Jvmanager: 2 sites, seems like a working version of Butterfly Marketing.
So, I’ll end with two questions. We’re looking for working Butterfly Marketing sites (actual URLs) and positive testimonials, and ideas of what you use and why. Let us know! For now, yet another reason to be wary of big name marketers … darn shame.
PS - This is simply what’s happened to us after one week of using the package. If things change, I’ll let you know. I also welcome responses and updates about it.
